Moving Past Survival

This afternoon I went to lunch with some old friends, and it was so great. I feel like for the past 9 (almost 10) months I haven't done much. Its kind of ironic to say that since I haven't had a wink of free time, but everything I've done has been for survival. My goal each day is simply to survive until the next. So far so good. But I miss randomly going to lunch with my friends. I miss packing the kids up and heading to the museum or over to a friends house. And I'm realizing how just how much I missed it because I've finally gotten to the point where I'm able to do some of it again. Yesterday morning after I dropped Ella off at school, I went shopping with the twins. Is it easier without them? Sure is. But its possible to do it with them. Today me and the kids made it to lunch and had a really nice time. It took damn near all morning to get ready, but it was totally worth it. I do miss being able to focus. With all 3 kids with me, even if I'm having a conversation with another adult, I feel like I am scanning "the crowd" to make sure no one is falling out of a high chair, pulling gum off of the underside of the table, or choking on a cheerio. But I'm feeling like we're starting to move past the "survival" phase of having twins and into the fun phase (said she who will soon have two walkers going to two different directions). It took long enough!

I will be very happy when the germy season is over. The past couple of weeks, dealing with the intense colds that swept over our family, was so uncool. Its hard to take the twins to many places for a number of reasons, but at the top of the list being the fact that they put EVERYTHING into their mouths. I read that one sure way to avoid getting sick is to not touch your face. Most germs aren't airborn; they get into your system through your eyes, nose and mouth. Even when I focus on not touching my face, its hard! And for the kids - forget it. I try to wipe hands all of the time with antibacterial wipes, but its just impossible to hit it 100% of the time. By this time next year I am hoping to be able to teach them a little bit better about putting things in their mouths. (the best laid plans, right?!)

We were asked to be a part of the Finest Young Professionals CF Fundraiser again this year and happily obliged. I don't know who we will be paired with yet but I'm happy to share our story. I'm also working on our campaign for Great Strides. The walk in Cincinnati this year is on May 21st at 9am. I hope some of you reading will be able to walk for Drew, either here with us in Cincinnati or at a walk in your town. More to come...