You may notice that I haven’t posted since last year. (Or if you are new this might be news to you.) Either way, I have fallen off the face of the personal blogging world and have been unable to recover ever since. Much has happened, both good stuff and not-so-good stuff, and it all would have made for some really compelling (or at least a little bit interesting) stuff to blog about, but when stressful things happen to me, instead of running to my laptop, I choose to bury my head in the sand. And it has taken me a year to decide that maybe I should come up for breath and just see what is going on out there in the blogosphere. Since there isn’t a lot of time for me to rehash the last year in significant detail, here is a run down on what is going on in this twinmama’s world.

Peanut and Jelly Bean  – They are almost 3 1/2 years old. They had a fun Monsters, Inc. birthday back in February with family and have been getting big! Jelly Bean potty trained at the end of 2009 in a matter of weeks and has been doing great ever since. Peanut is another story – she just recently accepted the concept, but has setbacks from time to time. They are going to preschool a couple of mornings in the fall (Peanut is going as long as she can get the accidents under control). They are saying more and more hilarious things, are able to do more “big girl” activities, and make me shake my head in disbelief that my 4 pound preemies are growing up so quickly.

twindada – twindada has seen his fair share of challenges the past year and a half which have, of course, affected all of us. He was laid off from his previous job and was out of work for 8 months which was unbearable for the entire family. I feel horrible for anyone who is out of work – it is pretty rough. He finally took a contract position with a company last fall and it has a blessing with a good job, good boss, and lots of flexibility (he can work from home!).

We were finally thinking things were looking up when a doctor’s appointment gave us another sobering reminder that life is hard. Over the course of the 8 months twindada was laid off, he lost 30 pounds, was drinking a ton of water, hungry all the time, and looked really thin. We thought at first that he was losing weight since he wasn’t sitting behind a desk anymore. This made sense, but then he isn’t a heavy person, so he doesn’t have the weight to spare. He got so thin that I could see ribs and he was eating like crazy. Finally, he went to the doctor and after a series of bloodwork, it was confirmed that he has Type 1 Diabetes. He has to give himself insulin injections 4 times a day and has to be very careful what he eats. It’s a good thing that he is a good eater in general and he has done a great job of maintaining it all. (I wouldn’t do as well.)

In addition, last year he pondered a career change (one definitely looks at his or her career when they are out of work – especially since they have the time to do it!). He has been interested in a career in healthcare for awhile, but wasn’t sure he could handle the idea of needles. Well, once he became a diabetic, that fear flew out of the window. With his contract job coming up for review and unsure whether it was going to be renewed, we had a long conversation about making changes to better secure our family in the future. twindada’s focus turned toward nursing and his interest grew and grew the more he looked into it. Changing careers is really difficult especially when the careers are such polar opposites, but once he committed to it, the door flew wide open: He was accepted into a local college, his Bachelor’s degree fulfilled many pre-reqs with the exception of a handful, he applied & got a part time position at a hospital working as an Emergency Department Technician, started school, and his contract job was extended and he was able to scale back to part time to accommodate his new part time job and school. Whew! He is now working 2 part time jobs plus going to school part time right now. It is crazy busy, but the end result will be good.

me (twinmama) – Well, I am still a work-at-home mom. I take care of my beautiful 3 year old twin girls, keep up with the house (as much as possible), and started a new job last fall as a freelance writer and site editor for a parenting website. I love my job a lot – it is the perfect fit for me and it is flexible with kiddos at home. I struggle sometimes with my daily routine especially since the girls have given up naptime (may it rest in peace…) I am adapting to the recent change and am getting back into the swing of things.

So bear with this twinfamily. We have been on the roller coaster ride of life (as we all have, I’m sure!) I miss blogging so much and am going to try to keep up.  (Holding your breath is not necessary.)