You are 4.

Dear Clark,

I honestly have no idea how this happened. How did you get so big? I am not exaggerating when I say that you do something daily that makes your daddy and I ask each other that very question. You are such a sweet boy, such a great helper, and a loving big brother. You have quite the imagination, love superheros, watching movies, and building castles and dinosaurs with Legos. You order by yourself in restaurants and your order of choice is macaroni and cheese with chocolate milk. You are a great diaper fetcher, paci getter, and toe tickler. You want EVERY toy you see on TV but are happy to have glow sticks from the dollar store or a gumball from a machine. You notice and hear everything. You ask lots of questions and remember everything. Here are some other things about you these days:

ALL ABOUT YOU.

Height/Weight:
You weigh about 39-40 lbs. 7% body fat in case you were wondering! ha! You weighed your self on daddy's scale. We think you are about 39 inches but we will fin out next week at your 4 year well visit to be sure.

Your Interests:
You love all things boy. You love cars, trucks and swords. You love dinosaurs, puzzles and water guns. You love to wrestle, sword fight and swing golf clubs with daddy. You are pretty interested in states and capitals right now and excited to go to preschool in the fall.

Favorite Foods:
You are a creature of habit and could eat the same thing everyday. However, you are starting to try new things and realize there are more things on the menu than mac and cheese.
You LOVE:

• Mac and Cheese 
• Strawberries
• Grapes
• Fruit Snacks
• PB&J
• Chips & Salsa
• Chips of any kind
• Cheese
• Waffles
• Peperroni Pizza
• Popcorn

Sizes:

You wear a size 12 shoe and 4T and 5T clothing. You have long legs and a small waist so we have to buy bigger to get things long enough. 

What you LOVE to watch on TV:

You LOVE to watch movies and much to my dismay you think you are too big for Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Fresh Beat Band these days. You want to watch things like Batman, Tom and Jerry and Power Rangers. I think these shows are too violent but you LOVE to watch and put up a good fight.

Other GREAT things you are doing these days:

1. You are a puzzle master. You love putting puzzles together and you have been very into your puzzle of the US map lately- which makes your daddy pretty proud. I must admit I have been brushing up on my states and capitals due to this puzzle. 

2. You are better than daddy or me on iPhone games like Temple Run and Angry Birds Space. If we let you you would be attached to a phone all day. (we don't let you by the way)

3. You are soooooooo funny. You make jokes, you are sarcastic and your laugh is infectious. 

4. You are into jumping. You love jumping over things and off things. Last week while we were in FL you even mastered the jump off the side of the pool and go under water trick. It was a little scary at first but by the end of the week you were a master. Can't get over how fearless you are when it comes to this.

5. You are the best brother around. You are a great little brother to Barney although you beat up on him sometimes and you are a great big brother to your babies even though you beat up on them sometimes too. ha! You are loving, kind and gentle. It is my hope that you continue to be a good example for your siblings.

Days before you became a BIG BROTHER.

This list could go on and on. Yes, you have your moments. Yes, you can cry on demand and throw a good fit every now and then, but you are such a sweet, sweet boy. You have an amazing smile and we are so glad to call you ours. It has been amazing to watch you grow from a little flickering heart beat on a screen to a 40 lb. little man who is headed for preschool all too soon. You are a bright spot in our lives and make our day to day much more entertaining. I know you are going to do great things and I hope you do it with the zest and excitement you do today. 

1 candle.

2 candles.

3 candles.

4 candles.

We love you so much today and even more tomorrow. 

Happy Birthday little man. 

All my love,

Mommy

The Duo- 8 and 9 Month Update

In case you have not noticed, I have been totally slacking on the updates and the whole blog. We have been very busy this summer and my computer is still on the fritz. So today I finally sat down and made a list of all the May/June posts I want to catch up on and realized that tomorrow is JULY! Oh Lordy. I had better kick it into high gear. So instead of showering during nap time today I decided to blog. ha!

I never got around to the twins' 8 month update. I even had a few emails from some of you asking how they were doing after our whole weight gain issue I mentioned HERE. I really appreicate knowing that some of you actually read these posts! I do not have a baby book going for these two so this blog is it. If I do get around to writing it down pen/paper style this blog will be key to that! So knowing that y'all read is fun. thanks!

A lot has happened in the last few months. They are growing like weeds and into EVERYTHING. I think the gates are going up this weekend, because we have some mobile babies. Watch out world- they are mobile and have VERY sharp teeth. They keep us very busy and are little showstoppers when we are in public.

By the way. These two REFUSE to smile while wearing the monthly sticker...REFUSE. ha!

Here are the stats of our little ones this month:


Weights: (from 9 month check-up)

Shepard- 16lbs. 12 oz.  - <5th  percentile  (5.1 at birth)

Sara Kate- 17lbs.0 oz.  -20th percentile- ON THE CHARTS! (5.11 at birth)



Lengths: (from 9 month check-up)
Shepard: 26.5 inches  - 25th percentile On the charts! (up from 17 at birth)

Sara Kate: 27 inches  - 30th percentile On the charts! (up from 18 at birth)

Diaper Size:
Shepard: Size 3
Sara Kate: Size 3
We had to buy our first package of diapers this week! We have had quite the stock pile from a diaper shower and other gifts. We are beyond thrilled that we made it 9.5 months without buying diapers!! We have several boxes of 4s too!

Clothing Size:

Shepard: 6-9 months

Sara Kate: 9-12 months

Sleep:
Sleeping great. We have made a few changes in our bedtime routine. During the whole "we decided not to grow" phase I was pumping (to make sure just how much they were eating) and giving them 6 oz. night time bottles before bed. Well, they started fighting this. They would not finish them, and push them away and it became quite the battle. So I started giving them 3 oz each at bedtime and then mixing the 6 oz. that was left in their morning cereal to make sure they were getting it all. Well then they started refusing the 3 oz. after a while too! So, after the 9 month check up our doc said he was very happy with their growth (yay!) and we could cut out that bottle if they did not want it. This was great news because instead of that bottle calming them down and getting them ready for sleep it was kind of like a wrestling match to get them to eat it all. Now, I nurse them before bed if they are interested. If not, they just go to bed. SO. MUCH. EASIER.

They are going to bed between 7:00 and 7:30 each night and sleeping until 8:00 ish. Most mornings they wake up around 6:00-6:30, but they just lay up there and talk, and roll around. We do not go get them and they usually fall back to sleep until 8:00 or 8:30 and then it becomes obvious they are ready for some food!

They are napping 2 times a day for anywhere to 1-2 hours each time.
They sleep and nap in their cribs in their rooms and at night they are still sleeping in their sleep sacks. We even bought bigger ones. I really think that they know that when they put that sleep sack on it is time for bed. We change them, nurse if interested, put on sleep sack and lay them down awake and they usually have no trouble falling asleep on their own. I say usually, because they are both teething and cutting new teeth and have been slightly more fussy and LOTS more snotty. They snotty noses make it a little difficult to get to sleep.

Eating:
They are good little eaters. I have not found much they don't like. I think we will be done with purees soon. They are eating tons of table food. They love goldfish, cheerios, puffs, Mum Mums, frozen waffles, most fruits, pasta, mashed potatoes, cooked veggies- anything they can get their chubby little hands on. They are eating 3 meals a day, plus snacks, plus nursing 4 times a day. Yes, I clean high chairs and bibs all day long! :)

8:00 Nurse
9:00 Breakfast (usually oatmeal with fruit, yogurt and cheerios)
11:30 Nurse
12:30 Lunch (the choices are endless- usually a veggie, fruit and meat)
4:00 Nurse 
5:30 Dinner ( very similar to lunch- sometimes they just eat bits of what we eat)
7:00 Nurse before bed if interested.
10:00 pm ish- I pump before I go to bed.

Shepard:
You are such a sweet boy. Really, you are. You are very calm, laid back, and go with the flow. You only cry when you are starving, tired, or hurt. You sit back and take in all the action. You have a smile that will be very hard to say no to. You love watching your big brother and don't fight back when that sister of yours is mean to you. You have ONE tooth and one on the way. Your hair looks like it might be starting to grow. We think you are going to have either red or blonde hair. It looks very light. You are a chatty guy and becoming quite a momma's boy. You don't like it too much if you can hear me but not see me. You LOVE to eat. You never miss a meal ( like your momma) and you do such a great job feeding yourself. You love anything you can pick up on your own. You are starting to army crawl and you love to stand when supported.

SaraKate:
Sister, you are a wild woman. You are EVERYWHERE these days. You have moved on from the army crawl to the "peg leg" crawl. You crawl on one knee and drag one leg behind you. You are such a funny girl. You like to know what is going on all the time. You want nothing to do with your toys and only want to play with things you are not supposed to. You can find and pick up the tiniest things. We are always on the lookout for things you might find. You keep us on our toes. You have TWO teeth and we think you are cutting a few more. You are a sassy little thing and you make us laugh everyday!

They are quite the duo. I have totally forgotten what it is like to only have one baby. Doing double of everything has become the norm. We love our normal with this traveling circus we call family.

InstaFriday:Take 4

I continue to love Instagram and over use it. I have not had time or energy for much blogging, but it is gradually coming back to me. I am hoping to get back into the swing of it before too long. I love this InstaFriday link up because it gives me a quick way to share our pics from the week.  Here is an IG peek at our week. (BIG WEEK! One Snyder turned 4 and two turned 9 months!)

Some new birthday wheels! Christmas jammies and all.

SK doing some baby yoga.

Birthday date 6/12/12 Madagascar 3 in 3D!

More birthday date. Target with my boy.

Swimming lessons for the big boy.

Some wild twins I know turned 9months on 9/13
(hopefully an update soon!)

3/4 of my kids fresh from the bath.

Sara Kate on her first pool day of the summer.

Poolside duo.

Trip to Louisville Zoo on 6/15. We were a sweaty bunch.

Linking up HERE.

As you can see it was an eventful week. These kids are all growing like weeds and we are just soaking up this summer life. This weekend is full with t-ball, family pictures, and Father's Day plans. Hope y'all have a good one too!!

The SUPER Party

Saturday June 9th we celebrated in a super way. We celebrated one super kid and celebrate we did. Clark loves a good party. When he knows it is your birthday his first question is "what kind of party are you going to have?". He has been talking about having a super hero party for a few months now and that is just what we had. We/He narrowed it down to a baseball, pirate or superhero party and once the adorable superhero invites were ordered there was no going back. His one request was a bounce castle. He wanted a bounce castle to celebrate Barney's (our dog) 6th birthday on May 31st but we got one for his party instead. He was cool with that.

So, we had a bounce castle, cupcakes, capes for all, and juice boxes. What more could a 4 year old boy ask for? The weather was great, his friends were here and it was a good day. It was a little hard for this momma to come to grips with the fact that he is four. That it has really been four years since I met this boy. Four years since I became a mommy. Four years of watching him grow from a 6lb. newborn to the 38lb. little man he is today. He is the bright spot in my life and we think he is pretty SUPER so this party was very fitting for our sweet boy.

My nephews manned the sno-cone machine. Thanks guys!

Mom and I made the cupcake toppers. Kroger made the cupcakes. :)

Sweet boys lovin' the sand.

Clark and his buddy "Efan"

Super Clark.

Super Clark and the Super Treats.

SK loved the balloons.

The Super Snyders.

Super Shepard and papaw.

Super SK and Super Seth.

Make a wish my love.

The sweaty superhero.

A post party Snyder pic.

As you can see, it was an unbelievable day. The pictures may not capture it as great as they could because my good camera battery died about 15 minutes in, my phone says it is too full to hold new pictures, and I took most of the pictures on Stuart's phone, but I was still able to take a few! :)

We appreciate all of our friends and family (pictured or not) that came out to celebrate Clark. I know he loved it and we did too! It really was SUPER.


Side Notes:
1.The printable came from the Esty shop DimplePrints.
2.]Clark's cape came from fellow blogger Hillary and her shop Mint Julep Monograms.
3. My friend Staci made the shirts.
4. We rented the sno-cone and bounce castle from a local place called Party Right Productions.
5. I made three of the cute kids pictured. :)