HELPING MOMMY GET READY FOR CHRISTMAS

LONG TIME NO POST!!
It seems like forever since I've posted anything. The days are just flying by and there is just never enough hours in the day to entertain the girl's, get everything done around my house, catch up on my blog reading, and of course,up date my own blog. I have to get better organized I think.

Anyway in Olivia and Avery news, both are doing great and are keeping me more busy than ever. I'm getting geared up for potty training soon so wish me luck, I have no idea what I'm doing so any helpful tips would be great. We had our yearly eye appt. at Mac on Friday. They are both farsighted which the doctor says is fine. I was really hoping they would have been discharged but she wants to see us again in a year.

Saturday night we had our NICU roommates over for dinner. Meredith, Courtney, and their older sister Kaitlyn. All the girl's had a great time together, they played so nice and it was really great for us parents too. We actually got to have a conversation!! Avery absolutely shocked me with how she took to Kaitlyn. She has been such a mama's girl lately that she won't let anyone including Brian, do anything for her. But Kaitlyn stole the show!! Avery wanted to be everywhere she was, they were hugging, holding hands, she even let Kaitlyn pick her up!! I only wish Kaitlyn was a little older because I can tell you she is my first pick for a babysitter when the time comes.

Here's the gang, aren't they all so cute!

We had a bit of a tragic Sunday morning here. I have been trying to get the girl's room painted for the past two months, so since we didn't have any plans I thought I would do a little painting while Brian and the girl's cleaned out the fish tank.

We recently purchased a 3 gallon tank for our goldfish "Elmo" and since it's a little bigger than the bowl we had, Brian thought he would use the tubing that we use for our 26 gallon tank to remove the water. As he was removing the water I guess he wasn't paying attention to where "Elmo" was and he sucked him up into to the tube! He called me downstairs and the girl's just kept saying "Elmo" and were looking into the bucket. Brian looks at me and whispers "I think I just murdered Elmo" I asked him if he was sure and he said "yes, he's gone" So I had to do some quick thinking. I told the girl's that Elmo had a belly ache and he needed to go to the doctor. Thank god they've watched parts of the movie Nemo because there is a part in there where Nemo goes down the toilet to escape into the ocean. I told them that Elmo had to go down the toilet to the doctor's and we would pick him up later.

So later that afternoon we headed over to Walmart to pick up our new Elmo. Well, all the goldfish they had looked as if they were ready to expire. So once again I told the girl's that he still wasn't feeling well and we would check back tomorrow to see if he could come home.

Last night we headed over to a local pet store close to us and sure enough there was a healthy Elmo!! they were so excited to have him back that when we brought him home along with two other of his buddies, all they wanted to do was watch them swim around and around. I guess my story worked because they both kept saying "Elmo all better now" until the next time something happens. Hopefully with three goldfish now they won't notice if one goes missing.

I think we'll leave the tubing for the bigger tank, and just clean this one the old traditional way.

I have also been tagged by Shannon in the game of Crazy 8's. It is actually difficult to do something that is focused on myself when I haven't thought about myself at all in the last two and half years.

CRAZY 8'S

8 THINGS I'M PASSIONATE ABOUT

1.Olivia & Avery

2.My husband

3.My family

4.My friends (new & old)

5.Being the best mom to my girl's

6.Staying positive in this crazy life

7.The simple things

8.Being myself

8 THINGS I WANT TO DO BEFORE I DIE

1.See my girl's grow into beautiful strong & confident women

2.See my girl's have a family of their own

3.Show my kids how big this world really is

4.Know I did the best I could for both of them

5.Sleep a full night

6.Eat a meal slowly & enjoy it

7.Take a vacation with my husband

8.Take a vacation with my girlfriends

8 THINGS I SAY OFTEN

1.I love you sweetie

2.Do you know how much I love you

3.No

4.Don't touch

5.Don't hit your sister

6.Don't bite your sister

7.That's an outside voice

8.Uh Oh

8 T.V SHOWS I HAVE RECENTLY WATCHED

1.The Wiggles

2.CSI Miami

3.The Wiggle

4.Dr. Phil (never an entire show)

5.The Wiggles

6.Everybody loves Raymond

7.The Wiggles

8.Oprah (again only bits and parts)

Are you seeing a pattern here?

8 SONGS I COULD LISTEN TO OVER AND OVER

1.Big girl's don't cry (Fergie)

2.Hips don't lie (Shakira)

3.Want to make a memory (Bon Jovi)

4.Misunderstood (Bon Jovi)

5.Were here for a good time (Trooper)

6. Suddenly I see (KT Tunstall)

7.Far away (Nickelback)

8 THINGS THAT ATTRACT ME TO MY BEST FRIENDS

1.The way we can laugh and laugh for hours about nothing

2.They do not judge me

3.They are there to listen when I need them

4.They just simply understand

5.They are supportive

6.How months can go by, and when we see each other it was like yesterday

7.How I can call them and talk about nothing

8.How I know they will always be there

8 THINGS I'VE LEARNED OVER THE PAST YEAR

1.How to take a shower in under 5 minutes (that includes shaving my legs)

2.How to be a mother and a referee

3.Patience

4.To ask for help more

5. Stop being so independent

6.How amazing my husband really is

7.How being a mother just gets better and better

8.I still have a lot more to learn

8 PEOPLE I THINK SHOULD DO THIS

1.Angi

2.Stephanie

3.Lisa Leonard

4.Jennisa

5.Michelle

6.Aiden's mommy

7.Vickie

8.Angela

I know the last two don't have a blog, but you guys could put something together!

HALLOWEEN 2007

MY TWIN POODLES

GETTING READY FOR HALLOWEEN

Olivia wanting to help mommy but soon realizing things inside the pumpkin feel a little too mushy for herNot very happy at all with cleaning out the pumpkin. Look at that face!After a little convincing she tried again and had a lot of fun
Avery decided she would just read the newspaper instead of getting her hands dirty. She's such a girl!
Our final result!!

Can't wait for the real fun tomorrow night!!!

PREEMIE FRIENDS...

AVERY, ELIZABETH AND OLIVIA THREE AMAZING LITTLE GIRL'S

AS THE SEASON'S CHANGE, THEY CHANGE....

OCTOBER 2005.....

OCTOBER 2006.....

OCTOBER 2007.....

THANKSGIVING.... THIS IS WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT

SPENDING TIME WITH FAMILY

SETTING THE RECORD STRAIT

I recently received an e-mail about my previous post in regards to "preemie moms verses full term moms".

I am writing this post because I feel I need to clarify with everyone that when I wrote of these "full term moms" that I had met, I was not referring to ALL full term moms out there.

I know a lot of mother's who have given birth to full term babies and they are exceptional mother's. I spoke of this because this was what I had witnessed on this particular day and on other occasions as well.

I'm sure that even a woman who has given birth to a perfectly healthy term baby has had encounters with other mother's that were not so pleasant. I guess I just notice these type of people more because of the experience I have been through with my own children. I can also say that I'm sure I have been judged on several occasions as well and labelled as being "Too over protective of my girl's". I AM AND I ADMIT IT. I am actually extremely overprotective of them. If their birth had of been different, maybe I would be different.

But...

-I am a mother who gave birth three months too soon.

-A mother who watched their children fight to stay alive night and day.

-A mother who spent hours pleading with God to give them a chance at some type of life.

-A mother who was asked if I wanted to have a DNR signed if Olivia crashed because they didn't think she was strong enough to make it.

-A mother who had to donate blood so both of my children could receive a blood transfusion.

- A mother who two years later is still dealing with my children's prematurity.

A mother who is waiting an Autism/Asperger's assessment due to prematurity.

-A mother who has lost friends because I had too many "rules and regulations" about visitors at my house.

-I am a mother who has been through a lot!

As Billie recently wrote in her most recent post "I cannot pick and choose my audience of readers" I now know exactly what she means by that. This does not mean that I will stop saying my opinion if I have one.

Like I said before at the beginning, WE have all witnessed parent's handle a situation in an inappropriate way, and every time I see this I always think to myself "I wonder if they would scream, yell, and roll their eyes at their child if they went through what myself and many other's have gone through". I appreciate every single breath that my children take because I know the other side of things. I know the feeling of possibly losing my child to prematurity. This doesn't mean that a full term mother doesn't appreciate their kids less than I do. It just means that I see certain things differently than others. If I had insulted ALL full term moms than I would be insulting women who are a part of my family as well. But that's not the case.

I honestly don't think that what I said was offensive. It was what I saw and how I felt. Once again, I never said ALL mother's of full term babies are inattentive. I said the one's I saw on that particular day were.

So I'll leave it at that. I think I've set the record straight!

PRESCHOOL, TEARS & FULL TERM MOMS VERSES PREEMIE MOMS

Over the past month I have been checking out different Preschools in the area. Most of them were not taking any kids and others were just way too expensive. Can you believe some parents pay $40.00 a day for one child! If you double that for someone like me with twins that's a lot of money. Putting the girl's into Preschool was a suggestion made by their Pediatrician at our last visit. He suggested it because he noticed how attached they were to me and of course how attached I am to them. So after a lot of searching I finally found one that I liked and that I knew the girl's would like.

So today was the big day for them, I got them all ready to go and had all these wonderful plans for myself. I figured since I didn't have any kids I would be able to get a million things done. WRONG! I dropped them off, stayed for about 15 minutes while they got settled in and then I quietly walked away. I wasn't even in the car for 5 minutes and my eyes began to well up with tears. When I walked in the door I honestly didn't know what to do with myself. There's so much to be done around here and I just couldn't do a thing. My house was so quiet that it felt so strange.

When I arrived back at the school to pick the girl's up, I waited patiently for them to come out, and what I expected did not happen. I expected to be greeted by two little girl's who were anxiously waiting for me to return. Not really the case. They were happy to see me, but they acted as if I never really left. Which is a good thing I guess.

I got to meet some of the other mother's today as well. I have never compared myself to a mother who delivered full term before. Really if I did it would be like comparing apples to oranges. They are two totally different experiences. But I'm going to admit that today I did. I got to observe a lot of the other moms and see how they handle situations with their child. I noticed that a lot of them walked in, said hello dropped their screaming child off and left. I myself could never do that. No wonder these kids are crying, to them it's the place that their mommy's leave them at. One poor little guy was crying so hard he ended up throwing up all over. I watched his mother as she rolled her eyes and walked out the door. To me this child needed some type of reassurance that he was going to have fun and mommy would be right back. I know that's how I would have handled it. It doesn't really take that long to distract a child away from something that they are upset at.

So all in all the girl's survived and I survived. Maybe next week I'll be able to get some things done while they are at school and not worry about them as much. I still can't believe they are in a Preschool program.

Where have my preemie babies gone?

Some cute artwork from their first day of Preschool