Throw-Back Thursday: Boat Baby

Can you guess who this boat baby is?

Yep, this is lil' ol' me circa 1979.  Isn't my mom a beaut and don't you just love her frosted tips?  Believe it or not, she rocked leg warmers and sweat bands back in those days too.  Jane Fonda had nothing on her.  The woman could aerobisize like no other. 

Anywho...

My sister was in town this past weekend and we had a fun trip down memory lane sitting in the back yard, sifting through the piles and piles of photo albums that my family keeps in the basement.  We had lots of laughs looking at hilarious outfits and hairdos, remembering characters past and present and re-living memories that had been collecting dust in the corners of our minds for the past thirty years or so. The pictorial journey produced some classic photo-gems like this one.  

While chuckling at our 1980's childhoods (hello neon! whaddup mullet!), we also noticed that the vast majority of our photos were taken outside with a significant amount of those taking place on the water and around boats.  

And I thought, "No wonder."

While they weren't full time live-aboards, my parents always had a sailboat (started with a Pearson 25, followed by a Pretorian 35, then a Frers 44 and finally a custom Kanter 47) and each summer they'd load up that boat with provisions, books and bathing suits and we'd cruise the coast of Lake Michigan for weeks at a time.  Some of my fondest childhood memories are from the jaunts along that shore; the small harbor towns, ice cream shops, white sand beaches, rolling sand dunes and, of course, the general adventures that life on a boat provides (sailboats are bonafide playgrounds for little ones).  

Those summers had a profound effect on our lives and family; fostering a very close familial bond, an affinity for the water and a deep love of reading to name a few.  Not to mention the desire to raise my own family this way.

The pictures told a story and while it's easy to romanticize the past, there is no mistaking we shared a wonderful childhood full of love, fun and togetherness - both on shore and at sea.

I wonder what gems the photo books of the future will provide for our girls?

On Being Published and Facing Fears

It may come as a surprise to some of you that I have not been officially 'published' until now.  Sure, I have contributed to magazine articles before and we have been regularly featured in Cruising World Online, but as far as bonafide published articles go, I was zero for zero.  It's pretty embarrassing, actually, considering how much I write and how much joy writing brings me.  I mean, I probably have at least a handful of blog posts that I could tweak and turn into pretty decent articles, and yet, I don't.  Why?

The simple answer is fear.  More specifically: fear of failure.

The thing is this: I have been so immersed in blog writing for so long, that to take off my "blogger" hat and put on a legit "article writer" hat is really, really difficult for me.  I know this because I have been asked (on several occasions) by editors to write articles for their publications and each time I come up with a big, fat, nothing.  I freeze.  I get a case of writer's block that is so colossal,I can't navigate around it.  

You see,  the two styles of writing are very different... With blogging I can be as casual as I want and I don't always have to have a point.  I write, first and foremost, for myself so if you guys out there in cyberspace don't like it - that's totally okay (though I prefer it when you do).  There is also a history that is understood, and for those of you who don't know our history, there are always backlinks and "about us" pages to fill in the blanks.  Grammar can be forgiven (well, kind of, I love those of you who help me edit), and I often write exactly the way I talk.  I can say things like, "awesome" and "um" and "whatever".  It flows, it's natural and - for me - this style is pretty easy.  With articles, however, you are working for someone else. The style is (usually) more formal and everything needs to be laid out in a distinct manner with "x" number of words.  There must be a clear beginning, middle and end and grammar and proper sentence structure are very important.  The story must be interesting and compelling and - most important - be good enough for people to want to read it (they are, after all, trying to sell magazines).  With article writing there is pressure.  Pressure to be successful.  Pressure to be good.  Way more pressure than what I feel when I'm prattling on or waxing poetic on this blog.  Admittedly, some of what I post is crap, some is not.  And that's okay because this is my blog and it's up to me what I chose to say.  That kind of logic doesn't really fly in the publishing world.  At least, I don't think it does.

So yeah.

The fact that I am finally published is a big deal to me.  Not a big deal in the "I have arrived" way (I haven't).  Not a big deal in that it was mind blowing to see my name in print (it wasn't).  I didn't shed any tears of joy.  The article is not framed on the mantel and there was no celebratory champagne toast when we got our hands on it.  Nope.  My being published is a big deal in that I did it.   I finally faced my fear, put myself out there and saw a legitimate writing project through from beginning to end.  It's a big deal because it hopefully marks a beginning of something that might just take shape as a career of sorts... or, at the very least, support my growing wine habit (twins, people, twins <<< see how I did that? You can't do that in an article!)

So about that article....

Some of you might remember my post about this awesome guy.  Denis and I loosely kept in touch after I wrote that piece and when we moved back stateside to await the birth of our girls, I got a phone call from him asking if I was interested in telling the rest of his story.  "You were there for the beginning, and I'd like you to tell the end" he said.  I was flattered.  Classic Boat Magazine had gotten wind of his accomplishment and wanted an exclusive.  Denis had the story, but needed a writer. (Side note: Isn't serendipity awesome?)  I had to think about taking the project on, and I almost used my pregnancy and impending twins as an excuse not to.  Why?  Because I was afraid.  I was afraid to get out of my comfort zone, afraid to try something different, afraid to fail...  This, unfortunately, is a theme that has been somewhat recurring in my life and this time, after some deliberation, I thought, "No.  I am not going to let my fear of failure hold me back.  I am going to try".   The Universe had put an awesome opportunity in my lap and, dag nabbit, I was going to take it.

So I did.

Denis recounted his incredible story to me over the course several long phone interviews and slowly but surely, I pieced together a digestible 2000 word article from my sixteen pages of notes.

My best friend, a former copy editor (and excellent writer in her own right), acted as my proofreader by giving me excellent notes and several others read it with great feedback.  After a few days, it was finished.  I was so nervous.  I felt exposed, vulnerable and I worried relentlessly that it sucked.  With great trepidation, I sent the final draft to Denis.  When he didn't get back to me right away I was sure he hated it.  I was certain I had failed him and he was trying to find a way to tactfully tell me so.

But I was wrong.  He loved it, and he sent it on to Classic Boat Magazine, at which point all the anxiety I felt resurfaced.  "Will they laugh at me?"  "Will they like it?" "Is the story worthy of their pages?"  Weeks went by without word.  Naturally I feared the worst: that my story had not made the cut and was shelved.  That the editors of the magazine didn't like it.  That I had failed.

I had all but forgotten about the whole thing (I was days away from giving birth and a little...preoccupied) when I received an email from Denis with the final PDF layout of our article ready for print.  I couldn't believe it.  I was...shocked, excited, proud.  It was official:  my words would be on the glossy pages of a very respectable and pretty large boating publication.

The article is a six page cover story entitled, simply, "Antigua to New York" (a name given to my article by the editors, since I, in my newbi-ness, failed to title it [facepalm]). It is featured in the May 2014 issue of Classic Boat Magazine and it's pretty good, if I do say so myself.  It's not perfect, it's not earth shattering and it's certainly not going to go "viral" but it's a start.  And I learned a very important lesson: that true failure only happens when we cease to try.

"What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?" 

- Vincent van Gogh

Letters from the Twin Trenches: Three Months In

Back story to our "Letters from the Twin Trenches" series...When we were in the BVI's we met up with some blog followers.  They were young, fun and we enjoyed hanging out with them (and the left over provisions they gave us from their charter when they flew home the next day).  Fast forward to months later when I announced our twin pregnancy on the blog...  Imagine my surprise when I got an email from Kimberly telling me that she, too, was pregnant with twins and only a week ahead of me.  "Must have been something in those painkillers!" she wrote... And so began a pretty incredible and prolific E-pal friendship chronicling our respective pregnancies and birth stories that continues to this day.  Her beautiful fraternal twin girls were born (full term) two weeks before ours and I have to tell you, sharing our (eerily similar) journeys via email has been very cathartic for me.  Solidarity.  If there is one thing you need as a parent of twins it's community.  We need to know we are not alone when it seems our sanity is teetering on the brink, which it will do from time to time when there are two newborns in the house.  Particularly if those newborns are screaming in unison.  These are some letters to her...they tell it like it is.  The good, the bad, the ugly...

June 5th, 2014

I am home alone, the house is quiet.  It is 7:30pm.  I am drinking wine (only glass number one, which is good).

SIIIIGGGH.

As you might have seen from my most recent blog post, it had been a tough couple of days.  But today is a new day, and so far - so good. 

I am very glad to hear you didn't lose your breast milk in the "great thaw".  That would seriously be awful.  Ugh.  All that work pumping and for nothing.  It's so true what they say: that s**t is liquid GOLD.  

And I am beyond impressed at your boating weekend adventures.  That is so fantastic that you get out and spend some overnights on the boat and it works out well.  Most first time moms would not attempt such an escapade - let alone a mom of twins - so you deserve some major accolades for venturing out like that.  Scott and I are very mindful to do things as "minimally" as possible so that we can have that sort of mobility as well.  We don't travel with a pack-n-play, we don't bring an arsenal of toys for Isla, we try very hard to travel "light" (although that phrase is downright laughable when you have three kids).  Even with our pared down essentials we have a car load of crap.  Oh, and I'm addicted to baby wearing so I have, like, eight different wraps that we can use with the girls including a toddler sized carrier for Isla.  So I guess it's all relative.  

And hooray for monitors!! That's great you could hang with the adults on the dock once you put the girls to bed (I told you, Pisces love the water and they will be drawn to it so of course they slept better on the boat!!).  We have a pretty strict 6-7pm bedtime window for all of our girls and WOW- it is so nice to have our evenings back.  We can actually make dinner plans knowing the babies won't wake for a feeding until between 10:30 and 11:30 which is awesome.  Whether or not I have the energy for those plans is another thing...but, usually, I rally.  The promise of wine will do that to a girl like me.

As for the sleep thing.  UGH.  I know what you mean.  It is so frustrating, and infinitely so with two.  We follow all the advice in the books; namely not letting them stay awake longer than 2 hours before putting them down for a nap - but then what the hell does the book say if the nap is only 40, 30, or (the WORST) 15 minutes?!?! Nada.  I feel your pain on this front and I'm sorry you're struggling.  As for how we get them down, we have these things called "lovies" that some friends sent us (snuggly small animal blankets) - those things are their "bedtime cue".  I lay them down in the crib, put them on their sides (and sometimes even on their tummies, Mira loves tummy sleeping - and, yes, I know it's a big no no) we put the "lovies" in their arms, close to their faces and then pop their binkies in their mouths.  They nuzzle up to the lovies and, on good days, fall asleep (unassisted) within minutes.  Of course not all days are good days, in fact most are not - and in that case, I leave the room.  I let them fuss/cry a little, then I go back in, replace the binkies, stroke their noses to help them close their eyes, flip them over or re-position them, and then I wait.  Sometimes it takes me 30 minutes to get them both sleeping and I am burning mad calories running up and down the stairs here.  

Almost ALWAYS one of them falls asleep without issue, so then I freak out about the other going to sleep within 20 minutes of the other for the sake of the "SCHEDULE"....if nothing is working and she is not sleeping, that is when I resort to the moby wrap and I put the offending baby in that which basically guarantees coma-like sleep until the other one will wake up.  I have not let them "cry it out" - but I will let them fuss and protest for a few minutes before I go back and try to get them to sleep again.  It's exhausting and my life pretty much revolves around this behavior of running up the stairs, stroking noses, and sticking binkies back in mouths in an effort to get the babies to sleep every ninety minutes to two hours.  I watch the clock like a hawk and make sure their last "nap" ends within an hour and a half of 6:30 (bedtime) so that they are tired and fall asleep.  Evenings are actually much better than naps (most days...not all) - and they will both fall asleep pretty easily at night within 30 minutes of each other and then Haven wakes up for food (and I wake Mira up still too) around 10:30/11.  Sometimes I can get her to go another hour if I bring her in bed with me, so I do that too.  Mira (our little one) is our better sleeper in general - but she, like your Annalise, is small and just completely feels like a wet noodle compared to Haven whom we refer to as "the beast" (she probably will not take kindly to that nick name later in life I am guessing).  But according to our pediatrician, both girls are "normal" and following their "curves" so that is good.  You can't really ask for more than healthy babies, right?

That is so great that your girls will do a seven hour stretch here and there...sigh...that must be amazing (stops.  guzzles wine.) I CANNOT wait until my girls will go six hours or longer!! I never had to let Isla cry it out, and she didn't sleep through the night (twelve hours) until a year old (but went to bed easily, napped well and only woke up for one tiny feeding session, so it never bothered me) but I don't think I can wait that long with these two.  We shall see...I am just hoping to catch that "next carrot" of the four month milestone when more "magic" happens (what that is, exactly, I do not know - but lots of people throw that number out there).  But, hey, what do we have if we don't have hope?...oh yeah, awesome, adorable, cute, cuddly babies.  And thank you for complimenting their rolls (well, Haven's at least, Mira is a string bean) - I love baby rolls too.  And wow, the smiles and coos that these girls give me are SO awesome.  Isla never really did that.  She was such a serious baby, it was like pulling teeth to get her to smile and you can forget about a cute little baby chit-chat.  Nope.  She was way too busy taking it all in and planning world domination.  These babies though?  They are so social and just smile and coo with ease.  It's awesome and for sure the Universe's way of making the bad days more bearable, of that I am certain.

I love that your mom has been enlisted as the sleep enforcer.  What an awesome trooper she is.  And to have made a sleep graph?  Well...I think you have your bases covered and struck gold with that one.  Something tells me she will work.  If she's making charts, she takes it seriously and she'll make it happen.  That is awesome to have someone in your camp that "gets it". Yay for your mom!  As for your running out of breast milk and not being able to keep up - you have done an AWESOME job.  There is NO SHAME in supplementing with formula or stopping the pumping game all together.  I honestly tip my hat to working moms who pump.  That is SO hard to do and SUCH a pain in the butt.  People look at me and are all "way to go with breastfeeding" and I think to myself, "I got the easy gig!!"... It's the working moms who pump that deserve the high five! So, really, high five to you. You are an awesome mom.  You do what you gotta do girl.  I'm so impressed with how well you are doing as a first time working mom with twins.

I'm glad that work is going well and keeping you off neurotic internet searching - or at least curbing it.  I, too, am not researching doom and gloom as much as I used to, though I do pop onto the Mom of Multiples Facebook groups during late night nursing sessions which I think I need to stop doing.  Today a new mom who's babies are five months or something asked "what was the hardest stage for your twins?" and everyone was all, "Oh man, the baby stage is a PIECE OF CAKE compared to later!!" and I pretty much wanted to cry.  And then I wanted to punch everyone who mocked us moms of twinfants saying that we'd better enjoy them as babies because it gets SO. MUCH. WORSE. when they are toddlers.  I mean, come ON.  I am thinking about starting a blog entitled "people I want to punch in the face" (the twins have clearly brought out my aggressive, scrappy side) and the first on that list will be moms who smuggly tell me that the baby stage is "soooo easy".  I mean, shoot me.

Okay, I'm finishing my second glass of wine and moving onto number three and I think I might even lay on the couch and watch some Portlandia.  Do you watch that show?  If not - start recording it.  It. Is. Brilliant.  I want to be best friends will Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein.  They are comedic brilliance.  Possibly the best comedy due since Abbot and Costello.

Much love to you.  SO much love.

Brittany

Notes from the Twin Trenches: "This Too, Shall Pass"

I officially know too much.  

I have over-educated myself on the importance of sleep for infants and, thus, it has in turn made me a neurotic sleep nazi who's mood is in direct correlation with the number of hours my babies sleep through the day.  This is not a fun way to live.

"Oh, let them be.  They'll sleep when they want to sleep.  You can't force them" you say.

Luckily you are not saying this to my face, or else I might have to punch you.  Like, for real.

That laissez faire approach might work for one child, but when you have two infants (and a two year old) to contend with, letting the babies "lead the way" is just not feasible unless you have the time (or the extra hands) to constantly be at one child or another's beck and call.  Following this logic, my day might look something like this:  Child "A" gets up for the day, child "B" remains asleep.  Child "C" gets up, child "A" needs feeding.  Chid "B" wakes up, while child "C" goes down.  Child "A" needs a nap, child "C" needs feeding.  Child "A" is waking up, child "B" is hungry. Child "C" wants to play, child "A" is hungry again.  Child "A" needs nap #2, and child "C" needs a diaper changed.  Child "B" needs nap #2, and child "A" is just getting up.  And so it goes...  This type of schedule (or lack thereof) allows for zero down time and you can forget about getting out of the house or accomplishing anything like, say, taking a shower or running a comb through your hair.  I'm sure some mom's of multiples have done the "baby led" way, but the ones who I have been speaking to and reading about swear by one thing and one thing only:  get the twins on the same schedule.  According to fellow MoMs, it's the only way to maintain one's sanity.

But this is much easier said than done.

And, yes, I am referring to both getting them on a schedule and maintaining one's sanity.

Because the fact is that twin sleep scheduling is not for the weak hearted.  First of all, twins are different people and not just a convenient pair that do everything in tandem.  While some lucky moms have kids who just seem to fall into these patterns naturally (I secretly hate these moms..well not really, but sort of), most twins have to be taught how to do this.  Our girls are fraternal and have completely different personalities, temperaments, appetites and sleep needs.  So is it even possible to get them on the same schedule you ask? According to the experts (and fellow MoM's who have been down this road before me), yes, all children - even fraternal twins - can learn how to sleep and can be taught how to keep a (relatively) similar schedule.  It just takes work.  A heck of a lot of work.  And an equal amount of time, tons of selfless dedication (right now my life more or less revolves around their sleep needs), and an ungodly amount of patience.

I'm not there yet, but the many sacrifices I am making (mentally, physically, emotionally) in this relatively short time period now will hopefully result in well rested, happy children who go about their days with some predictability in the months and years to come.  This is what "they" tell me, at least.  I am growing skeptical, but keep reminding myself that we did this with Isla and, after a lot of work and effort, everything "clicked" and it worked (and still works) like a charm.

Don't get me wrong, there are days when I see my efforts paying off (for the record, I follow the "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" approach).  On those days, the girls go down for their morning nap with ease and sleep anywhere from one to two hours.  They take subsequent naps every two hours throughout the day, and fall asleep unassisted within mere minutes of each other.  I get to shower and might even put on something cute.  On the good days, I put our girls down for bed at 6:30pm and they sleep, peacefully and without protest, until 11:30 or later.  Night feedings are simple, straightforward and result in two full babies who go right back to bed for three (or maybe even four or five) hours. I actually get to lay down in bed and might even catch an REM cycle or two.  On the 'good' days, the babies are mostly happy, content and - of course - well rested.  The 'good' days are when I feel like a boss mom.  When I can say with gusto "I got this!"

Then there are the other days.

The evenings where one or - God forbid - both are gassy and screaming in their crib.  The days where I soothe one and an instant later, the other is up and flailing.  The nights where I get no more than two hours of sleep at a time because one baby (usually Haven), squirms and grunts for hours and hours.   The nights when I wake up to one baby's cry and look at the clock to see that only one measly hour has passed since the last feeding. The times when one child goes down for her nap, while the other protests for that entire nap's duration.  The moments when I cry in exhaustion right along with the babies, hoping for a break and asking the Universe for more grace and patience (because I am running on reserves some days)....when I lament, "If it was just one baby, this would be so easy!"...the nights when I read a mom complain about her single infant on Facebook and want to scream at the top of my lungs.  These are the days when I am put to the test.

They say that everyone comes into your life for a reason; to teach you a lesson, to show you something about yourself so that you can grow to become a better person.  I'm talking about the challenging people too: when we find fault in others, dislike someone, or are frustrated with another - we're supposed to look inward.  "Why does this person bother me and why am I giving them the power to do so?" (perhaps they are right about something and I am in denial?) "What, exactly, don't I like about this person and what does that say about me?" (perhaps I don't like in them what I don't like in myself?) "What am I getting frustrated about and why?" (maybe I am reminded of another situation that hurt me in the past?) Usually, you will find that the problem lies within you.  Everyone who comes into our life acts as a mirror for ourselves.  Sometimes we like what we see sometimes we don't.  It's tackling the stuff that's hard to admit and difficult to look at where we stand to learn and grow the most.  Of course, this is not easy.  It's much more convenient to lay blame outside of ourselves where we can push the real issue away.  But then that's taking easy road.  Real growth takes work and some serious self-evaluation.

Where am I going with this?  I think the Universe gave me twins for a reason.  I'm not sure exactly what that reason is yet, and maybe I never will.  But I know one thing, Haven and Mira are teaching me a ton.  About patience (I need more), about flexibility (I need lots more), about expectations (I need fewer), about control (hahaha!!!) and about myself (I have a lot to work on).  I'm doing my best and - on the good days - I feel awesome.  Like a supermom even.  But on the bad days I feel like the very worst version of myself; grumpy, tired, frustrated, snippy, angry, bitchy, impatient and stressed.  I don't like who I become and I don't like how I treat the people around me.  I need to take a chill pill.

But I also need to give myself a break.  I am sleep deprived, I am human and I am flawed.  I am doing my best for our babies (and what beautiful, wonderful, awesome babies they are - don't get me wrong!).  I have to remind myself that this is a gift and we are blessed beyond belief to have three healthy children.  I have to remind myself to take the bad days with the good and that for every two steps I take forward, there will inevitably be one step back.  It's the nature of child-rearing.  It's also the most important, difficult and rewarding job that those of us who chose to do it will ever do.  That's a tall order.

I have to let go and take a deep breath and remember that "this too, shall pass".

In the meantime, there is wine.  Lots and lots of wine.

First Sail for the Twinfants

It's official, the twins had their first sail in their twelfth week of life.  Not too shabby for a couple of (temporary) landlubbers during the most stubborn "summer" to ever finally show it's face (I'm still not totally convinced, to be honest).

My dad keeps his beautiful boat downtown Chicago which means we have a boat on which to get our sailing fix during this stateside hiatus, and for that we are beyond grateful.  It was a beautiful day on the lake with family; my mom, dad, sister in law and little niece joined our clan of five(!?!) for the shenanigans. It felt awesome to be floating again.  Even if it was a bit of a Chinese fire drill with all the kids all over the place, and even if the twins did have tandem meltdowns during the car rides there and back (traveling in an SUV for fifteen minutes or more with two infants and one toddler in the back seat is about as fun as pulling out your fingernails, one by one, fyi)...all of that was totally worth it for a few hours of bliss on the water. (Isla's first sail can be seen here).

It's amazing how different day-sailing is from live-aboard sailing or cruising. First of all, it's a ginormous production to pack the whole family in the car these days, complete with clothes, diapers, snacks and gear.  When you live on your boat, all that stuff is right at your fingertips - all you need to do is stow and go.  Then there's the whole "out and back" thing.  We hardly ever did that on our cruising boat and I think we went sailing for the sake of just sailing maybe once, if that.  Almost always we sailed to a destination, dropped the hook and hung out.  Both forms, of course, are great - but completely different and it was interesting to note.  

What was particularly cool to observe was how Isla took to the boat like a duck to water.  These six months on land haven't weakened her sea legs in the slightest and the incredible spacial awareness and balance that comes from a babyhood on a boat is still very much alive in her.  She instinctively knows to step over lines, avoid the cleats and go down the companionway stairs backward.  We don't need to hover over her for fear she'll fall or misstep.  She's got it down pat. When we first got on the boat she exclaimed she was going to "Isla's room" and made her way to the v-berth.  Needless to say, she has clearly not forgotten her former life.  It's etched in her incredible soul and I love that.

We snapped some pictures of the day but unfortunately there aren't many of the twins on their maiden sail because they were "worn" the entire time by my mom and me and were sleeping soundly inside the cocoons created by the Moby wraps (man do I love baby wearing, more on this to come).  Both girls were lulled to an almost coma-like slumber on our chests by the rocking motion of the boat and we were able to enjoy the afternoon without a single peep from either of them.  Until we got ashore, of course.  Then all hell broke loose. They are babies, after all.  And there are two of them. And, no, I still can't believe it.

We have some fun things in store for us aboard my dad's boat this summer... Scott, along with my dad and brothers will be doing the Chicago to "Mac" race  in July and the plan is for my sister and I to drive up and meet them.  From there, Scott and I will take a couple weeks and do our first "test sail" as a family of five (with my sister in tow) up in the Northern waters of Lake Michigan and then hand it back over to my mom and dad for their sailcation.  We're excited.  There are a ton of logistics to figure out, lifeline netting to install and the mere thought of a seven hour car ride with three under three makes me want to run straight to the looney bin and jump into a padded cell, but - hey - we'll figure it out.  These days, we're taking one day at time and just putting one foot in front of the other.  Baby steps.  It's all about baby steps.

Summer is here.  Thank God.  And we're going sailing.

Family photo, minus Mira who was on my mom.

Isla and Grandpa.

This looks like foreshadowing :)  Isla and her cousin and bestie, Bryn.

Isla calling wave sets.

This pic was taken by my SIL of Brighteye Photography

I always wanted my very own laughing Buddah.  The Universe gave me one.

She represents the Lollipop Guild.  Very well, I might add.

Chilling in the pilot berth. 

Where Have we Been!?!

I'm pretty sure this is the longest I have gone without writing a post.  It's not for lack of trying or a dearth of inspiration though.  Nope.  I'm going to go ahead and blame this silence on those two little (adorable) babies pictured above.  Newsflash: Three kids under the age of three (and two of those children being twinfants) is no joke.  Shocking, I know.  

Rest assured, there is much more to come and we have been making major progress over here in the Meyers' camp.  The babies' actually sleep in their crib these days which means I actually get to catch some z's laying down now (hallelujah!), I have become something of a local celebrity here due to all the "baby wearing" I am doing around town (seriously, every outing where I wear the twins results in some random stranger taking our photo), we have successfully gone sailing with all the kids (and then some) and we have reclaimed our evenings because all three of our girls are asleep most nights no later than 7pm.  All of these are things to celebrate.

The girls are thriving, my sanity is still in tact (on most days), Scott and I still like each other (Google the effect of twins on marriages - yikes!) and I am starting to feel inspired to get back to blogging because, frankly, I miss writing. A lot.  There's lots more to come regarding boats, babies, our plans and whatever else tickles my fancy.  In the meantime, I am posting regularly on our Facebook Page so if you want to keep in touch over there, please do.  I'm a little more interactive over there.

Also, a friendly reminder to those of you who have written us (either by email or on Facebook), I am very behind at the moment and I will do my best to get back to you - but please understand that being a mama to my babies comes first and email comes, like, eight thousandth.  Sorry.  It doesn't mean I don't love you.  'Cause I do.  Thanks for your patience and understanding.