the steep learning curve.

i think almost everyone would agree that 2016 was a WEIRD year. so many weird things happened globally and personally! i'm super pumped it's behind me. i love new years, but mostly because it means only 4-ish more months before warm temperatures;)

but i will say, as a family we've learned a lot this last year. A LOT. like for instance:

- "put God first all the time and everything else will fall into place or fall out of your life." quote from my dad, quoted from someone else, who probably quoted that from someone else.. you get it. BUT we believe it. this has been an entire year of introspection for us and we testify that this is true.

- we've learned that if you need to get a heavily addicted child to stop sucking his/HER thumb, you should replace it with something fun to hold. in our case this was chapstick/lip smackers. i came across this solution by accident when i stumbled upon an unopened disney princess chapstick and gave it to remzer. she was so focused on the chapstick that she stopped sucking her thumb. so now she has a purse full of 15 or so chapsticks that she gets to hold 24-7 (that's 100% accurate). if she sucks her thumb she gets a chapstick taken away, and hear you me, that's pretty much the end of the world for her.

- we've learned that there aren't many greater blessings than having an eternal family. watching these two love each other truly makes our heart want to burst. it's the best. and even on those days when they're both screaming (they egg each other on, i swear.), and we get 3 noise complaints in a week, that's fine. because sometimes you have to be loud to create memories.

- we've learned to consider living in NYC a fun blessing. we've created a community here that we could not have anywhere else. the kids love our neighbors, super, the pigeon lady, the cashiers at the store, etc... because we don't have family there, we only have our friends. and we've created unparalleled relationships there. every night we go to bed tired of trying to survive in that jungle, but so does everyone else. and that gives us something to bond over.

- we've learned to relax as parents and let the kids live. germs still scare me (and subway germs will never change status in my book), BUT we let the kids roam and pick up weird and gross things. we've learned the importance of socialization and treating kids like a person. they are little people and i think sometimes we forget that.

- we've also learned the importance of giving praise. remzer said to me the other day "mommy, i'm proud of you."

"why?"

"for giving me a mint."

clearly she's learned what is worth praising and what isn't.

- we've also learned the importance of being unique in a good way. we leave for church meetings at 9am every sunday and we might be the only ones in our entire building who go religiously... (lol, see what i did there?) 3pm rolls around and we go out to the playground and i'm the only mom out there. i love nannies, i think they're really wonderful people. but i'm the only mom! in utah that is LEGIT CRAZY. but in NYC that makes me unique. come 7pm when the kids are in bed, we're not sipping a glass of wine... we've got our glass of milk and cereal or cookie of choice. that might just make us weird, but we like being weird.

- traveling with kids isn't the most fun vacation you'll ever have. BUT you can't stop having fun and traveling once you have kids! that's crazy. so we've just buckled down, packed an additional donkey's worth of stuff, and taken them. it's a hassle, but we're trying to make it fun.

- we've learned to laugh more than usual. remzer asked me the other day, "why are you brushing your teeth?"

"because i don't want my breath to stink..."

she then lifted up her shirt to smell her breast......

 - aj: "what's the password??"

remie: "dino-rex."

"come in!"

no one will ever guess that password...


well except for everyone reading this.

- we've learned/decided that we are not winter people. we're winter people when we're skiing, but otherwise, nah-no thanks-we'll pass. i think our next home is going to be somewhere with 2 seasons: hot & not as hot. that sounds nice.

- life hack: if you have a blemish you wish to get rid of quickly, put some neosporin and a bandaid over it and go to bed. i'm not even embarrassed to say this was the year of skin problems for me and they were all solved with this little life hack.

- i've also learned that i SERIOUSLY HATE post-partum hair loss... like it's the bane of my existence. because of that i'm resisting my newborn baby urges/desires. i want some good solid time to enjoy normal hair before i lose it all again.

- if you want your kids (or adults) to eat all their fruits and veggies for the day, give it to them in a smoothie. here's our favorite smoothie:

- 1 green apple
- handful frozen pineapple
- handful frozen mango
- couple cups spinach
- 1/2 cucumber
- 2 carrots
- bundle mint
- 1/4 lime
ice and water

sam would drink a whole 8oz if i let him. but that would also do a number on his little digestive system, so let's not...

- we've learned to roll with the punches. it's been a big, stressful, weird year of work for secret. we've had fantastic highs, confusing and sudden lows, moments of unusual calm... all of it. when you work in finance you just learn to roll with it though because you can't really control the market. so this has been a year of patience for us as we learn to just wait for the market to get its act together.

- on that note, we've also just learned to nod and smile when people hear secret "works in finance" and they either assume he works on the NYSE floor, dinging bells and trading stocks, OR they think he "sells insurance"...... either way, most of the time it's not worth explaining what HE REALLY DOES. so we just nod and smile.

- we've learned that the best way to get through teething is to just let it happen. we've tried all the remedies besides stuff with benzocaine (a.k.a. poison) and when you cut 4 teeth at once, nothing really helps. so you just all wear earplugs, kill lots of time in the bath, take long walks and continue to buy a new teething toy a day.... teething is an expensive stage in a child's life.

- welcome to a new year! we're so pumped to have another shot at another year. we've probably got a few more years in NYC and we're determined to use these years to have MEGA amounts of fun and to prepare for the next chapter in that "hot and not-so-hot" location, wherever that may be.

i think this year we'll finally start feeling like adults, not just teenagers living an adult life. ugh, i don't know if i'm ready for that....