Some Days are sweet, like the scent of a honeysuckle blossom that lingers long after you've closed the windows and put away the supper dishes...
We had our sweet little neighbor girls over for a couple of hours this afternoon. I tell ya, if we had any hope of having girls like these two, I wouldn't panic before each ultrasound. These girls are just the greatest. The boys adore them, too, and treat them with such deference, such kindness. I love it. We did crafts and built things with the pvc pipes. I pretended to be a growly bear who wanted to eat children. The boys pounced upon me and gave me quite a squishing when I chased after either of the girls. I am really, really sore. Still, we had a really, really great time. Jacob followed the action with glee, laughing and giggling as the kids ran laps around the downstairs, smiling and clapping when one of the girls stopped to give him snuggles.
Jacob is getting the second tooth (of eight that are currently jockeying for position). It is the other canine. Oh, I do hope we can get some pictures of that once they're in farther. He's clapping now. When we say "Yea!", he smiles and claps with such a savory, intentional delight that it's intoxicating. He is also waving hello and goodbye to people, mostly his favorite people.
John has been out cold by seven PM three times this week. I'm not sure why he's so sleepy, but he's very sweet about it. He simply announces at the supper table that he's feeling a little sleepy and would like to go to bed. He brushes his teeth and falls into bed- sound asleep before his head hits the pillow.
James has been absolutely thrilled to be helping Zorak with the motorcycle and is just chomping at the bit to invent something that will help make motorcycle maintenance easier. He's still in his face-making mode when we break out the camera and to be honest, it's been a year and I would like, just once in a while, to get a nice picture of him when he's not doing his Jim Carrey impression.
Today Zorak completed the tweaking and fine tuning on The Mistress. She has a lot more umpf than he suspected, particularly once he replaced the spark plugs and had her running on both cylinders. I had to laugh, as my mechanical experience is mainly with the Chevy 350's- I've had that puppy running on just four cylinders before and done quite well, thank you. (Not that I'm proud of the fact, but simply to illustrate that the two cylinder engine is an amazingly simple, yet totally foreign animal to me.) He also got (not to start a Jim Carrey theme tonight... this is the last one, I promise) a Me, Myself and Irene helmet! (Only, Zorak's is all black... and he doesn't usually have that goofy look on his face.)
Tomorrow, a fresh new can of worms to open: government intrusion into private homes and how Sheeple are giving away their rights without having a CLUE.
Tonight, well, hey, it's almost three. I'm goin' to bed.
'Nite!
Thursday, June 10
My way-too-early response on Ezzo
Wow, I have to say first of all, thank you guys for sharing your viewpoints and info on Ezzo's Babywise/Raising Kids God's Way issue. I'll include at the end of this post the links that were shared with me. I also plan to check out the book from the library in order to give a more detailed account at a later date, but for right now, here are my thoughts and my concerns.
Before I dive in, though, I'd like to address the issue of posting comments anonymously. Please don't. Like I said before, they create a hostile environment, and if anyone's going to bring down the property value around here, I'd rather it be Zorak and me hanging out on our front porch, drinkin' beer and doin' the redneck thing, ok? If you have thoughts you'd like to share, that would be great, and I'd love to hear them (yep, even if you don't agree w/ me!) but if you do have something worth saying, it is worth putting your name to. Thanks!
The first, and probably my biggest issue w/ this program is that I truly believe in breastfeeding on demand. It is God's plan for mothers and their babies. We are designed to be able to communicate with our children on a genetic level and the supply and demand system is part and parcel of how we are designed. It is not manipulative. It is not a "modern" machination to keep women "in their place" or part of a "permissive parenting" approach or anything else. It is how we are made!
You can breastfeed your child exclusively for two years without your child suffering any harm at all! It's wholly acceptable. You are designed that way. Your baby is designed that way. Is it easy? No. Does the mother have to do her mongo whopping part to keep up the milk supply and be available to her child? You betcha. Have I managed to do it? Nope. We usually begin feeding our babies solids when they turn one. HOWEVER, that does not negate the fact that a woman's body is designed to respond to her child's needs and when you don't mess with that, it'll work just fine.
The impression that a six-week-old infant who "sleeps through the night" is somehow a banner of glory on the part of the parents just ticks me off no end. Namely, most people don't realize that "sleeping through the night" means FOUR HOURS! Four. Not eight, not ten, FOUR. Secondly, in Biblical times our babies were in bed with us. If they awoke and were startled, the mother was there, with her warmth and rythmic breathing, to comfort them and lull them back to sleep. I'm not even going to go into a co-sleeping debate, but it does play a role in how children traditionally developed and if we are to attempt to emulate "God's Plan" for our children, then let's not pick and choose that which is most "convenient" for us, ok? If you want to get "back to basics", then do it, but don't try to force a baby into your modern idea of basics. That's like people who don't eat pork "b/c it's not Biblical", but then also don't bother to observe the periods of uncleanness with respect to their homes and husbands, and ignore a laundry list of other point, as well. C'mon, here, don't be pickin' and choosin'- pick a path and start movin' down it, ok?
Breastmilk is digested in approximately 90 minutes. It takes an adult approximately three to four hours to digest a meal. Think about this. How often do we, as adults, need to eat to keep up our metabolism? Doctors recommend "six small meals a day" to keep up our energy, to repair tissue, and we don't even have to worry about making synaptic connections or growing and developing at an exponential rate the way infants do! Yet we eat about every four to six hours. I have a real problem with someone telling mothers that their newborn, the baby with a stomach the size of its fist (look at a newborn's fist!) is supposed to do all that work off feedings that are spaced three hours or more apart. ARGH! What is that?!? And Ezzo says if the baby doesn't eat at a scheduled feeding, you don't feed him again until the next scheduled feeding. Oooo, talk about raising my blood pressure. This is an INFANT, people, not a petulant teenager, and providing ample and regular sustenance when your child needs it is not going to turn him into a petulant teenager! Believe me, there is more out there to worry about than whether your infant starts getting haughty over when he can eat.
Attachment Parenting. This is one of those things that I believe falls within the "good parenting" category. This doesn't mean at all that non-AP parents are in the "bad parenting" category, not at all. It's easy for us to forget that parenting is just as personal as it can be, and there is a huge choice of non-deal-breakers that fall within the "acceptable" category. Some people love to sling their babies. (I do. You couldn't pay me to buy a stroller.) Some don't. (Zorak would rather carry both older children on his shoulders all day long than have to sling the baby for ten minutes.) We're both ok with that, and the boys aren't traumatized by either approach. The point against Ezzo, however, is that there is nothing manipulative or inherently sinful in keeping an infant close and responding to his only means of communication. What if you taught your toddler to "use your words" and then ignored him when he did so? What kind of a lesson will that teach him? Babies' words are their cries. Don't ignore them.
Do y'all realize that the brain of a human infant is, at birth, second only to the kangaroo's brain for being underdeveloped? Even the kangaroo can climb into its mother's pouch to work on developing. A human infant's brain has a lot of work to do on just getting all cylinders to fire in line before it can go to work on pushin' the proverbial envelope and trying to "get away" with things. Picking up a crying baby isn't spoiling him, it is responding to him. That's something I am pretty passionate about.
OK, now with all that said, I think my concern is not the mother who has a good head on her shoulders, who knows how to glean, who can make notes in her notebook along the lines of "well, this part is useless" and move on. My worry is the young, inexperienced mother, perhaps one who is new in her faith and unfamiliar with discernment, who ends up with her newborn in the pediatrician's office, suffering from malnutrition and diagnosed as "failure to thrive" because she listened to this guy. It has happened, so I'm not being paranoid. Children have been hospitalized because their parents, in trying to do "God's will" have starved these precious children! That is indicative that there is something seriously wrong: either inherently wrong with the program, or dangerously wrong with the presentation by the teachers.
I know that there are so so soooo many parenting choices available, and none of us wants to get into a cry-it-out/never cry debate, or the co-sleeping debate, etc. I don't think the issues against Ezzo's books and philosophy are divided along those lines. I think they come down somewhere between those who take responsibility for thinking for themselves vs. those who are so afraid to trust God's real plan that they will follow anyone like a mindless automaton. I've received plenty of notes from mothers who have used Ezzo's methods without harming their children- their children are now well-adjusted, happy, loved children. The key among each and every one of them, however, has been discernment: these women have known how and when to draw the line and throw out the garbage, rather than the baby, with the bathwater.
So, perhaps my suggestion is not to completely do away with these classes, but for the older women to take on their God-instituted mentoring role. Talk with the new mothers, assure them that God built them to do this, if they will just listen to Him. I don't know. It still makes me twitchy, and I'm still going to pick up my children when they need me. I'm still going to encourage every woman I come across to nurse on demand and not to try to tie her tiny infant to an adult's concept of schedules. I think that's the right thing to do. I believe that being a mother is more than just running the regiment through its paces, it's teaching and nurturing, giving them a safe space to learn to trust us and how to discern who to trust and when.
I have also learned, from those who were willing to share, that the program's presentation is dependent in large part upon the church itself and how the instructor presents it. Thank you for sharing that information. We may try the church anyway. I will still most likely discuss the program with the church leaders and ask the questions I have. It's important to review what we believe and why, and I feel that the church is no exception to that. ;-) I'll probably be a thorn in their side, but what else is new?
So, here are the links that were shared- happy browsing!
A site about Ezzo's excommunication, medical data, and other issues.
An article written for ParentsPlace.com about Ezzo (he was contacted for the article, but refused an interview. The information he did send in was included with the article.)
Also, Tulip Girl has written often on Ezzo- if you go to her blog and do some searches, she has linked extensively to news releases, tidbits, and medical information. She rocks.
And I guess that's enough blogging for the morning!
Dy
Before I dive in, though, I'd like to address the issue of posting comments anonymously. Please don't. Like I said before, they create a hostile environment, and if anyone's going to bring down the property value around here, I'd rather it be Zorak and me hanging out on our front porch, drinkin' beer and doin' the redneck thing, ok? If you have thoughts you'd like to share, that would be great, and I'd love to hear them (yep, even if you don't agree w/ me!) but if you do have something worth saying, it is worth putting your name to. Thanks!
The first, and probably my biggest issue w/ this program is that I truly believe in breastfeeding on demand. It is God's plan for mothers and their babies. We are designed to be able to communicate with our children on a genetic level and the supply and demand system is part and parcel of how we are designed. It is not manipulative. It is not a "modern" machination to keep women "in their place" or part of a "permissive parenting" approach or anything else. It is how we are made!
You can breastfeed your child exclusively for two years without your child suffering any harm at all! It's wholly acceptable. You are designed that way. Your baby is designed that way. Is it easy? No. Does the mother have to do her mongo whopping part to keep up the milk supply and be available to her child? You betcha. Have I managed to do it? Nope. We usually begin feeding our babies solids when they turn one. HOWEVER, that does not negate the fact that a woman's body is designed to respond to her child's needs and when you don't mess with that, it'll work just fine.
The impression that a six-week-old infant who "sleeps through the night" is somehow a banner of glory on the part of the parents just ticks me off no end. Namely, most people don't realize that "sleeping through the night" means FOUR HOURS! Four. Not eight, not ten, FOUR. Secondly, in Biblical times our babies were in bed with us. If they awoke and were startled, the mother was there, with her warmth and rythmic breathing, to comfort them and lull them back to sleep. I'm not even going to go into a co-sleeping debate, but it does play a role in how children traditionally developed and if we are to attempt to emulate "God's Plan" for our children, then let's not pick and choose that which is most "convenient" for us, ok? If you want to get "back to basics", then do it, but don't try to force a baby into your modern idea of basics. That's like people who don't eat pork "b/c it's not Biblical", but then also don't bother to observe the periods of uncleanness with respect to their homes and husbands, and ignore a laundry list of other point, as well. C'mon, here, don't be pickin' and choosin'- pick a path and start movin' down it, ok?
Breastmilk is digested in approximately 90 minutes. It takes an adult approximately three to four hours to digest a meal. Think about this. How often do we, as adults, need to eat to keep up our metabolism? Doctors recommend "six small meals a day" to keep up our energy, to repair tissue, and we don't even have to worry about making synaptic connections or growing and developing at an exponential rate the way infants do! Yet we eat about every four to six hours. I have a real problem with someone telling mothers that their newborn, the baby with a stomach the size of its fist (look at a newborn's fist!) is supposed to do all that work off feedings that are spaced three hours or more apart. ARGH! What is that?!? And Ezzo says if the baby doesn't eat at a scheduled feeding, you don't feed him again until the next scheduled feeding. Oooo, talk about raising my blood pressure. This is an INFANT, people, not a petulant teenager, and providing ample and regular sustenance when your child needs it is not going to turn him into a petulant teenager! Believe me, there is more out there to worry about than whether your infant starts getting haughty over when he can eat.
Attachment Parenting. This is one of those things that I believe falls within the "good parenting" category. This doesn't mean at all that non-AP parents are in the "bad parenting" category, not at all. It's easy for us to forget that parenting is just as personal as it can be, and there is a huge choice of non-deal-breakers that fall within the "acceptable" category. Some people love to sling their babies. (I do. You couldn't pay me to buy a stroller.) Some don't. (Zorak would rather carry both older children on his shoulders all day long than have to sling the baby for ten minutes.) We're both ok with that, and the boys aren't traumatized by either approach. The point against Ezzo, however, is that there is nothing manipulative or inherently sinful in keeping an infant close and responding to his only means of communication. What if you taught your toddler to "use your words" and then ignored him when he did so? What kind of a lesson will that teach him? Babies' words are their cries. Don't ignore them.
Do y'all realize that the brain of a human infant is, at birth, second only to the kangaroo's brain for being underdeveloped? Even the kangaroo can climb into its mother's pouch to work on developing. A human infant's brain has a lot of work to do on just getting all cylinders to fire in line before it can go to work on pushin' the proverbial envelope and trying to "get away" with things. Picking up a crying baby isn't spoiling him, it is responding to him. That's something I am pretty passionate about.
OK, now with all that said, I think my concern is not the mother who has a good head on her shoulders, who knows how to glean, who can make notes in her notebook along the lines of "well, this part is useless" and move on. My worry is the young, inexperienced mother, perhaps one who is new in her faith and unfamiliar with discernment, who ends up with her newborn in the pediatrician's office, suffering from malnutrition and diagnosed as "failure to thrive" because she listened to this guy. It has happened, so I'm not being paranoid. Children have been hospitalized because their parents, in trying to do "God's will" have starved these precious children! That is indicative that there is something seriously wrong: either inherently wrong with the program, or dangerously wrong with the presentation by the teachers.
I know that there are so so soooo many parenting choices available, and none of us wants to get into a cry-it-out/never cry debate, or the co-sleeping debate, etc. I don't think the issues against Ezzo's books and philosophy are divided along those lines. I think they come down somewhere between those who take responsibility for thinking for themselves vs. those who are so afraid to trust God's real plan that they will follow anyone like a mindless automaton. I've received plenty of notes from mothers who have used Ezzo's methods without harming their children- their children are now well-adjusted, happy, loved children. The key among each and every one of them, however, has been discernment: these women have known how and when to draw the line and throw out the garbage, rather than the baby, with the bathwater.
So, perhaps my suggestion is not to completely do away with these classes, but for the older women to take on their God-instituted mentoring role. Talk with the new mothers, assure them that God built them to do this, if they will just listen to Him. I don't know. It still makes me twitchy, and I'm still going to pick up my children when they need me. I'm still going to encourage every woman I come across to nurse on demand and not to try to tie her tiny infant to an adult's concept of schedules. I think that's the right thing to do. I believe that being a mother is more than just running the regiment through its paces, it's teaching and nurturing, giving them a safe space to learn to trust us and how to discern who to trust and when.
I have also learned, from those who were willing to share, that the program's presentation is dependent in large part upon the church itself and how the instructor presents it. Thank you for sharing that information. We may try the church anyway. I will still most likely discuss the program with the church leaders and ask the questions I have. It's important to review what we believe and why, and I feel that the church is no exception to that. ;-) I'll probably be a thorn in their side, but what else is new?
So, here are the links that were shared- happy browsing!
A site about Ezzo's excommunication, medical data, and other issues.
An article written for ParentsPlace.com about Ezzo (he was contacted for the article, but refused an interview. The information he did send in was included with the article.)
Also, Tulip Girl has written often on Ezzo- if you go to her blog and do some searches, she has linked extensively to news releases, tidbits, and medical information. She rocks.
And I guess that's enough blogging for the morning!
Dy
Tuesday, June 8
Heading to bed
But I wanted to say...
We finished Return of the King. This was my second time watching it this week. Great movie, but I still think I liked the second one the best. Maybe I'm goofy. Well, I know I'm goofy. Anyhow, tons to share, but it's late and I'm out of coffee. Will do it later.
Also, Mandy and Jill, thank you for sharing your thoughts on Ezzo. I am not ignoring you, certainly, but like I said above, I'm out of coffee. I'll share more of my thoughts tomorrow after we brave the DMV and I'm feeling energized.
Latin, Latin, Latin, this is a lot of fun. Today while doing vocabulary, when we came upon "habito" (I live/dwell in), James said, "Ah, you mean like 'habitat'!" Wow, he does catch on quickly. I think we'll go back through w/ John at a slower pace in a couple of years, once he's reading. In the meantime, though, I cannot recommend Memoria Press' programs highly enough. Wow, oh wow, what a great program!
Time for some beauty rest. (Hee hee! As you'll note the time is after one AM, this is a total joke.)
Dy
We finished Return of the King. This was my second time watching it this week. Great movie, but I still think I liked the second one the best. Maybe I'm goofy. Well, I know I'm goofy. Anyhow, tons to share, but it's late and I'm out of coffee. Will do it later.
Also, Mandy and Jill, thank you for sharing your thoughts on Ezzo. I am not ignoring you, certainly, but like I said above, I'm out of coffee. I'll share more of my thoughts tomorrow after we brave the DMV and I'm feeling energized.
Latin, Latin, Latin, this is a lot of fun. Today while doing vocabulary, when we came upon "habito" (I live/dwell in), James said, "Ah, you mean like 'habitat'!" Wow, he does catch on quickly. I think we'll go back through w/ John at a slower pace in a couple of years, once he's reading. In the meantime, though, I cannot recommend Memoria Press' programs highly enough. Wow, oh wow, what a great program!
Time for some beauty rest. (Hee hee! As you'll note the time is after one AM, this is a total joke.)
Dy
Quick Howdy!
Good Tuesday Morning!
*whew* We are making it. Nearly finished clearing up some issues that had sprung upon us like rabid pit vipers whipped up by a stinkin' tropical storm... oh, look, there goes Auntie Em! Bye, bye! ARGH. (I'll blog more about it when all is said and done, but for now, please pray for peace and wisdom for me.)
Boys are great. Weather is gorgeous. We are going to President Reagan's funeral on Friday, as Zorak has off and we will be able to attend as a family. I'm thankful that we can observe this day together.
The Mistress, as I have dubbed the motorcycle, is doing well and getting more attention to her wiring and overall care than I have lately. Huh. Who knew? Actually, I hope this doesn't sound resentful, because I don't feel that way at all. It's really, really neat that Zorak has something that is his, something to work on and tinker with and enjoy. He's let so many of his passions and hobbies go by the wayside in order to provide first for us. This is a good time for him.
AND, the boys got to learn about wiring diagrams and how to rewire a bike yesterday! They had such a great time helping Zorak, and he is so incredibly patient and involved with them. I enjoyed watching the bonding take place and enjoyed letting the boys show me how to use the volt meter and explain to me how the wires work, which ones are grounded, which ones are hot. I'm surprised by how very much they learned in the whole process.
Busy week coming up. New driver's licenses tomorrow. Cicada talk at the library on Thursday. Trip to DC Friday. I don't even want to think about this weekend. Possibly a new church. Still wavering over that one. Unfortunately, it turns out that the one I had so wanted to attend offers Ezzo's "parenting" (and I use the term loosely) classes, and while my knee jerk reaction is that I do NOT want my children in a church that will support that mentality, Jess pointed out that it's quite possible the pastor is unaware of the truth behind it and perhaps we could positively influence a change. *sigh* I don't know. I was a much more effective crusader before I had children... now I just want to focus on the boys. (Yes, I know, set an example, fight the good fight... we'll see.)
Jill, Oh, Jill!! You need to email me, lady!
And while I'm putting out pages...
Laura in Korea or in the US or... where are you?
Kolbi, did you get lost in those North Carolina mountains and refuse to come back out?
Alrighty, all the business calls have been made today, and now I've decompressed on the 'puter, so it's time to go play with my sweet boys and remember why it is I haven't gone postal yet. (They need me. That's pretty much it. I need to go love on 'em and let them know what a wonderful blessing they are in my life.)
Talk to you later tonight!
Dy
*whew* We are making it. Nearly finished clearing up some issues that had sprung upon us like rabid pit vipers whipped up by a stinkin' tropical storm... oh, look, there goes Auntie Em! Bye, bye! ARGH. (I'll blog more about it when all is said and done, but for now, please pray for peace and wisdom for me.)
Boys are great. Weather is gorgeous. We are going to President Reagan's funeral on Friday, as Zorak has off and we will be able to attend as a family. I'm thankful that we can observe this day together.
The Mistress, as I have dubbed the motorcycle, is doing well and getting more attention to her wiring and overall care than I have lately. Huh. Who knew? Actually, I hope this doesn't sound resentful, because I don't feel that way at all. It's really, really neat that Zorak has something that is his, something to work on and tinker with and enjoy. He's let so many of his passions and hobbies go by the wayside in order to provide first for us. This is a good time for him.
AND, the boys got to learn about wiring diagrams and how to rewire a bike yesterday! They had such a great time helping Zorak, and he is so incredibly patient and involved with them. I enjoyed watching the bonding take place and enjoyed letting the boys show me how to use the volt meter and explain to me how the wires work, which ones are grounded, which ones are hot. I'm surprised by how very much they learned in the whole process.
Busy week coming up. New driver's licenses tomorrow. Cicada talk at the library on Thursday. Trip to DC Friday. I don't even want to think about this weekend. Possibly a new church. Still wavering over that one. Unfortunately, it turns out that the one I had so wanted to attend offers Ezzo's "parenting" (and I use the term loosely) classes, and while my knee jerk reaction is that I do NOT want my children in a church that will support that mentality, Jess pointed out that it's quite possible the pastor is unaware of the truth behind it and perhaps we could positively influence a change. *sigh* I don't know. I was a much more effective crusader before I had children... now I just want to focus on the boys. (Yes, I know, set an example, fight the good fight... we'll see.)
Jill, Oh, Jill!! You need to email me, lady!
And while I'm putting out pages...
Laura in Korea or in the US or... where are you?
Kolbi, did you get lost in those North Carolina mountains and refuse to come back out?
Alrighty, all the business calls have been made today, and now I've decompressed on the 'puter, so it's time to go play with my sweet boys and remember why it is I haven't gone postal yet. (They need me. That's pretty much it. I need to go love on 'em and let them know what a wonderful blessing they are in my life.)
Talk to you later tonight!
Dy
Sunday, June 6
Back at the Ranch...
Zorak is now the proud owner of a shiny kinda-new motorcycle! Yup, Friday we drove to Philadelphia (yes, 481 miles round trip, in one day, with three small children...) to pick up the bike. We arrived in Philly with a few hours to spare, so we cruised down to the Historic Waterfront district and enjoyed some of the museums and history of the area. Although the wall-to-wall people, the unheard-of traffic, and the absolute level of chaos there reminded us that we would rather have our toenails removed piece by piece sans anesthesia than to live in a large metropolis, the opportunities and experiences available for the occasional weekend trip do abound. We had a lovely time and would like to go back to spend a full weekend there sometime. We picked up the bike and arrived back at home around three Saturday morning.
There is now an incredibly well-maintained 1980 BMW R-something or other motorcycle (with a horizontally opposed twin engine- I do know that much! But that's probably what the "R" is for, huh?) residing in our vehicular family. It isn't exactly what he wanted, but it will serve his purpose, is in phenomenal shape, and with what we saved buying this one we can fix it up quite nicely. Zorak is a happy man. The trip was definitely worth the effort.
Then it was up bright 'n early *yawn* Saturday to return the trailer we'd rented. The boys and I dropped Zorak off for a "dudes only" fishing trip (that's another blog- maybe next week?) and then we went to the Marine Museum to check it out at the boys' pace. That was truly wonderful. We took the marsh walk- a nice boardwalk discovery trail that winds through the marsh grass (eww) and makes a full circle back at the otter tank (wee!). Some truly disgusting things live in the marsh. But like I said, this was for the boys... and they loved it.
Picked up a crib, heard the news of President Reagan, came home and spent the rest of the day crying and sharing stories of the President with the boys.
Zorak returned to base camp a little after midnight and our wonderful neighbor came over to watch the boys while I went to get him.
Today we attended our church's annual church picnic. It was so nice to worship on the beach. It was the first time we've ever been overdressed for church. The BBQ was catered, and the turnout was huge! (This was also the congregation's 50th Anniversary). We all had a nice time, and I was absolutely filled to the gills with happiness at having my four guys sitting there with me in service. Jacob in the sling, John on my lap, James leaning against me, and Zorak's hand resting on my back. *happy sigh* If it wouldn't be so traumatic for the kids, I'd say that's just how I'd like to die. ;-)
Tonight while we played out front, the boys befriended two new neighborhood children. *unhappy sigh* This week we are going to study the importance of choosing friends wisely. We'll see how it goes.
We've been so incredibly blessed with the wonderful neighbors we have in our little corner here, it was quite a shock to get smacked with these two. I guess what makes me so sad and angry about it is that I know these girls started out just as kind and decent and loving as our good friends' girls, but when a girl is left to grow up without her mother's guidance (or if her mother guides her in a less-than-encouraging direction), the results are immediate and sad. I am praying that if we can be a positive influence on the girls, the Lord will show me how to do it. If we cannot exert a positive influence, then I'm praying the backup plan to help me provide a buffer between the girls and my boys.
Schooling is going well. Last week was skewl-lite, as Zorak had only a three-day work week. So this week will be back to the laughingly-named "grindstone" (as if to imply that we ever work our little fingers to the bone!)
Had tons more to blog about, but it will have to wait. I am going to try to finish ROTK tonight before Zorak returns from his Wal-Mart run.
OH- that was it- WALMART! So, we did more research on the place that had the lowest camera price. SCAM ARTIST ALERT on every point. *sigh* We looked and looked the rest of the week, and you know, for all-around value, you just cannot beat Wal-Mart. Even shopping online!
Dy
There is now an incredibly well-maintained 1980 BMW R-something or other motorcycle (with a horizontally opposed twin engine- I do know that much! But that's probably what the "R" is for, huh?) residing in our vehicular family. It isn't exactly what he wanted, but it will serve his purpose, is in phenomenal shape, and with what we saved buying this one we can fix it up quite nicely. Zorak is a happy man. The trip was definitely worth the effort.
Then it was up bright 'n early *yawn* Saturday to return the trailer we'd rented. The boys and I dropped Zorak off for a "dudes only" fishing trip (that's another blog- maybe next week?) and then we went to the Marine Museum to check it out at the boys' pace. That was truly wonderful. We took the marsh walk- a nice boardwalk discovery trail that winds through the marsh grass (eww) and makes a full circle back at the otter tank (wee!). Some truly disgusting things live in the marsh. But like I said, this was for the boys... and they loved it.
Picked up a crib, heard the news of President Reagan, came home and spent the rest of the day crying and sharing stories of the President with the boys.
Zorak returned to base camp a little after midnight and our wonderful neighbor came over to watch the boys while I went to get him.
Today we attended our church's annual church picnic. It was so nice to worship on the beach. It was the first time we've ever been overdressed for church. The BBQ was catered, and the turnout was huge! (This was also the congregation's 50th Anniversary). We all had a nice time, and I was absolutely filled to the gills with happiness at having my four guys sitting there with me in service. Jacob in the sling, John on my lap, James leaning against me, and Zorak's hand resting on my back. *happy sigh* If it wouldn't be so traumatic for the kids, I'd say that's just how I'd like to die. ;-)
Tonight while we played out front, the boys befriended two new neighborhood children. *unhappy sigh* This week we are going to study the importance of choosing friends wisely. We'll see how it goes.
We've been so incredibly blessed with the wonderful neighbors we have in our little corner here, it was quite a shock to get smacked with these two. I guess what makes me so sad and angry about it is that I know these girls started out just as kind and decent and loving as our good friends' girls, but when a girl is left to grow up without her mother's guidance (or if her mother guides her in a less-than-encouraging direction), the results are immediate and sad. I am praying that if we can be a positive influence on the girls, the Lord will show me how to do it. If we cannot exert a positive influence, then I'm praying the backup plan to help me provide a buffer between the girls and my boys.
Schooling is going well. Last week was skewl-lite, as Zorak had only a three-day work week. So this week will be back to the laughingly-named "grindstone" (as if to imply that we ever work our little fingers to the bone!)
Had tons more to blog about, but it will have to wait. I am going to try to finish ROTK tonight before Zorak returns from his Wal-Mart run.
OH- that was it- WALMART! So, we did more research on the place that had the lowest camera price. SCAM ARTIST ALERT on every point. *sigh* We looked and looked the rest of the week, and you know, for all-around value, you just cannot beat Wal-Mart. Even shopping online!
Dy
Saturday, June 5
Today we lose a hero.
President Reagan passed away today, having lived a full and service-filled life. He left his mark upon America's history, upon the world's history, and quite indelibly, upon my heart and home.
There is a wonderful photographic essay of the life of Ronald Wilson Reagan, which is of interest.
This is, for our country, and in honor of the office and the man, a time of mourning. You may love his economics or hate them, claim his legacy or not, but I hope that you will take a moment to reflect on, and show respect for, the life and service of a man who loved and served his country far better than most of us today could possibly hope to do.
Our prayers are with the Reagan family today.
There is a wonderful photographic essay of the life of Ronald Wilson Reagan, which is of interest.
This is, for our country, and in honor of the office and the man, a time of mourning. You may love his economics or hate them, claim his legacy or not, but I hope that you will take a moment to reflect on, and show respect for, the life and service of a man who loved and served his country far better than most of us today could possibly hope to do.
Our prayers are with the Reagan family today.
Wednesday, June 2
Motherhood *sighs*, Routines and Homes.
James and I had a "brain stretching" pow-wow tonight. He asks the most incredibly intricate, exhausting questions. I don't know how to answer them. Sometimes I'm afraid to answer them because I am terrified he'll actually try one of the things he's come up with! So tonight, after supper, I called him to the couch and said, "Hey, buddy, let's stretch Mommy's brain." We came up with silly, outlandish scenarios and explored them. He snuggled and giggled. He laughed. He was really, very, very sweet. Then he went upstairs and messed with the electrical plugs, playing musical outlets w/ his lamp and nightlight. (A constant source of contention since he's been moved to his own room, along with the "keep out" sign and the hoarding of goods under the bed. *sigh*) Argh.
****
John lost his sword this week. Oh, he knows where it is, but he cannot have access to it for a week. It is far too handy to use as a retaliatory tool on your big brother. It is far too convenient to use it as a pre-emptive strike on your big brother. So, the sword is on sabbatical. *sigh* He asks for it no less than every fifteen minutes.
"Can I have my sword?"
"No, you may not."
"Why?"
"Do you want me to remind you, or do you remember why you may not play with it."
(He sighs heavily and goes off to play with the myriad other things at his disposal, or brings me a book and we read. Fifteen minutes, repeat.) Then tonight he asked me to read a book to him. I was en route to the Suburban to get a paper for Zorak and promised to return to read the book. Got the paper, went upstairs, and *zzzzzzzzz* he's drooling on his pillow. I feel so bad. I even tried to wake him up, but had no success.
Motherhood is chalk full of ups and downs some days.
****
OK, ok, I will admit it. Routines do make my life much simpler. I hesitate to give license to myself even to utter that statement in the darkest recesses of my closet, let alone commit it to eternity in cyber space. Still, as stubborn and hard-headed as Ican be, er, um, tend to, no, AM, when I'm wrong, I'm wrong, and I am totally (well, mostly) ok with admitting it.
It's true that my soul remembers with fondness the bygone days I spent as Zorba; my gauze-dress clad, toe ring wearing, barefoot, nymph-like alter-ego. The braids and beads, crashing at a friend's "pad", arguing the finer (? yeah, ok) points of civilization on the veranda at a wine tasting... free of structure, routine, and obligations.
But you know, I really didn't accomplish much then. There is no way I could have actually developed the sticktoitness required for motherhood (or wifehood, for that matter). It took a change, not of garments (for there are still funky gauze dresses hanging beside my Rockies), and not of activities (one day I will attend another wine tasting, oh yes, I will!) but of mind.
Heart.
Soul.
Point of view.
It's not about me, and it's not about the grander schemes of my youth. It's about God's purpose for my life, whatever that may be, and having the fortitude to look at the oftentimes overwhelming list (was going to say "laundry list", but then the washer hit the spin cycle and that seemed a little too cheezy, even for me) of things to be done and saying, "Uh, yeah. OK, this is going to take some organization."
Again, what it's not. It's not the three-ring binder fetishist's four-day binge on double stuffed oreo's and coffee, *sip* furiously rearranging the lives of everyone else within a 100 mile radius in order to "get organized". Not that coffee is a bad thing, mind you, *sip* Ahhhhh.
But what it is... it is being able to say, "This needs to be done. I don't necessarily want to do it now, but it must be done and that's OK." It's the "that's ok" part that usually makes me stutter like mad. Just as my son is learning, so am I. When we balk, there are consequences: in my case, an unkempt home, unorderly days, harried Mommy, confused and cranky babies. When I suck it up, do what it is my job to do, maybe even smile about it a bit (you know, sing a song, dance like you think you're alone in the house), the converse consequences are blessings that far, far outweigh the insanity of shirking my responsibilities.
And that, for me, my friends, comes in the form of a routine. A routine doesn't mean you are caught in a trap of a deadlines and strict hours (although if that works for you... well, if that works for you, then just reading my blog probably gives you hives.) It's about not being idle, about doing your utmost in the best way you can given our natural tendencies to slack off and hide from the unpleasant. Routines teach us to make the most of those three minutes between points A and B, to do something productive and loving for our homes and our families when we just don't have the time to plan a black tie gala to show our appreciation.
I caught myself telling James yesterday, "Honey, you have had the same exact bedtime routine every night for nearly six years. I would think at this point you would understand that it's easier on everyone when you do your part." Hmmm, funny, God whispered the same thing in my ear when I went to bed. Every night after supper, Zorak takes the boys upstairs for bath time. I am alone, just me and the kitchen. Our eyes meet. I used to scamper off to the back porch with a book and a cup of coffee. "I need this break," I'd tell myself. Pfft. No I don't. I need to clean the kitchen, need to tidy my home and then I need to enjoy a quiet evening- maybe even all evening- relaxing with my husband. He needs to have a nice home. But, nooo! That's a routine, that's responsibility, that's haarrrrrddddd. (That would be my "inner child" whining there- you know, the one that would rather take twice as long to do something after being told all day to do it than to just get on it and do it right the first time.)
Lately, with thanks in large part to the encouragement, humor, wit and insight of the wonderful blogbuddies I have here, I've been better about it. I don't don the pearls and touch up my makeup before Zorak gets home, but I do tell the boys, "OK, Daddy will be home shortly. Let's tidy up!" We've talked about how good it feels to Daddy when he can tell we have been expecting him. We talked about how much work we put into the home when company is coming, and how much they appreciate it, so think how good it must feel for Daddy to see that we've blessed the house 'specially for his arrival!
Yes, all this to say, "I did my job today". It's not looking for accolades, as this is really the bare minimum of it all. I'm sharing this to encourage others who have a petulant 17 year-old Inner Child. *wink* I've done my routines most of the past month and a half, in fact, and the difference has been wonderful. The boys are reacting positively to it, Zorak's happier when he gets home, and I feel like I have more time (imagine that) to really enjoy the rest of them!
So now, the dishwasher is running, a fresh load of wash is going, the house looks, feels and smells great... and I have the rest of the evening to enjoy my home. What a great routine! Maybe I'll go braid my hair...
****
John lost his sword this week. Oh, he knows where it is, but he cannot have access to it for a week. It is far too handy to use as a retaliatory tool on your big brother. It is far too convenient to use it as a pre-emptive strike on your big brother. So, the sword is on sabbatical. *sigh* He asks for it no less than every fifteen minutes.
"Can I have my sword?"
"No, you may not."
"Why?"
"Do you want me to remind you, or do you remember why you may not play with it."
(He sighs heavily and goes off to play with the myriad other things at his disposal, or brings me a book and we read. Fifteen minutes, repeat.) Then tonight he asked me to read a book to him. I was en route to the Suburban to get a paper for Zorak and promised to return to read the book. Got the paper, went upstairs, and *zzzzzzzzz* he's drooling on his pillow. I feel so bad. I even tried to wake him up, but had no success.
Motherhood is chalk full of ups and downs some days.
****
OK, ok, I will admit it. Routines do make my life much simpler. I hesitate to give license to myself even to utter that statement in the darkest recesses of my closet, let alone commit it to eternity in cyber space. Still, as stubborn and hard-headed as I
It's true that my soul remembers with fondness the bygone days I spent as Zorba; my gauze-dress clad, toe ring wearing, barefoot, nymph-like alter-ego. The braids and beads, crashing at a friend's "pad", arguing the finer (? yeah, ok) points of civilization on the veranda at a wine tasting... free of structure, routine, and obligations.
But you know, I really didn't accomplish much then. There is no way I could have actually developed the sticktoitness required for motherhood (or wifehood, for that matter). It took a change, not of garments (for there are still funky gauze dresses hanging beside my Rockies), and not of activities (one day I will attend another wine tasting, oh yes, I will!) but of mind.
Heart.
Soul.
Point of view.
It's not about me, and it's not about the grander schemes of my youth. It's about God's purpose for my life, whatever that may be, and having the fortitude to look at the oftentimes overwhelming list (was going to say "laundry list", but then the washer hit the spin cycle and that seemed a little too cheezy, even for me) of things to be done and saying, "Uh, yeah. OK, this is going to take some organization."
Again, what it's not. It's not the three-ring binder fetishist's four-day binge on double stuffed oreo's and coffee, *sip* furiously rearranging the lives of everyone else within a 100 mile radius in order to "get organized". Not that coffee is a bad thing, mind you, *sip* Ahhhhh.
But what it is... it is being able to say, "This needs to be done. I don't necessarily want to do it now, but it must be done and that's OK." It's the "that's ok" part that usually makes me stutter like mad. Just as my son is learning, so am I. When we balk, there are consequences: in my case, an unkempt home, unorderly days, harried Mommy, confused and cranky babies. When I suck it up, do what it is my job to do, maybe even smile about it a bit (you know, sing a song, dance like you think you're alone in the house), the converse consequences are blessings that far, far outweigh the insanity of shirking my responsibilities.
And that, for me, my friends, comes in the form of a routine. A routine doesn't mean you are caught in a trap of a deadlines and strict hours (although if that works for you... well, if that works for you, then just reading my blog probably gives you hives.) It's about not being idle, about doing your utmost in the best way you can given our natural tendencies to slack off and hide from the unpleasant. Routines teach us to make the most of those three minutes between points A and B, to do something productive and loving for our homes and our families when we just don't have the time to plan a black tie gala to show our appreciation.
I caught myself telling James yesterday, "Honey, you have had the same exact bedtime routine every night for nearly six years. I would think at this point you would understand that it's easier on everyone when you do your part." Hmmm, funny, God whispered the same thing in my ear when I went to bed. Every night after supper, Zorak takes the boys upstairs for bath time. I am alone, just me and the kitchen. Our eyes meet. I used to scamper off to the back porch with a book and a cup of coffee. "I need this break," I'd tell myself. Pfft. No I don't. I need to clean the kitchen, need to tidy my home and then I need to enjoy a quiet evening- maybe even all evening- relaxing with my husband. He needs to have a nice home. But, nooo! That's a routine, that's responsibility, that's haarrrrrddddd. (That would be my "inner child" whining there- you know, the one that would rather take twice as long to do something after being told all day to do it than to just get on it and do it right the first time.)
Lately, with thanks in large part to the encouragement, humor, wit and insight of the wonderful blogbuddies I have here, I've been better about it. I don't don the pearls and touch up my makeup before Zorak gets home, but I do tell the boys, "OK, Daddy will be home shortly. Let's tidy up!" We've talked about how good it feels to Daddy when he can tell we have been expecting him. We talked about how much work we put into the home when company is coming, and how much they appreciate it, so think how good it must feel for Daddy to see that we've blessed the house 'specially for his arrival!
Yes, all this to say, "I did my job today". It's not looking for accolades, as this is really the bare minimum of it all. I'm sharing this to encourage others who have a petulant 17 year-old Inner Child. *wink* I've done my routines most of the past month and a half, in fact, and the difference has been wonderful. The boys are reacting positively to it, Zorak's happier when he gets home, and I feel like I have more time (imagine that) to really enjoy the rest of them!
So now, the dishwasher is running, a fresh load of wash is going, the house looks, feels and smells great... and I have the rest of the evening to enjoy my home. What a great routine! Maybe I'll go braid my hair...
Tuesday, June 1
Snippets
Me: What are these little orange, leaping bugs?
Zorak: I don't know, but they sure are good in coffee!
Yup, the leaping, the flying, the climbing, the miniscule and the moderately-sized; we have 'em all. Even in our coffee. I'm starting to think Napalm is in order...
James: I think being a kid is average. Sometimes I like it, and sometimes I don't. So that comes out to be average.
Hmm, I guess it's a sliding scale.
Not much to blog about here. The storms lately have been beautiful, but they have also turned our normally somewhat marshy back yard into a veritable biology lab of nasty, biting insects. Ewww.
Ya know, when things are happening that you can't blog about, that pretty much just creates a total flatline when you try to think of topics. Funny how that works. LOL. (It's nothing serious- boys, Zorak and I are all fine.) Anyhow, I'll think of something and will blog again soon!
In the meantime, have a great day!
Dy
Zorak: I don't know, but they sure are good in coffee!
Yup, the leaping, the flying, the climbing, the miniscule and the moderately-sized; we have 'em all. Even in our coffee. I'm starting to think Napalm is in order...
James: I think being a kid is average. Sometimes I like it, and sometimes I don't. So that comes out to be average.
Hmm, I guess it's a sliding scale.
Not much to blog about here. The storms lately have been beautiful, but they have also turned our normally somewhat marshy back yard into a veritable biology lab of nasty, biting insects. Ewww.
Ya know, when things are happening that you can't blog about, that pretty much just creates a total flatline when you try to think of topics. Funny how that works. LOL. (It's nothing serious- boys, Zorak and I are all fine.) Anyhow, I'll think of something and will blog again soon!
In the meantime, have a great day!
Dy
Monday, May 31
Happy Birthday To You!
Happy Birthday To Yooooou!
Happy Birthday Dear Zorak!
Happy Birthday To You!
Today my wonderful Zorak is "three dozen" (his answer). The boys and I were up at six thirty, ate breakfast, wrapped presents, played, watched the most amazing storm move in and drench the earth. We watched a movie, and let him sleep in. That was my gift to him. Not much, but he sure was happy.
When the boys could no longer stand the suspense and began using Zorak's gifts as race cars around the downstairs, we crept upstairs to wake him with cards, presents and a fresh cup of hot coffee. They agreed not to pounce on him right away and shriek "SURPRISE", if I would promise they could do it at some point. So, he was awoken to a soft serenade of "Happy Birthday" by his little guys. I'll upload pictures after Jacob goes down for the night. They're really cute. Then the boys hid in the closet and jumped back out, shouting "Surprise! Happy Birthday!" That worked well all the way around, and Zorak acted genuinely surprised.
After keeping the "surprise" a secret for nearly a week, the boys promptly handed Zorak the boxes and said, "Can you tell what we got you? It's an ICE CREAM MAKER!" It's been a while since I've laughed like that. Very cute.
We enjoyed the rest of the morning in a leisurely way, played with the boys and looked at cameras. My wonderful, self-described shopaholic friend, Jackie, helped me locate the best price on the cameras Zorak had most wanted to buy. She also held my hand while I tried to figure out purchasing memory cards. Oy, things have changed a lot since we bought our last camera! I printed out the details on both camera and card and slipped them into his birthday card. We can't wait to place our order!
Around noon, Zorak decided that perhaps he would like a birthday bbq after all. *I cannot type the expression on my face at that point, but am pretty sure it's been typified in at least one comic strip over the years...* However, it sounded like a great idea, anyway. James wrote up invitations to come for ice cream at four and placed them on the neighbor's doors. He was so proud. We roasted chicken, made carrot cake and homemade ice cream, beans and chile, fresh corn chips, fresh homemade salsa, and chile con queso dip. The neighbors brought corn on the cob and peach cobbler. It was a wonderful afternoon.
It's a little after nine, and they've all just left. The boys are bathing, and I am absolutely bushed! What a day. What a wonderful day.
This is our ninth of Zorak's birthdays that we have celebrated together. I could not, at that first party, have imagined that this is what today would hold, and I am so very thankful for all the years we've had. I look forward to many more, too. BBQ's, children, good neighbors and one another- Happy Birthday, Sweetheart! I love you.
G'night,
Dy
Happy Birthday Dear Zorak!
Happy Birthday To You!
Today my wonderful Zorak is "three dozen" (his answer). The boys and I were up at six thirty, ate breakfast, wrapped presents, played, watched the most amazing storm move in and drench the earth. We watched a movie, and let him sleep in. That was my gift to him. Not much, but he sure was happy.
When the boys could no longer stand the suspense and began using Zorak's gifts as race cars around the downstairs, we crept upstairs to wake him with cards, presents and a fresh cup of hot coffee. They agreed not to pounce on him right away and shriek "SURPRISE", if I would promise they could do it at some point. So, he was awoken to a soft serenade of "Happy Birthday" by his little guys. I'll upload pictures after Jacob goes down for the night. They're really cute. Then the boys hid in the closet and jumped back out, shouting "Surprise! Happy Birthday!" That worked well all the way around, and Zorak acted genuinely surprised.
After keeping the "surprise" a secret for nearly a week, the boys promptly handed Zorak the boxes and said, "Can you tell what we got you? It's an ICE CREAM MAKER!" It's been a while since I've laughed like that. Very cute.
We enjoyed the rest of the morning in a leisurely way, played with the boys and looked at cameras. My wonderful, self-described shopaholic friend, Jackie, helped me locate the best price on the cameras Zorak had most wanted to buy. She also held my hand while I tried to figure out purchasing memory cards. Oy, things have changed a lot since we bought our last camera! I printed out the details on both camera and card and slipped them into his birthday card. We can't wait to place our order!
Around noon, Zorak decided that perhaps he would like a birthday bbq after all. *I cannot type the expression on my face at that point, but am pretty sure it's been typified in at least one comic strip over the years...* However, it sounded like a great idea, anyway. James wrote up invitations to come for ice cream at four and placed them on the neighbor's doors. He was so proud. We roasted chicken, made carrot cake and homemade ice cream, beans and chile, fresh corn chips, fresh homemade salsa, and chile con queso dip. The neighbors brought corn on the cob and peach cobbler. It was a wonderful afternoon.
It's a little after nine, and they've all just left. The boys are bathing, and I am absolutely bushed! What a day. What a wonderful day.
This is our ninth of Zorak's birthdays that we have celebrated together. I could not, at that first party, have imagined that this is what today would hold, and I am so very thankful for all the years we've had. I look forward to many more, too. BBQ's, children, good neighbors and one another- Happy Birthday, Sweetheart! I love you.
G'night,
Dy
Howdy
I have no ideas for a title, probably because I have no ideas for a blog tonight. Ohhh, lucky you! Well, bear with me.
First, *waving happily* Hi, Aunt Bonnie! I'm glad you found us! Thanks for the note. I had to laugh when I read your note, though, and asked Zorak, "Hmmm, I wonder which book she thinks we need to read?" :-D Thank you for your uplifting words- they do mean so much. It feels like hearing Mom say she's proud of us, too. I love you.
Let's see, what else today? Well, the house seems to have Project Elves. I swear that's the only thing I can think of. (If y'all watched the PJ's, then you are familiar with the Project Fairy, who the Super thinks cleans apartments... conversely, the Project Elves trash them... and that's what we have.) I know this place was spotless THREE TIMES this week, and yet tonight I nearly broke my neck setting the table! What the... ohhhhh, yeah, we have kids. Many of them. They are all mobile, too. Ah, well, thanks to Flylady, it only took about fifteen minutes total to restore my home to just below OSHA standards so that I could enjoy the rest of a quiet evening searching for digital cameras and motorcycles with Zorak.
Tammy, blogger emeritus, YOU are a Ducati fan?!?!? I have to say I never would have guessed. How very neat. It looks, however, as though we are not meant to get a Ducati this go 'round. (insert sad sigh here) The dealer visit was a bust, and the three we found on cycletrader.com seem to be frauds. (Or else we're out of the loop and it's perfectly normal to wire funds directly to an individual who refuses to use an escrow co., suddenly turns up overseas and says once they pick up the funds, THEN they'll ship the bike... yeahhhhhh, I don't think so!) So, we are closing in on a couple of fairly local BMW's that have a little mojo. I'll keep you posted.
I forgot to tell you guys that James was sharing his knowledge of Latin with another little boy during swim sign ups! I have no idea how the conversation began, but I overheard James say, "Yeah, and in Latin the 'j' says 'y', so it's 'Yay-soos'." The other little boy seemed pretty interested- he had that, "Wow, cool, I had no idea!" expression on his face. They continued the discussion as they played. It was pretty cute.
John surprised Zorak today by singing the 3's song from Math-U-See. I love it when our choices are reaffirmed. We are thoroughly enjoying Primer. I have to make John stop. James, too. Boy, I hope that love of learning sticks with both of them for their entire lives!
We received our pictures from the church directory photo session. I am hoping to mail a few each day and eventually get them all OUT before the boys are ready for college! Woo Hoo! (Hey, Aunt Bonnie- what size do you want of the boys?)
All-in-all, things are wonderful here. Jacob's rash is gone and he is much happier now. He fell asleep in the sling at BJ's today, and for some reason I got more comments than usual from people, mostly along the lines of, "Is that a baby in there?!?" I love it when people comment on the sling- it's almost always positive and opens the door for a neat conversation about baby wearing. Kind of fun.
Look for a review of Plants Grown Up tomorrow! (I tried to link to the Doorposts website, but it says the URL is for sale... don't know where they went! I'll find that out, too.)
'Nite!
Dy
First, *waving happily* Hi, Aunt Bonnie! I'm glad you found us! Thanks for the note. I had to laugh when I read your note, though, and asked Zorak, "Hmmm, I wonder which book she thinks we need to read?" :-D Thank you for your uplifting words- they do mean so much. It feels like hearing Mom say she's proud of us, too. I love you.
Let's see, what else today? Well, the house seems to have Project Elves. I swear that's the only thing I can think of. (If y'all watched the PJ's, then you are familiar with the Project Fairy, who the Super thinks cleans apartments... conversely, the Project Elves trash them... and that's what we have.) I know this place was spotless THREE TIMES this week, and yet tonight I nearly broke my neck setting the table! What the... ohhhhh, yeah, we have kids. Many of them. They are all mobile, too. Ah, well, thanks to Flylady, it only took about fifteen minutes total to restore my home to just below OSHA standards so that I could enjoy the rest of a quiet evening searching for digital cameras and motorcycles with Zorak.
Tammy, blogger emeritus, YOU are a Ducati fan?!?!? I have to say I never would have guessed. How very neat. It looks, however, as though we are not meant to get a Ducati this go 'round. (insert sad sigh here) The dealer visit was a bust, and the three we found on cycletrader.com seem to be frauds. (Or else we're out of the loop and it's perfectly normal to wire funds directly to an individual who refuses to use an escrow co., suddenly turns up overseas and says once they pick up the funds, THEN they'll ship the bike... yeahhhhhh, I don't think so!) So, we are closing in on a couple of fairly local BMW's that have a little mojo. I'll keep you posted.
I forgot to tell you guys that James was sharing his knowledge of Latin with another little boy during swim sign ups! I have no idea how the conversation began, but I overheard James say, "Yeah, and in Latin the 'j' says 'y', so it's 'Yay-soos'." The other little boy seemed pretty interested- he had that, "Wow, cool, I had no idea!" expression on his face. They continued the discussion as they played. It was pretty cute.
John surprised Zorak today by singing the 3's song from Math-U-See. I love it when our choices are reaffirmed. We are thoroughly enjoying Primer. I have to make John stop. James, too. Boy, I hope that love of learning sticks with both of them for their entire lives!
We received our pictures from the church directory photo session. I am hoping to mail a few each day and eventually get them all OUT before the boys are ready for college! Woo Hoo! (Hey, Aunt Bonnie- what size do you want of the boys?)
All-in-all, things are wonderful here. Jacob's rash is gone and he is much happier now. He fell asleep in the sling at BJ's today, and for some reason I got more comments than usual from people, mostly along the lines of, "Is that a baby in there?!?" I love it when people comment on the sling- it's almost always positive and opens the door for a neat conversation about baby wearing. Kind of fun.
Look for a review of Plants Grown Up tomorrow! (I tried to link to the Doorposts website, but it says the URL is for sale... don't know where they went! I'll find that out, too.)
'Nite!
Dy
Saturday, May 29
Oh- one more thing- James' Joke
He made it up at supper and shared it with us.
What do you get if a lady is a judge and she is also someone's mother?
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
A mother-in-LAW!
What do you get if a lady is a judge and she is also someone's mother?
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
A mother-in-LAW!
A LOVELY Saturday!
And for those of you who know us, that is a miracle. :-)
We got up, fed, dressed and out the door by ten. We arrived at the swim lesson sign ups and the line was fairly short. We got lessons! We got lessons at eight in the morning for four weeks straight, *ugh* but we did get lessons! The first two weeks, James' class is at eight and John's is at eleven. Um, I think we'll do some "beach schooling" for a couple of weeks. Why not?
Then we went to the beach. The surf was rough and yet the boys actually went in the water! They got knocked all over kingdom come, we thought they were going to drown, but they laughed their heads off and had a blast! This, from children who are afraid of a swimming pool. I'm so confused some days.
Then, because we didn't have a beach bag ready to go, we had to come home, shower, change clothes and head back out. Lunch. Wal-Mart (for said beach bag supplies!) Home. Ahhh, a nice relaxing afternoon at home, eating jerky and watching Looney Tunes.
Jacob is still spotted, still happy, sans fever. He has a tooth. Er, almost has a tooth. It protrudes quite a bit from the gum, but the gum is refusing to break yet. Get this- it's his left upper canine tooth! I've never had a child get that tooth first! Wow, if the other one is next to come in, we'll have our own fat little Baby Dracula!
We've been light on our afternoon teas, with the weather so beautiful the past few months. I miss it, though, and so do the boys. We've decided to reinstitute tea time once swim lessons commence- I think that'll be a nice way to wind down a bit after a long, active day.
Calling all readers: do any of y'all have that lovely article about having an afternoon tea as part of your regular schedule? Sarah, was that you? Someone please share the link with me! I can't find it and am butchering the whole thing in trying to explain it to a friend! Thanks. :-)
Cousin Charles has made it to Alaska. They've camped on the beach for two days (oh, to be young and resilient!) and will be checking into the dorms shortly. All the guys are now looking for work. What an exciting time, and from the sound of Aunt B's email updates, they're having an absolutely wonderful time of it!
Ahh, tomorrow promises to be lovely if this weather will hold. I can't wait. Perhaps at some point I will be able to wrangle my family back to church, even!
Have a wonderful Sunday! I'm off to blogrun!
We got up, fed, dressed and out the door by ten. We arrived at the swim lesson sign ups and the line was fairly short. We got lessons! We got lessons at eight in the morning for four weeks straight, *ugh* but we did get lessons! The first two weeks, James' class is at eight and John's is at eleven. Um, I think we'll do some "beach schooling" for a couple of weeks. Why not?
Then we went to the beach. The surf was rough and yet the boys actually went in the water! They got knocked all over kingdom come, we thought they were going to drown, but they laughed their heads off and had a blast! This, from children who are afraid of a swimming pool. I'm so confused some days.
Then, because we didn't have a beach bag ready to go, we had to come home, shower, change clothes and head back out. Lunch. Wal-Mart (for said beach bag supplies!) Home. Ahhh, a nice relaxing afternoon at home, eating jerky and watching Looney Tunes.
Jacob is still spotted, still happy, sans fever. He has a tooth. Er, almost has a tooth. It protrudes quite a bit from the gum, but the gum is refusing to break yet. Get this- it's his left upper canine tooth! I've never had a child get that tooth first! Wow, if the other one is next to come in, we'll have our own fat little Baby Dracula!
We've been light on our afternoon teas, with the weather so beautiful the past few months. I miss it, though, and so do the boys. We've decided to reinstitute tea time once swim lessons commence- I think that'll be a nice way to wind down a bit after a long, active day.
Calling all readers: do any of y'all have that lovely article about having an afternoon tea as part of your regular schedule? Sarah, was that you? Someone please share the link with me! I can't find it and am butchering the whole thing in trying to explain it to a friend! Thanks. :-)
Cousin Charles has made it to Alaska. They've camped on the beach for two days (oh, to be young and resilient!) and will be checking into the dorms shortly. All the guys are now looking for work. What an exciting time, and from the sound of Aunt B's email updates, they're having an absolutely wonderful time of it!
Ahh, tomorrow promises to be lovely if this weather will hold. I can't wait. Perhaps at some point I will be able to wrangle my family back to church, even!
Have a wonderful Sunday! I'm off to blogrun!
Friday, May 28
Back from the dr's.
*Ahhh!* Big sigh of relief. Jacob's ears are clear. The rash is, to quote the doctor, "something viral," and should be gone by Tuesday. If it's not, we go back, but he suspects it will be fine.
I have to add that this is the first time we've seen a regular doctor other than our beloved Dr. Chelson in Arizona! I was so nervous. We saw Dr. Lindemann, and he is great, absolutely great. He lets things run their course, believes in letting the body do its job and we're there for support when the body needs it. He is quite non-interventionist in philosophy, doesn't ask certain questions on his new patient form, isn't afraid to say "it's viral, leave it alone," and he was very supportive about our philosophies in general. From selective vaccinations, to the fact that we homebirth and homeschool, he was very hands-off and positive. *whew*
Anyhow, Jacob is absolutely miserable and even the Dr. was a bit stunned at how many teeth are trying to come through all at once, but in all, it's not the worst case scenario and I am thankful beyond all belief! Thank you for your kind words and prayers. They mean so much.
Dy
I have to add that this is the first time we've seen a regular doctor other than our beloved Dr. Chelson in Arizona! I was so nervous. We saw Dr. Lindemann, and he is great, absolutely great. He lets things run their course, believes in letting the body do its job and we're there for support when the body needs it. He is quite non-interventionist in philosophy, doesn't ask certain questions on his new patient form, isn't afraid to say "it's viral, leave it alone," and he was very supportive about our philosophies in general. From selective vaccinations, to the fact that we homebirth and homeschool, he was very hands-off and positive. *whew*
Anyhow, Jacob is absolutely miserable and even the Dr. was a bit stunned at how many teeth are trying to come through all at once, but in all, it's not the worst case scenario and I am thankful beyond all belief! Thank you for your kind words and prayers. They mean so much.
Dy
Thursday, May 27
I like Latin!
This morning, over breakfast, James asked me if Prima Latina meant "First Latin". We launched into a great discussion of Latin words and derivatives. He mulled it over a bit and finally declared, "I like Latin. Latin makes sense."
Jumping Lessons! We like to put a little oomph into our lessons, so today we did Latin, Math and Grammar while jumping on the bed. We reviewed vocabulary: I called out the English word and if the boys knew the Latin word, they could yell it out as they bounced off the bed. We did grammar: they had to act out the parts of speech, verbs, prepositions, and adjectives (those were just for pure silliness, but tons of fun!) We did math: word problems for each boy, but I had to pretend to be "the mean lady who won't let anybody smile and doesn't like it when kids answer the questions correctly". It took us half an hour to do math review because the minute I frowned and said, in my gruffest voice, "Don't you smile! Ahhh- I saw that!" they'd erupt in laughter that could only be quelled by winding down on its own.
I love days like today.
We had ice cream for snack and read stories in the grass outside. They got to ride their bikes "all the way around the complex!" (Which, when you are three and five, is a most exciting adventure, indeed!) I adjusted the seat on James' bike (because he's grown since September and he was starting to look like one of those Shriner Clowns on a mini bike). He is convinced I made the bicycle unstable.
Jacob has broken out in a rash. I have attributed his recent fever and irritability to his teething, but now I'm a bit worried. I'm calling a doctor tomorrow. Please keep the little guy in your prayers. He did have a slice of orange today, compliments of his generous big brothers, so I am hoping and praying the rash is just an allergic reaction to the citrus.
Zorak is ready to do a little "emotional unpacking," which is very good news, indeed. It means that he's beginning to embrace the idea of actually "living" here while we're here. It's a place he has had to come to on his own, and while I haven't pushed, I am very excited that he's "there" now. It's been a different transition for me, as I felt that I had to "be there" out of necessity to make things "normal" for the boys, but now I'm excited that we're all on the same page.
Did I tell you we bought Zorak's birthday present? The boys are so excited, and have done a wonderful job of not letting the secret slip! They're so funny. They insist that we use hushed tones when discussing it, and James has all the paraphernalia stashed under his bed. They are too funny. I had hoped to do a big bbq for his birthday this weekend, but as of tonight he has given me neither a list of names to contact for invitations, nor a scheduled time of his choosing (and just let everyone else know about it). So it looks like we may just have a small gathering of whomever is home. I know, it's his birthday, but I love entertaining. I love having gatherings and feeding people (that's the Southern part of me there). We always did big bbq's and gatherings, and I can't help but feel that picking up that tradition would help make this place feel more like home. *sigh* It's ok. Like I said, it is, after all, his birthday, not mine. We'll still make it a happy one!
And, just because I don't think I've done a quiz since I've been here (and it's just not a useless blog w/o a quiz, doncha know!) Here is one where I actually don't feel gypped! (With thanks to... was it Rebel? Where did I get this??) Anyhow, here ya go:
You are a descriptive writer. An avid reader of
Robert Frost, perhaps, you LOVE to use flowery
words and use the paper and pen as your canvas
and paintbrush. You prefer to paint a mental
image rather than simply toy around with
people's minds. A very inspired person, you
love to be in nature and usually are a very
outdoorsy type of person. A writer with a
natural green thumb, perhaps?
What's YOUR Writing Style?
brought to you by Quizilla
Jumping Lessons! We like to put a little oomph into our lessons, so today we did Latin, Math and Grammar while jumping on the bed. We reviewed vocabulary: I called out the English word and if the boys knew the Latin word, they could yell it out as they bounced off the bed. We did grammar: they had to act out the parts of speech, verbs, prepositions, and adjectives (those were just for pure silliness, but tons of fun!) We did math: word problems for each boy, but I had to pretend to be "the mean lady who won't let anybody smile and doesn't like it when kids answer the questions correctly". It took us half an hour to do math review because the minute I frowned and said, in my gruffest voice, "Don't you smile! Ahhh- I saw that!" they'd erupt in laughter that could only be quelled by winding down on its own.
I love days like today.
We had ice cream for snack and read stories in the grass outside. They got to ride their bikes "all the way around the complex!" (Which, when you are three and five, is a most exciting adventure, indeed!) I adjusted the seat on James' bike (because he's grown since September and he was starting to look like one of those Shriner Clowns on a mini bike). He is convinced I made the bicycle unstable.
Jacob has broken out in a rash. I have attributed his recent fever and irritability to his teething, but now I'm a bit worried. I'm calling a doctor tomorrow. Please keep the little guy in your prayers. He did have a slice of orange today, compliments of his generous big brothers, so I am hoping and praying the rash is just an allergic reaction to the citrus.
Zorak is ready to do a little "emotional unpacking," which is very good news, indeed. It means that he's beginning to embrace the idea of actually "living" here while we're here. It's a place he has had to come to on his own, and while I haven't pushed, I am very excited that he's "there" now. It's been a different transition for me, as I felt that I had to "be there" out of necessity to make things "normal" for the boys, but now I'm excited that we're all on the same page.
Did I tell you we bought Zorak's birthday present? The boys are so excited, and have done a wonderful job of not letting the secret slip! They're so funny. They insist that we use hushed tones when discussing it, and James has all the paraphernalia stashed under his bed. They are too funny. I had hoped to do a big bbq for his birthday this weekend, but as of tonight he has given me neither a list of names to contact for invitations, nor a scheduled time of his choosing (and just let everyone else know about it). So it looks like we may just have a small gathering of whomever is home. I know, it's his birthday, but I love entertaining. I love having gatherings and feeding people (that's the Southern part of me there). We always did big bbq's and gatherings, and I can't help but feel that picking up that tradition would help make this place feel more like home. *sigh* It's ok. Like I said, it is, after all, his birthday, not mine. We'll still make it a happy one!
And, just because I don't think I've done a quiz since I've been here (and it's just not a useless blog w/o a quiz, doncha know!) Here is one where I actually don't feel gypped! (With thanks to... was it Rebel? Where did I get this??) Anyhow, here ya go:
You are a descriptive writer. An avid reader of
Robert Frost, perhaps, you LOVE to use flowery
words and use the paper and pen as your canvas
and paintbrush. You prefer to paint a mental
image rather than simply toy around with
people's minds. A very inspired person, you
love to be in nature and usually are a very
outdoorsy type of person. A writer with a
natural green thumb, perhaps?
What's YOUR Writing Style?
brought to you by Quizilla
The boys are helping me blog today:
From John: iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii *insert giggling here* iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii *"I like
it because I like pressing one all the time. It makes me laugh!"* iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
From James: I love you, aunt B..Love, James.
From Me:
There are times I just can't express how much I love my life. The boys plunked down on the
living room floor after breakfast this morning to play legos together. The airplane models
protected the puppy toys. The lego city was defended against the attacking Hordes. There was
a musical held part way through. School hasn't started yet, but the detour was gloriously fun.
It's all a matter of how you look at it, I suppose, and we have chosen to see the blessings.
We have our health, and even when we don't necessarily have "excellent" health, every day above
ground is a good day, ya know. We have one another, even when we're separated by the day at work
or by travel or other obligations. There is still our home, our central gathering spot and
touchstone, to which we all return for sustenance and rejuvenation, and love. It's such a blessing.
Beth asked about the Free State Project,
and when we're moving to New Hampshire. I am still working to convince Zorak that it's worth the doing.
He believes, as I do, that we need to give it a go in order to try to ensure freedom for our children
and their children. Our move to NH, or even to the second place state (which we'd really rather do-
to be honest, we don't have much desire to call anyplace east of the Rockies "home"), is dependent
upon his ability to find employment.
I really believe it's possible to make a go of the Free State Project, just as I believe that a
political revolution is possible by electing local and county officials outside the two
parties. Then move into state assemblies and senates. From there, you have a chance at sending a
voice to Washington, but not before then. Yes, it's a slow process, and isn't as grandiose as
having a Presidential candidate, but the big changes don't come around in one fell swoop.
They take place brick by brick- whether you are building a nation or tearing it down. Right now our
nation is being torn apart, brick by brick, tenet by tenet, and instead of whining about it, I think
we need to do something about it. Zorak and I are working toward a Free Tomorrow, and we invite you
to join us. You don't have to uproot your family to make it work. You have to speak up, run for local
office, get out and talk to people! It's not that hard, and so many, particularly those coming from the
institutional training houses of today's educational State, are not aware of so very, very much. Just
start talking, start listening, and remind people what it is like to have an active voice in their own
government.
We are attending the rally in June, though! Anybody else going?
From John: iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii *insert giggling here* iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii *"I like
it because I like pressing one all the time. It makes me laugh!"* iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
From James: I love you, aunt B..Love, James.
From Me:
There are times I just can't express how much I love my life. The boys plunked down on the
living room floor after breakfast this morning to play legos together. The airplane models
protected the puppy toys. The lego city was defended against the attacking Hordes. There was
a musical held part way through. School hasn't started yet, but the detour was gloriously fun.
It's all a matter of how you look at it, I suppose, and we have chosen to see the blessings.
We have our health, and even when we don't necessarily have "excellent" health, every day above
ground is a good day, ya know. We have one another, even when we're separated by the day at work
or by travel or other obligations. There is still our home, our central gathering spot and
touchstone, to which we all return for sustenance and rejuvenation, and love. It's such a blessing.
Beth asked about the Free State Project,
and when we're moving to New Hampshire. I am still working to convince Zorak that it's worth the doing.
He believes, as I do, that we need to give it a go in order to try to ensure freedom for our children
and their children. Our move to NH, or even to the second place state (which we'd really rather do-
to be honest, we don't have much desire to call anyplace east of the Rockies "home"), is dependent
upon his ability to find employment.
I really believe it's possible to make a go of the Free State Project, just as I believe that a
political revolution is possible by electing local and county officials outside the two
parties. Then move into state assemblies and senates. From there, you have a chance at sending a
voice to Washington, but not before then. Yes, it's a slow process, and isn't as grandiose as
having a Presidential candidate, but the big changes don't come around in one fell swoop.
They take place brick by brick- whether you are building a nation or tearing it down. Right now our
nation is being torn apart, brick by brick, tenet by tenet, and instead of whining about it, I think
we need to do something about it. Zorak and I are working toward a Free Tomorrow, and we invite you
to join us. You don't have to uproot your family to make it work. You have to speak up, run for local
office, get out and talk to people! It's not that hard, and so many, particularly those coming from the
institutional training houses of today's educational State, are not aware of so very, very much. Just
start talking, start listening, and remind people what it is like to have an active voice in their own
government.
We are attending the rally in June, though! Anybody else going?
Tuesday, May 25
OK, grab yer soapbox and settle in...
First, go read THIS.
It's absolutely terrifying! The next thing we know, we'll all be getting a note from the State as soon as our pregnancies are confirmed telling us to whom we should report for prenatal care, where and when and how we will be delivering. Think it can't happen? That's not far from how it's done in France! When the government provides your care, the government controls your care.
First of all, let's set the record straight- medical care is a business. Personally, I think that's great. It means they provide a service and you can choose to take your business elsewhere if you aren't pleased with the care you receive. WAHOO! Long live capitalism! You may like that fact, you may not, but let me give you some insight before you go off on a socialist rampage against my stance.
There is a reason you are asked to sign "AMA" forms when you do not take the route or means of care your doctor advises. You are acknowledging that you are going "against medical advice". It's not a mandate. It's advice. Take it for what it's worth. You have hired a consultant and care provider to whom you ultimately do not have to submit. That person, that facility, is employed on a contract basis BY you, and THEY answer TO you.
It's bad enough that doctors have filled our country with women who have been pushed, prodded and scared into elective surgeries and unnecessary interventions by these "it's for the health of the baby" scenarios. Now the doctors have decided that, in spite of their own pitiful failure rate, exorbitant costs, unnecessary interventions, outrageous infection rates (if lay midwives had secondary infection rates to rival hospitals, there'd be a bigger witch hunt than there is now!) other increased risks, and so on, they somehow still know best. They know all.
Are we going to let them take this power? It's ours to give, or to refuse to give! They won't be so quick to go after families if families stop paying them to do just that.
Why am I so adamantly opposed to socialized medicine? Why am I not clamoring at the feet of whatever liberal politician stand up and shouts, "We need medical care!" Well, let me tell you- first of all, you can get medical care in the United States. Yes, even if you cannot afford it. A public hospital cannot turn you away for care if you show up on its doorsteps. If they do, they are violating the law. But I firmly believe that medical care should NOT be given over to government control because of idiots with a God complex like the staff at Wilkes-Barre Hospital in Pennsylvania! If the State is willing to come in and take away a mother's guardianship of her own child because the physicians at the hospital are upset that she won't let them play Dr. Frankenstein, then the State already has too much power! We do not, I repeat DO NOT need to give the State any more power. We need to take it back or we are going to find ourselves in a very frightening, bleak future.
Please allow me to share, just from my personal experience in the medical community, some of the many, many times the "experts" have been dangerously wrong (these are just a couple, as I'm short on time tonight, but there are plenty more):
1- My mother was at her wits end by the time I was six months old. I cried and screamed 20 hours out of every 24. The doctors insisted that she was "imagining things", that I was "spoiled", that I was "feeding off her stress" and she "should just lay that baby down and let her cry". My mother went AMA repeatedly, determined to find the root of the problem. One physician prescribed a sedative in a dosage high enough to knock out a 200 lb. adult male. It would have killed an 8 mo. old infant. She declined the prescription. Three months later, due to her unswerving determination, it was discovered that I had been born with a double ruptured hernia. Surgery was scheduled immediately. (For the record, I also caught measles suring that stay in the hospital, and had been vaccinated already.) If the government and the medical establishment had the authority to coerce and force her to follow their edicts, I would be now, at best, severely damaged, most likely dead.
2- At the age of 16, I was diagnosed by a physician at the UNM Hospital in Albuquerque as "epileptic", and prescribed Dilantin. We fought it. I was not about to take Dilantin when I did not need it, not knowing what I knew about the side effects. The physician tried to pit the State against us. We fought for two years and discovered that I have (believe it or not) perfectly normal brain activity- not a single sign of epilepsy. The nerve damage, vision problems, and blackouts I suffered were an allergic reaction to Nutrasweet/Aspartame. My Central Nervous System, liver and teeth are most appreciative of the fact that we had the right to take our business elsewhere and find the answers we truly needed.
3- What if hospitals had the ability to force a pregnant woman to take an FDA approved drug because of the "health of the baby"? Would that be ok? Let's talk Thalidamide. How many more women and children would have suffered if they hadn't had the right to say "no" to that drug? Even if rejecting it meant that they had to go against medical advice... even if it meant "putting the baby in jeopardy". That's a risk I am willing to take.
4- When John was 7.5 mos. old, his big brother got hold of some Formula 409 and decided to "help clean" his baby brother. I began flushing his eyes immediately, called poison control, called the ambulance. The paramedics told us to go on in (since I was alone with the two boys and would need transportation home), and called the ER. We got there and they refused to see him. They didn't feel he was behaving distraught enough for anything to be wrong. For three hours, the triage nurse told me to "go home, he's fine." For three hours, I grew increasingly angry and insistent upon being seen and having a thorough flush done. It got to the point that I had to stand in the lobby and scream. They put us in the back to shut me up. An hour later, I cornered the physician on call and demanded my son be tended to. To "placate" me, she did a litmus test. He had a pH of 11.5! (Eye fluid should be neutral- appx 7.5) At that point, it was a different story. Suddenly, there was an emergency! The doctor requested the "big bag" of solution. One for each eye, actually. Then she sent in a nursing student who had never performed an eye flush and was too afraid to try. I flushed his eyes myself. We stayed until he measured neutral. I have no recourse because "his records show that he was attended to". It does not matter that he was attended to under extreme duress. It does not matter that he did not receive professional or timely care. It does not matter that *I* am the one who provided the actual treatment. Hospital records show the hospital to be blameless. Imagine that. If these people had the authority to determine care solely on their whim, my son would be blind today.
5- My friend, Amy, was afraid to challenge the hospital staff. She underwent four surgeries to correct a "collapsed shunt" from her gall bladder surgery. By the time her husband could convince her to seek medical care elsewhere, she had been in ICU for a month, had had numerous MRI's, CT scans, surgeries, blood transfusions, antibiotics enough to choke a horse... she was at another hospital a whopping four hours when their staff found a cancerous mass the size of a football in her abdomen (right where the other surgeons had been poking around.) They scheduled treatment immediately, but it was too late- she died the next morning. If she had felt she could complain, she might have received better care elsewhere rather than taking what was given to her. We won't have that option at all if the State and the medical establishment continues to rein in our rights as patients and consumers.
6- I don't know how many times my sister was officially pronounced dead. Then got up from the bed, asking for food. I know it was three, but there may have been more. Doctors are not Gods.
7- A chiropractor broke one of my mother's ribs. She was in such excruciating pain that she finally told me what happened. I took her to the ER. They took X-rays. The doctor on call showed us the X-rays, showed us the broken rib, explained how to care for it. Two months later, her physician hadn't even asked about her rib, so she questioned him about it. He was confused. There was nothing wrong with her rib. He showed her the ER report. The tech who prepared the report for her physician is tight w/ the chiropractor who broke her rib. The report stated that there was found, "no indication of trauma or injury". The X-rays "couldn't be located" for confirmation. Humans are fallible, corrupt and essentially unethical when they have too much power.
8- A friend broke her arm and went to the ER. They X-rayed it, then put on a cast. She complained repeatedly over the next few days of the excruciating pain and asked that they do something about it. She was told that she just wasn't prepared for the pain of a broken arm. We finally convinced her to go to another hospital. They took X-rays and immediately removed the cast. It had been put on improperly and she was in danger of losing permanently the use of three fingers, as a muscle was caught between the bones. I repeat: Doctors are not Gods, and should not, no- MUST NOT- be treated as such.
There are so many more examples of medical ineptitude, of life-saving questioning of advice or refusal to follow doctor's orders. I know that doctors can be invaluable assets and save many lives many times over, but there must be some balance of power. No one authority on any subject. When citizens cannot question, the nation will stagnate. There is no reason to give the medical establishment more power, more authority. We need more personal responsibility, less power-play and coerced intervention.
Some writers are trying to draw a parallel with abortion advocacy and consider this a "woman's issue". I say that's selling the issue short. This issue is a human rights issue. It is about the difference between providing care to citizens and turning citizens into lab rats. Don't let this happen.
If you live in PA, write to the hospital. Demand an apology from them. Demand a change in protocol. Demand patients' rights be broadened, not restricted. Tell them you will neither support their hospital nor patronize it, and then follow through. Publish letters to the editor of your paper. DO SOMETHING NOW! When it comes down to it, their bottom line is the fiscal one, and unfortunately for all the jibberish they spew about "patient care", it's the dollar that they will heed. So please, if you have dollars to spend, spend them elsewhere and let Wilkes-Barre Hospital know that you chose to spend them elsewhere. Demand accountability from these delusional powermongers before it's your family they come after!
*As a matter of fact, write your judges and other elected officials and let them know that this slight of hand did NOT go undetected and will NOT be tolerated. If they value their job security, they'd better straighten up quickly!*
It's absolutely terrifying! The next thing we know, we'll all be getting a note from the State as soon as our pregnancies are confirmed telling us to whom we should report for prenatal care, where and when and how we will be delivering. Think it can't happen? That's not far from how it's done in France! When the government provides your care, the government controls your care.
First of all, let's set the record straight- medical care is a business. Personally, I think that's great. It means they provide a service and you can choose to take your business elsewhere if you aren't pleased with the care you receive. WAHOO! Long live capitalism! You may like that fact, you may not, but let me give you some insight before you go off on a socialist rampage against my stance.
There is a reason you are asked to sign "AMA" forms when you do not take the route or means of care your doctor advises. You are acknowledging that you are going "against medical advice". It's not a mandate. It's advice. Take it for what it's worth. You have hired a consultant and care provider to whom you ultimately do not have to submit. That person, that facility, is employed on a contract basis BY you, and THEY answer TO you.
It's bad enough that doctors have filled our country with women who have been pushed, prodded and scared into elective surgeries and unnecessary interventions by these "it's for the health of the baby" scenarios. Now the doctors have decided that, in spite of their own pitiful failure rate, exorbitant costs, unnecessary interventions, outrageous infection rates (if lay midwives had secondary infection rates to rival hospitals, there'd be a bigger witch hunt than there is now!) other increased risks, and so on, they somehow still know best. They know all.
Are we going to let them take this power? It's ours to give, or to refuse to give! They won't be so quick to go after families if families stop paying them to do just that.
Why am I so adamantly opposed to socialized medicine? Why am I not clamoring at the feet of whatever liberal politician stand up and shouts, "We need medical care!" Well, let me tell you- first of all, you can get medical care in the United States. Yes, even if you cannot afford it. A public hospital cannot turn you away for care if you show up on its doorsteps. If they do, they are violating the law. But I firmly believe that medical care should NOT be given over to government control because of idiots with a God complex like the staff at Wilkes-Barre Hospital in Pennsylvania! If the State is willing to come in and take away a mother's guardianship of her own child because the physicians at the hospital are upset that she won't let them play Dr. Frankenstein, then the State already has too much power! We do not, I repeat DO NOT need to give the State any more power. We need to take it back or we are going to find ourselves in a very frightening, bleak future.
Please allow me to share, just from my personal experience in the medical community, some of the many, many times the "experts" have been dangerously wrong (these are just a couple, as I'm short on time tonight, but there are plenty more):
1- My mother was at her wits end by the time I was six months old. I cried and screamed 20 hours out of every 24. The doctors insisted that she was "imagining things", that I was "spoiled", that I was "feeding off her stress" and she "should just lay that baby down and let her cry". My mother went AMA repeatedly, determined to find the root of the problem. One physician prescribed a sedative in a dosage high enough to knock out a 200 lb. adult male. It would have killed an 8 mo. old infant. She declined the prescription. Three months later, due to her unswerving determination, it was discovered that I had been born with a double ruptured hernia. Surgery was scheduled immediately. (For the record, I also caught measles suring that stay in the hospital, and had been vaccinated already.) If the government and the medical establishment had the authority to coerce and force her to follow their edicts, I would be now, at best, severely damaged, most likely dead.
2- At the age of 16, I was diagnosed by a physician at the UNM Hospital in Albuquerque as "epileptic", and prescribed Dilantin. We fought it. I was not about to take Dilantin when I did not need it, not knowing what I knew about the side effects. The physician tried to pit the State against us. We fought for two years and discovered that I have (believe it or not) perfectly normal brain activity- not a single sign of epilepsy. The nerve damage, vision problems, and blackouts I suffered were an allergic reaction to Nutrasweet/Aspartame. My Central Nervous System, liver and teeth are most appreciative of the fact that we had the right to take our business elsewhere and find the answers we truly needed.
3- What if hospitals had the ability to force a pregnant woman to take an FDA approved drug because of the "health of the baby"? Would that be ok? Let's talk Thalidamide. How many more women and children would have suffered if they hadn't had the right to say "no" to that drug? Even if rejecting it meant that they had to go against medical advice... even if it meant "putting the baby in jeopardy". That's a risk I am willing to take.
4- When John was 7.5 mos. old, his big brother got hold of some Formula 409 and decided to "help clean" his baby brother. I began flushing his eyes immediately, called poison control, called the ambulance. The paramedics told us to go on in (since I was alone with the two boys and would need transportation home), and called the ER. We got there and they refused to see him. They didn't feel he was behaving distraught enough for anything to be wrong. For three hours, the triage nurse told me to "go home, he's fine." For three hours, I grew increasingly angry and insistent upon being seen and having a thorough flush done. It got to the point that I had to stand in the lobby and scream. They put us in the back to shut me up. An hour later, I cornered the physician on call and demanded my son be tended to. To "placate" me, she did a litmus test. He had a pH of 11.5! (Eye fluid should be neutral- appx 7.5) At that point, it was a different story. Suddenly, there was an emergency! The doctor requested the "big bag" of solution. One for each eye, actually. Then she sent in a nursing student who had never performed an eye flush and was too afraid to try. I flushed his eyes myself. We stayed until he measured neutral. I have no recourse because "his records show that he was attended to". It does not matter that he was attended to under extreme duress. It does not matter that he did not receive professional or timely care. It does not matter that *I* am the one who provided the actual treatment. Hospital records show the hospital to be blameless. Imagine that. If these people had the authority to determine care solely on their whim, my son would be blind today.
5- My friend, Amy, was afraid to challenge the hospital staff. She underwent four surgeries to correct a "collapsed shunt" from her gall bladder surgery. By the time her husband could convince her to seek medical care elsewhere, she had been in ICU for a month, had had numerous MRI's, CT scans, surgeries, blood transfusions, antibiotics enough to choke a horse... she was at another hospital a whopping four hours when their staff found a cancerous mass the size of a football in her abdomen (right where the other surgeons had been poking around.) They scheduled treatment immediately, but it was too late- she died the next morning. If she had felt she could complain, she might have received better care elsewhere rather than taking what was given to her. We won't have that option at all if the State and the medical establishment continues to rein in our rights as patients and consumers.
6- I don't know how many times my sister was officially pronounced dead. Then got up from the bed, asking for food. I know it was three, but there may have been more. Doctors are not Gods.
7- A chiropractor broke one of my mother's ribs. She was in such excruciating pain that she finally told me what happened. I took her to the ER. They took X-rays. The doctor on call showed us the X-rays, showed us the broken rib, explained how to care for it. Two months later, her physician hadn't even asked about her rib, so she questioned him about it. He was confused. There was nothing wrong with her rib. He showed her the ER report. The tech who prepared the report for her physician is tight w/ the chiropractor who broke her rib. The report stated that there was found, "no indication of trauma or injury". The X-rays "couldn't be located" for confirmation. Humans are fallible, corrupt and essentially unethical when they have too much power.
8- A friend broke her arm and went to the ER. They X-rayed it, then put on a cast. She complained repeatedly over the next few days of the excruciating pain and asked that they do something about it. She was told that she just wasn't prepared for the pain of a broken arm. We finally convinced her to go to another hospital. They took X-rays and immediately removed the cast. It had been put on improperly and she was in danger of losing permanently the use of three fingers, as a muscle was caught between the bones. I repeat: Doctors are not Gods, and should not, no- MUST NOT- be treated as such.
There are so many more examples of medical ineptitude, of life-saving questioning of advice or refusal to follow doctor's orders. I know that doctors can be invaluable assets and save many lives many times over, but there must be some balance of power. No one authority on any subject. When citizens cannot question, the nation will stagnate. There is no reason to give the medical establishment more power, more authority. We need more personal responsibility, less power-play and coerced intervention.
Some writers are trying to draw a parallel with abortion advocacy and consider this a "woman's issue". I say that's selling the issue short. This issue is a human rights issue. It is about the difference between providing care to citizens and turning citizens into lab rats. Don't let this happen.
If you live in PA, write to the hospital. Demand an apology from them. Demand a change in protocol. Demand patients' rights be broadened, not restricted. Tell them you will neither support their hospital nor patronize it, and then follow through. Publish letters to the editor of your paper. DO SOMETHING NOW! When it comes down to it, their bottom line is the fiscal one, and unfortunately for all the jibberish they spew about "patient care", it's the dollar that they will heed. So please, if you have dollars to spend, spend them elsewhere and let Wilkes-Barre Hospital know that you chose to spend them elsewhere. Demand accountability from these delusional powermongers before it's your family they come after!
*As a matter of fact, write your judges and other elected officials and let them know that this slight of hand did NOT go undetected and will NOT be tolerated. If they value their job security, they'd better straighten up quickly!*
I'm meeelllllttttiiinnngggg!
Quit tid-bits while the fish are cooking:
*If you have small children, don't make anything that requires you to cook down a fruit, strain it, and set aside the glaze. I don't care how good it is, if you have small children, it will NOT be worth it.
*We have central a/c, electric. Will cracking an upstairs window still work w/ that? I've only had to do that w/ swamp coolers and window units! I'll give it a try.
*The carpet does feel significantly drier since we've had the air on. I do hope this will at least slightly retard the growth of molds under the carpet. Blech
*Cousin Charles (not to be confused with "Zorak" Charles) is en route to Juneau, Alaska for a mission trip over the summer. Six cool college guys turned loose on the mission world! WooHoo! So far, they've hit a deer and lost a headlight, but thankfully weren't going highway speeds when it happened. Nope, they were driving through SNOW. In late MAY! Ha! That's funny! Nobody was injured, and true to family form, he's just using his highbeams rather than replacing the light fixture. It's hard to be a poor missionary/student/traveller with the genes of an eccentric engineer, eh? And yet, they're still having a wonderful time of it! Please keep these guys in your prayers while they're on the road and while they're getting settled in.
*We found the rose oil to keep the ticks off- I'll let ya know how it works! (Don't laugh! If it were scorpions, you'd be lookin' for a solution, too!)
*James was sooo cute today. We stopped for lunch at Chic-Fil-A. He wanted sweet and sour sauce for his nuggets. Since I could see the counter from our table, I suggested he go "ask the nice lady at the counter" for some. He started over, then turned and with a look of absolute glee, asked, "Is this a very big responsibility?" I was slightly caught off guard, but fortunately caught myself and said, "Oh, yes. I know you can do it well, and I trust you." He spun on his heels and skipped to the counter, just beaming with pride. I sat there and beamed a little, myself.
* Shannon got me in hot water w/ the boys by posting a picture of her adorable kitty! Had to laugh, too, as she is taking Chris' word for it that "Chibi" means "small" in Japanese. We got a call once from the brother-in-law, wanting to know what "Chuy" means. His daughters wanted to name their new dog that, but he wanted to make sure it wasn't a bad word first. :-)
*To my blog-buddies: I'm reading, just not posting so much, as the topics many of you have posted about recently would require some serious thought in order to form a coherent sentence to reply. I'm still wrapping my mind around Latin, so I'm sorry to say you aren't going to be getting my better brain cells for the next few, erm, howeverlongs... But I'm reading! Keep blogging!
*May 29th is coming. May 29th is coming. Someone remind me on the 28th that we need to sign up for swim lessons on the 29th- and that the 29th is the next day! Please?
*I'll be back later to shout from my soapbox about the Wilkes-Barre Hospital in PA. *GRRRRRRRR* Feel free to look it up so we can have a thorough gripe-session together, ok?
Time for supper!
Dy
*If you have small children, don't make anything that requires you to cook down a fruit, strain it, and set aside the glaze. I don't care how good it is, if you have small children, it will NOT be worth it.
*We have central a/c, electric. Will cracking an upstairs window still work w/ that? I've only had to do that w/ swamp coolers and window units! I'll give it a try.
*The carpet does feel significantly drier since we've had the air on. I do hope this will at least slightly retard the growth of molds under the carpet. Blech
*Cousin Charles (not to be confused with "Zorak" Charles) is en route to Juneau, Alaska for a mission trip over the summer. Six cool college guys turned loose on the mission world! WooHoo! So far, they've hit a deer and lost a headlight, but thankfully weren't going highway speeds when it happened. Nope, they were driving through SNOW. In late MAY! Ha! That's funny! Nobody was injured, and true to family form, he's just using his highbeams rather than replacing the light fixture. It's hard to be a poor missionary/student/traveller with the genes of an eccentric engineer, eh? And yet, they're still having a wonderful time of it! Please keep these guys in your prayers while they're on the road and while they're getting settled in.
*We found the rose oil to keep the ticks off- I'll let ya know how it works! (Don't laugh! If it were scorpions, you'd be lookin' for a solution, too!)
*James was sooo cute today. We stopped for lunch at Chic-Fil-A. He wanted sweet and sour sauce for his nuggets. Since I could see the counter from our table, I suggested he go "ask the nice lady at the counter" for some. He started over, then turned and with a look of absolute glee, asked, "Is this a very big responsibility?" I was slightly caught off guard, but fortunately caught myself and said, "Oh, yes. I know you can do it well, and I trust you." He spun on his heels and skipped to the counter, just beaming with pride. I sat there and beamed a little, myself.
* Shannon got me in hot water w/ the boys by posting a picture of her adorable kitty! Had to laugh, too, as she is taking Chris' word for it that "Chibi" means "small" in Japanese. We got a call once from the brother-in-law, wanting to know what "Chuy" means. His daughters wanted to name their new dog that, but he wanted to make sure it wasn't a bad word first. :-)
*To my blog-buddies: I'm reading, just not posting so much, as the topics many of you have posted about recently would require some serious thought in order to form a coherent sentence to reply. I'm still wrapping my mind around Latin, so I'm sorry to say you aren't going to be getting my better brain cells for the next few, erm, howeverlongs... But I'm reading! Keep blogging!
*May 29th is coming. May 29th is coming. Someone remind me on the 28th that we need to sign up for swim lessons on the 29th- and that the 29th is the next day! Please?
*I'll be back later to shout from my soapbox about the Wilkes-Barre Hospital in PA. *GRRRRRRRR* Feel free to look it up so we can have a thorough gripe-session together, ok?
Time for supper!
Dy
Up and blogging at four thirty in the morning.
THIS is what happens when you go to bed at eight and are accustomed to going to be much, much later. You are up at three in the morning, fully rested and bored stiff. ;-)
So, a quick blog before I try to get some more rest.
The cooler is working great- downstairs. The upstairs is very toasty, well, it's hot. It's miserably, horribly, HOT. Any idea why?? Help? Please. It's icky up there.
Zorak isn't feeling well. Neither is the baby. I'm more concerned about the baby (not that I'm making Zorak fend for himself, but he's a big boy). Jacob is just burning up tonight (do ya think we could find a thermometer? of course not!) He fell asleep on the bathroom rug last night while the boys were playing in the tub. We changed him and laid him in bed. He's been up off and on during the night, but mostly resting the deep rest that only children and small kittens know. He's up now, though, hungry and hot. *sigh* If the fever doesn't break shortly, we'll be at the dr's tomorrow.
We baked yesterday- key lime pie, wheat-free cake doughnuts, strawberry pie, lasagna. It was a delicious day!
***
Later... laid down w/ the baby and wonder of wonders, got a bit more sleep for all! It's raining now, and the boys are still down, so I think I"m going to do some chores. ;-)
Dy
So, a quick blog before I try to get some more rest.
The cooler is working great- downstairs. The upstairs is very toasty, well, it's hot. It's miserably, horribly, HOT. Any idea why?? Help? Please. It's icky up there.
Zorak isn't feeling well. Neither is the baby. I'm more concerned about the baby (not that I'm making Zorak fend for himself, but he's a big boy). Jacob is just burning up tonight (do ya think we could find a thermometer? of course not!) He fell asleep on the bathroom rug last night while the boys were playing in the tub. We changed him and laid him in bed. He's been up off and on during the night, but mostly resting the deep rest that only children and small kittens know. He's up now, though, hungry and hot. *sigh* If the fever doesn't break shortly, we'll be at the dr's tomorrow.
We baked yesterday- key lime pie, wheat-free cake doughnuts, strawberry pie, lasagna. It was a delicious day!
***
Later... laid down w/ the baby and wonder of wonders, got a bit more sleep for all! It's raining now, and the boys are still down, so I think I"m going to do some chores. ;-)
Dy
Sunday, May 23
A Sweet Day
We loaded up and drove to the berry farm this morning after breakfast. It was hot there. It was humid. Even the bugs seems laden with moisture and sluggish in their flight. We picked a few pounds of strawberries, listened to some music, ate ice cream sundaes, and then high-tailed it outta there!
James promptly quit helping to pick once he tasted the first berry. He ate one, picked up the basket of berries, carried it under a tree and camped out there eating berries until we (ok, let's be honest, "I") stopped picking.
Jacob also tried a berry. (I know, allergen! Bad Mommy alert!) He loved it, is thoroughly stained from rounded head to tiny toe, and he survived. I imagine much of his upbringing will be similar in sequence. ;-)
We bought a new book! It's a biography of Thomas Stone, the youngest signer of the Declaration of Independence from the Maryland delegation. The author, Mr. Wearmouth, was there, and we spoke with him for nearly an hour. He's 80, a Maryland native, and is utterly fascinating. I'd have come home with more books if I'd known there were going to be books there! However, I'll give a review of this one once I'm finished with it. (I'll also write more on it when I've got it in front of me rather than in the diaper bag!) He also invited us to visit with him and his wife at their place in LaPlata sometime. Truly pleasant gentleman.
Came home to relax for a bit. I'll admit it, we turned on the cooler. The house was 90' inside, and we were entirely too miserable with the 80-something percent humidity, to boot. So. There ya have it, my home is now being cooled. It is heavenly. I have stepped back outside twice, just so I could get hot 'n sticky, then feel that adrenaline-pumping rush of cool air upon my neck and arms as I re-enter the home. Ahhhhh. Good stuff.
Had cake and ice cream w/ the neighbors this evening. Their littlest daughter is two. She is so precious. I love the age of two! It's a fun, fun, exciting age. Children just begin to comprehend that their use language directly impacts the world around them and that they have a certain level of control in that area. What an exciting time of exploration! Two is a wonderful age.
There were many cute things today. I can't remember a single one of them, though, as I sit here to type. So, I'm going to sign off. Tomorrow begins another busy day- hopefully one with a slower, more savory pace than the ones we've had of late. That would truly be wonderful.
G'nite!
Dy
James promptly quit helping to pick once he tasted the first berry. He ate one, picked up the basket of berries, carried it under a tree and camped out there eating berries until we (ok, let's be honest, "I") stopped picking.
Jacob also tried a berry. (I know, allergen! Bad Mommy alert!) He loved it, is thoroughly stained from rounded head to tiny toe, and he survived. I imagine much of his upbringing will be similar in sequence. ;-)
We bought a new book! It's a biography of Thomas Stone, the youngest signer of the Declaration of Independence from the Maryland delegation. The author, Mr. Wearmouth, was there, and we spoke with him for nearly an hour. He's 80, a Maryland native, and is utterly fascinating. I'd have come home with more books if I'd known there were going to be books there! However, I'll give a review of this one once I'm finished with it. (I'll also write more on it when I've got it in front of me rather than in the diaper bag!) He also invited us to visit with him and his wife at their place in LaPlata sometime. Truly pleasant gentleman.
Came home to relax for a bit. I'll admit it, we turned on the cooler. The house was 90' inside, and we were entirely too miserable with the 80-something percent humidity, to boot. So. There ya have it, my home is now being cooled. It is heavenly. I have stepped back outside twice, just so I could get hot 'n sticky, then feel that adrenaline-pumping rush of cool air upon my neck and arms as I re-enter the home. Ahhhhh. Good stuff.
Had cake and ice cream w/ the neighbors this evening. Their littlest daughter is two. She is so precious. I love the age of two! It's a fun, fun, exciting age. Children just begin to comprehend that their use language directly impacts the world around them and that they have a certain level of control in that area. What an exciting time of exploration! Two is a wonderful age.
There were many cute things today. I can't remember a single one of them, though, as I sit here to type. So, I'm going to sign off. Tomorrow begins another busy day- hopefully one with a slower, more savory pace than the ones we've had of late. That would truly be wonderful.
G'nite!
Dy
Saturday, May 22
BAD Salesman, NO Bonus!
SOOOO, ok, picture this:
You are working the showroom of your local motorcycle dealership when in walks a family- the whole lot of 'em- husband, wife, three children in tow. This isn't park day, they're looking for something. They have out of state tags. They wander around your showroom for a good twenty-five minutes and nobody says so much as "hello" to them. The small children are getting antsy. The husband is eyeing certain bikes with great interest. He keeps trying to get someone's attention.
Finally, as the wife and the three children make their third lap around the outside of the building (because of the sign on the door that says "all children under the age of 21 must be carried", and since the stay is growing longer by the minute, she is trying fervently to prevent the utter chaos that is just begging to erupt with the children and the bikes and the tipping and the... well, the husband must REALLY want to be there and she must REALLY be OK with it, ya know), the husband approaches a salesman and says to him, (are you ready?):
"I'm an rider from years ago. I haven't been able to ride for a long time, well, (motions to the expanding family) as you can see. *smile* However, I've just graduated from college, have a good job and am looking to start rebuilding my motorcycle collection."
What would you do, if you were this salesman? Well, call the guy who works at Velocity in Richmond, VA and fill him in on how to handle a situation like this!
For those who aren't familiar w/ sales, let me brief you here, on what you would call, to use the auto sales vernacular, "an easy lay"-
*We had the checkbook in hand.
*The woman was there (which is, like, rule #2 on vehicle sales protocol- get the woman in there b/c even if it's his vehicle, it's her yay or nay you're gonna need).
*We had driven two and a half hours to this particular shop.
*The man knew his stuff and asked specifics about specific bikes- he knew what he wanted.
*AND YOU HAD IT!
HELLO? Tell me I'm not the only one who feels there is no reason for a sale not to have taken place there today! For the love of God, a little interest, a microscopic bit of enthusiasm and we'd have come home today with a great BMW or a really nice Dukati. Zorak saw one of each that he'd have been happy to bring home. TODAY.
Pffttt. Entrepreneurial apathy is what's killing our economy, not the war efforts, not the French and their attitude toward us- it's our own stupid laziness. C'mon, people!
Yeah, Zorak was disappointed, too. Any information he managed to get out of the guy was due to direct questioning, but if the man had so much as offered information on financing options (he might've made an even bigger sale than the cash one we had in mind), or what it'd cost out the door. Nah, why bother? By the time we left, it was out of absolute frustration. We don't want to have to beg someone to take our money. We'll go elsewhere and do it with less irritation and frustration.
*****
Then, to assuage the boys' frustrations over being in an unfriendly, cramped and uncomfortably warm environment for almost an hour (not to mention the 2.5 hrs in the car), we took them to the Richmond Children's Museum. It was a great time, but let's be honest- this isn't a museum. It is a romper room of gigantic proportions, and it's loads of fun for little guys, but it is more along the lines of the ultimate Montessori classroom than it is a museum. Lots to do, overly expensive for what it offers ($7 a head for all persons over the age of 1!), and very interesting. On a scale of 1-10, with five being totally ambivalent toward it, I'd give it a sliding scale score: 4 if we lived there, but 6 since we had a 2.5 hour drive home and the kids had already been cooped up far too long! Glad we went.
*****
Yesterday was spent at the Naval Air Museum. Now THAT is a museum. It's small, but wonderful when you are three and five! There are hands-on exhibits, but it also has a much more educational atmosphere and no Romper Room Effect! (Not that we have a disdain for Romper Room, but there's a time and a place....)
Tomorrow it's off to the Hydromont Berry Farm to pick strawberries and check out civil war weaponry. There is nothing quite like a wonderful day of food and firearms to make this family happy!
****
In miscellaneous things,
*We have definitely nailed down one of James' allergens: clover. We had another "eye episode" tonight right after he, in his five year old glee, "fluffed" a bunch of clover blooms into his face. Ewww. Thank God for Benadryl and OTC drugs!
*James would also like to know why "such ridiculous laws such as mandatory seatbelt use ever got passed in a free country"! (Ha, me, too, kiddo, me, too.)
*John sang along with most of the Math-U-See tape today on the drive home. He is learning so much and having such a great time of it.
*Jacob is a great (and I do mean great) traveller! Woo-Hoo! His teeth are getting closer to the surface (oh, that looks painful) and he definitely loves wheat-free ginger spice cookies!
*We tried a wheat-free doughnut recipe today. It doesn't make great doughnuts, but would be a WONDERFUL coating for sweet and sour chicken! Good stuff. Not that the boys cared- we told them it was doughnuts, covered the stuff with glaze and Voila! happy children.
OK, well, I am hoping to call Gram tonight. My phone battery died and it's just not charging quickly enough. I'm going to go find Zorak's phone and give her a ring before she heads to bed. Have a great night, all!
Dy
You are working the showroom of your local motorcycle dealership when in walks a family- the whole lot of 'em- husband, wife, three children in tow. This isn't park day, they're looking for something. They have out of state tags. They wander around your showroom for a good twenty-five minutes and nobody says so much as "hello" to them. The small children are getting antsy. The husband is eyeing certain bikes with great interest. He keeps trying to get someone's attention.
Finally, as the wife and the three children make their third lap around the outside of the building (because of the sign on the door that says "all children under the age of 21 must be carried", and since the stay is growing longer by the minute, she is trying fervently to prevent the utter chaos that is just begging to erupt with the children and the bikes and the tipping and the... well, the husband must REALLY want to be there and she must REALLY be OK with it, ya know), the husband approaches a salesman and says to him, (are you ready?):
"I'm an rider from years ago. I haven't been able to ride for a long time, well, (motions to the expanding family) as you can see. *smile* However, I've just graduated from college, have a good job and am looking to start rebuilding my motorcycle collection."
What would you do, if you were this salesman? Well, call the guy who works at Velocity in Richmond, VA and fill him in on how to handle a situation like this!
For those who aren't familiar w/ sales, let me brief you here, on what you would call, to use the auto sales vernacular, "an easy lay"-
*We had the checkbook in hand.
*The woman was there (which is, like, rule #2 on vehicle sales protocol- get the woman in there b/c even if it's his vehicle, it's her yay or nay you're gonna need).
*We had driven two and a half hours to this particular shop.
*The man knew his stuff and asked specifics about specific bikes- he knew what he wanted.
*AND YOU HAD IT!
HELLO? Tell me I'm not the only one who feels there is no reason for a sale not to have taken place there today! For the love of God, a little interest, a microscopic bit of enthusiasm and we'd have come home today with a great BMW or a really nice Dukati. Zorak saw one of each that he'd have been happy to bring home. TODAY.
Pffttt. Entrepreneurial apathy is what's killing our economy, not the war efforts, not the French and their attitude toward us- it's our own stupid laziness. C'mon, people!
Yeah, Zorak was disappointed, too. Any information he managed to get out of the guy was due to direct questioning, but if the man had so much as offered information on financing options (he might've made an even bigger sale than the cash one we had in mind), or what it'd cost out the door. Nah, why bother? By the time we left, it was out of absolute frustration. We don't want to have to beg someone to take our money. We'll go elsewhere and do it with less irritation and frustration.
*****
Then, to assuage the boys' frustrations over being in an unfriendly, cramped and uncomfortably warm environment for almost an hour (not to mention the 2.5 hrs in the car), we took them to the Richmond Children's Museum. It was a great time, but let's be honest- this isn't a museum. It is a romper room of gigantic proportions, and it's loads of fun for little guys, but it is more along the lines of the ultimate Montessori classroom than it is a museum. Lots to do, overly expensive for what it offers ($7 a head for all persons over the age of 1!), and very interesting. On a scale of 1-10, with five being totally ambivalent toward it, I'd give it a sliding scale score: 4 if we lived there, but 6 since we had a 2.5 hour drive home and the kids had already been cooped up far too long! Glad we went.
*****
Yesterday was spent at the Naval Air Museum. Now THAT is a museum. It's small, but wonderful when you are three and five! There are hands-on exhibits, but it also has a much more educational atmosphere and no Romper Room Effect! (Not that we have a disdain for Romper Room, but there's a time and a place....)
Tomorrow it's off to the Hydromont Berry Farm to pick strawberries and check out civil war weaponry. There is nothing quite like a wonderful day of food and firearms to make this family happy!
****
In miscellaneous things,
*We have definitely nailed down one of James' allergens: clover. We had another "eye episode" tonight right after he, in his five year old glee, "fluffed" a bunch of clover blooms into his face. Ewww. Thank God for Benadryl and OTC drugs!
*James would also like to know why "such ridiculous laws such as mandatory seatbelt use ever got passed in a free country"! (Ha, me, too, kiddo, me, too.)
*John sang along with most of the Math-U-See tape today on the drive home. He is learning so much and having such a great time of it.
*Jacob is a great (and I do mean great) traveller! Woo-Hoo! His teeth are getting closer to the surface (oh, that looks painful) and he definitely loves wheat-free ginger spice cookies!
*We tried a wheat-free doughnut recipe today. It doesn't make great doughnuts, but would be a WONDERFUL coating for sweet and sour chicken! Good stuff. Not that the boys cared- we told them it was doughnuts, covered the stuff with glaze and Voila! happy children.
OK, well, I am hoping to call Gram tonight. My phone battery died and it's just not charging quickly enough. I'm going to go find Zorak's phone and give her a ring before she heads to bed. Have a great night, all!
Dy
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