Obamacare Summed Up in One Sentence

All right, some of you are just going to hate this.  And some of you are going to love it.  And, as is often the case on my blog, I'm probably too lazy to get into any real kind of political debate discussion.  Which is not to say that I don't want to hear and consider your opinions, it just means that I know myself well enough to admit that I probably won't bother responding in any real depth.  Because if I were interested in real depth, I'd hardly be so excited about a one-sentence summary of Obamacare, now, would I?

Anyway, this is a doctor doing her best to sum up what Obamacare means in just one (fairly long) sentence.  And I think she makes some fair and accurate points.  For those of you with the same political leanings as I have-- enjoy!  For those of you who disagree, I still love you despite the differences of opinion!  Really, I do!








Aaaaaaand, just so I'm not only being a whiner, I'll just add my 2¢'s worth of what I think could work really well as a health care reform idea, which is the employee health insurance plan offered by Whole Foods.  You probably saw this article when it was published, so this isn't anything new.  But I still really like it.  At least, if my health care were run this way, I'd be able to just go to the birth center I like and use my health care account to pay for it without having to jump through all the hoops of convincing my insurance company to foot the bill!  My own choice!!-- wouldn't that be nice?

Busting Out All Over the Place

I'm officially making the switch.  I am busting out the maternity clothes!  I'm not really all that far along (16 weeks according to Babycenter, 17 weeks according to my doctor, who I think is either wrong or else just rounding up in a big way), and I can still fit into plenty of my looser clothes.  Pretty much anything that fit me pre-diet of a year ago is still fair game.  And to be honest, I was kind of proud of myself for that!  Until I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror as I sat on my bed and realized that I might be "fitting" into those clothes, but that doesn't mean I look good in them.  In fact, I pretty much just looked fat.

So I decided that I'd rather look pregnant than look like I'm letting myself go.  (Not that I don't pretty much just let myself go when I'm pregnant-- but I feel justified in doing so, then!  At least until the gestational diabetes warnings signs start showing up...)

So maternity clothes it is!

And I am totally okay with that.  By now I have a pretty good store of clothes that are cute and comfortable, and I like wearing them.  By the end of the pregnancy they won't convince me that I don't feel the size of a house, but that's the not the clothes' fault.  I still like them, even then.  In fact, I always have a hard time putting them away, because they fit so much better for so much longer than my non-pregnancy clothes.  I always wonder how long you're allowed to wear them, post-partum, before it just becomes pathetic, or-- worse yet-- begging someone to ask if you're already expecting again.


So bring on the belly shirts with ties in the back!  Bring on the stretchy tummy jeans and the loose skirts!  And some day in the next few months, I'm sure I'll even be bringing back the hideous pregnancy muumuu!  (This is a muumuu my Mom bought in Hawaii in the 70s.  Picture the ugliest orange and purple muumuu imaginable.  And I promise you it doesn't even come close to how ugly this thing is!  But nothing could possibly be more comfortable when you feel like a whale waddling around the house!  I'm sorry to say that you will never ever ever ever ever EVER see me wearing it.  But I'm willing to admit that it exists and that I love it.)  Bring it all on-- it's time to start looking pregnant!

THAT'S why I just ate an entire bag of chocolate chips!

Questions

Here are some of the questions I've been pondering recently:

-Is this baby a boy or a girl?  My ultrasound isn't until October 15th, so I've got some time on this one.  Craig and I were talking about what we wanted, and we both have such mixed feelings!  I sort of want a girl so Kendra gets a little sister, but at the same time, I know she'll be crazy in love with the baby either way, and I have to admit that I think boys are an awful lot of fun.  At least, pretty much every toy for boys is cooler than any toy for girls.  I would take a lego set over some silly princess thing ANY day.  Girls get so robbed in the toy department!  Anyway, the real truth is that I'm excited for whatever we're having.  And that's a nice feeling!

-Why is it that I always get to the climax of a book at 11 o'clock at night?  Every single time!  You could set a clock by when the heroine of the story comes face to face with the killer!  And then I stay up way too late finishing it.  How does this happen so consistently?

-How many ideas will Bentley have for his Halloween costume before the day actually arrives?  I know some women who actually make their kids' costumes-- these women are awesome.  I'm not really one of them.  At least, not if "making" the costume involves "sewing."  I also know women who are super organized and start on these costumes in, like, August, in order to have everything all ready by October 31st.  I'm also not one of these types.  But in my case, even I could pull that off, there would be no point because I would be five costumes behind what Bentley currently wants.  So I don't feel bad about the procrastination in this case.  (Current idea: R2-D2.  We'll see if this one sticks!)

-How many "trials of labor" do I have to have before doctors will believe that I am capable of giving birth?  You would think that after Kendra's crazy birth and after delivering all 9 lbs 1 ounces of Ryder without drugs, some doctor out there would believe that my uterus works just fine, thank you very much.  Alas, this seems to not be the case.  Anyway, I'm scheduled to have a chat with Kaiser's Head OB/GYN next month so I can try to convince him to allow me to bring this little peanut into the world at a birthing center.  I'm pretty sure his plan is to try and convince me that my uterus will explode, and then I'll bleed out and die in a matter of seconds unless I give birth in a hospital.  I plan to point out to him that, at a risk of 0.38%, my odds of getting in a car crash driving to his office in Tyson's Corner is probably worse.  But I doubt he'll believe me.  So wish me luck and keep me (and him!) in your prayers this month!

-Seriously, why are boy toys so much cooler than girl toys?  I need to invent a super cool toy for girls that doesn't involve princesses, housework, or Bratz dolls.  There's gotta be something out there, right?

-Is it actually possible for my life to get busier?  Not that I think I'm the busiest person in the world or something, but things are definitely more hectic than I like them to be, with me hardly even seeing Craig in the middle of the week.  Whenever I complain about this, someone always has to point out (and I find this terribly unhelpful) that my life is only going to get busier.  Am I supposed to find this comforting?  Is that what you say to someone when they're dissatisfied about something-- "Well, get used to it, 'cuz it's only going to get worse"???  I complained about this to Craig, and we decided that our kids' lives will get busier, and so we'll be running them around places, but this might actually afford me some time between pick-up and drop off to actually get stuff done!  Right now, I go to Young Womens and have to stay there!  When Kendra turns 12, I'll drop her off and go grocery shopping if I feel like it!  So life won't get any worse in the busy-ness department.   ...Right?  Maybe?

-How in the world did I get so many mosquito bites when I was only outside for ten minutes?  Seriously!  They are ALL OVER my legs and ankles.  It's ridiculous.  Stupid sneaky mosquitoes!  I look like I have leprosy!

-Is there any way I can convince Craig to replace our kitchen?  And if I did, how would he find the time to do it?  For reasons that are too gross to be shared on this blog (read: I don't want you to think less of me and jump to the conclusion that I have let myself stoop down to white trash levels), I'm not going to go into the details here.  But I'm pretty sure that our kitchen NEEDS to be replaced.  The sooner the better.  They can find someone else to be the elder's quorum president, right?  But I won't be able to find someone else who works at the same prices as Craig!

-Why do I keep trying to convince Ryder to talk when I spend so much of the rest of my time trying to get Bentley and Kendra to stop talking?  The irony of this just occurred to me.  Talk about never being satisfied!  As of right now, I'm vowing to enjoy Ryder's muteness for as long as it lasts!

I'm sure I've got plenty more in me, but this is a good start.  Any of you have some answers for me???

First Day of School Documentation

I guess it's about time that I posted pictures from the first day of school!  I almost didn't get any-- Ryder had some diaper issues just as we were about to leave that made us late getting out the door and we were well on our way before I realized that I hadn't taken any pictures!  I was standing there panicking and wondering if we had time to go back for my camera when I remembered that there was a camera in my phone.  Thank goodness for that!

So here we are!

I know everyone looks really sad or nervous here, but really they weren't.  The sun was in their eyes, so they're really just trying not to squint.  The reality is that Bentley was skipping the whole way to school he was so excited to be going back!

There-- see?  Skipping!  What a happy kid!  Kendra is racing to keep up!

That's a better picture, although poor Kendra's face is still lopsided from when she tripped and fell against the high chair...

I LOVE this picture-- this is when Bentley discovered that both Peter AND Heiri, his two best friends from kindergarten, were in his class.  So happy!  As he marched off to his new classroom with them, he didn't even glance back at me.  It did make me tear up just a little, but I was really happy for him, too.

And here's Kendra at her first day of preschool at the Atkinson's house!  She has been loving preschool-- her only problem with it is just that she wishes she could go more often than twice a week!

I know, I didn't take nearly enough pictures.  But it's better than nothing!  And mostly I'm just glad that everyone is so happy with their schools!  September has never seemed so glorious!

In All Honesty

It's funny how the details can make or break something.  I knew today would not be the best day for me.  It's been a long and busy week where I hardly saw Craig at all.  And it's looking like most of our weeks will be like this for the foreseeable future.  But usually we get Saturdays to relax together as a family and that kind of keeps me going.  Because I thrive on getting to be with Craig.  It's why I married him, after all.

But today is not going to be one of those Saturdays.  Craig has an elder's quorum activity all morning (they're going shooting, of all things, and he says I'm not allowed to whine about it since he was the one who planned it) and then this afternoon he has training for the stake.  So, yeah, just me and the kids, for the most part.

So here's what we've done:

-I got up early and went running with Vangie before Craig could leave.  (Well, "running" these days for me is a little bit of jogging followed by a lot of walking.  But it's still better than nothing, right?)

-I let the kids play outside while a friend of mine stopped by for a few minutes, then I did some quick vacuuming while they were still happy

-I let the kids play in the sandbox while I sat outside watching them and chatting with my sister on the phone

-I gave the kids baths to wash all the aforementioned sand off them

-I scrubbed out the tub so it won't be all sandy the next time we use it

-I went through all of Ryder's clothes, boxed up the ones that no longer fit, found Bentley's old clothes and began washing them so Ryder can wear them

-I got the kids to clean up a decent chunk of the dry cereal they'd dumped all over the floor before allowing them some movie time

-And now I'm blogging about it all while they watch TV and Ryder naps.


If you just ignore the ten minutes I spent screaming at Bentley for being an insufferable brat and complaining about every fun thing I let him do and never listening to a word I say and staying up too late despite my best efforts to get him to go to bed at a decent hour (which is why he's being so awful), I could almost pretend that I've been a really awesome mother today. 

But I can't ignore those ten minutes, and I'm feeling terrible (but still justified) about them. 

So instead of feeling proud of everything I've accomplished, I just want to curl back up in my bed and pretend this day never happened.

I hate it when I mess everything up like this.

Small Change

Hey, everyone!  So this is the sort of thing I wouldn't expect you to notice, which is why I'm taking the time to point it out to you: I just updated my blogroll on the left once you scroll down past the listing of all my own posts.  (Does that make me totally narcissistic that I give you the links to my own writing before I bother with anyone else's thoughts?  Probably...)  Sadly, I did finally remove a few that weren't posting any more.  I always feel bad doing that-- like I'm throwing away a friendship or something.  But let me just point out that clearly these people had already given up on ME by refusing to blog any more.  And I was starting to feel lame for still holding on to a relationship that had apparently fizzled out.

But mostly, I just added a whole mess of blogs that I like to read.  They've all been in my Google Reader for months now, I just never got around to updating it here.  In case you're interested in some of the things I'm interested in (namely birth, trying to make healthy and/or yummy food, politics, and religion), check out some of these additions!  Most of their titles are pretty self-explanatory (you mean the one called "Birth Faith" is about giving birth?  huh?), and the ones where it's just a person's name means that this person probably lives a much cooler life than I do, so it's fun to read about their adventures.  In any case, they're all interesting to read, so I encourage you to check most of them out!  Unless they have an asterisk by the name, in which case that blog is private, so don't bother.  All the other ones you should totally click on, though!

Happy reading!



P.S.  If your name is on my blogroll and you haven't posted anything in 6 months or longer, watch out-- I'm deleting you next.  Hurry up and write something so I know what you've been up to!!!  I want to hear from you!

What's Missing Here? Oh, Yeah, the Humidity.

I think it was the gale force wind and rain we got on Saturday (just as we were leaving the house, of course) that finally blew away all our humidity and deposited a new season on our doorstep.  All I know is that we are suddenly experiencing crisp autumn mornings and it is so lovely.

I never thought it would happen, but fall is winning me over.  Last autumn was the first time I really understood that the flaming red and orange leaves were actually about the prettiest thing in the world.  And now, after a normal, brutal Virginia summer, complete with very whiny children for the last two weeks of summer, I am enjoying EVERYTHING about this time of year.  I'm enjoying Bentley being in school (and he is, too-- he is so much happier when he's got somewhere to go and stuff to do all day!).  I'm enjoying Kendra starting preschool and having a few hours each week to spend with just Ryder.  I'm enjoying opening the windows and having fresh cool air circulating throughout the house.  I'm enjoying that the sky has turned blue again, instead of the blazing hot, humid, there-should-be-a-storm-any-moment white-grey we get for most of August.  I'm enjoying that the insects are dying out (DIE, BUGS, DIE!!!!!).  I'm enjoying that I can still fit into this last pair of shorts for a while before I need to bust out the maternity pants.  (I'm in my second trimester now, so maternity clothes are totally fair game!)

I'm just enjoying life. 

I felt a little guilty, switching my loyalties away from summer.  Until I realized yesterday that fall in Virginia is actually the exact same weather as summer in Seattle.  No wonder it feels so right!

...And Seattle, too!

My in-laws arranged for Craig and the kids and I to have a five-day layover in Seattle on our way home from Hawaii.  I've heard enough stories of other people's in-laws who would NEVER share a moment of the vacation they had paid for with the couple's other family to appreciate just how wonderful and generous this was of them.  I was really thankful for the chance to see my parents and my grandma (who is 97½ now, so I suspect my chances to visit with her are limited).  And honestly, I always love being in Seattle.  It is one of the most beautiful places in the world (although Hawaii did show it up a bit.  But Hawaii also made Seattle-- even my hometown of Bainbridge Island!-- look downright affordable, so I guess there's give and take to everything...).  And I'll admit it-- one of my favorite things to do when I'm home is to hit all my favorite restaurants that I grew up eating at-- it's such comfort to eat where you know the menu already!

Anyway, it was nice to go home, even for just a few days.  Being there also helped us adjust to east coast time a little faster, so that was an added bonus!

Moonrise over Seattle.  So lovely!

Mt. Rainier, all pink from the setting sun, with a ferry just visible on the horizon.  This is my Seattle!

And this is sunset on Bainbridge Island.  I got to grow up in such a beautiful place!

Riding the ferry to go visit Grandma!

Here's my Grandma, recovering from her hip replacement surgery.  As my Dad likes to say, "She's a tough old bird!"

Ryder and I test out her wheelchair

Ryder looks to have a promising future in geriatrics!

After visiting Grandma, we went to see the locks, a canal that boats take to get from Lake Washington to the Puget Sound.  Because the water levels are different, they have to sit in the locks while the water is raised or lowered to the proper level.  We watched this sand barge as it came up to our level-- Bentley thought that was pretty cool, hence the champion arms, which I promptly copied!

Grandpa Rex took the kids hiking in the Grand Forest on Bainbridge, which was a fun outdoorsy thing for them to get to do!

And now that I'm posting this, I'm realizing that I didn't take any pictures of my parents the whole time we were there!  Oops!  So just for the record, they WERE there, too, and we had a lovely time visiting them!

Thanks again to my wonderful in-laws for making all of this-- Hawaii AND Seattle-- possible for us!    It's been a summer we will NEVER forget!

Hawaii: the Final Hodgepodge!

Okay, I think this will be the last of the Hawaii pictures!  I hope you haven't minded me re-living my vacation for all of you to see!  But it sure has been fun for me!


To start off, we have our visit to Pearl Harbor.  This is something everyone should do, but I wouldn't exactly call it fun.  Especially if you're pregnant and being pregnant makes you really emotional (um, like, I may have started crying during one of the X-Men movies once when I was pregnant...  yeah, that emotional), then this makes for a sort of a gut-wrenching experience.  But I think that's sort of the whole point-- Pearl Harbor was gut-wrenching and awful.  And it's okay to feel that just a little bit.

Listening to the guided tour on the submarine Bowfish.  If any of you have read Herman Wouk's Winds of War, this is exactly like the submarine I picture Byron being stationed on.  Don't you think?

I think my children would make excellent gunners, thank you very much!

The Arizona Memorial.  The flag was at half-mast for the Colorado shooting.

I like this picture a lot.

Some of the oil still leaking from the U.S.S. Arizona

On a much lighter note, here are a few of the pictures we took at Sea Life Park, which was a lot of fun:

The dolphin show!  I think what you're seeing here is their whalphin-- a mix of bottlenose dolphin and false killer whale

Bentley was, as always, very excited to see sharks

Spray enough sunscreen in Ryder's hair and you can do some fun things with it!

Looking at the sea turtles

This was when we got to meet the dolphins.  We're on the far side, so I don't think you can really pick us out.  But we were there!

After a long day of last-minute shopping, Bentley was very excited to run around a park and play!

Enjoying the view

And last but not least, we stopped at a few scenic lookouts on our last day.  This is my favorite picture from it all:

Makapu'u

Aah, paradise...  We'll be back some day!  Somehow!

Hawaii: the PCC, Part II

Okay, are you tired of hearing about Hawaii yet?  I promise, the end is in sight!  I think I have about two more posts (this one included), and then one more about Seattle, and we'll get back to my rambling thoughts and not quite so many pictures around here.  So don't give up on me just because I've been boring you to tears all month!

Anyway, I told you that we went back to the Polynesian Cultural Center another day to wander around and experience all the culture stuff.  We still didn't get nearly enough time there-- even with two days we still missed out on a few things that would have been cool.  But by the end of Day 2, we were all pretty hot and exhausted, so it was finally time to call it quits.  But I was glad we got as much time there as we did!  I'll let the pictures do most of the talking here:

Sitting by the river, waiting for the canoe show to start

Each canoe had its own culture that it represented and a color-- I'm a sucker for stuff like that, but it sure made it so pretty!

Learning to throw a spear-- actually I wasn't too bad at it, for my first try!

And learning to weave palm fronds into little fishies!

Kamryn practices her throwing techniques, too

And so does Bentley

Bentley got a warrior tattoo (um, ink stain)

This was so cute-- the whole trip Bentley had been asking to go fishing.  The problem is that I know NOTHING about fishing, so I kept having to tell him No.  Then, we saw this spot at the PCC where people could try fishing, but you had to reserve it ahead of time, so we got turned away.  So sad!  But as we stood there dejectedly for a moment, the guy working there, turned back to us and said in a lowered voice, "If you just stick around a couple minutes, I can probably let them have a quick turn."  Yaaaay!  So we waited, and Bentley got to try fishing.  It was all he'd wanted, and we were all so happy then!

Okay, I usually avoid posting videos.  But this is one I have to share.  Here is Ryder trying out the poi balls Bentley had just bought-- it's only 18 seconds, just watch it!

Long Time Reader, First Time Blogger

So, while we were in Hawaii, I got to do the coolest thing ever.  Unfortunately, since Alanna is afraid of heights and motion sickness, she didn't come along.  And now (the nerve!), she adamantly refuses to write about my adventure.  So, I decided to sneak out, steal the keys, and take this ol' blog for a spin.

I read a tour guide before we went to Hawaii, and the author raved about a these amazing little vehicles called trikes.  He said it was one of the coolest things you could ever do.  He turned out to be right. 

Basically, imagine an over-sized two-seat go cart . . . that flies!

That's a 30 foot hang-gliding wing holding us up.  It's called a weight-shift aircraft since the way that you steer is actually by shifting the weight of the trike back and forth.

So cool!

My brother and I woke up early on our second day there (which wasn't hard to do since we were six hours behind east coast time.)  We drove all the way across the island to Dillingham Airfield and took a 45 minute "flight lesson."  (I found out later that it has to be called a flight lesson since, technically, trikes are not to be used for commercial or charter purposes.) 

Basically, the student sits in the back seat, with the instructor in the front seat.  You drive out onto the runway, go really fast, and then . . . you fly!

I think take-off was my favorite part.  Have you ever had that dream where you could fly? 

Did I mention that this was awesome?

We flew out to the far west point of the island, gradually gaining altitude the whole time.  My instructor, Denise, pointed out that she always tries to have enough altitude to make it back to a safe landing area if there were ever a problem.  We turned around at that point and headed east along the North Shore.  Since this was a lesson, I got to take the controls for a while and try to fly in a straight line.  It turns out that trikes are very stable in turns, but not so much when they fly straight - I haven't really figured out why that is.

Notice the full-circle rainbow in the background.  You can only see that from the air.  Most rainbows are arcs because the ground gets in the way.

Me taking the controls.  Directly below is the western-most tip of the island.

 Along the way, Denise pointed out all sorts of cool things to do along the North Shore.  She also talked about how she and her husband (my brother's pilot) had met - base jumping off a bridge in West Virginia, and how he had proposed - base jumping off a 2,000 foot waterfall.  They're quite the couple, to say the least.  We got as far as the new windmill farm that they are putting in near Haleiwa and then headed back.  On the way there we had a head wind and were only going about 40 miles per hour.  On the way back with the tail wind, it was more like 80 miles per hour.  I could really feel the difference.

We got up to nearly 3000 feet.  Here we are flying around clouds.

Overall, I would say that this is probably about the most bird-like kind of flight a person could ever experience.  Totally Awesome!

I took the controls again at the end.  This is me lining up for landing - she did the actual landing, though.

So, if this whole Teaching Thing doesn't work out, I now know what our Plan B is . . .  If I could just convince Alanna to get over her acrophobia.