Weekly Recap #5

This week definitely did not go according to plan for me. Little did I know that I was in for the SHOCK of a lifetime. Let me tell you how it all shook out.

On Monday, we were hit with a pretty bad snow and ice storm. The roads were SO BAD! My daughter had to work Monday night and ended up getting the car stuck in the middle of the street...TWICE...on her way home. Luckily she got stuck on our block and we had a neighbor that saw my daughter, my mom, and I (hugely pregnant) trying to get the car home (without having any luck) and was able to help us out. He was a Godsend. (And to my neighbor who lives directly across the street who decided to stand at her window THE WHOLE TIME just staring at us...SHAME ON YOU! You could have at least asked us if we were ok, instead of probably just wondering if we would get out from being stuck directly in from of your house. I was so, so mad at you.) Anyway, I planned to take pictures of the aftermath of the storm Monday or Tuesday but didn't get a chance. I'm just glad I didn't have to leave the house.

Then on Wednesday, everything changed for me.

Wanna know why???

I became the mom of TWINS on Wednesday!!!

Yep, you read that right. I went into labor on Wednesday and had my twins at 34 weeks and 6 days. Definitely early. Definitely unexpected. But ultimately, definitely awesome.

I will share their whole birth story soon - including my thoughts on their NICU stay. Unfortunately, it is still unclear as to when the twins will be discharged. Current estimate is the day my original c-section was scheduled, 1/21/16, but they are doing really well in the NICU so I'm hoping that day is moved WAY up.

So, as you can see, my husband and I spent our New Year's Eve in the NICU, celebrating the day with our babies.

Ain't no party like a NICU party...!

The NICU nurses were great and had some Welch's Sparkling Grape Juice for us as we rang in the new year with our newest family additions. The moment was bittersweet for me though because it marks the very first New Year's Eve that I did not spend with my other kids. For the last 16 years I have always been with my daughter on NYE and it was really sad to not be able to see her and my five-year-old that night. :(

I was scheduled to stay in the hospital until Sunday afternoon and, with the twins in the NICU, I spent my extra time in my hospital room eating, pumping, and watching TV. I was sad that the twins couldn't be with my in my post-op room, but I like to keep a positive attitude and look for the silver lining in things. I decided to look at my hospital stay as a solo vacation. Minus the beach. Minus the margaritas. Minus the fun.  But...I mean, when is the next time that I'll get to spend days all by myself without interruption (for the most part) from one of my kids? I figure it won't be for awhile, so I'm trying to enjoy the alone time as much as I can.

I was able to leave the hospital on Sunday, and my babies are still in the NICU. I will post the full story on that, but know that it was a really hard day.

So, with all the busyness that went on this week, was I able to stick to any of my goals? These were my goals from last week.

• Goal #1: Eliminate soda for 1 week. I was able to get myself back on track after the Christmas holiday. As much as I was tempted after the twins were born, I managed to stay away from the sweet, carbonated stuff this week. I hope it continues because I want to be as healthy for those babies as I possibly can.
• Goal #2: Purchase gifts. There was a lot going on this weekend with my nephew's (and my son's best buddy) birthday party and Christmas with my dad. Miraculously, I was able to get gifts for both events on Tuesday night. I'm super-thankful for my wonderful husband (who has been so awesome not only with me, but keeping things going on the home front.)
• Goal #3: Spend 30 minutes organizing the basement. For the second week in a row...NOPE. I really wanted to get started on this, again, but rushing to the hospital on Wednesday afternoon kinda put the kabosh on that.
• Goal #4: Purchase and install blackout blinds for the twins. Not yet. They are still in the NICU, but this is a priority for me before they come home.
• Goal #5: Spend NYE with my family in our jammies...and stay awake till midnight!  Well we spent the evening with the newest members of the family anyway - and I was wearing new jammies! Hope you had an awesome New Year's!

Three out of five again. I have got to get with it! These are the goals I hope to tackle this week.

Goal #1: Eliminate soda for 1 more week. I've actually been feeling pretty good since I gave up soda. I think I can make it another week.

Goal #2: Attend post-holiday party on Friday. I have been an emotional wreck the last few days and, if the babies are still in the hospital, I may need some time with girlfriends for a few hours. If one of my babies is able to come home, there's no way this will be met though.

Goal #3: Spend 30 minutes organizing the basement. Even though I can't lift much and have to take it easy, I have been wanting to get the basement organized for weeks. Even if I can just move a few things around, at least I can say that I got the project started.

Goal #4: Organize one kitchen cabinet. One of my husband's pet peeves is walking into the kitchen and seeing that one (or more) of our cabinets can't close all the way because there's so much stuff in there. I would love to get at least one cabinet cleaned out.

Goal #5: Purchase and install blackout blinds for the twins. I didn't get to do this last week, but it must be done before the twins come home.

I'll let you know how it went next week!

10 Resolutions for 2016

I don't know about you, but I LOVE setting New Year's Resolutions every year. I like starting the year off with a set of goals I hope to follow for the year. Do they last all year long? Never. But just the process of writing them down and trying to remember to adhere to them help me keep them up for longer than I would have had I not taken the time to think about them.

So without further ado, here are my resolutions for 2016!

Read 20 minutes every day. In 2015, my Goodreads reading goal was 36 books for the year. I ended up reading 52! I'm hoping to take it to 55 books this year. I'm an avid reader so it shouldn't be too tough.

Join a gym. After these babies are born (and I'm given clearance to start exercising), I plan to join a local gym. I love taking classes like Zumba and spin classes, and my local gym offers a bunch of group fitness classes. Time to get my sweat on!

Run 5 races. Before I got pregnant, I had just gotten into a groove with running. It's a dream of mine, really, to be able to say "I'm a runner" and I'd love to eventually run 10k's, 1/2 marathons, and full marathons. I've only done 5k's so far, and I hope to be able to run at least 5 of them this year.

Drink 6 cups of water everyday. I fail on drinking water big time. I'd much rather have a big glass of juice or soda. I want to try and give up soda completely, but don't want to set myself up for failure. I love it too much. So I'll just settle on drinking 6 cups of water each day. If I can do that, I'm off to a good start.

Get the basement organized. I started cleaning up parts of the basement, but it's really in need of a thorough cleaning/organization session. We just have way too much stuff down there. I'd like to reduce the amount of stuff in the basement by half.

Save money for our next trips (cruise in 2106 and Disney World in 2017). I love traveling more than anything in the world. I know that it's only going to get more expensive and a lot more difficult to travel with twins, so I need to be more diligent about saving money from each paycheck.

Cook one new recipe every week. I already started picking out some new recipes I want to try in the new year, and I figure Sundays would be a great day to try them out. I'm used to being on the go all the time, but I want to start taking it easy on Sundays and spending more time at home. I'll have more time to clean up the house and cook some yummy new grub.

Take a little time each week for personal growth. This one is going to be so hard for me, but I need to take a little bit of time, even if it's just an hour a week, for just me. I could get my nails done, read up on a subject I enjoy, or take a class. I'm looking forward to this one.

Eat 2-3 servings of fruits/vegetables every day. I am the worst at eating fresh fruits and veggies. Doctors recommend high serving amounts every day, but just starting off with two or three would be good for me,

Take better photos. I always bring out my big camera, but hardly ever take any pictures on it. All pictures I use are usually taken on my cell phone. I need to put my phone down and pick up my nice camera from time to time.

I hope to provide an update once a month, so the first one should come at the end of January. Wish me luck!