Life Day by Day

Today was a productive day, and it feels good. :)

Thanks to the nice, sunny day, I was able to get the yard raked while Cian basked in the sunshine in his swing - well bundled of course - and I was FINALLY able to pick up all the soggy, yucky dog poo. Now we won't have to worry about her tracking it in occasionally, causing a minor panic as we chase her down to clean her feet...then spend 10 or so minutes scrubbing poo prints off the carpet. I was also able to get the house cleaned and the laundry done. I attribute this productive day to a particularly long nap Cian took this morning. Thanks Buddy!! :D

I have been trying to take a 30 minute walk/jog on our treadmill after Tim gets home in the evenings, and that feels good too. It's nice to feel my stamina come back and see the results in my body. I cannot wait to get back to my "normal", and get back into all my old clothes!

ALS has been a pain. For example, he wasn't able to come home for lunch due to a lunch/team building competition that he had to participate in, and after stopping by to change around 4:30pm, he had to go back for an hour or two for a study group. :/ It's a long, lonely day for me. He is doing brilliantly, though. He has the highest score in the class, and is known as the "go to" guy when anyone has questions. The instructor even had him teach part of a class one day because everyone could understand Tim's explanation the best. I'm so proud of him. :)

Cian's teething is continuing to cause slight fussiness and extreme slobber. I had to put a bib on him for the first time the other day to keep his shirt only half drenched. No sign of a tooth yet though.

He is so curious and loves to explore new items. Last night both Tim and I were in the kitchen cooking, and Cian was sitting in his Bumbo twisting around to get his hands on EVERYTHING. He was particularly taken with the mashed potato box. I gave him a big plastic spoon and plastic cup which kept him satisfied until our work was done. :) He has also discovered his tongue and now sticks it out as often as he can. He likes to blow raspberries. It's so much fun to watch him grow and learn.

I talked with a trainer who is used to working with bully breeds, and we now have a plan in place for Rain. First, we're going to get her fixed. The trainer says that with bully breeds, dominate, unspayed females can be more obstinate and intense then even dominate unneutered males. She thinks that could be causing a lot of the problems we're having. Second, we're going to try weight pulling with Rain. She thinks that since Rain is from a working line and as an American Bulldog, she really needs a job. She is going to loan us a harness and then we'll just have to figure out what Rain can pull. :) Maybe we can find an old wagon or something. Finally, the trainer is going to be coming over to help us work on some of Rain's issues. I really hope that Rain comes around, and both Tim and I are on board, as I REALLY don't want to get rid of her.

Well, Cian needs some loving, so I gotta go.
<3

Ah...so. tired.

Cian had a bad night last night - I went to bed at 10:30pm, got up at 8:30am and was fully awake 8 times in between (nursing 4 times!!), and several more times half awake as he wriggled and made noises. Gah. I think it's his teething that's bugging him.

Now he is content in his little play station, playing with toys and watching the Backyardigans. I love that show. :)

Last night we had one of the meals from our Big Cook and it was so nice to only have to thaw it, put it in the oven and then we had a delicious, healthy meal all ready. We're going to have to keep up our stock of those meals! It was a lot of fun putting them all together too, though it was hard with all the nursing breaks, fussy babies, sleepy husbands, etc. Next time we'll have to start earlier in the day, I think, so that we all have more energy and the little ones are more content.

It's nice to have the meals available to bring over to someones house if they are in need of a bit of help too. I'm going to bring one or two over to a friends house this weekend who just had a baby. She had a nightmare story...Her water broke and she didn't start labor in the 12 hours doctors allow now-a-days, so they induced her. The induction started the really hard, painful contractions that it always does, so she asked for an epidural (she had been planning on going natural). Well, something went wrong with the epidural and it made her whole body go numb - so numb that she couldn't breathe! She blacked out and doesn't remember anything more. She said she thought she had died. She was told later that she had been rushed into an emergency c-section where she gave birth to her little girl. Unfortunately, she didn't stop bleeding because her uterus couldn't/wouldn't contract and nothing they did could get her to stop. I guess she lost 7 pints of blood! In order to get her to stop bleeding they had to do a hysterectomy. :( This was their first baby, and they had been planning on having a lot of kids. What also makes this hard on them is that she is from the Philippines and all her family is there, and he is from Utah or some such place and all his family is there so they are all alone. :/ Poor girl. So anyway, we're going to go over there this weekend to see if we can help them out at all.

On a completely different note, we got the Wrath of the Lich King! :) I haven't gotten a chance to play it yet, but Tim played for awhile last night. I can't wait to get on and check it out. :)

Well Cian is tired of his toys so I gotta go get him. I hope everyone has a good day - and has a full night's sleep tonight!!

As was expected, Obama won the election. I am proud of our nation for electing its first minority president. I am looking forward to the boost in our country's international reputation. I am looking forward to seeing if his economic plan will help balance our crazy budget.

But I am sick...I mean I am sitting here literally nauseated at the thought of Obama signing the Freedom of Choice Act which he claimed would be one of the his first actions as president.

I am disgusted with the Christians, Catholics, Jews, Muslims...every religious group who values life because if we had voted our MORALS instead of our POCKETBOOKS, we would not be facing the furthering of the murder of children.

I am furious at those who did vote for Obama who are supposedly "pro-life". How could you?! Is it all just too foreign to you? Are you just too far detached from it? Did you forget what it REALLY IS?!




I may be stepping on toes by saying all this, but honestly I think that one of the greatest downfalls of Christians is not wanting to step on toes. I mean, some toes DESERVE stepping on. If we don't speak up for fear of rejection, then only the opposing side gets their voices heard.

My heart breaks for the millions of additional children who will be murdered in horrendous, painful ways - ripped from what should be the one safe place in this world - thanks to Barack Obama. Thanks to those who voted for him.

I find that though I am still nervous about his plans for education and the war in Iraq, everything pales in comparison to this.

How many people turned aside from these innocent children - doomed them to their fate, just to have a black man in office? Just to have "free" health care? Just to pad their pockets a bit thicker? Just because they are impatient with how long war takes?

I am sickened. I am heartbroken. I wish the babies whose fate it is to die this way - confused, frightened, alone and in extreme pain, knew that at least one person is shedding a real tear for them.

I wake up this rainy November 4th with more trepidation then I thought I would. I don't see this election as lost - I think it could still go either way, but it is leaning towards an Obama win and that makes me uneasy.

I feel strongly about this election. People tell me not to take it too seriously - after all, a president is basically just a figurehead and really, the power lies with congress, etc. etc. But then I remember all the times Bush vetoed a bill that passed congress...furthering abortion rights for example...and I think of the damage an extremely liberal democrat, with a democratic majority in congress and the support of liberal supreme court judges, could do and I feel the heavy weight of this election on my shoulders.

I look at my little boy and think of what kind of nation he might grow up in for the first four to eight years of his life. Will I continue to have the right to choose the education I think is best for him? Will I continue to have the right to dictate his health care and will I still be able to have him treated when I disagree with the "one size fits all" socialized medicine? Or will they say they can't treat him because he doesn't have his vaccinations therefore he is too much of a risk for the governmental health plan?

I look at my husband who has sworn to obey the president of the United States for the next 4 years and I wonder what kind of nation he might be defending in the next four to eight years. Will he be forced by that oath to do what he considers cowardly and dishonorable by pulling out of Iraq before they are ready to defend themselves? Will he have to put his life on the line because of a weakened military under the command of a young, inexperienced Commander in Chief? With our reputation undermined by leaving a country we invaded to implode helplessly?

I look at our nation in general and wonder what powers could come into influence if Obama wins...He has surrounded himself with a host of questionable people and then denied doing so...He became a political figure - from a nobody - extremely fast due to his association with these questionable people...what is the pay off going to be? Will there BE a pay off or is his association with racists, domestic terrorists, ACORN, etc. just coincidence like he claims?

I try NOT to think about all the children who could be killed in gruesome and torturous ways over the next four to eight years if Obama wins.

Sure, I could be taking this all too seriously...maybe it's because of the gloomy rain, maybe I'm still hormonal after giving birth, maybe it's because this is only my second presidential election. Maybe. But I know I have a feeling of unease today that I cannot shake as I wait and watch for the polls to close and the results to come in.

This sounds completely melodramatic, but I gotta say it anyway as it keeps pounding in my brain...

God forgive us.

Restore this nation.

Make us a force for good.

Protect it from our selfishness and self righteousness...our greed, our entitlement.

Let us do what is RIGHT, not what is EASY.