Gone... 2011

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Last year I spent the last month rotating some of my favorite posts of the year. And by "favorites" I meant, "favorites to write." I meant to do the same thing this year but instead committed to a squillion contests/giveaways and an extended family of sponsored material which left little room for nostalgic ramblings outside the weekly photo post and a few scattered words about sleeplessness. That's December round these here parts and I'm lucky enough to make a great portion of my yearly earnings the last few weeks of the year, leaving little time for sorting through yesterday's posts and composing tomorrow's. Until, of course, today. When I sat down to post some of the highs and lows of the past twelve months, a year which has been, in a word: momumental. (Sorry, that was lame. But true. Lame but true.)

On New Years Eve, 2010 I wrote about slowing down:

...We tend to focus our attention on how fast things accelerate because all drivers have a need for speed. Zero to thirty. Zero to fifty. Zero to one hundred miles per hour without slowing down. In the past, de-acceleration has felt to me like failure when really, it's the speed at which we slow down that showcases our ability to drive. 2011 = break and roll down the window. So much to see beyond the glass...

2011 was supposed to be the year of reflection and stilling the mind, Alan Watts style. A zen year of exploring the internal. The year of om. Of pausing to exhale. Pausing to inhale. Pausing to exhale, serenity now. Except that didn't happen...

What happened instead: On Hal and my sixth wedding anniversary, we spent the night in a hotel...
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...I got pregnant. Found out I was carrying twins. Panicked. Stopped panicking. Watched my belly grow. Went to New York on our first family vacation. Watched my belly grow more. And more. And more. Archer turned six. I turned thirty. Fable started school.
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...We bought a minivan. I obsessed over the nursery. Shopped for the nursery. Finished the nursery. My belly kept growing. And growing.
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...Until it broke open and Boheme and Reverie were pulled out into the world. And then we were six.
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...Two weeks later they came home. On that same day we were told we'd have to move. Hal changed jobs. We celebrated Bo and Revi's first three months, cross-dressed on Halloween, played with dollhouses, counted our blessings, cursed each other, made up, marveled at our children as siblings, adored each other.
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In that time I wrote about graying hair, forgoing college and the controversies of compliments. I wrote about discussing death, Osama Bin Laden and why I think it's important for kids to share bedrooms. I wrote about changes occurring overnight and magic hours that occur some evenings, bad haircuts and snails.
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I posted weekly updates on my pregnancy, and then daily updates on Bo and Revi's NICU stay, wrote about the names we considered and the names we chose, posted a thousand photographs because I couldn't help myself, sped so fast that everything blurred...
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Bo & Rev, one month
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Boheme & Reverie, three months
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... all while my mother cooked. And cooked. And helped with babies and cooked.
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If what I wrote last NYE is indeed true, that slowing down is what showcases our ability to drive, then I'm nowhere near assessing my prowess behind the wheel. What I do know is that I managed to make it through 2011 without crashing, thanks to the love and support of family, friends and all of you.

"Everything is temporary" has been 2011's mantra. And without fail, everything has been. The morning sickness went away. The fear subsided. The pressure disappeared, came back, went away again. First smiles appeared and with them, the storage of newborn pajamas. Days ended. Weeks began. Hal and I fought and made up. I was pregnant and then I wasn't. I worried and then I didn't. I couldn't sleep and then I could. I didn't sleep and then I did. Everything was temporary. For better, for worse: temporary.
view of my girls: twenty-three weeks
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It's been a tremendous year full of magic and wonder and insanity and life, of great love and laughter, tears, fucking up and bucking up and learning to open up to life's unexpected gifts. Thank you all for reading, for letting me share, for being my peeps. Looking forward to 2012 and all the crazy wonderful yet to come.
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With love and gratitude,

Bec

Gone Style: Tee Time (Sponsored & Giveaway)

the following post has been brought to you by Stylemint.com. Thanks, Stylemint!
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That's right. We're still talking about postpartum fashion! Because I'm still... postpartum! Anyway. Here we are again, with another exciting post about comfort + style in the fourth trimester... which lasts nine months a year indefinitely I've decided.

A few weeks back I hand picked three comf + cute tees to incorporate into my daily wardrobe. Stylemint.com is Jewelmint's sibling site which means it's ALSO subscription based (all featured monthly tees are $29.99) for those of us looking to update our wardrobes with wearable essentials without fitting room angst. It's also backed by fashion's favorite twins: Mary Kate and Ashley who I once went as for Halloween. I love them. I also love taking fashion quizzes. (RIP Seventeen Magazine) and wearing things that fit me because, hi.

Here are three outfits I wore this past week that made me feel... enthusiastic about leaving the house. (See photo above for proof.)
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Tee: c/o Stylemint
Harem Pants: Fluxus
Shoes: Nicole
Glasses: Oliver Peoples
cardi (below): Zara
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If it isn't harem pants it's leggings. And if it isn't leggings its denim. I'm still a good three waist-sizes away from my pre-pregnancy weight and have refused to purchase jeans to wear in my fourth trimester. Until my mom bought me a pair this Christmas because I was annoying her with my lack of pants. (Leggings aren't pants! They are too! They are not! They are so! They are SO not!) So here is what I wore yesterday, paired with the necklace Archer made me earlier that morning. (Thanks, Archer!)
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tee: c/o stylemint
jeans: BDG (Urban Outfitters)
boots: FRYE
assorted necklaces: gifts from Archer & my aunt
scarf: sidewalk sale/bin thing
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My favorite of the three shirts is probably this next little number which I wore with leggings last week. Yes, leggings. And leggings are PANTS. They are PANTS PANTS PANTS!
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tee: c/o stylemint
necklace: jewelmint & gift from mom
card: Fluxus
beanie: Forever 21
lipstick: MAC
leggings: AA
boots: thrifted
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Wanna win a Stylemint tee of your choice? Just tell me which tee is your fave and how you'd style it and I'll choose one winner via random.org next week, January 5th. In the meantime, you can shop with discount code GIRL for 15% off your first tee purchase. Happy tee-ing!

GGC

Updated: congrats to commenter #82: My Bottle's Up for winning a stylemint tee (wheee!) and thanks to all of you for participating with your stylish comments! xo!

Liner Notes 12/27

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Eyes (Revi)
Boheme and Reverie's first Christmas has come and gone and tonight is the last night of Hanukkah. We celebrate both holidays, always have, and between Hanukkah dinners and gingerbread house decorating parties, this last week has been one giant celebration of friends and family and babies everywhere. I don't think either baby has NOT donned a pair of arms since we've been here, both of them being passed around like peace pipes. (Reverie anyway. Bo clings to me like a... clinging baby. There isn't a single recent picture of me without her in my arms)
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Bo wears Fable's first Christmas dress with a new pair of kicks c/o Gooey
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One of the hardest parts of having twins (for me) has been an inability to divide my time equally between both babies. Going through the last week of photos, Bo is always in my arms and Rev, the community baby, always finds her way into the arms of someone new. She's equal opportunity when it comes to love and attention which is wonderfully helpful but I can't help but feel guilty that my attention is usually elsewhere. (Not that Revi seems to mind, but...)
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... Meanwhile, hello.
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Some of my favorite pictures from the last week have been of my grandparents:
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My Nana with Revi:
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My Grandpa reading books with Archer and Fable:
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My Grandma lol'ing with my mom and sibs:
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They personify the joy that years of living can bring and watching them play and read and laugh with my children brings joy in spades. Their good health is our happiness.
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Both babies have been sleeping through the night since we arrived, going to sleep between nine and midnight and sleeping until 5:30, sometimes as late as nine. They sleep in a pack n play down here so I think when we return to LA tomorrow, I'll bust out ours and see if that's the trick. Or maybe, at three plus months, we finally turned a corner. Amazing if that's the case.
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Baby in reeeeeeeed... is sitting with me. Cheeks and cheeks:
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Meerrrrrry Christmas! (Revi)
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She wore a mushroom shaped beret. The kind you find as a hand-me-down from your big sistttteeeer...
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We leave tomorrow, back to the grind of reality with a few exciting perks: a family getaway in Santa Barbara, tickets to see Woody Allen's New Orleans Jazz Band play Thursday night (a Christmas/Hanukkah gift from Hal) which is going to be so amazing and I cannot WAIT.
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feeding ducks
Archer & Revi
holding babies
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watching cars
Gingerbread Dubai
decorating cities
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playing princesses
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drying nails
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being happy
living room, Christmas Eve
For Christmas Fable got this beautiful dress from my parents and the wings and dress-up clothes from Santa. These pictures were taken Christmas morning after she opened her gifts and promptly ditched her pajamas for something fancier:
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For Archer it was all about Tomica:
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my gifts:
Eyes (Archer)
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Hi!
Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!
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Now let's keep dancing.



GGC