Step 1: Freak out
Step 2: Acceptance (ish)
Step 3: Focus on distractions

We’ve entered step 3. Since my last post, my feelings, at least towards the babies, have shifted more towards serenity and acceptance. I will admit, though, that acceptance is not quite so simple. There are layers to it. While I’m less worried about the twins themselves, as I get closer to the inpatient phase of this journey, other fears and worries enter my mind, like the impacts on Sam, our life, and my work. Anyway, more on that another time. The purpose of this post is DISTRACTIONS!

Before we get into that, you probably want an update on the twins. Here’s the latest:

1. They are GIRLS!
2. They are growing equally
3. So far everything looks good
4. I just have this sense that they are going to be okay (kind of like how I knew they were girls)
5. I can feel them moving, so that is somewhat reassuring.

With only about 8-9 weeks until I have to go live in the hospital, we’ve been focusing most of our energy on distractions. People often ask how Erin is coping with all this. I would summarize it with this: “large, expensive distractions”

Current Top Distractions for our Gaggle

1. Erin decided to obliterate a large holly tree in our front yard. Here are some before and after pics. Now it looks like a blast zone, and the cleanup work to get all these damn holly branches out of the ground sounds hard.
   
   Before and After
   
2. We’re buying 20 acres of land in Chelan! We found a plot of land, up on a ridge with nice views of the mountains and lakes, so we put in a low-ball offer, and it was immediately accepted. We’ve been going through feasibility, which ends in a few days, and we haven’t found any good reasons to back out of this (aside from the obvious reason. Don’t remind us of that.). Our plan is to build a vacation house that we rent out when we aren’t there, and then we have a place we can take our gaggle to run and play and learn how to do real WORK!
   
   
3. Erin started remodeling our final bathroom, the master bathroom. This is like Level 5 DIY remodel work here, and Erin plans to do it all himself. It involves moving plumbing and walls, and then of course all the typical tile stuff.
   
   
   Bye bye ugly old bathroom!
   
4. Gardening! I started a garden primarily because I thought Sam would like to help with it. Mostly he just gets angry when I take the hose away, but things are starting to grow, and he seems to enjoy checking the garden. We had a few great weeks of lettuce and spinach. I didn’t quite realize how important it is to stagger the planting of lettuce and spinach, so those are mostly done now. Lessons learned for next time.
   
5. Enjoying these precious moments of serenity with our current gaggle! If you’ve ever knocked on our door, you’ll know that serenity is a relative term in our gaggle. A door knock results in a cacophony of barks and pitbull movement. But we seem to have reached a plateau of relative quiet and serenity. I’ve spent many moments just sitting and watching Sam interact with the dogs, enjoying that I actually can sit down for relatively long stretches of time, trying to take Sam on little excursions like to the beach or zoo, and snuggling with the dogs as much as possible. I’m savoring these moments as I mentally prepare to re-submerge into the 2-year-long fog that is newborn life.
   
6. Pretending it is summer. We had some really nice days lately, and I’m trying to savor every one as much as possible since I’m slated to live in the hospital starting in mid July. Today we rode bikes to the beach. I cheated and rode a Lime eBike while Erin towed Sam around. I think it’s a fair compromise.