September & December Babies

It took me about a half an hour to figure out how to log into my old baby blog and I'm so glad I was finally able to get in! It's been fifteen years since I started this blog, blogging consistently with pictures and baby updates for about five of those years. The kids have grown like weeds these past few years especially, with Owen nearing his dad's height and Vivian almost taller than me. 

Owen started high school this fall. Having been accepted to the prestigious Academies of Loudoun, he splits his time between the Academies where he's studying Engineering, and his home school, Stonebridge HS where he takes his core classes. It took a few weeks to make the adjustment of going back and forth between two different schools, but he's hit his stride and is really enjoying it now. He turned 15 last month and celebrated with his close friends at Top Golf. Although he'll be able to get his driver's learner's permit in six months, he's a little ambivalent about it. He's loving his German II class this year and is dying to visit Europe, something we're hoping to do with Ben's family in the next year or so. Owen took the fall off from swimming to focus on school but is looking forward to swimming for the Stonebridge HS swim team this winter.

Vivian is our firecracker and social butterfly. She always has plans with her friends and still enjoys baking treats in her free time. She's swimming year round with NCAP, and is in the midst of short-course season right now. In seventh grade this year, Vivi is taking French for the first time and is having fun in her home-economics class where they're doing a lot of cooking and baking. Her 13th birthday is coming up in December so we'll officially have a second teenager in the house. 

It dawned on me this year that there are only so many years left with both of the kids in the house. It's wild to me that it's time to start thinking about college visits when it feels like just yesterday I was tapping out a blog post about making toddler snacks right here on this blog. Now I'm beginning to realize the truth behind the saying "Enjoy the little moments. They grow up so fast," in regards to raising kids. Which is why I'm so thankful to have this tiny corner of the internet where I've archived so many of those tiny moments. From here they migrated to my Instagram account in 2012, where at first I posted only images of the backs of the kids heads or random things, having not yet opened up about my true identity online, new to blogging about living with bipolar.

These days neither one of the kids loves when I post photos of them online, and I don't blame them, but as a mom it's my job to document. :) And so I'll take every chance I get to pose with them in a photo (Owen has his first Homecoming dance tonight and I'm hoping to get some good ones!) to capture the memories because they fly by so fast.