No idea

What is going on with the colors on my blog ... maybe it's just Firefox, but I somehow doubt that. Oh well ... no time to fix it now.

Instead, it's time to ...

1. Pack lunches for Maddy and Libby.
2. Get them off to Parent's Morning Out
3. Run to Target and to DSW to try to find a pair of shoes.
4. Pack my bag for the weekend.
5. Enjoy a weekend with some of my oldest (not age, but length of time we've known each other) friends.

It's been a long time since we've all been together at the same time and I really think I'm in need for a little refueling that only good friends provide.

Circa 1994 or 1995 from college.

Sequins were popular that year, don't you think?
I can't wait to see some of these girls and obviously, we need some new photos!

Just a friendly poll

As Christmas quickly comes into the picture, I am left wondering about how everyone handles their gift giving each year. It's hard to believe that it's almost here, but I guess it's not that surprising since one of our local radio stations has been playing "all Christmas music, all the time" for a couple of weeks and Santa landed at the mall last week.

Holding myself accountable

I'm going to run the NC Half Marathon again in March.

There. I said it.

No, I haven't registered yet.
No, I haven't run in about a month.
No, I still haven't bought any winter running tights.

But, I have a training plan to use and at least one friend that I think will train with me.

So, hold me accountable, friends in blog land. If it gets to be oh, Dec. 1 and I haven't mentioned running yet, send me an email, knock on my door, leave me comments.

Kodachrome

I think Kellie may actually shoot with a Canon most days, but I just love saying Kodachrome and signing the song.

I wanted to share a sneak peak of some photos that we had made last month. I think the girls have grown since these were made. Like weeds, I'm telling you.

We met Kellie in 2005 when we were looking for a wedding photographer and it was love at first sight. She's drop dead gorgeous, but so sweet and fun. She also has two adorable kids and a rock star Hubby. If she weren't so nice, I probably wouldn't be her friend. She also does amazing work and I am impressed with every picture that she updates on her blog. And not just pictures of my family either.

Here's a link to our recent shoot. Now the hard part will be picking our favorites. I may be asking for a little photo-shopping around the eyes. Seriously ... I know they are supposed to add character, but do lines and wrinkles really have to add 10 years?

Fight for Preemies

November is Prematurity Awareness Month and as many of you know, there are too many premature births that happen every year. Hundreds of thousands of premature births happen every year.

From the day that we found out we were expecting twins, we also unfortunately learned a lot of scary statistics. Personally, we were warned against sharing our news of twins too soon, because often they don't survive the first few weeks of gestation, we also were searching in ultrasounds to make sure that both of our babies had their own individual "sac."

It was hard, because here you are over the moon with excitement, but also having to face reality. There were also many other conversations about premature delivery, NICU stays, birth defects, etc.

I did everything I could to have a healthy pregnancy - I started prenatal vitamins early, I had regular checkups and care during my pregnancy, I ate a healthy diet, exercised, and tried to take care of myself and the babies as best as I could.

Unfortunately, Maddy and Libby were born early ... at 33 weeks and 2 days. We spent a total of 17 days in the NICU (Libby) and 26 days (Maddy). We were very lucky that they were healthy, but just needed to gain weight and learn to eat. As crazy as it sounds for a full-term baby, preemies often don't have the strength to nurse or take a bottle. We met several families whose babies had been in the NICU for several months and who would require extensive care.

I will always be grateful to the March of Dimes and our local Family Support Network ... these organizations provide research and support that we needed. I often think about what would have happened if we didn't have the research and the knowledge that we have now. It's scary and I'm thankful.

Maddy ... all 3 pounds, 2 ounces of her.

Libby, 4 pounds, 9 ounces and on the CPAP in this photo.

Maddy, almost 17 months, checking out the leaves.

Libby, almost 17 months, finding the perfect leaf.

Eating & Crying

Ok, so another eating post, but this one not about me.

Maddy and Libby are now 16 almost 17-months-old and they still eat like football players. I constantly wonder if I'm giving them too much, too little, etc. Our Pediatrician basically said feed them until they aren't interested anymore. There are some days that I feel like I'm literally running out of food. Maddy has learned to sign "more", but she'll often sign it when she has a plate full of food. Hmmmm ...

We went to a friends house on Saturday for an "early Thanksgiving with friends" dinner. It's a great tradition that they started and we've probably been going for the last five years. They moved it to a Saturday which has really helped out with all of the families with young children.

We went on the early side of early, because we knew that we wouldn't be able to stay for any late-night festivities. So, as soon as the turkeys were ready, we made a plate of turkey, potato casserole, and homemade Mac & Cheese for Maddy and Libby. We were really early so the rest of the sides hadn't arrived yet. They ate about two platefuls each, drank some milk, and then were ready to go play. So I thought they were done.

Libby possibly eyeballing more food.

That is until a 2-year-old and 3-year-old were sitting at the same kid size table and Maddy and Libby proceeded to walk over and try to grab the food off these kids plates. Since they don't quite understand "No, it's not polite to steal food from strangers", I tried to keep them occupied (box of raisins, cups of milk, and toys) while Hubby ran to fix another plate for them. They both kept trying to go back to the plates of food while these other girls just sat in horror wondering why two mannerless babies were trying to eat their food.

Luckily, Hubby came back in with more turkey, Mac & Cheese, baked apples, potato casserole, and some kind of apricot fluff stuff. I can't remember if we tried a green veggie or not. They devoured that and all was OK.

My question is ... can children this young be obsessed with food? They are by no means overweight and according to the growth charts, they are either not on the chart (Maddy) or only in about the 25th percentile (Libby) for weight. They just really love their meal and snack times. What I sometimes worry about is that they sometimes seem to get mad when the meal is over even when they have shown us that they are no longer interested by playing with the food, dropping food on the floor, dropping their cup, etc.

I guess my gut tells me not to worry ... they are growing, they're good eaters, and it's all fine. It's just the screaming that can get to me when they have finished their meals and want more. I guess they'll learn that screaming isn't the way to get what you want ... even though it probably makes us run pretty fast right now. Who's teaching who here?

Eating cake

and thinking 'bout running. Or lack thereof.

Something is wrong with that picture.

It has been waaaay to long since my last run and I have no one to blame but myself. Coming up on an entire month. Ugh. I told myself I wasn't going to "fall off the wagon", but here I sit.

Looking up old race times, shoveling cake in my mouth, and feeling a bit blah.

Not that this is an excuse, but I do need to find some cold weather gear for running. Somehow, I don't think my beloved Nike tempo track shorts are going to keep me warm this winter.

Anyone have any favorite winter gear that they'd like to share? Maybe some new winter running tights would inspire me ...

I finally did it.

I got sucked in to the Vampire books. I picked up New Moon at the airport on our way to NYC and finished it on our return trip home. I could have read the entire thing in one sitting, but since I was in NYC, I did want to get out and explore and not sit in a hotel room and read about vampires.

On my trip to Vegas, I picked up New Moon on the way home and have put a big dent into it. I will probably finish it this weekend. Good thing, because I have a date with two of my oldest friends to see the movie on opening weekend.

For those of you who are in the know ... will it matter if I didn't see the Twilight movie, but have read the book? Have you already read the entire series ... are there four total in print? Totally different than the Harry Potter series, but I think they are both a must read for tweens, teens, and adults alike.

So far, I think they are great. The dialogue is easy to read and as a friend from my book club summed it up, Edward was exactly how you wanted all the boys in High School to be. Ok, maybe not be a vampire, but I guess that's beside the point.