Saturday, June 28, 2008

Smart vs. Supid

Sorry if today's post is a little incoherent.

Why is it that bad things happen to good people and good things happen to stupid people?

Lately Ricky and I have been having some financial trouble. It's nothing major, but it is there none-the-less. We're constantly living from paycheck to paycheck and it always seems like we're just barely getting by. I guess that's what happens when you have four mouths to feed and only one person working. Ricky tries so hard to make ends meet for our family. Since we can't afford day care I won't be able to get a job until the girlies go to school. Right now we've got some extra scholarship money coming in, but we're still waiting on the check. We're always waiting on the check. Whenever we need the money it's not available to us.

What I don't get is why people who work hard and try to have a decent (not lavish) life get crapped on constantly. For a few months, we were able to get food stamps, and it really helped out a lot. We only got $83 a month, but that was more than enough to get the twins their baby food and us some staple food. We had to re-certify the other day and were told we now make too much money. All because this semester I received scholarship money over and above my tuition. Is that not some crap? I'm trying to better myself and am now getting punished for it.

I'm always a little scared to mention other family members in this blog unfavorably because I'm so afraid they'll stumble across it one day. As small a possibility that it is, it is still there. But this time there's really no way of getting around it.

The whole point I'm trying to get at is that my sister-in-law (who's 21) and her husband (they haven't even been married a year yet) have already filed bankruptcy and are now back living with my in-laws. They are so stupid, and yet they get to live free and clear! How is that fair? Because they were stupid and racked up credit card debt, now their debt is wiped clean and they don't have to pay for anything? I think that if my mother-in-law is going to support them, then they should be sending us money monthly as well. I mean, my mother-in-law quit her job because her husband was making enough money to support her (after my husband and sister-in-law moved out). And now that my sister-in-law has moved back in, she had to get a job. Clearly my sister-in-law is not supporting herself if my mother-in-law now has to get a job!

So, tell me...why are we having trouble when they are getting everything???

Britney Marie

Saturday, June 21, 2008

13 Days And Counting...

In 13 days my little babies will no longer be little babies...they'll be little toddlers. I'm both excited and sad at the same time. This year has definitely flown by faster than I've ever noticed before. I can't believe all the things the girls have learned in the past year either.

When they were first born they would only take 25cc's of formula...and even then Olivia had trouble with that. At birth, Emma weighed 4lbs 14oz and Liv was a mere 3lbs 12oz. They have put on so much weight since then it's amazing! And I love it!!! Those first days in the hospital were so very different. Ricky and I would sleep in shifts because we didn't know we could both sleep with the baby in the room. Even though she was sleeping the whole time too...and it's not like we couldn't hear her when she cried! I remember the first time she spit up so badly it came out her nose. I was the only one in the room and I panicked. Seeing her face all red, her gasping for breath was just too much for me. Ricky was just outside the door and came rushing in to see me freaking out over her. He swooped in like some sort of super hero and took care of her with no problem at all. All I could do was sit on the cot and cry. Little did I know that she would do that more than just that once. Pretty soon I was a pro at cleaning up the projectlie vomit!

When I was discharged from the hospital (10 days later) Emma was big enough to come home with us. Liv was confined to the NICU for another week. It was so hard for me to leave her there. I felt like I was abandoning her. I cried everyday. And everyday I would get up and go visit her. Every time they would tell me she would be coming home very soon, she would take a step backwards and they'd say she needed to stay longer. For a few days she even had to have a feeding tube. Seeing her like that was like a knife in my heart.

Having both girls home was a big change from just having one. They both slept really well and were on the same schedule, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been. From the time they were both home it was like time just hit fast-forward. One day they were sleeping-eating-pooping-crying machines, and the next they were staying awake, giggling and attempting to roll over.

I've noticed that while Emma does things before Olivia, Liv will do things faster. For example, from the time Emma realized she could move around by rolling places to the time she started crawling forward was a few weeks. When Liv realized she could go places by rolling, it only took her about a week to go forward. She's last getting it, but faster at figuring it out, if that makes any sense!

Now things have started to happen even faster. Two weeks ago, Emma pulled up while in her crib. Two days ago, Emma crawled over to one of her sit-in-and-play things (I'm not sure what they're called. They sit in the middle and have toys all around them) and pulled up using it. She stood there for a few minutes before she got bored with the toys that were on it. Yesterday, Emma stood up by herself holding on to the side of "The Octagon". She did this so she could see VeggieTales better. They love that show!! And today there were even more milestones! Emma used the couch to pull up, then a few minutes later when she did it again, she walked the length of the couch! Here's video of her doing it.





Also today, Ricky was holding Liv so she could stand up, he let go, and she stayed up! I just happened to be taking video when he did that, and I'm glad I was, 'cause she wouldn't do it again. Here's the video for that.



The final video I'm going to post is of Olivia crawling. I call it "The Wounded Soldier" Crawl. I have no idea why she crawls like this, but it gets her where she wants to go.



BritneyMarie