merry christmas!

may your day be filled with joy and light!

love,

oskar and abel (and tracey and jordan!)

Virtual Greeting

happy hanukkah y'all!

if the first night of hanukkah was any indication of what this
holiday season will be like, i think my heart may burst by the end of
it! and the kidkraft wooden hanukkah set may be the boys' all time
favorite toy...ever. if you're jewish or not, this one is a serious
winner!

all by myself

there are certain things i didn't dare do by myself a year ago with the boys. i remember when the boys were a few months shy of 2, it was a big deal for me to take them out to lunch by myself (turned out to be no big deal, after all). the thought of taking them to the doctor alone sent shivers of terror down my spine. would i have done it in a pinch - of course! but it never came to that. i always managed to find a partner - either jordan or my mother-in-law, etc. heck, even putting the boys to bed by myself at that age wasn't a pleasant experience. sure, i did it (as did my husband) when necessary, but i didn't like it. and taking a shower if alone with the boys? sure, during nap time. i think i only tried it once while they were awake. craziness!

it's amazing to me how in a mere year, even less in some cases, we have entered a whole new world. taking the boys out for any meal by myself is just pure pleasure now. it's a treat for all of us, especially our saturday burger lunch at mighty fine! this morning they watched dinosaur train and i didn't think twice about going upstairs, showering and getting ready for work. both jordan and i have weekly evening commitments where there is just one of us putting the boys to bed and it is such a joy. for some bizarre reason, bedtime seems to go smoother when there is only one of us manning the fort. and when i scheduled a last minute doctors appointment for abel this afternoon, it didn't even cross my mind that i'd be on my own. doctors appointments can quickly turn disastrous, but i swear, they both sat on my lap and let the doc poke and prod, opened and said "aahhhh," and even answered the doctor's questions directly! i know it won't always be like that, but even the doctor was stunned at what great little patients she had. (abel is fine, btw, but has the beginnings of a sinus infection) and the practice i got by taking them to get their H1N1 vaccines a few weeks ago by myself - well - a doctor's visit with no shots just seemed like cake walk.

amidst some of the gunk that comes with almost 3 year olds, it's nice for me to have such a clear reminder of how far we've come!

higher education

a while back, i wrote about my foray into the world of pole dancing. it was a bachelorette party of all things, but it really sparked something in me. having been a gymnast for (still) the majority of my life, i think my body craves being upside down and moving in space - flipping, twisting and expressing in motion.

being the mother of twins empowers you in so many ways, however rediscovering the acrobat in me has not been one of them. the physical tolls of pregnancy (i know, it's been nearly 3 years now), the umbilical hernia i still carry around, the insane balance between parenting, work, partnership and dare i mention "me time," had created a whirlwind of "no's" and "can't do its" in my brain. i honestly began to question my physical ability; not so much to exercise, but to do something strenuous and that pushed the bounds.

but then i saw the ad to come see a performance from austin's aerial dance company. i didn't even know what to expect, but the idea of witnessing dance outside, downtown on a balmy summer night, where artists suspended from cloth and harness scaled buildings and flew through the air - it was too much to resist. the performance did not disappoint. i was mesmerized. and every cell in my body was saying i HAD to do it.

i started classes in august. twice a week for 1.5 hours each time. lots of really hard core work. stretching. and then learning the technique of the cloth. the first few weeks i could barely move i was so sore. every class is challenging, even though i'm getting better and better. i really love that about it.

last night we had an informal showing for our family and friends. this is the culmination of my twelve weeks and two classes of aerial dancing. i know i've got a long ways to go, but there's no timeline, not competitions, no standard that i have to live up to. it's just me, the cloth and some really great people doing it along side me. and the exhilaration of flying in the air again, twisting and flipping and being in motion.

p.s. this is a long (6 minute) video and moves a little slow at times, but i promise the end is worth it.