We made every effort to have Nora's birthday as special for her as possible. Getting two little brothers is going to be an adjustment and birthdays are important.

I woke her up at 8.10 am by taking her in my arms and she quickly start to move around and opened her eyes. "Zeg Nora, wie is er eigenlijk jarig vandaag?", I asked. "Nora!" she said and she smiled wide. We saw a video message from Sasha which she liked a lot, and then we went downstairs. There were balloons and decorations and we opened several presents. A balance bike from us and several books from Opa and Oma. Lelya Snezha arrived and had a lovely baby stroller for her. I left for the hospital.

In the afternoon her friend Eli came to visit and our friends Lori, Ginny, Judy and Lelya Snezha threw her a nice party. We are very grateful for that.

When I got home she told me that she had a nice birthday, but "Ik ben nu niet meer jarig" -- the day for her ended after her nap, haha. Then we went shopping together, which was nice.

Three days old now.

It's been an amazing first day with our boys. On the one of the coldest days in a long term, we drove to Georgetown Memorial Hospital. Leo was born first, and then Adrian. It is clear that they are fraternal twins, and not identical -- their faces are distinct!

Sasha is doing very well and walked around a little bit already. I am extremely proud of her -- two big baby boys. Like our doctor said: "she carried more than 6 kilograms of baby!"

Nora is at home with Lelya Snezha and had dinner with Ginny last night. I came home at 8.00 pm and put her in bed. She had skipped her nap so was cranky but we watched videos and photo's of the babies and she liked that.

I didn't sleep very well -- too excited! But we're all feeling great.

We are very thankful for all the help we've received and for all the nice messages from everyone.

The moment I'm writing this, the boys are asleep. They ate around 1.00 pm and after some fussing they drifted off. I put them together in a bassinet and they seem to like that. Their heads are touching each other, just like in the womb for the past few months.

During the pregnancy we noticed a big difference between "Baby A" (Leo) and "Baby B" (Adrian). Leo was very active and made big movements -- Adrian very peaceful and rarely moved. When we went for the ultrasound checkup, Adrian's part always took longer because he moved much less. And now they are sleeping together I can see the exact same thing. Adrian is blissfully asleep and hardly moves, but Leo moves all the time. He seems to be dreaming too -- his eyelids are fluttering.

Sleeping together.

Changing a diaper.

Adrian.

Leo.

Sleeping.

Adrian opening his eyes.

I am the happiest man on earth.

Our sons Leo and Adrian were born this morning and mother and children are doing great.

Leo.

Adrian.

Big day tomorrow.

Final preparations today.

We went for dinner tonight, the three of us. It will be quite a while before we can go out for dinner again!

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day -- not a good night to go out with a toddler. We had dinner at Boulevard Woodgrill, an old favorite.

I was in the kitchen making lunch when Nora came to me: “Papa, water vullen!” (Fill my water!)
I pretended not to hear her and said: “Wat zeg je?”
Nora: “Water vullen!!”
Guus: “Wat zeg je?”
Then Nora: “HET water vullen!” -- she thought I was referring to "de" or "het" since we've been practicing those. But no.

Guus: “Ik vind dat wel een heel onbeleefde manier om dat te vragen.". And then it dawned on her.
Nora: “Papa… mag ik het water vullen?"
Guus: “Ja hoor, dat mag.”
Nora: “Nee, nee! Papa, wil jij het water vullen?”
Guus: “Oh natuurlijk.” – and I filled her water.

Three more evenings, and then we won't be the three of us anymore. We are very happy to welcome to expansion to our family -- but it is also a moment of reflection. We've had three great years with Nora so far.

Her life, and ours, will certainly change -- especially in the first few months. We're enjoying the relative peace and quiet together.

A milestone I want to remember is Nora going on the stairs by herself. She's been doing this for a few weeks now and it makes her more independent in the house.

We have wooden stairs and we set the rule: no socks or PJ's on the stairs. So bare feet or shoes are okay.

Nora listens well and sometimes when she wants to go up or down the stairs and we're not around, she'll take her socks off to make the trip.

Several friends asked us if twins run in our family. The answer is: yes... but only on the paternal side. The tendency for twins is passed on through the maternal line only so the fact that we're having twins is pure chance.

Nevertheless, it's fun to look into our family history. My greatgrandfather Johan Jacob was born in 1891 in Egmond aan Zee, the Netherlands. He and his brother Marinus were twins. Johan Jacob's son Gerrit married Johanna. Their first child was my father. Four years later my grandmother learned that she had carried twins only when she gave birth! One of the twins, my aunt Ria, later gave birth to my dear cousins -- again, including twins.

Through my uncle Harm I recently got in touch with descendants of my grandfather's brother Joop. Three of my second cousins had twins also.

Like I said, it's highly unlikely that there is a biological reason for this but it is fun to find out about other twins in the extended family.