Roommate Date Night

So last night, my best friend/roommate and I decided to have a girls night out.

After a Old Navy maternity jeans search (which concluded without jeans, but several tops...) we headed over to Claim Jumper for a bite.  I couldn't decide between filet mignon or a cheeseburger so I ended up with a bowl of chili and some steak fries.  Oh the joys of not dieting through pregnancy!  So, being the pregnant one I am, with constant needs for bathroom visits, we had to stop once again before finally exiting to our car.  I'm leading the way, carrying the leftover boxes (2 of us, with 3 full doggie bags...).  Since my hands were full I had the bright idea to KICK in the bathroom door.  To my dismay, it swung open at great speed and vigor hitting a lady in the face!!  Catie gawked at me and I didn't know whether to burst into laughter, tears or just run away!  So after a few seconds, I slowly opened the door again to find a startled woman, to whom I profusely apologized.  Her response was a muttering stuttering of something like, "um, I uh, guess I uh, was uh kinda close?"

To finish the night we went and saw "Four Christmases."  Funny Vince Vaughn/Reese Witherspoonness, kinda crude, sorta sad, all around predictable comedy chick flick.  I did win a bet though.  It was Tim McGraw in it.  Catie thought he was just a pudgy look alike.  Boo-ya!

Precious Mommy Moments

Lincoln just said "bouillabaisse!"  Don't get too excited, he also said, "dko dko dko byafathaba." 

Yesterday we were at Grammy and Papa's house, and I had him in his walker while I was checking my email.  He would fly by the office repeatedly.  I peeked my head around the door and there he was, racing (maybe chasing) Milo up and down the hallway.  When he got to each end he would hesitate then start giggling.  Before nap I was singing to him and feeding him his bottle.  I started singing "This Little Light of Mine," a song I don't think he'd heard before.  When I got to the part "Don't let Satan (blow) it out" he cracked up!  I repeated the blowing out of my finger for about 10 minutes, each time with him laughing louder and longer!  

These are the most precious little moments that I will carry with me always.

All We Can Do Is Pray

I am just grateful that the campaigning is over!  No more "yes/no" proposition ads...

Even though the election didn't go as I had hoped, I will support President Obama because that is my duty as a US citizen.  All I can do is pray and have faith that he will turn to God and make decisions that will lead our country in wisdom and morality.  I'll pray protection over him and his family.  I'll pray for miracles in our economy; in our nation.   All we can do is pray. 

After John McCain's speech last night, I was touched and felt confident that my vote meant something personally.  It's unfortunate he did not win, but God has a plan for him.  I am certain.

The Ramifications of Prop 8

Someone sent me this in an email and I found it really interesting. I hadn't seen this perspective...think what you will.
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There is a LOT of talk in California right now about Proposition 8. Recently, four judges overturned a state law (Proposition 22 won by 62%) defining marriage as between a man and a woman. I was trying to figure out why everyone was getting so worked up over it. To me, gay people have all the same rights in California as married couples (visiting partners in the hospital, legal contracts, property, etc) so why did they care so much about calling it a marriage? And why do so many people CARE if they call it a marriage? Isn't it just semantics?

Well, I researched it, and in fact, it's NOT just semantics. There will be a legal ripple-effect, and if Gay marriage is the law, anyone whose moral code doesn't support that will be in violation of the law.

Barbara Hagerty of NPR wrote a very interesting article called 'When Gay Rights and Religious Liberties Clash.' It gives examples of situations where a religious organization is sued by gay rights activists, and Gay Rights win every time. Here are a couple very poignant examples:

Adoption services: Catholic Charities in Massachusetts refused to place children with same-sex couples as required by Massachusetts law. After a legislative struggle (during which the Senate president said he could not support a bill 'condoning discrimination.') Catholic Charities pulled out of the adoption business in 2006.

Housing: In New York City, Yeshiva University's Albert Einstein College of Medicine, a school under Orthodox Jewish auspices, banned same-sex couples from its married dormitory. New York does not recognize same-sex marriage, but in 2001, the state's highest court ruled Yeshiva violated New York Cit's ban on sexual orientation discrimination. Yeshiva now allows all couples in the dorm.

Parochial schools: California Lutheran High School, a Protestant school in Wildomar, holds that homosexuality is a sin. After the school suspended two girls who were allegedly in a lesbian relationship, the girls' parents sued, saying the school was violating the state's civil rights act protecting gay men and lesbians from discrimination. The case is before a state judge.

Medical services: A Christian gynecologist at North Coast Women's Care Medical Group in Vista, Calif., refused to give his patient in vitro fertilization treatment because she is in a lesbian relationship, and he claimed that doing so would violate his religious beliefs. (The doctor referred the patient to his partner, who agreed to do the treatment.) The woman sued under the state's civil rights act. The California Supreme Court heard oral arguments in May 2008, and legal experts believe that the woman's right to medical treatment will trump the doctor's religious beliefs. One justice suggested that the doctors take up a different line of business.

Psychological services: A mental health counselor at North Mississippi Health Services refused therapy for a woman who wanted help in improving her lesbian relationship. The counselor said doing so would violate her religious beliefs. The counselor was fired. In March 2001, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit sided with the employer, ruling that the employee's religious beliefs could not be accommodated without causing undue hardship to the company.

Civil servants: A clerk in Vermont refused to perform a civil union ceremony after the state legalized them. In 2001, in a decision that side-stepped the religious liberties issue, the Vermont Supreme Court ruled that he did not need to perform the ceremony because there were other civil servants who would. However, the court did indicate that religious beliefs do not allow employees to discriminate against same-sex couples.

Adoption services: A same-sex couple in California applied to Adoption Profiles, an Internet service in Arizona that matches adoptive parents with newborns. The couple's application was denied based on the religious beliefs of the company's owners. The couple sued in federal district court in San Francisco. The two sides settled after the adoption company said it will no longer do business in California.

The scary thing about this is not that loving homosexuals would be calling their unions 'marriages', it is the small percentage that will sue anyone who believes otherwise. Churches could lose their 'tax exempt' status. They would stop being allowed to do their charitable work. Pastors could lose the state authority to marry couples if they refuse to perform same-sex marriages.

The very fabric of our society is threatened. Our country was BUILT on religious freedom and a separation of church and state. And here we see the state stepping in and telling churches what they are allowed to believe. It's more than a little terrifying.

We all have gay friends and want them to be respected and have legal rights to share property and hospital visits, but the price of redefining traditional marriage is TOO HIGH. As we learned in the Vice Presidential debate, both Obama-Biden AND McCain-Palin agree on this.

Funny Party Games

I came across a few fun party games while I am planning Lincoln's birthday.  I think some of these are a bit too old for him, but might be fun for the adults!  If nothing else, they'd be great photo ops!

*Baby Gym Relay

Have you ever noticed much moving your little one does?  Most adults would find this exhausting!  This relay race will give your guests a workout.  Place two baskets at one end of the room and a pile of toys on the other end.  Divide the guests into teams.  The game starts at the pile of toys.  Players take turns picking up a toy, crawling (or walking on the their knees) to the basket, dropping the toy into the basket and returning to their team.  Next player takes their turn and so on...until all of the toys are in the basket.  First team to finish wins!

*Muscle Builders

Inflate up to 100 small balloons.  Divide guests into two teams and select one guest on each team to be the "weakling."  The remaining guests will be "personal trainers."  Gather teams on opposite sides of the room and divide the balloons between them.  The weakling puts on one-piece long johns or any other simple jumpsuit type of clothing you may have.  When you say "go," the teams of personal trainers must make their weaklings grow instant muscles by stuffing as many balloons as hey can into their long underwear.  Give teams one minute for this task.  When time is up - and you've taken lots of pictures! - remove and count the balloons for each team.  The weakling with the most "muscles" or balloons, wins!

*Chimp Race (better than twister!)

Players stand side by side.  At a signal, they spread their feet apart, bend over and grasp their ankles.  In this position, with knees stiff, they must cross the goal line (about 20 feet away).  The one who gets there first wins!  If they lose grip of their ankles, they must return to the starting line and begin again!  Don't forget the camera!

*Monkey See Monkey Do (better for older kids)

In this very funny game, none of the players are allowed to laugh.  Here's how it goes:  All the players sit close together in a circle.  One of them starts the game by turning to the person on their right and doing something (eg. squeeze the arm, mess their hair, straighten clothes, make a face, etc.).  Whatever that player does, the neighbor must do it to the next player on their right.  That player must do the same thing to their neighbor.  When it get's back to the first player, they can add another gesture!  If someone laughs, they are out.  Smaller groups work best for this game.

Birthday Planning

So, Lincoln will be turning one (I'm writing this but still don't believe it) on November 9th.  We're celebrating with a big family party and I really need to start planning.  

I didn't have any specific theme until my sister in law suggested a monkey theme!  Fitting for him; if he were to be any animal, it would be monkey.  Not only does he love bananas, but he's most happy when he's being swung around, upside down...and he's definitely a climber.  She told me about some cupcakes she saw at another monkey-themed party.

Directions:

Make chocolate cupcakes

Frost with chocolate icing

Apply nilla wafers (top trimmed off) as mouth

Apply mini nilla wafers (trimmed) as ears

Either frosting or cheerios work as eyes

So really, that's all I have planned so far.  What's left...decorations, games, food, what to wear...I guess I should really get started!  Only 23 days!!  I love party planning.

Unreachable

You don't realize how dependent you are on something until you don't have it anymore.  I'm referring to nothing more than a piece of hardware, over the past few years becoming permanently attached to my palm.  My cell phone.  Hopefully this afternoon I'll be back in the game.  New phone, new outlook.  Although it's been super inconvenient being unreachable it has been surprisingly relaxing.

Bone head! Bone head!

I did the most horrible, most bone headed thing I've ever done this afternoon. I'm a terrible mother! Let's start from the beginning, shall we?  

Poor Link has a fever from teething. Not that unusual, but I hate to see him so out of it. All he wanted to do this morning was snuggle (no complaining there). I decided to go ahead and go about my day as usual. We had a commitment in the city at 2:30 with his agency that I really didn't want to miss. All was going well. We stopped by my parents house to borrow their GPS (I will get lost in San Francisco without it...believe me.) I always allow plenty of time because you never can predict what the bridge traffic will look like. We were making excellent time. I was actually trying to decide what to do with the hour we had before the go-see. Maybe we'd walk around union square, grab lunch. Little did I know I'd be hustling up the stairs with mere minutes before our time slot.  

I found great parking in the garage right across the street. It was 1:35...plenty of time. Well, Lincoln was now awake and I decided to change his diaper before begging our city adventure. I set my purse down and preceded to circle round to the back seat, slamming my door behind me. Ok, it was one of those moments when your mind goes 30x faster than your body. That's right. The lights blinked once. Locked. My keys were in my purse. My purse was in the car. Lincoln was in his carseat...UNBUCKLED! Tears immediately flooded my face as I scrambled around to check every door, all the while fear bombarded me! What if he crawls out of his seat and falls off the back seat and gets stuck! What if...panic.  

Of course my phone was with my keys so I quickly waved down the next car coming down the row. It was this sweet woman who was so kind as to lend me a hand and a phone. She stopped right in the middle of the row, so of course people were swearing and honking like mad. Weighing probably about 90 lbs (wearing Chanel and 5 inch stilettos) this gorgeous 50+ gramma gets out of her BMW, throws her manicured hands in the air and starts swearing right back at 'em. (She got my back, yo.) Anyway, she stayed with my car as I ran up to security while they called a tow truck. The gentleman security guard walked me back to my car, attempting to console me. "These things happen!" He made funny faces at Lincoln, sitting ever so patiently and nonjudgementally.  

Thank God he was so groggy from the fever he didn't try exploring the back seat. Thank God we were parked in a safe cool garage with helpful security guards instead of on the street in the blazing heat surrounded by hippies and hobos! Thank God for a wonderful tow man who arrived in less than 20 minutes! Thank God for free parking! woo hoo!  

Needless to say, I'm getting a spare key made and am stapling it onto my forehead...tomorrow.