THANKFUL: MEMORIAL DAY 2017

Some days it feels like a struggle just to make it to bedtime. And then others, like pretty much this entire weekend, it just hits me like a ton of bricks: "Wow, we are so blessed!"

I've been doing a lot of reflecting throughout this long weekend, particularly on the loved ones we have lost. And, in doing so, we were able to make some pretty wonderful memories as a family, while reminiscing on some great ones, too. Here's a quick peek at what I'm thankful for this Memorial Day:

Yesterday started out just like every other Sunday: church. With the holiday weekend, Sunday School wasn't available, which meant all five kids would be sitting with us at church (does that give anyone else anxiety just thinking about it? Yeah, me too.). I gave myself a big pep talk, packed a bag with every snack imaginable and a couple of kid Bibles and activities. En route, I decided it would be too much to have them all there, and that we should send Beckett to the nursery -- great idea in theory. 

We arrive to church early (never happens!) and I head to drop Beckett off. He sees us walking in that direction and already starts to cry. "He'll be fine," I tell myself.

I peel him from me and drop him off. Just like at daycare, I figure once I leave, he'll stop crying ...

Well, church didn't even get started before we were paged by the nursery, letting us know that he hadn't settled down. Poor buddy! So, off Joey went to get him. Here we go! Five kids, under six, with a little over an hour to sit still ... we can do it!

Aside from a few trips to warm up bottles, bathroom breaks and Beckett getting antsy, we made it through (thanks to extra hands from my parents, brother, sis-in-law and her mom!)! And, through it all, I have a number of things I'm thankful for:

• That church is a priority for our family. Church isn't something we make an option for our kids; it's a habit. In fact, after the twins arrived and we were sleep-deprived like no other, barely hanging on by a thread, unable to take them anywhere. Emma sadly told me one night, "Mommy, why can't we go to church anymore as a family?" Break. My. Heart. Right. There.
• The reminder that Beckett won't always be little and want to just be with mommy and daddy. Would it have been easier had he stayed and played in the nursery? Absolutely. But, those Sunday mornings spent trying to get him to sit still snuggling him are short-lived, and ones I don't want to wish away!
• A great children's sermon! I grew up going to the same church we now attend. When my family joined, there was a children's sermon prior to the actual sermon, and all of the kids were invited to come forward to listen. Now, the children's sermon takes place during Sunday School so it's no longer a part of the main service. Well, this weekend, with no Sunday School, they decided to add it in there, and it was so fun watching my kids go forward and listen to a message in a way they could understand it (just like I had done when I was little). The message? Jesus loves you! If that's the only thing anyone took away that day, that was enough. 

After church, we decided to visit the cemetery where my grandpa is buried. The cemetery is so beautiful at Memorial and Veteran's Day time ... flags and flowers everywhere. My grandpa is buried right next to a beautiful pond, which is always filled with ducks and swans. Typically, we bring bread with us to feed them, but a lady who goes to the pond daily and dubs herself "The Swan Lady" let us know last year that bread is actually bad for them, and that they need to eat things like spinach instead ... who knew? So, this year, we decided to go bread-less and just enjoy being there. My thankful points:

• For an opportunity to take some time to remember my grandpa. His laugh, his ornery personality, the smell of his cologne and his big hugs.
• To have the chance to share my grandpa with my kids. And, even though they never had a chance to meet him, upon looking at his tombstone, Emma (with her newfound reading skills was able to read the tombstone for the first time) looked up at me afterward and said, "Mommy, that makes me sad." Me, too, sweetie. Me too.
• To enjoy the outdoors together! To see Beckett get so excited to see the ducks! And to hear him scream "Water!" once he saw the pond (which turned into a tantrum of tears and crying out for that very same water when we had to leave and strap him into his car seat ...). 

Beckett is too focused on the ducks to take time for a picture.

Once we left there, we headed to the cemetery to visit my cousin, Barrett. Just a couple of months older than me, Barrett left us far too soon about a year and a half ago. My thankful points:

• When we got there, my cousin (his sister) was there with her kids, along with our friend and his daughter. We were able to share some laughs together, and without anyone having to say anything, we knew each one of us was there because we loved Barrett. And, there's a lot of comfort in that.
• When we were in the car and driving away, Finley quietly said from the backseat, "Bye, Barrett." And, while that broke my heart, I quickly shifted my thinking to what Barrett always said, "Every day is a blessing." And today was a blessed day, indeed.
• That thanks to running into my cousin and her kiddos, we ended up with an impromptu BBQ at our house later on with them ... and the kids all had a blast together! I can't help but think that Barrett had his hand in making that all happen -- that guy sure loved to have a good time!

Visiting Barrett.

Cousin BBQ.

After the BBQ, we headed over to our neighbors' house where they had a bonfire and roasted marshmallows for the kids (OK, and us adults, too). SO thankful for great neighbors and built-in friends that our kids love to play with! And, also thankful for my talented Boy Scout husband, who is able to toast the perfect marshmallow every time.

Memorial Day morning, Beckett made a special trip to Camp Dodge with my dad and grandpa (Great-Great as my kids call him). My grandpa is a Korean War veteran, and seeing this picture of him with Beckett brought tears to my eyes the moment I opened it on my phone. 

Beckett and Great-Great.

Here are my thankful points:

• That Beckett (and all of my kids) get to have quality time with their grandparents and great-grandparent! Grandparents are so special, and I love watching the bond they have with all of them.

Beckett getting a little spoiled with some ice cream.

• For my grandpa's service. My grandpa is a storyteller, he could literally tell stories for hours. My favorite story he tells of his time in the service is that he has always gotten extremely seasick. So, when he enlisted, he knew he didn't want to join the navy (or anything that would require him being on a boat for extended periods of time). So, he joined the Air Force ... and was assigned to air/sea rescue where he spent many a days on, you guessed it, boats! Oh, the irony!

Later in the afternoon, my whole family joined my grandpa for a Memorial Day band concert at the Capitol building. 

Side note: The Capitol is a special place for our family. My grandma worked there for years and years as a secretary. So much so, that instead of us calling it  "the Capitol," we refer to it as "Grandma's Castle." My brother and I would have races when we were kids and driving downtown with our parents and shout out, "I see Grandma's Castle and I saw it first" when we caught the first glimpse of it. It warms my heart to hear my girls call it that, too.

We brought food for a picnic and enjoyed the music, along with each other's company, all in honor of the service and sacrifice of so many people. My thankful points:

• My family. I love them all so much, and I love when we are all able to spend time together. It is my absolute favorite.

My people.

• A beautiful day. The weather, albeit a tad windy, was perfect. Couldn't have asked for a better afternoon!
• Visiting the Statue of Liberty in Iowa ... for real! See:

Statue of Liberty in Iowa

OK, maybe not the same. But, Emma and Finley have been bugging us to take them to see it for about a year now in NYC. So, thanks, Des Moines, for helping us check that one right off the good ol' bucket list!

• Watching Beckett dance to the music like no one was watching (even though a good majority of them were).

• The twins sleeping through the whole thing! Thanks, girls, for taking it easy on us!

• The feeling of thankfulness that overcomes you as you listen to the songs and think about all of the men and women who sacrificed so much. And, that it's because of these men and women that my family can have moments like the ones we were having.
• Seeing my grandpa stand up when the Air Force's anthem was played, and the sense of pride we all felt in watching him do so.

• Being flooded with memories of attending the same band concerts with my grandma and grandpa growing up. They would pack a cooler that was usually filled with Sprite and Ritz crackers, and bring my brother and I. Tears came to my eyes today thinking about how much fun we had doing that, and how much fun my grandma would have had seeing her great-grandkids experience the same thing. But, those tears turned to smiles, looking around and seeing all of these wonderful memories my kids are making:

Finnie enjoying her walking taco and fruit with daddy.

Dancing with Gigi!

Papa and Beckett exploring.

***

How did you spend your Memorial Day? 

A DAY IN THE LIFE

Here's a quick list of the most common questions/comments I get in public (most of the time not even with all five of the kids which always cracks me up!):

• "Wow! You have your hands full!"
• "Are they twins?"
• "Oh my gosh TWINS! Are they identical?"
• "Do twins run in your family?"
• "Don't you guys know how this kid thing happens?"
• "Are those all yours?"
• "I don't know how you do it!"

I think each one of these could warrant their own blog post, and maybe they will someday, but for today, we're going to focus on that last one ... how do we do it?! 

I would love to say that we have it all together and that we're complete pros at this parenting thing ... BUT, that's unfortunately faaaar from the truth.

Each day presents it's own challenges, and throws us new curve balls (like today when two little girls ages six and four, not naming names, decided to color with PEN all over my baby doll from when I was little while playing sweetly in the basement), and most days I lay in bed at the end of the night and feel guilty about all of the ways I fell short as a mama throughout the day -- lost my temper, didn't read enough books, didn't give enough undivided attention, didn't hold the twins enough, was on my phone when I should've been playing -- I could go on and on ... But, at the end of the day, I also know that we did our best and we're just taking it day-by-day.

So, without further ado, this is a day in my life currently, with five kids, ages six, almost five, 20 months and 13-week-old twins! This will change slightly with summer schedules :)

2:00-2:30 am: The twins typically wake up around this time for a mid-night feed. They sleep next to our bed in bassinets. I grab them, tandem feed them, and put them back in the bassinets. Note: there have been a few times since returning to work two weeks ago that they have slept through the night -- score, daycare, for exhausting them all day!

4:15 am: My alarm goes off. Get up. Wake the twins and tandem feed them. Swaddle them back up and put them back in their bassinets. 

4:45 am: Work out clothes on, brush teeth, hair in messy bun and out the door by 5:00 am.

5:15 am: You'll find me at Farrell's, where I'm on week nine of my 10-week-challenge. Yes, yes I am a crazy person. BUT, my brother (who just so happened to WIN the last 10-week challenge) somehow convinced me this would be a good idea. And, aside from very little sleep, it has been! I'll be doing a blog post later on about my post-partum fitness journey this time around, but this has honestly been the best thing I could've done for myself and our family!

6:00 am: Class ends and I head home.

6:30 am: If one twin isn't awake when I get home, then it's usually not long before one or both of them wake up. I feed them and put them back to sleep.

Sutton greeting me after a workout this past week.

7:00 am: Shower/get ready for work. Joey usually leaves around this time (if he isn't gone already).

7:30 am: Emma, Finley and Beckett typically start waking up. How long it takes to get everyone ready varies day-to-day. I've tried to get better about laying out their clothes the night before to minimize the "Noooo, I don't want to wear that!" arguments ... but that's not always the case. Beckett, on the other hand, well, getting him ready is like changing the diaper of a chicken while blindfolded (or what I imagine that would be like, at least) ... but mama always wins the battle! 

      

8:00 am: Kiddos are dressed, teeth brushed and we head downstairs for a (hopefully somewhat) nutritious breakfast ... hey, there's always a Flinstone multivitamin even if it's donuts, so that counts, right?

Proof that everyone is in fact clothed in the morning.

8:30 am: All five are loaded in the car (and mommy is thus normally sweating profusely). Who knew you could fit so many tiny people into a minivan? #minivanlove

For awhile, we didn't know if they'd all fit, but super dad figured it out!

8:35 am: Drop Emma off at school. Have a great day, love you!

8:45 am: Pull in the parking lot for work and drop the kiddos off at daycare (sooooo thankful for onsite daycare!).

***During the day, I feed the twins every 2 1/2-3 hours. It is SO nice to be able to do this instead of having to be hooked up to a pump that many times a day!***

5:00 pm: Leave my desk to go wrangle up the munchkins (my parents pick up Emma twice a week from school and I work until 5:00 ... the other three days I handle).

5:30 pm: Home and figure out something for dinner. It's usually something very gourmet like chicken nuggets, frozen pizza, or sometimes we get super fancy and do tacos. What can I say, maybe I should have been a chef?

6:00-7:00 pm: Play with kiddos, clean house, do laundry, baths (if bath night) ... Emma and Finley have also had a couple activities this year - gymnastics every Monday night and soccer on Thursdays.

7:00 pm: Beckett heads to bed. Right now he is in a complete daddy phase. I would say for the first 17 months of his life, I put him to bed 99.9% of the time and he wanted no one else but me. Now, he cries for daddy if I even try ... and even though that breaks my heart just a little, I love seeing how much he loves his dada and how their relationship has grown! Putting him to bed consists of reading a book, singing prayers, a little bit of rocking, and a sippy cup of water. He still sleeps in his crib, and if it's up to me, he'll stay in there until he's approximately 10 -- it terrifies me to think of what that little monster man could accomplish once he has the freedom to get out of bed!

Daddy's little buddy.

8:00 pm: Emma and Finley's bedtime. Read books, say prayers, turn on nightlight, kisses and good night! They share a room (and a queen-size bed). Most of the time I am tandem feeding the twins while this is happening ... like this night when Joey snuck a picture without me knowing. 

A typical night with me and my girls.

Once they are in bed, we usually have to go in a few different times and tell them to stop playing and to "go to bed or else...!" I'd say they are definitely asleep by 9:00 pm ... I think.

8:30-10:00 pm: Clean house, dishes, laundry, get things ready for the next day. The twins have also been cluster feeding/fussy during this time (insert eye-roll emoji here), which makes it hard for me to get much done other than sustaining the life of two little humans ... It's also time for Joey and I to catch up on our days, and more recently, to write super inspiring blog posts such as this one ;)

10:00 pm: Swaddle twins, feed them and lay them down for bed!

10:30 pm: I'm in bed and fall asleep approximately .2 seconds after my head hits the pillow. Not sure why I'm so exhausted??

REPEAT.

***

What does your daily routine look like? Any advice for me to make mine more efficient? How long after you had a baby did you feel like you hit a groove with your new normal?

I'm all ears for any advice I can get!

THAT'S A WRAP, KINDERGARTEN: MISS EMMA JO

"The days are long, but the years are short."

Let me just go ahead and tell you how completely and utterly true that quote is. On one hand, I feel like Emma's first year of kindergarten has completely flown by, but on the other, I feel like I've had some of the absolute longest, most challenging and difficult days of my (short six-year parenting) life ever this past year (particularly within the past 13 weeks ... I wonder why?). 

Like all parents, Emma entering kindergarten started a whole new chapter in our lives. Up until her first day, she attended daycare and preschool at the same place I work (I am the communications director at our church). So, although I was working outside of the home, she (along with Beckett and Finley) was just down the hall from my office and I could see her throughout the day (the absolute best!). On her last day before starting kindergarten, I snapped the below photo of her playing on the playground right outside of my office, peaking in at me while I worked. Ugh, how that photo still tears at my heartstrings!

Emma's last day of daycare - August 2016

Oh, how I loved seeing that precious little girl throughout the day. But, just like they say, all good things must come to an end, so off to kindergarten she went ... and she never looked back!

She absolutely loved her teacher, Mr. B., as she called him. She made lots of friends, learned how to read full-fledged books AND how to write stories (my personal favorite titled: "When the Twins Came Home"). She excelled in math (so not taking after her mother in that area), loved Art class, and decided when she grows up that she wants to be a PE teacher (making her Papa and Gigi smile with that one!). She had her first "boy crush" (we are SO not ready for all of that yet, particularly daddy!), attended her first school birthday party and lost two teeth (one of them at school during lunch)!

It was a special year ... a great year ... and one I am so thankful for! And, also one that makes me realize that, yes, often times our days feel very loooong ... but in the blink of an eye, an entire school year goes by, and I don't want to miss a second of any of this crazy ride.

So, thank you, kindergarten, for an awesome introduction to elementary school for The Hajduch Bunch! Lucky for you, you get another one of us next year ... and then a few more after that, too ;)

Emma Jo - first day of kindergarten

Emma Jo - last day of kindergarten

Emma Jo,

Mommy and Daddy couldn't be more proud of the little girl you are! You are so beautiful both inside and out, and have the most loving and nurturing little personality. Thank you for exceeding every expectation we had for your first year of school. Oh, the places you'll go, Emma Jo! What a blessing you are!

Love,

MOM

SURPRISE: PART II

Let's continue on from our previous post, shall we?

Two weeks had passed since our "life got flipped, turned upside down" with the surprise of expecting (of what we thought was just) baby #4. It was time for the ultrasound to confirm the pregnancy.

Joey's schedule is notoriously crazy and he wasn't sure if he'd be able to make it, but he assured me he was going to try his hardest.

I checked in to the doctor's office and got a text from Joey, "On my way!"

Score! He was going to be able to make it and we'd have this magical little moment of seeing this tiny and unexpected little peanut together for the first time!

He gets there just as they are calling my name to go back to the ultrasound room. The ultrasound tech leads us into the room and says she'll give me a minute and then be back.

She leaves, and as I'm getting ready I say to Joey, "I'm kind of nervous."

He asked why.

"Well, first to make sure there's actually a baby in there ... And, then to make sure there's just one baby in there," I joked.

Not. Even. Kidding. Karma, I tell ya, karma.

The ultrasound tech comes in and gets started ... to anyone who's had an early ultrasound before, you know what this entails.

Side note: I've never been very good at deciphering what I'm looking at during ultrasounds ... compare it somewhat to that Friends episode where Rachel, once the doctor leaves the room, cries, "I can't see it!" That could pretty much be me.

Joey and I are both looking at the screen, and the ultrasound tech is really quiet. Like, not saying anything.

I'm staring at the screen, blissfully unaware of what's up there, staring at these two small black circles ... and I think to myself, "Huh, those must be my ovaries." Obviously, anatomy isn't my thing. 

My biology-degree hubby on the other hand, out of nowhere, goes, "Is it just me, or am I seeing two things up there?"

The tech simply responds with, "Uh-huh."

Oh. My. Gosh. Those black circles weren't OVARIES... they were PLACENTAS!

I'm fairly certain if your jaw could actually drop to the floor, mine would have made it there in record timing. Joey's would have followed with a close second.

All I could think to say was, "Oh my gosh, I think I'm going to cry!"

To which the ultrasound tech responded with, "It's OK, a lot of people do when they find out about twins."

Joey just started laughing and shaking his head.

"What number babies are these for you guys?" the tech asked.

"Four AND five," we let her know.

There it was ... five. FIVE! Just two weeks ago I was freaking out about four, and now? Well, now four sounded like a walk in the park! Four would've been easy ... but FIVE? Well five kids is just ridiculous! We were going to be those crazy people with a busload of kids!

I have to admit, growing up (and all the way through college!) I ALWAYS said I wanted to have five kids. Did I ever think that I'd actually have five kids? No way. But, like Joey always likes to point out, I somehow mysteriously always end up getting my way. What can I say? It's a gift. 

The ultrasound wrapped up, the tech walked out of the room, I stood up and Joey came over and just gave me a big hug and told me it was going to be OK (this is pretty impressive coming from a guy who always said he wanted two!). I was crying, and shaking. I irrationally told him, "I don't even know how to hold two babies at once!" To which he let me know he thought that would be the least of our concerns once they were here.

AND, as it turns out, he was right about that. Now that the twins have been here 13 weeks, carrying those little princesses is, as Finley likes to say, "easy peasy lemon squeezy!" Turning on lights or turning door knobs while holding both of them, on the other hand? Not so easy. 

While these two little humans have been the biggest surprises of our lives (so far!), and have disrupted our lives in every way possible, we can't imagine what life would be like without them ... although we do imagine it would be filled with quite a bit more sleep and quite a few less poopy diapers (and most definitely fewer stretch marks -- I had 12 pounds of baby in there, people!) ... but so far, they are pretty darn worth it.  


Thank you, Jesus, for blessing us with far more than we could possibly ever deserve ... and allowing us to trust that your plans are FAR better than any plans we could've made for ourselves.

First picture of my ovaries babies.

***

Anyone else have a funny ultrasound story? What was the biggest surprise for you during your pregnancy?

SURPRISE: PART I

For those who know us fairly well, you may recall we were planning on having three kids (cue laughter here).

When we were pregnant with Beckett, no matter if he was a boy or girl, we were done. We kept his sex a surprise (like we had done twice before with Emma and Finley) and would be lying if we didn't say we were elated to add this little guy to our now "complete" family.

Three kids just seemed like a good number. And, in all honesty, going from two kids to three was a much bigger change than we were anticipating, much harder than going from one to two -- you're welcome in advance for that bit of insider information to anyone thinking of having a third! We often found ourselves saying, "Who knew three would be SO hard?" (Again, cue laughter here).

Well, as it turns out, we've never been very good at planning. And, yes we do, to answer our least favorite the most common question we get asked, "You know how this kid thing happens, right?"

So, in order to tell the story of the twins, let's flashback to July 2016 ...

We had recently moved into our new home, were enjoying summer by just returning from a family trip to Table Rock Lake (thanks mom and dad), Beckett was 10 months old and overall we were feeling pretty good about where we were with things.

And, then I realized I. Was. Late.

Truth be told, I really didn't think much of it. Beckett and I were still going strong with breastfeeding and that can mess up the timeliness of things. But, just to be safe, I decided to take a test.

I went to the store over my lunch hour and bought the cheapest pregnancy test I could find because those suckers are expensive! I came home that night and, without telling Joey, took the test once we got the kiddos to bed. I waited the two minutes they recommend you wait before reading the results. Looked at it, and thought, "phew, it's negative!"

Buuuttt, then I started staring at it again, AND, if you stare at those things long enough, I swear you start going cross-eyed and all sorts of patterns start showing up. I was looking at it and thought, "Is that a line?... No, it can't be ... there's nothing there... totally false... it's just my eyes... isn't it?!"

I went to bed pretty confident that my eggo was in fact not preggo... but then I started googling "very faint blue line on pregnancy test" (I have to confess that often times in my life I think I would be far better off if my ability to google would be taken away from me, but, I digress). The search results came up, and there it was, right before my eyes, forum after forum, one positive pregnancy test story after another from people with extremely faint lines.

Crap.

I woke up the next morning with a mission to get to the bottom of this "situation." Joey, mind you, was still completely oblivious to all of this. I went to work, and for the second day in a row, left for lunch to grab a test at the store, but this time, I opted for the most expensive pregnancy test you can buy (a little tip to anyone in the pregnancy test buying business, ALWAYS just go for the digital. No more of this "is there or isn't there a line" mumbo jumbo. "Pregnant" or "Not Pregnant" that's all I need to know, thank you very much). 

I ran home, took the test... and there it was. That one word that changes your life in an instant: PREGNANT.

DOUBLE crap ... literally.

So, what's a girl to do when she finds out she's pregnant, is in shock, and it's noon on a weekday? Back to work it is!

I somehow got through the rest of day ... which is quite shocking considering the only thing running through my head was: "Four kids. Four kids. Four kids. How are we going to handle FOUR kids?!"

Again, cue the laughter.

Before I headed home, I quickly wrote on a piece of paper:

Hi daddy! I know you weren't expecting me, but I'm excited to meet you!


When I got home, I glued the fancy-dancy digital test to it, and found an old Kate Spade box to put everything in, and hid it for the night.

We somehow got through dinner, baths and bedtimes without me acting at all suspicious. Then, finally, when it was just Joey and I, I brought in the box, gave it to him and said, "I meant to give this to you earlier, but I got you something today." He gave me a weird look, and I'm fairly certain he was thinking two things:

1. What did you spend money on now?
2. And why did you get me something from Kate Spade of all places?

He opened it up, looked at it, then at me, then back at it, and said, "WOW!"

I started crying, he started laughing. The rest is honestly all a bit of a blur. What I do remember, though, was his reaction couldn't have been better. He was the calm in that moment and I was the storm of emotions (in fact, every time we've had a positive pregnancy test it's ended up that way!). He assured me we could do it, that having a large family would be so fun for the kids, and how neat it would be that we'd essentially have two sets: Emma and Finley, 16 months apart, Beckett and baby #4, 18 months apart.

Once again, cue the laughter.

We did a little math and decided we were probably around five weeks pregnant. The next day I called my OB office to call and ask for the fourth-pregnancy-haven't-we-already-paid-you-enough-discount (to anyone else with large families, wouldn't that be nice if it were a thing?!). They scheduled me for an ultrasound at seven weeks to confirm the pregnancy ...

And, that's where the story starts to get reaalllyyy interesting ...

***

How and when did you find out you were pregnant? Did you tell your significant other before or after you took the test?

CONFESSION

Alright, I have a confession. I'm not quite sure what I'm doing here ... yet here I am! I think I figured with newborn twins (well, twelve weeks ... when do you stop calling them newborns?), three other crazies kiddos (ages six, four, and one), and going back to work last week that I was bored and needed just one more thing to add to my non-existent list. So, alas, here I am, blogosphere!

My goal (I think) with this blog is to somehow document all of the craziness, chaos, joy, stress and love that comes with living this crazy blessed life as a family of SEVEN (it still feels weird to even type that number). I mean ultimately I would love to become the next Camp Patton, but I am not funny enough, witty enough, nor am I pregnant (nor will I eveeerrr be pending a festivus miracle) with my sixth child -- yes, she is pregnant with their sixth and I don't know about any of you, but this mama of five CAN'T. EVEN. IMAGINE. But seriously, if you're not following her, do. She's awesome.

Ever since the twins entered the world, the days are flying by. If I'm being honest, many are a blur, and I fear twenty years from now that I'm going to look back and not remember much from these sleep-deprived, learn-as-you-go, young parenting days because who has time for baby books, am I right?! And, just like the sappy country song says, that I'm going to miss this -- the sleepless nights, messy house, temper tantrums, breastfeeding, potty-training (ok, maybe not the potty-training), baby/toddler/little kid snuggles ... that I'm going to miss it. Every. Single. Thing.

So, here it goes... and maybe in typing I've figured out what I'm here to do, and what I want to say. Introducing The Hajduch Bunch Family Book ... a collaborative piece courtesy of Carlie, Joey, Emma, Finley, Beckett, Campbelle and Sutton Hajduch.

If you're looking for a blog to help you dish up the next best recipe for family night, you have most definitely come to the wrong place unless you're looking to find out how to cook the best frozen pizza, because if so, I'm your gal! But, if you're looking to follow along with a family full of  imperfection, very little sleep, and a whole lot of love, then we're your crew!

Thanks for checking us out! Just as I'm sure I'll mention just about every single time I write, we survive get by with a little help from our friends/family. So, thanks, and see you soon :)