StBA: Getting Ahead
I skipped last week. But that post will be coming.
I thought, since I may be traveling next Thursday, that I'd try to get done 2 weeks worth of StBA and get ahead a little bit today. I have only a few minutes left on incubation, so we'll see how well I do.
Something to Blog About, Post #27: Be Opinionated
Chantelle writes: Be honest, truthful, open. Share your views on all things controversial and non-controversial. Share what you think and don't be afraid to speak up.
When I first saw this post, I thought I'd write about something really shocking and even went so far as to compose my response in my head. It was about the wearing of headscarves by devout Muslim women and how that somehow traced back to the Prophet or the Quran stating something about the inherent beauty of a woman's neck. I was kind of steamed that day about something else, but I allowed my anger to color the fake post I was writing in my head, correlating the beauty of a woman's neck with rape. Yeah... it was a stretch and ridiculous now that I think about it. And really, really inflammatory, so I'm not going to post about it.
So, what am I opinionated about? Well, there are lots of things. I'm opinionated about equality for ALL people (not just men, not just caucasians [as another aside, where the heck is Caucasia, anyway?], not just for the dominant religious group, not just for heterosexuals). I believe in a person's right to informed consent in ALL aspects of their life and their right to be told both the good AND the bad about important life decisions (like buying a house and taking out a mortgage without being completely briefed on the interest rate hikes that happen 2 years down the road, like undergoing major surgery without being told all of the risks). I believe in a baby's right to decide their own birthday, regardless of what the 'estimated due date' is.
I think a lot of the people affiliated with the Tea Party, the Democratic party, and the Republican party are nice and sane, even though some of the policies and ideas coming from each particular group seem completely out of this world to me. I think we can all have our different opinions about politics and regulations and the federal government and that we can set aside our glaring differences to talk about things and hear what the other groups have to say. I'm not sure that this will ever be done in a coherent, rational fashion, but I think that we as a culture and society have the capability of doing so.
I am quite opinionated about birth rights and activism surrounding natural birth and breastfeeding. Jake is absolutely fed up with me yelling at the TV when a show (A Baby Story, anyone?) or news story comes on which I blatantly disagree with. He gets it, he understands my opinion, now would I please just shut up about it? I think that all women should have the access to and the choice of the birth that they want and that we all should just shut up about it. So my co-worker decided to have an elective repeat cesarean for her completely healthy 2nd child? So what. That's the best decision for her. I wouldn't have done it her way, but I'm not her and I respect her ability to decide what's best for her body. I would never tell a woman that she must have a homebirth because that's what I believe is truly the safest option for me and my baby, and I would hope that no one will come up to me and say that my baby is definitely going to die because I'm planning a homebirth.
.... And I totally didn't finish this before my timer went off. Oh well.
Something to Blog About, Post #28: The Best Part of Your Day
Chantelle writes: What's the best part of your day? 8 pm when the kids are asleep? 8 am on your drive to work? Share a photo and explain why you like that time of day best.
This one is easy. The best part of my day is in the evenings, after dinner, when we're all together as a family and can play with Ben, maybe watch some TV, and catch up on chores until it's bedtime. I love that we have this family time carved out and in the summer we'd go to the lake or take Olive for a long walk. Now that it's bitterly cold and dark outside, we spend it playing catch with Olive (and Ben) or have tickle-fests on the floor or reading 'da Santas book' 4,000 times.
This photo is from a DiTL last March, but it pretty much still sums up what we do every night. There are Daddy horsey rides, climbing all over Mama's belly, playing with 'da TRUCKS', and reading, reading, reading. Then Olive won't drop the ball or we ask him to read the book to us, or the fire truck is just too far away across the room... and he melts down. That's our cue that it's time to get into pajamas and head 'night-night'.
I thought, since I may be traveling next Thursday, that I'd try to get done 2 weeks worth of StBA and get ahead a little bit today. I have only a few minutes left on incubation, so we'll see how well I do.
Something to Blog About, Post #27: Be Opinionated
Chantelle writes: Be honest, truthful, open. Share your views on all things controversial and non-controversial. Share what you think and don't be afraid to speak up.
When I first saw this post, I thought I'd write about something really shocking and even went so far as to compose my response in my head. It was about the wearing of headscarves by devout Muslim women and how that somehow traced back to the Prophet or the Quran stating something about the inherent beauty of a woman's neck. I was kind of steamed that day about something else, but I allowed my anger to color the fake post I was writing in my head, correlating the beauty of a woman's neck with rape. Yeah... it was a stretch and ridiculous now that I think about it. And really, really inflammatory, so I'm not going to post about it.
So, what am I opinionated about? Well, there are lots of things. I'm opinionated about equality for ALL people (not just men, not just caucasians [as another aside, where the heck is Caucasia, anyway?], not just for the dominant religious group, not just for heterosexuals). I believe in a person's right to informed consent in ALL aspects of their life and their right to be told both the good AND the bad about important life decisions (like buying a house and taking out a mortgage without being completely briefed on the interest rate hikes that happen 2 years down the road, like undergoing major surgery without being told all of the risks). I believe in a baby's right to decide their own birthday, regardless of what the 'estimated due date' is.
I think a lot of the people affiliated with the Tea Party, the Democratic party, and the Republican party are nice and sane, even though some of the policies and ideas coming from each particular group seem completely out of this world to me. I think we can all have our different opinions about politics and regulations and the federal government and that we can set aside our glaring differences to talk about things and hear what the other groups have to say. I'm not sure that this will ever be done in a coherent, rational fashion, but I think that we as a culture and society have the capability of doing so.
I am quite opinionated about birth rights and activism surrounding natural birth and breastfeeding. Jake is absolutely fed up with me yelling at the TV when a show (A Baby Story, anyone?) or news story comes on which I blatantly disagree with. He gets it, he understands my opinion, now would I please just shut up about it? I think that all women should have the access to and the choice of the birth that they want and that we all should just shut up about it. So my co-worker decided to have an elective repeat cesarean for her completely healthy 2nd child? So what. That's the best decision for her. I wouldn't have done it her way, but I'm not her and I respect her ability to decide what's best for her body. I would never tell a woman that she must have a homebirth because that's what I believe is truly the safest option for me and my baby, and I would hope that no one will come up to me and say that my baby is definitely going to die because I'm planning a homebirth.
.... And I totally didn't finish this before my timer went off. Oh well.
Something to Blog About, Post #28: The Best Part of Your Day
Chantelle writes: What's the best part of your day? 8 pm when the kids are asleep? 8 am on your drive to work? Share a photo and explain why you like that time of day best.
This one is easy. The best part of my day is in the evenings, after dinner, when we're all together as a family and can play with Ben, maybe watch some TV, and catch up on chores until it's bedtime. I love that we have this family time carved out and in the summer we'd go to the lake or take Olive for a long walk. Now that it's bitterly cold and dark outside, we spend it playing catch with Olive (and Ben) or have tickle-fests on the floor or reading 'da Santas book' 4,000 times.
This photo is from a DiTL last March, but it pretty much still sums up what we do every night. There are Daddy horsey rides, climbing all over Mama's belly, playing with 'da TRUCKS', and reading, reading, reading. Then Olive won't drop the ball or we ask him to read the book to us, or the fire truck is just too far away across the room... and he melts down. That's our cue that it's time to get into pajamas and head 'night-night'.