Another busy week is done! Between the weather finally warming up, and getting back into running, I feel like a new person. All week, I’ve just been amazed at how much my mental health has improved by simply getting outside and exercising more. It’s been a great reminder of why I fell in love with running in the first place!
That being said, the amount of stress and pressure I’m under seems to grow every day. Taking care of five kids while being a full-time graduate student isn’t easy, financially, mentally, or otherwise. My husband and I do our best to make sure that our kids remain completely oblivious to the fact that we’re living on a pretty tight budget, and overall I’d say we do a pretty good job. The kids enjoy simple things like visiting playgrounds, coloring, baking with me, swimming in Mimi’s pool, playing board games, and playing with the same old toys over and over again, and for all of that, I am grateful.
But it won’t be sustainable forever. My family depends on me graduating law school, passing the bar, and finding a job as an attorney. I’ve mentioned several times that I’ve wanted to be a working mom for as long as I can remember, but the reality of that means feeling the pressure of needing to provide. As I begin to make payments on bar prep courses, register for my last few classes, and think ahead towards graduation in December, I can’t help but feel jealous of all of my classmates who don’t have little people depending on them. But I said when I started law school that I was doing all of this to create a better future for my daughter and I, and that goal hasn’t changed — there’s just a few more kids involved now! Being a mom in law school is a double-edged sword. I feel a lot of pressure to succeed, for the sake of my kids, but my kids are also my biggest motivation.
Week #15 Favorites
- Dr. Pepper. I’ve always been a huge Diet Coke girl, but that changed once I started exclusively pumping for twins. I saw tons of moms online claim that Dr. Pepper helped to boost their milk supply, and since I’m always looking for new things to try in order to ensure that I’m making enough for the girls, I decided to give it a try. This is one of those things that hasn’t technically been “proven,” but I don’t mind having an excuse to enjoy a yummy drink, so I don’t care!
- Little Poppy Co. bows. For only $20 a month, you can get three seasonal bows in the mail, every month! October will have fall and Halloween bows, December will have Christmas bows, May will have spring-themed bows, and so on. I did this subscription with my first daughter and loved it. Although I don’t have the subscription this time around, I did buy a bunch of their bows individually when they had a Black Friday sale before the girls were born. They’re finally at the age where I feel comfortable putting them in bows for longer stretches of time, and they look adorable!
- My husband. I told Kevin that I was adding him to my weekly favorites list, to which he said, “Well that’s cliche,” but it’s true! He really is my absolute favorite. We’re nearly three months into twin parenting, and I’m still astounded by how much better this postpartum experience has been than my first. Almost all of the credit goes to Kevin. He handles the night shifts with the twins, helps me juggle all of the bottles and pumping parts and milk storage, is still hands-on with our older three kids, makes sure that we each get time to run or recharge every week, and anything else in between. I enjoy parenting more because of him, and I wouldn’t be as recovered or happy as I am right now without him.
Week #15 Highlights
1. I ran with my daughter for the first time. I had told my husband that all I wanted for Mother’s Day was to go for a run somewhere new. Ever since we had both started running after the twins were born, we had only ever really run right from our front door. But this time, I wanted to get in my car and drive somewhere different for a run, just to shake it up. However, on my way out the door, my five-year-old daughter stopped me and said she wanted to run with me, too. How could I say no to that? She’s never really shown an interest in running before, so I was thrilled that she wanted to tag along. Eloisa was very proud that she ran her first mile in just under sixteen minutes! And I was proud watching her try something new and do something hard. Watching her get excited when we finished and be proud of herself, too, made it even better. Making this memory with her ended up being the best Mother’s Day gift ever!
2. I raced my first 5k since having the twins! When I first started running consistently almost five years ago (my run-iversary will be in November!), I was just over a year postpartum. The only running experience I had prior to that was one season of cross country in high school, so I didn’t really compare any of my running to those times. I knew that I was no longer in high school, and that I had just had a baby. Over the next five years, I ran farther and ran faster. In August 2024, I snagged a PR in the 5k before law school forced me to take a break from racing… until now! One of the reasons I signed up for this race was so that as I get back into running this time around, I have a new reference point to compare any improvement to. I’m not going to try and chase my pre-pregnancy times, at least not yet. My body has been through a lot the past year, and I want to build back up some fitness in a way that is safe and sustainable. All of this to say, I wanted to know what 5k time to compare any improvement to going forward. My main goals were to run it in less than thirty-five minutes and to have fun. Mission accomplished!
3. My friend and I went to the Cheerwine Festival. I had never heard of Cheerwine before I moved to the South, and that’s because it was created right down the road in Salisbury, North Carolina! Think Dr. Pepper, but more cherry. It’s one of my favorite Southern treats, and I’ve wanted to go to this festival ever since I found out about it several years ago. This year, I ever put it in my calendar in January! So when my friend Sara asked if I wanted to go, I immediately said yes. Thanks to her help, me, her, and the twins were able to have a great time. I tried a Cheerwine doughnut, a Cheerwine Shirley Temple, and Cheerwine shaved ice. There was also Cheerwine kettle corn, Cheerwine chili dogs, and Cheerwine BBQ, but we didn’t have any room left in our stomachs!
Sara and I each carried a baby around the festival and tried as many Cheerwine treats as we could!
Self-Care Tip of the Week: Leave Your House!
Ok, I know this is in direct contradiction to my tip from a few weeks ago, but hear me out.
Last week, my friend Gwen and I had plans to go to the zoo with all of my kids on a Saturday. Saturdays can be kind of rough in my house, however, because my husband leaves for work at 4:45am. Depending on whether or not the babies are awake, what time I pumped, and how much sleep we’ve both gotten, those mornings can be really tricky to navigate, and usually both my husband and I get way less sleep than normal. Not to mention that I swear the twins are conspiring against us, and they know that Friday nights are the nights to party. Do they frequently both sleep through the night? Yes. Is it ever on a Friday? No.
On this particular Saturday, I had woken up at 2:30am to pump, and by time I finished pumping and cleaning all of the parts, it was 3:45am, and Emersyn was waking up. Once I fed her, she was as happy as a clam, but refused to go back to sleep. After an hour of letting her lay on my bed and stare at the ceiling fan, she started to get fussy, so I tried putting her to sleep again. She continued to fight sleep hard, but finally, around 6:00am, she gave in… right as Evelyn was waking up! I texted my friend and said, “Well I guess my day started at 2:30am today, so I don’t know about the zoo.”
“That’s ok, we don’t have to if you don’t want to!” she responded.
But deep down, I knew that staying home would make me feel worse. “We might as well go, actually,” I typed back, “because I’d rather cry at the zoo than in my living room!”
We ended up having a great day, and I’m so glad I left that house even when I was sleep deprived, it took what felt like three hours to get everyone ready, and the babies fussed some while we were out. I’ve been parenting long enough to know that if you’re going to be exhausted or stressed anyways, you might as well change the scenery and let the kids run out their energy! If staying home isn’t making you feel better, try leaving!
That’s all for this week! I cannot believe I’ve been at this for fifteenweeks now! Until next time.
Step by Step Parenting 