*insert spooky music here*

I haven't really told this story to anyone until now, but a recent incident has prompted me to share it. Many months ago, while the girls were still in their old room off the kitchen, I was up one night trying to get Hadley to go back to sleep.  Most of the memory is pretty fuzzy by now, but most nights involved Brandon and I arguing at 3am over whose turn it was to go rock one of the girls back to sleep (sometimes it was both of them, which meant nobody got any sleep).  One of us would go in and feed whichever baby was awake, then rock them back to sleep.  Sometimes, when we'd put them down, they'd fuss and cry a bit, so we'd pat and shush them as they lay in the crib.  One of those nights, I was standing over Hadley's crib, patting and shushing, when I felt Brandon--or so I thought--touch my hip as if to say, "I'm here, don't be startled."  I turned around, grateful for the help--and no one was there.  No one.  Granted, I was pretty tired.  And it's possible I could have started to fall asleep myself and bumped into the corner of the dresser that was between their beds.  But...it was pretty creepy, and I can still feel that very definite touch on my hip.  So for the next few weeks and months, I would sit awake in the middle of the night, rocking and shushing babies, and trying not to think about any other presence in the room.

In March, we moved the girls into their new room, and after a couple of months they started sleeping through the night.  I was relieved to get some sleep, and relieved not to have to alternately sit alone in the dark or feel guilty about leaving the girls alone in the dark with whatever I was trying not to think about.

Last weekend, we were painting the girls' room that they moved into in March.  The girls were napping in our room, and Dad and Brandon were out on the back porch working on the door.  Brandon's parents and I were in the girls' room painting with the door closed to minimize noise.  Mom was wandering around out front by herself.  After a while, she came to the door and said she'd been walking back and forth through the kitchen trying to see if she could see again what she had just seen--two little bare feet and legs rounding the corner from the kitchen into the girls' old room.  At first she thought it was one of the girls, then she remembered they were still asleep.  Then she thought it was one of us, even though she was sure it was toddler feet she'd seen.  So she waited, then walked into the room to see who was there.  No one.  She decided it was a play of light and shadow, and started trying to walk the way she'd come to catch it again.  Nothing. 

My mom's never reported seeing a ghost to me before, so it's kind of atypical behavior for her.  There are stories of things my grandfather experienced (at other people's homes) but that's about it.  Mom turns 78 this year, so it's possible it was a play of light or a visual trick, but when you put her story together with mine...well, it's something to think about, at any rate.

I don't like to use the word ghost, so help me think of another word to describe our possible tenant.  Something cute and fun...not spooky or evil, please ;)

little pumpkins

We haven't had much time to work on the house lately, and even hired our neighbor Tony's lawn service to keep up with the yard for much of the summer.  We did manage to get a few veggies out of the garden, though, and Brandon found some time to decorate for Halloween.  Our living room resembles a daycare center most of the time.  We found a few minutes to rearrange the dining room last week in order to move an old cedar armoire into the room to serve as a make-do coat closet, since our house doesn't have an actual closet anywhere that's not in a bedroom.  We moved the clock (which also serves as the liquor cabinet) around twice, as well as the china cabinet, before we finally found a way that worked.  We'll need to attach the china cabinet to the wall before long, since we placed it in the corner and it looks like prime real estate for a baby to crawl under and hide behind.

Speaking of babies, the girls are now five months old and Emerson has her first tooth already!  They are rolling over and scooting backwards a lot, and the dreaded babyproofing stage has arrived.  I've moved around a few things in cabinets, to centralize the cleaning products in an attempt to lessen the number of cabinets we actually need to lock.  Thinking lots of baby gates are in our future and it will be here before we know it.

No pics of the house right now, but here are some of our little pumpkins, in one of their many Halloween outfits.  The yard looks pretty similar to last year, complete with zombie and graveyard.

playing catch-up

Okay! My morning sickness is finally waning, and I feel like I've emerged from a coma (or the couch, more like it). I see that I've missed most of fall, including the changing leaves and the nice, crisp weather.

Here's what I should have posted weeks ago--our Halloween decorations! Brandon was busy at work constructing a zombie graveyard in the front yard and here are a few photos. You can see more here. As you can see, not even the cat was spared.

various DIY projects

We got a little bit of work accomplished this weekend, but really there hasn't been much to blog about lately. Brandon found some storm windows a month or so ago on Craigslist that amazingly fit our windows...we thought we would have to order them custom but he's been watching the listings like a hawk...finally it paid off, and for a mere $25 each, we got enough storm windows to do all the windows on the sides of the house (the back already had them)! He cleaned and painted them today and got two installed on our bedroom windows. Of course, it took longer and was more difficult than expected, which I think is the first rule of DIY, am I right? The other two bedroom windows will have to wait, because an additional piece of trim is needed between them. I assisted minorly from inside the house, holding the windows (pretty lightweight) in place while Brandon attached them.

We've been decorating for Halloween, a little at a time. We're having a party on Halloween, and hoping to turn the "serial killer" basement into a haunted house! Some of you I've already added to the Evite, but if I missed you, just let me know.

Brandon spent part of yesterday working on a small bedside table for me...we bought it recently at a thrift store for $10. We think it began life as half (or a third?) of a vanity table. A cool idea to divide one up like that, but I just wonder where the other half is now?? It would nice to have both and use them on each side of the bed. Oh well.

Blogging for the immediate future may be sporadic...it's a little early to share our news, but we've been working on a little DIY side project. If everything goes well, as we hope and expect it to, you can soon follow our progress as we turn our current library/office into a nursery! Expect lots of photos of Grandma Patrice painting, I think ;) Morning sickness has my computer time limited these days...it's gotten better but makes blogging (checking email...driving...getting work done at work, etc.) difficult because I feel ill if I look at the screen too long. Will update as we know more!

halloween

At our Halloween party last year, people kept asking us if certain items were decorations or just part of our normal decor. I'm not sure what that says about our decorating style, but now that we have a house, our Halloween spirit seems to have spilled out into the yard as well.

Sadly, we're the only house on the block with any Halloween decorations visibile (I mean, not even a pumpkin in sight)...and the kids from down the street watched in fascination as we decorated the yard. "What are you going to do with that?" they asked, "Are you decorating for Halloween? What are you going to do on Halloween?" (Not sure what answer they were hoping for there.)

The gargoyles are probably permanent fixtures on the porch, while the other items will go into storage in the basement after the holiday. Just in case you were wondering ;)

We're not done yet...there's still spooky fabric and spiderwebs left to unpack...