In two weeks it’s time for my Irish Twins birthdays.  They’ll be five and four. 

Riley is trying very hard to read, and Angel is doing her best to follow right behind.

Riley can write her own name (forward and backward, literally), and is figuring out how to write the numbers 1-10.

Angel is curious…about EVERYTHING. We cannot keep her out of anywhere from touching anything.  She is the child that as you run through the store runs her fingers along the shelves and tries to touch everything she sees.

Riley is cautiously curious outside of the home and her comfort zones – but around people she knows is talkative and friendly.

They are each others best friends and worst enemies. 

Technically I should be signing Riley up for Kindergarten based on her age. That doesn’t seem real. It seems like just yesterday that I was in the hospital watching them decide the new pope on TV while wondering when the pitocin was going to make labor actually hurt (didn’t take more than a few hours).  Or just this morning that I walked the four miles to and from Dairy Queen to try to spark labor for Angel, and lamenting the fact that it failed (it didn’t – just took two hours to hit me). 

The days of diapers are finally gone (almost – we still wear pullups at night).

The days of learning and growing and wonder at the world around them have arrived.  They are curious and thirsting for knowledge – and I can’t wait to keep watching them learn. 

I miss my babies.  More than I imagined…

But I’m loving the excitement of my big girls and their big personalities.