…off to see the surgeon…
When M was 6 months old, he had a hypospadias reconstruction. Everything went well. Everything has been well for the 2 years since then. I’m not going to give many details because one day my son will strangle for it. To put it gently, it seems he might have to have another small reconstruction. I don’t know for sure, but it could be that he either has an internal fistula off the urethra or he might need a small, what do I call it, stint or shunt, something to extend the urethra just a bit.
M was supposed to go back to the urologist when he turned 5, but we felt that maybe he should be seen sooner, just in case another surgery was needed, we wanted it done sooner rather than later. So, I called the doctor over the weekend. (yes, I knew they would be out of the office, but I knew they would call me back on Monday vs. me remembering to call them back on Monday (which wasn’t going to happen until at least midday when my brain started to half-way function)
They called yesterday and agreed that he should be seen now. As we all know, “NOW” doesn’t mean much with doctors’ appointments, especially with specialists. His appointment is set for December. So, we will go from there.
Stupidity & the answer PETA is looking for
So, PETA thinks that Ben & Jerry’s should only use human milk to make their ice cream. Breast milk is liquid gold! If you think B&J’s is expensive now, you just wait!
“PETA points out to [Ben] Cohen and [Jerry] Greenfield that such a move on their part would lessen the suffering of dairy cows and their babies on factory farms and benefit human health at the same time.” Are you flipping insane? They care more about the utters of the cows than the breasts of a woman. The stress of a cow more than the stress of a woman….
In one day, the day my milk came in when my daughter was a newborn, I was not able to nurse her every feeding b/c she was in an incubator (very bad jaundice), so I pumped. That day, in about 15 hours, all I was able to pump was a little over 64 oz. That’s half a gallon. (Can’t you get that out of about 10 squeezes of an udder from a cow?) Remember, that was the day my milk came in, so of course that means there’s a lot of excess milk. Huge, swollen, tender, leaky breasts…and still only 1/2 a gallon. (B&J would probably spill a little her and there and then would only end up with 1/4 gallon…wow, 1/4 gallon of liquid GOLD!) On any normal day after that, I would manage to get about 8-10 oz of milk throughout the ENTIRE day b/c all of the rest went to my daughter. The same goes for years later when my youngest was going to be having surgery, I started pumping milk to put back just in case something were to happen and he couldn’t nurse after the surgery. I had to take some herbs to build up my milk supply. With nursing him all day long and pumping 3-4 times a day, I still was only able to pump 16-20 ounces of “extra” milk. Again, not enough to make a milkshake with.
Get over it, PETA!
Now, that you all know more about my milk supply than you ever needed to, I will move on to the other stupid story of the week….
A 26 yr old blogger, don’t know her name, don’t care to look it up, wants to have a baby. She doesn’t see marriage in her upcoming future, she doesn’t have a boyfriend; she just wants a baby. She is summoning her readers and Facebook followers to submit pictures and information about themselves so she can pick a likely candidate to father her child. She doesn’t want child support, or a father figure for her child; she just wants a baby. DO WHAT?????
Artificial insemination is out of the question b/c she’s a scientist and doesn’t think that buying semen is appropriate nor is the process of freezing, thawing and inserting. EXCUSE ME?? Not that I think that’s appropriate either, but at least that way the semen would be tested for all of those things we try not to think about. At least that way she could have been more discreet about her “plan” – but then again, like I said, I’m not too thrilled with either idea of hers.
Now if we sit back and think about both of these stories….Stupid is as Stupid does….this girl can be the answer for PETA. Lactation takes place with having a baby. And since she will only have a baby and no father-figure (except for the picture and personal details sitting in her Facebook inbox & the one-night-stand memories) to take up anymore of her time, she can take that extra time to pump her milk and sell to, oh, I don’t know, Swiss restaurant owners. AHA! Problem solved.
Greatest feeling
it’s not the same as being hugged, or having someone hold my hand or me theirs, it’s a totally different kinds of feeling. It’s more than hearing “I love you” because I’m not quite sure he understands that yet, even though he says it.
But at night when he climbs into my bed to sleep with me for the remainder of the night and he gets all comfy and almost back to sleep, and he reaches out his arm and wriggles it until it’s under my neck and then drifts off to sleep…it’s almost magical. All is right with his world.
This doesn’t just happen every now and then. This happens every time he sleeps with me, every time I lay down with him to get him to nap, every time we lay down together to watch a show and he might fall asleep – before that sleep takes over, there goes that arm around or under my neck.
It’s just another reminder for me to appreciate, and look forward to, all of those little things in life; definitely including the tiny arms of a 2, almost 3, year old.
I am not you
therefore I will not make the same decisions as you. I am not known to Hollywood, and I don’t care that you are. You have your views, I have mine. STOP thinking that because the world knows who you are, that I should think the same way and believe in the same things as you.
I am so sick and tired of hearing about this celebrity or that celebrity believing in this and believing in that and donating this money for this and that money for that. More power to them. But then to hear about this person and that person thinking it’s okay to believe in the same b/c that certain celebrity truly feels a certain way. WHATEVER! Look into your heart, follow your OWN thoughts. Make up your own mind! Be different if you must; make your own stand.
Then the fall side of this is; WARS. Not just countries at war. I mean the whole within our own country, I.am.better.than.you wars: mommy wars; bash the president/veep to be wars; crunchier-than-thou wars; stay-at-home-mom vs. working-mom wars; homeschool vs. public school wars; etc. (Check out the sarah palin wars at the mama bird diaries.)
Opinions are opinions. Let’s look into the word “opinion” for a minute…
Opinion – noun
1. a belief or judgment that rests on grounds insufficient to produce complete certainty
2. a personal view, attitude, or appraisal
See that? Where in there does that say what you believe is what I have to believe? Get over it!
Still don’t see it? Let’s look at the meaning of the underlined words up there:
insufficient: -adjective
1. not sufficient; lacking in what is necessary or required
2. deficient in force, quality, or amount; inadequate
personal: – adjective
1. of, pertaining to, or coming as from a particular person; individual
3. intended for use by one person
8. of the nature of an individual rational being
Hmmmmm…see where we’re going here?
Yes, I’m all for speaking your opinion, WHEN the time is appropriate. I’m all for debates. But a debate does NOT mean you have to trash everyone else in the world who does not see your point of view. Because that’s all it is, a point of view.
I really don’t care what Brad Pitt believes, I don’t care what Chevy Chase believes, and I really don’t care what Michael Moore believes. Their thoughts and beliefs are not what run through my heart and mind when I think about how I will lead my children in this world.
Soap Geeking
Growing Up Green was in need of some more soap. Today was the day to get it made. I didn’t get pictures of the oils in solid form before I started melting them, but here’s the rest:
Oils on the heat:
Lye water mix:
Pouring in the lye – notice the clouding of it in the oils:
Thickening up:
Stick blender time:
About the consistency of pudding on the way to custard thickness:
Starting to bubble in the middle (boil 1 stage)
A video (forgot to turn off music first) to see the saponification of the oils : click here
(by the way, I have turned the heat off, but the lye continues to cook itself into a bubbly volcano as it turns the oils into soap)
I had to stop the video to stir the soap down before it overflowed the pot.
After stirring down:
Falling more after the excess water boils out:
Moved back the top layer to see the saponification still in process:
After it stops bubbling, stirring it again:
Adding in the shea butter – added at the end so that it doesn’t turn to soap. I want the shea butter to stay as an extra moisturizer in each bar of soap:
All stirred in – the consistency of VERY thick mashed potatoes:
And then plopped into a 3 pound log mold.
I will unmold tomorrow and cut into 3.5-4 oz bars.
This is the day…
Earth survived the first round of tests of the LHC (Large Hadron Collider). I am fascinated by the science and technology that have went into this machine. But at the same time, I truly believe many things are to be left to the unknown.
Onto a different subject…I haven’t heard from my sister in a few days. Sunday I believe was the last email. I hope she had a good flight. I pray that she is safe no matter where she may be right now. The last time she was deployed they lost a pilot from her base, I pray this time nothing happens like that whatsoever!
Jamie’s work schedule has changed once again. He will now be working 12 hour shifts…from 7pm-7am. WHAT? 7am is good, but 7pm??? Guess we better get another vehicle soon. (we need one anyway) But all in all, we are blessed for him to still have a job after all this company has gone through and put him through in the past few months. We are now looking forward to the GM contract that will start in January. I sure hope they don’t lose that contract, the company needs it.
Trials and tribulations have defined a lot of the days of our lives these past few months. But never have they “ruined” our lives. There’s always a way to learn from each moment, to grow in each day. Psalms 118 : 24
Weathered Weekend
…again.
Tropical Storm Hanna has struck and is continuing to strike. Right now she’s just barely passed my brother-in-law, and my knit-witty friend, Aimee, and my husband’s uncle. She’s heading right up the East Coast towards more of my friends and then off the coast and back to the Atlantic again to die down between Ireland and Iceland, if she makes it that far.
Then the ferocious Ike is on his way with whipping winds of 115 mph right now. He has such a fickle eye: he became a Hurricane a couple to three days ago and within hours he was an H4. Since then he has moved back and forth between an H3 and H4. He looks to be headed right towards the Gulf of Mexico again. I feel sorry for the people on the gulf coast. Most just got power back, some still have none. Some still don’t have phones, food, roofs that don’t leak, etc. Maybe Ike will change his mind’s eye (haha) and chill out.
Thankfully Josephine has downgraded to a Tropical Depression. Maybe she’ll die off and we won’t have to worry about her at all.
All of these storms however have provided the Midwest states with much needed rain. My garden had been shriveling up but is now filling out with beautiful vegetables again. Some plants just couldn’t survive the long weeks w/o rain, but most did manage.
Watching the news right now, I was just reminded that my neighborhood might have storms tomorrow too. The Colts opening night. My granny is the most extreme opposite of a fan of the Colts. She despises the team and the attention they get, not to mention the TV shows that get pushed off of the schedule just so the local channels can cover the Colt Football games. I’m off to search for shows for her to watch online 
Politics
I don’t want to hear it.
- You don’t like Obama.
- He’s not qualified.
- He’s the anti-Christ.
- He’s going to turn this world upside down (like it isn’t already).
- He’s too hip to be a leader.
- He’s a democrat!
- yada yada yada
OR…
- You don’t like Palin (since for some reason, she’s now the one running for Pres..hmmm when did that happen?)
- She tore her daughter’s life apart by outing her as being a pregnant, unwed teen.
- She’s a monster and a liar.
- She’s too young, has too many kids, & needs to stay home w/ them.
- She’s a Republican!
- yada yada yada
I don’t want to hear it.
Not everyone in this world will agree w/ your views, so please stop trying to push them on others. Quit your non-stop complaining. It’s not going to change anything. If you want to complain, please wait until the election is over, the new president steps in, and makes a fool oh him/herself and ruins the world as we know it now. Then you have the right to complain and say, “oops, I voted for the wrong person. ” Then the complaining will be done with.
If you can’t change it, don’t complain about it. If you want to run for president in 2012, please do so!
Until then….
I don’t want to hear about it!
Neither does everyone else you feel you HAVE to share your nonstop complaining to.
kthanxbai
Lots of Things on My Mind
Hurricane Gustav is hitting the coast of LA with waves exceeding 34 ft in height and winds on land at more than 50mph at the current time. Offshore, the winds are at approximately 115mph. A historic evacuation of NOLA took place over the past couple of days with more than 2 million people fleeing the storm.
Completely incredible. Can you seriously imagine a huge metropolis being nothing more than a one-horse-town? Stores, gas stations, bars, homes, schools… everything boarded up and left behind to face the winds and the rain.
Few people decided against leaving. Some didn’t have any other place to go. Some refused to leave their homes and businesses again. The looting after Hurricane Katrina ruined the thought of safety for personal belongings, thus some people staying behind to protect their assets.
My prayers are being said for all of those in the area of this hurricane, as well as all of those who evacuated for safety. Godspeed, everyone!
Another thing on my mind is my sister. She will be here in a few hours to give hugs and kisses and no doubtably warn me against shedding a tear. She will of course tell me once again why she is doing this. She will promise me she’ll be safe and she will call me soon. She will not look back as she drives off back towards her home. In a few days, she will be one of those heroic Americans who leave their families and their lives behind to protect others, and once again stand for the freedom that we as Americans have.
I know. I really do know. I know she’s doing this because she “needs” to. I know she’s doing this because she wants to. I know she’s doing this because she enjoys her job in the Armed Forces. I know she’s doing the right thing, in her eyes and in the eyes of thousands of others. But in MY heart, I can’t let it be. I can’t understand it. I can’t figure it out. Call me selfish and immature and anything else you feel the need to. But this is MY sister. This is my only sister. This is my best friend. This is the aunt of my children. This is my nephew’s mommy. This is all the meaning behind the tears that I now shed. (Better get it out now before she sees me. )
Please keep her and her son in your prayers and thoughts. And please, Lord, bring her home safe!
One more thing on my mind right now…today is Labor Day. Today is the holiday (not the date) that I lost my brother 21 years ago. The date was September 7, 1987. It is another day I will never forget no matter how many years set apart that day and today.
With all of these things laying on my heart and mind right now, I am reminded of how close we need to hold our loved ones to our heart. Please kiss your spouse, hold your children, love your neighbor and never take life for granted. In only a heartbeat, it can all change.
SSS … Stay Safe & Strong.
