My sister got married this week! We all went to San Francisco. All of us. 4 children controlled by 2 very very tired adults. No one died! I did take a ton of iPhone photos, so this week’s post is going to have extra California photos!

Sunday:

My little pirates

Pirate attack on the docks!

Baby wrap on theme A+++

Monday:

Sleeping with all his favorites

Linc loves his brother

He thinks he’s people

MORE OF THIS

Tuesday:

Matchy!

The biggest baby needed some snuggles

All day, every day, basically

Wednesday:

Living his best life

Fixing my roots

LOVES his new stroller

bebeh fingers

Thursday:

Giving them the full airport experience

I took this picture like 75 times

Really optimistic before the flight started

Goodbye Boston!

World’s best plane infant

Hello mountains!

Babywearing was a lifesaver the whole weekend

The tram was much shorter and just as exciting as the plane

CAN’T RUN IN THE STREET NOW, TODDLER

Friday:

Hellooooooo San Francisco!

CAN’T THROW YOURSELF OFF A CLIFF EITHER, TODDLER

Redwood tree!

Wear all the babies

I need to move to California

The view from the wedding

Wearing a romper, holding a baby, in the fanciest house

Saturday:

Perfect breakfast for a maid of honor

Super classy flowers

This is the groom’s parent’s house

A groomsman delivered (more) champagne. Excellent service.

This is their Vogue look

I looked out the window and they had turned over the ceremony into the reception

Still the groom’s parent’s house

There were flowers in almost every beverage

All those glasses – including the pickled veggies – are mine

It was all so beautiful

Seriously obsessed with this space

You know the bride is low-key when she’ll hold a toddler AND red wine

Winning in so many ways

I was SO EXCITED they had floating pool lights

Finn was a champ the whole wedding day

I will never attend a wedding fancier or more well executed than this one. It was so beautiful. And now I need to go crash as hard as I can because real life starts again tomorrow and I still have a newborn who never sleeps more than 3 hours in a row.

We actually found out we were having a boy a looooooooooong time ago. I had some extra genetic testing done around 12 weeks because my first tests were “borderline”. That testing includes the option to find out if it’s a boy or a girl. As much as I loved being surprised when Linc was born (I also REALLY loved not having to have the following conversations with a million people: Are you happy it’s a boy? Do you have a name? Oh, don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll have a girl next time. Well you can always try again…) I felt strongly that I wanted to find out this time. Partly because I was expecting it to be a girl and I didn’t want to go through my whole pregnancy convinced I was right and have to deal with my feelings when I was already dealing with birth hormones, and partly because if it WAS a boy I could get rid of a TON of girl clothes. Also, I already have 3 kids and I’m pretty busy on a regular basis. I am definitely not spending a ton of time sitting quietly and deeply connecting to the new life I’m growing. Knowing it’s a boy and thinking of him as a HIM has definitely helped me feel more in touch with this baby.

Also, we have NO BOY NAMES, so it’s good we have so much time to think about it. All suggestions welcome.

Please note: Evan is not actually sad it is a boy. After the video, he started laughing and said “I was just kidding. As long as Caroline doesn’t get to be the boss of me.”

More photos from our reveal (plus some fun in the orchard):

p.s. Don’t you love my orchard? It’s FULL of treasures.

This might sounds strange – or it might make absolute total sense to you, because you feel the same way – but having two kids is WAY easier than having one.

I can’t actually prove that, either scientifically or anecdotally, since I’ve never had one kid at this age and compared it to having two kids at this age. Comparing what life was like with one baby or with one toddler while I was pregnant with a second hardly seems fair, since babies and pregnancy are both harder in general than preschool aged kids. Well, harder when it comes to the amount of serious hands-on work, not harder when it comes to handing acts of child terrorism and manipulation. And none of this applies to having twins, since the amount of work doubles at the same rate. I can’t even imagine how hard that would be compared to just having two semi-close together. Plus this probably doesn’t work on kids who are a lot farther apart – I don’t think having me was very helpful to my mother when she had my brother seven years later. I was too busy with seven year old stuff to play with a baby or fetch things or help out.

I think I need to start over.

Evan and Caroline together is WAY easier than just having one ginger Davis bebeh.

They don’t always get along, but I’d say we’re at about an 80% best friends/20% hitting each other ratio. After the zoo on Saturday, I tossed them both in the car while I loaded up the stroller with instructions to take their coats off and get in their seats. Caroline’s coat had velcro and a zipper, which was too much for her to figure out, so she turned to Evan and said “Help?” He immediately un-velcroed and un-zipped her coat, then said “Here Caroline, get in your seat and I’ll give you your juice.” It was adorable, and heart-melting, and a huge help for me. They do stuff like that all the time. Their teacher said every time they see each other at school (they’re in different classes) they hug or touch fingers through the playground fence or say “I MISS YOU!”

Hand-holding so no one runs into traffic, helping with coats and hats, fetching things for each other, finding shoes, finding lost toys – ALL THINGS I would have to do if they weren’t doing it for each other. On top of making my life easier, I like to think I’m making them better, nicer people. They’re both pretty good at sharing and taking turns for small, selfish children. They’re good at playing games with other kids or making friends or joining a group. I’ve been asked four times this week if they’re twins, since even strangers can see how close they are.

I don’t know if they’re going to be best friends forever. I doubt it, although I hope they always like each other. But right now having two kids to play with each other, help each other and help me is awesome. Two gingers are definitely better than one.

I sort of hope my sister is currently in the part of Africa that doesn’t have an internet connection, because she’s going to think I am intentionally posting bad pictures of her on the internet. The truth is ALL the childhood pictures of her are bad. See? Not my fault! Much better! Apparently she did not like being told to pose, while I was practicing smiling with my eyes by the time I was 4. That comes as a surprise to absolutely no one who knows us.

And now, a brief history of Easters Past in the Glidden Household:

1987? 88?

I suspect I had white patent leather shoes, a matching purse and possible a pair of gloves to go with this outfit. I also suspect we lived in Long Island and it was 30 degrees on Easter. My folks still have that clock.

April 15, 1990 - Monterey, California

Awkwardly posed photo is awkward. It looks like I’ve Instagramed this photo but I assure you it came by its faded, aged look honestly. If Instagram wants to steal that specific yellow tone they could call it “Shoebox”.

April 15, 1990 - Monterey, California

Hey, remember when you had to take pictures with film you then had to have developed at a store and sometimes people screwed up your photos? If you say “no, I’ve always used digital” we can’t be friends anymore. I am not sure why my mom dressed Drew in a football sweatshirt for Easter, but I’m sure Jesus understood it was meant as a compliment. The dress I am wearing in this photo is in Caroline’s closet upstairs.

April 1993, which makes me 11

PROOF I WAS WEARING MILK-MAID BRAIDS BEFORE THEY WERE COOL TAKE THAT HIPSTERS. I thought that dress was the bee’s knees. I remember thinking the only thing that could possibly make me look any cooler was pierced earrings and how it was SO UNFAIR my mom wouldn’t let me get my ears pierced until I was 13.  The piano in the background is the one I have now in my dining room.

I sort of suspect frilly dresses and bonnets and flowers tucked into braids weren’t on everyone’s Easter to-do list so Amy and I might be the only two joining this linky, but if you can track down your spring-type pictures please feel free! We’ll leave it open for a week.

My best internet friend Amy and I had such a good time checking out everyone’s childhood Halloween costumes we decided to do another vintage link-up for Easter. Did you wear white patent leather shoes? Did you insist on a spring dress even though it was freezing cold? Were you a fan of the traditional Easter bonnet? Did your mother dress you up as a bunny? (PLEASE, someone, share that picture!)

Matching dresses and bonnets. Doesn't my sister look THRILLED?

We’ll be posting photos of our best Easter outfits on April 2nd and will leave the linky open until the Monday after Easter, so you have plenty of time to track down your old albums or ask your mom to drag them out of the attic. I hope you’ll join us!