Photo Bonanza

We haven't posted in a few days, so we have lots of pictures to share here. It's amazing how quickly the girls change, and how quickly we change with them. We're getting more used to their new cry, and at the same time they are figuring out that they don't need the full-on cry every time they need something. Lately, they'll let out little bursts like "Ah!" or "Ehhh" and just look at us - it's amazing to see the beginning ideas of language take hold for them.

LOOK how big they are getting!

This is one of our favorite pictures of Clara, even if she did just spit up on herself.
Such is our life!

Elena's hiding! No, we don't let her pull things over her face unsupervised...but this was so funny, where she was manipulating her environment for one of the first times. Thanks to Kerrie and Virgina Smyres for the cute Halloween outfit!

We are incredibly lucky to have lots of help lately, which makes everything easier. Their Aunt Caryn and Aunt Melissa have been over to help us with night feedings a few times, which helps us get loads more sleep than we would otherwise get. Their Aunt Merinda flew in from Colorado to help for a few days, and tomorrow their Aunt Laura will leave her little girls and fly out to help for a few days, too. We're so lucky to have such family to help us out - we're loving being with these girls, but it takes a village to raise twins!

Check out these sweet hats Aunt Merinda made for the girls - she is such a talented knitter.






Quick quiz - can you tell who is who in the pictures above?

The girls wore them this past Friday, when the girls and Christina have a weekly date to go meet Steve at work for lunch. They tend to sleep through it, which means Christina and Steve get some time to talk and enjoy each other's company.

The girls are much more interested in their surroundings than they've been in previous weeks. Clara remains entranced by her gym, as evidenced here:



And Elena loves looking out windows. This morning, she sat and stared at the trees, occasionally gesturing at them as if she was saying "Way to go leaves! Change those colors!" She's a cheering girl like that.




Finally, a new addition to the household this week is a mobile from Aunt Amy (thanks, Amy!). We put it up on the side of the crib that the girls don't sleep near, because it is so stimulating we have to save it for their awake time. We took some shots of the girls staring - Clara is staring in awe at the mobile, Elena tends to stare more in awe at her sister!






We are still in search of the perfect schedule to fit us all, and right now we know we just have to wait for it - the girls are too little to really let us sleep. Still, we leave you with this moment of utter peace: