Appauling

I watched this and was appauled!! But I'm always very careful to be sure of facts before I make opinions, especially in politics, b/c things are so often twisted and skewed one way or another. I wanted to see the facts on Obama's actual vote here, and see what moer there is to the story. Now I've looked at the facts and now I'm even more sure of where I stand.

I've known that Obama voted "present" 54% of the time in the Illinois Senate, but I didn't fully understand the importance of it. Sounded to me like he's just not doing anything - but it's even worse than that.
"Because it takes affirmative votes to pass legislation in the Illinois Senate, a "present" vote is tantamount to a "no" vote. A "present" vote is generally used to provide political cover for legislators who don't want to be on the record against a bill that they oppose." (from RealClearPolitics.com article). Not to mention that as a Senator, and certainly as a president it is your elected position to look at issues, determine what your constituents want and vote on their behalf!!
When you look at all the many issues that he voted "present" on - it tells a lot about the politician and "leader" that he is. He essentially voted No on really important issues, while hiding behind a "present" vote, so he wouldn't have to upset any sides or make any stands. But then Obama himself says this in his announcement speech "What's stopped us is the failure of leadership, the smallness of our politics - the ease with which we're distracted by the petty and trivial, our chronic avoidance of tough decisions,"

The Born Alive Infant Protection Act is one of the issues that he opposed by voting "present" to 3 times! Even after it was passed by every other democrat and republican in the House of Representatives! It really disgusts me that people will be so ignorant to vote for this guy without really looking into what kind of a job history he has so far, and the kind of political leadership he's provided - the president can't vote PRESENT! He voted against protecting infants, but didn't even have the leadership to stand up and say "No I'm against this and here's why!" He simply hid in the corner refusing to be pinned down on making any change! I guess if your strategy is to get into the Presidency and then make drastic changes that the majority of Americans would never support, the best plan is to stay under the radar, don't stand for or against anything that's not mainstream, then you can spout lots of fluff and give great speeches and deny any and all beliefs so no one can disagree with you. Great Leader. Great.

Someone who is voting for Obama, PLEASE explain to me why. I started out very open minded, I listened to him at the Deomcratic National Convention and I agreed with much of what he had to say. I thought, I may be able to support this guy, he's hitting on great points, he sure looks and sounds like a phenomenal leader! But then I started lookign into the facts, his history, the focus and direction of his political career thus far. The direction he's been going for the 3 years he's been a politician is horrifying! I hear peopel say they like Obama b/c he's going to bring Change. It's a great political slogan, but what the hell does that mean? Anyone will bring change - but how? What kind of change has he brought so far? NOT GOOD change. He worked closely with Acorn, who was one of the primary organizations responsible for so many of these sub-prime loans - they sued banks who would not offer loans to people who couldn't afford them, and now Obama is cursing the evil banks who took advantage of Americans by offering sub-prime loans. He was the attorney suing them when they wouldn't!!!!
I could go on and on, but I have other things to do. Before anyone goes out an votes for this guy, I hope you fully understand his work experience, and his political positions and support and that you have researched who is backing him and where his campaign money has come from. Look at what those supporters would have to gain from those huge contributions. You don't think those are smart business decisions for those investors? They're not doing it b/c he's going to fight against them and help you.

36 Weeks!

I'm 36 weeks today! That means I'm Full term (The baby's lungs should be developed by now and if labor started now, we wouldn't be worried about his development) - this is also a good milestone b/c it means we're on track for my homebirth. Anything sooner than that, the risk is higher, and I'd go to the hospital. We're now ready for a healthy and natural birth whenever the baby is. I hate still calling him "The Baby", but we've yet to find him a name. I'm runnign out of time quickly, so we're trying ot get a short list. Right now my short list has about 30 names, and I'm not even sure if I really like half of them! His middle name will be James, after my dad and grandpa, but that's as much as we have. Kenny and I are struggling to find a name we both like. I think boy names are much mroe difficult than girl names - especially for me b/c I don't want the traditional names. I'm hoping that by the end of this week I'll have it narrowed down to 5 names, and then if I can't decide further, maybe we'll get some inspiration from him when he's born.
I got my birth kit in the mail last night, and that's exciting for me! It's just another marker that we're almost there. The Birth Kit is supplies that I order that we'll need on hand for the birth (bulb syringes, sterile gloves, blue waterproof pads to protect floor and bedding - pretty much all the supplies that you "use up" in the hospital). All the equipment like the dopplers and oxygen, the midwife brings. The only other things we need to be ready to have this baby tomorrow is a birth tub (which we rent, we jsut have to pick it up this week) and a couple minor supplies I need to gather up. So I'm just about ready to go and I'm excited!
I'm starting to get braxton hicks contractions quite often this week. I love it, it's such a weird feeling when it tightens up so much and it just reminds me that my body is getting ready. At my midwife appointment this week she tested me for Group B strep, while she was down there I asked her to see if I'd started dilating at all, we had just looked at my chart from Kaden's birth and seen that at this point with him I was dilated 2 cm (it was 5 more weeks until he was born), so I wanted to compare. I am 1.5 cm dilated with this one. So I'm going to keep planning on at least another 5 more weeks, but no matter how hard i try, I can't help but hope that he'll come sooner. With Kaden I thought I was in labor at one point b/c I ws having really regular contractions, but they didn't hurt. I dilated to 6cm adn then things pretty much stopped. I was at 6cm for 3 days before real labor started. So I realize that my body likes to start preparing ahead of time. I'm going to try not to get excited as I dilate more!
Next week I have my Home Visit with my midwife. SHe'll come ot the house adn we'll make sure we have all the supplies we need and talk in more detail about what I want for the birth. This is my favorite part of homebirth - I tell everyoen else how I want things to go, instead of the doctors telling me how it will be. Who do I want there, where do I want to do it, Do I want music, dim lights, do I want my water broken or left alone, do I want food and if so what do I want. It's one time where everything is really completely all about what I feel is best. I have lots of decisions to make this week too...
Kaden's up from his nap, so I'm done here. I'll post more soon!

Grocery Shopping

Ugh. I'm planning our menus for this week - something that I've found cuts back on our grocery bill quite a bit and makes my week so much simpler b/c i know what to cook and have everything I need. But sometimes, like this week, it's just a pain in the butt. I've used menu planning websites and cookbooks that do most of the planning work for you and I love that. However, sometimes they don't quite fit into our healthy eating diet. So I've been planing menus one my own lately. Kaden is lactose intolerant. A specialist said he was ok to have cheese and yogurt b/c the amount of lactose is so low in those. However, he's still been getting sick, so now we're back to strictly no dairy at all. There's dairy in everything. I have to really be conscious of it when cooking dinner b/c so many recipes we love have dairy in them. Now it turns out, I'm on a NO-CARB diet for the rest of my pregnancy. Great, so I have to plan meals that the whole family will like, using no dairy and no carbs, while not getting completely bored of grilled chicken and veggies. And good luck finding someone elses weekly menu plan that doesn't include dairy or carbs. Ken doesn't know yet that I'll be cutting carbs from my cooking yet. We already eat only complex carbs, and I guess I could still cook brown rice and stuff for the rest of the family. But at least for now, while I adjust, I'm not going to be able to cook it without eating it. So my shopping list this week consists of chicken, shrimp, some canned beans, lactose free milk, eggs and 18 different kinds of vegetables. Just one more complication to a chore I don't particularly love - Except for when I'm getting FREE stuff with my coupons!


09/19/08
I'm 30 weeks now, so ten more weeks to go until we become a family of five. FIVE! Wow. That sounds big. All and all this has been a great pregnancy, once I got past the first 3 1/2 months. I remember full well that it's the last two months that are really difficult, and about this weekend is when I've started to really feel very LARGE. He's getting big and I'm noticing it more and more.
This past weekend we were just North of Austin at our friends Erin and Brad's Lake house. We weren't plannign to be evacuees, but Ike came in teh same time we were plannign ot head out, so it worked out well for us. I feel a little guilty to say that I spent the weekend on a boat, getting a tan and relaxing with my husband (who, thanks to Ike, got to take a weekend off and come with us!!) Saturday night while we were there, I woke Kenny up to my sudden cry of pain - I was jolted from my sleep when the baby kicked me and the pain was so sharp and sudden I felt like I might throw up. Like he's holding knives between his toes in there! There were a few other times when he moved past that spot and again, it hurt. I was worried Sunday morning, but we were leaving the Lake House and had packing and cleaning and driving to do, so I tried to ignore it. By that evening I was getting myself stressed out about it, imagining the pain was from my placenta tearing away and becoming more and more convinced that he was moving less than normal. I called Cathy, my midwife, and after describing everything, she told me that it was not anything to panic over - apparantly he bruising me from the inside out! Not a fun feeling. I swear he likes to stretch out completely in there. Sometimes I'll feel him pushing his foot out so hard, I have to actually put my hand there adn push it back to keep him form hurting me. Cathy says it's not extremely common, but it happens, and she's even had women who have gotten cracked ribs from babies kicking so hard!! I'm starting to think this little guy and Kaden are going to have a lot of fun together!
Which reminds me - we had our 4D ultrasound last week! It was so fun. I'll be sharing those pictures soon! We have the whole thing on DVD, so I'm going to get someone to help me edit out a few scenes and post them. He opened his mouth and started chewing on his fist. The 4D ultrasound is amazing, you can see his tongue, he even opened his eye and you can actually see the iris! We saw fuzzy hair on his head, and got some great shots of his face and despite all my hopes that one day I'd get a child that looked anything like me - he looks EXACTLY like Kaden, same mouth same nose. So, I'm preparing myself for another little Mini-Kenny. Ah... guess this just means I'll have to try one more time! Just have to see if I can convince my sister to carry the baby for me - I'm not up for doing this pregnancy again for a LONG time!