July 2020: Books, Birds and Bugs

Babies are cruising the furniture and thinking about walking soon. Theo has started play biting, and he has an irresistible, mischievous laugh when you scold him for it. Working really hard to discourage it from becoming a thing, but I think it’s becoming a thing. Theo is interested in nature this month. He points at trees, plants, birds and bugs. He crawls over to the window to watch the wind in the trees. You should see his smile when he greets his patch of zinnias in the morning! Arty is pulling up like a champ. Unlike his brother, he can also get back down. He likes to do that in the bathtub which requires a hearty shout, “CANON BALL!” The splash and delight is just about the best way to round out a day. Arthur is interested in books! He spent 15 minutes looking at books on his own today. I love that he is interested in reading and looking at pictures. Mom and dad are doing okay. Sleep has been a bit iffy this past month because the twins are getting MOLARS. Yes, it’s early for that. Hoping they come in smoothly and we can move on to more fun things! :)

2020 BOOKS:

Adding three new books to the list this month. The Giver of Stars blew me away. Very surprised because I thought it would be just a casual read. Could not put it down. Finished it in three days.

• Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult

• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time: A Novel by Mark Haddon

• Unsheltered: A Novel by Barbara KingsolverThe Giver of Stars: A Novel by Jojo Moyes

• Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover

• Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed by Lori Gottlieb

• The Giver of Stars: A Novel by Jojo Moyes

• Currently working on Inland: A Novel by Téa Obreht

• Currently working on Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor by Layla Saad

June 2020: Arty and Theo are ONE!

The boys turned one this month!! Their first birthday was a huge milestone. I’ll be honest - I’m not really sure where to go from here. Most of the baby books I’ve read got us to the one year mark. I found myself looking around a bit like, well now what? Perhaps that’s the way of things. They are pulling up and crawling so fast. They chatter and talk nonstop. They play along side each other and are playing together more and more. They’ve even had a few sibling squabbles. (Maybe more than a few.) They enjoy time apart and are always delighted to be reunited. I’m so proud of them and what they are learning. They amaze me, push me to be a better person, and teach me to love and look at the world differently.

We celebrated their birthday with two smaller parties with immediate family. I made their first cake - sprinkle with cream cheese frosting. My nephew Jackson said, “You baked this cake pretty good, Aunt Maddy.”

2020 BOOKS:

• Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult

• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time: A Novel by Mark Haddon

• Unsheltered: A Novel by Barbara Kingsolver

• Currently working on Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover

• Currently working on Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed by Lori Gottlieb

Books! What are you reading?

Arty, Theo and I had a pretty strong library game before the Coronavirus swept through. Almost weekly! We even managed to get to a few of the story times where kids ran through the library with abandon and I’d get to catch up with friends. Arty and Theo couldn’t even really sit up on their own then. They would either sleep through the whole thing or just watch with the cutest, incredulous expressions. I wonder what their generation’s version of library story time will look like? Each family sitting 6 feet apart? Hopping in on Zoom? We shall see.

Our library offers digital books through an app called Libby. I finally located my library card (Dusty found it underneath the couch cushion!) and was able to get it set up. Here are the two I’ve read so far:

• Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult

• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time: A Novel by Mark Haddon

Currently working on:

• Unsheltered: A Novel by Barbara Kingsolver

Arty and Theo’s favorite books right now are:

Peek a Who by Nina Laden
The babies stare at the art in the book with such intensity!

Happy Bug Day by Mudpuppy with art from Andy Warhol
A Personify Shop find I had bought years ago. It’s so good and we’re thinking of having a bug themed birthday party!!

The Pout Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen and illustrated by Dan Hanna
Theo loves this one. I think it’s the blubs and the kissy fest we have at the end.

Read anything good lately?

Tuesdays and Shade Gardens

Dusty is outside working on a fire pit and I’m stealing a few moments to write. We’ve really leaned into our yard this spring. Building raised beds, planting flowers everywhere - I even transplanted a hosta. That last one is something I thought I’d never do. I have a hard time with shade plants. They seem so… boring? I’m not sure if it’s the pandemic, or maternal wisdom (lol) but lately I’ve been finding value and delight in things I never thought twice about before.

The babies are finishing up their morning nap and I just spent the last thirty minutes working on a graphic design project. The thirty minutes before that was spent on chicken research.

I’ll be waking the babies up soon. We’ll eat lunch at the table and then we will bathe them. We’ll probably video chat with the grandparents somewhere in there. Then I’ll nurse them, we’ll play with them, walk around outside, and get them ready for afternoon naps.

Our lives definitely have a certain rhythm. No splashy display of flowers to be found at the moment, but there’s a gentle beauty to it for sure. Like hostas - just look at that leaf variegation!

OMG, I HAD TWINS

Three months ago I gave birth to twin boys! Arthur and Theodore are doing SO well. I don’t think I could ask for better babies. Aside from near constant spitting up, the occasional diaper blow out, a few seriously sleepless nights… This first three months of motherhood have been wonderful. There are moments when I can’t help but look at them with wonder and awe.

Theo on the left, Arty on the right a few days after they were born

Motherhood has given me a fair share of surprises. I didn’t know I’d love it this much. I didn’t know it would be this hard. I didn’t expect to have so much help. Friends, family, people I barely knew… it seems like everywhere I turn someone is offering to help in some way. I am so grateful for that. Being a new mom (or a mom at any stage) is hard. It’s possibly the most difficult and rewarding thing I will ever do. Yet, I am so so thankful for this opportunity to enjoy life with these two little ones.

Hoping to share more as I have time! For now, mama out! :)

Ordinary Objects

So happy to share a few photos from my new series Ordinary Objects! Just got these back from my dear photographer friend, Angie Webb! Take a peek!

Of course Murphy had to make his way into the shoot! Shop the notecards on Etsy or swing by the Woodstock Visitor's Center in Downtown Woodstock if you're local!! 

Lately

Lately...

Lately it's been celebrating a birthday with french toast. A surprise present from Dusty hidden in the hall closet. (Sneaky!) New lights in the kitchen. 

It's been about doing less and taking more care of myself. I need exercise and 8 hours of sleep. And sunlight. And good food. And time with my nephews. The list goes on.

Launching a new line of notecards. And little pins. And working on cashflow so I can get a new batch printed.

Finally caving and subscribing to Barkbox. Murphy, you're so spoiled. Enjoy it, sweet pup!

Work life. Updating websites for lovely clients doing good. Folding an endless supply of white towels at the yoga studio.

Spreading mulch for weeks. A new couch. Planning our housewarming a year and 2 months after moving. All 1200 sq ft of home has never felt so good and right. It just keeps getting better.

What have you been up to?

 

Lately

Lately it's been celebrating 7 years together with guacamole, ice cream cones and a long walk. It's been sitting on the old couch and finding the scratchy spot on the dog. The one that makes his eyes close and leg kick. He finally got that itch itched! New workouts and running. (?) I don't like running, but it's better with friends.

It's been thinking about new projects. Building picnic tables and reading books. Catching a mouse in the house. (!) Making iced coffee on messy counter tops. It's meeting neighbors and walking to the farmer's market. Watching This Old House. I miss when people were awkward on tv.

There's a little bit of doubt too. And heart ache. Am I doing the right thing with my life? It's long hours and procrastination and I hope this works. It's a mouse in the house?! It's missing people who live one zip code away. And missing people who live a bunch of zip codes away. 

It's a season. It's a blur of now or never or later and someday and it's okay. All is okay in this house with a mouse.

Career Experiments with Laurah Hagen

I love meeting people who encourage experiments. Lucky for me I had the chance to meet Laurah, the stellar career coach behind Better & Better. She encourages a lighthearted approach to your career path and she’s got all sorts of fantastic resources to help you. She interviewed me on her blog about a really fun thing I got to do over the holidays. I’d love for you to go read about my latest career experiment!