Politics on gay marriage and abortion

I've got a lot of ridiculous on Facebook right now, with both gay marriage and abortion. I want to clear the air about my own beliefs, but in a less in-your-face way. My blog is less popular than the 'book, so here's where I share my thoughts with people who want to read it, not forced to on their news feed.

Gay marriage should be legal. Sure, that's my opinion. Here's why, believe what you want, but this country was founded on separation of church and state, founded on equality for all. It's extremely unfair to keep legal rights from people based in something as trivial as who they love (or the color of their skin, glad we figured that one out). Yes, I am Catholic, but Jesus trumps a religion, and He said let those without sin, cast the first stone. I've sinned, you've sinned, lets move past calling gay people sinners. You can believe gay marriage is wrong but still support the legality of it. Gay people aren't asking churches to perform their marriages, they're asking judges or the like to do so...so that they can have the rights that my husband and I enjoy.
They've earned that by being born in a free country.
Would you imagine divorce being criminalized? I don't believe in divorce, but I'm not seeking to make it illegal simply because God said a man and wife are joined for life. (And don't get all preachy on me about how the bible condones divorce...I believe it says you can leave your spouse for certain reasons, but you are still bound to them & shouldn't get remarried, but hey, again with the casting stones thing...)
Long story short, I'm for equal rights. What happens after that isn't my business.

Now here's an ironic twist for many of you. I'm anti abortion. How's that not part of equal rights, you may wonder... It is. Equal rights for the baby, the mom already has her rights spoken for, but the baby needs us to fight for him/her.
I know the fundamental part of the pro/anti abortion issue is the argument for when life begins, and so I'll never be able to convince many that life begins at conception, but it does. For a variety of reasons.
There are many "memes" on the web nowadays that I've seen... One showed a picture of three different animal eggs, protected by federal law, then a human fetus and says, "nope" on that photo. How ridiculous is it that our government makes it illegal to mess with those eggs but not a human fetus? Very.
There was also a pro-"choice" meme I saw that said "just because I'm pro-choice doesn't mean I'm pro-abortion, it just means I know it's none of my d*$@ business"
Well, that's not true at all, silly. If you are pro choice, you are by definition, Pro abortion. You can't be anti abortion and yet be for the legality of that. Abortion is ending a life. Even if you think that baby isn't "alive" yet, you're allowing a woman to choose to end that baby's ability to have a beating heart & have a chance to breathe air once he or she has been officially born. That's taking away that baby's "equal rights" to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. Sure it's the woman's body, and you think she should get to choose what happens to it. She did by having sex. Ok ok, I know there are instances of rape, and that's not her fault, but lets leave that aside for right now and focus on the issue of so-called elective abortions. That baby a woman just aborted could have been the person who would have cured cancer but her mom chose to end her life before it truly began. Good one. So what if the mom gets fat or poor... people make those choices all the time and we don't throw them in jail. Give some one some pills that will kill them, we certainly call those people murderers and put them in jail. But not a woman taking the pills to end the baby's life??

The argument about gay marriage isn't about if you are for or against people being gay, it's about equal rights.
The argument about abortion isn't about if you are for or against people having a right to chose, it's about murder.
In my mind, I don't know how someone could support one or the other issue, but not both.

Faces of J

Today baby J was extra fun; so I took these photos
But then he got his synagis shot...
His weight was 13 pounds, 14 ounces (38%) and his height was 24.25" (41%)
So that's pretty decent.

Our weekend

Friday night started with a trip to urgent care for J. Ended up being just a diaper rash-ish..long story short. No big deal, though it looked bad. Very red and irritated little boy part. My husband also learned a valuable lesson about J, who is uncut... When intact, don't retract.
G had her first Easter egg hunt in frigid temps, but beat the snow! She enjoyed it but was pretty scared of the Easter bunny up close--liked him from afar. She hop hop hopped for him though :)
J didn't nap longer than 15 minutes all weekend, so that's cool (not)
We had a family Target outing, it was nice.
I sold some stuff on a swap shop site & made a little cash that's going right back as I'm buy some swap shop gently used clothes for the summer for G & J, both of whom have small wardrobes. Can't beat $150 worth of stuff for $50.
Then we got 8 inches of snow.
My husbands cousin and wife came over for a super fun soup day :)
J continued to nap poorly.
I sliced my finger really good (sarcasm) while chopping onion. It'd been a while since I'd done that, figured it was about time. Ugh.
Took G to the baby store while my husband turned her crib into a toddler bed. We bought an extra camera for our video monitor, and G picked out a new potty for upstairs. She chose a cheap frog one and hop hop hopped for it. Fine by me.
Intense potty training starts Friday AM.
Boom.
She did great sleeping in her big kid bed :) she was just scared of the dark since her old monitor had a night light on it but her camera one doesn't. We solved it by using J's night light in her room. Maybe I'll let her pick out her own today.
That's about it :)

Three month old J

March 16 2013

Little mister is a little over three months old today. He has also decided to throw revolutions at nap times. Fantastico!


I'm not sure how other moms of two young kids handle it, but for me...it involves some near hair-pulling out, some internal tantrums (adult style, you know, the kind with swearing), some MAJOR prayers, and a whole lot of "I cannot wait for this stage to be over" thoughts.

I've got G begging to be played with -- and oh I want to honey -- and J screaming because he's fed, changed, tired, and laying in his nice bed -- which is clearly not enough for a three month old but is more than plenty for this momma.

I have to find a balance between letting him cry so I can give G attention, and attending to him because he is, after all, only a three month old.

Today has been the hardest day to find that balance.

It's been a tough several days, with regards to J and his naps... He has hit that phase of reaching major physical and mental milestones that results in poor sleep. I'm super thankful he is on track with all of these milestones, just very worn out and unsure how to handle the combination of needs among my kids. Sometimes, no one wins and all three of us have tears. That's just real life, folks.

Parents with more than two kids, I tip my hat to you. I'd imagine there's a ton of screaming in your house, or you are smart/rich, and hire a nanny or day care.

So, back to the baby.

March 15 2013

He's in 6 month clothes! He must weigh nearly 14 lbs, but I'll know for sure next week at his second NICU follow-up. I can't really guess at his height, so I'll report back on that too.
He nurses 5-6 times during the day and 2-4 times at night.
His bed time is roughly 7:45 pm, but lately he's not been going to sleep easily. He will usually sleep about 6 hours, then eat, then sleep another 2-4, eat, then sleep another 1-2.
He doesn't really have a nap schedule, though I've tried to pencil-in one based on when he gets up for the day... it's truly a crap shoot. I'm well versed in the sleep training methods and procedures, as I went through the ringer with G, but none of my best stuff is working for the kid.

And that brings me to the milestones that are inducing this sleep crazy mess.
J rolled over! Okay, he technically kind-of rolled over (tummy to back) as a two month old, but he'd never really get flat onto his back, so I never counted it. We are officially counting tummy-to-back roll over on 3/16, exactly 3 months old. He's SO extremely close to rolling over from back to tummy. I've started several recordings, only to delete them when nothing pans out.... but it's very imminent. This is very exciting for us, because he's never been as strong as G was--she held her own head up pretty much from day 1. J didn't really hold his head very well until 2/26. J has great kicking motion, so I assume crawling won't be delayed.
When we found out about his condition, of course things ran through my mind about possible physical or mental delays...but for now...knock on wood...he's pretty much typical.
His breathing is okay. It took him about 2 weeks to get over a minor cold, but he's back to normal (for him) now, so that's nice.
He loves to laugh at G, or us if we say/do the right thing, and smile at anyone that gives him even the smallest reason to. He's truly a loveable boy, just going through some grouchies lately.
He loves to read books and look at toys. He recently started trying to bat at them and successfully does some of the time. His favorite seems to be a white Easter bunny that has pink teether paws and a little rattle inside.
He drools a ton, but I don't see any indication of teething. He had an umbilical hernia, but it seems to be almost gone. His hair is still about the same length, but his massive head keeps growing, so the hair is thinning out across the scalp, which makes for a comical hair-do.
He loves watching all the action, especially his big sister.
He went to mass for the first time this weekend and was AWAKE THE WHOLE TIME. There was only one instance where he almost got fussy, but reigned it in. He was pretty much an angel. It was lovely. It was our first mass as a full family of four, and it went great. It was on the six year anniversary of me meeting my husband. So that made it extra special.

march 8 2013 - (band-aid from blood draw)

Lessons of a first time home buyer

This is not the tutorial type post it probably should be. I am stressed and annoyed. Irritated and mad. I'm really at my wits end. I'll start by saying, it was the only house in our budget that fit our needs at the time, so we had to take it because of our confined time.

If we had more time, this wouldn't have been our house. We would have kept looking.

That is lesson number one.
Take your time.

If you've read some previous house posts, you know about our plumbing issues- faucets, dishwasher, toilet. Not to mention the whole house filter doesn't work and the main shut off is shady. Then there's the water heater. At least that was paid for. Then the driveway meeds mud jacked. That's next week.

The basement bathroom needs help. There're several cracks and nails popping.

There's countless little things my sweet husband has fixed and continues to improve on. Painting, switches, caulking, ect...

But now we are facing a lot of wood rot damage that needs fixing. Our home inspection didn't not tell us how bad it was. It briefly mentioned a few places and said it wasn't bad. LIES. All of it.
The sad thing is the inspector offered to give us our money back after the plumbing issues and I took HER up on it. Sadly, there's not much we can go after her now...

Lesson number two. Get a good inspection. We "trusted" our agent when he told us his inspector was great. Ya I bet great for helping him sell houses. She screwed us over so bad. If we had know half this stuff was bad, we would have requested it be fixed or requested more money off the purchase price.

Lesson three. Don't be afraid to ask for money to cover repairs or for them to be done.

I think that's what I'm most mad about. We were advised by our realtor not to ask for much....lame! Should have trusted my gut. I wanted to request more, but didn't stand up for myself when other people told me to skate by on little requests.

Lesson four. Being a homeowner is nice and all but it sucks not having the five grand necessary to fix your house...for now. Who knows how much it'll be next time.

To recap; we bought a lemon.

Egg Salad Recipe {#Lent #meatless}

My Friday Lent meal plan typically looks like this:

Fish (frozen), fries or mac and cheese, veggies

BORING! I know.

So then I pulled out my recipe book and was flipping through... I found egg salad and was totally like..."oh ya! I forgot about that!"

So I altered it beyond recognition and here's what I've got for you--- it's really good, not to mayo-ey and super full of protein.

Egg Salad Sandwiches

9 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and cut into small chunks

to get perfect boiled eggs, lay eggs in the bottom of a pan, cover with cool water, put on stove on medium-high, heat until boiling, allow to boil one minute, remove from heat, cover pot with lid for 10 minutes, drain, remove eggs to bowl, fill bowl with cold water, refrigerate for 2 hours, drain, keep in refrigerator until needed

2 stalks of celery (organic is prefered), chopped small
2/3 cup mayo
1 tablespoon mustard
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
pepper to taste
dill seasoning to taste (I love dill!)

combine in bowl, cover, refrigerate until needed
serve on toast
(I want to try these with bacon on top, but alas, that's not a Lent friendly Friday meal)

Church with G

This past Sunday was the first time G had been to church since the day J was born. We aren't going as a family because J really needs to avoid all the germs that are swimming around a ginormous building full of coughing/sneezing people. G needs to avoid it too, plus church is easier for who ever is going if they don't take kids.

Long story short, my sister was in town, so we took G, because I figured the extra set of hands would help.

Truth be told I didn't even need them! G was on near angelic behavior!
She played with her books quietly, looked at the people around us, the goings on in the front (we sat in the third row, trying to keep her interested), the choir/piano to the left of us, and also folded her hands to pray. She says the cutest Ah-men in the world and does a pretty good version of the sign of the cross.

I had a super proud mom moment at Communion time... I asked her if she wanted me to carry her or if she wanted to walk. She said walk, so I showed her how to cross her arms for a blessing... And she walked up in front of me like a BIG girl. I melted.

She also tried to kneel a bit ! :)

The few awkward moments were when she clapped and said yay!! after a song, but that's cute so I hope no one minded.

Then there's her latest word... Ba-rah! Or, bra.

I was holding her while kneeling, she was giving me a hug and tried to pull my shirt off my shoulder to inspect my bra strap. I stopped her but she still said, "ba-rah!! Eeet's white!"

I felt super red, but what can you do... She's two! My sister said she couldn't really tell what G said until she saw my embarrassed face... Hopefully no one else heard/saw, except maybe other moms who have been there and done that, and found it hilarious.

I'm assuming that because she's older and understands more, she behaved better. She even tried to whisper instead of talking...sometimes.

I wonder, though, if she'll develop bad habits or resentment to quiet in church, as we are able to return to church as a family as flu season comes to an end soon (hopefully)....hope not! She had been doing fairly well with her behavior before J was born...who knows what bringing him along will do to her behavior too.

Regardless, it was a great mass and I'm super proud of her behavior this past Sunday.

Now if only I could stop dwelling on how our priest kept calling Jesus manure!! Oh jeez I about LOLed for real. (Context, the gospel was about giving a tree another chance to bear fruit, and he was saying that we are the tree and Jesus helps us get a second chance...he literally said, "and Jesus is the manure")

Here's a cute pic from G's two year old shoot

Cheese Blintzes

This weekend I finally made one of my favorite foods ever- cheese blintzes. I've had them on plenty of fancy breakfast buffets, but had never thought to make them at home.
Now I'm pretty sure I want to make them every weekend.

They are basically like stuffed crepes, though they are Slovic not French. They are stuffed with a mix of cheese and sugar, and topped with fruit compote. (Though according to Wikipedia, they (like crepes) can have a great variety of fillings/toppings)

I thought of sharing my recipe, but maybe I'll sell it or compete at the county fair...they are that good!!

Milestone!

Peace out cdpx1, we're breaking out!