Life with Twins and a Toddler

We are slowly settling into our new life here. In short, we are really enjoying it. Here are some updates:

California 

The move went smoothly (thanks to lots of help from family and friends). We are renting a house here, which has been wonderful. I love having an extra bedroom, a backyard, a playroom, and a garage! This house also costs less than the apartment we rented in Washington. It is an older home and has some quirks (like aggregate flooring in part of the house!), but it is the perfect little house for us right now. We feel like real adults now that we have officially purchased some major appliances.

Extended Family

A big part of the reason we moved was to be close to our families. It is wonderful. We have been loving family dinners, time with cousins, lots of help, and grandparents loving our kids. The  Larsens are less than 5 minutes away so we see them frequently, and my mom has been able to come stay with us a few days each week. We plan on making lots of visits to my family soon (as soon as I figure out how to get out of the house with three kids). We sure love our families.

Daniel and Alexa

We have been busy trying to get everything put away and organized (while keeping the 3 kids alive and well). Moving to a new state, starting a new job, and having twins during the holiday season was definitely a lot to tackle at one time. I feel like we are finally almost getting things under control. One of my favorite discoveries here has been a grocery delivery service! You order online after the kids are asleep and then they are delivered the next morning! It is fantastic and life changing. I have also been a very frequent shopper at Amazon. I bet our mailman loves us! In other HUGE news, we both got smart phones! We finally gave in (years behind everyone else, including our parents) and got some beautiful iPhones. I think that has also contributed to the amount of online shopping I have done!

Will

Will has been an awesome big brother. He is still his mischievous toddler self, but he is so sweet to those babies. He brings them things, comforts them, and has been extremely understanding and patient. It probably helps that he has had tons of attention from all of the extended family. He keeps us on our toes with all of  the ways he wants to be independent. He regularly helps himself to treats, opens Christmas presents that don't belong to him, and even locks me out of the house occasionally. 

Kate and Emily

While having twins is sometimes difficult, they really are great babies. They have both started smiling now, which is so fun. Kate is usually a bit fussier during the day, and Emily takes her turn at night. Still, I really can't complain, because they have been sleeping for 8 hour stretches most nights. Angel babies!! Will never slept more than a few hours at a time until he was a year old, so I was not expecting this. It has been fantastic and is probably the reason I haven't gone crazy by now.

Big News!

Besides the recent birth of our twins, we have even more exciting news here at the Larsen house...

We are moving to Clovis, California! 

The kids and I are headed there this weekend, and Daniel will follow a week later with all of our stuff. We figured that the kids and I would really not be any help during the move, and it would just be better for us to get out of the way. We also thought about driving there, but decided that that would be a nightmare with two newborns that like to eat every hour or so. So, we will be flying. I'm sure it will still be crazy, but hopefully less so. At least it will be far fewer hours of craziness. We just can't seem to get away from moving with a newborn (or two!).

Daniel will be starting a new job working for a company called Sierra HR and we will get to live much closer to both families. We found a house to rent that is 5 minutes from Daniel's family (and about 2.5 hours from my family). We are so excited to spend more time with them and get some extra help too.

Speaking of help, we have had some awesome helpers with us lately. First, my mom came the week before the babies were born. I was so happy to have her here to watch Will while we were in the hospital. We took advantage of our last few days before the babies. We did lots of fun things with her (including pink pedicures with twin flowers - ignore the very fat pregnant feet!), and Daniel and I even went on a date to P. F. Changs. Will thought she was there to play with him 24 hours a day!

 

Next, Daniel's mom came. We loved having her. Will quickly made the switch and found a new best friend to play with!

We also had lots of wonderful friends and church members who visited and brought us many dinners. We are so grateful for all of the help!

Newborn Pictures

I have several things that I need to blog about, but I am just. so. tired. Each day is a blur of feedings and naps. Thankfully my mom is still here to help, otherwise I would be getting even less sleep (which seems impossible). So far, twins are definitely a bit harder, but they are just so darn cute at the same time! So until I have more free time (and less sleep deprivation), here are a few random pictures from our newborn photo shoot. I'm saving my favorites for Christmas cards and gifts, though.

Our family of FIVE - crazy!

Sweet Emily 

Sisters 

Darling Kate 

One of my favorites!

 

The best big brother



Hospital Adventures

On Sunday morning, a few hours after the twins were born, we had a special visitor!

We've been hyping the arrival of the babies for months, so it's nice that Will is (for the moment at least) loving it.

And which hospital visit isn't complete without one of these?

I'm feeling like twins is harder, so far, than having only Will. It's especially hard on Alexa, who's been able to tandem nurse. Still, I've missed an hour or two of sleep, and I'm fairly sure I was sleeping (in one form or another) when Alexa snapped this.

They are so sweet, though!

Soon enough, our hospital time came to an end and it was time to pack up and ship out. We got into car seats.

But Mom wasn't finished. We needed... bows...

First, take the "Girlie Glue" (yes, that's a thing)...

...and then add the bows. Cake. Instant "awwww!"

Then it was into the car, which now has a full back seat.

Grandma and Will had prepared a fun homecoming for us!

We're told that the door originally looked like this...

...but the wind caught the balloons and both bottles rolled down the stairs.

Miraculously, they survived, and we were able bring them out for a quick picture.

Will was more than happy to help carry in the car seats.

He'd drawn a poster for us (with Grandma's help, of course.)

We're so excited for the new babies!

They're Here!

After a bit of a slow start, come 2:30am Sunday morning we were ready to get started.

Because a twin pregnancy is naturally "high risk," we would be delivering in an actual OR. Most everyone (including Alexa) got to wear a cap.

As a "civilian," I got the whole get-up.

And then we were off to the OR in the wee hours of the morning.

It was good we had all that room, too! Each baby has their own team, and so there were quite a few of us hanging out in there by the time we got started.

First came Kate, who was born just a little after 3am. She weighed 6 lbs 15 ounces, and came right out.

She was excited to meet Mom.

Emily took a little bit longer. Luckily, she was head down. Had she been breach, we likely would have needed a c-section to get her out. Unfortunately, she was facing the wrong direction (O.P., which stands for something I can't remember) and was face up, and Alexa had to push till almost 4am. Emily was a dainty 8 lbs 6 ounces (that's 8 ounces short of Will as a baby!).

We got our fantastic doctor, Dr. Vold, to pose by the little ladies he helped welcome into the world.

Once more, here's Emily Jane...

And Kate Elise...

And Mom (soooo tired after one hour of sleep all night)...