Feel the love.

I must take this moment to rave about just how very much I love my husband and my kids.

I wound up going to the ER as soon as dh came home last Thursday. What started out as a bothersome ankle became very painful. It got to the point where I couldn't walk on it at all. So we all headed to the ER. No broken bones (woo hoo), but I had soft tissue damage in my ankle and in my foot. I went home with an oh so fashionable orthopedic shoe and a pair of crutches oh and some pain medication. Can't forget the pain medication. I tend to scorn much of Western medicine, but bless them and their pain meds.

My husband is the most wonderful man in the world. Our house is designed for tiny little people (I'm not just talking about the kids), so trying to get crutches to fit through doorways, hallways, and around furniture was not fun. My amazing dh not only brought me whatever I needed, but he wrangled all three kids. Without being asked, he took off from work on Friday because he realized (long before I did) that I couldn't take care of the kids when I couldn't even pick The Boy (who isn't yet walking) up. Dh didn't complain once. I adore my husband.

And now we move on to my kids. I must say thank you, Irim, for your lovely compliment the other day. That really made me step back and realize that even though my kids have a tendency to drive me nuts, they are very sweet and very polite. We went out the other day and dh got annoyed with them over something. I told him, "Someone on the blog commented on how polite they are and you know what? They really are. We need to remember that." He agreed and wasn't nearly as annoyed with them as he had been.

Yesterday, they came home from Sunday school with a note from their teacher. The girls have homework. They discussed the things you find in a Jewish home. So we're to take them on a tour of the Jewish items in our home and they're to bring one in to class next week. We went on a tour and they have some ideas for what they want to bring (I'm going to cheat. In addition to whatever they pick, I'm sending them with their Mizpah necklaces. The Mizpah means "Watch-tower." It's taken from Genesis: May the L-rd watch between me and thee when we are apart from another." I said that prayer when dh was gone before we had kids, I said it when the girls were in the NICU and I taught it to the girls and we said it every night in dh's absence. They got their necklaces at their naming ceremony when they were tiny).

After our tour, I asked them, "What is the most important thing in a Jewish home? What is in our house that REALLY lets people know we're Jewish?" Girl1 blew me away when she answered, "G-d." I was thinking, "The people," but you know what, I like her answer even better. I made sure to tell her that and then we discussed how the people are important too and how our behavior is important because we reflect G-d.

Oh and on that note, I want to share this discussion with you. The girls left me a struggling a bit the other day. In the car, they asked, "How do we hear G-d? Because we can't hear what He's saying." I was taken aback, but I told them that we don't really need to hear Him with our ears. His words are in the Torah and by learning Torah, we can learn what He wants us to do. Then, we can hear him in our hearts because we know how He wants us to behave. Girl2 protested, "But I can't read Hebrew. So I can't read the Torah. Then I can't hear G-d." I explained that they're learning Torah every day. When they share and play nicely, they're learning Torah because they're learning that's what G-d wants them to do. When they go to Sunday school and they learn about shul, Hebrew, and our ancestors, all those things are found in Torah. When we say prayers, those are all from the Torah. Once I explained that, they were quite pleased with themselves for being so very smart. :-)

I love my kids. They may leave me exhausted, but they also leave me giggling, beaming with pride, and in awe.

"Quack, quack," says the baby.

While at the ER last week (more on that later), we tried to keep the kids entertained. My brilliant husband thought to grab coloring books and crayons as we walked out the door, but The Boy prefers human interaction. That's a nice way of saying he wants to be in your arms as much as humanly possible. You can occasionally get a break if he's up for crawling around a bit or if he has food. With all the ickiness at the ER, the first option was out. Food, however, was a big hit.

At one point, we showed him one of his books with pictures of animals. We reviewed what the animals say. His very favorite animal, though, is the duck. So when we reminded him that the duck says, "Quack, quack," he was all grins.

We eventually went back to snacks. The Boy wanted a carot stick, but since he has mastered signing, "Please," he's got to do that before he gets food. So I asked him, "What do you say?" He got a giant grin and said in this scratchy voice, "QUACK QUACK." :-)

I fought the curb and the curb won.

This could also be titled:
When concrete attacks
or
Oy Vey.

I'm taking a page from The House That Jack Built. or perhaps I'm thinking of Bringing the rain to Kapiti Plain . Either way, follow along.

This is the zoo where we went today (I purposely covered the sign 'cause I like to at least try to keep my location fairly ambiguous. Although, I must give credit where it's due and tell you I didn't take this picture. I stole it from someone else's site and then altered it).

Here are the elephants playing in the zoo where we went today.

Okay, so I admit I didn't actually get a picture of the elephants. You can all deal.

Here is the elephant statue where I took pictures of the big kids across from the elephants playing at the zoo where we went today.



Here is the curb that I tripped over and sprained my freaking ankle just after taking a picture of the kids by the elephant statue across from the elephants playing at the zoo where we went today.



Here are the giraffes that I managed to walk to insisting I was fine until my ankle hurt too badly to go on a long ways away from the sonofabitch curb that attacked me just after taking a picture of the kids by the elephant statue across from the elephants playing at the zoo where we went today.

This is the ankle all swollen and sore which achingly carried me all the way back to the car from the giraffes that I managed to walk to insisting I was fine until my ankle hurt too badly to go on a long ways away from that evil evil curb which damn near tried to kill me just after I took a picture of the kids by the elephant statue across from the elephants playing at the zoo where we went today.



There's no picture of me all embarassed and annoyed because it's all myown damn fault that I injured my freaking ankle all swollen and sore which achingly carried me all the way back to the car from the giraffes that I managed to walk to insisting I was fine until my ankle hurt too badly to go on a long ways away from that wicked evil curb of death just after I took a picture of the kids by the elephant statue across from the elephants playing at the zoo where we went today.

To be continued...

FTR: Yes, I did go back and purposely take pictures of the statue sans kidlets and that CURB OF DEATH. The only thing that kept me from crying as I was hobbling my way to my car was the thought, "I'm so going to blog this."

Fun with mispronunciation

Girl1 has a difficult time pronouncing the "st" sound. When it comes first in a word, she often replaces it with a "d" sound. This has lead to hours of amusement when she tries to say the word "stick."

We went out to eat over the weekend. Dh got a burger that had one of those sticks with the celophane flaggy type things on the top. Girl1 wanted it. Here's the conversation that ensued:

Girl1: May I have your dick?
Dh: No. You always play with it and then you break it.

By that point, I was literally rolling around laughing like crazy.

Barber, baby, bubbles and a bumble bee

Once again, my gratitude is extended to Dr. Seuss and his insanely addictive ABC book (I swear I can still recite the entire book from memory and my kids haven't touched that book in 2 years).

I've gone back to the gratitude thing which I seem to have abandoned. I got the letter B. Let's begin:

1. Babies: I'm oh so thankful for the one I have and for the fact that we are in fact planning on having another one.

2. Birth: It doesn't have to be an over managed, hospital-bound, illness. It can be a wonderfully empowering thing. For that, I am amazed and oh so thankful. I'm also thrilled that through my belief in birth, I have come to know some wonderful, brilliant, funny determined people who support education about birth. In that breath, I must also say that I'm thankful that medical interventions do exist. I wish they were reserved for when they're truly necessary, but I am glad they are an option. Without them, I would be dead. I am one of the rare few people who apparently does have a bone structure that was too small to allow the size baby I had to pass. Please note, however, that while many doctors use that as a threat for early induction or c-section, it's actually very rare.

3. Bands: Where would we be without music? I can't answer that, but I can assure you that it would be a pretty boring place.

4. Barefoot in the summer: It is simply not summer until I have run barefoot through the yard.

5. Baths: Soaking in a hot bath is heavenly.

6. Bath oil/bubble bath: See above. Even better with sweet scented moisturizing goodness.

7: Beach: I'm a pisces. I love the water. My very favorite place in the world to be is on the beach (although I prefer it when it's warm).

8. Beds: At the end of the day, I'm exhausted. I'm glad there's a nice warm soft place for me to collapse.

9. Bakers: I'm all about the shoes. I got some of my all time favorite shoes from this place when we lived in a different state over 10 years ago. So when I walked into a mall a few weeks ago and saw a Bakers Shoes, I damn near had an orgasm. I love that place.

10. Books: I simply cannot put into words how much I adore books. Other people, however, can.

"I cannot live without books." Thomas Jefferson


"I have always imagined that paradise will be a kind of library. Jorge Luis Borges


"The library is the temple of learning, and learning has liberated more people than all the wars in history. Carl Thomas Rowan


"Books may well be the only true magic." Alice Hoffman


"For books are more than books. They are the life, the very heart and core of ages past, the reason why men lived and worked and died, the essence and quintessence of their lives." Amy Lowell

Too smart for OUR good.

While we were sitting at the restaurant waiting for our food, The Boy started signing "Please," so I shared my water with him. Soon, though, it became apparent that he was hungry. Water was just not cutting it for him. I told him the food would come soon, but he was still annoyed. Finally, I told him, "I have no food. What do you want me to do? There's no food." It was then that he pointed over to a recently vacated table, still loaded with leftover food and said, "Right dare."

Last week, we were in a store and dh couldn't find me. He was holding The Boy at the time and dh asked out loud, "Where is your mother?" The Boy pointed and said, "Right dare." Sure enough, dh walked in the direction The Boy had pointed and there I was. When dh told me what had happened, he misquoted the baby. Dh told me The Boy said, 'Over dare." Well, The Boy (who was still in dh's arms) points right at me and says "RIGHT dare," with an emphasis on the word "Right (as should be evident by my use of caps)."

The baby corrected his father.

This kid is too freaking smart for our own good.

Welcome to my world.

That's the view from my front door. My whole world pretty much looks like that right now and there's another storm coming. Happy happy, joy joy!

My new mantra

I saw this in a scrapbook magazine and I have since adopted it as my new mantra:

"Everything is always okay in the end. If it's not okay, then it's not the end."

I love it. It sums up things quite perfectly.

FYI: We're staying here and planning to try for another baby some time in the future. If anyone can help us through this, it's my midwives.

Sacrifice

No commentary from me on this. I just came across this and figured I'd share:

Olbermann: Special comment about 'sacrifice'
BBC reports Bush will reveal troop surge plan in sacrifice-themed speech
SPECIAL COMMENT
By Keith Olbermann
Anchor, 'Countdown'
Updated: 7:27 p.m. CT Jan 2, 2007

If in your presence an individual tried to sacrifice an American serviceman or woman, would you intervene?

Would you at least protest?

What if he had already sacrificed 3,003 of them?

What if he had already sacrificed 3,003 of them — and was then to announce his intention to sacrifice hundreds, maybe thousands, more?

This is where we stand tonight with the BBC report of President Bush’s “new Iraq strategy,” and his impending speech to the nation, which, according to a quoted senior American official, will be about troop increases and “sacrifice.”

The president has delayed, dawdled and deferred for the month since the release of the Iraq Study Group.

He has seemingly heard out everybody, and listened to none of them.

If the BBC is right — and we can only pray it is not — he has settled on the only solution all the true experts agree cannot possibly work: more American personnel in Iraq, not as trainers for Iraqi troops, but as part of some flabby plan for “sacrifice.”

Sacrifice!

More American servicemen and women will have their lives risked.

More American servicemen and women will have their lives ended.

More American families will have to bear the unbearable and rationalize the unforgivable —“sacrifice” — sacrifice now, sacrifice tomorrow, sacrifice forever.

And more Americans — more even than the two-thirds who already believe we need fewer troops in Iraq, not more — will have to conclude the president does not have any idea what he’s doing — and that other Americans will have to die for that reason.

It must now be branded as propaganda — for even the president cannot truly feel that very many people still believe him to be competent in this area, let alone “the decider.”

But from our impeccable reporter at the Pentagon, Jim Miklaszewski, tonight comes confirmation of something called “surge and accelerate” — as many as 20,000 additional troops —f or “political purposes” ...

This, in line with what we had previously heard, that this will be proclaimed a short-term measure, for the stated purpose of increasing security in and around Baghdad, and giving an Iraqi government a chance to establish some kind of order.

This is palpable nonsense, Mr. Bush.

If this is your intention — if the centerpiece of your announcement next week will be “sacrifice” — sacrifice your intention, not more American lives!

As Sen. Joseph Biden has pointed out, the new troops might improve the ratio our forces face relative to those living in Baghdad (friend and foe), from 200 to 1, to just 100 to 1.

“Sacrifice?”

No.

A drop in the bucket.

The additional men and women you have sentenced to go there, sir, will serve only as targets.

They will not be there “short-term,” Mr. Bush; for many it will mean a year or more in death’s shadow.

This is not temporary, Mr. Bush.

For the Americans who will die because of you, it will be as permanent as it gets.

The various rationales for what Mr. Bush will reportedly re-christen “sacrifice” constitute a very thin gruel, indeed.

The former labor secretary, Robert Reich, says Sen. John McCain told him that the “surge” would help the “morale” of the troops already in Iraq.

If Mr. McCain truly said that, and truly believes it, he has either forgotten completely his own experience in Vietnam ... or he is unaware of the recent Military Times poll indicating only 38 percent of our active military want to see more troops sent ... or Mr. McCain has departed from reality.

Then there is the argument that to take any steps toward reducing troop numbers would show weakness to the enemy in Iraq, or to the terrorists around the world.

This simplistic logic ignores the inescapable fact that we have indeed already showed weakness to the enemy, and to the terrorists.

We have shown them that we will let our own people be killed for no good reason.

We have now shown them that we will continue to do so.

We have shown them our stupidity.

Mr. Bush, your judgment about Iraq — and now about “sacrifice” — is at variance with your people’s, to the point of delusion.

Your most respected generals see no value in a “surge” — they could not possibly see it in this madness of “sacrifice.”

The Iraq Study Group told you it would be a mistake.

Perhaps dozens more have told you it would be a mistake.

And you threw their wisdom back, until you finally heard what you wanted to hear, like some child drawing straws and then saying “best two out of three … best three out of five … hundredth one counts.”

Your citizens, the people for whom you work, have told you they do not want this, and moreover, they do not want you to do this.

Yet once again, sir, you have ignored all of us.

Mr. Bush, you do not own this country!

To those Republicans who have not broken free from the slavery of partisanship — those bonded still, to this president and this administration, and now bonded to this “sacrifice” —proceed at your own peril.

John McCain may still hear the applause of small crowds — he has somehow inured himself to the hypocrisy, and the tragedy, of a man who considers himself the ultimate realist, courting the votes of those who support the government telling visitors to the Grand Canyon that it was caused by the Great Flood.

That Mr. McCain is selling himself off to the irrational right, parcel by parcel, like some great landowner facing bankruptcy, seems to be obvious to everybody but himself.

Or, maybe it is obvious to him and he simply no longer cares.

But to the rest of you in the Republican Party:

We need you to speak up, right now, in defense of your country’s most precious assets — the lives of its citizens who are in harm’s way.

If you do not, you are not serving this nation’s interests — nor your own.

November should have told you this.

The opening of the new Congress on Wednesday and Thursday should tell you this.

Next time, those missing Republicans will be you.

And to the Democrats now yoked to the helm of this sinking ship, you proceed at your own peril, as well.

President Bush may not be very good at reality, but he and Mr. Cheney and Mr. Rove are still gifted at letting American troops be killed, and then turning their deaths to their own political advantage.

The equation is simple. This country does not want more troops in Iraq.

It wants fewer.

Go and make it happen, or go and look for other work.

Yet you Democrats must assume that even if you take the most obvious of courses, and cut off funding for the war, Mr. Bush will ignore you as long as possible, or will find the money elsewhere, or will spend the money meant to protect the troops, and re-purpose it to keep as many troops there as long as he can keep them there.

Because that’s what this is all about, is it not, Mr. Bush?

That is what this “sacrifice” has been for.

To continue this senseless, endless war.

You have dressed it up in the clothing, first of a hunt for weapons of mass destruction, then of liberation ... then of regional imperative ... then of oil prices ... and now in these new terms of “sacrifice” — it’s like a damned game of Colorforms, isn’t it, sir?

This senseless, endless war.

But — it has not been senseless in two ways.

It has succeeded, Mr. Bush, in enabling you to deaden the collective mind of this country to the pointlessness of endless war, against the wrong people, in the wrong place, at the wrong time.

It has gotten many of us used to the idea — the virtual “white noise” — of conflict far away, of the deaths of young Americans, of vague “sacrifice” for some fluid cause, too complicated to be interpreted except in terms of the very important-sounding but ultimately meaningless phrase “the war on terror.”

And the war’s second accomplishment — your second accomplishment, sir — is to have taken money out of the pockets of every American, even out of the pockets of the dead soldiers on the battlefield, and their families, and to have given that money to the war profiteers.

Because if you sell the Army a thousand Humvees, you can’t sell them any more until the first thousand have been destroyed.

The service men and women are ancillary to the equation.

This is about the planned obsolescence of ordnance, isn’t, Mr. Bush? And the building of detention centers? And the design of a $125 million courtroom complex at Gitmo, complete with restaurants.

At least the war profiteers have made their money, sir.

And we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain.

You have insisted, Mr. Bush, that we must not lose in Iraq, that if we don’t fight them there we will fight them here — as if the corollary were somehow true, that if by fighting them there we will not have to fight them here.

And yet you have re-made our country, and not re-made it for the better, on the premise that we need to be ready to “fight them here,” anyway, and always.

In point of fact even if the civil war in Iraq somehow ended tomorrow, and the risk to Americans there ended with it, we would have already suffered a defeat — not fatal, not world-changing, not, but for the lives lost, of enduring consequence.

But this country has already lost in Iraq, sir.

Your policy in Iraq has already had its crushing impact on our safety here.

You have already fomented new terrorism and new terrorists.

You have already stoked paranoia.

You have already pitted Americans, one against the other.

We ... will have to live with it.

We ... will have to live with what — of the fabric of our nation — you have already “sacrificed.”

The only object still admissible in this debate is the quickest and safest exit for our people there.

But you — and soon, Mr. Bush, it will be you and you alone — still insist otherwise.

And our sons and daughters and fathers and mothers will be sacrificed there tonight, sir, so that you can say you did not “lose in Iraq.”

Our policy in Iraq has been criticized for being indescribable, for being inscrutable, for being ineffable.

But it is all too easily understood now.

First we sent Americans to their deaths for your lie, Mr. Bush.

Now we are sending them to their deaths for your ego.

If what is reported is true — if your decision is made and the “sacrifice” is ordered — take a page instead from the man at whose funeral you so eloquently spoke this morning — Gerald Ford:

Put pragmatism and the healing of a nation ahead of some kind of misguided vision.

Atone.

Sacrifice, Mr. Bush?

No, sir, this is not “sacrifice.” This has now become “human sacrifice.”

And it must stop.

And you can stop it.

Next week, make us all look wrong.

Our meaningless sacrifice in Iraq must stop.

And you must stop it.

cookies and budgets

That is really interesting. It's all about the budget and American spending explained using Oreos.

Go check it out.

Friends + alcohol + boobs = fun

I have the best friends in the world.

Last night, for the first time in years, I had more than one drink. Actually, I had 3--two big-ass mixed drinks (which were probably the equivalent of 4 drinks) and then a glass of wine. I also had lots of great conversation and a friend who declared herself the designated driver. WOO HOO.

We hit one place and chatted while I drank (it's very strange to go out drinking when the person you're with isn't drinking. I was afraid of making an ass of myself). Then they closed and we went looking for somewhere else to frequent. We passed Hooters. I said, "I've never been to Hooters." She said, "I haven't either." Then we both said in unison, "Let's go to Hooters." And so we did.

Now, I don't do beer. I just can't stand the taste. And yeah, that's what Hooters is all about (well, other than the obvious). I felt like such a dork because I got a glass of white zinfandel. Although, I also got a plate of the hottest wings they have (and ate them happily. While good, they were far from too hot for me). So I guess that gives me back some cool points. :-)

I had a great time and while tired in the morning, I didn't have anything remotely resembling a hangover. Woo hoo!

So yay for friends, alcohol, hotwings, oh and breasts too. :-)

I would like to direct your attention

to this utterly FABULOUS post by Giselle: Hospital Birth and Rape

Forget Xmas, we need a little funny

right this very minute. Although, maybe we can forgo the candles in the window and the carols at the spinet.

I need a giggle right now, so enjoy these:

My husband has named the dog’s stuffed bear YourNuts. This way, dh can ask, "Where's YourNuts?" The amusement is unending.

And now a word from my kids:

Yesterday, I overheard the girls playing. Girl2 tells her sister, "The kids aren't with me today. One is with her dad and my other kid is getting fixed."

A few weeks ago, dh and I stepped away from the table and when we came back, we found both girls had left. When faced with the question, "Did you ask to be excused," Girl1 replied, "Yes. I asked my sister and she asked me. We excused each other."

My first lesson of 2007

Here's what I learned thus far this year:

No matter how long or how fast I run on the treadmill, I cannot run away from my problems.

I'm hoping to soon find out if mass quantities of alcohol will help.

Short version of the story, my pelvis is too small.

I shouldn't have let my hopes rise. I should have kept insisting we were just done. But I got ahead of myself and started thinking the test results would have good news. I was wrong.

To be fair, I must say there are some things that can be done to make the likeliehood of a normal delivery more likely, but even if they make a huge difference, there's no guarantee that would be enough. Plus it puts a huge strain on my family and me.

So now I just don't know.

All I know is that I want a drink...

and to kick my pelvis' ass.

But um...yeah. You see the inherent problem here.

About family

I came across these and fell in love. So of course I must share the love. Here are some thoughts on families:

The great gift of family life is to be intimately acquainted with people you might never even introduce yourself to, had life not done it for you. ~Kendall Hailey, The Day I Became an Autodidact

Families are like fudge... mostly sweet with a few nuts. ~Author Unknown

The family. We were a strange little band of characters trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another's desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together. ~Erma Bombeck

Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one. ~Jane Howard

Family is just accident.... They don't mean to get on your nerves. They don't even mean to be your family, they just are. ~Marsha Norman

Family faces are magic mirrors. Looking at people who belong to us, we see the past, present, and future. ~Gail Lumet Buckley

Wow!

If you look to the left, you'll see Kamrin's Karma on the top of my blogroll. I know Kamrin IRL and I adore her. In short, she kicks ass for oh so many reasons.

I read this today and I am just in awe. Go read that now. You won't regret it.

Just because this makes me laugh

Here's a cartoon for ya

Amazon & the hidden 30-day price guarantee

Ohhhhh, now THIS is interesting.