Snyder Summer Summary

This summer has been a busy one and one like I will most likely never experience again. It has been my last summer with just me and Clark. We have enjoyed lots of spur of the moment adventures and lots of time together. We have sold (almost) our house, found a new one, packed (working on it) this house, moved all my stuff to a new classroom, oh- and been pregnant with twins all the while. I think our lives have been busy this last few months, but I know in the next few it is about to get crazier as we add two new Snyders and a new house to the craziness. I have been pretty good with keeping up with the weekly pregnancy posts and I have been all consumed with my classroom lately so I have been a little neglectful posting pictures of all the fun things we have been up to around here. I know that these are the moments I will want to remember. These moments with our sweet 3 year old enjoying the summer. I can't believe that it is coming to a close. We have work days at school all this week and school officially begins on the 9th. So today is officially our last day of this summer break. So here is a picture summary of the summer of 2011- one we will never forget.

A SNYDER SUMMER IN PICTURES:



                                      

                                                       We drove the train at the orchard.



Of course we rode the "Cider Slider" at the orchard at least 200 times.

We played a lot with our friend Jack.

We went to a few weddings.

We read LOTS of books with daddo.

We made SEVERAL trips to the library.

We had a BIG PARTY to celebrate this boy turning 3.

We went to Salato Wildlife Reserve in Frankfort to see the animals.

We made a few trips to Orange Leaf Yogurt. YUMMO.

We went to a Legend's Game.

We watched baseball with mommy.

We ate entire tubs of popcorn.

We watched baseball with daddo.

We took "muscle rides" with NO HANDS!

We had x-rays at the dentist.

We had our teeth cleaned!

We survived the dentist with no tears!

We went to the movies with daddo.

We saw CARS2 and lasted the WHOLE TIME.

We had 3 year pictures taken.

We even took a few pictures of the sweet babies.

There were many more adventures had like trips to Target, play dates at Chick- Fil -A, pool days, whole days in our jammies, weekends with grammy and grandpa, visits with mamaw and papaw, playing in the sand table with Barney, house hunting and much more. Summer 2011 was crazy busy but we would have it no other way!









28 Week Update.

The Snyder Duo Week 28

Today: 28 weeks 5days.

Baby Size:

According to my sources the babies are about the size of Chinese cabbages. Making them about 17 inches long and 2.9 lbs each. Getting bigger everyday!


Weight Loss/Gain:
At my 24 week appointment I was +12 lbs. I had my 28 week appointment on Tuesday and I am pretty sure I was up 2 more, but I don't look at the scale when they weigh me and I forgot to ask about the gainage.



Maternity Clothes:
YES. All maternity pants and mostly all maternity tops. My belly gets bigger everyday and I am amazed at how quickly the maternity tops are getting tight. I was able to wear regular tshirts until recently. They are now all too short. I have been wearing lots of workout pants and knit pants at night around the house and while I work in my classroom, however they are all getting tight.
Sleep:
I am still having trouble sleeping. I get up on average 5 times a night to go to the bathroom which makes uninterrupted sleep impossible. I guess it is just preparing me for getting up numerous times during the night to take care of these two.
Symptoms:
I am feeling great these days and eating lots. My belly is SO itchy. It is unbelievably itchy as I sit here and try to type. I have lotioned and oiled tonight but nothing is helping. I may head to the tub for some relief soon. At my 28 week appointment this week I had to do my one hour glucose test.  It is never fun drink that sugary drink and sit for an hour, and this time was no different. I still did not enjoy it.

So I added a straw and tried to pretend I was drinking a cocktail on the beach!

Well I managed to survive the one hour test. I also got to hear their little heartbeats. I measured right on track which was the same measurement as I would be at 36 weeks carrying one! yikes.  The bad news is that the next day I learned I FAILED the one hour test. I was so upset. I do not handle failure very well. So on Thursday I had to go back to the doctor for the THREE HOUR glucose tolerance test. I had to fast for 12 hours and then go in for the test. I was very anxious about the whole idea of it all, but I survived- barely.
The waiting room was so crowded and everyone there brought at least 3 children. So my anxiety level kept climbing. It was loud, kids were everywhere. So when I went back for the hour one blood draw I begged to be put into a room.  They fully understood and gave me a nice quiet room to sit in for the remaining of the test. I was sooooooo relieved. I sat, read, and worked on a needlepoint belt for Clark that I have had for about a year and have had no time to work on. Let me tell you- I enjoyed the silence very much. The last few hours were much nicer than the first and tear free. I also learned today that I PASSED the three hour test with flying colors. SO GLAD to be done with all that mess.


Movement:
They are moving all the time. I feel kicks, jabs and rolls. I can even see most of the movement from the outside. I am not sure if the movements are arms, legs, knees, or any of that, I just know there is lots going on inside there. I am supposed to be kick counting and watching for 20 movements in 10 hours and I am pretty sure we are WAYYYYY above that. I know the movement might decrease soon due to the fact that they may soon run out of room. But as of now they are moving machines.

Best Moment This Week:
1. Hearing their heartbeats and learning they sounded and measured great!
2. Learning I passed the three hour glucose test.
3. Funny Story: One night this week Stuart took Clark on a little adventure and I decided to take a bubble bath while they were gone. So I was just relaxing- possibly napping when my bathroom suddenly got crowded. The boys were back and they all came in to check on me. Of course my belly was floating above the bubbles and Clark as serious as can be asked me if I was taking a bath. I told him yes, I was taking a bath. He then asked me if the bath was going to wash the "scratches" (Yes- he was referring to my lovely new stretch marks) off my belly. I sure wish it were that easy buddy! I sure do.
Food Cravings:
Still on a milk and cereal kick. And I want frozen yogurt everyday. Good thing there in no Orange Leaf in town, but if there was I would be there EVERY DAY. Instead we have to go to Lexington so the trips are less often- but much loved. Stuart is gone this weekend and I am thinking C and I might head there for dinner tomorrow night as a matter of fact!

My favorite!
Vanilla & Strawberry yogurt with all the berries I can get on top!
(Maybe even a few white chocolate chips too!)

What I Miss:
I still miss Jazzercise. I miss bending over easily. I miss sleeping on my belly. I miss having lots of energy. I usually like to get so much done during nap time and this past week I have napped every time that Clark has. I have lots to do like pack, read my 5th grade curriculum and such but instead I have been napping. I guess baking 2 babies takes a little more energy than I thought! I also miss not being so darn itchy!!

Looking Forward To:
Moving into our new house!! (Which is hopefully next week!) I can't wait to get all things put away and hope to have it all done before these babes arrive. I can't wait to get their room ready. I am also very excited to see them again at our 30 week appointment on August 9th (Yes, the first day of school- BIG DAY)

A Classrom Wreath How-To.

So yesterday during nap time I decided to get a little crafty. I am not the Martha Stewart on the block, but I had seen this wreath on Pinterest and other blogs so I decided to try my own version. I am so glad I did because I think the outcome is pretty darn cute for my first one and I know I could do even better next time. It only took about an hour and cost me less than $10.00 to make (i think).

Step One:
Buy foam pipe from the plumbing section at Lowes. 6ft for $0.97!!

Step Two:
Cut foam pipe in half.

Step Three:
Duct tape foam pipe to make your wreath base.

No- I did not think of the foam pipe part myself. My friend Rachel found the idea on Pinterest. I LOVED IT.

More materials needed.

1. Fabric to cover foam pipe.
Since our WalMart (or no place else in town) sells fabric I bought this table cloth
on the clearance rack at WalMart for $2.99 and cut strips of it to use. It worked well.

2. Some ribbon.

3. 3 boxes of NEW crayons.

Step Four:
Wrap foam pipe with material (or tablecloth in my case!)
I used hot glue gun to secure in place.

Wrapped wreath.

Step Five:
Hot glue crayons to wrapped wreath. I did not get them perfectly straight- but hey.

Step Six:
Add ribbon to hang wreath and I even tied a piece on a crayon as a bow.

Step Seven:
Hang on classroom door as a lovely welcome to your new kiddos!
(Or if you are not a teacher this would make a WONDERFUL Back to School gift for your child's teacher!)

Well, what do you think??

I See The Light!

My classroom is not finished. There is still a lot I would like to do. Last minute touches like things to hang from the celling, more posters to hang, outside display to make, mailboxes to label, desks to clean, outcome wall to make, bulletin boards to finish, oh! and the SMALL task of lesson plans to make- but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! When I walked into room 204 a few weeks ago with boxes stacked high and dirty walls and no idea what I was going to do I just turned around and walked out. It took me quite a while to muster up the courage to attack the mess. But after a few short weeks of working evenings in there it is really starting to look like a place where I might actually like going everyday and kids might even learn a thing or two! Like I said, it is not done but here are some pictures (from my phone) of the progress so far.

I don't like the poster boxes under that table, but I really don't have any other place to store them right now.
I will be working on that. But for now that is their home.

My spin rack of books. (Bought it at a bookstore going out of business sale)
It is full of chapter books but lacking some picture books because many of the ones I used on it last year are too easy for 5th grade.

We departmentalize and I teach Language Arts, but I had to have my math wall.
The orange reading books will be gone after the 1st day.

More of the reading area.

I finished that b.board last night. At our school our 4th and 5th graders participate in the county wide Battle of the Books program.
They read the books and then we will have a school competition with quick recall type questions about the books. We will then pick
the top kids from our school to compete in the county competition. I helped judge the county competition last year and it was sooooo
much fun. So in my classroom when they read one of the books they will get to add a piece of popcorn with their name on it to the popcorn bucket. The buckets are labeled with all of the books on the battle list. I hope this will be a fun motivator for them!
 I think it looks pretty cute!

Indoor recess games and a cozy little spot to read.

My white board up front.
I want to make one board my outcome wall. I saw a GREAT idea on one of your
blogs using colored masking tape to create an outcome grid, but I can't remember which oneof you did it. HELP!! Who was it?

Anyone want to volunteer to cut these for me! ha!
Tennis balls for the chair legs to help with the noise.
They all need cut- a project for another day. ugh.

It is coming along. I am pleased with much if it so far, but I have a few more days and evenings of work ahead of me. Thank goodness it is all the fun stuff and NO MORE UNPACKING BOXES. (Well, at school anyway- we are doing the whole move to a new house thing- but that is a whole other story!) We also sent out our letters to our new kiddos and that made it all seem very real. I will be teaching 5th grade in a few short weeks so I had better get ready for it!!

27 Week Update.

The Snyder Duo Week 27
Today: 27 weeks 4 days.




All 3 of my kiddos in one picture!
I wonder if the other 2 are as silly as the big one!?




Baby Size:
According to my sources the babies are about the size of a head of cauliflower. Making them about 16 inches long and 2.5 lbs each. I am not sure about the length, but the weight it right on track. We had an unexpected ultrasound on Tuesday and learned they are exactly that. Both of them are 2lbs. 5 oz. each! They measured exactly the same! I was told that is very rare. I was just so thrilled to know they were growing big!

Weight Loss/Gain:
At my 24 week appointment I was +12 lbs. I have been eating and drinking lots of water and Tuesday at the surprise doctor's appointment I learned I am still +12. I have not lost or gained in the last 3 weeks. I find that interesting and wonder if that will change before my 28 week appointment.


Maternity Clothes:
YES. All maternity pants and mostly all maternity tops. My belly gets bigger everyday and I am amazed at how quickly the maternity tops are getting tight. I was able to wear regular tshirts until recently. They are now all too short. I have been wearing lots of workout pants and knit pants at night around the house and while I work in my classroom, however they are all getting tight. I had to make a costume change last night while Stuart and I were watching TV because the non maternity pants I was wearing were cutting me in half!

Sleep:
I am still having trouble sleeping at night but last night might have been the worst night yet. I could not get comfortable. My legs were very restless, my mind was very restless and I had to get up to pee 9 times!! YES 9 TIMES (I counted!). I went to bed about 9:45 and tried to get to sleep. But by the time Stuart came to bed at about 11:00 I was still wide awake. I tossed and turned all night. I tried all positions, using a pillow under my belly, between my legs and nothing worked. I am hoping this is not the trend, but if it is I guess I will learn to deal with it.


Symptoms:
I am feeling great these days and eating lots. My belly is SO itchy. It is unbelievably itchy as I sit here and try to type. I have lotioned and oiled tonight but nothing is helping. I may head to the tub for some relief soon.
Movement:
I did have a little scare (I guess you would call it) on Tuesday. This past weekend I noticed that I did not feel Shepard moving as much. I had been feeling very distinct movement on the lower left side (Sara Kate) and the upper right side (Shepard). But like I said, this weekend I noticed reduced movement in the upper right side. We were busy packing boxes and such so I thought that maybe I had missed it so Monday I tried to pay closer attention. I still did not feel the amount of movement I thought I should. Tuesday morning I laid on my left side for a while and felt LOTS of action. I rolled over to my right side and laid for a while and felt nothing. I then got very worried so I called my doctor's office. They asked me to come in so I did. They tried to hook me up to the monitors but let's just say it is pretty difficult to get two monitors hooked up to find two heartbeats on two tiny babies. After about 30 minutes of trying and one slight panic attack from me (I guess it was a panic attack. I have never had one before, but I broke out in a huge sweat and felt like jumping off the table. All the while I am trying to lay still so the heartbeats can be found. Let's just say I had to be fanned by a nurse while wearing a cold wash cloth on my head...nice! Talk about high drama).So after all that they asked if I could come back later that afternoon when the ultrasound tech would be there. I quickly agreed and made my exit. I apologized to all the staff as I looked like I had run a few miles. Lovely I know. I am sure they were so excited to see me again in a few hours! :) So, I went back in a few hours and had a full ultrasound. They both looked great!! It was a huge relief and I learned why I had felt the reduced movement. THEY HAD BOTH MOVED! SK who was breech and in my lower left side was now head down and curled up in the lower right corner. Shepard who was head down with his little feet in my upper right side is now breech with his head in my ribs and his feet down my left side. This being the reason I felt no movement on my right side and LOTS on the left. I loved the reassurance that they were both okay. I also learned that they were both measuring about 2lbs. 5 ozs. each. I was also told that one was 53.3 percentile and the other was 53.4 percentile. Not usual for twins to be so close in size but these little guys are! They are just amazing and I loved seeing them on the screen.




Best Moment This Week:
Clark tried to wear some Halloween pjs last night that were too small. Stuart shoved him into them and once they were on he begged to take them off telling us he was too big for them and we needed to save them for Shepard! It was super cute.l
Food Cravings:
Still on a milk and cereal kick. YUM- I might need some right now! :)
What I Miss:
I still miss Jazzercise. I miss bending over easily. I miss sleeping on my belly. I miss having lots of energy. I usually like to get so much done during nap time and this past week I have napped every time that Clark has. I have lots to do like pack, read my 5th grade curriculum and such but instead I have been napping. I guess baking 2 babies takes a little more energy than I thought! I also miss not being so darn itchy!!

Looking Forward To:
Moving into our new house!! I can't wait to get all things put away and hope to have it all done before these babes arrive. I can't wait to get their room ready. I am also very excited to see them again at our 28 week appointment on the 26th. I am not looking forward to the glucose test and drinking the yucky drink.

Classroom Update.

If you read my blog you know that we are in the process of moving houses and I am moving classrooms. My belly is big as I am 27 weeks today with the twins and my brain is on overload. (Have I mentioned that before? ha!) Our closing date on both houses has been contracted as July 29th but now our lender says it is looking more like August 10th. Yes- the day after the 1st day of school. How much fun will that be? ohmy. We should hear something this week about the final date. Because the closing date on the house is not set in stone and the first day of school is (August 9th) I have been working like mad in my classroom.

My classroom was quite the disaster and just a huge stack of boxes so I had my work cut out for me. I have now unpacked all of the boxes and put everything in a place. Not sure if everything is where it will stay, but it is put away for now. The biggest challenge in the new room is there is NO CLOSET. I have had a huge closet the entire time I have been at this school and I have become very reliant on it. (THIS is a picture of my old room and closet) So to not have one has been quite the challenge. The upside to not having a huge closet is that my room is much bigger so I have tried to make due with metal cabinets and filing cabinets. I put all my resource books in filing cabinets and all my *stuff* in cabinets. I have organized my desk, labeled my book baskets, sorted all books out that were too young for 5th, and just sorted, cleaned, pitched and organized the rest. The mess is under control and I just need to let the decorating begin. I have all kinds of ideas I just need to find time to get in there and do it!
Here is a sneak peek of what has been done so far:

BEFORE- Just stacks and stacks of boxes. ugh.

More BEFORE mess.

One of my handsome helpers.
Stuart came and moved all my wiring. I moved my desk to a different place
that the teacher previously in the room. So all the projector wiring had to be moved.
THANKS STUART.

Another one of my handsome helpers.
Well, this kid is not much help as he drags EVERYTHING out, but he sure is cute to look at!

My new "closet".
Not quite as big as the last one, but it will work.
I have two of these and they are both filled completely up.

Book baskets have been re-done to meet 5th grade needs and re-labeled.
Pay no attention to the naked bulletin board. It will be filled soon!

Student computer station is set up and running and so is my teacher station.
I count that as a BIG accomplishment.

I have a lot to do. Curtains to hang, bulletin boards to decorate, hallway display to make, lockers to label, posters to hang, desks to arrange, welcome back packets to make, student letters to send and the tiny task of a BRAND NEW CURRICULUM TO LEARN. But hopefully it will all get done before Meet The Teacher Night on AUGUST 5th.  Until then it is box packing at home during the day and classroom decorating by night. Hopefully it will all come together.