baby hugs

Baby hugs are the best cure for what ails you. I can't begin to explain how perfect it feels when you hear your little one hollering "Mama Mama Mama Mama" as they run through the house until they get to the room you're in and then wrap their little arms around your legs and give you a baby kiss.

It almost makes you forget that you just caught his brother standing on top of his toddler table.

the latest from our house

Not so fun stuff

• We have no money. And by no money I mean NO money. We don't believe in carrying a credit card balance so we're not "in debt" but living paycheck to paycheck is something new for us. We have even less money now than we did when I wasn't working. Between the adoption & my taking last year off to be with the boys (which I don't regret in the least), we went went through all our savings. We're looking at ways to cut our expenses but since the boys are our biggest non-bill related expense (milk alone is running about $150/month, copayments at the dr's ran us over $100 in the past month, then there's daycare, and I don't even want to think about what we've spent on prescriptions) it looks like this is just going to be our life. We're both stressed but when I look at my 2 amazing little boys I can't think of any better reason to have money stress.
• My job situation is more precarious than I'd like. There are major budget issues in my county and one of their current solutions is to not hire any teachers to replace those who retire, go on maternity leave, etc. When a position is open they pull teachers from other schools where the class sizes are smaller (and split their class up) or from other areas. There are currently 2 schools in my county without librarians. One of those is the result of moving the librarian of over 20 years into the classroom to fill an English teacher's position. I'm not afraid that I won't have a job at all, but rather that I'll be forced to finish out the year in the classroom. Even if I get to finish out the year where I am things don't look so promising for next year.
• The boys have been sick with various ailments for months. We went almost 2 weeks without anything and then on Sunday Conner got pink eye. By the time he went to the dr yesterday it had spread to both his pitiful eyes. It feels like forever since I've worked 5 whole days in a row.

Fun stuff

• Conner & Aaron are the best things EVER! They are currently in this skills explosion. New words are popping up at the most random times, especially for Aaron. While I don't think they'll ever learn to successfully use a spoon, they learn to do something new almost every day. Sometimes that's good and sometimes it's not (yesterday Aaron learned to lock the doors - thankfully I was with him in the room he locked).
• The boys love to play "bye bye." They put the frog & monkey that Great Aunt T gave them for Christmas on like they're backpacks, say "bye bye", wave, blow kisses and walk out of the room. Sometimes Aaron takes their large blow up giraffe and drags him too.
• Aaron seems to love giraffes. He has 2 different types of giraffe toys and likes to give both kisses. He also loves this little toy fireman that came with a toy Grams & Grandpa gave them for Christmas.
• Conner loves to play with the stacking toy & shape sorter that Jim, Jess, Dylan & Cori game the boys for Christmas. When we get those toys out he tries to hold his hands over them so Aaron can't play with them.
• They love to play "no no." This involves wagging your finger and saying "no no" while making a stern face. Aaron picked this one up not long after they started going to the babysitter's but now it's becoming a whole game for both boys. Sometimes they say it to one another or themselves for good reason but most of the time it's just a random thing. Yesterday Aaron even told the pharm tech at CVS "no no" while she rang up Conner's prescription.
• Sharing is fun! Aaron & Conner love to bring each other sippy cups, toys, books, snacks, etc. If one gets something for himself he usually gets something for his brother.
• Twins are awesome. The boys are always hugging on each other and giving each other little baby kisses. They are especially sweet when one brother is in trouble or crying. Keeping Conner away from Aaron when Aaron's in timeout is near impossible even if he's in timeout for having done something to Conner.
• Daddy must spend a lot of time on his cell phone. Aaron has started putting his hand in his pocket, pulling out an invisible cell phone, and saying "Hi!"
• While Conner appears to have picked up my lack of rhythm & coordination, he hasn't picked up my self-consciousness. They LOVE to dance. TV holds no interest for the boys but if we put in one of their Baby Genius song DVDS or Mommy & Me Playgroup DVDs they will dance and "sing" all around the living room. They're even trying to copy the dance moves of the people on the screen. They're not fans of classical music so the Baby Einstein DVDs haven't been a hit but if we get sick of the kids songs we put the satellite radio on the Grateful Dead or punk channel and the boys love it. It's so cute to see how they dance differently depending on the music. Head bops and jumping around for punk and lots of swaying & spinning for Grateful Dead.

Way more fun stuff than not fun stuff.

this weekend

• Crossed my fingers for snow to no avail. Snowflakes fell but nothing really stuck. Still no snow for the boys.
• Conner got his 2nd haircut. He really looks like a little man now. Someone recently asked me if I think that one day Conner will be mad at us b/c Aaron had a "cool haircut" and he didn't.
• We redid the boys' bedroom AGAIN. (Aaron learned how to get out of his crib last week and Conner learned how to get out of his back in June so for safety reasons the cribs had to go.) Steven converted their cribs into toddler beds, used zip ties to lash down toddler rails (they aren't meant to be used with toddler beds), moved everything out of their front room and into their back room, and put the door back on between the 2 rooms.
• Spent lots of time watching the boys on the monitor while they played in their room. Nightime sleeping went well with the new setup, naptime was a bust.
• Saw Cloverfield. LOVED it. Fairly fresh take on the monster movie. Of course the monster attacking NYC thing isn't highly realistic, but the portrayal of how it would play out in our post 9/11 - YouTube society (everyone whip out your cellphones and take pics of the latest horrific event) felt very believable.

diamond class action settlement

Of interest to those who received diamond jewelry purchased between 1994 & 2006... you may be entitled to a portion of the De Beers' settlement. From what I can tell the claims form is definitely worth fooling with if you have a diamond engagement ring, wedding band, earrings, etc. According to an example in the claim form an engagement ring that cost $2,000 might be entitled to a claim amount of $640 (depending on number of claimants).

Diamond Class Action Settlement
Consumer Subclass Information (includes online claim form)

happy new year!

passiveagressivenotes.com - a great place to waste some time.

Best-of-craigslist - another fun place to play.