mama of the week #1: mamabear!

[brooklyn_warbler]

hi christine!

some questions for you...

* what is your favourite time of year, and why?
* how did you meet your husband?
* what are you most excited about re: having twins? what are you most nervous about?

[yogachick79]

Oooh I want to play too! (I always seem to miss these or ask too late )

- what is your main craving right now?
- what is one thing that you would love to have/need that you don't have yet?

[*GreenMama*]

How many children do you want/plan on having? How did you come by that decision?

Tell us about your most memorable vacation.

[*Lindsey*]

What are your greatest joys as a mama?

What are your biggest challenges as a mama?

[scheelimama]

What have you done in life that you are most proud of?

What was your pre-mama life like?

[Mama Bear]

Hooray - I am excited to be one of the mama's this week! :

Originally Posted by robina_josephine

* what is your favourite time of year, and why?
* how did you meet your husband?
* what are you most excited about re: having twins? what are you most nervous about?

My favorite time of the year is the fall season. Everything about it just evokes in me feelings of warmth, family, friends, good times. I love the scents of the season - cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, etc... I love the crisp air and changing of the leaves. I love being able to pull out sweaters and browsing through catalogs drooling over the latest fall clothing lines. I love anticipating the holiday season.

I met my dh July 4, 1998. It was the summer before my senior year of high school. I had been working earlier that day as a cashier in my local supermarket. A good friend (Kevin) of mine came in to pick up some stuff with his family for a BBQ they were having later that day and invited me to come over after my shift. I didn't have anything else to do, so I eagerly accepted their invitation. While there, Kevin told me a friend of his from church was coming over soon. In walked a cute guy and I, totally out of character, just started chatting up a storm and we just hit it off. I was 17 he was 21, so I was quite surprised that he showed any interest in me - I didn't think he's care to converse with a high school girl. But by the end of the evening, I had his number and he had mine.
I called him the next day (how very patient of me) and we had our first 'date' a few days later on July 9. Exactly 1 year later - July 9, 1999 - we were married!!!

I am most excited about seeing what these babies look like and what their personalities are like. I am excited to see the interacting with each other and their older brother.
I am most nervous about being able to handle 3 boys!!! :

[Mama Bear]

Originally Posted by yogachick79

- what is your main craving right now?
- what is one thing that you would love to have/need that you don't have yet?

anything edible okay, seriously right now - I am craving to be able to sleep on my stomach

I would love to have/need more family close by to be able to support us and help us.

[Mama Bear]

Originally Posted by *HolisticMama*

How many children do you want/plan on having? How did you come by that decision?

Tell us about your most memorable vacation.

We always talked about having 2 kids - ideally a boy and a girl. It just seemed like a good amount to handle since there's 2 of us and then 2 kids. We joked that if our first pregnancy was twins, we'd be done. I guess God had different plans for us
But to be completely honest, when I got preggo this time I was kinda sad b/c I knew it would most likely be the last time I was pregnant. I almost felt like 2 wasn't enough - I never told dh this though. So when I found out we were having twins I was quite excited and it made things feel more complete. I am completely okay with not having any more after these 2 (and so is dh )

My most memorable vacation...hmmm...well this past April we visited family in S Florida and announced my pregnancy in person (this was very early on and we didn't know yet about the twins). With ds, we had just moved out of state and annouced our pregnancy over the phone, so being in person this time was really special. We also spent a few days at Disney on the way back home to Atlanta. It was ds' first time there. So I guess that was the most memorable vacation so far

[Mama Bear]

Originally Posted by *Lindsey*

What are your greatest joys as a mama?

What are your biggest challenges as a mama?

I've been thinking about this one for a while

My greatest joys as a mama are the little moments I share with my son. When I watch him from a distance playing and interacting with his toys, I am amazed at what an amazing little kid he is. When its early in the morning and he still is half asleep and I hold him and he looks up to me and says 'I like you mommy'. When he discovers something new and doesn't think anyones paying attention, and then he makes eye contact with me and realizes I've been paying attention the whole time and we share in the excitement together.

My biggest challenge is being consistent. Maybe its partly due to pregnancy and fatigue, but somedays I just give in.

[Mama Bear]

Originally Posted by scheelimama

What have you done in life that you are most proud of?

What was your pre-mama life like?

There are many things I am proud of. Other than the obvious that I am proud of my status as a mommy, I guess the thing I am proudest of is that I worked my butt off in high school (academically speaking) in order to get scholarships for college b/c I knew there'd be no other way I'd get to college. My family was in no way able to help me pay for college nor did I get any support for all the hard work I did. It was all self-motivated. I was able to get a full scholarship and then some. I graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts.

My pre-mama life was much more relaxing, though I didn't realize it until after the fact I was in school full-time, graduated in May 2003, moved to Atlanta. I then took a full-time job as an Insurance Underwriter for AIG, which I hated. Quit it in Dec and found out we were pregnant, so I never wound up going back to work anywhere. I was very social and involved in high school. When I started college, I just wanted to focus on academics so I didn't get involved in many activites. I was already married, so no big parties or clubbing or anything like that. I've never really been into that. We spent a lot of time with family b/c they were close by then. I just enjoyed spending time with dh. We were and still are home-bodies.

[Googy]

Do twins run in your family or was this a total suprise???

[Mama Bear]

Originally Posted by Googy

Do twins run in your family or was this a total suprise???

Both

I've known for a while that my mom was a twin. Unfortunately, her twin brother was stillborn. I also had vaguely recalled my mom miscarrying twins in early pregnancy with her 2nd husband. Since there aren't any twins alive in my immediate family, it wasn't in my mind that the possibility was there.

It wasn't until after we found out about the twins that I asked my mom how far back twins run in our family. Supposedly it hasn't skipped a generation going back to my great-great grandma : And one of my mom's cousins' has 2 sets of twins. So I should've figured I had a pretty high chance! My older sister is scared to try to have more (she has 1 son) b/c she thinks she could have twins too!