Time Flies

Since the last time I posted:
I've been to 2 other states.
Both of my daughters have broken bones (different times, places, people responsible).
One of my daughters had surgery.
My best friend had a baby.
I've been vomited upon about 6 times.
I've had 2 severe migraines.
My brother got married.
My husband became a partner in his medical practice.
Our 150-year-old tree was diagnosed with a fungal infection that renders it dangerous.
I've hired someone to cut it down.
My husband and I bought a new refrigerator and microwave.
My sister broke up with her boyfriend.

The Author Who Shall Not Be Named

Recently, I've been reading novels by a local Louisville author who writes well-constructed romantic thrillers - good love stories with a serial killer or rapist or spy thrown in. I enjoy them and get the romance experience without the guilt of reading a trashy, slutty romance novel that has no real plot. Somehow the existence of the cops and robbers part gives the books some dignity. And they don't have mostly naked people on the cover that I'd have to try to hide in public.
So when I found some other books written by her (ages ago) at a nearby used book store, I snatched them up - all 15 or so. (I am one of their best customers.) As I've noticed with many authors, she definitely is a better writer today than she was at the beginning of her career, but still much better than the average romance author.
What I don't understand is what on earth, as a woman, she was thinking writing about young (usually 17 or so) girls who fall in love with criminals or men who RAPE them (but they really liked it). And most of them -men and women- are married and cheating (but that's okay because the spouse paid for their abduction or the spouse is really an evil person who is only interested in their fortune...). How can a female person write about rape as a romantic thing?!?!?!
I love her recent books. She is an excellent writer. But I cannot give her name here and send her the publicity in good conscience.

I do not want to have 4 kids

I now have experience with having 4 children. Not actually bearing them, of course, but taking care of them for 3 hours. And my conclusion is it makes me tired even remembering the experience.
A friend moved this weekend. Just across town, but moving is always a huge endeavor, so I offered to babysit for an afternoon while she got a chance to pack. So, for 3 hours on Friday I had 2 extra daughters, both almost the exact same ages as my girls - which makes the whole job easier as each has a playmate. We decided to go on a walk. Okay, I decided we should go on a walk - I figured it would make the time pass more quickly.
I got out our double stroller and put the two one-year-olds in it. The three-and-a-half-year-olds had to walk. We headed out with the destination of our ice cream store about 5 blocks up and one over. We got there, ate a child's cup each and headed home. The 3-yr-olds set the pace with their slow feet. And they were worn out when we got back. The whole thing took an hour and 25 minutes.
We were about half way home when I realized we were missing a sandal for the one-year-old guest. I backtracked to the last place we'd turned and looked back down that street, but no luck. Knowing we had already exhausted the older girls and I was going to be blessed to make it home without carrying someone, I did not turn back. I called in reinforcements - my mother-in-law drove the route and recovered the sandal just before my friend was leaving my house with her girls.
I really needed a nap. Too bad there is some law of the universe that if you have more than one child, they will not nap on the same schedule (or the older one will give up naps entirely). I think the law of the universe related to having 4 or more children ... well, it must be pretty scary and I don't want to know.

Childhood Milestones

This has been a big milestone week for my younger daughter, Diana 1.0. First, her fifth tooth popped through. Then she had her first reaction to a vaccination (big rash and fever). Then on Friday she took her first steps. She also had her first ice cream; yes, it was vanilla.

Have a Snack, Mommy?

I was singing a hymn in church on Sunday and holding Diana (her first birthday is tomorrow!). She was playing with my necklace - once you have kids, jewelry is mostly worn for the entertainment value you can get out of it. She is a very curious, experimental little girl whose favorite new tricks involve putting shapes through similarly shaped holes and then getting them out and repeating the exercise.
I guess my mouth looked like a good shape hole or I looked hungry; she reached up and stuck my pendant into my mouth as I sang!

Innocent Children's Songs

Once you become a parent and your child reaches 2 or 3 years old, say goodbye to listening to your personal preference in music. :-)
In the car, we have an entire CD case of selections for our listening pleasure(?), all consisting of kids' songs. Raffi, Wiggleworms, Philadelphia Chickens, Ralph's World, Dr. Seuss recordings, .... They are not too bad at first, but since they are relatively short songs, you quickly find yourself listening to the same songs for the second and third times.
Some of the songs are original and are actually entertaining. And then there are the albums of all the songs you have known forever like "Mary Had a Little Lamb", etc. In fact, we have one just titled Childrens' Favorites Sing-A-Long. It contains the basic fare of songs like "She'll Be Coming Around the Mountain," "This Old Man Played Knick-Knack," "London Bridges", and others. Seems like a very innocent CD, sung by a children's choir in very impressive harmony and with good enunciation. The words, for a group, are very clear. And this is one where they've really researched and have multiple verses to songs that most of us have only ever heard one verse.
So it all seems innocuous enough until we get into "Row, Row, Row Your Boat." The words to the second verse are as follows:
Rip, Rip, Rip your pants,
Gently down the seams,
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
Hear the Ladies scream.
What???!! And, of course, the best part is that I reacted with considerable surprise to this, resulting in the immediate memorization of every word of the song by Rebecca 3.8 (that means 3 years, 8 months old, a convention borrowed from my favorite blog for entertaining reading: dubiousquality.blogspot.com).
She sings along with it and cackles in amusement every time that song plays. For the second and third and gazillionth time.

Stupid Thieves

I think that is an oxymoron. It is never an intelligent thing to steal. I get a kick out of stories that tell of the low IQ of thieves.
Today's example: A few days ago I read a story on CNN of 2 men finding treasure buried in their yard. During some yard work (three weeks ago), Barry Billcliff, 27, and Timothy Crebase, 22, were digging up a tree and hit a wooden box containing bank notes and bills dated back to the early 1900's. After having a local coin shop appraise the find, they were ecstatic to discover it was worth $50-75 thousand dollars. The story was no big thriller, just caught my eye and generated a, "Cool." Who wouldn't want to find a lost, buried treasure in their back yard? But I went on with my life and never would have thought of the event again except a headline caught my eye this morning.
"Men who claimed to find buried treasure arrested"
I guess they couldn't get their story straight, and police got interested. Turns out they supposedly stole the bank notes from a house they were roofing. CNN reports:
The men's stories, though, prompted some suspicions because of discrepancies. The depth of the buried crate, for example, ranged from 9 inches to 2 feet.
The men also gave conflicting reasons for digging in the yard of the house Crebase rents.
They told one reporter they were digging a hole to plant a tree.
In other reports, they said they were trying to remove a small tree or dig up the roots of a shrub that was damaging the home's foundation.
How hard would it be to talk for 60 seconds and decide what the story was going to be? Planting a tree or digging one up - simple choice, but very different options. Just pick one!
Stupid!

Powerless

There is nothing that makes me feel more out of control than when a child is sick with some illness that includes vomiting. It is this great unknown, unseen, waiting to pounce evil that nothing can control.
When Becca (now 3 yrs and 8 months) was 2 yrs and 7 months, we were on a vacation to St. Louis to visit friends when she threw up all over the blocks at the Magic House (children's science museum). We surmise now that it was food poisoning, but in any case, for the following 8 or 9 hours, she vomited every hour or so. We were staying in a hotel and soon went through all the towels and linens provided in the room plus a few more the staff kindly supplied. It was a long, sleepless night [Did I mention that I was 7 months pregnant at the time?]. My husband found the laundry facility and ran a few loads including her light-up tennis shoes that never lit up after their vomit bath that day. We left for home the next morning even though our vacation was only half over.
It really is a sad and painful memory today. But the absolutely worst part was that each time she began to throw up and we rushed her sagging little body to the toilet, she somehow thought that we were causing her to vomit. She would push the bowl away and say, "No, I don't want to throw up again!!" In her mind, being put over the toilet caused the retching. I have never felt so powerless to help my baby in my life. Her weak little protests just tore at my heart.
So, Becca is again sick and threw up last night. A kind of terror seizes me and makes me feel powerless. I'm so sorry, Baby!

Modern day Titanic

A cruise ship just reached New York City after being hit by a 70-foot wave in the middle of the night on its way back from the Bahamas. It flooded cabins, broke windows, tossed furniture, knocked hot tubs overboard. Wow!!
You would never get me back on a cruise ship.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/TRAVEL/04/18/ship.diverted.ap/index.html

Chartreuse pee update

Ok, so this game continues. It isn't having any great impact - Becca wets her pants more than she makes it to the toilet dry, but that is a different issue. Today, we learned how three-yr-old games can backfire on you.
We were eating dinner at Olive Garden and my husband Dan needed to use the restroom. He asked Becca if she needed to pee (we offer, send, beg, carry her to the potty whenever an opportunity is presented to us). She said no, but she would come along and call out characters for him. He declined, but she was insistent.
The men's room was empty when they arrived, and Dan breathed a sigh of relief. Too soon. Just as he was finishing and Becca announced, "You peed on Joey!" the door opened and in came others needing the restroom. Dan was very embarrassed. Ok, he is correcting me - that should read a little embarrassed.

Now he is trying to convince me to rewrite that. ;-)

Our deliverypersons do not carry change for more than $20!!!

Last night, my baby brother (age 24) was attacked while he was delivering pizzas. He said he walked past a weird looking man and then heard some rustling a moment before a baseball bat connected with his skull just below his ear. The people in the apartment for whom the pizza was destined heard the crack of that first hit and opened their door. As the men (there were 2 of them) proceeded to hit him several more times in the shoulder and head and knee, the apartment's residents phoned 911 and police arrived.
I guess my brother should thank God that he has a hard head. First, it made a loud enough crack to alert help and second, after a cat scan showed no permanent damage, we know it was hard enough to protect him. I thank God he is, or at least will be, okay. Praise You, Lord!
He says he will continue to deliver pizzas because it pays very well. I know I would not be able to do it.

You peed on chartreuse!

When you have a 3-year-old, you have to be very creative. You have to make her believe that she wants to do something, or she won't do it.
When Rebecca started delaying her trips to the bathroom until she'd begun to leak EVERY SINGLE TIME, and we were going through 5 or 6 pairs of panties a day, we had to invent a way to get her to go of her own free will. So was born the Race to See What You'd Pee On. Her father said, "Can you beat me to the potty? I'm going to get there first." When the novelty wore off it became, "Becca, I am going to call out numbers and see how fast you can pee!" And when that grew old, "I'll call out colors. See what color you're on when you pee.... Blue! Red! Purple! Chartreuse! .... You peed on chartreuse!" Later versions involved types of dogs, Winnie-the-Pooh characters, colors in foreign languages, DragonTales characters, etc.
"You peed on Tigger!"
"You peed on amarillo!"
"You peed on turquoise!"
And Rebecca began to develop favorites. If it was colors, she wanted to pee on chartreuse. If it was Pooh characters, she wanted it to be Lumpy (the heffalump from the newest movie). And sometimes we have to guess correctly and time that character for the instant after we hear the toilet lid hit the tank.
She really likes the color chartreuse. So one day she said she just wanted us to call that color. So... "Chartreuse! Chartreuse! Chartreuse! ...." until she peed and then, "You peed on chartreuse! Yea!" We were having a race just like this one. She requested an all-chartreuse dash to the potty. She took off towards the bathroom and my husband was screaming out "Chartreuse!" over and over. We heard the lid hit the tank and the following explosion of urine like the sound of Niagara Falls and then, "But I wanted to pee on Orange!"

Why Does This Make CNN.com?

I do not understand why CNN would waste time on stuff like this.
A turtle in Indiana was the only pet to survive a horrendous fire that destroyed a pet shop and 8 other businesses. And now the owner says the face of Satan can be seen in the turtle's shell.
What kind of *?%#! is that? I can't even believe that a reporter gave this the time of day. There's even a picture of what looks like a perfectly normal turtle shell to me.
"The marking on the shell was like the devil wanted us to know he was down there," Bryan Dora said." (that's the store owner)
Give me a break!

McKenzie Mattingly

In January 2004, an undercover officer shot and killed a man during a drug buy (a sting operation) that went wrong. The officer was white; the deceased was black. There was incredible outrage that a race-inspired murder had been committed. The white officer was put on trial for murder and fired from the (Louisville) Jefferson County police force. He was later acquitted.
I was not there; I do not know what happened. I was not on the jury who acquitted him. But 12 people - 12 average people, pulled from their everyday lives and consulted on the matter - decided the officer was innocent of any wrongdoing. So, I can only conclude that the facts point to that conclusion.
So, a dedicated officer lost his job and had his picture plastered over the media and had his name slandered. After the acquittal, the police chief refused to give him back his job. I personally don't think that he could have returned to the force and been effective at the job after all the conflict. It would have been so hard to do, but he deserved that opportunity because our legal system declared he'd done nothing wrong. So, he pursued that job and that right. And today, he gave it up. Today, McKenzie Mattingly settled his case: he was reinstated, immediately resigned (as required by the settlement) and will receive $60K back pay.
Good for you, McKenzie!
McKenzie Mattingly "is now pursueing other types of business ventures" according to TheLouisvilleChannel.com. In fact, I got a letter in the mail from his lawn care service asking if I want him to trim my bushes or aerate my lawn. I wouldn't have even recognized the name, but my neighbor pointed it out.
I wonder if he enjoys lawn care as much as undercover police work.

A Funny Joke

Rebecca (age 3 years and 6 months) told a really funny joke this week. She tells jokes a lot and we have to pretend to be tickled by them because she tries really hard and is only 3. Then she came up with this one.
Rebecca: Knock, knock.
Dan: Who's there?
Rebecca: Choolah [She takes great pleasure in making up words, using them, and then informing us of their meaning.]
Dan: Choolah who?
Rebecca: [A pause as she stumbles over some sounds and clearly doesn't have a final line prepared] Uh, well,.... Give me a water buffalo and I will let you sleep!
We looked at each other and absolutely cracked up. It was just so 'out there' that it was truly funny. She was so excited that we were treated to the same joke over and over and over. And at that point, we were back to faking it.

My Evening of Trial

A few nights ago, I had an evening that ..., well, I don't really know how to describe it except to describe it:
My husband was putting our infant to bed, and I was assigned the three-year-old's bedtime management. She has been a handful for the last 2 weeks - a reaction to her father being out of town for 4 days at a dermatology conference in New Orleans. (As she called it, "the country of New Orleans.") There are a few required steps to this routine such as using the toilet, putting on jammies, brushing teeth and bedtime snacking.
She was, of course, very agreeable to the bedtime snacking part. And only that part.
I herded her into the bathroom to go the potty, and she was convinced over only minor struggles to sit and pee. At that point, I discovered that she had not arrived in time and needed new panties to replace the wet ones. I was a bit upset (this has been happening a lot) and gave her a lecture about how disappointed I was and how I knew that she could get to the bathroom on time and how big girls know how to use the potty.... I guess this whole thing ticked her off. When I got back with the new undies, she was standing IN THE TOILET which, of course, hadn't been flushed. And giggling at me when I just gaped at her for a moment.
In the process of getting her out and trying to dry off her feet with the hand towel - the first thing in reach - she kicked me with a pee-covered foot. [At this point, I began to chant out loud to myself, "I will not hit you. I will not hit you."] So I told her she was going to bed right then without any more bedtime snack. I believe I carried her up the stairs to the bathroom to brush her teeth while she verbally protested.
I pretty much had to pry open her mouth and brush her teeth myself. She did not enjoy this, and I'm sure it was not a very effective cleaning. Then I was putting her into her pajamas when she bit me. Several times, although she was doing that whole watching me as she did it to see my reaction and not really biting whole-heartedly.
I promptly picked her up and carried her to her room, dropped her on the bed and told her goodnight while closing the door. In her only wise move of the night, she never came out.

America's Funniest Home Videos

Crossing our fingers, we are hoping they will select our home movie to be broadcast across this great nation. Where else can you turn on the TV weekly and see children smacking their fathers in unhappy locations, dogs singing, or adults falling on their faces (painfully, from the looks of it) and laugh without guilt? And maybe soon you will see my daughters giving me zerberts as I lay on the parlor floor with my shirt up. (It's really quite cute; Diana, the 9-month-old is laughing to bust a gut!)
Sure do wish I'd managed to lose all the rest of the baby weight before taping my bare stomach for national TV, though. We better get that $10 grand! I'll keep you posted.

Apricot Creme Empathy

This is something that I have pondered for a long time at many different moments throughout my life. I have only ever shared this line of thought with my best friend in the world, my husband, Dan. OK, here goes.
I think, maybe, some ice cubes would prefer to be used in Sprite rather than water. Or some might dread being selected from the tray at all. Do they watch the hand approach, pleading to be chosen if they know it will be lemonade that they enter? Or do they cringe away from the seeking fingers to preserve their life - and wave a sad farewell to the selected ice chunk?
Does a chip in a bowl with other chips hope to be picked out for munching? Does it care whether you head for the salsa, or chomp on him straight? Or does it seek to shift and hide under the other chips - sending them to a digestive death sooner?
Do M&Ms jockey for position to be under the hand reaching into the bag? Is it an honor to enter a human's mouth or a curse?
A dilemma of this nature..., well, I am sure you can see why it has occupied my mind for literally years. And I have recently been given good news - I am not the only crazy person to wonder about this! I have proof that others are concerned as well.
My husband gave me a card for Valentine's Day. This in itself is not noteworthy; he's pretty reliable about that sort of thing. Anyway, the front pictures a heart-shaped box of candy that is empty but for a few crumpled wrappers and one, single, lone piece of candy. That piece of chocolate is thinking (thought bubble appears over its head), "Day 4: It's quiet now...eerily quiet. They got Larry last night. It's just a matter of time until they come back for me." The bottom of the page reads, "The Diary of a Valentine Chocolate with the Yucky Apricot Creme Center."
I died laughing (maybe not the reaction most go for with a Valentine card, but it works for us)!
And now I have a new thought to ponder...do chocolates have names?

Three-year-old Musings

Sometimes it is incredibly difficult to hold in the laughter and grins inspired by a 3-year-old's plans, songs, comments, or play times.
Today Becca, adorned with plastic jewelry and a hat, told her father, "Daddy, I'm all dressed up so I'm as beautiful as a wet hen!"
Earlier she had been playing with her baby sister and announced that she was married to her Grandma Meeks and Diana was married to her Grandpa Meeks. (A few weeks ago, she was angry and devestated that she could not marry her father because he was already married to me!)

Baby 81

Praise God for the life of a 3-month-old baby that was swept out of his mother's arms in the tsunami! How else could a young infant still be alive after such a situation, but God's awesome hand?
This is a tough subject, though, because so many others did not survive this horrible tragedy. Where was God then? I know there are many people who wonder this.
And the answer is that He was right there with every one of them. Those who knew Him personally and had accepted the gift of salvation offered by His son, Jesus, were immediately taken to heaven and are living a much fuller, joyous existence; they need no mourning. And everything that happened works out for the good of those who love God - the Bible tells us.
I know that some of the good is visible and some will never be discerned by human minds. The visible blessings that have resulted are numerous: groups and countries crossing borders and prejudices to bring aid to the survivors, an increase in church attendance and interest in religious beliefs as a result of the "kick in the pants" of all that death and destruction.
And Baby 81 must have a special purpose that we can't know yet. Or his parents do. Who knows?

Baby's Breath

I love it!!
Nope, not talking about small white flowers used as filler in bouquets or in hairdos at weddings. I am thinking about the scent that wafts out when my 9-month-old exhales.... Mmmmmm.
This is strange, I know, but I love the smell of Diana's breath just after she nurses. The sweet scent of mommy milk on baby's tongue. Yummy!
[Any other nursing mothers out there ever think the same?]

Tire Troubles

Why do flat tires happen only when the baby really needs a nap, it is raining, and you just loaded 50 pounds of cat litter into the trunk on top of the spare? That was my situation yesterday. Oh, I forgot, I was also due to pick up my 3-year-old at preschool, too. Needless to say, I didn't make it. Thank goodness for grandmas!
I came out of Target and loaded my purchases (including cat litter) into the car. I picked Diana out of the seat of the cart and pulled it with my free hand toward the cart corral (the only one was a zillion miles away). Fortunately, I pulled it between my car and the next on my passenger side, or I probably would have driven away on the completely flat tire I noticed there. So, I made a call and AAA earned their money for this year.
Thank you AAA for the quick and efficient service.
My husband's only comment when I called him (while waiting there), "Good thing it isn't dark out."

Today's Mothering Comments

I have two observations today about parenting.
First, it is absolutely amazing that second children ever survive to adulthood. After the first child, parents are no longer concerned about the cleanliness of toys or what babies find on the floor to eat. Also, the older child treats the younger like their personal bean bag toy.
Second, I cannot wait until my daughter figures out how to wipe on her own. I am so ready to stop wiping someone else's poop!!

There. I think I'm done for today.

Lower the Legal Driving Age to 4?

Ok, I really enjoy the odd stories that somehow catch CNN's attention and end up with a link on their home page. Most of the stories are normal "Pres. Bush said..." or "... Bombers in Irag did ..." etc. But every once in a while, you scan their links/teasers and pause to say, "Huunggh?!"
Today, I read about a 4 year old boy who left his mother's apartment in the middle of the night and drove her car to a convenience store and then home again when it was closed. And he didn't crash until he got home.
Now, I have a 3 1/2 year old daughter and this blows my mind. She would have no idea how to drive my car - she has just gotten strong enough to open the door for herself! And what is up with not knowing that your child just left the building.
So, he gets to the store, discovered it was closed, and heads home. A cop noticed a car without lights weaving and thinking it was empty, follows it. I guess he figured out it wasn't empty when (just after it crashed and came to a stop) it backed up into his police cruiser. Ooooh, how do you explain that one to your superior?
Anyway, my conclusion is that the mother must have taught him how to drive - the kid knew how to put it into gear and then into reverse, for heaven's sake! Even if it was just in fun, HOW STUPID!! Not to mention the 4-year-old getting out at night without your notice. So, I'm shocked when there were absolutely no charges filed in this case.

Citizens Against Nude Juicebars and Pornography

In McCook County, South Dakota there is a topless juice bar and movie theater. It was originally a bar with topless dancing until it was denied a liquor license. So the owner sold juice instead.
Then, a law passed that outlawed nudity, except that the owner found a loophole for movie theaters. He immediately started showing movies and charging $10 for an "all day movie ticket."
My salute to the owner's tenacity. But the topper is the name of the group that has organized to shut this business down: Citizens Against Nude Juicebars and Pornography. LOL. No, ROTFLOL.
[My husband's favorite part of this story is that CNN actually paid someone to visit the site for the story.]
And I admit, while I find this story absolutely hilarious, it would be less so if the bar were in my neighborhood. So while I chuckle, I apologize for my insensitivity.

Dr. Dobson and SpongeBob

I have heard bits and pieces about how Dr. Dobson and Focus on the Family have accused SpongeBob Squarepants of being gay and the following media outrage. I have no time for reading newspapers or watching t.v. (being a very busy mom), but still, fragments of ridicule for his insane accusations have leaked into my world. From the few details in those reports, I too was inclined to think that Dobson had really said something stupid, despite the fact that I think he and his organization are very credible and have wonderful values and programs. I have never disagreed with anything that they've supported in the past.
Today I discovered just how ridiculous all the media's accusations are. It turns out that Dobson never said SpongeBob was gay. Here's his side of the story:

In truth, this tale has very little to do with SpongeBob himself, and everything to do with the media’s ability to obscure the facts and to direct lies and scorn toward those of us who care about defending children. It all began on an evening in late January, during Inaugural Week in Washington, D.C. At that time, I spoke briefly to 350 guests attending a banquet hosted by Tony Perkins and the Family Research Council, Focus on the Family, and Gary Bauer’s American Values. I concluded by sharing a word of concern about a video that will be distributed to 61,000 public and private elementary schools across the nation, for use on the proposed "We Are Family Day," March 11.

The video, which millions of children will soon see, features nearly 100 favorite cartoon characters that kids will instantly recognize, including not only SpongeBob, but also Barney the Dinosaur, the Muppets, Dora the Explorer, Bob the Builder, Winnie the Pooh, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Jimmy Neutron and Big Bird. The video itself is innocent enough and does not mention anything overtly sexual. Rather, it features the children’s cartoon characters singing and dancing along to the popular disco hit "We Are Family."

But while the video is harmless on its own, I believe the agenda behind it is sinister. My brief comments at the FRC gathering were intended to express concern not about SpongeBob or Big Bird or any of their other cartoon friends, but about the way in which those childhood symbols are apparently being hijacked to promote an agenda that involves teaching homosexual propaganda to children. Nevertheless, the media jumped on the story by claiming that I had accused SpongeBob of being "gay." Some suggested that I had confused the organization that had created the video with a similarly named gay-rights group. In both cases, the press was dead wrong, and I welcome this opportunity to help them get their facts straight.

But all I've heard about from my limited exposure to popular media is how ludicrous it was for Dr. Dobson to single out SpongeBob as gay. I guess this goes to show that most members of the media (who've been reporting that as the story) don't really research what they are spouting off as truth. They must not value truth very much.

Do You Ever Wonder How It Feels?

This afternoon, my younger brother asked me, "Have you ever wondered how that feels?" I had just mentioned that I felt my infant's diaper grow warm - an indication that she had just emptied her bladder.
"You mean to pee in my clothes?" I asked.
"Yes." he replied.
Now, I guess I have never, ever considered this. Nor have I any memory of doing it from my years in diapers as an infant/toddler [does anyone remember that far back?]. But my sister chimed in that some male friends of hers back during her college years had purchased Depends and tried them on to experience just this feeling. She said they put on the Depends and got into a bathtub and poured water in them. Warm water, I assume.

Boy, college kids [guys in particular?] will try the most unusual things.
Personally, holding a small baby and feeling her diaper warm up is about as close as I feel the need to come.

Here it goes

Well, here it is, my own blog.
I am a mom of 2 little girls - one 8 months and one 3 and a half. Three years old is a tough age, for both of us. So, instead of screaming at her or dropping her on her head, I will let loose on this forum. Becca is the challenging one. Diana is the adorable 8 month old who just learned to crawl and is a momma's girl. It is a scary thought to contemplate that she will one day be 3 as well!

Today we are in Columbus, Ohio visiting relatives. Becca likes to spend time half-naked playing with water in any form she can reach - the bathroom sink, the snow outside, the bathtub. Even though the house here is drafty and very cold, she hasn't worn shoes inside for more than 5 minutes. And right now, she is wearing just a paint smock while she does watercolors. Brrrr!
Diana is not feeling well; I think she has an ear infection. She has been sleeping a lot.

It is hard to sit here and even imagine what it must be like to VOTE for the first time in your entire life. To have some fear for your safety in doing it. To wonder what your life will be like in a year and know that it has already changed 200% in the past year. To see real live guns in the hands of people you see in the streets (soldiers or not).
It makes me, Lori, think about how wonderful God has been to me, how blessed my life is. I have my girls, my husband, a wonderful house, cars, a large supportive family.
And freshly baked chocolate chip cookies.

(When you are sleep deprived from getting up 3 times at night to nurse or calm a sick child, your mind tends to jump from topic to topic. Also happens when I have to pause to kiss a stubbed toe - for a naked 3-yr-old.)