Happy New Year 2011! Can you believe it!? 2011-that is seriously crazy! I remember back in the 90's watching futuristic movies that were set in 2010 or 2015! I guess we have come a long way with media & technology (all that I am Oh, so familiar with, since my hubby owns a home theater/audio company!) with Ipads, Iphone, Facebook, etc. Crazy to think we didn't have these things just 10 years ago.
So, it's time to make and hopefully not break those New Year's Resolutions again! I am going to make mine the same as last year because although I did stick to it, not nearly at the rate I would have liked to. Last year & this year my resolution is to continue to blog when I can so the twins can have this as a journal/diary of our daily lives. For my 30th birthday last year, Brandon surprised me with a PINK MacBook laptop (along with Mariah Carey tickets at The Fox!) and it has made blogging easier for me to do....sometimes I can sit on the back deck or in a lawn chair while the twins are playing & do a quick 5 min. blog. Last year, I was just getting started and learning how to actually work a blog. This year, after some consideration and great chats with my beloved girlfriends, I have decided specifically which direction I want to take this blog. I am a huge fan of tradition, have gained a love of cooking since becoming a SAHM (actually it is out of necessity-a woman with 3 men in her house MUST know how to cook and be good at it!), and just want to document so many things that the twins do & create daily. I am going to keep record of many of those things here, going more in depth than just our day to day life, although that will be a main part of it, but including recipes, traditions, and actual pictures of the twins artwork & creations so that Hillside UMC Preschool crafts times two do not overtake my home office! (-;
So, here we go, 2011! A lot is going on in the daily lives of our family. Brandon's company, Innovative Media Solutions, is thriving, despite the economy. Good thing we love living in Atlanta and want to stay here for the rest of our lives because I'm not sure if his business would do this well in smaller towns or other locations, but it seems to work great here! While it is thriving, that means many long hours. I'm glad I have some friends who are in the same boat as me with their husbands. The bad part is he works until 1am many nights and sometimes 7 days a week. The good part is he is able to create his own schedule and it is no problem for him to be at every doctor appointment, preschool event, meet for lunch, plan his vacations, etc. around our schedule. He has built up a strong relationship with several celebrity clients from actors/actresses, musicians, music producers, Braves/Falcon players, and many CEO's, doctors, etc. throughout Atlanta. This has been the "meat" of his company, but he also enjoys working with middle class suburbia families in neighborhoods like the ones most of us live in and creating a space that their family can cherish whether it is their flat screen with surround sound or outdoor audio around their pool that their family will enjoy for years to come. He has built so many great relationships with these families and comes home with gifts for the twins all the time from people I don't even know because he becomes such a friend to these families. I am truly in awe of his custom work and right when I joke that I am the smart one in the family since I went to college and he did not, I realize I am mistaken, because he has built this company from scratch at the age of 18, and besides some annual training, he has read & taught himself everything he knows. It has been so rewarding & fascinating to watch him build his company, some years better than others, and a great experience to take this journey with him! Go Team Chili's! (-;
(That is where we met and to this day, we still get together and Yell Go Team Chili's before my surgeries, before IVF, before the twins' c-section, or just at the park-we are so cheesy!)
Jackson & Colton are the lights of our life. If you are reading this and know me, you already know this! We were at dinner with our great friends, Amanda & Charley Adams & Stephanie & John Cahill watching the Falcons game a few weeks ago and we were explaining that we are the first to admit we have total "only child syndrome" when it comes to our twins. When one is faced with the very real chance of never having children and then on your last chance before your hysterectomy you are blessed with twins and you know these are your only ones you are having, you can't help but spoil the lil suckers! Bless their hearts, if they become famous one day, they totally won't be jaded by the papparazzi, after having me be their Momma with my 3 cameras! I make sure to get at least one picture a day of them-hello-even though I have twins, they are obviously the same age, so I get one time to watch these two cutie pies grow up and it is going fast! I love documenting their lives & I hope it is something that is passed on for years to come.
They are both between 35-36 lbs. and for the most part extremely healthy & active little boys! Thank goodness for the techniques I learned in some of my favorite parenting books that helped me learn how to do sleep training, they are sleeping champs! They sleep 8pm-8am everynight and nap 1:00-4:30pm consistently. Of course, there is always an off day here and there and we might be gone all day and they do great with no nap if needed, or one may wake up earlier than the other and I cherish the RARE one on one time I might get. For the most part, they nap great and sometimes sleep til 5pm! We love spending our days OUTSIDE (Amen to the South & some great weather bc we love warm weather for the most part and Snow about once or twice a year!), at Lifetime fitness, playdates with friends & cousins who all live near us, preschool, library, long walks, playing on their playset, cuddling on the couch watching a movie, playing with their train sets, fun bubble baths, cooking & baking, reading (hello-Momma is a former language arts teacher!), arts & crafts, and most of all hugs, kisses, and learning manners!
As for me, I'm continuing my role as the Recruitment Advisor for Gamma Phi Beta at UGA and looking forward to a successful year with that. We made great strides last year and it was something I was very pleased with the outcome. I'm continuing coordinating weddings with the fabulous Amy from A Flawless Events-it's the BEST SAHM job around...I get to work about 1 weekend a month at fabulous venues all over Atlanta with some amazingly talented & creative people and ensure that these couple's biggest day of their lives thus far goes flawlessly! It's a blast! I'm still on my journey to lose all my twin baby weight...well, I have lost all 50 lbs. of that since they were born, but getting the 20 lbs. from two cycles of IVF is the hard part! Anyone who has gone through IVF & reading this is saying, "Amen Sister!" Putting all those crazy needles and drugs into your body and doing it more than once does some CRAZY things to a girls body, oh and then there is menapause, but that is for a later blog! Anyways, Lifetime Fitness continues to help me with that and I am glad to do it the right way with diet & exercise. Crazy to think I have lost 50 lbs. since the twins arrived but still have 20 to go! The Shamrock 5K will be here again before we know it, but I don't think I will be pushing the twins in the double jogger this time! I continue to be blessed with some of the most amazing friends a girl can have-women in so many walks of life who inspire me daily & looking forward to many more fun times together this year!
I still need to go back and fill in on some months that I missed since May 2008 and I will do that on random days when I have time so it is consistent for the twins later on, so if you follow this and see a posting from Dec. 2008 or July 2009, that is the reason why! ha ha!
Cheers to a Happy New Year and having a fabulous year ahead!
XOXO,
Tiffany
