Pumpkin Patch 2014

I have aproximately 8,642 things I’d like to blog about, so I’m going to keep these posts short and sweet.  :)

This is from our family trip to the pumpkin patch this year.  We went on opening day, and the kids did great!  Thomas wasn’t feeling great, and he didn’t want anything to do with the dirt or hay or pumpkins.

But Michael thought they were fab!

Michael’s foot:

Thomas’ hand:

It was fun!

Two One Year Olds and Pumpkins!

Yesterday I took the babies back up to the pumpkin patch for their official 12 month photo shoot.  When we went the first time a couple of weeks ago, Thomas didn’t want to have anything to do with sitting on the pumpkins or putting his bare feet on the ground.  Not so this time!

He did want to crawl and stand on them though.  :)

Mike-o:

Michael’s like “Dude stole my gourd.”

They’re adorable, amiright?!!

Thomas:

A side smile from Michael.

Twins are nothing if not entertaining.

He looks like he’s saying “eh?” It’s a very Michaelish kind of face.

They were so great posing for me in the pumpkins! 

I guess I should take this opportunity to write a few things about these adorable guys at ONE YEAR OLD!!

• Michael is a lot smaller than Thomas.  I kinda think he may even be smaller than Miss Joanna the Tiny at this age, which has me the littlest bit worried.  They have their well checks on Monday, though, so I’m not dwelling.  :)  He’s proceeding through all the developmental milestones, just not super quickly.
• Michael’s “crawl” is still on the belly.  He pushes himself with one foot and pulls with one arm.  He gets up on his hands and knees and rocks, but doesn’t really put one knee in front of the other, if you will.
• Both boys clap and wave and have wonderful deep laughs.  Thomas’ wave looks almost identical to his sign for milk, so you have to use context clues.  :)
• They love to sit up in the shopping cart when we go to the grocery store.
• Thomas does not love being put into the car seat.  He arches his back and screams.  He’s strong too!
• Michael could absolutely wear 6-9 month sized clothing if I let him, but I don’t need three sizes in the drawer, so he wears 12 month size, and it’s just a little big.  Thomas can also wear 12 months but also fits into 18 months pretty well, so we have those two sizes in the drawers.
• Thomas wears his diapers on the mid-rise snap with four rows of snaps showing in between the tabs.  Michael can wear diapers on the mid-rise snap, but they fit better snapped all the way down.  There are usually two rows showing in between.
• Thomas is pretty close to standing/walking.  He cruises on everything and will walk with a walker, chair, ottoman, laundry basket, whatever. I’ve seen him let go and stand for a second not holding on to anything.
• Michael is a super snuggler.  He fits right into my neck and chest.  He lays there and sucks his thumb.  If only he would let me sit down in the rocking chair and be just as happy, we’d spend all day like that.
• Thomas isn’t as much of a snuggler, but he will lay his head down on you for a second at a time.  It’s soooo sweet.  He has also started crawling over to me when I sit down and get the pillow ready for nursing.  Yay for not having to gather two babies to nurse!
• Thomas gives fives and is very close to blowing kisses.  I see him really thinking about it.  He will lean into me when I ask “Can Mommy have kisses?”
• They’re both toying with drinking out of cups.
• They looooooove those disposable baby food pouches.  Mostly, they eat what we eat, but some times that just doesn’t work out, or if we’re not home at meal time, they’re a super easy alternative.
• Last week I decided to start an elimination diet for Michael and myself to see if it will affect his eczema for the better. I’ve eliminated wheat, eggs, dairy, soy, and nuts.  I have no definitive answers yet, but am gathering data.  :)  And I think I miss butter the most.
• The babies usually go down between 6:30-7pm for bed (but here it is almost 7:30 and they’re up and happily playing).  They wake up at some early hour of the morning, nurse, and occasionally go back down for a couple of hours.  But sometimes they don’t, and we’re all up at that super early time of the day.  Because of this, I try to put myself to bed early, but it’s hard.  :)
• Thomas loves to dance.  His favorite jams remain the theme song and the ending credits song from The Gilmore Girls.  It’s adorable.  He’ll dance to lots of great tunes though.  He also loves to play music and have you sing to him.  He claps along and does a little break dance thing.  I have video.
• Michael sucks his thumb, and I’m perfectly happy about that.
• Thomas has six teeth I think – four on top and two on the bottom.
• Michael has five – three on top and two on bottom.
• It feels like they’re constantly cutting teeth.  :)
• They have started sleeping with their loveys, and it’s very sweet.
• Basically, they’re down to one nap a day.  When it’s nice and long, all is right with the world.  If it’s short, I have really grouchy babies in the afternoon.  They both (but Thomas especially) fight that afternoon nap so hard they won’t usually take it.  Today Matt was off work and took them on a looooooong walk, and they had a stroller nap.  They might also take a car nap if the conditions are right.
• They are so incredibly loved by so many people.  I’m so glad God sent these amazing babies to us!  Happy birthday Thomas and Michael!!

Another trip to the Pumpkin Patch!

We really wanted to pop into the pumpkin patch one time with Daddy, but it was hard finding a good opportunity!  Sundays (when we have Daddy and we’re all dressed up) have been quite rainy lately, but yesterday was simply gorgeous!  We put my wheelchair (which came from Mom and David’s garage – score!) in the back of the van and stopped on the way home from church.  I have a lot of trouble walking any kind of distance, and also it’s no longer possible for me to squat or kneel to take pictures, so the wheelchair was very handy.  :)

My cutie patooties, hand in hand.

It was good to have someone behind me making silly faces!

The kiddos loved running through the little maze they had.

I couldn’t believe how many fewer pumpkins there were this time!  And there were no little or medium sized ones.  Maybe that’s normal; I can’t really say.  I’m glad we went on the first day though; the background then was so pumpkiny!

It was still very fun though.

These girls are amazing!

We offered to take a family picture of someone who then offered to take ours.  Yay!  Turns out she was a labor and delivery nurse; she was so excited about my term twins!

I really love fall.  I even love it when it’s hard to participate fully.  I’m looking forward to fall festivals and maybe RenFest and more decorating and applesauce and baking pumpkins and roasting pumpkin seeds… next year.  :)

For now I’m going to really appreciate that not every day is super hot, and I will enjoy snuggling those boys super closely!

Pumpkin Patch 2013

The local pumpkin “patch” opened up for the season yesterday, and I was determined to get the kiddos there for some pictures as soon as I could!  I know I technically could go into labor really anytime, and I just love having pumpkin pictures every year, so I didn’t want to miss an opportunity!  The plan was for Matt to come home, we’d grab a quick bite/snack and then head up to the patch with my wheelchair.  Matt would wheel me around and I’d take pictures of the kiddos.

Instead I ended up there by myself with the kiddos.  But it was okay.  We got an invite over to my grandma’s for dinner/family time, and I didn’t want to miss any of that waiting on Matt to get home from work.

A lady from the patch offered to take our picture – aren’t we so cute?!  It’s the baby boys’ first pumpkin patch picture!  (sort of anyway)

Then I attempted to herd the children over to a prettyish place for some pumpkin pictures.

It’s so fun to pick up all sizes of pumpkins laying around!

I cropped James out of this next one.  He had a really terrible face on.  :)  Joanna looks so sweet though!

I love this one – don’t they look like they’re being TORTURED by the pumpkin patch?!!

I have essentially no recollection of what’s happening in this picture, but I love it!  It almost looks like Natalie could have just thrown a ball of fire up in the air or something.  Ha!

I tried for some individual shots – my handsome man!!

Sweet Natalie

And my super big girl!

I attempted to stack the children – they look like they could be on a roller coaster.  :)

It was very hard for me to walk around and take pictures at 71 weeks pregnant, but I’m glad I did.  :)  I told the kids we would go back to actually pick out pumpkins to bring home (with Daddy!).  And maybe if the timing works out, we’ll bring our teeny boys for pumpkin pictures this year.  Can you imagine?!!

The Girls at the Pumpkin Patch!

We tossed the kids in the car this evening and headed to the pumpkin patch to get pictures of everyone before pumpkin season is over!

Joanna the super model.

This was originally a shot of everybody, but I cropped Natalie and James out because they looked squirrely and Joanna looked so pretty.

But here they all are!

I’m always putting Natalie in black and white.  She’s so beautiful!

I love this funny face of hers!

I looooove this one.  A REAL smile!!!  It happens so rarely, but I managed to capture it!

The sun was getting low in the sky, and I wanted to play with some back light and all that fuzzy stuff.  It was hard.  I have much practicing to do.  :)

I love that funny face!

Joanna picked out a little pumpkin and mediumish pumpkin to take home.  She very graciously let James think the little pumpkin was for him to hold and carry home.

Natalie wanted to pick a little one – she’s searching for it here.  :)

We had a fun little trip up there – I love pumpkin colors!  And I could pretty much take pictures of my children all day long every day.  :)