a whole lot of blabbing about a couch

A close up of last post's cuteness. By the way, this is Dane with the glasses on. He's a little bigger than Alec, but in the last picture it looks like he's way bigger. He's not. I'm just a horrible photographer and I took the picture at a weird angle.

Here's Reid giving kisses. Seriously, it's...all...day...long. He sometimes won't leave a room without kissing his babies goodbye. I know, I know...it's cute. But there are a few times (of the daily hundred kisses) when I would like him to knock it off. (That's Reid kissing Dane above)

These two are really sweet best friends. When we put them in the bassinet, they're always next to each other. But they very quickly manage to squiggle themselves right up against each other. This picture has Dane on the left and Alec on the right. I think the attempt at a good photo previous to this one was with a flash, so Alec is making a "what the...?" face.

We moved into our new (in 1962) house last Saturday, and I am in love. I told Erik that my soul knows that this is my home. I'm really happy here. Erik owned a home in Tucson before we got married, but this is my first time as a homeowner and I just love it. Erik and I are trying to meet in the middle as far as decorating goes. Or, rather, Erik is trying to reel me in. That happens a lot. It's our give and take.

I found this couch on craigslist (a new obsession, searching for cool mid-century furniture at a good deal) and we pick it up tomorrow. I can't wait. I think my style is pretty vintage-modern-eclectic anyway, but I think it only makes sense in this house. I just can't picture a huge, overstuffed floral sofa in our 1960's ranch. House pictures to come, promise. Unless you'd like to see lots of pictures of boxes. Didn't think so. Rad couch, right? It's going to go in the living room (the room with the piano). This house is just over 1900 sq. ft., including a room that was the garage and at some point was converted to living space. That's very common where we are in California. The weather is so good that no one really needs a garage for that reason, and most of the homes in the area are 60's homes that are usually 1500 sq. ft. or smaller so homeowners convert the garages. We didn't look at a single home that had an actual garage. Weird, right? It's not so bad without a garage except that our house is swarming with boxes because we don't have a garage to stash them in as we get through them one by one.

Here are some cute Valentine's ideas, just for fun. I found them on the purl bee and I think I'm going to send Valentines this year. What a fun treat, to give/get Valentines as an adult.

And lastly, check out my sister's blog. I've been rudely telling her how her blog desperately needed help (I was rude about it, which is not nice, but seriously...it did). I'm now a contributing author and I posted some links to two great videos. Please go watch them. They will make your day. Nay, they will make your month, which is also to say that they just may be the best thing to happen so far in 2009.

Oh, and a HUGE thanks to all the good advice about managing the toddler/new baby situation. I'll be coming to the booth again about Reid's "food on the floor" situation, so get your thinking caps on.

Hit the fan.

One of my New Year's Resolutions is to stop saying crap so much. It's a gift for my mom, really. But, if I were to say crap, I would only say it to explain that "it" has hit the fan. I'm pretty sure that's the right expression here. Doesn't it mean that things have unraveled? That things have gotten crazy? It does? Then, yes, that's right. The crap has hit the fan.

My mom and dad left on the 29th, leaving Erik and I to man our three kids on our own. We've employed a zone defense. This past week Erik only worked half-days the first three days and then had a four day weekend. Thank goodness too, because I really needed to be eased into reality. The reality is, is that there are more babies to hold than I have arms to do it. I have, however, gotten better at the tandem nursing business. (Which, if you ask me, should be an Olympic event. I understand that for modesty's sake that it's not, but believe me, it's just as difficult as a triple axle-double loop, I'm pretty sure.) In fact, just this week I was able to put on Reid's shoes whilst nursing two babies at once. So, while it's a skill with a very limited use, I'm happy nonetheless that I'm mastering skills such as that.

So, tomorrow I enter the real world. Reality. Things like: grocery trips where I maneuver two carts-one full of kids and one for food, managing all three while at the Dr. for Alec, taking care of household problems like how I've run out of clean underwear, and maybe-just maybe-make dinner. Erik and I really, really enjoyed having my mom here and all the wonderful meals that she made. Now I need to remember how to cook after my two month hiatus. Plus, as an added dimension of tricky, I need to figure out how to be reconcile my eat-meat-very-sparingly-atarianism (which is actually just a fancy way of saying that all I want to eat anymore is smoothies, bread and cheese, and beans) with the husband's habit of eating like a regular person. We'll see how that goes.

Experiencing technical difficulties.

For the past four months we have been reaping the benefits of a nearby, unsecured wireless internet network. We were going to set up internet when we got into the home we're renting, but since we could access it wireless-ly anyway, so we just didn't worry about it. Annie said that it was stealing, and I'll have to do some soul searching about that. I replied, "hey, if they don't bother to secure it and my computer is able to access it, then it's fair game." But then I figured, how different is that from saying, "hey, if they don't want to lock up their bike, then it's fair game."? Like I said, still thinking about this one. What do you think?

I guess it's a moot point anyway, because the other day the wireless network we've been using just disappeared. So, now we have to decide if we're going to set up internet at our rental house for the last month or so that we're there before we move to the new house. (I'm writing this from a computer station on base.)

Thus explaining the lack of posts. Too bad, too. Because these babies are crazy cute. Hopefully we'll get it all resolved soon and we'll be back to our regular programming.

Whew.

How about a quick(ish) round-up of what we've been up to around here?

The month started off with a quick trip to Denver to see family, and Erik and Zach caught the Foo Fighters show at Red Rocks. Sweet.
We've enjoyed lots of Daddy and Reid time, which always produces cute pictures, so you'll see more of this adorableness. Reid loves to be wherever Erik is.

Here's Reid enjoying my rad birthday present. With weather as perfect as this, I was in the mood for a hammock. Now, I just need to deliver these babies so I'm able to get in and out of it gracefully. For now, imagine the agility of a giant sea turtle trying to get in and out.
Erik decorating my birthday cake. He was so great, and said "hey babe, I want to make you a cake for your birthday." What a lovely idea, I thought. It would have been perfect, he would have made a rainbow chip cake with rainbow chip frosting (my birthday cake of choice) and it would have been delightful. Then I got the bright idea to make a "fancy" cake, a Martha cake. Bad, bad idea. I got the recipe for the cake and buttercream frosting from this gorgeous book, and the decoration idea from a Martha book. First problem was that I didn't realize that I don't like buttercream frosting. Why? Because it tastes like you're eating butter. Gross. Second problem was that the cake was more like a not-sweet-enough-pound-cake. So, basically like bread. Gross. After we realized that the first book's frosting was so gross, I made the Swiss meringue buttercream frosting from the Martha book. If the first one was a 2 out of 10, the Martha one was a 3. Not worth it. So...all of this work (I wimped out and only made one layer because it took so dang long for the first one and I didn't want to do it all over again) for a really gross cake. Erik and I made it through half a piece each, and then threw the rest away.

However, our cake decorating skills are improved through the experience, and I love Erik all the more for putting up with a crazy wife who takes a great idea and blows it up into something ridiculous. That's two things I'm VERY good at: the ridiculous, and achieving minimum results from maximum effort. Next year I'm going to sit back and enjoy my rainbow chip. Oh, and if you want to read an awesome post about how awesome I apparently am, check this out. (If you're interested in the stories she vaguely refers to, ask me about them. They're gems. Oh, and that picture shows me rocking the bangs. I flip-flop nearly every day about if I like bangs or not. Should we take a vote? That might help me.)

Reid is learning body parts, as in "Reid where are your feet...ears...fingers? Etc. This is the response to "Where are your teeth?"

We spent an afternoon in Solvang, a cute touristy town, for Danish Days. Reid loves beans. Of any kind. When I make chili, he shovels it in. This time, however, when he was done with dinner he decided he'd clean off his hands by wiping them all over his face. I guess the chili powder caused a reaction on his skin because his face got so red! It was crazy. So we rushed him to the tub, got a quick picture, and then washed him up.
Reid is really into playing with shoes. Anyone's shoes. Today it was mom's shoes.
When I squat down to get a picture, this is what happens.
Fun at the beach. We're still working on teaching Reid not to put his face in the sand to taste it.
Reid and dad digging a hole.

Deeper.
Then we thought it would be funny to bury my legs in it. It actually was really funny, and for those of you asking for belly shots, here you go. Not great, but I'm not feeling very photogenic lately.
Reid playing with dad's gloves. Old uniform stuff makes for great paintballing attire.
On this day, it was dad's shoes that intrigued him.

Reid and dad watching cartoons.
Erik cut up a box (from our sweet new double stroller) into a little house. Reid would walk in, peep his head out the window, and then SQUEAL with delight. I couldn't get enough of it.
Playing with dad's motorcycle helmet.
Playing with his new bucket for the beach.
As you can tell, Reid's pretty easy to please. Just give him something that's not really a toy and he'll have a good time. Throw in time some with daddy and it just upgraded to a GREAT time. I'm 28 and a half weeks along, making the countdown only about 8 weeks until these babies come. I'm feeling very large. I'm bigger now than I got with Reid when I delivered, so it's going to be a long 8 weeks. We're still working on names, but other than that I'm feeling calm (well, calm enough) about the impending changes. Look for another post in the next few days about my thoughts as to all that's going on in the world outside of our little family of three (...five).

Out of order

The following pictures are not exactly in perfect order, but then again, that's a pretty good description for life lately. Things are good, and starting to feel a little more settled, but still a little crazy. Here are some highlights:
Heck ya. That would be us at the beach, the beach that is like 10 minutes from our house. It's a nice, mellow, relaxing beach. The temperature doesn't reach more than 75 around here, so the beach isn't quite like a San Diego beach or anything (thank goodness), it's just really beautiful and foggy and peaceful. There's always a nice breeze (thus, the crazy hair you see above), but it's so pleasant. Just about heaven. (I've had some requests for shots of the belly, and I don't really think you know what you're asking for, but here's one... sort of. I'm 23 weeks now, and these babies are picking up speed and getting bigger by the hour, or so it feels. But they are healthy and developing well, and I'm still feeling pretty decent, so...so far, so good.)
I think we have ourselves a little beach baby.
He loved playing in the sand. He was crawling all over, rolling around in it, sitting, on all fours, digging with his hands, digging with his feet...he LOVED it.
Erik's parents were able to visit us for a weekend, and we were so grateful to have the company, and the help! (We are the new owners of a sweet Toyota Sienna, but it seemed like we were at the dealership for forever! I don't know what we would have done without the help! More details to come.)

Again, these aren't in order, but this is from a fun family dinner in Midway a few weeks ago. Reid shares my excitement about being able to get good mexican food now that we're in the lower 48.
Unpacking. It was so fun watching Reid get so excited about all of his old toys. Since he hadn't seen them in a month, it was like they were brand new. And a box to play in? Life is good.

This is what our place looked like for a good week straight. Our packers did an excellent job wrapping things. So much so that we were swimming in paper. We're renting the home we're living in now so we can have some time to figure out where we want to buy, so we're keeping all the paper and boxes to move ourselves again in a few months. I should take a picture of what things look like now, because every one of those papers has been laid flat an put in a nice pile, ready to use again when we move. Oh, and check out the clothes laid out on the couch. When we moved in we realized a problem. Our dryer is electric, and the hook-up is for gas. We ended up going to Home Depot and picking up an inexpensive gas dryer, but for a week or two we were using other means.
Reid and Grandpa Olsen playing at the beach.

This is from the drive down. In the Redwood National Forest there's this place where you can pay $5 to drive through a tree. Worth $5? I don't know, but it was pretty cool to see.

From our trip to Utah. I love the little planes that you can walk in and out of. I don't think I will once the babies are born and Erik and I are each holding a baby while trying to corral Reid, but for now it makes me feel like Jackie O.
Erik took this shot of the Salt Lake City temple. I love that city, and the temple always manages to take my breath away. I love walking around Temple Square, seeing the sights, and feeling so grateful to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. In a special way, being near a temple always feels like home.
Another picture of enjoying a cool mexican restaurant in Midway. Erik's taking the picture, Reid has his eyes half closed, and Annie has a face full of food. Awesome. It was such a fun trip to be with family, Thanks Mom and Dad!

So, that's what we're up to. I intend to post a little more regularly, with little snippets of life here on the central coast and in the Olsen home. We're only about 3 months away from the arrival of our sweet baby boys, so things won't be settled for long. But that's okay. I like things to be a little crazy. As if you didn't know that already.

Coming out of our ears

News that is. News is coming out of our ears. Things are changing at a very rapid pace lately. Let's break it down.

1. The news I'm most excited to share is that we went to Anchorage on Wednesday for an appointment with a specialist, a perinatologist. We found out at 10 weeks that we were having twins, and since then we've had 4 or 5 ultrasounds, all showing that the babies are in one amniotic sac and share one placenta. That makes them "mono/mono" twins if you want to wikipedia it, but the bottom line is that it's the riskiest kind of twins you can have...well, second to conjoined twins. The mortality rate for mono/mono twins is 50% and they frequently elect to deliver them early, like at 32 weeks or so, because of the risk of entanglement (which is the cords wrapping and kinking on each other). Basically, it's no good. On Tuesday night I asked our good friend Ben Borrego to come over and be there when Erik gave me a blessing. The two of them gave me a blessing and I felt very peaceful about the appointment. Well, on Wednesday we very clearly saw a division between the babies...meaning there is membrane between the two...meaning they are in their own sac! This is incredible news for us. This means that the entanglement risk is gone, and depending on how the babies grow (if there is any complications of Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome or not, wiki that one too if you're interested) I may be able to carry them until 37 weeks or so. I had prepared myself for very small babies and lots of hospital time, and while we're not out of trouble just yet, things are looking so much brighter. For me, it was a miracle and an answer to many, many prayers to see that they are in separate sacs. I'm just elated.



2. On Friday and Monday the packers came and boxed everything up, they loaded the truck on Tuesday, and Wednesday morning we signed out of our house. It all happened so fast, but amazingly everything has gone very smoothly. We stayed up until 2 am cleaning to be ready for our housing inspection, because we couldn't really start cleaning until after the packers moved everything out (actually, until after we got Reid to bed). We put a lot of work and elbow grease into it, and the inspection went a little something like this: they walked around, pulled out the fridge and made sure it wasn't gross back there, and then said when we're ready we can sign the papers. I was so jazzed that it went so well, but I actually wanted her to praise me, profusely, for the stellar cleaning job that I had done. Especially the stove/oven. You should have seen how sparkling clean that thing was. Oh well. It's done. That's good enough. I guess.



3. This morning we fly out of Alaska for good. We've been here for three really wonderful years, and it's hard to believe that it's already over. I'm all nostalgic about my cherished Alaskan memories lately, but I think it has a lot to do with the fact that the summers are so gorgeous. I'm glad we're leaving on a high note. If we were leaving in January or February, I don't think I would be so nostalgic.



4. We're still on the hunt for a house. We've done a LOT of looking online, but hope to meet with a realtor soon after we get to CA and start making something happen. I can't wait to get settled. I've got a crazy nesting instinct lately, but no nest. This little mama bird needs a nest for all her babies. We'll be on the road until next Friday, so catch us on the cell phone for a chat.



5. So, today is the day. The day we leave Alaska. I've really loved it here, it's been a wonderful home for Erik and I to grow together as a family. We've met some lifelong friends that I pretty much regard as family now. Being away from my own family was hard, but we were really blessed with the right friends, right when we needed them. Ah, I am getting all nostalgic. I think I feel a certain Green Day song coming on. No, wait...it's a Sarah McLachlan song. I think you know the one.

The Olsen twins

Our newest news is that our identical twins are little boys. So, while we can't name them Mary-Kate and Ashley, we're consoling ourselves by referring to our as-yet unnamed boys as Rod and Todd. Yes, I know that the Flanders boys weren't twins, but they have such great names.

I've got a good excuse

So, yes...things around here have been a little crazy lately. Just goes to show that just because I haven't blogged in over a month, it doesn't mean that there isn't news to share. In fact, we've got some pretty great news. Double news.
How many heads do you see in the above picture? The answer is more than one and less than three.
That's right, we're having twins! This Christmas I'm going to get two babies!. And if you're trying to do the math in your head, I'll save you the trouble. Erik got home at the beginning of March...it adds up. When I called my family to tell them most of them paused for a little bit to do the math. A little funny and a tad insulting. But it all adds up. Our plans have changed quite a bit since we got the good news. Our house and car plans have drastically changed. We're going to have to upgrade straight to a minivan when we sell my awesome little Subaru. And we are no longer considering any home makeover-type houses. No fixer-uppers for us. Thinking about it now is almost laughable. We know that the twins are identical, but we don't know yet if Reid is going to get brothers or sisters. We're excited to find out which it'll be. In other news...check out some of the fun things we've been up to. A few weeks ago I was curious to see if Reid fit into his ginormous Yoda costume yet. He doesn't.

A really lucky shot of Reid as he's just about to sneeze. Cracks me right up.
Adventures in self-feeding.
Playing with a fun train toy that Grandma and Grandpa Traynor gave him for his birthday. He LOVES it.
Helping me clean, this was the day that Erik came home from his 5 weeks in Alabama.
We stopped for lunch after picking up Erik, and as you can see, it doesn't take much time for Reid to completely forget about mom. Their readjustment time is always about 30 seconds.

Erik reading a magazine and Reid reading the annoying fliers inside.
This is the little plane that Erik has been learning on. He's thisclose to finishing his pilot's license.
When Erik rides his motorcycle to work he wears this vest for visibility. One day when Erik was home for lunch I put it on Reid as a joke, and then he didn't want me to take it off. This is the face he would give me when I would reach for it.
Reid loves to read. He picks up a book and points to things on the page, jabbering the whole time. It's too cute to explain.
Adventures in Alaska. This is a gift shop that in a brochure was described as the "classiest gift shop you'll ever see." That was a lie.

The gang at the Yukon River crossing.
Finally! We made it! We drove to the Arctic Circle, and this sign is pretty much it. We thought the drive would be about 3 hours from Fairbanks, but we were wrong. It was about 6 hours from Fairbanks, so that makes it 12 hours roundtrip. Crazy. More than half of the distance was unpaved road, so that's part of why it took so long. But, we can say we did it, we were in the Arctic Circle!On Saturday there was a party for our good friends the O'Neils. They are moving to Kansas this week, and we are sure going to miss them. The party was at Chena Lakes and Reid loved all the nature that he could play in. Here's him discovering many, many rocks.
Playing in the water.

He LOVES water, but we just couldn't get a good picture of him with his eyes open. I think I'm going to find a mommy-and-me swim class for us when we get to California.

So that's what's new. Our little (but growing) family enjoying our last summer in Alaska.