Hello there, happy almost-Halloween to all!  Casey is thrilled that he gets to wear his Superman costume to school Thursday!  And to church on Sunday!  And for trick-or-treating and the Harvest Party at church Sunday night.  Yes it will be Superman 24x7 for the next few days.  We're going to try to hit a pumpkin patch tomorrow in Snohomish barring any rain.  

I wound up at the Dr. today with both boys.  Casey's had a runny nose/cold for 2 weeks now but he checked out fine.  Cody, as usual, has the same cold but it always turns into the 'next level' with him.  So he's going go on anti-biotics for bronchitis.  He's been up all night every night for 3 nights in a row coughing and wheezing.  Aside from this setback, he has had a really good month.  He is more engaged, more smiley, dare I say more calm?  Not sure why, scared to even wonder.  But he comes up to me a dozen times a day to either get a back-rub, give me a hug, or get a noise in his ear.  I'm not used to this level of interaction from him and I'm eating it up.  He even let me hold his hand as he fell asleep tonight - what a treat.  It's so strange having such an elusive child. You feel so starved for any attention they might give you...any eye contact he might direct my way.  I have this rule that even if he's in the bath tub...I am always at the edge of it looking at him...waiting for him.  Most of the time he's in there blowing raspberries or playing with the jacuzzi jets.  He's in his own world.  But maybe once per bath, he looks up and finds me with his eyes.  And it would break my heart if that one time I wasn't looking his way or had my head stuck in a magazine.  So I sit poised....perched at the end of his tub...and when that moment happens...I plaster the most gigantic smile on my face and say "CODY!  HI!  IT'S MAMA!"  It's usually fleeting - but at least I have the satisfaction of knowing that when he did meet someone's eyes today, he saw a big smile on their face and he saw their face light up.  Sometimes when I think about getting to Heaven, I think God's going to show me a movie reel of all the hours and hours and hours I've spent the last 5 years WAITING.  I sit in the living room for an hour just waiting, and not wanting to miss, the one split second he runs over to me and wants a pat on the back.  I sit at the tub with a smile...waiting.  I lay in bed with him as he's falling asleep just in case he rolls over my way and I get to take hold of his little warm hand for a minute.  No one usually sees me do any of this.  And I don't care.  But I do take heart that God's keeping track of my efforts.  And maybe on some level it makes a difference to Cody that I'm always 'there.'  You know?

I visited my 'high risk OB' today for my 1.5 hour ultrasound.  This gal is the best of the best.  I have been seeing a regular OB once a month, and then this high risk OB once a month.  But today after much begging, the high risk Dr. agreed to take me as her patient - including baby delivery and all!  It's a double edged sword...she's taking me because my 'risk level' keeps rising.  But it also feels good to be in the hands of someone who ONLY has patients with high risk multiples.  I really like her.  She also had hyperemesis gravitas in her own pregnancy (translation - non stop barfing.)  So she really 'gets' it. 

She said the girls look great.  They each weigh about a pound and a half, are in the 67-69th percentile for growth.  I guess that percentile is huge when you're carrying twins cuz the biggest risk is low birth weight/prematurity.  So I have that going for me.  She said everything with me looks great, but I do have to bump up my Dr. visits to weekly at this point.  I'm 24 weeks'ish (5 months, 4 days) and this is where the 'danger zone' begins for premature labor.  That's my greatest risk because of my previous C-sections and thinned uterine wall as a result.  So they are going to start watching me like a hawk.  If you would, please consider lifting up this issue in prayer.  I want to carry these little girls for as long as I can and will not be happy to see them wind up in the NICU from premature delivery.  They already plan to take them 1 month early which is not fantastic news.  Please pray that I could cook them that long - or even longer.  

That's the news for now - love to all!

Shawna