family pictures 2013

Merry Christmas!

Love, Scott, Cristine, Jake & The Twins

*thank you Lora Knight Photography :)

32 weeks

Well, here I am. (I despise taking pregnancy selfies, but it's all for journaling's sake.) 32 weeks along with our boy/girl twins. The beginning of this pregnancy seemed to be going by sooo slowly. Now I can't believe I'm only weeks away from being a mother of THREE. Life is going to be nuts. But a happy kind of nuts. A tired nuts. A fun nuts. Honestly, I just don't even know what to expect. 

But I do feel bad that I haven't kept as detailed notes on this pregnancy as I did when I was pregnant with Jake. So I thought I'd jot down some random little things about this twin pregnancy:

Food cravings: Everything. Seriously, everything looks good. I want a White Dragon tempura sushi roll something awful, though. But...I'm not supposed to have sushi. And the White Dragon is in Albemarle, NC. I love Outback's carrot cake. Holy yum.  Cold cereal is a staple. Really into nachos. Steak. Chocolate. You name it. 

Heartburn: Boy is it bad in this last trimester. Never had it with my first pregnancy. I've discovered it's particularly bad after eating tomato products, i.e. spaghetti sauce or from drinking soda. I hardly touch the stuff but sometimes I'm just dying to have a root beer and I cave. 

And wow, my stomach is running out of room. It is the most frustrating thing to feel STARVED then stuff your face then feel oh-so-sick because there's no room for said food because the babies are moving all around. It's pretty darn uncomfortable. I have to remind myself: "Pace yourself. Easy girl." But it's hard :(

Movement: These babies move a ton! Particularly baby girl. She is quite the acrobat. Every ultrasound she seems to have moved into a different position. She was head down mostly, then a few weeks ago went...breech. Baby boy stayed the same the entire pregnancy (sideways/transverse), then moved last week to....breech. Yep, both babies are breech. All snuggled up together, their heads touching. What mischievous little darlings.

False alarm: The day after Thanksgiving, early morning, I started having contractions. Double ouch. It lasted a couple hours but the timing of the contractions was all over the place. Still, it got me freaked. The whole family was a little freaked. Scott was at work in Santa Monica and he was majorly freaked. I kept thinking, "It's too soon! I'm going into pre-term labor! The doctor warned me and did I think it would happen to me? Nope. He said to take it easy and SIT. Did I sit? Nope." But the contractions stopped, thank heavens. It was scary enough to remind me that I really do need to be on modified bed rest. It's not like a normal pregnancy. I HAVE to sit and keep these babies in until at least 36 weeks. 

Stuff & Laundry: I've been nesting. Mainly "worried nesting" that the babies could come whenever so I need to feel prepared. I've been Dreft-ing all the clothes and blankets and burp cloths and anything that the babies might touch. But surprisingly, I have yet to buy some diapers! With Jake, his entire closet was stocked with diapers before he was born and it was so nice to just have diapers ready and waiting. Major peace of mind for some reason. So I don't know what my deal is, but I need to get on that STAT.  Heaven knows we are gonna need a lot. 

Stretch marks: Lots. 

Belly button: It's reached its end. I can't even look at it.

Feeling: Heavy. The pressure is crazy. I feel like they're gonna bust out at times. 

Doctor Visits: I used to love to see my specialist. I get an ultrasound every time and get to see the twins' cute little bodies. But now that they are bigger and running out of room, it's hard to get a clear picture of them. And I have to lay there for-e-ver while the techs move the wand thing all over my sensitive belly. It's just no fun anymore. But I am VERY GRATEFUL to see a specialist and have the babies' health monitored so closely. Everything has been going smoothly. They are moving lots. Gaining weight on trend and within just an ounce or two of each other. I really have been blessed with awesome health for this pregnancy. We are lucky. I hear twin pregnancy horror stories allllll the time and I am so happy that everything is right as rain so far. I'm resigned to the fact that I'll most likely be having a c-section. Oh well. If that's the worst that's gonna happen with this pregnancy, then fine by me. Just give me healthy babies that don't have to visit the NICU. 

Names: I hate saying in case we totally change our minds like we did with Jake. (He was supposed to be a Max, but he looked nothing like a Max.) I will say that we are 100% decided on the boy name (Maybe 99%) The girl name: Well I'm 100% set on the name I like. Scott's 100% set on the name he likes. So, we're getting nowhere fast. 

Best moment of the week: I got my City Select stroller in Ruby Red. Happy. 

So, with all that said...I just gotta make it to at least 36 weeks...which is two days after Christmas. Then we can breathe a sigh of relief. If babies are still breech at that time, my doctor will schedule the c-section for 38 weeks. Which would be awesome if I could make it that far. After 36 weeks, every extra week is gravy. 

Let's do this! 

And by "do" I mean sit in my lazy boy and watch The Paradise. 

the blessing of ryder christopher ellis

Ryder Christopher Ellis 

was blessed December 1, 2013 

by his father, Cardon Christopher Ellis

at the Peachland Building in Newhall, CA.

Congrats to my dear sister and brother-in-law!

Jake loves his cousin, Baby Ryder.

 Four Generations: Trudy, Heidi, Brittany & Ryder

 Three Generations: Heidi, Brittany & Ryder

 Four Generations: LaVonne, Martin, Brittany & Ryder

love.

thanksgiving 2013

Finally home for the holidays! No one can cook up a storm like the Larkins ladies. Tis the time of the year for homemade everything. Oh it was delicious. The babies and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Jake was ecstatic to have a gumball turkey at his seat. Scott stocked up on socks and Rita's gift cards at Turkey Bingo. I think I ate four of Aunt Mandy's to-die-for orange rolls.

my little lina

She is so grown up. 

*sigh* 

And she models for me when I get the photog bug every now and then. Lina, you can graduate from high school. That's ok. But never leave me. Stay here in California where it's warm and you can play with my children. K? Thanks. And p.s. I am obsessed with this photo of you.

halloween 2013

Halloween is so magical and fun with kids! Jake definitely knew what his candy bag was for and couldn't wait to get started. I made crockpot spaghetti--a Garrison Halloween meal tradition--and we carved pumpkins. Jake was wary of the pumpkin guts and seeds. He wanted nothing  to do with them and kept saying, "Ick!" He did, however, love wearing a wig that morning! It gave me a glimpse of what he'd look like as The Little Mermaid...or perhaps what Baby Girl will look like in the future...if she has red hair. Hah!

Once we were all ready to go, we headed out and Jake kept tripping over his candy bag. He was so excited for some candy! He was independent and brave for the first house. Then some teenager in a super scary grim reaper costume passed by and Jake was done walking. Scott had to hold him the rest of the night. He would NOT be put down to walk on his own. And it didn't help that the teenager always seemed to be nearby no matter where we went. Jake just stared that kid down--no expression, no emotion. Haha. 

Finally, that kid disappeared and Jake loosened up a bit and actually talked. One house in particular was decked out with the Halloween decorations. As we neared the door, Jake said, "It's spooooky!" Haha. I don't know where he learned that word but it was so darn cute! For the rest of the night everything was spooky--or as he pronounces it: BOOOOOKY!

With his bag nice and filled we headed home and then went to the Riddle's house to go through their spook alley in the backyard. A couple weeks before Halloween, Donald and Heather threw an adult Halloween party. Scott and I went as Deb and Kip from Napoleon Dynamite. 

Happy Halloween!

Lombardi's Ranch

I finally got to introduce Scott to my favorite Halloween tradition: picking pumpkins at Lombardi's Ranch! We went twice this year. Once with family and once with our friends the Petersons! Sophie and Jake are good little buddies and they had tons of fun running around, picking up pumpkins, pushing the cart, playing on the haystacks and eating goodies. 

Jake was particularly enamored with the "baby" pumpkins. He kept moving them around into different piles or pairing them up with "momma" pumpkins. I just love his sweet little heart. 

 Jenn & I

 a candy corn cupcake. mmm..

The Petersons

The Garrisons

Happy Pumpkin Picking to all!!