Throwback Thursday: Summer 2010

Hello and happy Thursday!

Shew!! This week has kicked my tail. Besides starting back to school for meetings and professional development, Travis was out of town the past few days, so I was doing “all the things” at school and at home…including waking up at 5:30 to take Hayden to cross country. That’s usually “Super Dad’s” job!

As our summer break winds down, I’m looking back on my first summer as a “stay at home” mom with the kids.

Obviously, before the kids were born, my summers weren’t so structured or busy!

Even though it was fourteen years ago (how is that possible?!) the summer of 2010 was one of my favorites.

I was a little nervous going into that summer because juggling two kids on my own was going to be a lot of work! (Side story: I was on maternity leave from the day the kids were born (November 20) until mid-April after spring break. I had about eighteen weeks off with them. Around early February, I called Travis at work on a Friday and told him I was going to go back to work the next Monday. Being at home with two babies was hard work. Hadley had acid reflux and was often fussy…and I felt overwhelmed. He told me to hang on and think about it and that things would get better. (If I went back to school and then changed my mind, I would be giving up my FMLA) Well, we found out Hayden had colic, and about ten days later, both kids started sleeping through the night. That was a game changer! I did end up enjoying the remainder of my maternity leave with them 🙂

Anyway, that summer was so good. The kids were on a great schedule, they slept ten (or more) hours at night, took a two hour morning nap and a shorter afternoon nap, and they started to interact with each other. Honestly, we had a really great time together!

There was lots of tummy time…

…and rolling over…

…and sitting up!

They could sit by each other and entertain each other and play with toys. Plus, they weren’t crawling yet (that milestone came later in the summer), so I knew they would stay put!

(Also, FYI- Hadley was a very serious baby. I blame the acid reflux. Once she turned one, she lightened up and became her happy, free-spirited self that we all know and love.)

We were home quite a bit, but we’d go on walks and hang out on the back porch.

We even got a little pool that they could splash in on our screened in porch. They loved it.

Bath time was always fun!

They loved hanging out with our dogs, Shiloh and Scout. The pups were good to the twins.

We went to KC around the 4th of July, and that was the beginning of them wearing red, white and blue for the holiday.

On the drive back from KC, we decided to stay the night in St. Louis, so the kids had their first overnight at a hotel.

They thought it was great! Smiles and pacis 🙂

They really started to interact with each other and become besties!

I know we did more, but apparently I took less pics in 2010 😂

And…here are my big kids now:

Every summer has been great, but I will always look back fondly on those less hectic summers when they were little and needed me a bit more.

I’ve always felt like teaching has provided me a great balance with time with my kids during holidays and breaks as well as continuing my career in education.

I can’t believe next week they’ll be in high school!