Wow… I didn’t know what I was getting myself into when I opened the floodgates for you guys to ask questions… WOWZERS! I thought people would ask things like ‘what’s your favorite food?’ or ‘what’s your biggest pet peeve?’ Some of them are very deep! I might need to take more than one post to answer them all thoroughly, cause I’m an all-or-none kinda girl!
In no particular order… your questions and my answers!
You mentioned you live in Oregon, for how long and what part?
I moved to Oregon after high school without knowing anyone. I just needed to get out of Iowa and away from my parents and find myself. I had always heard that Oregon and Maine were beautiful, so one day I flipped a coin to decide which one I would move to. I flew to Oregon the next week. I lived in Eugene, took some classes, and worked at a wholesale bakery. Of all the 6 states I lived in after high school (Oregon, Minnesota, New Jersey, Colorado, Washington, and Iowa), Oregon was by far the most beautiful, and had the most friendly, non-judgmental people I had ever met. I miss it terribly. I only lived there for 8 months before moving to Minnesota.
How do you de-stress?
With a good stiff drink, that’s how. JUST KIDDING! Nothing stresses me more than laying around watching TV and doing nothing. All I can think about is what I could be doing to be productive. A dirty kitchen eats away at me. Unfolded laundry makes me have anxiety. The act of cleaning doesn’t help me de-stress, but there’s something undeniably peaceful about having an orderly house. If I start to notice myself being short with Nick, or impatient with a fussy baby… I can usually link it to my home being untidy. In addition to having an organized dwelling, being crafty and/or creative brings me affirmation. I love feeling like I made something beautiful. Incidentally, blogging is also a stress-reliever for me, being able to ‘talk out’ what I’m thinking and feeling. Blogging saved me during our infertility crisis. With all that being said, I’m one of the lucky ones that is able to say this: there’s no better therapy than looking into my babies’ eyes, and having them touch my face. Or watching them interact with each other and giggle. It brings me unspeakable joy.
You always seem so happy, high on life, so full of energy, positive/optimistic, etc… Are you ever not? What gets you down? (If anything!) What do you want in life that you don’t have, or haven’t done, etc.?
All I ever wanted was to get married and have a family. It took me 8 years to find my husband, and I thought the ‘family’ part would naturally fall into place after that. It didn’t. We had to fight for our family. But now that we have our beautiful perfect daughters, I feel like everything is as it should be. Every other desire in my life seems so small and petty; things I don’t really need to be happy. However, I do still get down in the dumps. I actually take an anti-depressant, and have off and on since I was 16. It’s more of a chemical imbalance than me being dissatisfied with my life. But it’s part of me and there’s no shame in that.
I love the unique names you chose for your twins. Are there any names you considered but didn’t choose, including boys names?
We do have two more little frozen embryos, so knowing that we’ll likely have more children (hopefully! eventually!) I don’t want to share names that are still in the running. But I’ll share names that we loved but rejected for one reason or another. Girls: Marguerite, Everly, Rosalie, Anastasia, Margo, Bianca, Joy, June, Gloria. Since we knew early on that we were having girls, we didn’t have as much time to ponder boys names. We only have 3 boy names, and they’re all still in the running, so I’m going to keep them to myself! Maybe we’ll have twin boys next time!
I think I’m going to stop there with the questions for today. If you’re new to the blog and find that this was a really boring post (or a boring WEEK of posts), I’m really sorry. Sometimes I just have an off-week with the blog. We’re kinda in limbo with large-scale projects we’re in the middle of, and there’s sometimes just nothing to talk about. Thanks to all of you who asked questions! It gave me something to write about this week! (and there’s so many that I’ll have something to talk about next week too!) In addition to other more interesting things hopefully!
not to dwell on the subject, but since you seem to be open I just wanted to ask if it took you a while to figure out which antidepressant was right for you. I tried taking one for a bit, but it made me too tired to function.
I’m glad Oregon left such a good impression on you! It is beautiful here and I agree about Eugene- I have lived here for almost 5 years and love the laid-back, football-obsessed, hippy crowd. Thanks for answering my question.
Beth – didn’t know you liked Oregon so much. Also – Bianca was one of my favorite names if David had been a girl. John didn’t agree with me, but oh well 🙂
Thank you for not being afraid to share the fact that even though you appear to being non stop optimistic, that you do have down days. Thank you in particular for sharing that you deal with a chemical imbalance and are taking an antidepressant. Unfortunately, there is such a stigma that revolves around antidepressants. So many people do not realize that it is a physical/chemical issue that results in a terrible emotional mess. For someone who does not deal with this issue personally, it can be hard to understand why you do not just, ‘cheer up’, or ‘get over it’. It is probably clear by now that I deal with the same issues. 😉 I too, have been on and off antidepressants since my teens and find my life to roll out much smoother when I have medicinal help in balancing my off beat chemicals. Anyway, didn’t mean to get on a soapbox there, just wanted to say thanks! I enjoy your blog, seeing your absolutely beautiful little girls grow each week in the big orange chair :), and reading your fun and witty posts! Keep it up!
PS- My husband and I both insist on Charmin Ultra AND the Cottenelle flushable wipes….what can I say? we both have sensitive tooshies! 🙂
PS: it’s super exciting knowing you can have more babies if you want in the future, and they could be more twins!
thanks for answering my question! one of your girly names is the frontrunner for our baby (if it’s a girl!) that’s why i’m curious about your boy names, because i find boys are harder!!
thanks!!!