The Hope Suit

At the beginning of my pregnancy with S., I had bleeding issues. Lots of bleeding issues. Bleeding issues that led my doctor to give me a hug and tell me he was so sorry I had to go through this with my first pregnancy. He told me anything could happen, but that this pregnancy did not look healthy. I should be warned that it was likely I would miscarry.

I was a mess. I cried, I prayed, I begged God to let me keep this baby.

And I continued to bleed.

Blood tests came back with hormone levels rising normally.
Ultrasound came back with a little heartbeat fluttering away.

And I continued to bleed. In fact, the bleeding became heavier.

Mr. W. found me in the shower sobbing one morning when I had passed a clot. He hugged me and insisted that I was still pregnant.

That was the day I went shopping. I needed a talisman, a solid object I could look at and take comfort in. I drove to WalMart hoping to find the perfect stuffed animal or baby blanket. Instead, I found a white Winnie the Pooh sleeper with green trim around the cuffs and little pictures of Pooh, Tigger and Piglet all over. It was a size 6 to 9 months.

I can remember holding it tight and trying not to cry in the middle of the store. When I got home, I hung the sleeper up in the middle of my closet. Every morning when I got dressed, I would stroke the little suit and say a little prayer of hope.

The bleeding continued. It lasted 30 miserable, emotional, crazy days. But I was still pregnant, and on April 17, 2002, I gave birth to a squalling, healthy baby girl weighing 10 lbs 3 oz and measuring 22.5 inches long.

I do not credit the Hope Suit, as I've come to call it, with giving me a healthy baby. However, I did come to understand how much a physical object can come to mean to a person.

PS: All three of my daughters have worn the Hope Suit at some point in their lives.

A Poem in Three Lines

Dedicated to the idiot who drives the little red car I see zipping in and out through traffic more mornings than I can count:

It is after eight,
You are already late,
Please SLOW. DOWN.

Thank you.

*sniff* *sniff* So Very, Very Proud

At the ripe old age of 4 and a half, L. has learned to cross one eye whole holding the other one still.

She gets that from me.

I'm so proud.

Lockdown Update

And now, the rest of the story...

Burglary attempt was halted when an elderly woman pulled out her gun and fired off a couple shots at the attempted crook. Said crook made an escape into nearby neighborhood, which just happened to be right by the school. School went under lockdown as a precautionary measure until 3 when all the kids went home.

It sounds like the school handled everything very well. The kids were told the doors were being locked to keep out a man who had tried to get into someone else's house. Then the kids were all given ice cream as a consolation prize for not getting afternoon recess.

S. can be a bit of a worry-wart, so I am very glad that she skipped into school this morning with no reservations. Actually, I think her biggest take-away from the incident was the ice cream.

Isn't this just ducky

First the Fort Hood shootings yesterday. For whatever reason, this has hit me really, really hard. Just the thought of the chaos and utter betrayal is bringing me close to tears.

Second, S.'s school is under lockdown at this moment thanks to a search for a suspect who broke into a house in a neighborhood near the school. News details are sketchy, but they've got helicopter support as well as K-9 dogs hunting for this individual. Fortunately, all the kids are secure, but I'm a little concerned about how everyone will get home if the search is still on-going at 3.

What do you get...

when you mix a 4 year old with a skating party and a Christmas tree costume?

A gift certificate for 2nd place in the costume contest, and tears each and every time she fell down, shattering one of the ornaments on her costume.

Aren't They Just Adorable?

What would a DaVinci exhibit be without Carnival masks?

You heard it here, first

Teams
Engage
All
Members

Slogan I'm kind of proud of that MY team and I developed this morning.

;)

101 Muppets of Sesame Street!!!!!

Check it out: http://www.nationalpost.com/arts/muppets/index.html

Blank Blog

For the umpteenth time, I'm staring at a blank blog screen. Why can't I write anything?

This is driving me crazy.

A. is weaning. L. is taking to swimming lessons like a fish. S. is growing so fast I can't keep up. Mr. W. loves his new job.

I'm feeling bitter sweet about the weaning. I'm proud of the swimming. The growing up thing scares me. I am happier than I can say about Mr. W.'s job.

Lice notice came from summer camp. I've ordered some preventative lice shampoo.

I want to cut my hair, but I am torn. A. often uses my hair as a sort of security blanket.

There. My life in a nutshell...

Ok... OUCH!

Found an unexpected, very, very HOT jalapeno in my lunch today. Unfortunately, I did not have any cheese left to try to cut the burning sensation. Actually, I'm not entirely convinced that WAS a jalapeno. It was awfully hot.

I've had a hard time contributing to the blog, lately. I really want to do better. I can't believe A. is already 16 months old, and I've documented precious little of her life here. She has all the sass her middle sister has. I have a feeling those two are going to wind up making S. look easy to raise.

L. has been exploring her defiant streak lately. I begin to suspect this is a stage, since S. went through a very similar phase. I just hope we don't have too many more months of 'you can't make me' and 'I don't have to do what you say' left. She got her very first haircut on Mother's Day this year. I cut off 4 inches of her beautiful, curly hair. She still has quite a bit of curl left, but those long ringlets are gone. I'm sad about that, but she does look adorable with shorter hair.

S. survived first grade. Her final report card was the best one yet. Above grade level for reading, S+ for spelling, S- for PE and everything else was S. Things really came together for her this school year. As many issues as I've had with her teacher, Mrs. N. did instill a certain amount of acceptance of the requirements for school. S. starts the elementary school next year. Where has the time gone?

Memorial Day

"It is, in a way, an odd thing to honor those who died in defense of our country in wars far away. The imagination plays a trick. We see these soldiers in our mind as old and wise. We see them as something like the Founding Fathers, grave and gray-haired. But most of them were boys when they died, they gave up two lives -- the one they were living and the one they would have lived. When they died, they gave up their chance to be husbands and fathers and grandfathers. They gave up their chance to be revered old men. They gave up everything for their county, for us. All we can do is remember."

-- Ronald Wilson Reagan
Remarks at Veteran's Day ceremony, Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington, Virginia, November 11, 1985

I've Been Presidentially Spammed!

Apparently, sending an e-mail to the President complaining about how he's handling bailouts was enough to get me on his e-mail list. This strikes me as incredibly funny since I'm not exactly his biggest fan.

Text of the e-mail rah-rahs the ongoing plan/discussion/blustering concerning providing better health care options for Americans. Plus it applies a subtle guilt trip encouraging the recipient to get all his/her friends and neighbors to sign up for the updates.

After the way the Federal government manages to muddy up every little thing it touches, I just gotta say (with respect to affordable federal health care): Good luck with that, buddy. You need it.

Of Strawberries and Bar-B-Q

Miss A. shows a very decided preference for strawberries and anything that could have bbq sauce on it. It's to the point that if we are having one or the other, I have to hide them until after she has eaten the other foods with her meal. Otherwise, she refuses everything until she has gorged herself on the favored foods.

Neither of the first two ever showed that strong a preference for a particular food.

We drove down to Llano, Texas in order to enjoy some of Cooper's BBQ last month. It is Mr. W's favorite place to eat, and this was the first time he ever took me. Kind of a fun place where you pick out your food from the pits outside and take it inside to be weighed, cut and eaten.

Miss A. ate more of the bbq than I have ever seen her eat in a single meal. The kid sucked this stuff down FAST. We had leftovers we took home and reheated a couple days later. When she caught the aroma and saw the plate piled with the brisket and sausage, she squealed. Again, she sucked the food down.

Earlier, she pitched a fit because I did not have enough strawberries to suit her at supper. This was after she'd eaten plenty of other food. But darnit, she WANTED more strawberries!

Is it bad that I still giggle when I watch a baby pitch a wall-eyed hissy fit?

Wheezer on a wire

Strange thing I did a couple weeks ago...

I climbed straight up a 20 foot pole (telephone pole type thingy), walked 40 feet across an awfully thin cable while holding onto two ropes, and trusted someone not to let me plummet to the ground in my little harness.

Note: I will NOT EVER EVER EVER EVER NEVER AGAIN do that.

Thanks!

The Libertarian in me likes...

This came out some time in the 80s (as evidenced by the Reagan and Tip O'Neal references), but it pretty well summarizes my attitude about our current legislators.

THE 545 PEOPLERESPONSIBLE FOR ALL
OF AMERICA'S WOES

BY CHARLEY REESE

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.

Have you ever wondered why, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, we have deficits? Have you ever wondered why, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, we have inflation and high taxes?

You and I don't propose a federal budget. The president does. You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does. You and I don't write the tax code. Congress does. You and I don't set fiscal policy. Congress does. You and I don't control monetary policy. The Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president and nine Supreme Court justices - 545 human beings out of the 235 million - are directly, legally, morally and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.

I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered but private central bank.

I excluded all but the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman or a president to do one cotton-picking thing. I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it.

No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislation's responsibility to determine how he votes.

A CONFIDENCE CONSPIRACY

Don't you see how the con game that is played on the people by the politicians? Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.

What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of Tip O'Neill, who stood up and criticized Ronald Reagan for creating deficits.

The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it. The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating appropriations and taxes.O'neill is the speaker of the House. He is the leader of the majority party. He and his fellow Democrats, not the president, can approve any budget they want. If the president vetos it, they can pass it over his veto.

REPLACE SCOUNDRELS

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 235 million cannot replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts - of incompetence and irresponsibility.

I can't think of a single domestic problem, from an unfair tax code to defense overruns, that is not traceable directly to those 545 people.

When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.

If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair. If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red. If the Marines are in Lebanon, it's because they want them in Lebanon.

There are no insoluble government problems. Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take it.

Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exist disembodied mystical forces like "the economy," "inflation" or "politics" that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.

Those 545 people and they alone are responsible. They and they alone have the power. They and they alone should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses - provided they have the gumption to manage their own employees.

This article was taken from the Orlando Sentinel Star newspaper

Not a hoax, for once

Received one of those fwd: fwd: fwd: e-mails this week. In a rare occurrence, I actually looked at the e-mail, and verified the story! Navy/Marine Corps are trying to locate individuals stationed on and/or living on Camp LeJeune, NC from 1957 through 1987. The drinking water was contaminated, and they are trying to locate those affected by the contaminated water.

Article from the Stars and Stripes here: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=62156

I wish this one had been a hoax...

Funny for the day

Letter to a bank:

Dear Sirs,

In view of current developments in the banking market, if one of my checks is returned marked "insufficient funds," does that refer to me or to you?

Sincerely

Race for the Cure

We made our annual 1K pilgrimage today. The Susan G. Komen Race for the cure. And, in a feat never-before-accomplished by the Wheezer family... we came in DEAD LAST!!!!! Yaaaaayyyyy us!

It was kind of funny listening to the announcer strongly urging the remaining people (us!) by the finish line to get out of the way. The timed runners for the 5k were coming through any minute.

Go us!

I have got to stop reading political stuff

Reading some commentary on the economy, I ran across this lovely gem of a comment:

I wonder if they found the clue as to why conservatives are a brainless , selfish , untrustworthy bunch of CIA name revealing traitors ?

Charming, huh?

As a conservative type person, I can honestly state that:
1. I am not brainless. Although, I do have boneheaded moments.
2. My charitable contributions are now and have been a significantly higher percentage of my income than Barack Obama's. Significantly! (You can Google his returns and see for yourself his typical charitable contribution rates.)
3. My family, friends and employer have all found me trustworthy.
4. I have had zero contact with the CIA. and
5. I have never categorically assigned a derisive description to all liberals. I save that for specific individuals, like the hate-filled bit of nonsense above.

The hyperbole of the comment just drives me bananas. And I see it everywhere! I completely understand resentment from the more liberal part of our population. I'm feeling a considerable amount of resentment myself. Name calling is incredibly immature, and this blind hatred is destructive. Can't we JUST GROW UP!!!!!!

Oh, and I see it plenty from hate-filled conservative bits of nonsense. It's beyond disgusting.