We Made it!
I think I’ve finally recovered enough to write this post: We (the kids and I) flew to New Orleans all by ourselves a few weeks ago. I’m still alive and so are they, now I feel like I can do anything. I am superwoman. Not really…we’ve been home for three full weeks and I think I’m just now recovering, seriously. Here’s how it went:
Albuquerque to Houston
Our flight left at 6:00 A.M. on New Years Day. Happy 2016! The airport wasn’t too crowded and Patrick was able to come through security with me. If you think you might need help getting through security with twin toddlers, you’d be right. It was pretty awful. But…it was super easy to get a pass so that Patrick could come through with us. Even with him there, it was bad. The kids were not excited about watching the dark machine slowly swallow their most prized possessions: stuffed animal owl, stuffed animal dog, and borrowed umbrella strollers. You’d think those strollers were their freaking kids the way they were attached to them!
We had some “help” boarding from a pilot of another airline who was a passenger on our flight to Houston. I probably would have been better off on my own but he was nice enough to offer…but pretty much gave up when the kids started screaming because, you guessed it, we had to leave the strollers at the entrance to the airplane. Total hysterics, especially from Neala.
I also borrowed these straps from another twin mom and they were an absolute god send. Once I got the kiddos strapped in and settled with their snack cups, stuffed animals and a few books we were good to go! They were super good on the first flight and Rylan was being entertained by a 9 year-old across the aisle. Nea couldn’t have cared less about the other people, noise, or me…she was in her zone! Pretzel delivery from the flight attendants was the highlight of that flight.
Getting off the flight proved to be a bit challenging with two toddlers who’s max speed might earn them a gold medal in a race against a snail. These little things walk super duper slow, unless they’re running, and then I can’t catch them. I had everything packed in a backpack so I had two free hands, and they each had a little backpack with water, milk, and snack cups. A super nice dad helped me unfold the strollers and get out of the jetway where I clipped the strollers together and found our next gate.
Side note: we have some friends that we rarely see and aside from a wedding in the summer the last 3 times we’ve seen them has been at an airport in another part of the country. We ran into them in Houston and I was SO glad to see some friendly faces!
Houston to New Orleans
Boarding the second flight in Houston after a walk around the airport and a snack went relatively smoothly, without too many hysterics when we said goodbye to the strollers again. We had some help from a nice man who folded the strollers with such ease that he must have had several of his own kids. He also helped us when we got off the plane, yay for nice people! Rylan actually fell asleep on the flight while Neala contently read her books.
The little dude just couldn’t keep his eyes open.
There were a few minor hiccups with the borrowed carseats and borrowed pack n’ plays when we arrived, but nothing we couldn’t handle after flying from the Land of Enchantment to the Big Easy.
New Orleans
We spent our time in New Orleans with my sister and brother in law and their two girls, who live full time in Portugal. They are AMAZING with the kids and it was sooo much fun to see them interact. We had picnics on the living room floor, made the slide into a couch, and did lots of dancing to our “special music.” Again…here’s a link to the ever growing playlist.
We took a long walk up and down Magazine Street where I was able to enjoy a bloody mary while walking down the street–Thank you very much, New Orleans. We had a brunch and a playdate with a friend we met back in August…the cuteness was unbelievable. And we visited the Grow Dat youth farm in City park. This was the highlight of the trip (for me), as my VERY talented sister in law is the founder and the executive director at the farm. It was incredible to see all the work she’s done to unite different communities and put the land to good use. Her vision, passion, and determination were evident at the farm, even though we were there at a time when no one else was there. If you’re ever in New Orleans and looking for something unique to check out, I highly recommend stopping by Grow Dat. The kids loved stomping around in the tall grass and weaving in and out of the kale patch chanting, “Kale! Kale!” My kids know what kale is…raising ’em right…right?
Cousins at Grow Dat Youth Farm
Neala and the chalkboard at Grow Dat. Sweet outfit, huh?
The Trip Home
On the morning of our departure we packed up and said goodbye to Ancho (Aunt Jo) and the girls and uncle Brad accompanied us to the airport and through security. Thank god. The kids screamed all the way through security and then ran, jumped, pooped, sang, watched planes, watched trucks, pooped some more, ate snacks and then we boarded our first flight…headed for Dallas. No one helped us on or off the plane and it was a bit of a mess, but we were old pros by this time and made it ok.
When we arrived in Dallas, much to my dismay, our flight was delayed. I had booked our travel so that we’d be boarding our second flight right at naptime, in hopes that the kids would sleep on the plane. The airline had other ideas. Luckily, the Dallas Love-Field airport has a little play area for kids and we spent some time in there. We had some snacks and then I could see we were moments away from meltdown. I strapped the kids in the stroller and started walking and didn’t stop until they were both asleep…which was about 15 minutes before we boarded the plane.
Asleep in the aiport, moments before I almost dropped her on her head as we were boarding the plane.
Of course, they woke up while we were boarding, despite the fact that a VERY helpful off duty flight attendant helped us board and de-plane. Yay! About 30 minutes into the flight, Rylan started laughing and said, “FART!” and then, “Big poopies!” I didn’t want to change him in the seat because one never knows exactly what “big poopies” means. And so, I had to leave Neala, with the flight attendants keeping an eye on her, and change Rylan in the bathroom. There were no big poopies but he had peed through his diaper, onesie, and pants. Awesome. We returned to the seat where Neala was absolutely hysterical. She settled and I had to change Rylan’s entire outfit in his seat. Mom fail. Should have changed the diaper one more time in Dallas. Live and learn. The rest of the flight was fairly uneventful with lots of singing of the ABCs and happy birthday–two of their favorites. When we landed, Neala clapped and yelled over and over, “WE MADE IT!!”
More More Christmas Treat
I just looked back at my previous posts, and last year I didn’t do a Christmas post. What the what? I thought it was weird and not very cheery, and so, despite the chain of events I’m about to relay to you, I think you should know up front that this season has been filled with LOTS of Christmas cheer and that the Christmas spirit is certainly alive and well in our household and having two little ones to share it with is so very magical. As Neala says OVER AND OVER, “More more Christmas treat!” Which actually means, “Mom, get me as close as possible to that Christmas TREE so I can look at all the ornaments again and again and again andagainandagainandagain.”
I just can’t help but share with you how our life has been since the kids turned 2 on the 9th. It’s been real special. Here’s the timeline:
December 9: Our twins turned two. Watch out world.
December 11: Rylan woke up from naptime with a wheezing cough, nearly giving me a heart attack because, you know…hospital visits. We started him on some meds to hopefully avoid a hospital stay (they seem to have worked). Moments later, I’m in the kitchen getting snacks together and it’s WAY too quiet in the kid’s room. I go check on them and they’re sitting on their little chairs, Rylan with a bottle of children’s Tylenol in his hands, lid off, shit eating grin on his face (excuse the expletive, but there’s really no other way to describe that look). And, when I asked if he drank some he said, “YEAH!!!” So, off to urgent care we went. I know, I know, I could have just called poison control, but I wanted them to listen to his lungs anyway…two birds, one stone?
December 12: Birthday party! We did an open house style party, where we suggested that people stop by for a little bit within a 3 hour window. Our original plan was to have a little fire in the chiminea outside and brave the cold. Then it rained. Not cool. Our house was PACKED for three straight hours. It was crowded and I managed to spill my entire cup of (much needed) coffee, but we really felt the love for our kiddos.
December 15: Two year check up at the doctor’s office. Everything went pretty well, although Rylan’s favorite thing to do while waiting for the doc is play with the stirrups on the exam table. Yuck. They both weighed in at exactly the same weight: 19lbs. 8oz and Neala is 30″ tall and Rylan is 31″ tall. Tiniest two year olds you’ll ever see.
December 16: I got a spa day! Much thanks to the mother in law for making this happen!
December 17: Neala woke up and kept repeating, “barth, barth.” I had no idea what she was saying until a few minutes later when she was sitting on the floor reading and started dry heaving and then barfed. She spend the next 6 hours barfing up everything that went in and begging for more food and milk. Ok, whatever you want kid. It was not pretty, but it was over by about noon after 4 changes of clothes and a change of bedding.
December 19: Patrick left about 6:30 for a 24 (or 28) hour shift at the hospital. Neala woke up barfing again. We went on with our morning routine, including brushing teeth after breakfast. Rylan has recently figured out that he can open all the doors in our house, so I went in the bathroom with both kids and locked the door so Rylan wouldn’t open it and escape and so we wouldn’t have any two year olds trip and fall and gouge their throats with toothbrushes…you know, safety first. When we were done, I closed the bathroom door behind us. About 10 minutes later I tried to go back in the bathroom to wash my hands and the door was LOCKED from the outside. Yay mom! The door stayed locked from 8:30 to noon when a dear friend/neighbor/nothing because technically we’re not related but my kids call him uncle (not in a weird way) saved us. The entire time I was trying to get the bathroom open my phone was freaking out and vibrated continually for several minutes straight. So that sucked. But it’s funny now. Twenty hours later, my husband returned.
December 21: My mom and I decided the kids needed to meet Santa Clause and ask them in person for, “PLLLEEEASSE wagon!” and pink shoes. We got in line and mom immediately exclaimed that at girl with the family in line in front of us was quite green. She dashed out of line several times and ran to the bathroom. When her family got to the front, she immediately turned and almost ran into us while catching her vomit in a paper towel. Merry Christmas. The kids were terrified of Santa and I have a bit of mommy guilt for making them sit on his lap. The pic is priceless though, right?
December 22nd: My parents hosted Christmas dinner and for the second time in 4 months I broke down and cried at a dinner party because I couldn’t get my children to eat. At least this time there was no uncontrollable sobbing. Win.
December 23rd: A dear friend and fellow resident wife invited us to dinner at a burger joint with her family from out of town. The hostess informed us that our reservation was for 8:30 when we arrived at 6:30. No. No. No it wasn’t. The restaurant staff “rushed” around for about 45 minutes until a few tables cleared and they seated us. The kids were really good…a bit wild, but good. Rylan ran about 3 miles in the restaurant while we were waiting for our table. When we sat down he chugged his water. At the exact moment our food arrived he gagged and barfed…just a little. It was easy to clean up and we went on with our meal. I know, that’s kind of gross, but it’s what we did. He ate some french fries (dinner of champions) and then kept standing up in his high chair. I picked him up and put him on my lap and continued to eat my burger. He was facing me and after a few minutes started crying and then barfed ALL OVER both of us, the table, the diaper bag, and the floor. Yay! Again, Merry Christmas. We immediately left and are so thankful for non-judgemental friends whose parents picked up the check! Eek.
And here we are, mid afternoon on Christmas eve, Patrick just finishing one of at least 4 cases in the operating room today, no barf, one dinner party ahead of us, and presents to wrap and I couldn’t be more thankful for the memories of this holiday season. Bring it on, Christmas!
Little & Mighty
Growing up in the Pecos Canyon there weren’t exactly a lot of children around to play with…unless you count the 15o or so kids who were at Brush Ranch each summer. But really, the residents who lived in the Canyon all year around and who had kids were few and far between. It was a beautiful place but it was 45 minutes to the nearest “big city,” Santa Fe, and a good two hours to the nearest major airport. It took us a solid 15 minutes to get to the nearest gas station growing up, and if there was snow on the roads, you better believe that Highway 63 was about the last place the plow went.
But, there’s just something about growing up in a rural area that makes a relationship special, and with the help of social media, I’ve been able to stay in touch with some of the few kids we grew up with, even though we all went our separate ways many years ago. There was a family about 8 miles south that we became close with when I was around 7 years old (this is a complete guess). Their family had 4 kids when we met, and eventually 5. I was just younger than the two older sisters, Rachel (the younger of the two), and Amanda. I remember funny things about being friends with them and how their family was different than ours. I remember the giant stacks of pancakes their mom would make and something about them tasted a little funny to me–turns out, they were whole wheat, ha (says the mom who bribes her kids with “ice cream”…see my last post for an explanation). I remember chasing chickens in their backyard garden and making colored water with hollyhock blooms. I remember the linoleum on the floor of their house and the shelves that were in their living room that were from a restaurant supply store. I remember the old, broken, walk-in refrigerator that had been converted into a playhouse, complete with a tiny window (genius!!!), and I remember the giant juniper trees near the road that we would climb in and hide to watch the passing cars. I remember making up dances to Talking Heads songs, and “selling” our art projects to our parents.
This is me with Amanda (top left) and Rachel (top right) looking awesome. Especially those french braids and tennis shoes. #TBT is the appropriate hashtag, don’t you think?!
Their house is full of so many good memories for me and I’m thankful that our families have stayed in touch over the years (I found a really stellar photo of all of us from 2009 but the fact is, no one cares to see grown adults who were friends as children with their arms awkwardly around each other, so I’ll spare you that one), even if we hardly ever see each other. Sometime in junior high or high school they moved first to California, and then to Texas and we lost touch for a bit, but after the eldest sister worked at Brush Ranch, we’ve kept in touch here and there throughout the years. When I was in Texas last spring, my mom and I went to visit their family outside of Austin. We introduced our kids for the first time (Amanda has twins too!!) and enjoyed catching up. We’ve since stayed in touch through social media and through a very exciting venture that these two lovely ladies have launched, Little & Mighty, a clothing company for kids.
I asked Rachel, Amanda, and their partner Komal to share a little history and personal insight. I thought about editing it and only sharing some bits and pieces, but then I got lazy. Well, that was part of it, but I also just really loved reading about Little & Mighty in their own words and thought I’d share. I sent them a few questions and here’s what I got back…their candid answers, determination, and yearning to have what’s best for their particular brand of parenting is what I love about these ladies.
Without further ado, I give you: Little & Mighty.
All the content below in gray was written and emailed to me by Rachel…and I’ve written another thing or two at the bottom (you’ll want to keep reading because there’s a discount code in there too!)
Little & Mighty has been in the works for about six months. One random day, Amanda and I had been talking about clothes for kids which was pretty normal. She went looking online and sent me this (email below). Meanwhile I’d been googling toys and only found kitchen cleaning supplies for the little ladies and sports gear for the little men. Awesome.
Email From Amanda to Rachel, April 16, 2015
Browsing Carter’s toddler clearance tshirts and checking out their messages …
Boy: draft pick, built for speed, best can’t rest, athletic department, team captain, department chief, all-star champion varsity warrior, keeping it cool as always, it’s hard work being this cute. Geckos, fish, dogs, alligators, dinosaurs, tigers, vehicles.
Girl: you make me oh so happy, smile, love, mommy loves me, super cute, hello sunshine, super sweet, adorable, dreamer, oh happy day, cute like mommy. Dogs, butterflies, ballerinas, teacups, hearts, cats, pink, mermaids.
I need to find a gender neutral high quality simple low cost not terribly stereotyping toddler clothing vendor!
Email From Rachel to Amanda, April 17, 2015
Oh my. Exactly.
Yeah I need one too. The stereotypes are a bit much! Maybe we start one! That would solve it. I know a screen printer who could be our supplier.
Email From Amanda to Rachel, April 17, 2015
Perfect!!!! I do the drawings, you pick colors, materials, etc. and manage inventory, Jess prints, Komal mails (she always wanted to own a post office). Hmm hmm hmm!
Email from Rachel to Amanda, April 17, 2015
I wasn’t kidding…
Email from Amanda to Rachel, April 17, 2015
Neither was I!
Poof! It was settled. Easy as pie in a few emails back and forth. The next day, Komal was all in and off we went to find a name and decide on a concrete concept.
Sidenote: So Amanda and Komal met years and ago after college while they were both working for the state. I knew Komal via Amanda and would see her occasionally over the course of ten(ish) years or so. I heard via Amanda every few months that Komal mentioned the three of us going in business together. I always asked, doing what? and the answer was ‘not sure but something’. I guess she knew about Little & Mighty way before Amanda and I ever did. Haha!
Back to my story: a few things were easy. We wanted ‘wholesome’ designs, quality shirts and stuff that we’d put our kids in. Amanda dusted off her drawing skills and produced The Toad (the first one) and we were hooked. Next came the Zebra and we were completely without a doubt why-did-we-not-do-this-sooner hooked. We all knew we wanted to stay away from the mainstream stuff and stereotypes that you find in all the major stores. Something a bit different. Wholesome but not too crunchy. Not glaringly pink or blue. Neutral would do. We knew the shirts needed to be good quality so we spent a few months searching and testing. Some were horrible, some were okay, we love the ones we settled on. The bulk of the work and planning was done in about a month. The other five months were spent searching for a name.
Sidenote: Our brother, Jesse owns a design and screen printing shop so we naturally gravitated towards shirts to start to work with him.
And it was quite a search. We have lists and lists, some horrible, some bleh, some meh that were almost the ones. Looking back at some of the almost winners…eeek. Glad we didn’t settle. I’ll spare you all the losing choices except for one of my favorites. Over the five months this took, each one of us would randomly think we’d hit gold. Like true gold, you two ladies have to agree and then we’ll be off, gold. So, one of us came back from some trip somewhere with a ding ding ding moment and sent the group the ‘I found it email, this is our name, let’s celebrate’. Mind you this happened about weekly from one of the three of us. It was “Mudstains.” Yes it screams kids and yes my clothes growing up were always covered in mud but no, Mudstains only screams Skidmarks and no just no. I digress, but it was pretty funny at the time.
The name Little & Mighty came after reading a blog post from one of my favs, Kelle Hampton. She had posted a picture of her daughter in a shirt that read, “And though she be but little she is fierce.”
I saw Amanda a few days later and mentioned the post, suggested Little & Mighty and after we sat on it for a day or two it was settled.
Our name is so perfect for kids. Little & Mighty should be every kid’s slogan. Quite literally every single kid, no matter where they came from, how they got here, where they are going or anything else. Not to get too cliché here but all kids are like little packages of potential. Potential for all sorts of things including an epic tantrum at any moment. It’s not all sunshine and roses all the time. Potential for anything and everything. They all have different challenges and strengths but they are all little and they are all mighty. They are like little packages of mighty abilities is how we look at it. They can do anything. They are so innocent and so powerful and so themselves all at the same time. So our name is so simple and so literal. Small in size, large in potential. I think it resonates with a lot of people for a lot of different reasons which is awesome. I think the blanket way we think of it resonates with all parents and then it touches a bit deeper with some which is just lovely. We love childhood. We want to celebrate it and encourage it. Our message is two-fold. We want kids to ‘go adventuring’ and explore the great big world. If our designs or styles or anything about us encourages that, then we’ve succeeded. Our styles are outdoorsy and they pull the coolness factor out of little things and big things. We aim to highlight the beautiful world we live in. While exploring we hope and know that kids will discover some of their mighty abilities. The mighty likes, the mighty dislikes, the mighty curiosity, mighty courage, mighty challenges, mighty joy and mighty fears to name just a few. There are so many ways in which kids can discover how mighty they are and we love that. We really want to celebrate childhood. Pure and simple childhood.
The future is big and bright and we are so excited. We just launched the first of our baby designs. We are currently working on adding a few more and getting some long sleeve selections into the baby age range. We want to expand in a few directions. We want to add in some NB – 3M designs and also expand to youth 8-12. We also are coming up with some potential additional items we can add to our various age ranges to compliment the shirts (potentially sleepwear, hats, pants, outerwear, you name it). We are still flushing that out. We are definitely open to the idea of a brick and mortar location a bit later down the road. We want to keep the handmade touch and in house designs and local printing. Our shirts are all made in the usa (sweatshop free). We like handwriting notes to the customers and talking to them and hearing their stories and knowing their kids’ names. We like hearing how our customers have mighty kids and what adventures they went on in their L & M gear.
Some of the Little & Mighty crew sporting their wares. Beautiful kiddos wearing awesome clothes, doing amazing things!
The Little & Mighty big people:
Komal Patel
I am a mother to a very spunky, strong minded little 16 month old girl, wife to a very caring and gentle man, daughter of two parents who have showed me that with hard work and honesty anything can be achieved and a little sitter to a big brother I am very lucky to have (thanks for everything bro J)!
Family and friends are very important to me for they are who have always been there for me through good times and bad times….Framily – nothing can take place of that bond! Transplanted to South Texas at the young age of 4 I know nothing else than Texas as home and I love it! Although I love to travel, Texas is always home.
I work a typical 8-5 job in cube land but have been recently blessed with an opportunity to work with two close friends to create fun and imaginative clothes for little ones! Being a co-owner for Little & Mighty has been an absolute joy! What’s better than working with 2 great friends, being creative and sharing pride in our product! As Little and Mighty grows I hope this will allow me to step away from the 8-5 grind and spend more time with my family.
Amanda Jigmond
I am mom to three little girls, including twins, and married to a Transylvanian who I first met when we were both counselors at Brush Ranch. In college I was really drawn towards studying the environment and afterwards I worked for some years with safety regulations for drinking water in Texas. I love traveling and outdoor activities, and feel lucky I was able to be a full-time homemaker since becoming a mama. I am especially excited that I get to work with two amazing women, that I get to draw our designs (artistry had taken a back burner for some years prior to Little & Mighty) and that our efforts help inspire littles to go adventuring!
Rachel Bucher
I am a mom to two little guys and married to a wonderful husband and dad. We moved a bit as a kid but my fondest childhood memories are from our time in Pecos exploring the mountains. Austin has been my home mostly since then and we love it here. I graduated from Texas State with a degree in business management and have been using that degree since. I currently work full time from home at a marketing company.
As Rachel says above, the name Little & Mighty resonates with parents in so many ways, and most certainly with us! Our kids are sooooo little and soooo mighty!! There’s just something about a preemie (or two) that makes them fighters. This clothing line is PERFECT for us for so many reasons. (One of those reasons might be because I struggle on a daily basis to keep my kids clothes organized and having gender neutral, high quality clothing is just way easier than sifting through the pink and the blue, the polyester and the made in another country cheap-o junk.)
Little & Mighty shared their baby line with us for the kids birthday and I’ve wanted them to wear their Little & Mighty gear every day since! My big plan was to have them wear it for their birthday party and share pics of them playing…well, the weather was awful, so my grand plan of having some party time outside, was squashed, and instead our 1,000 square foot house was FULL to the brim with people and kids and there was no way I could get any photos at all. Rest assured, the kids were super cute in their Little & Mighty gear.
I was able to snap a few pics this morning while they played with their birthday play dough. Our adventuring outside time has been limited recently due to very cold weather (for us…it was 17 degrees when we woke up this morning) and a lingering cough–we certainly don’t want to end up in the hospital again!
And, use the code HEARTOFUS for 20% off of your order now through 12/24/15…I can’t think of a better Christmas present!!
Two by Two: Happy Birthday Munchkins!
Yes, today is the day our little ones turn two. Happy birthday munchkins!! For some reason, I can’t stop singing, “The ants go marching two by two, hurrah, hurrah. The ants go marching two by two hurrah, hurrah. The ants go marching two by two, the little one stops to tie his shoe and they all go marching down, to the ground, to get out of the rain.” Really, I can’t get it out of my head.
I’m sure every parent experiences the same bittersweet feelings I’m having today: our kids are growing up and are so incredible…but where did our babies go? Lucky for you, I didn’t even attempt to make a recap video of the last year like I did for their first year. You’re welcome, I just saved two hours of your life.
Instead, I thought I’d shed a little light on our day to day by sharing some of their favorite things, in alphabetical order:
A: Alphabet. They love to sing the alphabet and can pretty much sing the whole thing (Nea can without mistakes, Ry sounds like he has marbles in his mouth but he’s almost there).
B: Balls. Yes. I said my kids love balls. Remove your mind from the gutter. I’m talking about soccer balls. Love them.
C: Chloe. Our little old lady dog. They really do love her. She could go either way with them.
D: Downtown. As in, this song. I know, winning mother of the year for how appropriate it is that my kids sing this song in Target.
E: Elephants. They think elplapts are super awesome.
F: Fishies, pronounced “baby chichis.” (And if you’re from New Mexico, you know that chichis are boobs…again, winning). My kids ask me to draw baby chichis ALL THE TIME.
G: Grandparents. They are totally into all of their grandparents and when they finish reciting all the animal noises they know, they end with each grandparent’s catch phrase. Here’s the rundown of the names too, in case you’re interested: Scotty = Baba, Kay = KK, Sean = Chopachopa (his other grandkids named him Seany-sean-pa but that doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue of a toddler), Marilyn = Nana, Gwen = Maji, PZ = PZ (sometimes PP).
H: Hair. Rylan comforts himself when he’s tired by twirling the hair on the back of his head. He has a curly little rat tail there right now. That’s 3 points for mom, I’m really winning at this parenting thing. Nea has the cutest little pony tail when she lets me put one in…after about 12 hours of trying to decide what color rubberband to use.
I: Imitation. They are parrots. Watch what you say. Watch what you do. They will repeat it!
J: Jumping! Yup. They love it.
K: Kids. They are super into other kids and whenever they see another kid they scream, “KID!!!! KID!! KID!”
L: Lights. They are obsessed with turning lights on and off. And, if they’re awake before the sun comes up and I have to turn on the light to change diapers they are sure to tell me that it’s too bright.
M: Muscles. They both ball up their fists and try to flex their muscles and it’s hilarious. Rylan looks like he’s constipated and his face turns super red and Nea tucks her fists under her chin…not terribly intimidating.
N: Nea Nea. Rylan loves his Neala.
O: Oatmeal. Pretty much all they will ever eat for breakfast is oatmeal. Smash up a banana, add some almond butter (ababudder) and coconut oil (cocowheel) and stir it in and they’ll love you forever. It’s all out mutiny when I try to give them eggs eggs eggs (as they say).
P: Packers. As in the Green Bay Packers. At any given moment, you can find Rylan chanting, “Bop bop bada bop! Go pack go!” And Nea’s favorite dress is her “Go Pack go dress.”
Q: Questions. I know this will get worse before it gets better. Their current favorite question is to ask, “Are you?” when they’re looking for something…as in, “where are you?”
R: Ry Ry. Neala loves her Rylan.
S: Stella. They love the Stella dog and call her a “good girl.” She is soooo good with them! They also say, “Pee-yew, stinky Stelly.”
T: Trucks. Big, big trucks. Rylan pronounces it, “Big, big cocks.” Yes…I said it. That, paired with the “baby chichis” makes me feel like the best parent ever, especially when they’re screaming it!
U: Upside down. Turn them upside down and they’ll love you forever. Don’t drop them, mmmmk?
V: Vitamins. What does it say about my parenting that I can bribe my children to eat their dinner by promising vitamins if they eat all the bites?
W: Wagon Wheel (this version, sorry Darius Rucker, your cover isn’t my favorite). Otherwise knows as daddy’s song. From their first week of life, this song has been sung to them, one of our WONDERFUL NICU nurses started it and their awesome daddy continued and it’s now a song that mommy does an amazing job butchering each and every night.
X: Pictures. Oh wait, that doesn’t start with an X. They just aren’t that into xylophones or x-rays (sorry daddy), but they do love pictures, especially of themselves (completely un-related to the letter X). X-rays are a kind of picture, right?
Y: Yellow. They both know most of their colors now, but yellow was the first for both of them and for a VERY long time, according to them, everything was yellow.
Z: Zodiac. They’re both really into astrology. Kidding. But they do like zebras and zippers! Do zebras “neigh” like a horse? According to Rylan, they do.
I’ll leave you with a few photos taken today in our new Little & Mighty gear. Look for a post (+ discount) about Little & Mighty…the world is a small place filled with awesome people.
Showing off his muscles. Obviously.
Being her lovely (somewhat skeptical) self.
Fall Tradition: Christmas Tree Cutting
Though many families have holiday traditions, I’ve always felt like our summertime was more steeped in tradition since that was camp time. We had opening day and final day, vespers and devotional, fiesta day, and many other smaller traditions. But, for the holidays, there isn’t one thing that we specifically do, except for tromping out in the woods and cutting our christmas tree. We usually eat a big meal and there’s lots of family time, so you don’t need to feel bad for us, I promise.
This past Saturday, the Saturday after Thanksgiving, my parents hosted the Rice family’s 20th annual christmas tree cutting party. Yep, you read that right, 20 years! They didn’t even stop hosting when they moved out of the Pecos Canyon!
Before they moved, friends and family (as many as 85 people and what always feels like just as many dogs) met at my parents house in the Pecos Canyon for food and drinks and then we all piled into our various high clearance vehicles and headed out into the National Forest to cut down Christmas trees, enjoy hot chocolate, and sled or have a snowball fight if there was snow. After the trees were cut, some folks would stop back at my parents house on their way down the canyon for another bowl of soup or a hot drink. Each year, it seemed we improved the experience…we figured out the best food to serve at the house, and what people preferred to eat on the mountain. We figured out how many tables we needed, how many cups, and what to ask people to bring.
This year, our 20th, was the second year of my parents not living in the Pecos Canyon and we’ve adapted nicely, I think…Now, people meet us at a local restaurant (special thanks to Brian and the rest of the staff at Frankie’s in Pecos) and enjoy cookies and coffee, and then we head into the national forest and cut our trees. We have a campfire for roasting hot dogs, two giant burners with hot soup and hot chocolate, several tables for people to set out whatever food they’ve chosen to bring to share, and coolers of beverages (yes, beer). Last year, our first without a home base in the canyon, people seemed a bit skeptical that the party would be a success…but it was! It was a huge success and this year was even better!
We had an especially fun time this year and planned to get a table top sized tree so the kids couldn’t reach it. You can see how well that worked out.
The kids LOVED being in the backpacks and tromping around with us while running into other friends and family up on the hill. They have not stopped talking about our Christmas tree and even (sort of) helped decorate it yesterday! Side note: explaining to a toddler that they can’t touch the lights on the tree is difficult…watching him smell them after you’ve told him not to touch is hilarious.
So, another year, and I’m so happy that my children are a part of this incredible tradition of gathering friends and family to celebrate the beginning of the holiday season by getting outside and enjoying the outdoors and the each other’s company!
More photos here.
World Prematurity Day
Today, November 17th is World Prematurity Day. This is a subject that is near and dear to us, and one that I didn’t realize impacted so many families around the world until I was a part of one of those families. Our kiddos were born at 31 weeks (read the birth story here), and the hopelessness and lack of understanding that I still feel about not being able to carry my babies to full term is something that creeps in every single day. It’s not a dark, all consuming cloud like it was in the beginning, it’s just something that lingers and is something I wonder if I can help prevent for other families.
We were honored to be asked by the March of Dimes New Mexico Chapter to be their ambassador family for 2015/2016 to help spread awareness about prematurity and to help raise much needed funds for research about prematurity and birth defects. The March of Dimes team came to our house in early October and filmed us telling our story. The video was first shown at their Signature Chef’s event to a completely captivated crowd. There was certainly not a dry eye at our table after the video presentation. I also spoke to the crowd, and did the same, with the kids, this past Sunday at the High Heels for High Hopes brunch. My speech (which was almost 100% unplanned…the video wouldn’t work so I told our whole story with the help of our little ones) ended with Neala and Rylan giving each other a giant hug and kiss in the middle of the stage after taking the microphone and saying, “What’s up people? Thank you for coming!” (Which was actually… “et’s up people? Tank you comy!”) They were crowd stoppers, for sure! And, just yesterday, the City Council of Albuquerque proclaimed November 16th Albuquerque Prematurity Awareness Day and I attended the council meeting where the proclamation was read. I hope that our involvement in the March of Dimes really does help raise awareness about prematurity.
The March of Dimes recently released their prematurity report card, where the United States received a “C” grade, meaning that 1 in 10 babies is born before 37 weeks gestation and that the US preterm birthrate is higher than that of most other developed countries. There is still a long, long way to go to end prematurity.
So, I ask you to take a moment today to think about all the children, those who survived, and those who did not, who were born prematurely, as the March of Dimes says, pledge purple today. I have learned first hand that preemies are fighters. They are strong beyond belief, yet so fragile at the same time, and the challenges have not yet come to an end for us. If you feel so inclined, please make a donation to the New Mexico Chapter of the March of Dimes by visiting: https://www.crowdrise.com/pledgepurplefornewme/fundraiser/marchofdimesnewmexic
Below is our video (which you can also see at the donation link above). Please share it and the link with your friends and family to help us raise awareness and research funds.