We're back!

You may be staring at the screen in shock, stunned that we are posting on our blog again. Or perhaps in disbelief that we still know how to operate a blog (debatable). Or in confusion as to who we even are or why you follow our blog . If you are of the third group, I will give you a bit of time to go look at our old posts to get caught up and see if that helps.
I'll wait.
Great, welcome back.
So, to catch you up a bit on what has changed with us.
1. Children: Gabriel is 3, soon to be four. He is a chatterbox who loves to tell stories about racecars, cow horses (white horses with spots), and lately bunnies, who apparently get about some quite remarkable things outside the window next to his bed.
Hudson: loves to laugh. He has a great big belly laugh that makes everybody else smile. He loves to let people tickle him, to the point that if you stop, he'll put his chin on your hand to let you pick right back up again.
Oliver: is very affectionate. He loves to give hugs and hold hands with hia brothers. He also likes to charge headfirst into the arms of whoever is on level with him.
2. Jobs: I start a new job next week as a service tech for Dish. I also deliver papers in the mornings.
Katheryn is looking for a new job and updating her nursing license because of our change of...
3. Location: we moved up to Minnesota in November, and moved in with my parents. In January, we moved up to Woodbury to live in our friends basement, the same friends whom we moved to Minnesota help. And as of tomorrow we will be moving into our new...

4. Home.  Its a bit of a fixer upper.  Most of that work has been done, and we will upload work in progress and finishes pictures soon!

Playing Catch Up

So, a few things have happened since I blogged last. No. That is a lie. A TON of things have happened. (Can I insert the excuse of being in survival mode this past year?) Take for instance the fact that Hudson and Oliver are now 1 year old. Gabriel, who has been celebrating his birthday a month early thinking that every day now is his birthday, will be 3 this month. Jon and I? We have to sit and think for a bit before we can remember how old we are. We aren't even 30 yet, right? We just feel like we are older than we actually are. 
Other updates? A few years ago some friends of ours, Steven and Priscilla Gilbertson started a ministry in Woodbury, MN. They went to MN with the goal to start churches in the Twin Cities area. When they first started they kept inviting us to come up and work with them, to which we just smiled and said, "Oh, maybe someday. We will see." This past year God has made it clear that this was the ministry and the timing that He wanted us to pursue. This lead to us quitting our jobs and moving to MN. Right now God has us in limbo. We have pursued many job opportunities before moving but God chose to close all of those doors. Similarly we looked into housing options, but could not pursue them due to the lack of a job. In the midst of all the uncertainties God kept cementing in our minds His plan for us to be in MN. 
Now we are here, living in MN. I can tell that we moved north, because today there is even snow on the ground. God has provided a part time job for Jon while we continue to search for a full time job. The boys seem to be adjusting well, although Gabriel keeps asking to go back to his home - which breaks my heart every time he asks. 
Our church, Resurrection Baptist, will have it's first service this coming Sunday. We are so excited about our new "adventure" and hope to keep you updated all the more about our growth. And cute kid stories. Who doesn't love a cute kid story? (Like the fact that I am no longer Mama, Mom or even Mother to Gabriel. I am "Mudder") So... more to come, but I hope you feel a bit more updated for now!

What to my little ears did I hear?

Gabriel is getting to have quite the vocabulary. So we are starting to be able to have conversations with him and hear some truly funny and cute things come from him. For instance...

• "Mommy, car owie." Does the car have an owie? "Yes." Do you want me to kiss it? "Yes." Okay (one Mommy kiss). "Mommy, car owie." Does the car need another kiss? "Yes Mommy." (One more kiss) "Thanks, Mommy."
• Skyping Grandma and Grandpa Jensen, Gabriel suddenly stands up and goes to the door. "Go." Gabriel, we aren't going anywhere. "Go Gramma's house". (What Gramma's heart doesn't melt at that?) "Go Mommy's house. Go Gabriel's house."
• What is your name? "Name... Gabe!" How old are you? "Tree!" No Bubba, you aren't 3. "Tree" he says nodding and walking away. Somehow he snuck another year in there on me.
• Walking in Target, just having gotten there 2 minutes prior Gabriel starts hollering "CAR! ARE YOU?" repeatedly... looking at the ceiling for the cars to magically appear. This lasts a few aisles. Oddly, no cars fall from the ceiling. Thank goodness!
• Driving home from Target (same day!) we were at a stoplight and a garbage truck drives by headed the opposite direction. "GARBAGE TRUCK! GARBAGE TRUCK!" A small pause to watch it drive by, then "GARBAGE TRUCK! HURRY DADDY! GARBAGE TRUCK! HURRY!" What 2 year old doesn't love a good garbage truck chase? 
• Gabriel, what is the baby's name? "Hudson" And what is the other baby's name? "Hudson". They both can't be Hudson. What is this baby's name? "Riah." (Riah is his cousin that he hasn't met yet, but already loves very much!)
• Last night I was stalling before putting Gabriel to bed and I started to tell him a story about when I was a little girl. It was a good long one, and Gabriel just sat watching me, actively listening, even laughing and nodding his head at times. When did my baby get to be so old?
• "Coffee!" Gabriel, do you want some coffee? "Coffee... Blech!"
• I usually drink my coffee with my spoon still in my cup. One day Jon brought me coffee without my spoon and Gabriel noticed and started pointing and saying "Spoon! Mommy... spoon... coffee. "
• Gabriel will often talk to himself while he plays, and it is always fun to tune in and listen to him. "Car - Beep beep. Truck -Vroom vroom. Fire truck - Wee oo wee oo. Tractor - put put put."
• Early in the morning sometimes the twins will cry and you can just replace their pacifiers and they will go back to sleep. One morning Jon gave the twins their pacis and a sleepy Gabriel softly said "Thank you Daddy".
• And my favorite "Babies! I wuv oo!"

Update from Hudson

Me and Ollie

Dear Blog Friends,

Ollie with Brothers toys

Oliver and I are doing quite well. Mommy hasn't updated you because she has trouble finding time to sit at the computer while her brain is still functioning. Silly lady. So we thought we would fill you in a little. First of all... we are very happy to be out of that squished space in Mommy's tummy. We both really like to kick and squirm. We even started rolling from our tummies to our backs - that is how much we like to move! To prove how happy we are we both started smiling and cooing. It seems to make Mommy and Daddy happy when we do that. Big Brother is funny too and he makes us smile sometimes too. He likes to share his toys with us too, even when we are sleeping! He get excited when he sees us in the morning and he calls both of us Hudson until Mommy and Daddy remind them that one of us is Oliver, we can't both be me!

Me doing my Superman pose while Ollie watches

Sometimes Mommy lets us sleep together for naps, but usually one of us is awake. Oliver likes sucking on the back of my head - that keeps me awake. Of course he said I started it by sucking on his nose the day before, but hey - I was sleeping and my paci fell out! A baby needs to improvise every once in a while! We are sleeping through the night but like to stay up late and wake up early. There are just too many exciting things out there to see to stay asleep for too long! Like getting visits from Nana and Papa Jensen!

Grandma decided that we needed cookies when she came. (She should come more often!) Gabriel got to help eat the dough press the cookies down. They were really yummy.





We all even got to go outside and play in the snow! Grandma and Grandpa kept Oliver and I really warm while Daddy, Mommy and Gabriel played in the snow. Brother really liked throwing snow at Mommy with Daddy and climbing on the snow, too!

 

 Gabriel got to show us around Grandma and Grandpa Jensen's house at Christmas AND Grandma Tina and Papa Bill's house too! We made one really big trip to see everybody all at once. We got lots of cuddles in and had lots and lots of fun. Hmmm.... I think it is time for a nap now! Bye!

NICU

 11 days for Oliver and 12 days for Hudson in NICU. That is how many days Jon and I had to go to sleep at night knowing that someone else was taking care of our babies. Thankfully a few of those nights we were just down the hall from them in my hospital room, but the majority of those days Jon and I would have to pack up for the day and leave Hudson and Oliver at the hospital so we could see our big boy at home. 

Hudson was admitted to the unit from the delivery room because of some respiratory problems, with Oliver following about an hour later with the same problems. They were placed on oxygen and CPAP machines (the kind that is used for sleep apnea) among other things. Once their lungs developed enough that they could breath on their own they had to work on eating.

 

At the hospital the boys were hooked up to IV's, feeding tubes, and monitors that made holding them and looking at them the same time very difficult. Thankfully there are specially designated twin rooms so we had a quiet corner of the unit were the boys shared a room and a nurse. We had to wait a little over a day before we could hold Hudson and 2 days before we could hold Oliver, which meant that on my birthday I finally got to hold both of my babies. Definitely the best birthday present ever! It was about a week before we got to hold them at the same time and finally really get a start to try to tell them apart.

Gabriel got a chance to come up and meet his brothers the day after they were born. I kept wondering how he was going to do, because it felt like we weren't able to explain the babies to him in a way he could understand before they were born. He did so well! He was so excited to see them, but understood that he needed to whisper and kept saying "Baby!" and kept blowing kisses to the boys. You could tell he when he got used to the NICU because he started getting louder and running around more. Thankfully eventually we were moved to a smaller unit where Gabriel could act like a big brother and not disturb others too much. Once the twins figured out eating we got to bring them home. Oliver was a little more determined and came home the day before Hudson was released. That allowed Jon and I one night to adjust to one baby before bringing both home.

Having your babies in the NICU is not something anyone would ever want to experience, but we could not have asked for better care for the boys. The whole stay we had nurses and physicians that made us feel comfortable with all the wires and tubes connected to our kiddos and made us confident that they were in the best hands possible. Jon can tell you that I am pretty nit-picky about nurses anyway, but our nurses and physicians were truly the best!  Even better though was getting to have our entire family of FIVE finally home all together!

The Boys are HERE!!!!

Big news!  The boys are here!  Hudson Daniel, 19", 6 lbs, 14 oz; and Oliver James, 19" 6 lbs 7 oz were born this morning at 7:30 and 7:31.  They are doing well, but as you can see, they have needed to spend a little time in the NICU.  Their lungs are a little underdeveloped, so they are spending some time there to let their bodies adjust.  The doctors have not been able to give us an exact time they will be out, but they said it is usually less than 2 weeks.  We can't wait to show you all some more pictures!

Big Brother Hudson resting.

 Little Brother Oliver playing look-a-like.

Proud Mommy holding the boys for the first time!

Happy Birthday Papa!

 Happy Birthday Papa!  I have lots of fun spending time with you!

 Even if its hard to tell sometimes...

 But I even dressed up to tell you, Happy Birthday!!!

Love, Gabriel... and my brothers too!