My name is Rhiannon Maisie Jørgensen. I have red hair and blue eyes and I'm 22 years old. I'm a student at Stanford University and I'm pursuing a major in Forensic Anthropology. Ever since I've come to college, I've always been focused on my studies. I've worked very hard to get into Stanford and need to maintain a certain GPA to continue getting my scholarship money to enable me to continue; the second being I need to be able to get scholarships to go on and further my education.
However, today is the last day of my fourth year of being an undergrad and I've just taken my final exam, I'm thrilled, and feel like I've passed all my classes with flying colors, and I could not be more ecstatic. All I want to do now is sleep, maybe watch some Netflix, but my roommate, Ashton Jameson Shepard, insists I accompany her to the party to make sure she gets home safe since she plans on drinking. I loathe the idea, but she did help me out studying for my final in Biology. So, I accompany her to the party and watch her have a good time and hang out on the outskirts of the party.
Suddenly, a guy comes up to me. I dismiss him at first, but he made a comment about my favorite band, which kind of catches my interest. He's got black hair and green eyes (but wears light blue contacts) and introduces himself as Stellan Felix van de Laar. He's 18 years old. I start talking to Stellan and find out about him. He's apparently a legacy of the university, went to prep schools his whole life, has traveled the world with his bourgeois family and while that would usually make me feel a bit of a chip on my shoulder, for some reason, it doesn't with Stellan. I find him charming. I also find out that Stellan is majoring in Biochemistry, and the way he speaks about his major so passionately, entices me. We talk for hours before my roommate stumbles over. Realizing I need to get her home, but not wanting the conversation with Stellan to end, we exchange numbers and I promise to call him later. I leave with my roommate and head back to my dorm, feeling much happier than when I arrived at the party.
~~~~~~~~~~
It's been ten years since the night of the party, and I honestly cannot help but to look back fondly on it. It's the first night I met Stellan, who has now become my husband. We've both graduated from not only our undergrad programs, but from our respective medical school programs and are working in our dream jobs - I'm a Forensic Anthropologist and he's a Biochemist. Stellan and I could not be happier right now. However, there does seem to be something missing. The pitter patter of little feet. So, Stellan and I decide to start trying for a family. We spend 2 years trying and failing to get pregnant, but nothing happens. No pregnancy.
We see a fertility doctor who unfortunately informs us that between the two of us there is a low sperm count, and apparently a previously un-diagnosed case of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome with me. The chance of us having a biological child together is next to near impossible. The first thought of it stuns us both. We go home with that knowledge and both discuss some options, but we mostly grieve our loss. Both Stellan and I have always wanted a big family; me as an only child and Stellan comes from a big family with a slew of brothers and sisters.
It takes us 1 month to finally broach the subject of what we two want to do next - stay childless or look into adoption. It's an easy discussion between us and we decide we want to look into adoption. The first thing we decide is we want to look into both international adoption and into domestic adoption. It takes us some time to find an agency to work with and then to get our home looked into and approved for viability. It's a longer process then expected, but a year later we've been set up by the agency and made an adoption book and just hoped that we would be matched with someone - then one day we were.
Our case worker informs us that we've been chosen by a young teen, Jessica Sophia Alcyone, who has fallen pregnant. She wants the adoption to be closed. While we feel sorry for the girl, an excitement does well inside of our chest. Stellan and I want this. We want to be parents. We meet with Jessica, and she comes to our house. We all talk and in the end, we sign the papers. We agree to help pay for the cost of her pregnancy from now on, from making sure her medical bills are paid, new maternity clothes are purchased, and help her with getting good healthy food. Other than that there is minimal contact which works well for all parties.
We find out at the six month mark that Jessica is expecting a boy. Either sex would have been okay, but Stellan and I are just so thrilled. The first thing we do is go to half a dozen baby stores and purchase all the things we have always wanted to buy. We spend hours after, well into the night and wee hours of the morning setting up a nursery. It looks so beautiful and we honestly cry. We never thought that first night after seeing the infertility doctor we would ever get to set up a nursery.
The rest of the pregnancy goes by so fast. We work through the whole situation by working extra hours and then well, it happens. Jessica goes into labor. It's a quick one and we're there the whole time in the waiting room. Our little one is born perfect with blonde hair and brown eyes, weighing in at 7 pounds and 9 ounces and 23 inches long. Jessica signs away her rights without ever seeing him. We feel incredible when we look down and just know Levi Josiah is coming home with us, where he belongs, and Stellan and I feel such joy as we strap him into his car seat to take him home.
~~~~~~~~~~
It has been a year since we welcomed Levi into our family and both Stellan and I love being parents, while at times it's very hard considering we work demanding jobs, and with having been promoted, we get help from my mother, Katherine Jane Jørgensen, we know Levi is always in good hands even if Stellan and I are busy with work.
However, later that week Stellan, Levi and I attend Stellan's family's yearly reunion. We're staying with his parents, Emmanuel Oscar and Vera Celeste van de Laar, while we do so. Stellan is the youngest of 6 children. Thaddeus Humphrey van de Laar, 43, is the oldest of the bunch. He is a world renowned surgeon who has been married for 25 years and has eight beautiful children with his wife, Ruby Hazel van de Laar {42}. They are: Nathan Oscar {23},Oliver Miles {21}, Gabriel Wyatt {18}, India Grace {16}, Madeleine Rose {13}, Sophia Violet {11}, Dominic Lucas {9}, and Tessa Eve de Laar {6}.
The next child is Judah Tobias van de Laar, who is 39. He is a CPA and is married to Clementine Ivy van de Laar {37}. They have four daughters. They are: Thea Mabel {17}, Hope Claire {15}, Daisy Faith {12}, and Gemma Leila de Laar {8}.
Dexter Amos van de Laar is the third son. He is 37 years old and is a Lawyer. He's been married to Lydia Alice van de Laar {35} for 17 years, and they have six children. Their names are Jackson Ezra {19}, Christian Liam {18}, Natalie Ava {16}, Graham Lewis {14}, Jonah Milo {13}, and Charlotte Ella de Laar {10}.
Cora Mirabel Gallagher is the fourth child and oldest daughter. She is a stay-at-home mom, is 35 years old, and has been with her husband, Montgomery Frederick Gallagher {36}, for 21 years, and has been married for 15. They have 5 children. They are: Emma Juliet {18}, Finn Hudson {16}, Julian Isaac {13},Carolina Josie {9}, and Lily Paige Gallagher {5}.
Evangeline Violet van Holland is the fifth child and youngest daughter. She is 34 years old. She is married to Calvin Silas Holland {34} and has 3 children. They are: Harry Sawyer {10}, Francesca Zoe {7}, and Nicholas Owen Holland {2}.
I love spending time with my husband's siblings (their spouses), and our nieces and nephews. They're always talking to us and giving us advice about child rearing, relationships, etc., and while irksome at times, I know it all comes from a good and loving place. Later, when speaking to Cora, she asks me if Stellan and I plan to have anymore kids or if we just plan to have Levi. I offhandedly comment that we would like more kids, but are unsure when Stellan and I intend to look into further adoption, and then I go back to talking about other things, but the thought does seem to stay with me a bit.
The night after the reunion and after coming home from work and putting Levi to bed, Stellan and I are reading in bed when he brings back up the fact that we still would like to adopt internationally and that it can take quite a bit of time. I agree with Stellan, having known other people in the adoption community in online support groups who have waited years, and I know we just got very lucky with Levi. We agree to go to bed and place a call with our case worker and agency tomorrow about paper work, considering the likely occurrence of a two to four year wait to be matched up with a child.
The next day on our lunch break I place a call to my agent, Catharina Amaya Wagner, and she agrees it would be good to start working through the papers since it could take some time. Cat explains which countries she has current associations with and informs me that Stellan and I need to pick one to start the process. We chit chat a little more about how Levi is doing before hanging up and heading back to work that day, extremely excited.
That night I ask Stellan's oldest sibling and his wife - Thaddeus and Ruby - to watch Levi so Stellan and I can decide on which country we want to adopt from. After leaving Levi, we go out and have a nice dinner together for the first time in awhile and savor it, making some small work talk before hitting to harder subjects. We discuss some of the places that intrigue us, and make it down to our top three locations - Japan, Ethiopia and Germany. Eventually, we end up deciding on Ethiopia because of how many orphans there are in Africa.
Later that night, I send an email off to my agent to get the ball rolling on the process. The next day I pick up Levi from Stellan's brother and sister-in-law, Thaddeus and Ruby, and feel refreshed and excited about our decision. Over the next couple of months, Stellan and I work through the paper work, have our home visits and then hit the dry spell we knew would hit, but we fill it with exciting things including our first family vacation with Levi.
It takes some time for us to decide, but we end up picking Disney World. Stellan and I pick a less crowded week to take off, not around traditional holidays, and then spend the week with our family, making memories and taking a ton of photos. We got on every single ride, including the ones in Magic Kingdom. My favorite part was the water rides, and Stellan and I's least favorite part was cleaning up all the puke out of the car when Levi got sick.
Sadly, even after that, I still haven't heard much back from my agent, other then she's still looking to match Stellan and I with a child. We try not to feel disheartened by the time frame and continue to enjoy life as it is now. I get into a routine again with Stellan and Levi, and my monthly discussions with my case worker to check in, until it's been about a year and a half since I put in the paper work, and Levi is just a month away from turning three! I can't believe how big he's gotten.
While shopping for Levi's party (he's having a Safari theme), I get a call from my agent. She's found a match! I ask Cat if I can call her back in a minute as I am out and not at a computer to receive the file, and she agrees. I rush through check out and quickly call Stellan telling him he needs to get home; we've been matched! I throw everything into the car and drive home and thankfully Stellan is there as well, and I call Cat back, who informs me that we've been matched with a 2 year old girl, and we couldn't be more thrilled. I speak with her for another hour before she sends the file and I open it up, look through pictures, and feel my heart melt. Stellan and I browse through it a little more before leaving to go pick up Levi from a day with Stellan's parents.
I get home and Stellan makes dinner and we bring up having a younger sibling to Levi, and he seems excited by the idea, which eases some of our tension, and I call back my agent and talk through the process. We set up to go do a first visit in two months when we'll be off for Christmas break from work. Stellan, my mother, and Levi and I fly off to Ethiopia and meet our precious little girl for the first time. She has black hair and brown eyes. She's adorable and down right perfect, and we fall in love with her. At the end of the week and a half when we have to say goodbye, we can't imagine anything more painful, but Stellan and my mother help me get through it. We'll be returning for her soon enough.
As soon as our family gets home, we start to set up a nursery for our little girl. We get Levi involved with painting and helping to set it all up, and the next thing we know, it's been another month and Stellan and I travel back to Ethiopia to go pick up our daughter for good, to take home, and when we arrive, Stellan's whole family, my mother and Levi are there with all the food, gifts and babysitting offers we could ever want; of course, what they're all eagerly awaiting is news we're glad to give, as we inform them of the name we've chosen for our newest addition. Haven Stella is welcomed joyfully into the van de Laar clan.
~~~~~~~~~~
It has been two years since Stellan and I welcomed our last child and things have been going well. We're currently in waiting for our next adoption from Korea, which we settled the paper work on about six months ago. However, before that, we moved the family into a new home considering our growing family, we knew we would need a little more space. Thankfully, Stellan got a promotion the previous year, which has increased our house revenue tenfold, which helped. We ended up moving to a new house, which has 10 bedrooms, 4 and a half baths, a recreational room, sun room, theater and a pool. We love the house because of all the amenities it came with, and there's a school and a playground right down the road.
It's late at night and I'm currently organizing some files for work and am surprised when the phone rings, and see it's my case worker, Cat, as she had already spoken to me earlier today to once more inform me that we were still on the waiting list to be matched up with a child, and it was looking like no movement would be coming soon at all. I pick up the phone to answer and ask my social worker why she's calling so late, and she informs me that she's got some interesting news and a proposal for Stellan and I. It appears that the birth mother of Levi has fallen pregnant again, which was a huge blow for her. She's in college and trying to make the most of her life. Once more she's looking to adopt out her baby, and she wanted to ask Levi and I first, since the baby would be Levi's half sibling and she knows it would go to a good home if we raised the baby. I'm stunned. I ask Cat if I have time to think about the decision before giving an answer. I need to talk to Stellan and discuss it before we make any major decisions. Cat says that's fine, but informs me the quicker, the better, in circumstances like this, so Jessica would be able to have more time to find a different family, if we decide not to adopt her baby. I inform her that I understand and end the conversation.
I finish my work and then a few hours later, Stellan comes home and he just wants to go to bed, but I inform him that we need to talk. I sit down in the living room with Stellan and inform him about the situation at hand, how Jessica is pregnant again and would like us to adopt the baby. At first Stellan is as shocked as I was, but he brings up how we both want a big family. We agree and bring up all the empty space in our new large home. We decide to sleep on it, and head to bed.
The next morning, as I'm bringing my kids to school and pre-school for the day, I bring up the idea if they might like a new brother or sister and they respond individually. Levi is joyed and Haven doesn't care, and this make me feel a tad upset for Haven. I drop the kids off and think about what they said and head off to work. I have a pretty good day and my co-worker even brings in her new baby, and I coo over him. He's absolutely adorable and it makes my heart yearn for another child. Later that day, when I go home, Stellan and I seem to both agree that we'd like to adopt Jessica's baby. I call my social worker back and tell her that we would like to adopt the baby, and she is more than pleased to hear it, and we start up the process for it once more, signing things, agreeing to pay for certain costs and such.
Only a few months later, I speak with Jessica to see how she is doing and how schooling is going for her, and it's good. Thankfully, it seems her pregnancy will be in its latent months over the summer and it won't affect her school work. She also informs me that she's found out the baby's gender that day, and the baby is a girl. I'm thrilled and quickly send off a text to Stellan to let him know before wishing birth mother well, and heading off my lunch break to get back to work.
When I get home that day, I surprise my mother with the news that she'll be a grandmother again. and of course she's thrilled. Then I inform the children who still don't entirely all seem so sure, but when I explain that they can help decorate the room, Haven is very excited, but Levi seems a little more hesitant, so I try and get him involved, but soon enough, the nursery is done and looks fantastic. The children now seem excited, especially Levi.
As the pregnancy progresses, it's time to start thinking about names, and Stellan and I talk back and forth, having some trouble, but in the end we find some names we like and can agree on for the baby's first name, Anneliese, but have trouble finding a matching middle name, but we decide to leave it be for now. It'll come to us later and it's not worth fighting over with Stellan.
Of course, nothing can go as expected and on a hot, July afternoon, Jessica goes into labor three weeks early and our baby arrives! She's 6 pounds and 2 ounces and 17 inches long. This time both Stellan and I were in the delivery room for the birth and it was magical. A little scary, but magical. Our children are in the waiting room with my mother and Stellan's parents, who're all very excited to meet their new family member, and so we bring out our red hair andhazel eyed bundle of joy, and finally express her full name, Anneliese Sophia van de Laar. We decided to give her a middle name after Jessica since she truly has given us such gifts in Levi and in our newest baby. As we see Anna swaddled in her blanket with my mother holding her, and our other children watching them with wide, excited eyes, we could not find yourself ever feeling this happy before and we're so grateful.
~~~~~~~~~~
It's been a year since we brought home Anna and things have been great. I love seeing my kids together, playing and just being together. As an only child, I found myself quite lonely growing up and seeing Levi, Haven and Anna all together, it makes my heart feel warm. It also gives me major headaches when they fight sometimes, but that's just part of the territory. One thing I also missed greatly when I was growing up was a pet. My family had a dog when I was very little, but I never really grew up with a pet and I want that for my kids. Stellan agrees, having been raised with cats, dogs and ferrets his whole life. We decide the most amiable pet would probably be a cat.
.
After picking which type of animal I think would be a good fit for my family, Stellan and I go over a list of breeds. We take some votes from friends and other family members, and end up picking a Persian. We find a reputable breeder and get ourselves on the waiting list for their upcoming litter of kittens. It's three months later and we hear back. There is a little male kitten with our name on it if we're ready. Of course we are! We bring the little one home and realize we forgot one very important thing - a name! We show off the little new family member to our kids. Every one of us submit a name into a hat - our youngest child with a little help from Stellan. I chose King, Stellan chose Michelangelo, Levi chose Harry, Haven chose Max, and Anna chose Pepper. Once they're all written down, I put them in a hat, shake it and pick one name - Anna's name gets picked and thus our new family member is Pepper!
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Soon enough, our new little ball of fluff is settled and it's nice. He's good for helping teach the kids some responsibility, as they all have little chores to help out with the new pet. Plus, he's cute as can be and I have gained my Instagram account an odd dozen or so new followers, who love pictures of our adorable kitten.
A few weeks after I get my pet, I finally get a call from Cat that our papers have gone through to Korea and we've been given a match! We've been matched with a boy who is 2, from the email accompanying the call. Stellan and I see that the little one has black hair and brown eyes. We're instantly awestruck and in love. We read through everything and agree. This little one is just meant to be a part of our family.
Thankfully, a month later, it's summer vacation and so we leave our kids and lovely pet with one of Stellan's siblings for two weeks, while we head off to Korea to go meet our newest son for the first time in Korea, and we have an amazing time with him, spending some time alone, but also partaking in some cultural activities related to his culture heritage. We take a bit of Taekwondo, play Badminton, and visit a few temples. It hurts to leave him, but we hug him tight and promise we'll be back for him soon. I come back home and spend a few days with Stellan and myself before my brother-in-law brings our kids and cat back home. We hug them all and show them pictures of our time with their new brother who will be coming home very soon. We all get together and make up his new room in the house for him - his nursery.
In fact, it's only a month later in August that we fly back to Korea to pick up our son. Since there is overcrowding and needed space, we have to just get in and out. It's a fast and messy four day procedure, but when we arrive to the airport to see all of our family - my mother, Stellan's parents, my brothers and sisters-in-law, and all my nieces and nephews, along with our kids - have banners welcoming the family home, as we walk over and introduce them now all in person to Callan Mason van de Laar, the newest member of the family.
~~~~~~~~~~
It's been about two years since we welcomed Callan into our family. Unfortunately, tragedy has struck. As surprising as it is, about two years ago, I reconnected with Ashton surprisingly, at a mommy and me class, and the two of us became friends. She had matured a lot since I last saw her. Apparently it was a new thing since she had turned her life around, after getting pregnant on a one night stand and having her son, Dante Aspen Shepard. We started having play dates with our kids and actually gotten along quite so much so that now that she and her boyfriend, Henry Lee Bennington, are expecting a baby and she has asked Stellan and I to be the god parents and we couldn't be happier. Sadly, something went wrong. Only a few months after their daughter,Angel Ventura Bennington was born, Ashton and Henry are a part of a tragic car accident and die on impact. Thankfully, the kids were at home that night with a babysitter and are fine.
The news devastates me when I get the call the night after, and what is even more shocking is that I find out that Stellan and I have been listed in their will to inherit not only a large lump sum of money, as well as managing trusts for both of their children, but they would like Stellan and I to be the guardians of their children and adopt them. Ashton was an only child of a single father who passed away during our time in college, and Henry was the only child of parents who are quite old now and are in no shape to take on a three year old and a three month old full time.
While we are stunned at first, we both know there is no one else out there to take in these children, but the two of us. If we decline, they will end up in the foster system, and will probably end up being separated from one another. It's not a pretty picture. Their best chance at remaining together and being able to have a relationship with their grandparents is Stellan and I. We already adore and love Dante from spending time with him, and my heart breaks at the idea of saying no to him, and so after taking another night talking with Stellan, we both decide to go through with it and adopt them.
Most of the paper work is set up and we have Cat look over it just to make sure everything is correct in the paper work before signing it. They're currently spending the weekend with their grandparents while Stellan set up a room for them. As soon as it's done, we call their grandparents and arrange to pick Dante and Angel up from them.
We bring them home and they're quiet at first, but Callan gives Dante a big hug and takes him over to play some games with Levi, Haven and Anna, and it makes me happy to see how intuitive my kids are at cheering Dante up, while I rock Angel and call up my mother and inform her of what is going on and asking her to come stay with me for a few days to help out with getting everything settled. My mother agrees and doesn't mind at all, feeling saddened beyond belief for the poor kids. It's rough at first. Dante is constantly asking for his mommy and daddy and has some nightmares, and the little one still does not sleep through the night. Thankfully, my mother's help makes it better the first few weeks and it becomes routine for us all and we settle in. Now, I couldn't imagine my life without them both living with us. Stellan and I decide to make everything more official by hyphenating Dante and Angel's last names with our own. That way, they are a part of our family without losing their old family.
Three short months later, and it seems as if Dante and Angel have always been a part of our family. They fit into our daily life, and it's like they have always been there with us. What surprises me is when I get a call from Cat. Things had been so busy that I had forgotten that before I'd even taken Dante and Angel in, we had been looking into fostering and or adopting another child domestically. There is a child in need of a placement, a little girl who has blonde hair and blue eyes, and was left at a fire station. There is no other information on her, but a doctor calculated a close to approximate age as just about one year old.
I feel stressed about the idea, but Cat explains that I am the fourth person she's called and the last person on her list before the child will have to be sent to a home. I agree to take the little one in just for now, until she can find another place to stay. For now though, she needs a name, so Stellan and I use some names we had considered if we had more children and call her - Meadow Rowena - instead of Jane Doe. As time progresses though, it's been a month, and the makeshift room we've had for Meadow had become a full on room. She's seemingly settled in, and so we agreed to foster her, instead of just being a continued emergency placement.
~~~~~~~~~~
It's been three years since we welcomed home our last child, and since then, we have officially adopted Meadow, who we were previously fostering. Things have been fantastic and recently, I retired from my job - I enjoyed the job a lot, but I wanted to do something else. I decided to open my own lab (specifically for Forensic Anthropology). Opening my own lab has allowed me more time at home, to spend time with my kids and to get them involved with my lab to help teach them a good work ethic and skills for themselves.
Things have been good with the running of my lab, taking time with my children and even playing with Pepper more often. I feel more carefree and at home, and with my kids getting older, I can't help wanting to hold another baby in my arms. I speak to Stellan about it and he feels similarly about the whole thing. So I call Cat and let her know we'd like to be put on the list, and that by the end of the week, we'll have an updated baby book. Things progress amiably, and the older kids help make it and everything. It's a fun family bonding experience for us all and once it's done, we send it off to Cat so she can set it up.
In fact, things have been going so well, with the expansion of our family and large income increase, thanks to how well my lab has been doing, we decide to buy the home for sale next to our own. We bulldoze the home and have our family move into an apartment for 3 months. During this time, we hire a construction crew and have them expand upon our property and merge things, expanding upon our home, adding 3 rooms to our home, as well as expanding upon our home adding a playroom for the kids, as well as a playroom for Pepper. We also add a greenhouse and another pool in the living room.
Once the construction is done and we move in, we're honestly in love and so are the kids. They're all happy to have their own rooms and not be so cramped as it was at the temporary housing, while we were waiting for the construction to be done. The even better news is just a few weeks after moving back in, I get a call from Cat. She's found us a match! A young woman who is in the middle of attending law school, she and her now ex-boyfriend got pregnant, and while they had thought about keeping them at first, realized they could barely keep a relationship working, let alone take care of two - yes, two - babies. The woman is expecting twins. However, before she agrees to finalize anything, she would like to meet Stellan and I to see if she feels as comfortable with us as she did when reading our family book.
A week later, we meet her. Caroline Joanna Murray is amazing. A well put together young woman, we talk for a while, and find some common ground (we're both avid watchers of The Food Network), which helps ease us all into conversation. It's much different than when we dealt with Jessica. It seems Caroline has a plan for her life and knows what she wants to do, and is working for it, which impresses Stellan and I quite a lot. After we speak for a few hours, Caroline admits she feels rather confident with having her children be adopted into our family. She feels that we are loving and caring people, and in the photo book, our family looks happy and we're doing all these fantastic things, which is what she wants for her babies. The three of us all agree on wanting this, and the only thing Caroline would like us to do is pay for health care costs, nothing more, and that is fine. So we call up Cat and she agrees to work on a contract for us all to sign soon. We say our goodbyes and head back home to our kids and are excited to see them. We all have a family movie night and settle in.
A few days later, Cat faxes over the contract to us, and in it is everything we discussed with Caroline. We'll pay for her pregnancy-related medical costs, and in addition, she would like a nearly closed adoption - she would just like yearly updates on their birthday with pictures and a letter just talking about them and how they've been doing. As long as no contact is initiated, we're happy and this is no hardship to complete for the woman gifting us two precious babies to care for and love. Stellan and I sign the contract and move on from there and inform the kids they'll be getting not just one, but two more little siblings (Levi and Callan seem to be the most excited, while Meadow is just a tad bit excited, and neither Haven or Anneliese seem to care - they're indifferent to the idea; Dante and Angel are a bit skeptical - This kind of makes Stellan and I a bit nervous, but we pray for the best).
A month later, we get an excited call from Cat, as Caroline visited the doctor that day and found out that we will be expecting a boy and a girl, and we're thrilled. Cat promises to mail us the pictures of the sonograms, and everything else from the doctor's visit to keep us informed.
Now that we know the gender of the twins, the family and I take one of the guest rooms we have, and change it into a nursery for them. For now they'll share, to make life a little easier for Stellan and I when we have to do late night feedings, and when they're a little older we'll give them rooms of their own. The new nursery.
The next four months pass in a flurry, and I get a call from Cat that Caroline has started labor before our planned c-section date, and so she's going to the hospital now to do it. I frantically call up all my family. My mother rushes over to watch the kids while Stellan and I head off to the hospital. Caroline doesn't want us in the room, and we respect that, waiting in the lounge as the hours pass, but soon enough Cat comes out to inform us both babies are happy and healthy - ten fingers and ten toes. The oldest is five pounds and six ounces and eighteen inches long while the younger twin is five pounds even and nineteen inches long.Caroline spends an hour with each baby, gifting them hand knitted blankets and hats she made for them, before kissing each on the head and handing them to us with tears in her eyes. She thanks us for loving them and asks that we move into a different room so she can rest, and we do. Staring at our beautiful little ones, Baby A has brown hair and blue eyes, while Baby B has red hair and green eyes, and as we look at them, we know the names we picked fit them perfect, Aryan Jonah and Bryn Carson van de Laar, and more than that, we know they're meant for our family, and with them, our family finally feels complete.
The van de Laar Family
DW: Rhiannon Maisie van de Laar (nee Jørgensen) [45] {Red Hair and Blue Eyes}
DH: Stellan Felix van de Laar [41] {Black Hair and Green Eyes}
DAS: Levi Josiah van de Laar [12] {Blonde Hair and Brown Eyes}
DAD: Haven Stella van de Laar [11] {Black Hair and Brown Eyes}
DAS: Callan Mason van de Laar [8] {Black Hair and Brown Eyes}
DAD: Anneliese Sophia van de Laar [7] {Red Hair and Hazel Eyes}
DAS: Dante Aspen Shepard-van de Laar [7] {Red Hair and Hazel Eyes}
DAD: Meadow Rowena van de Laar [5] {Blonde Hair and Blue Eyes}
DAD: Angel Ventura Bennington-van de Laar [4] {Blonde Hair and Green Eyes}
DAS: Aryan Jonah van de Laar [0] {Brown Hair and Blue Eyes}
DAD: Bryn Carson van de Laar [0] {Red Hair and Green Eyes}
Cat: Pepper [6] {Male, Persian}
Rhi and Stel with;
Levi, Haven, Cal, Anna, Dante, Meadow, Angel, Ary & Bryn + Pep