#35. What the He$$ Happened to Our Living Room?!?

What you are about to view is only a harbinger of things to come.

Look at all that room!!

What was once the roomy living space for a couple of DINKS (dual income no kids) has quickly converted into a playground for two emerging play fiends.

Insert screeching horror soundbite...

Ok, I did it for us:
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Take a quick scan of the 'new' living area of our townhouse: (say 'Hi' to Trig, and enjoy one last political ad from the season).

Close up of the carnage

Yes, the twins have decided that time has come to stray from their rock n' play sleepers and find alternative forms of entertainment other than sleeping.

Did you say play time??  Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!

First, we have the Boppy pillows.  (Be sure to turn up the volume and notice what Papa Chris is doing in the background of this video!!)

We can sit with Daddy and Papa on the couch in these!

Sister loves her owl covered Boppy

Brother likes his jungle Boppy

Boppys help make holding twins more comfortable for Daddy

Even Trig takes her turn with the Boppy!

Next, we have the Bumbo, which Luke demonstrates below.

He seems to sneeze every time he is in the thing!

The Bumbo is great for showing off big smiles...

Happy, but for how long?!?

and for watching Cardinals games!

The beginning of the end for the Cards this year

The play mat is also a big hit.

Twins who play together, stay together!  

Things are looking up for Luke!

We're starting to learn (this may have been forced!) to like each other!

Play pad and Bumbo combine forces

We also have swings...

This has proven to be a hit-or-miss play option

which, sadly, Luke has already outgrown (it won't swing when we place him in it!).  Thankfully, he has discovered a form of entertainment attached to his arm.

It's entertainment that's always there!

Surely all of this looks like it would keep two little people entertained for hours.  Unfortunately, this is not always the case.  In a matter of minutes, 'play' time can change into 'cry' time.

Thankfully, all play items can also be used to help us through those moments!

Luke surrenders thanks to the Boppy!

In other news, the twins paid visits to both of their dads workplaces.

Proud Papa introduces twins to cubicle life

Clare was fascinated by the fluorescent classroom lights overhead...

while Luke strained himself solving equations

They also met Papa Chris' longtime friend and mom from Wisconsin,

We love visitors!!

and Grandma Knapp paid another visit.

Who wore who out?

Finally, the twins survived (as in daddies get to play dress up) their first Halloween.  This year's theme...baby cartoon characters.

Stewie Griffin and Maggie Simpson weren't too happy at first!

They eventually forgave me!

We're looking forward to celebrating the upcoming holiday season as a family for the first time. Papa has (of course) already purchased Christmas trees for each of the twins!

#34. Three Months and Still Rolling Along!

Clare and Luke turned 3 months old on October 19.  Unfortunately, that morning, we woke up to some very sad news.  My Grandpa Snyder, Clare and Luke's Great Grandpa who they met in Eureka at the end of September, passed away the night before.  Grandpa and Grandma (who left us in 2005) were wonderful people and I will never forget how enriched my childhood was growing up with such amazing grandparents.  I am so happy Grandpa had the chance to meet the twins and that we have photos of my Grandpa with the twins.  Someday, I will tell the twins all about their Great Grandparents. Grandparents are special people and I am so happy that Luke and Clare are growing up with two wonderful, loving sets of grandparents.

Rest in peace Grandpa, we're going to miss you...

We didn't think we'd be back so soon, but another trip to Eureka did mean more love for Luke and Clare from family and friends...

Grandma and Grandpa Knapp with Clare

Clare helps put her Grandpa to sleep

Two of the twins biggest fans...Great Uncle Teats

and Great Aunt Tricia

Aunt Leia finally gets her hands on the twins!

Keira continues to love her twin cousins

Thanks to the Bowmans for babysitting the twins!!

Snyder Great Grandchildren...Sam holds Luke and Keira has Clare

Family photo in the living room where I grew up

I'm still not sure whether the first three months for Luke and Clare have been the longest or shortest in our lives, though they have certainly been the most exciting, stressful, happy, and tired moments. We have experienced so much in the last 100 days.  As I have been scanning through all of the photos and videos since the twins were born, it is absolutely amazing to see how far they have come.  I thought I would use part of this post to show their progression from starting as preemies to the big little boy and girl they are now!

They each have also changed a lot individually, both in appearance (see below) and in personality (come visit to see this for yourself!).  Clare is absolutely precious.  She's becoming more and more happy and adorable (those eyelashes are crazy!) each day.  She's still our little Peanut and we enjoy seeing all of her smiles, listening to all of her coos, and feeling how strong she is when we hold her.

Luke continues to grow exponentially.  He is also becoming one handsome little guy.  His smiles may be less than his sister, but he warms your heart when he grins.  Bubba still loves to have his tongue out while he's looking around, inspecting the world around him.  We love this little guy!!

I dug up videos of Clare and Luke's first week to compare to some more recent videos.  They have grown and changed so much in 3 months!

Clare...in the beginnning

Clare...now

                                          

Luke...in the beginning

Luke...now

                                         

The best part about reaching 3 months has definitely been the beginning of sleeping through the night!  We weren't expecting this to happen with BOTH this soon, but Luke and Clare have been (mostly) consistently making it about seven hours.

I think my brain is coming back!!

Overall, it's been an awesome three months and we are looking forward to watching them grow even more over the next three.  Thanks to everyone who has been a part of this with us and for all of your support!

#33. Bringin' Our Pumpkins to the Pumpkin Patch

I think there are a few rites of passage that all parents must face.  Many of them scare the living crap out of me (like teething, potty training, and, most importantly, do we really have to do Disney?). However, I recently learned that when you are with your kids, these may not be so bad.  It will only get worse (or better, I guess) as the twins get older and I see how exciting and special these events are to them.  So, I guess we owe thanks to Uncles Jim and Michael who invited and treated us to Goebbert's Farm near Barrington.

Yep, that's an enormous pumpkin on a silo

Goebbert's is 'the Disneyland' of pumpkin farms and by Disneyland; I mean bring a fat wallet ($15 a head to enter...thank goodness the twins are free...for now!), and various other expenses incurred if you want to take pony rides, hay rack rides, or feed the animals.  Still, it was a beautiful Saturday in October, and we managed to have a great time.  There are no elephants in Barrington, but the twins were thrilled to see all of the animals on the farm including sheep, goats, giraffes, alpacas, and camels (I was not always comfortable seeing these animals in captivity, but they looked happy).  Before heading inside the big animal tent, Luke warmed up by pretending to be a sheep.

I didn't know sheep stick out their tongues!

Once inside, Uncle Jim raced to the carrot line, and at $4 for a cup of carrot sticks (I'll bring our own next time!), we decided to mooch off him.

Luke feeds the kudu (we saw these in Africa last year!) a carrot stick

What talent...she feeds and poses at the same time

Outside of the animals, there were many other things to do.  We got lost in the corn maze,

Clare and Papa Chris may be lost, but are still smilin' anyway

Luke navigates me successfully to the exit

watched some pig races,

Watching some swine shuffle on a beautiful sundrenched fall day

and performed what many consider an annual ritual (yay, Disney every year!) at the 'How Tall This Fall' wall, entertaining many of the patrons at Goebbert's Farm that were walking by.

Proud of our little pumpkins' growth

Clare is sooooo big!!

Luke's lengthening as well

Of course, a trip to a pumpkin patch is not complete unless one (or two in our case!) poses with the pumpkins. (Thankfully, this was included in the cost of admission.)  So, Luke and Clare did their best to mingle with the oversized gourds.

Luke wasn't so sure what to think...

while Clare looked cozy with the pumpkins

All was going well until we decided to get a twins shot with the pumpkins, but Luke wasn't havin' it.

He did recover nicely, though, and we were able to get a nice family shot.

Well, sort of...

After all the posing, we took a break and watched Uncle Jim and Uncle Michael pick pumpkins.

Picky pumpkin pickers...they love shopping

Luke made a new friend,

Uncle Nick keepin' Luke calm

 

and I fed Clare.

Clare downs 4 oz. and takes a moment to ponder the world

I have a feeling we'll be back again next year.  We will probably also some day end up at Disneyland. Sigh.