Happy Halloween!

Aren't these the cutest, plumpest chickens you've ever seen??

My mom found these costumes at a great consignment sale in North Carolina. The twins looked adorable! We weren't sure if they'd tolerate wearing them for very long, but they made it more than an hour. It helped that we were outside the whole time. It's chilly enough that all that chicken fluff kept them warm. This was the second year our cul-de-sac had a Halloween party. We set up a bunch of tables and chairs and had dinner together before passing out candy to the trick-or-treaters. It was so much more fun than running back and forth to answer the door. Plus, the kids really like it because they get to just walk down the line where we're sitting and collect their candy. I even heard a skeleton say, "This is the best Halloween ever!" Jeff and I didn't do much decorating this year. In fact, we went to get pumpkins for the kids at four o'clock this afternoon! We started a new family tradition and walked with Riley and Colter down the street (1/2 mile) to a local church that sets up a pumpkin patch each year. While the kids were more interested in eating the hay, I think we all had fun. Jeff and I laughed when we imagined us in the future, dragging a couple of teenagers down the street to the pumpkin patch to keep up the tradition.

We've got a praise to share - I got the job at the Children's hospital!! I am so excited. I start orientation on November 17th. It will be hard to be away from Riley and Colter during orientation, but the long term plan is for me to just work one or two nights a week. Now I need to get to work on figuring out a plan for childcare.

There's another woman in Jeff's life...

...and her name is Riley.

Look at these two! I know just how she feels. How Jeff thinks he will ever tell her "no" is beyond me.

What life is like now

Just so I don't forget...
We're pretty much living a dream schedule right now. Riley and Colter go to bed by 7:30 pm and wake up around 7:00 am. (Yes, as our pediatrician says, we are spoiled!) They usually entertain each other for a while before I get them up to feed them. They are so darn cute in the mornings! Honestly, I think they're cute all the time, but they are especially snugly when they first wake up. I get them dressed, spend some time playing with them, and read them a couple stories before they go down for a nap around 9:00 am. I've been reading Time For Bed (mainly just naming the animals and making the animal noises) and Goodnight Moon every day for a couple weeks. Riley gets really excited now when she sees me reach for those books. They usually sleep until 10:00 or 10:30 am. I nurse them again and then we try to take advantage of our window of opportunity and get out of the house to run errands, go to the park, or at least take a walk. By 12:30 or 1:00 pm it's time for lunch. They're still eating pureed foods for the most part. However, our big news this week is that we've added Cheerios to the mix. Most of them end up on the floor, but they're enjoying them. Colter is able to get some of them to his mouth by putting his whole fist in this mouth, but Riley usually just plays with them and opens her mouth to be fed. Naptime starts again around 1:30 or 2:00 pm and lasts 1 - 2 hours. Lately neither one of them have been going right to sleep. Next, they have some more milk and we have playtime again (and start hoping that Daddy will be coming home soon). Neither one of them is crawling yet, but they manage to move quite a ways by rolling around - especially Colter. They love the Jumperoo and plastic lids from the kitchen are some of their favorite toys. We keep catching Colter stealing toys from Riley. She usually doesn't mind, but did burst into tears yesterday. They are so funny together, always watching what the other is doing. I feed them dinner around 5:00pm. Jeff usually gets home by 6:00pm. Depending on our sanity levels, we either hang out at home or decide to go to the grocery or run some other errand. Then it's back upstairs for bathtime, milk and bedtime.
OK, I know that was boring. I couldn't ask for a better schedule from two 8 month olds. I have to be honest, however, and say that I still manage to be exhausted by the time Jeff comes home. I had no idea the volume of dirty diapers, laundry, spit up, and smeared baby food I'd be dealing with. I am so thankful these guys are so easy going!

Photo documentation of our newest teeth

Well, you can kind of see Riley and Colter's first teeth...
p.s. These were taken before our furnace was fixed. You can see that their noses turn as red as mine when it's cold!

We love Fall!

We've been trying to take advantage of this beautiful weather and play outside. Riley and Colter are loving it!
I took this picture the day they turned 8 months. It's hard to believe they're that old already.
Suzanna and I had to laugh at this. Just what are these three plotting?
We had a great time meeting up with some friends at the park last week. Abby and Colter are having a very serious conversation.
Thanks for the prayers for my interview on Wednesday. I was (and still am) so excited when I left the hospital. I was interviewed by four people at once (yikes), but it didn't take long before I was able to really enjoy talking with them. They gave me some great information about their unit. It sounds like an awesome place to work. I should hear something on Halloween. We'll see what God has in store for us.
Meanwhile our furnace upstairs wouldn't kick on. While it was a relatively (oh how I wish I knew how to fix just about anything!) small repair, the guy told me we should expect to replace it in the next year or two. I guess it's as old as the house. Fun, fun. I am so thankful to be a nurse. Once I'm employed somewhere, it shouldn't be hard to pick up extra shifts here and there when something like this comes up.

Colter has a tooth, too!

Sweet Colter finally cut one of his bottom teeth. He's been working on it for weeks! Now we've got 2 toothy grins at our house. I'll post pictures soon.

Please say some prayers for us. A lot of you know that it's time for me to start working again part-time. I've got a job interview at the Children's hospital tomorrow afternoon. I'm really trying to be patient with this job search and wait for God to show me where He wants me.

Riley got her first tooth!

This is pretty funny to me because I've been thinking Colter was going to get his bottom two teeth any day now. I've been checking his mouth every morning and after every nap. Well, he is still really close, but his big sister snuck in there and beat him! Typical Riley. I guess she wanted to keep her record of being first alive.

Catching up

I basically missed updating our blog during Riley and Colter's seventh month. If you have a few minutes you can catch up by watching our little video. As you'll see, God has been so good to send us some joyous moments in the midst of sadness. I'm so thankful for these babies. And now, I am going to bed.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Our Pennsylvania trip

I never posted on my trip with Riley and Colter to see their Great-Grandparents Readinger...
We drove to Raleigh, rested for a day, and then drove with Grandma to Pennsylvania to see her parents. It was a lot of driving, but was totally worth it. My grandparents live in a really neat retirement community. Riley and Colter were quite a hit among all the residents. They met plenty of friends and neighbors and even got to sit at the table in their booster seats in the dining room. (You should have seen us pushing a double stroller and carrying two booster seats through the halls - what a sight!)

Colter and Riley enjoyed visiting with Great-Grandma.
You know Riley, she's always up for a talk.
We got to visit Great-Grandpa's garden. Now I know they won't remember this, but since I have such fun memories of his garden I wanted them to experience it for themselves.
Riley was impressed with the flowers.
Colter thinks he'd like to taste some of those vegetables.
This is one of my favorite pictures. Riley is always craning her neck around so she doesn't miss anything.

Here's the six of us. If you look closely you can see a picture Great-Grandma painted of my brother Shawn in Great-Grandpa's garden. She's a great artist.I'm so grateful to my mom for helping me make this trip happen. If only we didn't live so far away.

I did learn a few things about taking long road trips with these little ones, though. First of all, Riley really does love Glenn Miller! "In The Mood" is her favorite song. How do I know? She can be throwing a fit in the car, but when that song starts she stops her fussing and sometimes even smiles. Amazing. It works every time. I'm not kidding, ask Jeff. That CD lives in the van. I also found that both Riley and Colter do better if we get on the road first thing in the morning. Mom and I learned this the hard way. The ride from PA to NC was a bit challenging. Ah well. That's just part of traveling with kids. I'm just so glad they did well while we were there and that we had so much fun.

Uncle Scott

On September 8th, we found out we had lost our Uncle Scott. It's been just over a month now. We miss him terribly. We think about him all the time. I frequently think of things I wish I could tell him, especially about Riley and Colter. He loved them so much and they loved him right back. Here are some of the things I would say... (I'm going to try not to agonize over what to say since Scott is way too easy going for that).

Scott,

I hope you know how grateful I am for the time you spent at our home. You were so good to me and to Riley and Colter. Thank you so much for everything you did to help us. All those times you helped carry a baby up or down the stairs. The times you were there to get Colter out of his carseat before I was even out of the car. The times when you played with them so I could grab some lunch. The mealtimes where you grabbed a spoon and fed one of them. You fed them so many of their first foods. In a way, you're still helping us. Whenever I get impatient with Colter for sticking his hand in his mouth between bites, I remember how you would just laugh when he did that. He had so much fun when you were feeding him. You never worried about the mess he was making. You always thought to carry Riley and Colter to the window to look outside when they were fussy. I try and do that more often. We still call Riley "Sweet Pea," just like you did. She still has her "all knowing" looks. You predicted she'll give those looks her whole life. I think you're right. I was really looking forward to laughing with you about those looks when she was still giving them to us as a teenager. Jeff and I hope you knew how much our children loved you. You would be so proud of them. They were still mastering rolling from their backs to their tummies. Now they're sitting up and taking toys from each other. You would really laugh at some of their expressions! They're eating so many new foods and are getting pretty good at drinking out of their sippy cups. They're talking a lot - even to each other. I wish I knew what they were saying. Governor really misses you too. I think he knows you're not coming back. He was really confused for a few weeks. Now that he can't love on you, he's giving extra love to Gram and Papa Jim. God was so good to give us so much time with you those last couple months. It made it harder to lose you, but we're all so grateful to have those memories. No matter what else was going on in your life, you always had such a genuine kindness about you. I always really appreciated that, ever since I first met you. You always seemed happy for other people when something wonderful was happening for them. I know you really prayed for Jeff and I when we were trying to have kids and I know you were so thankful when Riley and Colter arrived. After all, you were the first one to hold Riley in the hospital. I hope you know how much we love you.

Leslie