Wading back into the water

I may have broken a new record with time away from the blog.  Whoops.  Sorry, y'all!   I'll try to be better from now on.   

To be honest, my biggest reason for not blogging recently is just that I don't know what to say.  Maybe it's a touch of writer's block, maybe it's fear of putting myself out there, maybe it's just being super busy.  I'm not sure.   What I do know is that I desperately miss writing, and need to make more time for it in my day-to-day life.   I may not have a ton of important things to say, or even get the most clicks out there.....but I miss having a place to go and just write.

So here we are, back in the Circus Tent.  A lot has happened in two years.   Shall I catch you up?  (like there's any other option, haha).

So the Reader's Digest version of happenings at the Circus Tent....here you go:

Miss E is growing like a weed and is no longer a teeny tiny baby, but a full-on toddler.  With full-on toddler likes and dislikes and funny stories and tantrums.   And currently in the "must stick to Mom like velcro" stage.   I'm sure you can imagine how much fun that is.  ;)

We've moved across the country yet again.  We're now in the midwest again, in what we lovingly refer to as the "frozen tundra" of the United States.   Or as the boys call it, the "Arctic of the United States."  Don't believe me?   Here's proof - this is what we did today.  On April 7th.  

Why yes, that's snow.   A good 5-7 inches of fresh powder.  We're going snow shoeing as a family through it.   It feels like it's 16 degrees outside.   Welcome Spring!

In all honesty, though, we're enjoying this winter.   It's not as bad as what I was anticipating, even after living in Maine.  Just like in Maine, no one is scared of the winter and the cold here - you just bundle up and go outside and enjoy it anyway.   We've rediscovered a love of winter sports, and I'm actually not impatiently waiting for the snow to melt.   I'm dreading mud season starting.  

Everyone's growing bigger and stronger and smarter.  I'm standing at the edge of homeschooling high school with Mr J, which is slightly terrifying, so if you have advice for that, send it my way.  I'll take it all!  The rest of the kiddos are plugging along, and homeschooling is still the right choice for our family.

Mike's job is what brought us back to the midwest.   We loved Maine, but after a really scary health issue (I got pneumonia which morphed into sepsis and was really sick for months, which led to discovering that I have an aortic aneurysm - basically a bubble in my aorta), we realized that we were pushing ourselves too hard, too much, and were too stressed.  We wanted to be back around family again, and wanted to slow down our pace of life.   Mike wanted to be home and able to be a father again, instead of working 12-13 hours a day and collapsing into bed when he got home, only to get up and work a 24-72 hour shift once awake again.   His profession necessarily requires a crazy, hard schedule, but it's better now.  

My biggest commitment recently has been getting my health back in order.   I'd managed to pack on a good 60 pounds since moving back to Maine, and while two babies in two years had something to do with that, the real truth was that our lifestyle and the stress that came with it led to a lot of putting myself last.   I didn't take care of myself.   That's been my biggest goal since moving last November, and I'm happy to report that I've lost almost 40 pounds.  I still have almost 40 to go, but I'm getting there.   I finally have hope again that it's possible.

One of the goals with our move was to allow me more time to write - to check in with you guys, to develop some ideas that have been bouncing around in my head, and share a little bit more of our life with you.   A crazy, Catholic, homeschooling, Down syndrome advocating, vegetarian loving, chaotic three ring circus.   I hope you'll join me!