The Russells (and then there were four): 2nd Halloween and 20 Months

Things at our house have been pretty rough the last few days. Both babies are teething and miserable. We are all functioning on very little sleep! Brooklyn puts up a fight every night at bedtime. She has stayed up until 4 a.m. and 2 a.m. most recently which makes getting up for work at 5:30 a bit of a challenge for me. She will throw everything out of her bed - every blanket, her paci, etc. Then she will cry so hard she gags herself. At this point I will put her in the bed with me, but she wants to play. She will name everyone she knows and try to pry open my eyelids or stick her finger as far up my nose as possible. Needless to say, it has been a bumpy road.

We celebrated Halloween this past weekend with a family party at my sister Jamie's. My mom decorated and everyone brought delicious food. We had our usual pumpkin decorating contest and my sister Jamie won with her rendition of Bert. I attempted Elmo and Cookie, but thing the large styrofoam eyes made them look very awkward. We dressed the twins up as Thing 1 and Thing 2 and Tim and I were Thing Dad and Thing Mom. Tim and I had a great time making everyones' wigs. Our kitchen looked like a blue chicken had been slaughtered when we were finished, but it sure was fun. I did not get one family picture the entire night, nor did I get one of the twins together in full costume. I dressed them up again last night after dinner and got a few more pictures, but Brooklyn would not sit still on the couch. As soon as I got them in position and backed up to take the picture she would be in the floor again. I never dreamed it would be this impossible to get pictures of toddlers. We didn't Trick-or-Treat this year because they are still so young, but next year we will for sure.

Brooklyn has been talking like crazy. She is pretty close to saying as many words as Tayden does. She loves to dance and clap and give everything a hug while saying, "Oh baby." She now says SueSue, Momo (Elmo), Cookie, and has started to count. This is such an answered prayer. She really enjoys walking around in shoes or socks and often times grabs a bag or her purse and says, "Bye Bye." Tayden continues to talk more each day. He LOVES to sing and often starts songs so that I will sing with him. He likes Happy Birthday, the Itsy Bitsy Spider, and BaBa Black Sheep. He is counting to ten with a few mistakes here and there and still loves learning his ABCs and reading books, books, and more books.

Tim is really enjoying his new job! The schedule is still pretty crazy, but we have adapted and make the most of our weekends when we get to see each other. We usually just end up hanging out in the living room watching the twins play. It is still so amazing to me that they are here partly because of us and our love for each other. I frequently flash back to our NICU days and it is hard to fathom how far we have come over the past 20 months. My 30 pound babies (I'm estimating) were born weighing a mere 3 pounds. I honestly thought deep down that they would always be weak and sickly, but I couldn't have been more wrong. God has given them great health and they have truly thrived! I remember every challenge from reflux to bottle feeding to finally being able to bring them home and I am simply in awe. God carried us through that time of such fear and worry and continues to reveal the two most precious gifts to us on a daily basis. We are so blessed to get to be Brooklyn and Tayden's parents and our love for them grows each day.