after christmas, we turned out attention to our move! after sticking it out for several months in our little two-bedroom flat with seven humans (when lizzy was there!) and ian working from home, we happened to see a flat that was literally around the corner from moses’s school (and had a tiny third bedroom) go on the market. we felt like it couldn’t be more perfect and we decided to go for it. so the new year meant a new home! also, we had planned to start gabriel in nursery school in january at the most darling little place up the road. when we heard just before christmas that no primary schools were reopening after the holiday due to the pandemic, but nursery schools were allowed to operate, we called and asked if moses could join his kid brother at kensington house nursery – and the wonderful staff there said yes! we were thrilled. so the new year also meant a new school, for both boys!

but first, there was a little more christmas-magic-in-london to be soaked in. one day we went to (deserted, due to the new covid lockdown) covent garden, and stopped by trafalgar square on our way home:

some pretty leftover wreaths in the neighbourhood:

an outing to east london to see some light displays near wembley stadium with friends:

loving on our babies in between the christmastime ending and the packing for the move:

and i had to try to get a good photo of the outside of our flat before we started taking the festive stuff down:

i’m always so sad to unwrap the lights from the christmas tree. but we had to get all our stuff out of that flat (notice piles and boxes in the corners!), not just the christmas stuff! so we took things down a little earlier than we’d normally un-decorate.

we took some breaks to swap babysitting with friends:

and make tye dye shirts with dad:

on new years day we spent hours at a new playground in regents park with our best friends:

and soon after had to take down all our christmas cards (one of my favourite things about the season):

here’s the back of our 2020 christmas card – such a wild year splatted into a collage to send out to family and friends:

more of our sweet twin babies:

and much, much more moving mess:

i tried to get some good photos of our flat before we left. here’s the boys in their little cupboard-under-the-stairs bedroom. they have loved sharing a bunk bed so much!

some photos of the living room (which we always affectionately called “the big room”) – it got pretty cluttered towards the end there with the craft wall, a condenser dryer, hooks for all the double baby stuff, etc. :

and of our bedroom, with the twins’ little bed next to ours:

more photos of our flat (including the tiny kitchen and bathrooms, which i didn’t photograph before we moved because they looked the same as the last time i took photos of our tiny home) here.

our last craft wall, and we left our mark under some carpet in a closet:

i was an emotional wreck leading up to our move. i was so excited about the new flat, but incredibly incredibly sad to leave a home where our family had grown so much. gabriel was born in that lexham gardens flat!! and we brought the twins home there to meet their big brothers. so, so many memories and tears and laughs and tantrums and dance parties and holidays and birthdays and sorrows and joys! so wild to think that someone else is living there now without the slightest idea what that space meant to our family. it will always be a sacred space for us and it was really hard to leave behind!

some self-care amidst all the emotional and physical work of moving our family (which felt so heavy, even though we were moving just a few streets away!):

on moving day, gabriel had his first day of nursery school! he left from our lexham gardens flat and came home to our earl’s court square flat! he was soooo excited to wear his backpack and go to school, and it was super fun that his big brother got to go with him!

a few days after we moved, our babies turned three months old! with both big boys at school one morning i did a big photo shoot to try to capture our tiny twins’ sweetness. oh my goodness! auggie and evie brought so so much joy and peace to those crazy days of transition and lockdown and dreary weather.

i ran into this urban fox one day after school drop off!

ian worked on getting the babies’ passports – both british and american! here’s attempts at getting acceptable passport photos:

facetimes to family members, and bingo charts for at-home church:

moses continued to absolutely dote over his baby siblings. i’ve never seen a child love a baby (or babies!) so much!

we immediately felt that moving was such a good decision (even though, because of the lockdown, moses wasn’t going to the school around the corner). a huge part of that was because ian now had some dedicated work space!!! after so many months of being such a trooper working in the tiny bathroom or just out in the open with screaming children all around him, he at last had a proper desk and chair and a door to close!!! so awesome.

more from january in our new flat coming next… 🙂