Della turned 9 a few weeks ago, and life with her could not be more fine.
She is the kindest, most wonderful spirit and one of the smartest, most eager-to-learn kids I know. For all of her seriousness, it is absolutely hilarious when her goofball side comes out, which is more and more every day.
9 doesn’t sound that old to me, but to say she’s going into 4th grade does. She loves school, which makes my heart so happy. I just hope and pray that she continues to have friends as good as the ones she’s had so far. Kids can be cruel, and I hope Della never learns that lesson the hard way. Or any of our children, for that matter.
She loves to read and adores all things Harry Potter. She enjoys putting Lego sets together, drawing, learning about nature, swimming, gymnastics still even though she hasn’t taken them in a while, and learning to cook. She loves mermaids, fairies, and the wonderful world of childhood imaginary play.
Della is the most amazing sister, and all 4 of her siblings are lucky beyond measure to have her as their example. Her help has gotten me through many days with her twin baby brothers, that’s for sure!
She got to have the time of her life for her birthday this year and spent an entire long weekend at Grandma and Grandpa’s house all by herself. She had an all-day adventure in downtown Chicago, they went shopping at Target (a girl after my own heart!), got ice cream at the Plush Horse, and had a couple dinners out. She looked forward to that trip pretty much all year, and I know it did not disappoint!
Happy 9th birthday, our sweet Della Jolee! Squeaker, peanut, sweet pea. We love you more than words will ever be able to say, and I hope you had not only a fun and wonderful birthday but will have the best year ahead yet!
I’ve been using that hashtag on all my summer pictures thus far, so I’ll fill this post with a lot of them. Our summer vacation adventures began immediately this year, literally on the last day of school.
To start off, I took the kids down to my mom’s house on the first afternoon of summer vacation. The girls had a half day for their last day of school, we walked home, had lunch, then loaded up and drove to Palos. We spent the night there, then headed down to Peoria the following morning for what has become an annual Miller family weekend. It was so much fun, and I’m really glad we made it down this summer after bailing at the last minute last year.
We got home from that trip on Monday, then turned right around and went on our own Wisconsin family vacation that same Wednesday. This, too, has become an annual trip, and we’re trying to find the perfect cabin/lake setup to go to each year. Ideally we want it within about 2 hours of home and on the water so the kids can swim and play daily. A clean, sandy beach is perfect for them, but we’re still looking for our “permanent” spot. This year’s place was definitely not it – dirty and cramped “hotel” room, not the best company for fellow patrons; last year’s place was awesome except for lots of ants in the cabin, but it was too far away at 6 hours. So we’ll just keep trying places until we get it right and enjoying memories together along the way.
We came home from that vacation on Saturday, and our car was stolen that afternoon. Super awesome, and certainly not a highlight of this summer vacation, but worth mentioning anyway as we’ve been dealing with that ever since. We were home from our lake trip for about 2 and a half weeks, Morrison took a session of swim lessons, I got the big 3 signed up for the library summer reading program, the kids had a couple fun backyard shower sprinkler days, we celebrated the 4th of July with friends and neighbors as usual, then I flew out to Colorado with the kids for a week-long visit. Thankfully Arianne flew back to help us fly out, flew home with us as well, then flew back to Colorado, because there is NO WAY I could’ve made those flights with all 5 alone. Simply getting on the plane would have been next to impossible once the twins were out of the stroller.
That was a really fun trip, too. The kids all love spending time with their cousins, my mom flew out as well so we all got to spend the week together, and I finally got to see Marissa’s “new” house. We took the kids swimming, to a tiny town with a little train they could ride, made pizzas and s’mores in their pizza oven, even had a Christmas in July dinner. It was a great time. Hopefully they didn’t regret inviting us all out with all the noise and Nat’s screaming!
So now we’ve stopped traveling and get to enjoy the rest of the summer at home. Ahhh… The kids have a number of fun activities coming up – swim lessons for the girls, a drawing camp for the girls, zoo day camps, and Della even gets to spend a couple days at Grandma and Grandpa’s house by herself for her birthday. Lucky duck! We have a bunch of projects in the house and yards that I’m looking forward to finishing up, so it should be a fulfilling next couple months. Maybe we’ll even get our car back one of these days…
Morrison turned 4 at the end of May, and it’s so funny watching him become more and more of a real little person every day.
We don’t have his 4-year checkup for a couple weeks, but I’ll throw those stats in here once I have them.
ETA – here are the official 4-year stats:
Height: 43.5″ (96%)
Weight: 41 lbs. (83%)
Head: 51.5 cm
BMI: 15.2 kg/m2 (35%)
Blood pressure: 95/68
He still loves all things dinosaurs, Star Wars, Cuphead, playing with his sisters and friends on the block, helping with the babies, and he’s recently started getting into Pokemon cards. The neighbor boys have been very cute and generous and given him a little stack of them that he treasures.
Four has also been particularly whiny for some reason, and he still loves to sneak out of their bedroom about 75,000 times at bedtime each night. However, his “good morning, Mama” each day after nap, random “Mama? I love you,” running hugs, and snuggles in my arms make up for it a million times over.
He’s starting K4 this fall, and I know he’ll have so much fun being at the same school as his sisters. He knows his ABCs, can count almost to 20 correctly, knows how to write his name, and can write all of his letters and numbers. I can’t wait to hear about the days when they see each other in the hallways.
Happy 4th birthday, my sweet Morrison John! We love you so very much, our first little boy, and we can’t wait to watch you grow!!
Everyone uses the hashtag #thisis40, but that’s not right for me. I turn 40 today, but it’s not just “this is 40.” This is MY 40. A number I’ve been dreading, but then again, age is just a number, isn’t it?
40 sounds both ancient and anew at the same time. When you’re
young, 40 seems so old. Over the hill… It’s all downhill from here… Old as dirt…
The clichés are just so wonderful. And when I was 20, 40 seemed like it was
light years away. Yet here I am already. But when you’re 90, 40 has to sound
young. I would think so, anyway. Hopefully I’ll be able to know in 50 years.
As of today, though, 40 is good. Feels no different than any other age so far. 😉
I’ve never envisioned life at 40, what I’d be doing at 40, how I’d feel at 40. I have always hated the question “Where do you see yourself in X years?” Or “Where do you want to be when you’re XX years old?” Why do people always ask that? I have never ever been one to look that far ahead in life, no matter the scenario. I mean yes, in a very general sense like savings in the bank, a roof over my head, etc. But not specifics. Ever. Like when you’re on a job interview you’re obviously supposed to say, “Oh, I see myself running the company in 5 years.” Or something equally as ass-kissing as that. A real go-getter. Ambitious. The corporate ladder climber. Whatever. My answer to myself has always been “I want to be happy.”
And I am happier than I’ve ever been. Ergo, I’d say 40 is off to a smashing success.
Let’s review why:
Many people my age are either currently working their dream job, still chasing it, or stuck in one that is far from it. I already had mine, worked that field for a decade, and crushed it. Not that many people can say they went directly to work on Wall St. from undergrad college, no graduate school whatsoever. And not only that, but that the investment bank for which they worked targeted them directly at school; they didn’t apply for a single thing. I can. Then when that part of the decade was over, I found the exact job I’d been wanting since school right here in Milwaukee. I worked there as long as I possibly could, until they shut their doors for good.
And I’ve been home with our kids ever since. From the moment Della was born, something inside me clicked, and all I ever wanted was to be able to stay home with her. I never wanted to go back to work, when I fully expected to be ready to return to my desk after maternity leave. I lost my job when I was 7 months pregnant with Lana, and that dream came true. Definitely not in the way we’d ever hoped, since losing a nice big salary was pretty alarming, but we’ve made it work. And added 3 more kids along the way…
Speaking of home, we’ve been wise enough with our finances to be able to pay this one off fully. That, in turn, allowed us to buy the one next door when it came up for sale, and we are now landlords. I never saw that one coming, either. Life is certainly full of surprises.
Speaking of home again, I recently taught myself how to patch drywall, fixed a rip on one of our bathroom walls, then repainted the whole bathroom. I also took a big anchor out of a wall in another room and filled and painted over that hole, too. Very minor tasks, yes, but at least now I feel like I can actually help a little bit with the never-ending scroll of a to-do list that constantly envelops our house. I also scrubbed every inch of our kitchen floor with baking soda and peroxide to clean off the 8 years of dirt and grime that had thoroughly soaked into every nook and cranny so we can seal the entire thing, and I nailed down a whole section of siding along our kitchen that has been flapping in the wind for years. Picture me patting myself on the back here.
I have a husband who started as my best friend in the world. He lived out east with me for one of the years I was there, and we’ve experienced some of the most fun, best days of my life together. And now we’ve been married for over 13 years.
We have 5 amazing children. Kind, creative, smart, loving, hilarious children. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever see myself having this many kids, but here we are. And it’s not nearly as terrifying as I thought it would be when I was pregnant with the twins. The big 3 are incredible older siblings, and the twins are the funniest little nutballs ever. It gets loud around here, but it’s also full of love and laughter. Two big keys to happiness.
I have the most wonderful group of friends ever. And not just one group, but multiple groups. One giant mixture of different, fun, simply fantastic people. I realized just how lucky I am to have all these people in my life this past weekend, when Ryan somehow completely surprised me and gathered so many of them together to celebrate my birthday with us. It was truly one of the best nights of my life, and I don’t think I’ll stop smiling from it for a very long time.
I have my health, and so does our family. Please, universe, don’t curse me for putting this out there, because I know how incredibly fortunate we are with this. Sure, each of us has had strep throat or an ear infection these past couple months and right now half the kids can’t stop coughing, but that’s nothing we can’t handle. Big picture, we’re all doing a-ok. I can still exercise, which has always been important to me, and, after 5 kids, my abs can still do this. Superficial? Yes, but something I thought for sure was gone when I heard I’d be carrying 2 babies in there at once. This body has served me very well. I hope I can keep it in shape and running just as well for the next 40+ years!
So yeah, I guess age is just a number. My 20s were for working, being selfishly young, and having fun wherever and whenever we wanted; my 30s were for starting and completing our family; now my 40s and beyond will be for raising this family and enjoying every second life has to offer. 40 has always sounded frightening, probably because it sounds so grown up and I still don’t always fully feel like a grownup. But now that I’m here, it actually is just another day. A really, really good day.
I had to take a “last night of 30s” picture last night – it’s so lovely. Please notice not only my awesome winter pj’s that I’m still wearing in the heart of spring but also that the kids have given me their cold for my birthday. Sharing is caring. Also, I clearly prefer our bathroom for staging selfies. I’m really just showing off my newly painted walls. 😉 And I dug up a picture from my 30th birthday for a comparison with my head shot from today, 10 years and 5 kids later. The first 30th one’s blurry, so I threw in the one of me and Ryan, too. Happy birthday to me!
Last month I went to Florida for my good friend Rachel’s 40th birthday girls’ trip. By myself. It was pretty awesome.
I was gone for 5 days, and nobody came with me. Zero children. Zero traveling partners. A couple of the girls flew on the same flight, but then the rest of us all just met down there. We went to Anna Maria Island, so most of us flew into Sarasota then took an Uber to the island.
It was the first time I’ve traveled alone since any of the kids were born. Actually, I think it’s the first time I’ve traveled alone since I lived out east. Almost 16 years ago. Crazy.
It was really fun. There were 10 of us in the house we rented, which was right on a little lagoon. It had its own private pool, which was all I was looking forward to. It was a shared townhouse, but we never heard the family on the other side at all. They had their own pool, too, and it was on the opposite side of the house from ours.
We stayed just blocks from the beach, so we walked over there each night to watch the sunset and grab a cocktail. Unfortunately there was really only one beachfront restaurant near us, but we found some other fun places for dinners. We grabbed coffee and breakfast each morning at a little local place, then we either walked to other close-by sandwich or burrito shops for lunches or just snacked by the pool.
I got some sun. I got some sleep. I made new friends. I read 1 entire book! And, surprisingly, I missed everyone back here terribly. I couldn’t help but think the whole time how perfect the place we stayed would be for a family vacation with Ryan and the kids, because it really was.
I couldn’t believe I actually made a solo vacation work! It was a great time with some fantastic people, and I’m so glad I went. It’ll probably happen again in about 20 years. 😀
On the day you were born, first Nat then little A,
The fear I’d been carrying just melted away.
Watching you grow every day, your eyes filled with wonder,
Makes it clear that our headcount of children is simply a number.
You’re both cautious at times, then other times brave;
You have filled to overflowing the love that my mama heart craves.
The last first birthday we’ll celebrate here,
And these moments with you two I’ll forever hold dear.
Nat and Avit are 1!! And yes, that happened a month and a half ago, but you know full well how this blog works. And actually, we just had their 12 month well check last week, so I do always like to put those stats in the update posts when we have them. So there you go, not so late after all.
To start, here are the twins’ official 12 month stats:
Nat
Weight: 22 lbs. (53%)
Height: 30.5″ (56%)
Head: 46.6 cm (57%)
BMI: 16.6 kg/m2 (48%)
Avit
Weight: 24 lbs. 6 oz. (84%)
Height: 31″ (75%)
Head: 47.2 cm (74%)
BMI: 17.8 kg/m2 (79%)
Ok, so a couple things here. Avit is obviously heavier than Nat when we pick them up, so it was fun to finally see by exactly how much. Also, Avit is definitely not taller than Nat – they were squirming around on the table when the nurse tried to stretch them out to measure height, so that is wrong. When they stand next to each other, Nat is clearly taller, and I even told the doctor those measurements are off. I was instructed to take their daily milk amount down from 30-32 oz. to 24 oz. (they still have 4 bottles of whole milk daily mixed in with their 3 meals of real food, so i’ve just knocked them down from 8 oz. to 6 oz. each). The doctor said this might help with Avit’s terrible dry skin and maybe even out their weights a little. Nat’s head still has its obvious flat spot on the back right side, but I read that kids’ heads have years to round out before they’re permanently fused. The pediatrician has never been worried about it or instructed us to do anything about it, so hopefully it will round. I can’t help but worry about it, but it hasn’t impeded his development at all so far.
Otherwise everything looked great! Avit ran around the exam room in his diaper, which the doctor loved to see, and Nat crawled right on over to the little chairs, pulled himself up instantly, and started walking along the furniture just like he does here, which made her very happy also. She said he’s so close to walking she has no worries at all.
It’s still hard to believe that we have 2 one year olds in the house! These little guys are crazy, hilarious, adorable, and so full of love that I can’t stand it. They both chatter all day long. No real words yet – lots of da-das, ba-bas, little melodic songs, but of course no mama (the only time one of them even came close to something that sounded like mama was after they got their shots at the doctor last week, ha!) – and like I said with the others, I can’t wait to hear what they’re actually saying once they do talk. They both love to snuggle into you when they’re sad or sleepy, and sometimes they just come over, want to be picked up, and just be with you. They both bob up and down dancing; Nat claps; they wave; they play peek-a-boo; they love to blow spits and raspberries; they’re getting good at signing “all done,” “eat,” “milk,” and “more”; they play with their toys all day long; they wake up full of smiles in the morning eager to see you and give you hugs. I love them to pieces.
The onesies I had made for their birthday could not have been more perfect. Avit was “Wild 1” and Nat was “Mild 1.” Any more fitting would have been impossible. I loved it!
Within the past week I’ve replaced the dueling jumpers with the big playpen, which they actually enjoy. I think they like being able to play together when they have to be contained instead of just hanging separately with nothing really to do. I’ve also swapped out the infant bucket car seats and put in the rear-facing convertible seats, so they’re really getting to be big boys! It’s so crazy to watch the daily progression.
Last night as I was getting them ready for bed, I was thinking about how this time around all the baby milestones don’t seem nearly as bittersweet as the others did. Probably because we’re doing it twice at once this time. Probably because I know for sure it’s the last time we’ll be hitting them all, whereas with Morrison I always had the “hmm, I wonder if…” in the back of my mind. Either way, I like not really having that pit of “awww… we’ll never do that again…” in my stomach each time we hit one of their milestones or leave a certain baby phase. It’s nice for a change, instead of feeling a longing for not being able to turn back time. Don’t get me wrong – I absolutely love the baby stage and it is kind of weird knowing there will never be babies born in this house again, but that’s ok. I have no doubt that is how it’s supposed to be, and I feel it with my entire being this time. I’m good. We’re full.
Otherwise, they’re just getting more and more into the groove of being part of a 5-kid family every day. They absolutely adore their big brother and sisters, and hearing the big kids make the babies laugh is the sweetest music ever. They still take 2 naps a day, morning and afternoon, and really neither seems close to dropping either of those. They’re into mostly size 18 month clothes, wear size 4 diapers and size 5 overnights, have finally been sleeping through the night since around 11 months (they still wake for the occasional pacifier replacement, but nothing like it used to be since i stopped nursing them), and generally entertain us daily. They both hate sippy cups and are just now starting to drink their bottles cold, which is driving me nuts. I know I never warmed a bottle of whole milk before for any of the other 3, so these guys aren’t getting warm milk anymore either. Sorry, charlies, cold milk is where it’s at now. They’re getting better at drinking it unheated, but they don’t guzzle it down nearly as quickly as when it was warm.
Twins. One-year-old twins! Definitely never someone I pictured walking and crawling through this house, that’s for sure. But it’s pretty great having them here. And now that we’ve made it through the first year, I think we’ll keep them. These little guys have totally captured my heart and, along with their big siblings, make it overflow every single day.
Happy 1st birthday, Nat Jennings and Avit Jerome!! We love you guys so very, very much, and we can’t wait to celebrate with you two every step of the way!
Here are the big 1 year comparison posts and pictures. I still don’t think any of these 5 look alike. Some resemble each other, yes, but there aren’t 2 who I’d say oh yes, you’re definitely related.
The countdown is on until their big 0-1, so this post will be just their 11 month pictures. To find out what’s happening in the life of these soon-to-be 1 YEAR OLDS…stay tuned!
And now the usual comparisons. Here are 11 month posts for the other 3:
