Whatever happened to this month? It went by too fast. Is it just me or you also feel the same about October?
Jeff Junior
Here at Casa Ruffolo, it’s been extra crazy. Jeff Junior turned a month old and seems to be growing an inch taller every night. At six week, he is close to 24 inches long and weighs 12.4 pounds!
Sibling love
Antoinette has warmed up to the baby and now finds time to kiss her baby brother on the head. Thank goodness! Nicholas is the ever sweet older brother who helps out in singing songs to the baby. He loves having Jeff Junior on his lap.
Books
Facebook has this cool feature where you get to see your “memories” from the previous years. I saw photos of the twins back in October 2013 and 2014 when we were in the Philippines and China. Oh how they’ve grown! Last month was October 2015 and we are now in the US and the twins can now count from one to 10 and sing the alphabet. They know how to turn on a laptop, speak two languages, love milk and cookies, and like to sing nursery rhymes with me.
I’ve been doing a lot of online shopping these days especially for used books. I have, so far, obtained Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit for five dollars, Goldings’ Lord of the Flies for three dollars and a 1973 edition of Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl for three dollars.
Trunk or treat
The last night of October was spent for a trunk or treat event where Nicholas and Antoinette came as Thing 1 and Thing 2. Jeff Junior was Thing but I was asleep the whole time. Read about how I survived this year’s Halloween here.
It was drizzling when the trunk or treat started. We were hopping from one trunk to the other, the twins with their candy bags, my sister-in-law Sheryl and I holding their hands. Nicholas was clearly clueless about the whole thing and he looked fascinated seeing children and adults walking around with wings, tails, horns, fangs, and capes. Antoinette understood the “system” by the time we got to the second car and she was already choosing which candy or chocolate to pick from the givers’ bowls. We ended the event with a dinner at IHOP.
Cookies
I only baked once last month but the peanut butter and jelly sandwich cookies I made for the twins was a big hit. I’m inspired to do more come November. Read about my cookie story last month here.
November awaits
November would be a great time to work on Love Letters from China as it is National Novel Writing Month. I’ve signed up and committed to write 1,000 words every day for the rest of the month. Another big project…
I end this October round up with a picture of me and Jeff which was taken one Saturday when we finally had the chance to get out of the house for 2.5 hours for dinner and quick shopping thanks to my in-laws, Joe and Sheryl, who took care of the twins and the newborn while we were out.
Nights here are getting shorter as fall is giving way to winter. The tropical princess in me is not particularly looking forward to colder days but graduate school is suffocating me with term paper deadlines so I’m looking at a nocturnal November.
Bring it on!
