Christmas pics not that I'm behind

We spent Christmas and New Year's in Austin, Texas with Roland's (OK we just use real names now) brother and sister-in-law who live in Austin and his brother and sister-in-law who live here. It was so nice to be together. All the cousins had a great time. It was the first time in some years that those 3 brothers had been together. I'm working now so I am even worse than before about updating this thing.Coming soon are our pictures from NY and DC...in the meantime, here are a couple Texas pictures.

update such as it is :-)

OK sorry for no updates forever. So behind. These are some pics from Thanksgiving, which we spent with the fam on my side -- it was so nice, relaxing, and fun. I only wish I had eaten more. Must work on that.

sweet pea

Kwame's first Halloween was a success. He was so sweet and compliant about being a pea in a pod. All his peas fell off right away, but he was still really cute. We went to his cousin's school for a Halloween carnival. It was fun. His uncle Alain was Captain America and his cousin Jaden was the Incredible Hulk. I was a witch. No, that was my costume.

This is so I can link to it from elsewhere...

** First legislation, the HOPE Act, which increased Pell Grants to $5100, and later joined Senator Kennedy on the Higher Education legislation that passed July 20, by a vote of 78-18. It also creates the Teaching Residency Act which will create a school-based teacher preparation program in high needs schools to provide each teacher with a mentor, content instruction, classroom management skills, a master’s degree and state certification, and a 2 year follow-up program.


**The Coburn-Obama Government Transparency Act of 2006
is an act that requires the full disclosure of all entities or organizations receiving federal funds beginning in fiscal year (FY) 2007 on a website maintained by the Office of Management and Budget.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Funding_Accountabi...


**The Lugar-Obama Nuclear Non-proliferation and Conventional Weapons Threat Reduction Act
Authored by U.S. Sens. Dick Lugar (R-IN) and Barack Obama (D-IL), the Lugar-Obama initiative expands U.S. cooperation to destroy conventional weapons. It also expands the State Department's ability to detect and interdict weapons and materials of mass destruction.
Signed into Law on January 11, 2007.
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/chrisblas...


**The 2007 Government Ethics Bill
http://www.rollcall.com/issues/53_17/news/19664-1.html?...
http://www.commonblog.com/story/2007/9/14/164837/331

** The “Democratic Republic of the Congo Relief, Security, and Democracy Promotion Act.
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s109-2125

** S116 - Summer Learning demonstration project to provide summer learning grants and encourage new teaching methods.
http://www.pasesetter.org/demonstrationPrograms/nasd.ht...

and this one, moved out of committee just a few days ago:
Obama's Global Poverty Act of 2007, passed out of committee just a few days ago
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senators Barack Obama (D-IL), Chuck Hagel (R-NE), and Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Congressman Adam Smith (D-WA) today hailed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's passage of the Global Poverty Act (S.2433), which requires the President to develop and implement a comprehensive policy to cut extreme global poverty in half by 2015 through aid, trade, debt relief, and coordination with the international community, businesses and NGOs. This legislation was introduced in December. Smith and Congressman Spencer Bachus (R-AL) sponsored the House version of the bill (H.R. 1302), which passed the House last September.
http://obama.senate.gov /



Amendments, that have all passed:

S.Amdt.159 to S.Con.Res.18 - To prevent and, if necessary, respond to an international outbreak of the avian flu.

S.Amdt.390 to H.R.1268 - To provide meal and telephone benefits for members of the Armed Forces who are recuperating from injuries incurred on active duty in Operation Iraqi Freedom or Operation Enduring Freedom.

S.Amdt.670 to H.R.3 - To provide for Flexible Fuel Vehicle (FFV) refueling capability at new and existing refueling station facilities to promote energy security and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

S.Amdt.808 to H.R.6 - To establish a program to develop Fischer-Tropsch transportation fuels from Illinois basin coal.

S.Amdt.851 to H.R.6 - To require the Secretary to establish a Joint Flexible Fuel/Hybrid Vehicle Commercialization Initiative, and for other purposes.

S.Amdt.1362 to S.1042 - To require a report on the Department of Defense Composite Health Care System II.

S.Amdt.1453 to S.1402 - To ensure the protection of military and civilian personnel in the Department of Defense from an influenza pandemic, including an avian influenza pandemic.

S.Amdt.2301 to H.R.3010 - To increase funds to the Thurgood Marshall Legal Educational Opportunity Program and to the Office of Special Education Programs of the Department of Education for the purposes of expanding positive behavioral interventions and supports.

S.Amdt.2605 to S.2020 - Expressing the sense of the Senate that the Federal Emergency Management Agency should immediately address issues relating to no-bid contracting.

S.Amdt.2930 to S.2349 - To clarify that availability of legislation does not include nonbusiness days.
S.Amdt.3144 to S.Con.Res.83 - To provide a $40 million increase in FY 2007 for the Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program and to improve job services for hard-to-place veterans

S. Amdt 41 to S. 1 To require lobbyists to disclose the candidates, leadership PACs, or political parties for whom they collect or arrange contributions, and the aggregate amount of the contributions collected or arranged.

----------------------------------------------

Barack has Written a total of 890 Bills and Co-sponsored Another 1096 since he started serving in the U.S. Senate.

Sappiness

Somebody tell me what is better than holding your baby's soft, warm self against your chest and rocking him to sleep, 'cause I don't know. He's so SWEET. I can't stand it.

Pics of Kwame

OK since the demand is high (ok, one commenter), here are some more pics of Kwame.

San Diego birth story

Wow! I'm not pregnant anymore. Anyone who reads this blog already knows that, I think. No time for a big update, but yeah, our little sweet boy was born on Wednesday, September 24, 2008, at 9:30 p.m. That kinda hurt. Of course, it was all worth it. I didn't have any drugs so that made me happy. Anyway, I am so in love with him. He is so perfect and sweet and beautiful and cute. He has black curly hair and the cutest little face and cutest everything. He makes the funniest faces. He is really a good baby -- he's not keen on sleeping much after the sun goes down, but he doesn't seem to cry for no reason -- he just likes to eat a lot and cries if he is separated from his source of nourishment for any length of time. (Like 5 minutes.) Here are some pics for your convenience.

amazing Sri Lankan birth story

So since mostly all I think about is birth these days, I was remembering a story that a friend told us about his uncle. Some of you all might have heard of him or known him -- I won't put his name on here, but we'll call him "L." "L" was a very kind, gentle, Sri Lankan man who I believe had been a tailor. He was a widower visiting the States from Sri Lanka and he met and married an American widow, very late in life. I believe they were both in their 80's when they married. Amazingly, they had around ten wonderful years together if I'm not mistaken. He sewed his wife's wedding dress and after that he sewed all her clothes. They were beautifully done. I know he was in his 90's when he died. I know some of his family, but I never knew him. Because of circumstances, I was present at a small memorial service to bury his ashes. (His wife is still alive but in a rest home.) Afterward, some were telling stories about him. This is the story of how he was born:

His mother was giving birth at home, as usual in that day, and for some reason, the midwife could not get there in time. So she sent an assistant who had much less experience. The birth went fine -- a baby was born, the placenta was delivered, and later, the midwife arrived. When the midwife got there, she told the assistant "show me and tell me everything you did." The assistant recounted the details of the birth -- how the labor went, the timing of the birth, the birth of the placenta. The assistant had taken the placenta outside and put it in a hole to be buried. The midwife said, "Show me the placenta." So they went outside and the midwife looked at the placenta in the hole -- and it MOVED. She picked it up -- and there was another baby in the membranes! Apparently that part of the membranes had not broken apart and it was not obvious that there was a baby in there! The mother had had twins and she didn't know it!!!! That baby was L. They took him inside, cleaned him off, and he lived for 93 or so years. He used to say, with a twinkle in his eye, and in his lilting accent, "Truly God brought me out of a horrible pit..."

sucking on the placenta

Not me, the baby. Today I had this test (unnecessary but I didn't feel like fighting them) where they make sure you have enough amniotic fluid. So I had my second ultrasound. The baby was sucking on the placenta! I saw his little lips moving. The nurse said he was probably just bored. Also, because of the sucking reflex, if something comes near their mouth, they just suck on it. They suck on the cord too sometimes, I guess. It was funny watching him.

You have to admit placentas are pretty cool. For the baby's entire stay in the uterus, the placenta gives the baby nutrients and oxygen, and disposes of CO2 and his waste products. The placenta is the only organ with its own life cycle. (Hmm, maybe skin has its own too, now that I think of it...) You can do cool stuff with it, like plant it under a tree, make a placenta print with it (see above), give it to your Bradley class teacher so she can show it to her students, or even...eat it! Yum! My mom sent us recipes for Placenta Lasagne and Cold Placenta Blended With Tomato Juice (mom named that one the Bloody Mary). I think she was joking about the recipes... The site I got this picture from was in Russian (Cyrillic, anyway), so I'm not totally sure, but I think this is what I think it is...

Anybody want to come for dinner?

the Marines washed my car today

And they did a really good job, as I thought they might. Being Marines and all -- I think they have to be good at like cleaning things and detail and stuff, right? I was wondering, though, why they were having a carwash. Sounds like they do it every week or every other. It's too bad that after we have borrowed/spent 700 billion dollars since 9/11 for military endeavors that the Marines would still have to have a carwash, isn't it? Maybe we should have thought our strategy out...

Or maybe they do it for fun for extra money? I wanted to ask them but I didn't have the nerve. What if they didn't like the question and they decided to do a civilian Code Red on me or something. Just kidding, they were really nice.

my husband is a patient guy

Augh, so pregnancy has been pretty good so far. I'm 8 months along, I was only sick for one, I have felt good other than that the whole time, and I'm not necessarily as big as a house (yet). I have had some minor issues -- I'm hot a lot and I sometimes have trouble sleeping. Emotionally, I'm a little, shall we say, closer to the edge than before. (Some would perhaps observe that I wasn't all that far before.;)) But today's little episode ended with me crying my eyes out in -- should I say the name of the place? -- OK, I will -- Hooters -- yes, that Hooters -- and running out the door.

It all started when I decided I wanted to go out for brunch and I wanted an omelette and toast and/or crepes and/or pancakes -- that type of food. You know, like a good yummy cafe. We remembered this cafe someone told us about recently and decided to try it. However we were a little slow getting going and by the time we got there, it was 2:56 p.m. I knew they closed at 3, but there were several tables of people in there still eating so I thought maybe it was one of those things where they let whoever in until the cut-off and that's it. Looking back, I shouldn't have asked, but the former server in me just couldn't sit down w/o asking. When I asked if they were closed, they said yes, even though the door was wide open and no one told me "Hey we're closed" when I walked in. OK.

So we get in the car and go to another cafe we know. I'm really kind of hungry by now. We sit down, figure out what we want, and the server comes. He says, "I'm sorry, no hot food now, just cold salads and sandwiches." Auuugh! You know when you want something very specific? And other things are not going to do? This phenomenon seems to be magnified during the gestational period. Actually I would have settled for a hot sandwich. I did not want cold stuff. I wanted something COOKED. OK.

So we go to the Mission, a very yummy Mexican/Americanish fusion cafe downtown. It's probably 3:40 by the time we get there. The server outside tells us they closed at 3. I'd be very happy with IHOP by now, but we both don't remember exactly where it is downtown, never having been to IHOP here. And by now I'm ravenous. And hot. And tired. And frustrated. I know I am not describing anything significant or important right now. I know that my life is easy when this is the worst thing that has happened in my pregnancy. I know that. I was still ravenous and hot and tired and hormonal. In the car, I tell Alexander that I almost cried when they weren't open.

So now we're driving around downtown, hoping to find both a suitable restaurant and a parking spot in the same vicinity. Not easy on a Saturday when you want breakfast at 4 pm. Well, I had given up on breakfast. But still not easy.* I did not want anything very ethnic, except maybe French (and the Mission does not count as Mexican). I wanted eggs or else a warm chicken sandwich or something like that. So we are driving and suddenly we see a parking spot, right in front of.....Hooters. Alexander suggests it and I say OK. I think it will have the kind of sandwich I want. There's a parking space. I'm starving. I'm in no position to be any more discriminating than that. We get in there. A few quizzical looks at my belly. Women are rare in there, I think, most especially obviously pregnant ones. I see with relief that there is a family with 3 young kids in there. We sit near them so we can pretend that we are at TGI Friday's and not where we really are. As we sit down, I realize that there is no air conditioning in this place, that everyone seems to be fanning themselves madly with menus, and the temperature is roughly the same in there as the earth's molten core. I think, "I can't stand this. I can't stand this temperature." Then I think about how hungry I am and how far we've come. And how it's hot outside, and I'll have to walk, and find another place, or find a whole different rare parking spot outside a different restaurant...or stay here. It's all too much. I say to Alexander, "I'm going to cry." He looks at me in sympathy/faint hopes that I'm just exaggerating. Suddenly I burst out into great, body-wracking sobs and bury my face in my hands. He jumps up. "Baby, baby, baby. Do you want to go somewhere else?" "I d-d-don't know," I sob. He says something else. I mumble something about being so uncomfortable I can't stand it (it really is hot in there, plus I'm really hot when everyone else is fine these days) and then I just get up, sobbing, and waddle out of there as fast I can. Halfway out I remember to put my shades on to preserve a shred of dignity. I have no idea what those people thought...

We get in the car and find another place, a nice cool, air-conditioned Irish restaurant/pub with hardly anyone in it and yummy sandwiches, and parking nearby. I don't even cry when they tell me they've stopped serving breakfast. A major victory.
The end.


*One other consideration (in my mind -- Alexander did NOT bring this up) was money. The originally-recommended cafe was recommended for its inexpensiveness and its yumminess. Downtown there are several way overpriced touristy bar/grill places that probably spend way more time on their drink recipes than their food. I didn't feel like spending $30 to eat mediocre food when our original plan was for good, cheap breakfast.

country folks

We're trying out a more country style, do you like it? OK, not really - it was a moving-to-Texas-going-away party for Mya, Kiron & Grady. It was amusing to me that the most countrified song the band played (made up of some of our talented friends) was "I Walk the Line" by Johnny Cash -- other than that it was mostly Eagles and Creedence Clearwater Revival. I was also unable to find any cowboy hats for Alexander at the two second-hand stores I went to - so we settled for a hat he owns that's made of straw or something.

35 weeks

So Jay Are said I should post a pic of my pregnant self...so here's one we took last night. I think the belly looks smaller when it's covered by a shirt. I feel bigger than this...




Then, there's Alexander...

Medals and Expectations

Isn't it interesting the great variations among expectations (in everything in life, but specifically, because I'm thinking about it), in the Olympics? Some athletes work so hard and never make the Olympics. To them, just getting on the Olympic team in their sport would be the greatest accomplishment. They don't dream of medaling, maybe not of getting past the first round of anything, maybe not even of playing (depending on their sport), but getting on the team -- that's a huge huge victory. Then there are the ones who are pretty sure they'll make the team, but they would like to finish well, beat a personal best, or win one game or match. If they do that, they will be ecstatic. They know they're not anywhere near medal contention. They're just happy to be there. Then there are those (these are my favorite) who have an outside chance of winning a medal, but everything would have to be just right and the stars would have to align and they'd have to have the best performance of their life, and someone else would have to mess up. They are the ones who look ecstatic receiving a bronze medal stand and who may never ever get one again.

THEN there are the ones (and I'm not knocking them, I'm just listing them) who are at the top of their sport; they have world records, other gold medals, maybe, and everyone EXPECTS them to medal, and really the only thing they'll be happy with is gold. Isn't it strange? To them, a silver is like losing. In some sports, it really is losing, like the team sports with matches (soccer, basketball, etc.) unlike in races. You don't lose a race when you get silver, you come in second. But when you get silver in soccer, you lost a big huge game. Tonight I saw video online of the womens' US and Brazil gold medal match. Apparently the Brazilians actually outplayed the US team, but ultimately the US got an overtime goal. I saw three Brazilian players sobbing, distraught. They lost. They played really hard and they lost. When they got their silver medals, they were classy and tried to smile, and mostly did, but their great disappointment was obvious.

And Michael Phelps would have been really bummed, most likely, if he had only gotten seven golds. Crazy, huh? It's all about expectations.

I love cheap dates

Tonight Alexander and I took two chairs, stopped by the store for some drinks, dark chocolate, and strawberries, and went to the beach (of the bay, not the actual ocean, but good enough). We asked a guy if we could share his bonfire, and he said yes. His friend came back and we talked to them a little bit but mostly just enjoyed their fire. It was lovely weather, not windy, just cool enough so that the fire felt good, and the smell of the ocean and the sound of the little bay waves(mostly from the wakes of night boaters) was peaceful and perfect. The lights from some night kayakers looked like a bunch of tiny blue lanterns floating on the water. On our way home, we saw that the fireworks from SeaWorld had just started, so we parked and took out our chairs again and watched them on the beach until the end. Then we went home.

finally! the perks of expectant motherhood

It took me a really long time to show or to show very much. I wanted to look pregnant RIGHT AWAY so that people would open all the doors for me and be all happy about my earth mother fertility vibes. (And so they wouldn't think I was just gaining weight for no reason!) But now my belly is way out there and people are so accommodating. They ask about the baby and guess how far along I am and tell me "congratulations" and all that stuff. Last Saturday we were at an outdoor concert. It was a situation where without one, I would have had to stand for like 5 hours (yeah right). We had meant to bring two chairs with us, but we could only find one at the time, and so I was sitting on Alexander's lap. (He would have given up the chair for just me, of course, but it was OK for awhile.) Then someone just brought me a chair! It was a situation where chairs were like gold because even the regular people were tired of standing for hours. That was so sweet. Then the security people came and took away all the chairs that belonged to the venue because they didn't want people standing on them and falling off and suing them. Sigh. People tried to intercede for me and save my chair, but they said "sorry" and took it anyway. No sooner did they leave than someone produced another chair for me! Yay. Two women near me admonished everyone around me not to stand too close to me or squish me. I felt so protected! I really like pregnancy. I think I'll do it again sometime. I guess kids seem to go along with it, though. Those probably take some work.

Music & Language In Utero

My mom was telling me a story she was told about a guy who was trying and trying to think of the name of this one violin piece. It was bothering him to no end-- he could hear it in his head but couldn't place it. I guess he was later talking to his mother about it, and she said, "Oh, I practiced that song on the violin all the time when I was pregnant with you." Which is kind of cool. So anyway I'm finally getting around to putting headphones on my belly and playing music for babycakes. We're starting with some Chopin and Beethoven but I am going to broaden it and throw some other genres in there. But I think I will do an experiment with *one* song and play it for him almost every day and then see if that song is relaxing to him after he's born or maybe helps him go to sleep or something. Would be too bad if he hated the song I picked and it was like when they torture people by playing the same awful music all the time into their prison cell. Talk about not being able to get away.

Alexander is going to speak only French (or at least no English) to the baby -- he's starting it now. Some studies say it's easier for the kid to assimilate multiple languages at once if he associates a certain language with a certain person. Also, since we don't both speak French, he's going to hear a lot of English, so there needs to be a steady supply of French. Otherwise it might get sort of forgotten/tossed by the wayside. Apparently they can also learn more than two just as easily...so we'll see if we decide to add a third one. I would like it if he learned one of Alexander's African languages, but we'd have to be pretty dedicated to make that happen. Then, again, I'll be happy if we can just keep him -- I was going to say "clean and dry" but obviously that's not going to happen -- OK, if we can just keep him.

All those times I thought I was out of shape? I wasn't.

NOW I'm out of shape. Breathing hard from just walking? This is getting very frightening. I suppose it's no mystery because I work out perhaps two times per week. If that. Sometimes one. I think this is my cue to start doing something with myself. Although I generally feel good, I don't *feel* like working out, and my standbys -- running and cycling -- are sort of by the wayside right now. Well, I could run, but it's not as comfortable anymore (even though I have handy contraptions that strap things down and keep the belly in place... :-) ) and I'm so HOT that I want it to be cold outside before I run. And it's not really cold out these days, even if it's not burning up. Walking is what I should be doing. Or going to the gym but I have all these excuses...I can't get there until Alexander comes home, and then I don't feel like it by that time.

I gave up the bike for now (I think I can ride it home from the birth center, though*) because even though Alexander and my mom told me they didn't think I should ride it, I decided not to listen to them because I think both of them are somewhat over-cautious. I think they would have me stay in a locked castle all day and do needlepoint. However, when the midwife -- who I consider fairly liberal in these matters -- told me she would not recommend it, I decided to cave in. :-( The bike was great for transportation, not to mention exercise. I guess the worry is that if I fell or got hit by a car, the consequences could be bad. I guess I can understand that. So anyway, here goes: I resolve to walk 4x per week for 45 minutes or more. That, surely, is doable. I'll check in in a week.


*just kidding, moms

the myth debunked

So when we went to our family reunion in Denver recently, Alexander went whitewater rafting with all the able-bodied people. When they got back, he showed me this video. It really looks like him, but I am still wondering if it's fake photography or something. This from the guy who doesn't even get in the pool???

rock climbing

We went climbing this Saturday. Just kidding, Mom, Alexander went climbing and I hiked along. It was his first time and he was really good at it. I was not surprised, given his long arms and legs and strength/weight ratio. Good thing he liked it, because we had already bought his helmet and harness. Here are some pics. I'm not sure what the above exercise was, but perhaps that's how he limbers up...