Midwife Appointment

I saw my midwife this afternoon. I always enjoy visiting with her; she tells the best stories!

Anyway, all is well with Jack. Fundus is measuring 32-33 weeks (I'm technically 29 weeks now) and she said Jack "feels" like he is sitting around 4 pounds at the moment. This completely jives with what my last two ultrasounds have said and has led my midwife to begin questioning my due date. I'm very hesitant to move it (after all, what if he really is just big?), but she wants to shift it from March 14 to February 28. That's a pretty big jump! I don't think it would freak me out nearly as much if it didn't mean A) I'm practically having a baby NEXT MONTH and B) I have much less time to get stuff together.

*panic, panic, panic*

I may or may not have mentioned before that we got rid of everything of Spencer's except his crib (which we aren't planning on using) and highchair. Well, I say we, but I wasn't the one hauling all of those Gymboree and Baby Gap clothes to the curb on trash day. *weeps* It was part of what I call Jake's "post Iraq crazy," so I forgive him and all, but seriously, now we have nothing!

I have been picking up clothes here and there as I'm out and see something adorable or for a good deal. I totally racked up at the Carter's outlet in Branson last week. And of course I'm working on Jack's diaper stash since we're using cloth. (His clothes and diapers are taking over our linen closet, BTW, so if you know someone giving away a dresser or if you know of somewhere to get one of good quality for cheap, let me know!) But as far as baby gadgets? We're SOL at the moment.

Of course, it isn't as if we NEED those. We bought a car seat at Babies 'R Us a few weeks ago and my boobs will be ready to go when the time comes, so really the bare bones necessities are taken care of. If all else fails, we'll wrap him in some of Jake's t-shirts until we get to the store to buy the poor kid some clothes that fit. ;-) At least he'll be fed and able to travel by car.

Sharing

I've been meaning to share these since the weekend.

Ultrasound highlights:

*He's measuring about 3 weeks ahead, still. This has led me to believe my dates may be off a bit, but I'm not "officially" changing my due date. Shea's last two ultrasounds have put my due date at 2/28 and 2/21, respectively.

*He's got a head that is measuring 32 weeks, which is a full month ahead. Shea said boys have big noggins. :-)

*He really likes his feet. The perfect first toy!

*He has lots of good fluid.

*He was head down at the ultrasound, but that can still change. Although Shea said that if he moved from that position to another one, I'd definately know it as it would take a pretty big effort on his part.

Neglect

I do really good for a few months at blogging and then I just hit the ceiling.

I can't decide if we've been really busy or if I've been really lazy, so I'm going to go with busy. We've been traveling back and forth between Mountain Home and Little Rock (or Fayetteville, but mainly Little Rock) almost every weekend for the past 4-6 weeks. Last weekend was the first weekend we were able to stay home in what felt like forever. Between taking Spencer to the dentist, Thanksgiving, and Christmas shopping, we've been tearing up the road in a big way. If gas was still $3.50 a gallon we wouldn't have been able to afford to do it.

We are headed to Little Rock yet again tomorrow. My little sister (well, she's 22, so not really so little) is graduating from nursing school tomorrow night. I'm so super proud of her. For quite a while it seemed like her head might have been screwed on a little crooked, but lately she's been making some stellar decisions and I couldn't be happier for her. She's getting her LPN tomorrow night and then will go to UALR for the spring semester to finish out some classes she needs to go on and get her RN. I have a feeling I'll be hitting her up for money in a few years. ;-) She definitely picked a more lucrative career field than I did!

On Friday we are scheduled for a 4D ultrasound with my aunt. In the beginning of this pregnancy, I only wanted to have one ultrasound done: the 20 week. That way we'd know if there was some underlying condition (heart, lung, intestinal, etc.) that would necessitate us being in the hospital instead of having a homebirth. I had some slight complications in the beginning that led me to having two early ultrasounds, the ones I REALLY wanted to avoid, within about a week and a half of each other. Then I went ahead and had the standard 20 week. I was planning on being done with them at that point, but I mentioned a 4D to Jake and he expressed that he'd really like to go in and have one done. I have a lot of guilt b/c he missed almost all of my pregnancy with Spencer (including the 14 billion ultrasounds I had done during that pregnancy), so I wanted to oblige and indulge him. He is really amazed when Shea does them and always asks tons of questions.

Speaking of Jake, can I just take a minute to brag on him big time? He's been so great about coming to my appointments with me and asking questions or even taking notes! I don't really need him when my midwife comes to the house b/c she doesn't do anything pushy or invasive, but my OB certainly does. I really need him there for moral support so I can tell the doctor exactly what I think about things, and Jake has totally been there for me. He's expressed some nervousness over the entire birthing process since he is so queasy around blood and other bodily fluids, but I know he's going to be amazing.

I'll leave you with a picture of me at 27 weeks. I've been taking pics every 3 weeks, and this is just the latest in the line. :-) And please pardon the blurriness; Jake took the pic and he's usually not our family photographer. LOL

Three cheers for viability!

1. 20 weeks, 5 days-Oct. 29-Gestation at which my water broke with Spencer PASSED!

2. 24 weeks-Nov. 21-Viability PASSED!

3. 30 weeks, 3 days-Jan. 5-Gestation at which Spencer was born

4. 37 weeks-Feb. 20-Full term

5. 40 weeks, 1 day-Mar. 15-Overdue


Another milestone met! You are not going to meet a happier pregnant lady than I am today. With Spencer, this was a big, big goal that no one thought I'd end up hitting. My water had already been broken for close to 3 weeks and I was able to get my first round of steroids once I got to this point. Not to mention the hospital staff was very frank with me in saying that they would make no effort to save Spencer before 24 weeks. Not even at 23 weeks, 6 days.

I really feel like I can take a deep breath. But not too deep, because I still have 2 more mandatory milestones to meet!

My good report of the day

I had a prenatal with my midwife today and everything is just peachy!

My fundus is measuring 27 weeks, about 3 weeks ahead of where I actually am. She said I had plenty of good fluid and Jack had a wonderfully reactive heartbeat. I asked her to check his position, just out of curiosity, and he is in a funky breech position with his butt by my right hip and his head underneath my left ribs. She did say his head is tucked under, which is very good. I told her that occasionally I feel like he's in my ribs on the right side and she bets that he's flipping transverse to breech with his head there.

Words cannot express how much I love having a midwife. She comes to my house for every prenatal and we chat for about 30 minutes before even getting into the pregnancy stuff. Today, when she checked Jack's position, Freckles was sitting on her lap the whole time. You just don't get that service with a doctor. :-)

I mentioned to her that I was having trouble staying asleep once I fell asleep, either because my hips hurt or because I simply can't fall back to sleep after getting up to potty. She gave me some yoga moves to help loosen my hips and said that should help the first half of the night at least. She also encouraged me to go out and be busy in the hours before dinner. This will help me be more physically tired at bedtime so that I can sleep harder and fall back to sleep more easily. I told her I'd been toying with the idea of joining a gym and she said that sounded like a good idea. So that is definitely on my agenda for next week: call some gyms. I need to get some exercise anyway.

Pregnancy Milestones

Recorded here for posterity. :-)

1. 20 weeks, 5 days-Oct. 29-Gestation at which my water broke with Spencer PASSED!

2. 24 weeks-Nov. 21-Viability

3. 30 weeks, 3 days-Jan. 5-Gestation at which Spencer was born

4. 37 weeks-Feb. 20-Full term

5. 40 weeks, 1 day-Mar. 15-Overdue


Well, I won't cry if I don't make that last one, but the rest are greatly desired!

After a weekend of knitting...

I completed Jack's second pair of longies. For some reason, I always wanted a pair of yellow and green striped longies for Spencer. I didn't learn how to knit until last fall, so he was basically out of diapers by that time. So I decided green and yellow would be perfectly lovely for a March baby.

They aren't done (I still have to weave the ends and stitch the crotch together), and they certainly aren't perfect, but I feel like they are so cute!

I still have several things that I want to knit for him. It'll be cold for at least a month after he's born, so I'm planning on knitting more long stuff in a newborn size and shorties in a size small.

Rockin' the Vote

I voted today. :D

Being a whopping 25 years old, this is only the second presidential election I've been eligible to vote in. I was soooo excited about voting in 2004, I remember it like it was yesterday. My vote was really more of a protest vote then. I didn't love the Kerry/Edwards ticket, but I hated George Bush so much (still do!) that it wouldn't have mattered it a communist was running against him, I'd have voted for the communist. Jake was already deployed at the time of that election and I was not a happy camper about the Iraq War. I never have been, but I digress.

This time, I love my candidate. Love, love, love. I told the girls at work I'd have his babies. LOL (I hope no one thinks I'm talking about John McCain here!) He really inspires me to want to go out and help others and just generally be a better person. It is a really strange feeling to be so moved by a stranger.

He's having a rally in Springfield tomorrow and I'm very tempted to make the drive. I need to see if I can get some details worked out, we'll see. I know it is about 2 hours from here and Jake won't come with me, so I'd either be going by myself or with Spencer. I don't think Spence would appreciate being dragged 2 hours for a political rally, although it is quite adorable to see him point to Obama on TV and say "That's Barack Obama!" which sounds more like "That's a rock baaama!"

Don't forget to vote!

Some music for your enjoyment

I think my kid totally has a future in music. ;-)




This is the song he was singing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIkqEF2Mvc8

My mother-in-law got him a great children's CD by the Barenaked Ladies for his birthday and that is a song from the CD. He loves it and it is actually a CD that Jake and I don't mind listening to over and over and over. Two thumbs up from us!

Oh Boy!

I am totally delayed in putting up the news, but we are going to be having another BOY! I am really, honestly thrilled. I think a girl would be fun, don't get me wrong. Have you seen baby girl clothes? I would seriously break the bank. But there is just something about the way boys love their mommies that make all the shirts with trucks, dinosaurs, and construction equipment worth it.

We went in to see Shea not intending to find out the sex. Well, that's not totally true. I wanted to know b/c it would make shopping easier. This, of course, was of no concern to Jake since he wouldn't be doing any of the shopping. Everything from cloth diapers to swings and car seats are getting gender specific these days. So when Jake consented to let us find out I was thrilled. I knew it was a boy all along, but it was nice to have confirmation.

A few ultrasound pics for your enjoyment:


The first is a pic of his little hand all stretched out. Shea said this eliminates the chances of Trisomy 18. The second is his little profile (the top of his head is to the right, for those who are proficient ultrasound readers). She said he looked great and was big and strapping!

Before we left Little Rock, I made Jake take me by The Yarn Mart on Kavenaugh. Any guesses as to what they sell? LOL The yarn store here is quite sad, full of acrylic yarns. Nothing against acrylic, but I just don't knit with the stuff. You can't use it for longies, soakers, or shorties and it isn't nearly as warm as my yarn of choice, 100% wool. The Yarn Mart has a ton of 100% wool yarn so it is like Mecca for me.

Jake picked out a yarn for his winter hat while we were there. I just put it on the needles in this pic and you can see it is being fiercely guarded by Catch.


There was so much yarn in that skein that I should be able to make the baby something out of it as well.

I also picked up enough yarn to make several pairs of soakers and longies.


The green and yellow will make a pair of striped longies and a soaker or two. The light blue will probably make a pair of solid longies. Under the yellow, you can see a variegated yarn that will make some longies and hopefully also a pair of shorties for the summer. I need to find a trim for that one. I didn't think about that while I was there the last time, so I'll probably stop back by the store while we're in Little Rock this upcoming weekend. I also have 3 skeins of yarn dyed by some very talented ladies at Hyena Cart. Baby Jack will have a beautiful wool stash come March!

And, just for kicks, the hat I finished for Spence last week. It is made from some left over Peace Fleece (which is 100% wool), so it will be super warm.

The Marion County Fair

Last week was the Baxter County fair. Jake was working crazy long hours, though, and we didn't manage to make it to the fair until after 7 pm on the last night. And, of course, as we are pulling out of the driveway it starts to sprinkle. Spence got to ride 2 rides and Jake and I got to eat some fair food before it started raining enough that we decided to leave. It was about as much fun as you can have in roughly 20 minutes.

Jake called yesterday to say the Marion County fair was going on this weekend, did I want to go? Marion County is sparsely populated and the fair was to take place in Yellville, which is about 20 minutes away, but I figured the fair would be at least halfway decent if the Baxter County fair was decent.

Wrong.

When we arrived at the fairgrounds, we saw horses. Lots of horses. Now, I'm not opposed to the equine portion of any fair, and goodness knows my child loves the livestock, but this was different. There were no rides, no game booths, no vendors selling funnel cakes or corn dogs. Beyond the horses you could see about 5 big, inflatable jump houses (or so I call them) and that was it. All. Finito. Horses and jump houses.

Needless to say, at this point I was happy that Spencer had fallen asleep in the backseat. This fair was LAME and I didn't want to waste what little cash I brought on it. A moment of spontaneity seized me and I turned to Jake and said, "Let's go to Branson." He said, "We need to go get some gas."

We very rarely do things on a whim, so when he obliged me I was thrilled. I hadn't been to Branson since I was a little girl (and it turns out Jake hadn't been in forever either) and it is not what I remember.

We went with the intention of eating at Joe's Crab Shack. They've been running commercials here forever and my mouth waters at the sight of their crab legs, but the closest one is up in Branson. As we were trying to figure out where it was, Jake mentioned Greek food and we had an immediate change of plans. One of the biggest things we miss about living in the Little Rock area is going out for Greek food, so now that we were among civilization, we were certain to find some.

Jake found a review on his iPhone for a place called Zoey's and we set off to find it.

It was very "hole in the wall"-ish. It stood alone, on a dark road, away from the Branson strip. But we walked in to be met with the wonderful smell of wonderful food.

We almost choked when we saw the price tags, but decided to stay and eat anyway. Jake got the moussaka, I got a roasted leg of lamb, and Spencer got the kid's spaghetti. And, man, YUMMY! Well worth the $60 (*choke*) price tag. It wasn't the Greek food we were used to, which is mainly Greek salads and gyros, but I think it was much more authentic Mediterranean food.

Afterwards we told Spencer we'd go play games, so we made the slow trek back up the strip to a kiddie ride place. Which, of course, was closed (it was 8:30!). We went across the way to the go-kart place, very nervously, because we'd promised Spencer we would do something fun and I was almost certain he'd be too small to ride with daddy on a go-kart.

I was wrong. Thank goodness. One hour and $20.50 later, Spencer and Jake were happy campers, which made me a happy camper, so we left. We swung by Coldstone Creamery on the way to Hwy. 65 and grabbed some ice cream and then were on our way home.

It was the most fun I've had with my boys in a while.

How Dare You?

Once upon a time, I was able to stay up late. And when I did so, I almost always watched The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report. Sometimes I feel like they are able to call out the BS better than anyone else.

A friend of mine posted this on a message board and, wow, it really resonated with me.

Enjoy.

http://www.comedycentral.com/videos/index.jhtml?videoId=184928

Premature Blessings

I am a member of a message board for mothers of toddlers who were premature at birth. Most of us met on the Preemie Parenting board at Baby Center and most of our kids were born between late 2004 and early 2006.

I am constantly amazed and awed by these women. Some of our children have little to no residual effects of their prematurity. If I didn't tell you Spencer was premature at birth, you probably wouldn't guess on your own. Some of our children have moderate to severe disabilities that are an effect of prematurity. We have children with CP, IVHs, and PVL. Children who are deaf or blind (or both). Children who, still, are in and out of the hospital on a bi-weekly basis.

As I was reading the blogs of one of these women, gratitude swept over me. How many times did Spencer (and I) dodge a bullet in the NICU?

In the beginning, they weren't expecting his lungs to have developed. They thought he would have lungs that were, literally, hard, and therefore unable to expand. This would have been fatal.

Next, they had a hard time getting his blood gasses to stabilize and had to put him on a gas called nitric oxide (different from the nitrous oxide you get at the dentist). Nitric oxide can cause brain bleeds, so the less time a baby spends on it, the better. Brain bleeds (or IVHs) can range from a level I, which resolves on its own, usually without consequence, to a level IV, which causes brain damage. Spencer spent days on nitric oxide and never showed a hint of a brain bleed.

Then, I received the middle of the night phone call that every NICU parent dreads. Spencer was having a problem (NEC, they said) that was going to require a transfer to a different hospital and surgery. NEC can be mild, fatal, or somewhere in between (with the in between requiring an ostomy and a second surgery). Turns out it was a "simple" hole in his stomach, put there by the nurse who inserted his feeding tube. I was so grateful that it wasn't NEC that it never occurred at me to be angry with that nurse (well, at least until much later).

The potential for Spencer to be disabled was there, and yet he's not. He's an outgoing, beautiful, amazing, perfectly normal little boy. And, thank you, thank you God, I am so grateful for that. I'm grateful that he lived. I'm grateful that he's thriving. I'm grateful.

He's still so small.

Sometimes I look at Spencer and think about how big he is. And, really, compared to where he started and what he's been through, he's aged a lifetime's worth.

But, he's 3. And sometimes, when I hold his little hand in mine and see how much of a difference there is, I remember. He's been in my life for 3 short years, less time than I've been married and for only a little over 8% of my life. I've had all of my cats longer than that. And yet, do I remember, really remember life before him? Sometimes I feel like my life began on May 23 of 2005.

When I get frustrated or angry with him, I try to remember that he'll only be this way and do these things for a short time. I think, sometimes, of how I'd like to be able to sleep all night in my own bed every night. Or how I would absolutely, positively like to stop picking up little dinos off the floor all the time. But how long will I get to do this? One day he'll be big and he won't need me anymore. He'll go to college, get married, have kids of his own, and I'll wish he was my little boy again, throwing toys and protesting bedtime. And I think that is very key to enjoying every second with him in his childhood.

Betrayal

Today, I feel betrayed. I feel defective. And I am angry about it.

3 years ago, I had a c-section for a breech presentation. I do not think typically that breech babies need to be delivered via c-section, but doctors don't do vaginal breeches anymore and I was delivering with a doctor. But I digress.

I have double horizontal cuts, which is what they want you to have for a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean). I thought that, because I had the ideal cuts, I would be set for having a great birth with my next child.

In the state of Arkansas, midwives aren't allowed to attend VBACs. Some will do them "under the table," so I called around with no luck. My next option is an unlicensed midwife. So I've been in touch with the 2 I've been able to find in my area. I spent about an hour on the phone with one last night and the verdict was: you must NOT have had a single layer closure on your internal incision.

A midwife posed this question to me several months ago, so I called the OB that delivered Spencer to ask. Her standard is, guess what?, a single layer closure. This is the same OB who, at my consult about 3 weeks ago, said "vaginal birth is overrated" and "in 30 years you won't care that all you had were c-sections". Nice. Somehow I doubt she sewed me up nice and tight for my VBAC.

I'm terrified of going to the hospital. Hospitals in this area are very VBAC hostile. In fact, I'm pretty sure at least one of them has a "VBAC ban". The last thing I want is so many interventions that I have to have a repeat c-section.

I feel so betrayed by the OB who preformed my c-section. All I've wanted, from the time my complications set in with Spencer, was some normalcy. I thought this was my chance. I am bummed.

Letting the cat out of the bag

I'm thrilled. I'm terrified. But mostly, I'm thrilled.

Laundry on the line and other pics..

Since we are all moved and unpacked, I was able to find my camera cord and dump my camera. Just sharing a few.

Finally, one of the biggest reasons that I liked this house over any of the others is that there were laundry poles out back. This probably wouldn't be a positive thing for most people. I saw it as a way to not only reduce our global footprint, but also to reduce our electric bill. I read a statistic once that said 60% of a home's energy costs can be attributed to the dryer, so I thought I would try this out. I had to go to about 4 different stores to find a laundry line and some pins. Fred's had them, Wal-Mart didn't! I guess you can't find everything at Wal-Mart after all. :)

Amazing child discovery of the day

Bubbles always pop. Every single time, no matter what you do, they pop. :)

Things I want to do in our new home...

This is my running list of things I'd like to do once we move to Mtn. Home.

1. Plant a garden. Even if its just a few veggies this year. Find out what you can plant mid-June.
2. Create a compost pile. Research how to get one started.
3. Bike most places. Need to map routes to the grocery store and park.
4. Make lots of things from scratch. I'll be back to compile a preliminary grocery list.
5. Do not spend money on things you don't need. Buy as few things new as possible. This includes clothing. :(

Will add more I'm sure...

My Path

Sometimes I wonder what my life would be like had I not become a wife at the age of 20 and a mother by age 22. Never in a negative way though; I love my life so very much and would never change my choices.

But I see a lot of my peers with advanced degrees and going on amazing trips, both things that are a lot more difficult to achieve with a kid or two under your belt.

What might I be doing if i was single and childless? I always wanted to live in England and, who knows, maybe I'd be there. I'd be teaching and possibly living in a "fuck off flat" (I read a book that said that once and always wanted to use it in a sentence) in the heart of London. Or maybe I'd be exactly where I am, teaching in Arkansas, living in my hometown, except without a soft place to land.

Ultimately, what would more education bring me? More money? More stress? What if I waited until I was 35 to have kids and then had trouble or a baby with a genetic defect? How would I feel then?

I'm proud of my choices. Yes, I got married at 20. I even had a kid at 22. I still graduated from college cum laude in 4.5 years. I owned a house before I was 23. I spend my days shaping young minds and come home to cultivate another. I'm in love with an amazing man who committed himself to me at a young age and who has also had many accomplishments.

I think my life is pretty sweet. :)

Breastfeeding: Option or Baby's birthright?

I am a lactivist, but I have not always been.

Once upon a time, my child was tiny. When he came home from the NICU, he was tipping the scales at 4 pounds, 5 ounces. As we were getting ready to leave the hospital, our discharge nurse came in and asked if I planned to exclusively breastfeed Spencer. When I told her yes, she shoved a can of high calorie formula in my hand and said, "We never recommend that a preemie be exclusively breastfed." She proceeded to tell me that I had to take Spence to his pediatrician by the end of the week and if he didn't gain weight he'd be readmitted to the hospital.

Needless to say, it scared me to death. I became obsessive about getting extra calories in him and pretty much only used bottles with expressed breastmilk and formula mixed in them. Around the same time, I caught a cold and my doctor, who knew I was pumping for a preemie, told me to take Sudafed. My milk supply tanked and eventually dried up.

At the time, I didn't go to great lengths to keep or increase my supply. I had a very "formula is just as good" attitude.

Then I started researching and learned how bad formula can be for kids. Don't get me wrong, I don't think its poison or anything, but it has been linked to increased rates of childhood and adolescent obesity, increased asthma and other respitory illnesses, and even SIDS. My own child started getting ill and had excema pop up all over his upper body when we made the switch from 1/2 formula, 1/2 breastmilk to all formula.

Why would anyone think those risks are ok for thier child?

On my way home tonight, I started thinking about how I think its borderline child abuse to deny your child the right to be breastfed just because you don't like it or find it difficult. Welcome to motherhood, where you have to make sacrifices for your child! No one ever said that being a mom would be easy, and here's a prime example. There are a very limited number of people who physically cannot nurse, around 1-3%, and I understand and sympathize with these women. Still, there's no reason that the rate of breastfeeding in the US at the age of 6 months is under 50%. No excuses!

We as Americans have not put the correct connotation on formula usage. The norm is breastfeeding and anything else is substandard, period. Should I ever, for some reason, not be able to produce breastmilk, I won't turn first to formula. I will solict lactating women whom I know and ask them for donations of breastmilk.

I don't want MY child to eat something substandard.

Been Busy!

In the last two weeks, my family has:

1. Moved and put most of our furniture in storage in our new town
2. Had a vehicle totaled in an accident caused by the winter weather
3. Had to locate the dogs since they were spooked so bad by being in said accident and ran away
4. Gotten the flu (all three of us, ugh)
5. Had to have Trogdor's neck stitched up because he managed to rip it open on something

Stressful much? I'm praying that next week isn't nearly as exciting.

____________________________________________________________

As a side note, I want to vent for just a moment about American work culture.

My boss is a single woman with no children. Because my flu, and then Spence's, went beyond the weekend, I ended up having to call in sick both Monday and Tuesday. In all honesty, I needed to take Wednesday off as well.

I called in on Sunday night for Monday so my boss would know ahead of time and could possibly even get a sub early. I was obviously sick. I was almost incoherent and could barely speak; this was not me skipping out on work. I started feeling a bit better on Monday, but at the same time Spencer spiked a big fever indicating he had come down with it as well. I called on Monday, before 2:00, to let her know I would need to be out Tuesday as well.

The attitude I got! Ouch! I am not one to miss a ton of days. In fact, including the two I missed this week, I've been out 5.5 days all semester. I don't feel that is excessive at all, especially considering last year I was sent to a conference about one day a month from October to April.

Why is it that Americans are so obsessed with work? Why does it have to be something that consumes all? I want work to be something I do for money and nothing more. I want to leave work at work and not drag it home.

Europeans get amazing benefits and are encouraged to take time off. Many, if not most, European countries give their employees 30 vacation days a year. Americans get half that if they have an amazing job. Millions get no vacation time at all.

Its unfortunate and makes for stressed out people.

Going Organic

After the news that the FDA said milk and meat from cloned livestock were safe for human consumption, I decided that my family needed to take the plunge and move from the more commercially available foods to those of an organic nature.

I've always felt that organics were better than your regular everyday food. Can it really be good for us to have pesticides, growth hormones, and antibiotics floating around in our systems all the time? But organic food is more expensive, even cost prohibitive for some.

This ruling by the FDA made me take a closer look at the expense of organics. I went to my local organic market, Wild Oats (recently bought out by Whole Foods), and did a little cost analysis of things I typically buy. The pre-cut and packaged pineapple was only $1 more, the vanilla I needed for baking was only around $0.75 more. The milk (around $3 a gallon at Kroger as opposed to $3 for a half gallon of Horizion Organic) and chicken ($10 for a bag of boneless, skinless breasts at Kroger vs. $7 for 2 organic, free range boneless, skinless breasts) were typically several dollars more. Most people believe that these areas (the milk and meat) are the two where most of the "nasties" come over, so it makes sense to me that it would be more expensive to produce these things "nasty-free."

The FDA has also said that the meat and milk of clone offspring have probably already been put into stores because they were "lost track of." Excuses, excuses.

Regardless, I wouldn't mind these things being marketed if they would just consent to label them. The same goes for the genetically modified produce, which I'm also uncomfortable with. Label them and I won't complain. I also won't buy them.

Little mister decided he needed a new hair do for the evening. I guess being with mommy all the time rubs off! LOL