March of Dimes

This year the Perry family will support the March of Dimes by raising donations as well as walking on May 2nd. Please join us (Ol' Fat Zach Pack, thanks MWP) or Hayden's Pack this year as we help support the March of Dimes and walk for millions of babies who are born too early or sick. This cause is near and dear to our hearts with the birth of our friend's babies who were born too early and especially with the birth of our littlest monkey, Zachary.

If you wish to donate please click on the March of Dimes box to the left of this post. We thank you and millions of other families thank you!

Nortel Networks, RTP
May 2, 2009
4004 E Chapel-Hill Nelson Hwy
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709

Walk Distance: 3.1 miles
Registration Time: 9:00AM
Start Time: 10:00 AM
Chapter: Eastern Carolina Division
Phone #: (919) 781-2481

Acceptable vs. Not Acceptable

Lately it seems that society has gotten away from common etiquette and just plain ol' manners. My mother raised me with what I consider good manners. I respond with "Yes ma'am, No ma'am, Yes sir, No sir, please, thank you, etc", but I was also told that if I receive an invitation to an event that I'm to either RSVP or send my regrets. There is no exception to this rule.

Today's lesson is on RSVPing or Regretting. If you are the recipient of an invitation to a party or social event carefully read what the host or hostess requests that you do. Usually it is one of two things: RSVP or Regrets only. By all means don't be rude and not do either. It's rude to the hostess and it's most certainly rude to the person who extended you the invitation. There should be absolutely no reason a grown person cannot do one or the other.

Certainly there are times when something comes up and you cannot make it to an event even though you RSVPd. This should not keep you from contacting the hostess and letting him/her know something has come up and unfortunately you won't be able to make it after all. Stuff happens.

I'm stepping off my soapbox. Don't be rude. There is no excuse for it. It only takes a minute of time to RSVP or send Regrets.

SP II

"Whatchu talking about Mom?"

"Mommy, you are silly!"

Who is acting silly now?


Nonnie and her Sweetie Pie II

Poster Child

for total cuteness. I'm in love with the thumb sucking action. Robbie reminds me we may have to break this habit one day and that it's not as cute as it appears. He's so... wrong. It is cute and I LOVE IT!

You Have to Try This

My mom got me hooked on this recipe a couple of years ago. It would be a shame for me not to share it with you.

Cherry Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:
1 box Devil's Food Cake mix
10-oz Diet Wild Cherry Pepsi (Diet Dr. Pepper or plain Diet Coke / Diet Pepsi will work just fine, too!)
1 egg white
2 (4-serving) boxes fat-free, sugar-free black cherry JELL-O
7oz fat-free sweetened condensed milk
1 container fat-free cool whip
24 maraschino cherries, drained and patted dry with a paper towel.
1/3 cup mini chocolate chips (optional)

Directions: Mix cake mix, egg white and diet cherry soda. Bake at 375 degrees for 35 minutes or until toothpick comes out smooth in a greased 9x13 pan. During the last few minutes of baking, put 1 package of JELL-O and condensed milk in a sauce pan and stir on medium low heat until smooth. (Keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't burn!) Take cake out of oven, and poke holes all over the top. Pour JELL-O mixture over warm cake, filling in the holes. Sprinkle chocolate chips over the top. Cool completely. Mix 2nd package of JELL-O with cool whip. Cover cake with cool whip mixture and arrange 24 cherries on top. Put in fridge until ready to serve.

**One thing that's really nice about this recipe too is that after you arrange the 24 cherries you know exactly how to divide into 24 portions. If you cut a piece with more than one cherry, you know you've taken too much!**

For those of you watching your waistlines this is a Weight Watcher recipe. So dig in and enjoy.

Nutritional Info:
(per serving, with chocolate chips) 155 Calories, 3.25 g. fat, 1 g. fiber (3.1 pts per serving)
(per serving, without chocolate chips) 138 Calories, 2.25 g. fat, 1 g. fiber (2.7 pts per serving)

Recipe compliments of Jaime from www.shadesofjaim.com

Happy Valentine's Day

Lookin' Good

In case you haven't noticed Two Little Monkeys got a makeover. I am thrilled with our new look!

Thank you, Kelly for making my blog look marvelous!

ROP Free

It's official...we are ROP free! Zachary got a clean bill of health this morning. Dr. Freedman was also happy to report that he appears to be far sighted, which means he may not need any type of corrective wear as he gets older. She said it's very common for premature babies to have near sightedness and need corrective glasses, etc. We are over the moon and thrilled God has worked another miracle for our little man. We won't need to see the eye doctor for a whole year. WOOHOO!

You're Getting Chubby

I never thought I'd ever be able to say my son is getting chubby, but I believe Zachary is slowly inching his way to chubville. In less than 2 weeks (just shy by a couple of days) my man put on 1 lb 2 oz. He now weighs 10 lbs 10 oz and received a perfect bill of health. He's still battling the congestion, but Dr. Steele didn't think it was anything to be alarmed with. If the congestion doesn't clear in a couple of days we can start giving him antibiotics. Let's hope we don't have to do that.

Dr. Steele was pleased with how Zachary is doing with regards skills (Fine, Gross, Motor, etc). I had to fill out a 6 month questionnaire today on things Zachary can and can't do. He didn't do so well in the Fine and Problem Solving, but that's to be expected. He did do well in the other areas, which is a plus. I guess I shouldn't be too concerned my child isn't standing with the help of mom or dad.

While we were in the waiting area of the ped's office a mom asked me if by some chance we were ever at Wake Med Cary. I told her we were for a couple of weeks. She said she remembers seeing me and asked if my son's name is Zachary. Long story short, this mom was also at Duke at the same time, she was a few rooms down from me. She got my old room after I delivered Zachary. She got to taste the life of the penthouse suite. She was admitted at 23 weeks with ruptured water. Her son's name is Zachary and he was born one week after my Zachary. She and I both have a severe disliking for Dr. C and her 5:00 am wake up calls (stories were identical), she loved Colleen and Brittney (nurses) just like me. I assume she lives in Apex since she was at Apex Peds. Our stories were almost carbon copies. She was moved to Wake Med Cary before us, but my mom says that's because she caved in or maybe she really wanted to be closer to home. I do believe I saw 3 other boys with her, which would make sense why they moved. Her Zachary is doing well or at least she didn't say he wasn't doing well. It truly is a small, small world. I'm glad we ran into her and even happier her miracle baby is doing well.

We don't have another appointment until Chubman is 9 months old. Dr. Steele wants us to come in for a weight check in 6 weeks and also to discuss starting solids. That should be a fun day!

Half a Year

Zachary turned 6 months old on Friday. In 6 months he's gone from 1 lb 6 oz to 9 lbs 8 oz (and probably bigger since our last weight check 2 weeks ago). He's taken a liking to his thumb (see below). We have nights were he wakes once and nights where he sleeps all the way through. He still cries when in the car seat, but does give us occasional times of happiness. Overall he's a good baby. He loves to be cuddled. He can roll over from his back to his front and vice versa. He's a tummy baby and has been from the get go. We're almost out of newborn clothes. Some are too small, but some still fit. He fell asleep in the car seat the other night with his hand still hanging onto a toy. He's eating at least 5 oz at a feeding and sometimes more. He doesn't like to take a bottle from me, which makes sense seeing how his preferred method of eating is "from the spout". I'm beyond thrilled that I've been able to nurse this long. My nursing experience with Andrew didn't go this smoothly. He's come a long way and I find myself more in love with him each day.

We have our official 6 month appointment on Tuesday. I can't wait to see how much he weighs.

I'd Like You to Meet

Indian Jones - No, I didn't misspell the name. He is known to most as Indiana Jones. Andrew has an obsession with Indiana Jones now. He became fascinated with him after our trip to Florida. Ahmy (pronounced Ah-me) bought him this hat to complete the look. It's a cowboy hat, but to Andrew it IS Indiana Jones' hat.

My last conversation with Andrew about Indiana Jones went like this:

Me: Andrew, it's time to go to bed.
Andrew: Mom, when my hat is on I'm Indiana Jones. When my hat is off I'm Andrew Cameron Perry.
Me: Alright Indiana, take the hat off and let's go to bed.