Back home after a nice long day...to church, to Poppy and Gigi's for lunch (that's my parents), to Trunk or Treat (top two pictures) with our "flower children", and ending at our annual Life Group pumpkin carving party (the scarecrow is ours--top right). Never a dull moment.

The last three pictures are a sampling of the girl's Portait Innovations portfolio. We cannot show all of the good ones yet since we have something else planned for them. The photo shoot went well and we came away with some good "3 month" pictures of Sydney and Abigail. In fact, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, GIRLS! 4 months. I can't believe how quickly it has passed.

Sydney and Abigail, you girls are only 111 days old today, but so much has happened in that time. As you can see from the pictures, you have grown by leaps and bounds--around 4 pounds to over 12 pounds. Your first few days and weeks were spent in the Vanderbilt Neonatal Intensive Care Unit where you had 24 hour care from nurses and doctors. And in the past few days and weeks, your Mama and I are able to hold you both and get to know each of you more everyday. Girls, we pray for your continued growth and development everyday and praise God for your wonderful lives. Love, Dad

It is hard to believe that our twin girls are a week away from being 4 months old! These 4 months have been the best of our lives. They have surely flown by, but at the same time, sometimes feel like forever.

Beautiful babies...the house is at peace when the babies are sleeping like this--deep enough to sleep through your sister sucking on your forehead.

Oh, yea. Go Cardinals! What a finish last night with a 9th inning, 3 run, go-ahead home run by Mr. Pujols. Two more to go.

Greetings from the land of babies. It seems that so much of our time is spent dealing with our new family that there is little time for normal people stuff. Just taking a walk in the neighborhood on a beautiful Friday morning is an example of the normal people stuff that we crave so much. Actually, I deal with "normal" people stuff in the office and with work--it is my always lovely wife who needs the time away from the house the most. We were able to take the girls to Radnor Lake on Saturday afternoon and had a nice "date night" with the help of "Gigi" and Great Grandma and Grandpa Speake as babysitters. Thanks, again. Gigi--is that right mom? Just want to make sure...

On another note--I have accepted a position at a new company and turned in my 2 weeks notice with PSI on Friday. I am looking forward to the new challenges and experiences that this new position will bring and know that this will be a great career move for our family. The position responsibilities will be very similar, at first, with future potential to move into differing environmental service lines. Praise God for that door being ajar at just the right time.

Oh, by the by, when looking at pictures of the girls, there are a few ways to cheat and know which girl is which--I know that you have had questions (Aunt Lindsey!). First and only if her head is turned the correct way, Syndey exhibits a very fashionable birth mark on her head--it is a spot where no hair grows, behind her left ear. It it about the size of an adult thumbprint--the perfect hand of God, no doubt, in the forming of her precious head has left it's mark. The only other obvious indicator at this point would be if they have their blankets with them as they do in the above pictures. Unless Mama or Daddy has made a mistake, the pink blanket is Sydney's and the stripped blanket is Abigail's. So there you go...Eventhough they can't smile on demand yet, they are the cutest babies on the block.

Luckily, Sydney and Abigail are now at the stage of enjoying the ride in the car. Only a few minutes on the road and the girls are usually fast asleep. The trip to St. Louis this past weekend was not any different--they peacefully slept through the 5 hour trip up and back with a bottle in Paducah each time. They seem to sleep in the car unless we are headed to church, so we end up holding them through the church service most of the time. No exception in St. Louis--I held Sydney in the foyer for most of the service. I guess missing "The importance of deacon selection at McKnight" details from the preacher and spending some QT with my baby wasn't all that bad.

We are beginning to experience the cooing and ga-ing from both of the girls. When they are in the mood, they will stare into our faces and talk to us for a few minutes. How exciting! Although juggling two screaming babies is difficult, they are growing and developing well and are sleeping in longer shifts. We keep telling ourselves that things will only get better--that's the right attitude, right? Rebekah is doing a great job with them at home and is able to have the first-hand experience that some parents are not able to have. She's a great mama.

Rebekah and I are amazed by Sydney and Abigail every day. Their personalities and expressions in the happy, play times make the rest of it so much worth it. Both of the girls are focusing more--on us and on their favorite flashing star on the play gym--and smiling more. We turn the motion sensor on for the star and just sit and watch as they enjoy the lights and music. When the music turns on and if they are in the window of happy play time, the girls smile and talk (cooing and 'ga'-ing) and bring us so much joy.

Although the girls have hit the 3 month mark and are not sleeping through the night yet, we all seem to be getting along just fine. We still get up around 2 or 3 am for a feeding, and the girls will hold out until 5:30 to 6:30 until they are hungry again. We'll probably start the process of not feeding at night and encouraging the girls to realize that they are not really that hungry, soon. In the past couple of weeks, we have witnessed one or both of the girls sleeping during the day for five to six hours, so we know they can do it at night.

We are anticipating the first out of town trip with the girls this weekend. Rebekah's mom and Grandma Gin are with us this week to visit and help out around the house. They will be driving with Rebekah and the girls back to their home in St. Louis, Missouri on Friday morning, and I'll be coming up after work. I would anticipate the girls doing great on the 5 hour trip since they usually love to sleep in the car. We will see...