When things slow down a little . . .

I need to stop ever using that phrase and just accept the fact that life moves at a ridiculously quick pace and things won't be slowing down any time soon. And while the girls are good sleepers and on paper it seems like I should have plenty of "free" time during naps and such, there still just aren't enough hours in the day to do everything I want to do.

Blogging is one of those things.

I'm not a scrapbooker, and I don't have baby books for the girls. I don't keep a journal, and I'm horrible about keeping up with friends. The blog has been my substitute for all that. I want to have a written record of things that happen around here and remember milestones that the girls reach. I want to give friends and family a way to find out what's been happening with us and show off pictures of my growing little family. And sometimes I just want to share a funny story or vent a little bit. But here lately I just can't hardly manage to carve out enough time to sit down at the computer and write. And I don't like that. I want to work on making more time to blog. No promises, but I really do want to do better!

A few things that have happened around here lately:

Eric needed to be in Burr Ridge, a suburb of Chicago, October 25-28 for a training. Since it was only about a 3 1/2 hour drive, the girls and I decided to load up and go with him for a little change of scenery. We enjoyed playing in the hotel room, lunches out, shopping, and a day at the Chicago Children's Museum. For my first major solo outing with the girls, I thought the Children's Museum went well...after the initial 10 minutes anyway. (More on that later.) In the evenings, we went out to supper with Eric and three colleagues. Everyone teased Eric about turning his business trips into family vacations, but they enjoyed the evening entertainment provided by Gabriela!

We hired a babysitter for the first time so that we could go to a Halloween Party. A friend's 13-year old step daughter came over to watch Lilian (we put Gabs to bed before we left) so that Erin Andrews and Maksim Chmerkovskiy from Dancing with the Stars could attend the Relay for Life Costume Party Fundraiser.

Can you tell which is us and which is the real Erin and Maks? ;)

We had a UGA cheerleader and ballerina to take Trick-or-Treating on Halloween. Since Gabriela doesn't really get to eat candy yet, we figured that we'd confiscate her loot for ourselves. She opened up a sucker while we weren't looking though and, since it was Halloween and all, we let her lick on it a while. She seemed to enjoy her first taste of sugar fine enough, but mostly kept trying to offer it to Eric and I.

The next week, Eric spent Tuesday-Friday in Austin, TX with work. The girls and I survived, but were awfully excited when he got home Friday afternoon. It made me super thankful to not be a single mom, and made me realize how much Eric helps out around here!

Last week we worked on a few little projects around the house before spending the weekend in Urbana with Eric's folks.

Since Lilian is sleeping through the night and life is as "settled" as it gets, I am back to pursuing my certification as a birth doula. The only component left to complete is to actually support clients at three births and have them, their doctors, and their nurses evaluate me. I have two births already lined up for the first of the year and another five people who are interested in using my services. And I haven't started advertising nor am I listed anywhere as a doula - this has just been from people hearing that there is someone in Burlington working to become a doula! I should be certified by spring. I am really, really excited!

And along the lines of excitement: Eric has a new toy/project. He bought a 13-passenger deck boat that is in pretty good shape, but needs a little engine work. He's already learned a couple important lessons, but I'll have to dedicate a different post to that. Admittedly, I did want a boat for our family, but wasn't exactly looking for a "project". So while Eric is pretty stoked about the great deal he got on it and is excited about re-working the engine, my enthusiasm will be postponed until the thing is running and I feel confident enough to take the girls out in it.