Can you tell which is Monkey and which is Moonpie at 20 weeks?
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My favorite things are: extreme temperatures
(yeah right)
Colorado snow right after it falls
Elk Horses cactus
bouncy babies little spiderlings
Blue Spruce
Whales
jellyfish
French-poodles Siamese cats Sea turtles
legal documents Good books
chocolate and lots of it!
Music (of course)
Green Herons Catalogs
People baking
Pelicans Mountains
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After tears, frustration, harsh words, kind words, giddy laughter and deep depression, Dancer decided to go to NYC as planned, to finish out her "vacation" -- even though it hasnt really been much of one so far. M-girl went with her. My twin sister dropped them off at the airport this morning. D was all in a pissed off mood because her heart-burn and general nausea has returned, which means she's probably still with-baby. She's been snapping at poor M-girl, who has to take her mood swings even though she's not even the one who made her pregnant.
She promised that going to a clinic will be the first thing she does when she gets to NYC. Really. First of all, her nausea is very bad, and I've been around a lot of pregnant people. Second of all, you shouldn't be bleeding like that. I did my best to get her back to Tokyo asap, but it just ended up being more of a hassle. I also thought it was a good idea to tell her mother and get her advise. Dancer said her mother would slap her across the face and then proceed to kick her ass, but she was willing to do it. When she picked up the phone, M-girl got all nervous and started standing up and sitting down and generally not knowing what to do with herself. At one point she even hit me like she was swatting a fly before leaping into the kitchen. Then Dancer started getting really annoyed, like "why are you hitting people? what's wrong with you?" It was kind of a mess. She ended up not calling her mother.
She totally is pregnant with a daughter. Daughters make you exhausted, sick, fat, and beat. Sons make you glow and make you beautiful. At least that's the general trend that I've noticed.
Here's a song for all your cats out there with unplanned pregnancies.
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I miss her. Im so in love with her, I never even knew her. Moragan Hope. Even her name, I just love it. How strange, how I could be so in love with someone I never really knew. Yet, somehow, in some strange mother/baby connection...I know her. How can this be? And why does it seem to stun me every time, as if it were the first. Moragan is my 4th child, 2nd daughter. It makes me so sad that none of them are here with me, but Im happy for them to be in heaven too, all together, hanging out, laughing at me being so silly. I suppose Im building a small army in heaven.
I always imagine I will get there and the gates will open, and these children will come running up to me yelling, "Mommmyyy!!" the way excited children might do when youve come home after a really long day. Then I wonder, how old are children in heaven? What do they look like? Will they still be my babies, or will they be adults? I cant even wrap my mind around what it might be like. I guess all I can really do is wait...
A week ago I was watching Battle in Seattle and thinking deep thoughts. This week I have been sorting out the deep thoughts and realizing that one thing that I am definitely passionate about is civil liberties. It is the reason why Sarah Palin, the Patriot Act, and Constitutional amendments to ban gay marriage (to give just a few examples) get me all fired up. It is also the reason why I lean "Libertarian" or "independent" and one of the many reasons why I am so excited to watch the upcoming presidential and vice-presidential debates (first one tonight!!). Unfortunately, being also rational... I have yet to figure out how this passion would ever make me any money...
One of my favorite lines from Battle in Seattle was when the fictional city mayor says "Be tough on your issues, but be gentle on my city." It's all about respect. Respect for others living their lives according to THEIR pursuit of life, liberty and happiness - not one that is perscribed and approved by the government.
However, in light of recent issues... I also think that this means that when people screw up because of the choices they made, the government shouldn't necessarily go running in to help bail them out. Maybe that is because I am one of those suckers that actually saves money and isn't up to my eyeballs in mortgage or credit card debt - in fact, Hubby and I are completely debt free because we worked really hard and made a lot of sacrifices along the way. Which makes this whole bail out thing especially distasteful to me. Free the market! Stop the manufactured bubbles! Let's get this correction over with and move on already! Sure it is going to be hard on people, but what happened to "what doesn't kill you..."
I'll get off my soapbox now... but before I go... a couple other things that I am VERY excited about:
What A Parent And Child Will Experience In Class
Variety of Music Musical diversity builds strong neural networks in a
baby’s forming mind, which is why each Kindermusik semester contains an
array of styles, sounds, and genres.
Instrument Play Age-appropriate experiences with child-safe instruments enhance a sense of rhythm and steady beat, develops a keen awareness of the distinguishing qualities of sound, and encourages spontaneity and creativity.
Dance A classroom full of baby and adult pairs dancing together helps a little body develop the muscle strength needed to crawl and walk and helps a little heart to fall in love with the sheer joy of responding to music.
Together Time A Kindermusik class is truly the essence of “quality time,” offering the parent a place to create special memories with their child, gain new insights into their child’s development, and nurture their child’s natural love of music.
Expert Advice I often explain “what-to-watch-for” and how each activity enhances a child’s complete development.
Learning Continues at Home With the home materials, the learning continues at home with the child’s best teacher—YOU the parent!
Enrollment Includes:
Village Classes will meet Sundays at 6 or Mondays at 10.
Class size is limited -- please register today!
What have you lost that you wish you could get back?
Submitted by, Witch Hazel
My wedding dress. I left it in a storage room, and now I know there is no way I can get it back. It was actually my prom dress from senior prom, then 2 years later, I got married in it. Then my mom lost my dress from junior prom, I want that one back too.
A time capsule I made when I was 11-14 yrs old. It was this big brass trunk with cedar interior, and I filled it with all kinds of random stuff that was important to me at the time. I didnt put much in it past the age of 14, but I did have my flowers from senior prom in there. I had some of my school work and projects, several journals, and I actually think the hat I wore home from the hospital as a baby was in there. I hope it wasnt, but I think it might be. I cant get my trunk back because it was in the car of my husbands that got repoed. Good going dude. We had picked it up from my parent's house a few days prior. It was sort of heavy and I was pregnant at the time and couldnt unload it myself, so I asked my husband to. Of course, he never did.
My babies. All 4 that Ive "lost", I want them all back. But that is yet another thing that will never happen, since they are in heaven now. Caeden James, Eden Makaio, Kanoa Nalani...and Moragan Hope who just passed Sunday.
Ah if only there were some big cosmic lost and found we could go into and retrieve everything we so dearly want back...
Do you find it difficult to network? To walk right up to people and say 'Hi! I'm X from Y company, nice to meet you..!' It's not as easy as everyone makes out, is it? Even if you do have a beautiful MiniCard or Business Card in hand. Well, if you're thinking of having children who will one day become Captains of Industry, you could help them out a bit by starting them off networking when they're young. By the time they get to pre-school they'll be old hands at this game and will work that reception room like a pro.
How? Easy, just get them some MiniCards (easier for little hands) and get them out there practising. digitalkatie has wasted no time with her son Louis, who is now eight months old. He's got his own set of Text MiniCards all ready for handing out at the Scottish Learning Festival this week:
At this point I must admit to being unsure as to whether Louis is giving a seminar at the festival or merely watching. I like to think he's giving a seminar though - he sounds like a little chap we could all learn from.
If you're at all worried about a potential 'cards+mouth=soggy cards' situation, don't worry. That problem has already been user tested and dealt with a long time ago, by the lovely Alice. She found that due to the matt laminate on MiniCards, they were far more durable than your average business card. Hooray!
So, what are you waiting for? Set your children up with the skills they'll need in later life, right from the very beginning. (Bonus points if you can get them coding something that integrates with the MOO API before the age of 5).
]]>From here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/17/world/asia/17milk.html?th&emc=th
and here: http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/1316907/2085421
Some of you may recall the pet food fiasco in which melamine added to petfood caused thousands of deaths of animals, and was eventually tracked down to adulteration of ingredients in China.
Specially it was traced to the addition of plastic - melamine, like your grandmother's unbreakable dishes - which confused the analysis of protein by adding more nitrogen, and causing it to read higher.
Well, here it is again, in infant formula.
They've got infants with acute kidney failure.
Baby formula made with contaminated powered milk.
The contamination has mainly been found in China, but the companies involved have shipped products to other countries.
It's turned up in youghert in Hong Kong, for example.
Wasn't I just saying something about responsibility?
Why has regulation turned into a four-letter word?
My best friend in the entire world is pregnant! Bang the drum and pop the champagne! Start prepping those oohs and aahs and goo goo ga gas, because this kid, boy or girl--but hopefully girl ;)--is going to be damn cute. And smart! Mom's a doc, dad's a lawyer, they're silly and funny as hell together and I hope they have as many kids as time and money allows them to bring up--'cause their brood will be superhuman and might save the world someday.
Sigh. It's been sort of a tough road for them and so they kept this pregnancy a secret through the first trimester. But they just had their 12 week ultrasound and all is well. She spilled her secret and I swear I could tell something was up for at least the last couple months or so. I had the feeling through all our conversations that she wasn't really saying what was on her mind. And, ha, she wasn't!
She said she thinks I'm more excited than she is, which is quite possible because, hell, I'm not the one actually having the kiddo, but I'll get to enjoy all sorts of fun time with the rugrat and with the new evolution of a family they'll become. And, frankly, I'm so very happy for them. They've wanted this very badly for a very long time.
It's so nice to be able to rejoice in the good fortune of friends.
]]>Wolf- Just came from the memorial ceremony here at NORTHCOM. LTC (CH) Robert Leivers led the group in a ceremony here at the headquarters. During the ceremony, he relayed this little-known story from the Pentagon on 9/11:
"During a visit with a fellow chaplain, who happened to be assigned to the Pentagon, I had a chance to hear a first-hand account of an incident that happened right after Flt 77 hit the Pentagon. The Chaplain told me what happened at a daycare center near where the impact occurred."This daycare had many children, including infants who were in heavy cribs. The daycare supervisor, looking at all the children they needed to evacuate, was in a panic over what they could do; there were many children, mostly toddlers, as well as the infants that would need to be taken out with the cribs. There was no time to try to bundle them into carriers and strollers."Just then a young Marine came running into the center and asked what they needed. After hearing what the center director was trying to do, he ran back out into the hallway and disappeared. The director thought, 'well, there we are- on our own.' About 2 minutes later, that Marine returned with 40 others in tow. Each of them grabbed a crib with a child, and the rest started gathering up toddlers. The director and her staff then helped them take all the children out of the center and down toward the park near the Potomac and the Pentagon."Once they got about 3/4 of a mile outside the building, the Marines stopped in the park, and then did a fabulous thing- they formed a circle with the cribs, which were quite sturdy and heavy, like the covered wagons in the West. Inside this circle of cribs, they put the toddlers, to keep them from wandering off. Outside this circle were the 40 Marines, forming a perimeter around the children and waiting for instructions. There they remained until the parents could be notified and come get their children."Wolf: The NORTHCOM chaplain then said- "I don't think any of us saw nor heard of this on any of the news stories of the day. It was an incredible story of our men there.''I must say- there wasn't a dry eye in the room. The thought of those Marines and what they did and how fast they reacted- could we expect any less from them?? It was one of the most touching stories from the Pentagon I've EVER heard.Wolf
Our boys are finally here! Owen and Isaac were born Tuesday morning (9/9/08) around 10:30am! Isaac came first weighing in at 5lbs 7oz, followed 12 minutes later by Owen who weighed in at 6lbs 1oz. They are both inexplicably healthy and absolutely perfect little boys.... miraculous considering their early arrival! Later today we will take them home and begin our lives as a new family of 5!
Proud Papa,
Clint
Kindermusik Village (for newborns to 18 months) hold a very special place in my heart. It was our very first exposure to Kindermusik when my daughter Janey was only 5 weeks old. We so enjoyed our time together singing and dancing, exploring and making new friends. I feel so privledged to be able to bring this experience to a whole new group of parents and I would love for you and your baby to join us!
What A Parent And Child Will Experience In Class
Variety of Music Musical
diversity builds strong neural networks in a baby’s forming mind, which
is why each Kindermusik semester contains an array of styles, sounds,
and genres.
Instrument Play
Age-appropriate experiences with child-safe instruments enhance a sense
of rhythm and steady beat, develops a keen awareness of the
distinguishing qualities of sound, and encourages spontaneity and
creativity.
Dance A classroom full of
baby and adult pairs dancing together helps a little body develop the
muscle strength needed to crawl and walk and helps a little heart to
fall in love with the sheer joy of responding to music.
Together Time A
Kindermusik class is truly the essence of “quality time,” offering the
parent a place to create special memories with their child, gain new
insights into their child’s development, and nurture their child’s
natural love of music.
Expert Advice I often explain “what-to-watch-for” and how each activity enhances a child’s complete development.
Learning Continues at Home With the home materials, the learning continues at home with the child’s best teacher—YOU the parent!
Enrollment Includes:
Village Classes will meet Sundays at 6, Mondays at 10 or Tuesdays at 6:30.
Class size is limited -- please register today!
I've talked a lot of politics lately. Not here, but on others' blogs, and at work, and at home. Sometimes you need a break. And what better way to break it up than with something that everyone loves: KITTIES!!
(If you hate cats and don't need a break from politics, then you can pretend that one's Obama and one's McCain.)
People! The Palin rumors started deep in the bowels of the Daily Kos. They are not true.
The New York Times, which hasn't bothered to ask Obama about his ties to Bill Ayers, nor thought it worth investigating John Edwards and his maybe-baby, apparently thought an obscure blogger on an ultra-lefty site had some primo info on a 17-year old girl and a Down's Syndrome baby. Worthy political tools to strike at a Republican woman.
1. Sarah Palin has been a registered Republican since 1982.
2. Sarah Palin carried and gave birth to her son Trig, who has Down's Syndrome.
3. Bristol Palin is 17 and pregnant, and she and her boyfriend had planned to marry before her mistake was broadcast nationally.
4. Even Barack Obama said to lay off. So listen to your Messiah.
Can we just take a step back from the partisanship and recognize that this sort of thing is not journalism?
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What do you think about my little new baby JJ?
MakeMeBabies.com - What will your baby look like?
Meet my hypothetical baby. :D I'm glad I finally got a cute one...some of the babies were kind of ugly...it made me a little afraid.
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Some of my ugly babies here:
http://makemebabies.com/viewbaby.php?bid=3973678
http://makemebabies.com/viewbaby.php?bid=3973918
