Well, this is infuriating...

Who do I need to start writing to...??? Stupid AMA/ACOG. Yeah, let's just go with the docs on this, without looking at any evidence.... Makes sense.

The day it becomes illegal in this country to have a homebirth is the day I'll consider moving out of this country--and I love my country! CONGRESS--you'd better not let this happen... You'll be hearing from me.

AMA Supports Proposed Legislation to Make Home Births
Illegal

ABC News reported on July 11. 2008 that the "American Medical Association has agreed to support proposed legislation that, some physicians say, could make make having a planned birth in one's home difficult, to virtually impossible." Presently their is no legislation but the AMA is backing what is called "Resolution 205" which is a request to support the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists' (ACOG) position that home births are not safe.

American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) spokesperson Gregory Phillips, stated clearly, the ACOG position, "We are against home births, period." He continued in the ABC story by stating, "Women who give birth outside of a clinical setting risk putting themselves and their newborns at risk."

In opposition to this stand the American College of Nurse-Midwives has come out with a strong statement in support of planned home births. Jennifer Block, author of "Pushed: The Painful Truth About Childbirth and Modern Maternity Care, who also writes a column for the LA Times stated in her columns that in Britain they routinely ask expecting mothers if they would like to have their babies at home instead of in the hospital. In her column Block noted that a hand-out is given to expecting mothers from Britain's National Health Service that says, "There is no evidence to support the common assertion that home birth is a less safe option for women experiencing uncomplicated pregnancies."

Block also noted in her column that last year a joint statement was issued by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Royal College of Midwives that said, "There is no reason why home birth should not be offered to women at low risk of complications, and it may confer considerable benefits for them and their families."

Ms. Block concludes her article by noting that she believes this entire issue is nothing more than a turf war by physicians not wanting to give up control. "The AMA's statement calls for legislation that could be used against women who choose home birth, possibly resulting in criminal child-abuse or neglect charges. The group says this is about safety, but with no credible research to back up its claim, this argument falls flat."

The various articles noted that the reaction by the American College of obstetricians and Gynecologists' (ACOG) and the AMA came about due to a documentary film called "The Business of Being Born" by talk show host Ricki Lake, where she exposed the American system of birth as a business. Abby Epstein, the film's director stated in the ABC story, "What the film has done is to cause a lot of women to choose midwives over OBs -- especially younger women who've never heard of midwives," said Epstein. "We've received calls from midwives saying that their practices have doubled since our film was released. There's a lot of ego in this -- that one would want to choose a midwife over an MD. It's really a turf war going back 100 years between the medical establishment and midwives.

The trailer for the film can be seen on YouTube at the following address: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DgLf8hHMgo

Okay, my more level headed husband found this article that helps explain all this a little better, with less cause for alarm. But it still pisses me off.

Oh, and one more, from the Huffington Post. Thank you, level headed bloggers! :)

BABY SHOWER!!!

Saturday, my friend Liz through a "pink" shower for us to celebrate the upcoming arrival of "Jess Jr"! She did a terrific job decorating her home for the event, and made some really great food for us to indulge in (all healthy and diet food.... uhh... well, maybe not! But it was GOOOOOD!) It was a really nice time, with friends and family, and I'm so blessed to have a friend like Liz who would go through the trouble of making us feel special for having our "second". I know some people think that you should only have a shower for #1, but all of our stuff is BLUE! It was nice to get some "pink" girly things to have to welcome our daughter into the world.

So, Jess Jr, you'd BETTER really be a girl! There was no doubt during the sonogram, so if she's not a girl, there'd better be two boys in there, since one huge error deserves another! :)

THE FOOD!!! Everything was SOOOO YUMMY! I love "punch", and we also had these awesome sandwiches (the croissants... "baco-dilly" SO GOOD!), some cucumber w/ dill, mini cupcakes, fruit, and my Mom made her "famous" strawberry crepes (not shown). It was all SO GOOD, I couldn't finish it all (though I made room for more sandwiches... they really were delicious!)

GIFTS! We had just been joking about how Babies R Us only gives you clear packing tape with which to wrap gifts you buy there, making it "oh so 'easy'" for Mom-to-be to open them. Yup, no saving the wrapping paper there!

Me with our "hostess with the mostest." She did such a great job, and it was such a nice time. Thanks so much, Liz!!

It was a dark and dreary Monday...

And Jeremy had to go back to work. :(

When I was a kid, I always had mixed emotions about going back to school. Sure, it meant summer vacation was over, but it also meant meeting new teachers, seeing who was in my class, and learning new things!

It was inevitable, though... Nearly every year, we would wake up and it would be dark and gloomy out. That's just the way RI was in the mornings (especially since we had to be at the bus stop at 6:55... too early!) So today when we woke up and it was dark and gloomy out, it reminded me of those early mornings in Tiverton, where you had to have the lights on when you got ready or else it was DARK. Not that we were up at 6... Heck, I finally gave in to Jeremiah's "requests for freedom" around 8:30. It seemed earlier, as both Jeremy's and my alarm had been going off every 5 minutes or so since 7... But it all worked out.

I'm tired, though... We went to bed wayyyyy too late. Add that to the fact that I didn't nap once since Jeremy's been home, and yeah... I be tired! I had originally planned on working on Jeremiah's room during his nap but I think I may have to join him in his visit to snoozeland.

Speaking of my sweet, little boy, he was really testing Mommy and Daddy's patience last night. Every now and then, he'll stick his fingers in his mouth and gag himself. So far, he's only ever done it when he's been sitting in his highchair, either waiting to eat, or waiting for us to finish eating... We've tried scolding him, holding his hands so that he couldn't, but that just encouraged him to do it more. Eventually, we just let him do his thing, and hope that the experience of puking will be enough to keep him from doing it again. Well, last night, he gagged himself, threw up, then did it AGAIN, threw up again, then did it a THIRD TIME, until, I'm pretty sure, there was nothing left for him to puke up. GROSSSSSSSSS!! I don't know why he does it, or why he felt the need to keep doing it over and over... But he didn't cry, he wasn't upset by it at all (much to our dismay) and instead took the opportunity to play with the sticky icky stuff on his tray... EWWWWW!! Needless to say, I was finished with dinner at that point. We gave him a bath and put him to bed. Probably why he was so anxious to get up this morning and have breakfast--his belly was empty!

Grrr... yeah, so if any of you with older kids have any suggestions, let us know. I've never heard of toddlers gagging themselves for no reason (not like he was complaining about a belly ache or anything... and he certainly didn't learn it from either of us! I guess it's just a curiosity thing...)
At least he only does it when he's in his highchair, and not when we're out shopping or something. I plan on asking our dr about it at his 18 month checkup in another week.

Overall, I think we had a good week off. We didn't go anywhere (except one day out to Warrenton to use my parents' pool) but we did get some things done around the house, which had been in the plans for a while now. Jeremy's new room is freshly painted and just waiting for some of Mommy's artistic touches (or Grandma's, but I'm not sure when she'd be able to get back out here to do it.) Once that's done, we can start moving him in. The goal is to have him sleeping in there before Jess Jr. comes so that it'll feel like HIS room, and nursery will just feel like a place for babies. So hopefully I can get that done this week (shouldn't take long to do, just painting a NYC skyline on one wall, maybe some clouds and the moon and sun on the ceiling, since we ended up painting that as well... the old paint was really dirty and gross...) Then I've gotta put up his Spider-man border (yes, he knows who Spider-man is... I wonder where he got that from..... ;) and then it's just moving all his stuff in!

We also painted our bedroom (yay!!) Well, Jeremy and my Dad painted it (after I emailed him and begged for his help--my brother Stephin was here to help, but he's not quite at that "do everything with excellence" stage...) I had planned on helping, but I did some rolling in Jeremiah's room, and had really bad cramps and braxton hicks the rest of the night. I was getting worried there for a second, but it passed after sitting and chilling for an hour or so (was especially weird since two weeks prior, I moved 1600lbs of dirt, and NOTHING happened... You'd think if anything would cause contractions, that would do it, but nope... just painting a ceiling. I guess we've crossed that point of no return...) Needless to say, I've been taking it easy ever since. No more "strenuous" activity for me! It is frustrating, though, to not be able to do the simple things you're used to doing--like walking to the park with Jeremiah! It's just too much at this point, so we have to drive instead (which is stupid, because it's just across the street...) OH WELL. There will be plenty of opportunities for walks to the park after Jess Jr. gets here. We've got our doubles kit for our stroller, so we're ready to go with two!

It's pretty crazy how quickly time passes. We'll be full term in under a month now, and she can then make her appearance ANYTIME! Everyone in my family is convinced that she'll come early (sometime in August... yeah, that's a stretch, with our due date being Sept 1st, and all. :) Though I think Sept. 1 would be a cool birthday (and appropriate, since it's "Labor Day"), I'm reaching that point where I'll just be happy to have her. Once we order our birth kit, and get a few other little things (still need to buy some pink sheets! That's all we still need to convert the nursery to "girl") we'll be ready! We even bought a portable spa (with jets!) to use during labor, since the Aqua Doula was such a godsend last time around. Though we may need to set it up earlier this time around... I wouldn't mind a nightly soak in 100 degree jetted water... Ahhh....

Yeah, so needless to say, we're getting really excited! It's hard to imagine what life will be like with TWO kids, but we said the same thing about one, and now it's hard to imagine life without. Only problem is, I don't have anything else to "look forward" to to get me through the next few weeks... vacations over, our shower is over (post coming soon), nothing really "fun" is going on... Just weekly appointments, either at the chiropractor, dentist, Jeremiah's doctor, or the midwives. Though I think we may have some fun this weekend, getting together with some family (hopefully!), and we may have a barbeque in the works for August, so we'll see. I still need to go to the spa and get my "birthday pedicure" from Jeremy. I'm waiting a little longer until I really need a pick me up.

For now, though, there's laundry to fold, diapers to sew, pants to hem, rooms to decorate, curtains to hang, little shopping to do, and all sorts of other busy work to keep my days occupied. We may have to hit the pool "out west" despite the gas costs ($15 r/t for hours of comfort for me and fun for Jeremiah? Yeah, that'll be a "must do".) Maybe I'll even get around to writing up my LOST Season 4 posts... We'll see!

Mini Videos

These are mini videos that I've taken with my phone. The sound and video quality isn't very good (you may have to turn your speakers wayyyyy up to hear anything--I promise, there's no scary guy screaming at you at the end,) but it's all I had at these specific times. Still cute and fun to watch!

Jeremiah trying out the neighbor's scooter--he really had a great time! What a big boy...

Hey--where's your license?? Are you old enough to drive yet, Jeremiah?? Ah, well, it's awfully cute. Go ahead, park the car.

This one is tough to see and hear, but it's Jeremiah blowing on the table making silly noises. It was really funny, but since I could only record 15 seconds at at a time, and he would always stop as soon as I started recording. Oh well. You get the idea.

Forgot to post...

I meant to post this back in our Vegas posts, but didn't for some reason. So here it is.... the Fountains at the Bellagio!

These are some DANGEROUS goldfish...

And you thought Japanese Fighting Fish were dangerous... Don't mess with this goldies... They're FLAMMABLE!

"WARNING: FLAMMABLE! DO NOT OPEN OR HOLD NEAR FLAME OR CIGARETTE"

I'm nto exactly sure what makes them so flammable... usually you use water to put out a fire, but hey, to each his own. I made sure Jeremiah extinguished his 'fag' before opening these suckers up... You know, don't want to do anything stupid......

Cleaning out the camera...

Finally found the card reader! I thought there'd be more, but there were only a few pics. And they're not very good, because, for some reason, the camera was saving to the internal memory instead of to the memory card... I dunno...

Random pic... I don't remember what happened to his nose... I think he tripped and fell, or something... He does that a lot. :)

Eating sushi! Mmm... Eel roll. He's so serious!! Despite his face, he did enjoy it and ate the whole thing (and even had a 2nd, though I don't think he cared for the seaweed part very much.)

Ice cream at the park. I usually get Bomb Pops, but thought he might enjoy an Orange Creamsicle type push pop. Of course, he did, and got quite a bit of it on his shirt. He was quite proud. :)

This is gonna be short...

It's just not comfortable to sit and type anymore... I usually need one hand pressing on the upper left side of my belly to keep the numbing sensations (and pain) at bay.... But a few things:

~Jeremy and Stephin are almost done painting Jeremiah's new room. It's gonna be NYC themed (because I love NYC, and I can sneak super heroes and video game characters in there without it being too geeky...) It's not been without it's trials, though. We decided to paint the ceiling at the last minute, which used up a lot of paint, which meant we needed to get that first coat on as heavy as possible (which meant dripping) yet still required much touching up. The bottom half is a darker color that likes to bubble when it's applied, and recently heard was Stephin asking, "How do you get paint out the carpet?" Yeah...

~Started going to a chiropractor today. I like him a lot better than my old one--he's much more thorough, has a good bedside manner and actually applauded me for having a homebirth! Most 'medical professionals' don't get it. So that was nice. I may even start taking Jeremiah... who knows!

~It's fun to watch my belly "move". Jess Jr. has run out of room to really flip around, so she just shifts (what we think is) her little butt back and forth from the right to the left, with little kicks here and there. She's been good about letting me sleep--only problem now is getting the temperature 'just right'! Too warm, I get hot, too cold, I have to use the covers (I'd rather not,) and then sweat under the covers, so throw them off, only to freeze, and have to retreat yet again. Yeash. We'll figure it out.

~Jeremiah was running around the yard naked tonight. Jeremy had to water our fancy schmancy garden, so of course, Jeremiah wanted to get wet. We stripped him down to his diaper, and then took that off too, since it was soaking wet and just hanging there. He enjoyed himself immensley. :)

~Our baby shower is Saturday! Yay! I'm excited. It'll be small, but that's okay. We ladies should have a lovely time! So I'm looking forward to it!

Well, looks like they're 'bout done, so it's time to MARIO PARTY! Good times.

Happy 4th of July!

Farmer Jeremy, lookin' after his "babies"

"tut-tut, looks like rain!"

We're having a low-key Fourth, ourselves. Took the opportunity during Jeremiah's nap to finish the garden. YAY!! For the most part, all of our plants are planted now (all that we were going to plant, at least,) so now we just need to wait and see what grows! We're not too sure what's going to come up where, actually... All the plants started out labeled, but for some reason, Jeremy decided we didn't need to keep track of what was what...

Aside from tomatoes (we know which those are,) we have three different kinds of squash (zucchini, yellow and butternut,) cucumbers (I know for sure at least ONE of those is a cucumber...) watermelon and one lone pepper plant. We're also keeping a tomato plant and most of our basil plants on the deck in pots.

The onions and lettuce seem to have disappeared. Then again, I'm not sure if onions actually sprout anything above ground, so they may be fine. However, our lettuce, I'm pretty sure, is long gone.

Oh well. We should at least have some squash, tomatoes and basil. Add in some yummy mozzarella cheese, and we'll at least have a yummy salad. Not sure what'll happen with the watermelons... But we'll see!

At least it's done now! Yay! Next year, we'll probably skip the whole potting process, and just put the seeds right in the ground. Good times!

We thought about going to Herndon's 4th celebration, but if it's still raining, I think we may skip it. Plus, you won't be allowed to leave once you park--you're in it for the long haul! I don't think I want to have to stay until 10:30 tonight. Maybe next year!

Enjoy your holiday! Happy Birthday, America! :)

Seriously... what's the deal?

I'm still waiting to hear back from those Craigslisters... Their ads are still up, so I'm assuming that means they're still available... But who knows. I just don't understand why it's so difficult to send a quick email with "yes" or "no" in it. But whatever. They'll be other prospects, that's for sure!

Jeremy's off with Jeremiah to Starbucks to get us a couple of "bevi's". I'm not sure what he's doing today, though... I don't know if he's off from work, or "working from home" or what. So far, the only work I've seen him do is check email on his phone. All I know is that his company shuts down at 3 today, so he'll be done at some point before that! I think the plan is to finish the garden today. Hopefully we can, as our poor little plants aren't too happy living in their little pots anymore. They want to grow! We'll post pics once we're finished.

And that's all that's happened since last night. :) I'm just waiting on UPS to bring my box of "Carnation Instant Breakfast" so I have something to have for breakfast again! I'd gotten into this routine of drinking one of those and maybe having a bowl of Special K w/ Red Berries cereal. First I ran outta the Instant Breakfast, then I ran outta cereal... So I've had to improvise... today was good, though. I had eggs and pierogies. Mmmm.... I know, kinda a weird combination, but flavor wise, it works! And I'm pretty sure that's not just a preggers thing, as my brother Stephin also enjoyed the combo. Next time you give yourself time for a big breakfast, you should try it. It's better for you than hash browns, at least!

Yeah, I'm sure you really needed to hear about what I ate for breakfast, huh? Well, like I said, that's all that's happened since last night, so I had to throw something in there, right? :)

Grr... still no emails. Okay, well, I think my best bet is to get off my laptop. Then I can't sit and dwell on my email status.

Hey, if you have a minute after reading this, feel free to shoot me a little, "Hey, how's it going?!" and tell me about your day! I love getting email that isn't from Old Navy or Bath & Body Works (they're having a sale! how exciting! <~ sarcasm...)

Wow, today's such a nice day... Maybe after Jeremiah nap, we can take him to the farm (since we didn't hit up the Farmer's Market yesterday) and he can use up that newfound energy and split a Bomb Pop with his Mama! We'll see! <~Random thoughts.

Okay, going now... really... :)

Double booo....

I'm kinda bummed out right now. It could be because I've crashed from my mini-cupcake induced sugar high (though I never remember actually hitting the high...) It could be because I didn't go outside at all today and am feeling a bit stir crazy (had planned on going to Costco, but shopping isn't as much fun when you're only budgeted a certain amount to spend--milk and eggs just don't make for an exciting shopping trip. Plus, I didn't go first thing in the morning, and if there's one thing I've learned it's that if you're going to go to Costco, you go FIRST THING IN THE MORNING.) I think the main reason right now, though, is that NO ONE IS FREAKIN' EMAILING ME BACK!

Who isn't emailing me back?? Craigslist people. See, I've been trying to get this sandbox and car for Jeremiah to play with outside... I don't want to spend $60+ to buy them new, so I'm trying to find them on Craigslist. Well, I've found a couple of the sandboxes I want. One was local, just posted yesterday, asking $15. I emailed them last night. No response. The other was posted on Saturday, but I always assume that if the ad's still up, it's still available (not like it's hard to take it down....) This one was FREE, so while I assume it's gone, I maintain hope that it's not. Emailed them today--no response. This happens to me all the time! It drives me nuts! If you're going to sell something on Craigslist, and you don't list a phone number to call, then be available to send an email saying, "Yes, it's available." or "Sorry, it's gone." Why is that so much to ask for??!?! I'm beginning to think something's wrong with Yahoo...

Whatever. If I don't get it, I don't get it. Not a huge loss. But, boy, does it frustrate me!

/rant

Baby Poll coming to a close....

....in 5 weeks! Once we hit the 36 week mark, it will be locked up! So if you haven't had a chance yet (most of my loyal readers have) please PLEASE take a moment to cast your vote!

I know, it's just not as much fun for the 2nd baby, but it would make a pregnant gal smile--isn't that all that matters?!?! And who knows! You might win something!

Finally! A moment.

Jeremy's gone off to get me birthday cupcakes, which means the TV is off, and Jeremiah's asleep=a few minutes of peace and quiet where I can get some news down on the blog.

We've had a nice week since my last update. Thursday, we had our 30 week checkup with the midwives, and all is well. I got to meet the new midwife, who, thankfully, is NOT the midwife I had last time (and really didn't like...) She's actually a lot like the midwife who delivered Jeremiah, bedside manner-wise. Then again, I didn't give her anything to really scold me about--my weight gain has been good (still in the negative, though only by a couple of lbs now--I've gained 13 of the 15 I lost... not bad,) baby's heartbeat is good (140's, same as last time,) felt head down (though she's still a mover and a shaker--hopefully she stays that way!!) and my BP is good (though a little higher than usual, still well within the normal limits.) We're "measuring" a couple of weeks ahead, but that's not surprising. We measured ahead everytime with Jeremiah, and he came out 10lbs 11oz, so in my book, we're right on target. I don't "feel" large yet--I guess I only remember being full term with Jeremiah and being HUGE. We'll see what happens in the next 6 weeks.

Friday was a tiring day, though a productive one. We've been trying to get our raised bed filled so we can actually plant our veggies before the summer is over (they're all in pots on the deck right now.) Went to Lowe's and had 'em load us up with 40 bags of topsoil/composted manure mix. We were definitely low-riding! I was worried about the van, so I unloaded 24 bags into the garden, and the rest into the garage (1600lbs total!) Probably not the best idea, but I know my body would have told me, "Hey, you're doing too much!" if I had overdone it, and I felt fine afterwards. Tired, yes. Hot and thirsty, yes. But I wasn't sore or anything, so I guess I came out okay (better than Jeremy--he thinks he hurt his back unloading the remaining 16 bags that night... Guess I'm SuperWoman!) Another 30 bags or so, and we should be ready to plant (gonna ask the neighbor to help us with that--he's got a truck!)

Saturday was crazy. The original plan was to go "yard sale-ing" in the morning. I'm trying to find a covered sandbox and one of those Little Tykes Cozy Cars for Jeremiah (he loves the neighbor's) and maybe some 2T shirts for him (he's built like his Daddy--long torso, so all of his 18-24 month shirts are too short for the most part.) Well, that didn't happen. I couldn't get Jeremy out of bed before 9, and we still had to go to the store for the...

ANNUAL PIPESTEM COOKOUT! Okay, this is where it got crazy. Our neighbor, Rob, organized it (we had a blast last year--kinda our "welcome to the neighborhood" deal) and for some reason decided it should start at 1 p.m. Well, Jeremy had planned on setting up the inflatable 10 foot screen, and his projector so we could show a movie on the lawn... But ya can't use a projector outside until it's dark (or at least getting dark.) So the party went... 10 hours! And it was hot. We set it up under the neighbor's tree, but it was still pretty hot. It got to the point where the kids were spraying each other with the hoses (and Jeremy and Rob, too.) Jeremiah got up from his nap around 4, and within 30 minutes was completely soaked. I should have had my camera going, but I didn't. It was cute, and a nice break from the heat, but man... it was crazy.

Lots of fun, though! We watched Transformers outside, and other than a brief shower here and there, we had a great time overall. But man... it was long. Next time, we're starting at 5!

Sunday, the plan was, go to church, bring Jeremiah home for a nap, then go to the Mclean Bible Loudoun Campus Cookout back at the church. Well, after a 10 hour cookout the day before, we were pretty cookout-outed! So we went to church (again, fighting to get Jeremy out of bed before, this time, 8, but amazingly, he jumped out once I nudged him for the 2nd time--wanted to get me Starbucks before church. Aww...!) drove around trying to find some place in Leesburg that supposedly has a great brunch (friends told us about it... we never found it,) so we just came home and put Jeremiah down for his nap, and I took one too.

After Jeremiah woke up, we had some lunch, and then just kinda chilled in the family room. I was reading Jeremiah a book when we heard the front door open. We weren't expecting anyone (or so I thought), so I hoped that Jeremy was, since he was kinda relaxed about it (I always immediately assume the worst when it comes to things like that.) Who walks in but my family! Surprise! They had come over to surprise me with burgers to grill and a carvel cake. I gotta hand it to Jeremy--he may not have thought ahead to get the name of this brunch place, but he did think ahead to have my family come over after naptime! It was a nice surprise, and we had a good time. Jeremiah was genuinely stunned, too. He didn't know what to think of Grandma and Grandpa appearing out of nowhere--usually we're going to their house. But it was a good time.

And that's about it. Jeremy took me out to dinner last night--we got sushi! Yum. I know, I break all the rules. It was goooooo-ooood, though! But yeah, now we're back to the same old same old. Tomorrow's Jeremy's last day of work before vacation (yay!) We're going to relax a couple of days for the 4th, finish the garden over the weekend, and then next week, gonna paint some rooms! And hopefully, that'll all get done early in the week so that we can spend some time by the pool (at my parents'... I don't do public pools.)

Wow. He's still not back with my cupcakes. Well, let's see... Oh, we've got a babysitter for Jeremiah now. We finally talked to a neighbor who babysits (she's 16) and Jeremiah seems to like her, so hopefully that will work out. Yay! We can go on a date without driving out to Warrenton to pick up my brother! Woot. So that's nice. And she doesn't charge $10/hour (another plus... man, I definitely undercharged when I was in High school!)

Annnnnnnnnnnnd... Jeremy's back. Time to eat some cupcakes, and then go to bed. Have a great week/holiday!

"Are you a baby???"

Figures... when he was a baby, we couldn't get him to sit in his Baby Papasan for more than a few minutes (usually while we tried eat dinner...) Now that I've been keeping his "baby doll" in there, though, he can't get enough of it. Looks pretty comfy, huh? I just hope he doesn't try to sit in it when Jess Jr is... This may be the beginning of, "I'm still your baby, too, right Mommy?" phase... we'll see!

On to happier things.

Well, I was going to blog about the economy (and how it's not as bad as the news likes to make it out to be--as Dave Ramsey would say, "The press has accurately predicted 36 of the last three recessions." :) Get it? Point made!) But this is not the place for that. After all, what's going on in the "economy" really only affects 5-10% of our personal economy... the other 90-95%? All us. So why dwell on it? I'm not an economist, I'm in no position to "fix" anything other than make our family's economy as successful as possible (and therefore, that success contributes to the overall health of our nations economy.) So I'm moving on to more "fun" things.

Things have been good here in the Wilcox abode. Jeremiah continues to grow and be a huge blessing (and learn some new things, which are absolutely adorable!) As you can see from my last post, he's learned "where Jesus lives." That took all of two days to teach him (one of his favorite books right now is his "First Bible" and it has stories about Adam & Eve, Noah, Moses, David & Goliath, Daniel, Jesus' birth and ministry, etc...) He ususally won't let me read him the stories, but he will look at the pictures while I explain what's going on (before quickly turning the page... he wants to see Jesus, after all, because he "knows" who He is. So cute!)

His favorite activity is now "reading". I used to think we had a lot of books for him, but with him bringing me a new book every 5 minutes to "read" to him (he just wants to look at the pictures and ask what things are, but he will sit there and let you read some of it to him most of the time,) I realize we don't have quite as many as I thought. And they have to be board books, because he will tear up any paper he can get his hands on (as sadly evidenced by his "Goodnight Moon" book... oh well. At least it was just the dust cover.) Of course, if they're the "touch and feel" kind, that's even better! I bought a few off amazon (buy 3 get the 4th free,) but that still added up to quite a bit. So we're going to go "yard saling" Saturday, and see if we can't find him some books for cheap.

Also on the list of things "to buy" are a sandbox and a little tykes car. You know, the one you had as a kid that looked like a Flintstones car? Jeremiah LOVES the neighbor's and is always trying to use it when they're outside (which doesn't always please Nolan, the 2 year old who lives next door. He's pretty possessive.) Hopefully we'll be successful, but if not, the search continues! I've been trying to keep an eye out on Craigslist, but so far, they're all out in Woodbridge, or Arlington, and that's just too far to drive to buy something used that's already not really priced to sell. So we wait for the "perfect deal".

The sandbox, I'm not sure if that's worth getting or not. I bought playground sand for Jeremiah ($6/bag! Crazy...) but he's not too interested in it yet. He doesn't like walking on it, and so far just enjoys scooping it up and dumping it out. But if we can find one of those turtles or crabs cheap, then it might be worth it (not $60 worth it, like they cost new, but we'll see what we find...) I'm trying to find more things for him to do outside rather than just run toward the street, or go on the swing (which needs to be re-hung, because the rain has caused the rope to fray... not good.) Right now, we're using a baby pool another neighbor gave to us, but we'd like to get something with a cover, since there are so many cats in the neighborhood that would probably use it for a litter box.

Speaking of large litter boxes, our raised bed is nearly complete! Yay! Last week, while Jeremy was out of town, my brother Stephin and I put this massive piece together. It's 2'x4'x12' (DxWxL) which is quite large, though I have a feeling we'll have no trouble filling it. The plants that Jeremy's started from seeds have grown considerably, and desperately need to get in some dirt--some of our squash already have flowers on it! So yeah, it's built, stained, and the ground has been tilled for it. We just need to move it back into place, fill it with dirt (which we bought last night--800lbs of top soil and composted manure!) and then we can plant (if we don't need more dirt, that is.) I've got my Birthcare appt tonight at 6, so we probably won't get to do much on it today, but hopefully we can finish it off tomorrow, or Saturday at the latest.

Jeremiah and I had a nice day yesterday. We had our breakfast and then went to the park. They were having a concert on the grounds of the visitor's center, but I didn't stop to listen (we could hear it in our neighborhood anyways...) I wanted to get to the Farmer's Market before it was too late, so that's what we did. Once again, the bread guy didn't have any raspberry bread, but I got a raspberry tart instead, and it was really good. It basically tastes like their scones, only they add pecans to it. Very yummy. We also got some cherries from the fruit guy (a quart, which I promptly consumed shortly after arriving home... I think I left 10 or so for Jeremy. Whoops...) And we paid for all of with dollar coins! That was kinda fun, as most people just kinda look at them for a second, and then try to figure out where to put them in their tray. :) See, the US Mint right now is selling them at cost in boxes of $250 worth, with FREE SHIPPING! So you could basically look at it as a fee-free cash advance. They're trying to get them into circulation, since the banks don't want to deal with them. I personally really like having change, so I'll use them everywhere I would normally spend cash at (anything over $10, though, usually goes on the card.) Not a bad deal.

Anyways, back to the park. After the farmer's market, we once again stopped for ice cream from their little store (this time, Jeremiah tried an orange push pop, while I had the bomb pop. I think he liked mine better, though.) Of course, he made a huge mess, but I came prepared with a pack of wipes this time. After that, we played a bit on the playground (which he was very apprehensive about this time... he would cautiously and carefully cross the bridge, when last time he was running across... But he's been the same way about steps lately, too... He's very cautious about stepping down from our front door, and wants me to carry him down the steps everytime, when he used to happily climb down them himself... hmm... Weird.)

By the time all the kids came out from preschool to play, it was REALLY hot, so we decided to leave. And leave we did. Even Jeremiah's face was all red, and he held/sipped his sippy cup the whole way home. Of course, we did stop briefly to look at the animals along the way (which he just loves.) So yeah, we had a nice morning, despite the heat. It still hasn't been as bad as it was a couple of weeks ago, when it would regularly push the thermostat above 100. But low 90's is still pretty hot!

Okay, that's enough. Have a great rest of the week/weekend!

"Jeremiah where does Jesus live?"

"...in our hearts!"

This really is what he does when we ask him that. Well, minus the big mouth thing. He was just really getting into it, I guess.

This or that?

I came across this article while perusing through Yahoo! Health. Yeah, it's a "Men's Health" article, but I've eaten many of the items on the list, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. Basically, it takes some traditional "fast food" options that we may run to, and shows you the healthier alternative (which is an odd word to use once you see the options listed.)

Case in point? Instead of getting a Whopper from Burger King, order the Big Mac from McDonald's. The extra patty in the Big Mac is still leaner than the mayo they slather on the Whopper. Crazy huh? And my favorite?? Guiness is better for you than Sierra Nevada beer--despite it's almost "chewable" texture, it's on par, calorie wise, with most light beers.

(and a must drink for women late in their pregnancies in many parts of Europe.... hmm...)

It's an interesting read, so check it out. Maybe next time you've gotta eat on the run, you can breathe easy knowing you made the healthier choice (even if it is all bad for you.)

And before you go out for a thirst quenching beverage this summer, check out this list of the worst drinks in America. Thankfully, none of my favs are on it (though I think Jeremy may have recently consumed THE worst drink in America... whoops. Face it... nothing good comes out of Baskin Robbins, so best to just avoid them completely.)

Man... for some reason now... I could really go for a Big Mac...

Not a bad week.

Despite the fact that Jeremy's been gone since Tuesday, and our little adventure with Babies R Us yesterday, this week has been a fairly good one.

The largest contributor?? The weather. After weeks and weeks of above average highs, with added humidity to boot, a week in the "slightly lower than average" with very low humidity has been a great change! For the past three, four days, it's not stepped above the low 80's, with very little mugginess. Jeremy's actually had hotter days in Denver & LA this week than we've had! :) This was definitely the week to stay home and get some stuff done outside! Oh well. At least Stephin has been hanging out with us since Monday, which has enabled us to build the raised bed for our garden (something we've been meaning to do for weeks.)

It's also been nice having Stephin around. Usually, I can only stand him for a couple of days (usually because he and Jeremy get along so well that they're inseperable while he's here.) We built the bed, ran some errands, played Mario Party, etc, etc... So it's been nice. Jeremiah loves his Uncle Stephin, and has been running to him everytime I mention "sleepy time!"

Unfortunately, somebody woke up early from their nap... I'm trying to clean up a bit, so I went into Jeremiah's room while he was asleep to get his clothes to wash (he's outta shorts, and almost outta shirts! Whoops... at least we have plenty of clean diapers for now.) Well, he woke up, and never went back to sleep. Fourty-five minutes is not a good nap! Oh well. He's gonna have to hang out in there until Mommy's done doing what I need to do (which doesn't include this blog... I'd really like to get our bedroom at least a little clean before Jeremy comes home!)

This weekend should be nice, too. Tomorrow should be beautiful! Partly cloudy with a high of 85... very nice, indeed. We're having some friends over for dinner, something we've been trying to plan since March! But we'll keep it low key, so we can just enjoy ourselves, and relax.

Sunday's forecast is not as chipper, but "scattered t-storms" are fun, too. Jeremiah loves the rain, as you could tell from our Father's Day post. Mostly, though, I'm just looking forward to just hanging out and not doing anything! :) Hopefully we'll get the garden fully set up this weekend, have dinner with friends, go to church Sunday morning, and then just chill the rest of the day. Very nice indeed.

Well, I'd better go fold those clothes (I've learned that no matter how long you leave 'em there, they won't fold themselves... oh well, wishful thinking.) Jeremiah's only going to give me, maybe, another 30 minutes before he's had enough. And then Daddy should be home shortly after that! YAY! I can't wait to see Jeremiah's reaction when he sees his Daddy for the first time--hopefully he's more excited than when we picked him up from Grandma's after being gone 10 days! :) Will let ya know!

Have a great weekend!!

Another classic...

The latest culprit to invade my head (and get "stuck"....)

...more like Reeediculous...

hee-lar-i-ous [he-lair-ee-uhs] - noun:
extremely funny, completely soft, fully functional
high heel crib shoes for babies.

Not intended for walking (heel will collapse with weight).

Not intended to harm children in any way.

WARNING: May cause extreme smiling and hysterical laughter when in use (this is completely normal).

I'm dead serious... I wish I wasn't....

Umm... no one should feel the need to buy these for Jess Jr. She's fine with all the Robeez from Jeremiah, thank you. :)