Another Wholesome (NOT so much) Country Song

Here's another one of my favorite songs to hear on the radio- "Pickin' Wildflowers" by Keith Anderson. I love the play on words & subtle (or not so subtle) nature references! Enjoy!

Election Blues!

I am sooo ready for this election to be OVER! I don't mind the politics & discussing the issues, but after literally 2 years of hearing about 'candidates for President', what can I say, I am just plain sick & tired of listening to them! I am also not writing this post as a way of starting a debate! I have made up my mind about who I am voting for & although I hope that everyone votes for him-I am not about to sit here & try to persuade people to vote for him. I am a voter who has a few issues that are very near & dear to my heart & no one-I mean NO ONE-will change my mind on them. I do freely admit that my Faith is a huge factor in how I vote-that is how I was raised & it is what I hope my children will base their decisions off of in their lives. Now that is not to say that I just 'automatically' let my faith make my decisions for me-I do give them lots of thought & consideration so that I can be an educated voter, but I do let it play a part in influencing who I will vote for on election day.
I am also aware of the fact that other people think differently than I do & that they have their own "issues" that are important to them. I also know that I will not change their points of view on their issues so I am not here to tell you how or what to think or who to vote for, but just to say that I am sick & tired of listening to all of the political jargon/ads/doublespeak! So...

Mr. Obama-"Will you please stop running the ad that says 'John McCain voted with President Bush 90% of the time?'" I can't help but think that you are implying that every single thing Bush ever approved was bad-were 90% of his policies all bad or was it just the 10% that John McCain didn't vote for that were bad? I'm sure it falls somewhere in the middle-I can't say that I know how many of his policies were bad & how many were good, but please stop implying that everything has been horribly wrong for the last 8 years! I'm sure that somewhere in that 90% there are at least some good policies!

Mr. McCain-"Will you please stop running the ad that says 'This crisis will be his first crisis in an executive postition?'" Yes it will-does that necessarily mean that he won't be able to handle it. I don't know for sure, but I would imagine he would be fine especially if he surrounded himself with an intelligent staff or maybe he would fail miserably. At this point, if you don't win, well, we have to have confidence in him to lead us so stop suggesting that we shouldn't! Would he really be the first President with the least amount of experience? Again, I don't know for sure, but at this point it doesn't really matter anymore because he won the Democratic nomination & their vote of confidence so give it a rest.

With all of that being said, I can tell you that I will vote for McCain on Nov. 4th because I am confident that he will support my 3 BIG issues-proadoption legislation, prolife legislation & protecting the environment (although here in Illinois "Obama country"-it won't really matter, but at least I can feel at ease that I made the decision that I felt best suited my family & our needs & that I fulfilled my duty as a citizen of this great country of ours!)

Please go out & vote-no matter who you're voting for this November!

Have you smiled yet today?

Well if you haven't this just might do it! My friend, Sheryl, emailed this to me & I loved it! I love musicals so when she sent me this clip of one of my favorite musicals done with & for babies-I just fell in love! Enjoy & I hope it brings a smile to your face!

http://members.shaw.ca/anabw/grease.htm

Oh the humanity!

Everyday, Monday through Friday, Luke gets to go to the babysitter (& oh how he LOVES the babysitter!) He gets to have a grand ole time each & everyday being doted on by someone who loves him a whole lot, plus if the weather is nice he is guaranteed at least one wagon ride, probably a swinging session outside, possibly a golf cart ride (if they have to go out to the field-her husband is a farmer) & at least one trip into town each week when she has to run errands, plus she buys him dinner! There isn't much else he could ask for-it's like Disney World for babies/toddlers, especially since there is an animal running around in the house too! No, it's not Mickey Mouse, just the house dog! :) So taking that all of that into consideration, I've been a little baffled by his behavior when I drop him off in the mornings & pick him up in the afternoons. Check it out for yourselves!

In the morning:
Me: "Is she waiting for us at the door?" (as we're walking up the sidewalk to her house)
Luke: (turning his neck as far as he can looking for her) "She's there, She's there!" (of course he doesn't say this-the BIG grin tells it all as soon as he spots her)
Me: (to the babysitter) "Oh he is just sooo happy to see you today!"
*At this point Luke is basically leaping from my arms into hers & within about 5 mins he is waving "Bye-bye, Bye-bye" to me
Me: "Well I guess I better get going" (somehow I have sensed that he is ready to play!)
Always as I drive away they are standing in the door waving to me as I head off down the road-I LOVE this & it warms my heart, but I also notice the absolute lack of tears about my parting too!

When I return in the afternoon:
Me: I can see Luke through the window as I walk up to the door-he always has a big grin on his face (which makes me very happy!) "Luke I'm so glad to see you!"
Luke: "Me too!" (again no words, just obvious from his HUGE grin)
Babysitter: "Come on Luke-let's walk to Momma!"
Me: "Yay! Walk to Mom!" (as he starts heading my way)
Luke: "Yaaaay! Walking! I love walking! Yaaay, Mom! I love mom, oh wait....she is going to take me home...away from DISNEY WORLD...NOOOOO!!!! (enter complete & total meltdown!)

YEP! That's love for you!

I just pick him up (as he is trying to throw himself onto the ground) & head out the door. Usually, the meltdown will only last a few seconds until we are outside, but as the week progresses (somehow he must know that he only has a limited # of days until the weekend when he will be gone from her house for a few days) they get a little bit worse & by that last day sometimes he's not over it until we get to own our driveway! Maybe we could all just move to Disney World for the weekend! :)

Away too long...

I have been away for far too long & I have a list of reasons a mile long...

I was still getting back into the groove of 'normal' everyday life after traveling over the Columbus Day weekend...

I only had time to check my email, but not to blog (pathetic, I know)...

I was having trouble coming up with ideas...

then I had too many ideas & couldn't pick just one...

I realized that I think waaay too hard about my blog posts...

I was gone on Saturday (my 'free day') for my cousin's wedding...

but they were really all just excuses & most of them not even good ones at that, until this weekend & oh what a weekend it has been!

It all started on Friday, I fed Luke some breakfast & he spit up (or so I thought!) Nope, it was vomiting as I soon learned once it continued. Shortly, thereafter, I discovered that he was also suffering from diarrhea as well. Then came Saturday, the day of my cousin's wedding, we had already decided that I would go & Scott would stay home with Luke if he was still sick. Since the wedding wasn't until the afternoon, we figured that we would have a pretty good idea by the time we had to leave if we would all be able to go or not. No vomiting, no runny stools-good to go! So we all went to the wedding & enjoyed ourselves, until we got into the car to head home that night...about 10 minutes into the drive home-Luke vomited all over himself & his carseat & then fell right to sleep with a pleasant look on his face. We stopped & I tried to clean it up as best I could with baby wipes (Way super Gross, by the way!) & headed home. We got home, got Luke cleaned up & put to bed, & then went to bed ourselves hoping that it was just the "busy" day he had had-retriggering some of his symptoms. A couple of hours later, I wake up & had succumbed to the same symptoms Luke had on Friday (I will not share those details with you-trust me-it was BAD!!!). After several repeat episodes through the course of the night along with Luke waking up several times (thank goodness for Scott or the poor child would have been left to his own devices since I was pretty much incapacitated), Sunday morning finally arrived. I was basically useless to the world other than sleeping & trying to drink liquids that wouldn't aggravate anything (dehydration was knocking at my door after the night before). Unfortunately, Luke was still not feeling so hot either so Scott had his hands full! He did a great job of taking care of me & changing Luke's diapers about every 1/2 hour or so. I started feeling a little better by late afternoon so Scott decided to head out to Wal-Mart to pick up some things that we desparately needed-let me tell you-that was the longest hour & a half of my life! It was a bit too soon & poor Luke I just didn't have much strength to entertain him let alone to do much else for him, but I did manage to get us upstairs a couple of times for diaper duty. I think we were both relieved to see Scott walk back in the door!
Fast forward to today, I have been feeling much better, although the stomach does still feel a little funny when it comes into contact with food & Luke has been doing better too. I took a sick day today even though I was feeling stronger last night-I figured that it wouldn't hurt things to give us both at least another day at home to rest up & feel better & now that I have & am...I hope that you will enjoy my return & I'll try to exclude 'gross out factors' from future blogposts, well at least the next couple anyway! ;)

Just a thought...

I'm thinking that maybe I need to get one of those fancy Iphones with the easy Internet access. We just spent the weekend in Atlanta, GA with Scott's sister, Mary. She is the proud owner of one of these phones as is her boyfriend who we also hung out with quite a bit. Scott prides himself on always being "full of knowledge" on many topics & he LOVES to share it! So during one of the many, many discussions that we had where Scott was trying to tell us how things are whether it was politics, KFC history, etc, there were several times when I started to say "Oh when we get home, we'll have to look it up...", but before I could even finish the sentence-there was Mary whipping out her phone-(Iphone to the rescue!) I would express my glee at the fact that we could prove him wrong (hopefully) right on the spot, but much to my dismay-he was actually pretty accurate most of the times-Ssssshhhhhh, please don't let him know that I actually admitted this :) I have to admit that I wasn't really a huge fan of them when they came out, but I can see their potential now for helping me in my mission of trying to keep Scott on his toes by actually being able to check out his 'facts' right on the spot-oooohhh the fun I could have!!! ;)

Our little chatterbox

Luke has been babbling alot lately. I am not yet proficient in 'Luke lingo', but I have caught on to a few of the words. Here's the short list of words I know that he can say:

1. Uh-Oh
2. Da Da
3. Ma Ma (yes he does say it sometimes)
4. Da Da
5. "Buh Buh" (Bye Bye)
6. Da Da
7. "Nana" (Banana, but usually only after alot of coaching from me)

& last, but by far not the least...

8. Da Da

Can it really be 10 years?

I have been asking myself this question all weekend. My 10 year class reunion was this past weekend & I really enjoyed it, but when it comes to high school & reunions there are always things that strike me as interesting. Like...

How does it not really seem like it has been 5 years or more since I've seen some of these people, but at the same time our lives have all changed quite a bit?
Why does thinking back on high school always make me wish that I could go back & change some things?
When will some of these people grow up?
How is it so easy to have such a good time with people you only see once every few years?
How I can talk to so many different people in just the span of a few hours & actually be genuinely interested in everything they have to tell me?
Why do some people lose the opportunity to connect with others by sticking with the same few friends (that they see quite often already) all evening long? (I was of course one of the few people intruding into some of these little gatherings-not that anyone minded...I think?)
How does all of this reminising still bring up all of those old/weird feelings of insecurity...yet nowadays, I'm so much more confident that instead of hanging back-I just pick myself up & approach the people/things that bring up those feelings?
Why does it always leave me feeling like I wish I could see everyone more often & know them better than I do?...

We didn't have a super great turnout, but it was a good mix of people to make for a fun evening of hanging out together. I enjoyed flowing from one group of people to the next & then back to my 'closer' group of friends. I learned alot about many of my classmates & even felt like I broke down a few of those 'walls' that people put up when they're uncomfortable too. I could also tell that I have grown up quite a lot over the past 10 years (& may be becoming more like my mom as we speak!) Before where I would have seen some of these people as people who I would assume "probably didn't care if they talked to me" so I would hang back & not talk to them-now I saw those same people & assumed the same things, but I got over myself & just approached them. I found myself to be pleasantly surprised by the 'genuine' reactions of happiness to see me & interest to talk to me about my life & theirs. That is a really cool feeling!

HE could never be a woman!

As you all know by now, I love to tell on Scott! This morning's conversations definitely made for one of these times & I said to him "you know this is probably going to end up in the blog!" :)
Our normal morning routine usually consists of Scott getting up around 5:15 (sometimes I get up & exercise at this time, but most of the time I choose to sleep instead), showering & then waking me up when he is finished so that I can get ready. He then ventures downstairs & does whatever it is he does (makes his lunch for the day, eats breakfast, watches TV, takes care of Luke if he wakes up, etc.) When I've finished getting ready (if Luke isn't up yet), he heads off to work. If Luke IS awake, then he usually brings him upstairs to hang out with me so that he can finish getting around & head off to work. You get the picture.
Anyway, this morning I was just about ready when Luke woke up so Scott came up & got him up & dressed-then brought him into our bedroom. He headed downstairs (I thought to leave for work). When Luke & I got downstairs, Scott was getting his coffee made up & standing by the stove waiting for his tea kettle to boil (water for his oatmeal).
I said "You haven't eaten breakfast yet?" (slightly confused)
He said "No, I haven't gotten to it yet."
I said "Well what have you been doing with your time-it's been like 40 minutes, since you first came downstairs?" (granted I may have been using a slightly sarcastic tone of voice)
He said "I had to make my lunch."
I said "It took you forty minutes to make your lunch!" (getting more sarcastic)
He said "Well...no...I was doing other things...I dozed off..."
Me (laughing & sarcastic) "You dozed off! What would happen if I dozed off after I came downstairs & all I got done was getting my lunch packed...I would have to be a stay-at-home mom because Luke & I would never make it out the door!" (no offense intended to any of the SAHM's out there) ;)
I believe that this is when I good naturedly said something about it going in the blog-he ate his oatmeal & left for work.
I am a good wife! (I just have to razz the poor guy sometimes!) :)