Sunday, March 30, 2008

Tagged...

OK then.

I was tagged by Debra.

Here are the rules:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Here are my Facts:
1. I am an avid fanfiction writer. I write in the Star Wars and Lord of the Rings fandoms, predominantly, but I started a little something in the Dukes of Hazzard fandom that I never finished. Fave characters are Legolas, Aragorn, Obi-Wan, Anakin (before he's Vader), and Bo and Luke.

2. I studied Naval Architecture for two years at SUNY Maritime in the Bronx and spent two months aboard the school's training ship. As an engineering major, I was stuck in the really hot engine room, but I loved it. I learned amazing things, got to do amazing things. I could go on and on about the things I did.

3. While on summer sea term, we visited Philadelphia, Edinburgh, Copenhagen and the Canary Islands. I also visited various spots in Germany during a band exchange program in middle school. Traveling was so much fun!

4. I attended DEC camps for a few years in middle school and I remember we got caught in a downpour, lighting storm and had to hike MILES back to camp in it before we got completely flooded out. I was scared I'd get zapped by lightning because I had metal buttons on my raincoat...

5. I met my husband at my Tae Kwon Do school. I'm a third degree black belt, he's a fourth degree. Funny thing is, we both went to the same school for 5 or so years before we even knew the other existed! I didn't even know his name, though I'd seen him all the time. He even tested me for my green belt, but we don't remember each other.

6. I loved doing .22 rifle shoots with my father when I was younger. I started when I was about 12 and did pretty good, though I never really had competition in my division. I am still a good shot, if you ask Eric! I own a .22 rifle and also am permitted to carry/conceal a .22 caliber pistol. I have a Walther P22.

7. Ugh, what else... Well, during my Maritime days I marched in a number of New York City parades as a part of the school's marching band. Pretty nifty to be marching in the big apple. I mean, c'mon, not everyone can say they've done that!

SINCE I don't have the wherewithall to go look up who on my list of blogs I visited HASN'T been tagged, if you read this and weren't tagged for this...YOU'RE TAGGED NOW! Hehehe. Yeh, that's me being lazy...I didn't mention that fact about me, did I!? So yeh, if you didn't do this, consider yourself tagged.

Monday, March 24, 2008

Teeth, teeth and more teeth...

I was looking at the girls mouths today and one of Lily's top teeth is officially through now! The other is visible, but hasn't broken out yet. And Eve, the stinker, I can see THREE, count them, THREE teeth on top -- both middle teeth and the one to the right of them. No wonder they've been cranky! I didn't think they would be getting so many teeth at once! We haven't started anything like puffs or anything, because they tend to still suck food off spoons and I haven't seen evidence of them mashing anything. I guess it's also because I'm too chicken to try it... So when the teeth are in more I'll try to get some really toothy grins!

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Some pics

Like Evie's "duck face" as we call it, Lily also has her trademark face. It looks like she is putting up her dukes for a fight! And she does this snuffing sound through her nose when she makes it!

And here is Evie playing in the kitchen under my scarf. It's really silky and she didnt seem to mind that I draped it over top of her, just went on reaching for her toys on the blanket. I thought she looked cute!

Not much new to report ont he girls, except that Lily has gotten a LITTLE better in the walker. Eve is still cruising everywhere and is very good at manuevering it. She was going from cabinet to cabinet trying to reach the handles, which she can't; pulling things off the low shelves and the refrigerator...nearly time for some serious baby-proofing.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

And she's off...

Evie suddenly figured out the walker today and was roaming from room to room downstairs! It was pretty exciting. She rolled into the kitchen and I called her name and she backpedaled into the dining room again to see me! She was doing really well. I had to pull the tablecloth up so she didn't pull it down. Time to get some clamps on that or do away with it...LIly wasn't so into the whole walker thing. She'll get it eventually I guess. She IS pulling up on her hands and knees now, just not GOING anywhere!

So, all you experienced preemie moms out there. The girls are caught up in size, so do we feed them according to what a normal 10monthold would be eating, or do we still do the adjusted age? I'm a biiiiit confused. And on that note, at 10 months, how much solid food were the kids eating? We give the girls half a container of 2nd foods around 12:30 or 1 p.m. and a whole container around 5:30 or 6 p.m. They get a 7 ounce bottle when the wake up (after 12 hours of nothing!), then a 5 ounce at 2:30 or 3 p.m. and another at 6:30 or 7 p.m. Before bed they get their 7-8 ounces, usually around 10 p.m. or 10:30 p.m. They go to bed 11ish. (I'm not a morning person and this way, I dont' have to be...I know we will probably ahve to scale things back as they get older and closer to school.)

I'm going to take a leaf out of a friend's book and make the girls headbands to go with their easter dresses. Ijust ahve to go out and get them! I want to get yellow adults stretchy bands and tie little colored bows on them. Nothing that will be tight or leave marks on their heads like some of the baby headbands I've seen. I'll post pics if I am successful!

Saturday, March 15, 2008

By the numbers

Not too baby related...sorry.

I've been doing some number crunching because we NEED to get out of debt and it looks like we have a "drum roll please" whopping $50 a month to play with! WOW...Eric makes that alone. I'm not counting my not-so-usual payments, so that will be more play money if we need it. (Or perhaps go into a little savings cushion.) WE have two high APR credit cards of Erics that need paying off. Mine has a fixed 4.99 percent, so we can put that on the backburner with minimums. Then we would pay that off. Then we could paydown the medical bills. Then work on the bigger things like student loans and the car. I know it will be along process and the most important thing RIGHT NOW will be to avoid late payments.

Get this...if I make the minimum on my credit card LATE...I pay $50 but get charged late payment fee of $39 so I'm only paying $11 a month! Just paying on TIME will help reduce that much faster. Imagine what that would do to a credit card with a 20 percent APR...you'd probably end up owing more than you used in the first place! We averaged about $400 a month in groceries, so I'm going to see if we can STICK to it. Baby formula is a given, you can't fudge it. But for us...I'm going to see what I can do to reduce it.

Any suggestions on getting the grocery bill down? That's the one place where I really think we have the power to make strides. You can't do much about gas when Eri needs it to get to work. You can't do much about oil and electric really either. Sure, shut off lights. I could go the extra mile and unplug everything at night to save a penny or something...but groceries are key I think.

All right, enough rambling. We are trying to do our taxes now, and hoping to get $2,000 or so back (yah right....) That's why we started thinking about debt reduction. And if we can do it ourselves, why pay someone to do it for us. I thought about calling to see if I can negotiate something witht he medical bills. Maybe I can, who knows. (I dont' see pigs flying, so that's probably going to be a wasted call!)

Thursday, March 13, 2008

What we've been doing

Two new things for the girls. The first, I whipped out the "CAGE" as I call it. Here it is in all its baby-filled glory...

the CAGE (ehem baby gate)

At first, the girls were looking at me through the holes like "Mom, what the heck is this thing and why are WE inside and you're not?" Then they just went about their business and played and rolled around. I had them sitting up in it with pillows too, but not in the picture. Lily can sit up for like 45 minutes without any trouble now. Eve CAN, but she seems to like her tummy more. Funny that, she used to be our tummy time trouble maker.

The other little development in our house, Evie's beginning to undress herself. Okay, okay, she pulls her arm out of her shirt if it is loose enough and longsleeved. Here she is, happily chewing on it after getting it off her arm...

halfway there

About it on the news end. Both girls are just eating and playing away the days. They've gotten pretty good about sleeping when I put them down for naps (two a day and sometimes a third...like Lily falling asleep in the bouncer chair...)

We go to the developmental pediatrician on April 4. I can't wait to see where they stand now. They were both low normal for their adjusted age in November. I'm hoping they are close to their actual age now. But having no other kids of our own to base things on, we have NO idea. And every kid is different anyway, right!?

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Evie finds her rhythm...

She finally took to it and boy was she having fun!!



And so we don't leave Lily out today...here she is. She likes eating so much that when she was finished with her meal, so wouldn't let go of the spoon. She kept it in there for a few MINUTES. Not just seconds.

AND THEN, to make the situation even funnier. Eve felt left out and...



Monday, March 3, 2008

It always hits me...

This is going to be a somber post, so steer away if you don't want to read it.

A 15-year-old local high school freshman was killed in a car accident this past week. We have determined that she was the niece of a man we knew from our martial arts school. It always hits me particularly hard when a young person dies. Not that older people don't mean as much to me, but it hurts when it is someone who is just getting their feet wet in the huge ocean of life. I look at my girls and I still sometimes can't believe I have children. I can not begin to fathom what this young lady's mother (and father) are feeling right now. Another 15-year-old is in critical condition at the PICU of the hospital our girls spent their time in the NICU. While I know how it feels to stare at your baby and not be able to do anything, i don't know what it means to stare at your child and not know if they will live. I sit here and wish there was something I could do besides just pray for these people.

If that isn't enough, I open Yahoo news and find the story of 6 people found dead in a Memphis home, including two children, as well as three other children wounded-- all under the age of 12. And the killings at the Wendy's. And the killings at the universities. And the stores like the Lane Bryant shootings. I can't help but wonder what motivates people to kill. I know I know, I might as well contemplate the meaning of life while I'm at it.

Why am I blathering about this? Because part of me wants to live in the middle of nowhere and live off the land because as unlikely as it is, I hate that one day WE could be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Have you ever thought that? Maybe I'm just a tad nutty. Not to sound like Rambo or anything, but I'm very glad that I have a carry/conceal pistol permit and a martial arts background. Both of which I would not hesitate to use to protect my family. It is so senseless.

I guess aside from prayer the best we can do right now is cherish what we have and enjoy every second of life with our families, friends and children.

*Getting off my soap box* And now, we return to our regular scheduled programming of happy-go-lucky babyness. Uhm...later, though, as it's rather late.

Sunday, March 2, 2008

A good laugh

Just a little something my father e-mailed to me today...I thought it was funny and decided to share it with all your moms out there with kids that are at this age now!

> One day my mother was out and my dad was in charge of me.
>
> I was maybe 2 1/2 years old and had just recovered from an accident.
>
> Someone had given me a little 'tea set' as a get-well gift and it was
> one of my favorite toys.
>
> Daddy was in the living room engrossed in the evening news when I
> brought Daddy a little cup of 'tea', which was just water.
>
>
> After several cups of tea and lots of praise for such yummy tea, my
> Mom came home.
>
> My Dad made her wait in the living room to watch me bring him a cup of
> tea, because it was 'just the cutest thing!'  My Mom waited, and sure
> enough, here I come down the hall with a cup of tea for Daddy and she
> watches him drink it up.
>
> Then she says, (as only a mother would know... :)
>
>
>
> 'Did it ever occur to you that the only place that baby can reach to
> get water is the toilet?'