A very large family update, including Christmas, a new member of the family, graduation, and a move across the country!

I know, I know, my last blog post was in December before Christmas... but I hope some slack can be given with all the craziness that has been happening in our lives lately! I'll try and start from the beginning and cover as much as I can without leaving out too many important points.

Videos for this blog segment can be watched at two albums:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Pirraqw7Rniz34DP9

and

https://photos.app.goo.gl/2827waKzTUNdXrHv6

I'll try to do this mostly chronologically, but no promises. This is also going to be, in part, a large photo dump and I might not caption each and every photo that doesn't need an explanation. With those notes, here we go!

Christmas 2018

 Rawley enjoyed looking at the massive "nativity scene" they had at the BYU bookstore which included like, all of Jerusalem. I'm not sure I ever looked close enough to find Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, haha.

We made chocolates in molds as Christmas presents for people :)

Many Star Wars themed ones, haha.

My mom took us and my brother and his kids to ride on a cute little train they had at a mall in Provo. Let me be clear though, Rawley LOVES his cousins. I'm pretty sure they're actually his favorite people, haha, perhaps particularly his cousin Molly - she's very kind to him and patient, and is always willing to play with him. This means that Rawley particularly likes all girls that are approximately the same age as her, because he assumes they'll be like her :) At first everyone else was going to ride on the train and I was going to go take care of some stuff related to getting contacts, but although I didn't purchase a ticket, the nice train conductor man said I should just get on the train anyway with everyone else. We then went on a nice long ride around the whole mall, and the kids thought it was very fun.

Elliott isn't in this one, he wasn't much of a fan of staying still for pictures, haha

This is, unfortunately, the only picture we have of Rawley meeting Santa. He was pretty excited about it. I feel a little bad because only after I took this photo did I see a little sign that said no taking pictures with Santa unless you're paying for them... whoops.

We went to Thanksgiving Point again this year (my sister Brooke got us free tickets - thanks Brooke!) and we went through their walk around light show. It's always a pretty fun experience; they have a lot to look at.

Gingerbread... scenes that were impressive

Another train, this time one just for posing, though. 

Rawley had a lot of fun, but he was very tired by the end!

We enjoyed Christmas Eve at Becca and Levi's house, with a yummy dinner and presents. We we particularly thankful for Becca's good cooking, especially because when it really came down to it I was a little too pregnant and tired to cook.

 

Rawley loves the books he got for Christmas :) My mom is great at finding fun books at the local bookfair.

After Christmas dinner coma.

Sometimes when you pull...

You get more than you bargained for!

Paul's sister Victoria got Rawley this kilt for Christmas, he LOVES it and wears it at least once a week (he'd probably wear it all the time if he could.) It's the tartan print for the Risk Scottish clan.

Us three in the Risk tartan print :)

Christmas morning at Gerrit and Elisabeth's house! They had a fun time opening presents and playing together a lot of the day. Rawley got a "hook" from Santa from the movie Moana that Rawley's hero Maui uses. He was very excited about it!

I had a lot of fun making Christmas nativities out of clay, and sold quite a few of them. This one was a custom order for someone who had ordered a base set from me (they wanted to be able to switch out the Mary and Joseph from the original to make different scenes.)

Grandma Suzie got Rawley this awesome tent for Christmas, he was so excited! He likes running around to his toys still and asking who gave him what (since most of his toys are presents from people.)

We got an okay family picture to send out for Christmas cards.

Big snow mountains to climb on campus!

We had fun at the natural history museum near the University of Utah. I hadn't been there since I went a while ago when my nephew Miles was approximately Rawley's age.

The rubber ball used by the Aztecs (or maybe it was Mayans?) to play that one hoop game.

Huge bones from something prehistoric.

Brooke gave us all a really fun gift of going to a space ship simulator. We reenacted a star-trek like scenario. Initially we made what would possibly be the wrong choice and ended up not saving the alien we were probably supposed to rescue, but then they let us redo it and we managed to save everyone just in the nick of time (it was pretty exciting!)

Paul was the captain, calling the shots in the scenario :)

I've been working on getting more 3-D detailed with my figurines, I think it makes a much better result than just painting the features on.

This about sums up my life with a toddler.

My aloe vera plant had a lot of babies and was overflowing its bounds, so I repotted these to keep us cheerful during the winter months. Indoor plants are super fun and I love them :)

Introducing... Charles Julius Risk!

This is me in all my pregnant glory, two nights before I got induced (Paul and I went to see a movie on campus while my mom babysat Rawley at our apartment. She kindly was out staying with us for a while until Charlie decided to make his appearance.) 

Charlie really put us through the paces with this pregnancy. I can honestly say my main side effect was mostly just getting really tired, particularly in the third trimester (which is rough with a toddler!) The other rather stressful thing was that at 37 weeks Charlie was in a breech position (meaning his legs were down, not his head.) That pretty much automatically meant I'd have to have a c-section unless he flipped on his own out of that position. I really didn't want a c-section for a multitude of reasons, so we started praying and employing a lot of different exercises and techniques to get him to flip (including crawling on my hands and knees, doing modified handstands, icing the top of my belly and shining light down at the bottom, playing music down where we wanted his head to be, etc.) I had heard on a Facebook mom's group that going to the pool and doing handstands and flips can be effective in convincing the baby to flip, so we went ahead to the pool and tried that. I noticed one of the lifeguards looking at me really funnily when he saw this extremely pregnant lady trying to do flips and handstands in the pool. 

I didn't notice Charlie flip while we were at the pool, but I did ice my belly on top and put on peppermint oil that night. I woke up in the middle of the night feeling a bit different, and I could feel a difference. I was fairly sure he had flipped, and sure enough when we went to the OBGYN to check he had flipped! We were so grateful, because we had a scheduled manual flipping by a doctor a couple days later, and there's a 50/50 chance of going into labor during that process since a baby getting flipped by a doctor is pretty stressful and can send the baby into distress necessitating a c-section right then. Thankfully though, we didn't have to do that! I suppose I can recommend the pool method since that seemed to have worked.

My OBGYN suggested that I get induced sometime close to my due date since I was measuring pretty big, seeming to indicate Charlie was a big baby. I was going back and forth on whether to get induced or not, but by that point I was pretty done with being pregnant. I even had a friend do "reflexology" on my foot to try and get me to go into labor, which is essentially a homeopathic foot massage designed to help the body do certain things like labor. Eventually I came to the conclusion that getting induced was a good idea this time (I was induced with Rawley after my water broke but I didn't go into labor on my own.) So, off we went at 6 pm on Monday to get induced, the day before Charlie's "due date." They gave me some mild drugs designed to help get my body started, and sure enough I started to go into labor. The contractions gradually got stronger, but they were a LOT better than the pitocin contractions I had had with Rawley. So I labored on my own for most of the night, but then we decided that I wanted to do the pitocin again to get things going more (since I didn't seem to be progressing much past a 4.) So I got an epidural at around 4 am, then pitocin, and then at 9 am I was feeling the extra strong urge to push after a good amount of labor and softer pushing. It was nice this time because my epidural didn't make my legs go completely numb, but I also didn't feel pain. It was pretty much perfect, because I could also feel when to push (with Rawley I had totally numb legs and it wasn't really clear to me when to push.) After my water broke, things went very quickly. My water broke at 9:35 and then he was out at 10:14. It was actually very quick, and this time they didn't have to use foreceps or anything, he just came out! Everything about this birth was sooo much easier and better than with Rawley's birth.

This time, my tailbone didn't crack/get broken, so I was able to move and walk around much faster. My milk coming in still was painful, but that's to be expected I suppose. Charlie was born at 9 pounds and 13 ounces, which is very large. The doctor who delivered him suggested that I get induced a little earlier next time since if I let my babies get any bigger than that I might have problems pushing them out. Hopefully I have a girl next time so that the baby'd be a bit smaller ;) Charlie was born with some jaundice, which cleared up on its own over a couple weeks, but it was sad to have to go get his heel pricked a bunch of times (Paul was super pro and took him since I was still recovering and stuff, and took him to his pediatrician appointments.) He was a little sweetheart from the beginning, and doesn't really cry at all unless he's tired or hungry, and is totally chill once those things are addressed.

Paul and I have been surprised by how nice it is to have a little baby in the house again. For various reasons, including that I didn't get totally wrecked by delivery this time, things have gone a lot smoother with adding Charlie to our lives than the generally did adding Rawley to our family. We love Charlie so so much. It is particularly interesting to note that we've had a few spiritual experiences surrounding Charlie - including that I felt impressed that we needed to get pregnant again, I knew soon after I knew that I was pregnant that he'd be a boy, and Paul felt specifically impressed that Charlie would be a great blessing to us. That has certainly proven to be true, as he is a great source of happiness for us. He's so cuddly, sweet, and precious, and we just love him to bits!

Charlie was actually born with "Mongolian spot" which is some excess pigmentation of the skin, and it isn't super common on caucasian babies although it does happen. We thought it was a bruise but the doctors confirmed it was that pigmentation. It faded away after like a month though, which they said could happen.

We actually only stayed in the hospital with Charlie for one night and into the next evening instead of two nights, because I was feeling pretty okay and we wanted to get home to Rawley (my mom was staying with him.) I will say though that I LOVE the hospital food at that hospital and they let moms order as much as they want for free, which is awesome. I wish I could have that kind of service for the first few months post childbirth!

Charlie's first time wearing real clothes <3

First time in his carseat before leaving the hospital. He looks like a little doll <3 <3 <3

 

This is one of our favorite pictures of Charlie - he was getting weighed by the nurse.

Ya gotta love those big cheeks! 

Charlie "gave" Rawley a balloon as a little glad to be your brother present, haha. Rawley was excited to meet his new brother, and perhaps a little confused, but overall he warmed up to Charlie pretty quickly. He's closer to him now since Charlie is a bit more interactive and less fragile.

His face kind of says it all here - "What is THAT???" hahahah

I believe this was taken right after Charlie was born. Paul was very supportive and helpful through the whole birth and of course afterwards too, taking shifts with Charlie at night and helping take care of him in all ways. Paul is also a very smart husband - while I was in labor, he went through my Amazon wishlist and bought me a few things while I was laboring and told me after I gave birth that he'd gotten me some presents :) He's a smart one, and a good husband, haha.

Life with a new baby and a toddler has been - interesting, to say the least. Rawley is generally very kind and good to Charlie, especially now that Charlie smiles at him and interacts with him. One thing I'm grateful for is that I am very happy with all things surrounding Charlie. I am fairly certain I was postpartum depressed after giving birth to Rawley, which made things pretty difficult for a while. Things are going better this time around, although it's pretty difficult to stay on top of keeping Rawley stimulated and happy while taking care of a baby, we're making it work.

Gotta get those icicles! 

We managed to make breastfeeding work for a couple months, but unfortunately we both kind of lost the ability/desire in the chaos and stress of the move. I'm exclusively pumping again, which is time consuming but at least Charlie is getting good nutrients from it.

Milk coma <3

This is pretty much what the entire postpartum period should look like.

Being a big brother is so tiring!

Charlie flipped over from his stomach to his back in like his second week of life, which was apparently pretty shocking to him, haha.

Some early baby smiles <3

We really love this baby swing, it is an awesome thing and every parent should have one.

Charlie loves staring at the mobile part and the little reflective mirror part on top.

Rawley likes wearing Daddy's clothes :)

He also loves coins.

Rawley has been pretty helpful with getting things for me for Charlie and sharing his old baby toys with Charlie which is very nice.

Must eat ALL the seaweed!

A very surprising book, apparently

For his birthday I got Paul an LED light strip that he could program and do stuff with. He was able to do cool stuff with it and it adds a little bit of fun. We used the third bedroom in Wymount as an office and then as a half nursery. We appreciated all that Wymount gave us in the almost 4 years we lived in various apartments there, but it is definitely a very basic living situation, haha.

For some reason, one of Charlie's favorite places is the changing table. He often has his best smiles and cute noises when we're changing his diaper.

Rawley talking with and interacting with Charlie

As one of our first outings as a family after Charlie was born, we went to a space themed activity at the local rec center in Provo. It was fun and good to get out of the house just a few weeks after Charlie was born.

Making  a moon out of playdough and simulating asteroid hits

Rawley likes rocks a lot and was interested in what he saw there.

One really huge thing that happened is Rawley is now potty trained! It took a while - we started around Christmas time and he finally got potty trained in May. I'm pleased though because we never even used the little training potties, we just put an insert in the toilet which Rawley puts on and takes off himself, and he uses a stepstool to get up on there. Having a potty trained toddler soon after the introduction of another baby is kind of a big deal and a blessing (it took some work and effort, but Rawley caught on pretty quickly once we really committed to it.)

Our first date after Charlie's birth, to the BYU museum of art which was pretty fun.

Victoria knitted (crocheted?) this awesome spacey blanket for Charlie.

Charlie doesn't like tummy time very much, although in the past couple weeks he pretty much always rolls onto his belly when he's placed on the ground on his back anyway.

We went to the Tracy aviary in SLC with Becca and Levi a month or so after Charlie was born. It was cool to see all the birds there, and Rawley loves Aunt Becca and Uncle Levi

Charlie has concerns about this jungle

Rawley enjoys "helping" with baby care

Spending time at the Provo temple soon before we left

Rawley loves The Little Prince book and movie, and he has the book that William gave him but it's in French - Uncle William will have to read it to him sometime

This is an entertaining photo of Rawley post-haircut

One of Charlie's first smiles, at around 2 months old

Bathtime toddler

So we went to a crawdad broil that was hosted by the BYU Southern Student association - I can honestly say that it wasn't all that good, lol, but it was a fun experience. Rawley was grossed out by them

We enjoyed going on a hike with Paul's uncle Thomas before we left Utah. On our walk in, we saw people carrying skis and I was thinking, "Why do they have skis? What's going on?" Turns out half the trail was snowy, but we had a pretty good time walking up part of the snowy part and it was nice to spend time with family and talk with Thomas.

Rawley saw rock climbers close to the entrance of the hike, and when he saw some accessible looking rocks at his height he immediately started climbing them! This happened a couple times during the hike so we had to help him as he got higher... he loves climbing!

Also, poking at the moss.

We had a little going away party before we left Utah and Molly and Miles got to hold Charlie. We think this picture is very funny because of how big Charlie was compared to Molly.

Miles looks a little more proportionate with Charlie, haha.

The Big Move Back to Virginia

So the day before we flew out of Utah to move (I flew back to Virginia with the kids and Suzanne's help), Paul took Rawley to a trampoline place for toddler time since I had won a free pass for it. They had a lot of fun!

We're so grateful Suzanne came out to help!

 

This was us in the airport. Suzanne was definitely a biiiiig help, since none of us got enough sleep (except perhaps Charlie,since he slept in his carseat and in my lap or Suzanne's on the plane.) The flight was very early out of SLC, and Rawley started to be pretty mad halfway through the two flights because he was overtired. We ended up carrying him through a large amount of airport on our layover (big props to Suzanne for helping with that too.)

Looking out at the planes

He definitely fell asleep, but not early enough in the flight so he only got like a 15 minute nap :(

Meanwhile, Paul was having an interesting experience packing up the remainders of our stuff that I hadn't already packed before leaving into the moving truck. We were grateful for William's help, he flew across the country so he could help Paul drive the truck and trailer with our car on it across the country. I'm glad because I think the whole thing went smoother because of his help. The move wasn't perfectly smooth but overall I'm very glad that Paul made it safely.

The sad story is that the kids and I got to Virginia about a week before Paul did (that was the best way to do it for a number of reasons) and about the second day that the kids and I were staying with my family Rawley and I came down with a stomach bug and fevers and we were pretty miserable. That was pretty hard to weather without Paul, and with the stress of everything - Paul and I can honestly say that it was possibly the most stressful two weeks of our lives from the time we left Utah to the time we moved into our new place, partially because we were apart, partially because we were all moving and traveling and had a lot of logistics to tackle on top of being sick, and feeling so displaced and then encountering a couple unpleasant surprises with the new place we moved into made it stressful.

So this is Rawley enjoying a smorgasbord in our new townhome. We love the location in the little town of Marshall Virginia, but it has its problems. The place is a little more dilapidated than we thought it would be with various things being broken, but the biggest issue was that the place reeked of cigarette smoke as soon as we walked in. Thankfully, with a lot of effort and expenditures on our part it smells a fair amount better now a couple months later. That was a bit of a shock though, including us needing to fix various things in the house and clean a lot of it (we didn't get to see the place before signing a rental agreement since we were in Utah.) However, although we're still getting some ripple effects from the place not being quite up to snuff, it has good things about it like a closed in backyard that Rawley really likes and the fact that it's not apartments like Wymount was, so there's no one above us so we don't have noise issues like that (finally, after living in Wymount, we don't hear our neighbors through the walls either.) Paul has been super pro and we've gradually picked up used furniture from various sources after I've found them through Facebook. It's been nice to put a little more design planning and effort into this furniture than we were able to while we were still students.One reason we moved into the place we're currently living is that we'd save a decent amount living here, and that gives more wiggle room for slightly nicer furniture and stuff than we used to have (we left most of our furniture back in Utah, it wasn't worth it to bring across the country) :)

Unfortunately these are the only photos we have from Charlie's baby blessing, but a lot of his family was there including Brad, Debbie, Allison and Val, Suzanne, and William.

So, Rawley is in fact a sweetie, but we are belatedly entering the terrible two phase in a very real way. It is becoming increasingly difficult to tolerate the fact that he is whining and or crying at least 50 percent of the time that he is communicating (and I do not think that is an overestimate.) He's a good kid but he definitely has a lot of emotions and doesn't know how to deal with them all. We're at least trying to have an enriching summer by doing something fun for him like the park or craft time, etc. every day, but getting screamed/cried/whined at so much is taking a bit of a toll on my patience and sanity. Here's to hoping we can find some good solutions soon that will help Rawley be happier (he also hasn't adjusted super well post-move as that seemed to trigger him being more whiny and such, it's a little unclear to me why.)

Charlie really wanted to steal Daddy's cards during this game, and he kept reaching for them and grabbing them.

These are pictures from when we were still at my parent's house before Paul got to Virginia.

Rawley was having a very hard time sleeping, in part because we didn't have a bed or crib for him :(

William happened to be dropping by in Bridgewater and so he stopped by a couple days before he flew out to help Paul with the move. Charlie was very pleased with him.

We picked a bouquet for Grandma Larsen

We love Wildwood park in Bridgewater! I have many fond memories there, and now they've added this little overlook spot on the dam.

This was at Brad and Debbie's house (they let us stay there the night before we moved in since they're our closest family to where we live now, which was very kind) and Rawley was enjoying playing "footsies" with Charlie. Charlie loves Rawley and smiles at him often, and Rawley brings him baby toys and is almost always gentle and nice to him. Sometimes Rawley also dances for Charlie or makes funny faces to help him be happy.

Rawley's first day at our new place, and he'd been having a hard week being sick and needing naps. Here he is finally deciding it was okay to take a nap as I sat there with Charlie, just watching Rawley until he felt secure enough to fall asleep.

Rawley loves our backyard, because despite it being small, it's fenced in and he can just wander around and poke bugs with sticks to his little heart's desire :)

We happen to have the oldest continuously running Ford dealership in the country right here in Marshall, and they had this out in the front and Rawley (and I) though it was awesome. We walk around the town pretty often which is nice, since we can walk to the library and community center. I work out at the gym at the community center which is also nice - we kind of like this type of town living, but it's definitely a countryside community which is also ideal.

Charlie loves munching on fingers! That's one of his favorite passtimes. He also loves munching on his own fingers now.

So this was perhaps not our best idea ever, but my birthday was just a few days after we moved into the new place and we decided to go on a trip to Harper's Ferry for it. We were so incredibly stressed after the whole move that it was a little hard to *un*stress enough to enjoy the trip totally, but we still had a pretty good time and it was nice to get some time together in Virginia (big thanks to my mom for babysitting again!!) We had fun exploring and hiking there and seeing all the old houses and buildings (it's interesting how the town is built amongst cliffs more or less.)

A very old inn that I think they said Stonewall Jackson stayed at.

This was pretty funny to see outside the local fire department since we'd just had a baby recently.

There were a lot of old churches there which were used for various functions during the Civil War.

We found some old remains on Virginius Island a short hike away from Harper's Ferry.

Charlie is very fascinated by his hands, and is now also very fascinated by his toes, and he grabs them all the time :)

Aunt Becca came to visit for a while because she and Levi were here for Victoria's wedding. Rawley loved spending so much time with his aunts and uncles!

Hanging out with Uncle Chen

I guess the Scots at the wedding were trying to figure out what rain is

Victoria got married to Jon (he's from Wales) and we're super excited to welcome him to the family :) It was a great party/reception for them!

Rawley was very keen to help William use his tools.

Charlie got to meet Grandma Hill which was very cute and fun!

We enjoy spending time at the library

Giving Charlie toys to make him happy :)

I also like the opportunity I've had to garden here in this new place. These are a bunch of sticks marking my zinnias - it's hard to keep track of weeds and plants doing it this way; I'll do this better next year when I have more time to get starts instead of just planting seeds.

"He's holding my hand! He's smiling at me!" Rawley getting excited about being a big brother :)

We had a picnic all planned, but then he fell and scraped his knees just before we got there walking :( He didn't last long before he wanted to go home.

Charlie loves this chicken toy, which originally belonged to my cousin Sophie who's now 19 years old. After my aunt's family was done with it they gave it to my nephew who's now 10 (pretty sure), and then my brother's family gave it to us. So this is a very well beloved chicken by many generations of Larsen blood kids.

Just a little extra flower in his pot in my garden :)

It is definitely his favorite toy.

Paul helping me with gardening

Rawley also enjoys "helping" with gardening

Very drooly little baby

My cute boys :)

A stray cat in the townhomes was initially nice, but then we realized it was randomly biting and scratching without reason. One night Paul pet it a few times and it ran up behind him right after and bit him in the leg. So he trapped it the next day in a box and had animal control pick it up and monitor it for a while to make sure it didn't have rabies. Thankfully, it did not, not that we really thought it did, but better safe than sorry.

He should be paying attention to the bunny, but I guess he sees a plane.

First tastes of honeysuckle in the summer!

Sometimes he just falls asleep after a fun day at the park. He doesn't take naps now because when he takes nap he stays up until like 10 and that's just not cool :/

"Is this Grandma Suzie?"

Just a little peeper <3

"We're holding haaaands!"

Charlie loves his feet and toes so much!

We went to a Filipino restaurant in Manassas with my parents. It was a super yummy and a unique experience - made me miss the Philippines. I got to speak Tagalog with the owner and we all enjoyed the food.

Libraries are cool :)

We've enjoyed being able to see family so often; it's good for Rawley in particular since he really loves everyone here.

I happened to see a tiny baby praying mantis perched on the gate; I pointed it out to Rawley and he got really serious while looking at it. He and Paul named it Jimmy and we still see it around the front door  area sometimes. Rawley refers to "his friend Jimmy" sometimes.

Paul claims he's raising the boy right by feeding him cookie dough for breakfast.

Long story short, we are enjoying all the changes that have come to our family! Moving with kids is hard, and being a toddler is hard, but ultimately we're glad we've made the decisions in life we have thus far. These two boys are lights of our lives although Paul and I like being able to get away on our own sometimes too, haha. We love being back in Virginia with family and the gorgeous settings here. Paul is very happy to be graduated - he is at least somewhat less stressed than he was while in school with homework and hard classes (he's so happy to not have homework anymore!) At the same time we're still dealing with things like registering cars which is actually very complicated (we bought Victoria's car since she'll be moving to Wales soon with her husband - it's a great car and I super like it.) Being a real adult and not a student comes with a lot of paperwork and other such headaches we find, but we're wading through all of that fairly well and we're grateful for all the blessings we're enjoying right now. Hopefully I don't wait quite so long before the next blog post, but there's a rather long snippet of our lives!