#39. A December (and late November) to Remember

Happy Holidays from Luke and Clare!!

As the end of the year has arrived, the twins have remained all smiles.

Clare enjoys another flying lesson

Photogenic Luke teases the camera with a half-smile

It's only a matter of time before the holiday season (we can't wait to 'play' Santa Claus) will be even more exciting with the twins, but we certainly enjoyed having Clare and Luke around this year to celebrate some special November and December days.  We spent Thanksgiving visiting Aunt Lisa and Uncle Paul in Naperville, where the twins had a chance to meet more of their 'Heald/Fisher' family.

Clare sitting comfortably on GP's (her great grandfather) lap

10 Cousins...and counting?!?

Aunt Tonia finally gets her hands on a twin

Another photo for the 4 generation files...this time a Heald family 4 generations shot

Next up was celebrating Papa Chris' birthday on December 1.  Papa was treated to a surprise birthday cake.

Christmas-themed, of course

We even sang 'Happy Birthday' at the table!

Papa's first 'Dad' card

Happy Birthday, Papa!

Soon, the house became (over) decorated leaving virtually no room to walk in our already congested living room (see post #35. 'What the He$$ Happened to Our Living Room?!?').

Luke, Trig, and Clare squeezed in front of the Christmas tree

As December rolled on, the weather became colder and our bundles of joy learned how to 'bundle up' for trips outside of the house.

It all starts with the hats

Clare says 'what's the big deal?'

We now know Luke can't hold on to a pacifier in both warm and cold conditions

One Sunday afternoon we bundled up the twins and headed out for the twins' first (of surely many) trip to visit Santa. They looked like naturals during their photo shoot.

The twins were not intimidated by the fat man in the red suit

Luke auditioned for a reindeer opening

Clare enjoyed her first Santa experience

Christmas week began with a visit from Grandpa Dan and Grandma Steffie.  The twins were spoiled with gifts and enjoyed opening their first Christmas presents.

You gotta learn how to unwrap a present sooner or later

Fun light up toys from generous grandparents

Grandpa and Grandma Knapp arrived later in the week,

The twins back in Grandma Knapp's arms

Grandpa checks out Clare's new moves

followed by Uncle Jason, Aunt Leia, and their cousin Keira.

It's tough separating these two girl cousins

Uncle Jason steals a selfie with Luke

Needless to say, a good time was had by all.

Family Ginjinha (cherry liquer in chocolate cups...from Obidos, Portugal) shots

On Christmas morning, Clare and Luke donned their gay apparel 

Daddy and the little prepster, Luke

Papa and the dashing Clare (with a Trig photobomb)

and collected their loot from under the Christmas tree.

Luke helps unwrap his pile of presents

Clare opens a heart-drenched sweater to wear for the next big holiday

Too cool for school in these shades...sorry Luke for poking your eye when I put them on!

Pajamas and monkeys for our two little monkeys

On the day after Christmas we trekked out to the mall to have family photos taken.  

Our first professional Knapp Family photo

The Knapp cousins

Our first Knapp-Heald family photo

From our family to yours, Happy Holidays!  It will be hard to top 2014, but we are looking forward to our first full year with the twins in 2015.  Happy New Year!

#38. House of 1000 Smiles

What a difference a couple of weeks make!  After blog post '#36. The Witching Hour', the twins have 'completed a 180' and are now acting like two babies born in the 'Land of 1000 Smiles' (a nickname for Thailand).  Getting the twins on a consistent routine with their day and night sleep times has made their awake times much happier (lots of photo evidence below).  Special thanks to a friend with twins that recommended this book,

Worth every penny of the 50 cents I spent on Amazon!!

which really seemed to read more like:

It may have been a whole 50 cents, but it was priceless for me!

I'm not endorsing any specific author or 'sleep strategy' but reading this book got us thinking and working on developing a consistent sleep schedule (that s-word that everyone loves to throw around and once seemed so far away at times the past few months) that works for us. We are happy to report that both twins are alternating between 2-hour (give or take) periods of napping and awake time and are taking in about 10+ hours of sleep at night.  There are moments when we need to visit the nursery for a quick soothe, but otherwise things are going great!

Check out these before and after pictures...

Crabby-faced Clare before implementing a sleep schedule...

...and look at her now!! Alert and content Clare after her 2-hour nap!

Luke before consistent and alternating periods of 2 hours awake and 2 hours asleep...

...and now, he could sit in this high chair for hours (well, only 2 actually)!!

But wait, there's more!  These babies just can't stop smiling.  Whether they are in a high chairs, on their play pad, getting their diaper changed, eating, laying on a Boppy pillow, taking a bath, sitting in a lap, or even lounging in a laundry basket (see below), the twins seem to enjoy just about everything these days. Their smiles warm our townhouse and are slowly erasing some of those rough nights from our memory.

The happiness that is Clare...

Luke showing his love for life...

The twins have also become more interactive and are, at times, quite chatty.  Here are a couple of videos of each.

Clare's Q&A from the dinner table

An interview with Luke

                                              

Clare poses in a laundry basket until Papa almost misses catching her!

                                              

Luke shares the meaning of life from the perspective of a 4.5 month old

The twins are noticing each other (and Trig!) more...for better or for worse.

Sister-Brother stare down!

Playing footsie on the play pad

Clare gets the upperhand (or leg) in this entanglement

Who knows what the next stage of parenthood will be or look like (or what I will be blogging about next), but for now, we will enjoy our happy, smiling household!

#37. Giving Thanks

It may come as no surprise that Chris and I are extremely thankful for everything that has happened to us this past year (withstanding our survival of a military coup, of course!). Nonetheless, Thanksgiving will always come with special meaning for our family.  One Thanksgiving ago (not quite to the date, but to the exact holiday), Chris and I received an email from our surrogacy agent, Kim (via Thailand), showing us images (scanned and placed into a pdf file) of the two embryos placed into our surrogate on Thanksgiving Day.  

Luke and Clare at 5 days!

We hoped this would be a good omen, and it has proven to be nothing but that. While all of this is in some ways was good luck with modern science, the embryos in the picture above eventually became Luke and Clare.  We couldn't be more thrilled with the outcome...

Luke and Clare one year later saying Happy Turkey Day!!

As it is Thanksgiving, the point of this post is to voice gratitude to the multitude of people that have been so wonderful to us this past year.  Those that were able to attend baby showers, send us gifts, support us when things got difficult in Thailand, visit us when we returned home, help watch our beloved dog Trig while we were away for seven weeks, and those that continue to show up on our doorstep to offer help and support...THANK YOU all so much.  The last year has been an incredible journey that we look forward to sharing with Clare and Luke someday, and we definitely will not forget to tell them how blessed we were to be surrounded by so many great people.  We hope that we can be as supportive for all of you someday in the same way that you have been for us.

They say 'it takes a village', and we are THANKFUL that our village is filled with so many amazing people.  Happy Thanksgiving!

#36. The Witching Hour

For those that enjoyed post #21...'The Crying Game'...

It's that time of day...

Let the 'Witching Hour' begin...

We were recently paid a visit by friends who also have boy/girl twins and were asked when the most difficult part of the day typically occurs.  Without hesitation, we all agreed that the hours of 4:00-6:00 PM are when things get CRAZY.  Apparently with twins, you get everything in two's, and that includes two hours of trouble during the 'witching hour'.

Twins that typically frolic on the Play Pad...

are now having fits on the floor.

The once popular Boppy pillows...

are suddenly filled with rocks.

                                          

The good 'ole Bumbo...

becomes a big bummer.

Even the latest play fad, the 'Jumparoo'...

can't satisfy either twin at this time of day.

As a stay at home dad, the 'witching hour'(s) often proves to be a disastrous finish to what might have otherwise been a stress-free day with two infants.

Is it over yet???

Trig wonders the same thing while hiding in the stairwell!

\

Finally!!

Alas, 6:00 finally arrives, and it's time to turn those frowns upside down.  In only a matter of seconds, literally, those screams of terror change

into the beautiful sound of silence.

                                         

Why didn't you just feed me earlier??

                                          

Schedule Schmedule!

Can't wait to start sleep training this week!!

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In other news, I would like to acknowledge that Clare and Luke are now 4 months old.  Somehow, another month has FLOWN by.  We took the twins to their 4 month check up this past week.  Both are healthy and doing very well.

Luke's up to 14 lbs 11 oz and 24.75 inches long...

...and Clare's grown to 11 lbs 13 oz and 24.25 inches long

So, Clare gained about 2.5 pounds and Luke gained 3.5 pounds in the last two months.  We have definitely noticed their gains (especially carrying around Luke's car seat!).

At the 2 month checkup...

...and at this week's 4 month checkup

While this pair of photos may not make things appear drastically different, Chris recently compared two photos of the twins with their Boppy pillows that amazed both of us.

THEN...more Boppy than baby

NOW...more baby than Boppy

We won't see the pediatrician (we hope!) again until our 6 month visit.  We left our appointment feeling great about the twins growth and with some good ideas for our next big task, sleep training (expect a blog post to come!).