Yikes!

The last day of September....oh man, where did this month go?? I had such high hopes for blogging more this month. I guess there is always next month, right. But seriously, how can it be October already? I hope the upcoming month is a little "slower" - we have a lot going on at the end of October and first of November and need all the time possible to get everything accomplished.

So let's see...when I last posted, I was looking for themes for costumes and parties. Thanks Brooke and Sarah for the creative ideas! Love the salt/pepper and ketchup/mustard costume suggestions! Those just might be what we do in a couple years when the girls are walking well and can really show off the costumes. I'm still undecided for this year though and am hopeful that when I go to the Mother of Twins sale this weekend, I'll find just the right outfits for their first Halloween. :)

As for the birthday party, I think I've got it narrowed down to a few favorites (leaning towards bugs or animals) and am actually considering making my own invitations. For those that know me well - I'm neither crafty nor creative so that would be kind of big deal! :D But I think it would be worth it to do something special and have a nice keepsake for this 1st birthday. I saw a really cute idea on another twin mom's blog and it has inspired me to give it a try. Oh, and it doesn't hurt that Paul's Mom has a good stock of scrapbooking tools and is willing to help me with this project. I'm already looking forward to going to Michaels or Hobby Lobby to check out the possibilities. Of course, now that I've blogged about, I better follow through! Hey - who knows, maybe this will be the start of a fun scrapbooking hobby for me. OK OK maybe I should wait to see how the invites turn out before I go that far... LOL

I don't have much of anything new to report on Amelia and Penelope. They are getting more and more steady on their feet - standing without hanging on to anything for several seconds at time and sometimes taking 2 or 3 steps if a favorite (or forbidden) item is just out of reach. Maybe they'll be walking more by their birthday. Right now it seems like they think about taking a step but then realize that getting down and crawling is safer and will get them where they want to be quicker. Watching them scoot around and crawl fast is such a cute and funny sight. Tonight Amelia kept putting her head down all determined like when she was trying to get somewhere fast. Oh, and Penelope (who is turning into quite a cuddly baby) is finally getting
some top teeth which will hopefully help her with crunchy foods like crackers. I'm getting tired
of feeding them mainly baby food, but neither seem all that happy when I try thicker textured or chunky stuff. I'd also like to start practicing with self feeding but I just don't know that I'm ready for the mess that that is bound to bring with it... Maybe we'll wait just a little longer on that. ;)

Well it is officially past my bed time and given that Amelia has woken me up with crying the past two nights, I'm exhausted. I will post again very soon (promise!).

Suggestions

This is a call to all the creative people out there.... Got any cute ideas for Halloween costumes that aren't identical but coordinated for Amelia and Penelope??? They would preferably be something I can find in a store to buy as I don't imagine I'll have a ton of free time to make them myself. :) By coordinated I'm thinking along the lines of bumblebee and ladybag, teddy bear and panda bear, giraffe and zebra, cow and pig - you get the idea.

I'm also starting to think about themes for the 1st birthday party and welcome suggestions for that too. It doesn't necessarily have to geared towards twins - just cute and fun and girly and appropriate for the big # 1. :D

So post a comment and let me know what you think! Thanks!

Falling Behind

I'm falling behind in posting while the girls are falling on their behinds as they try to stand and walk. That's right, you read correctly, I said WALK... Both girls took their first tentative steps yesterday afternoon!! I'm SO glad I was there to see it - and that they managed to do it within minutes of each other. :D It happened at Grandma Clopton's house when I went to pick them up. Amelia kept standing on her own for several seconds at a time so I told Penelope she better watch out or her sister would walk before her. Since Penelope was the first to roll, crawl, stand and cruise, I kept predicting she'd be the first to walk. Well my little Peanut must have heard me because less than 5 minutes later, she let go of the footstool she was hanging on to and took 2 steps towards me! And since Amelia kept standing on her own, we put her up to the same footstool and sure enough, she let go and took a couple steps towards her jumperoo. What big girls!!! Of course once we got home and had dinner, Paul turned on the video camera and we let the babies crawl all over the family room and living room, hoping they'd try again for Daddy to see. Amelia did it a couple times, letting go of a chair and then taking 2 steps to an end table but the best we could get Penelope to do was take a few steps while lightly hanging on to my finger. Still awfully impressive though.... They are only 10 months old (and growing up way too fast for Mommy)!

Speaking of 10 months - I completely missed posting on their 10 month birthday. They are now officially 10 months and 1 week. Last week was a slow week at work but a busy one at home so I guess that's how I missed 9/3/09. On Friday, Grandma and Grandpa Reinke came into town to watch the babies for a couple days while Paul and I headed up to Cleveland. Our 7th wedding anniversary was on Monday the 7th and we celebrated by going to the Cleveland Airshow on Saturday and spending the night in downtown Cleveland. We were pleasantly surprised at how nice our hotel was and the whole downtown area in general. After the airshow we went out for possibly our most expensive dinner ever at John Qs steakhouse and then just enjoyed a nice baby-free evening. It was our first night away from home without the girls and I was a little hesitant about leaving them but it had to happen sooner or later. We are after all planning a vacation without them for February 2010 so one night 2 hours away is a good start. :D On Sunday we slept in until 8am, had a yummy breakfast at the hotel's buffet and then just wandered around downtown looking at some of the old buildings, etc. We even stopped in Lodi on the way home for a little outlet shopping. All in all, a very nice way to spend our anniversary. And the girls survived without us - in fact, I'm not sure they even noticed we were gone. A good sign all be OK when we head to the beach in 149 days (not that we're counting down or anything!!).