No, no labor for me! Either in the baby birthing sense or the physical sense. It’s been a lazy day and I didn’t even make it into my oldest son’s room to do the clothing sorting I meant to do in preparation for the ultrasound tomorrow. Oh well…I guess it will happen, right? In the meantime, here’s another brain dump!

We did go to church yesterday, and Amy and her husband met us there. We all agreed that it was good, even if the start of the service was slightly intimidating at first! The sermon was something that I especially needed to hear, so I really felt God’s presence there. The kids had fun, we got a $25 gas card, and I felt closer to God than I have in a long time. Even my husband, who has never been a church-goer, enjoyed it and said he’d like to go back. I’m really, really happy about this. I’m sick of being mad at God for the bad stuff in our life and I’m ready to trust that He will help us get everything back together (as long as we’re putting the effort in, too!) if we give him the chance. So I’m really hoping that this church will help us rediscover that faith and give us the confidence we need to move forward.

Tonight is the start of the football season for my personal team, the Tennessee Volunteers. Go Vols!

I really feel for Bristol Palin. I know she must be scared and overwhelmed and being in the media spotlight (which I think is wrong by the way…we need to focus on the candidates and their fitness for office) can’t be easy. Let’s face it, we all messed up to some degree as teenagers. I just thank God that my lapses in judgment weren’t in the national news. Gah. I can’t imagine how difficult this must be for her. I just hope that she has a good support system in place. I am also reminded of why I am against abstinence only sex ed. As much as I would prefer that for my children, I know that I can’t lock them in their rooms until I think they’re responsible, mature adults. *sigh* It’s really too bad that’s not an option. (That is a joke! Well, sorta. LOL)

Speaking of that, I must not ignore or change the subject on my 5 year old the next time he asks me how the baby got in my belly. It’s never too early, right? Now to figure out how to approach that issue in an age appropriate and sensitive way. I’m a little queasy just thinking about it! (Smart people, if you have resources, please fill me in!)

Tomorrow is the premier of the new 90210. Today, SoapNet has run a marathon of the original and I’ve been very into it! Yes, I’m 32 years old and reliving high school. If my house was clean, I’d totally have a viewing party tomorrow night, just like we did in high school and college! Instead, I will try to watch it with my husband mocking me and my 2 year old climbing on me. Oh, how things have changed…

Tomorrow is also the BIG day. We will (I hope!) be confirming that our baby is healthy and strong and also finding out whether this is a baby sister or a baby brother for the boys, assuming this baby gives up the goods. My first did not…we had to wait another 4 weeks and have a repeat ultrasound because his position was so terrible that she couldn’t visualize the heart well, much less tell the sex. Our babysitter for tomorrow backed out on us, so we’ll be taking the toddler along. I’m hoping he allows his daddy to enjoy the experience! Luckily I will be unable to wrestle with him. If you could send your prayers and good thoughts to us around 10:30, I’d be most grateful! I’ll be back as soon as I can with the full update.

This is my 2nd post today…and if you only read one post, I’d rather you read the other one! So if you’re not interested in the political babble, please scroll down and read that one instead.

I am blown away by McCain’s VP choice. He has either just won or just lost the election. Wow. Bold move is an understatement. And I have to say that I am thrilled by the fact that for once this country will have someone other than two white men in those top offices. One way or another, history is being made. Either we will have an African American president or a female vice president. It’s exciting and I’m so thrilled to see it! Is it strange that I’m considering scheduling my c-section on January 20th so I can tell this child that the day he or she was born was a historic day for our country?

But I have to be honest…I see this as a move designed to garner the votes of the Hillary supporters who are still undecided. And I’m not sure it will work. Because Sarah Palin’s conservative values are polar opposites of Clinton’s liberal values. And I am sure that a lot of people will see it as pandering and be turned off by it. So if that was his aim, I think it hurts more than it helps.

I also think that when you take his age and past health issues into consideration her extreme lack of experience is scary. And considering that’s been one of the main criticisms of Obama, the irony is staggering. Her political experience is limited to terms on the city council and as mayor to a city smaller than Sanford, and she is (I think) only halfway through her first term as governor to the least populated state in the country. Wow. Her approval rating there is high, but I still think she lacks the experience to step in as president should McCain become unable to perform the duties of the office. And let’s face it…his age has been a big concern for a lot of people. Just as Obama’s lack of experience is a big concern. Now you have both problems on one ticket! Was that a good move?

And I’m going to be judgmental and sexist here, but I do not believe that a woman with a 4 month old baby who has special needs should be considering a job such as VP of the US. Frankly, a man shouldn’t either. And not knowing the extent to which he is affected both medically and cognitively by his Down’s Syndrome (and they may not know for several years) I worry about her ability to be both an effective parent AND an effective VP of the most powerful nation in the world. And please don’t assume that I am saying that women shouldn’t work, or women with babies shouldn’t work, or that women with babies with special needs shouldn’t work…I am saying that the VP position (and remember, she will be first in line to be the president!) appears to me to be a very important and demanding job. As a mother myself, I cannot imagine pursuing something like that with an infant, much less one with special needs. Nor could I be supportive of my husband doing so. (Maybe I’m not being as sexist as I think I am?) With older children, I’d feel differently. I do think she has the potential to be a tremendous advocate for not only working mothers, but also for children with special needs. We need more of that in this world, particularly in positions of power. I very much see the working mom of a small child thing being a huge sticking point for the uber-conservative and evangelicals in this country, too. Why alienate your biggest voting base?

I do like a lot of things about her. Her son is about to deploy to Iraq. If she supports the war (and I assume she does based on this) then she’s not leaving it for others to fight. She is pro-life and has carried a child to term knowing there would be problems. I have a lot of respect for people who back up their words with actions, and both of these situations show me that even if disagree with her stances she’s not going to expect people to do something that she would not do herself. (I don’t think I’ve articulated that well…I hope that makes sense!) I think it boils down to her not being a “do as I say, not as I do” type. Big thumbs up for that! She opposes gay marriage but does support same sex partnership benefits. She has exposed corruption in her own party, something which we need more of on both sides of the aisle. From what little I can find, she seems to be fiscally conservative, which is generally the issue I find myself to be most conservative on. Though I don’t see much fiscal conservatism on either side much these days!

I guess what it boils down to is this…should McCain die or become unable to perform the duties of the presidency, is she a viable choice to assume those duties? And since McCain is 72 years old and a cancer survivor, the sad reality is that this is something people really have to consider. I’m just not sure it’s a smart choice.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

(From the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776)

Enjoy Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness today! We’ll be at the Family 4th Festival at Depot Park and then we’ll probably head to Cary for fireworks. It promises to be a fun day!

Edit to add that we found matching flag tees for the whole family at Wal-Mart this morning, so we will be the lame family in matching shirts. Ha!

No, I’m not kidding. This string of bad luck has been very unusual for us…normally we see the ped only for well baby visits and regular check ups. My oldest has had more sick/emergency visits in the last month than his whole life combined. I truly don’t know what’s going on.

Yesterday it was a random fever that popped up out of nowhere with no other symptoms beyond being tired and not wanting to play outside. It was so similar to how the pneumonia appeared that I made the call to the ped at 3:50 and they had me come in for an appt at 4:15. I headed straight over there…luckily we were all dressed this time…and was told that it’s unlikely to be pneumonia again. (Still?) He’s been done with his abx for over a week and has been fine since a day or 2 after he was diagnosed and got his rocephin shots. So likely just a virus, but if he’s not better by tomorrow we’ll be heading back.

Are you keeping up with the running tally? That’s $120 in co-pays. I found out yesterday that the rocephin administration was applied to our deductible so that’s almost $200. Then of course I am still unsure how much the x-rays will be. I’m guessing $150+ each. Stitches will probably have to be paid for, to some extent at least. I don’t know many budgets that can withstand something like this in the course of a month…ours certainly can’t. And we have insurance. What about people who don’t? The system seems unbelievably broken but I don’t have a clue how to fix it. The concept of universal health care is appealing, but I think that in many cases the execution fails. So where’s the middle ground? How do we make sure everyone is treated fairly…health care providers and patients? I don’t have the answers, but I hope somebody out there does and that someday soon we have a better way to make sure everyone has the medical coverage they need and deserve.

With gas prices nearly triple what they were a couple of years ago and our income not going up as much as we’d like it to, I’m having to cut costs where I can. (And yet, I bought a $160 stroller a month ago. Trust me, we needed it desperately and I wanted quality over cost savings this time so it would last until we were ready to give it up.) Now we’re also worried about property taxes going up because the sales tax increase was defeated here yesterday. I sincerely hope that this was not an either/or situation and that they’ll somehow avoid raising property taxes, but I’m not optimistic. We already pay outrageous property taxes here compared to the other 3 places we’ve owned homes, so if it goes up even a little bit we’re really going to be hurting. (Do you hear that, powers that be? I CANNOT AFFORD MORE PROPERTY TAXES!)

For our family, the best way to save money is on food. We’re eating out less, staying in more, bargain shopping as much as possible, and on and on. Today I got the paper and opened it up to see what the grocery stores had to offer. I see neck bones (from what, I ask?!?!? Chickens? Pigs? Cows?) are 99 cents a pound but we’re not that desperate yet. But there are some other great meat specials in town this week so I’ll probably hit several stores in town while I’m out and about for other things and stock up on the sale items. We prefer fresh fruits and veggies, so I’ve started a garden. (If those flipping squirrels will stay out of it!) I stock up on frozen foods when they’re on sale. I buy in bulk at BJ’s when the price is better. I get store brands when feasible. I do a pretty good job of saving money…usually the savings on our Lowe’s Foods receipt is in the 30% range. Not too shabby.

But I know I can do better, so I’m going to start clipping coupons again. (Does anyone know if the Sanford Herald has the Sunday coupons? It seems like a dumb question but I honestly don’t know!) And I’m contemplating trying out The Grocery Game. I don’t have the time or patience to really find the good bargains, so it seems like a worthwhile investment but I hate the idea of spending money to save it. The truth is, without someone telling me where the bargains are, I’ll lose interest when I get overwhelmed in the enormity of looking at ALL of the coupons and trying to match them up to ALL of the store ads. I’m just not that coordinated. It’s only about $5 a month so I think surely I’d save at least that. Does anyone have experience with it? If you’re in Sanford, which lists do you get and are they worthwhile?

And with all of this money saving on my mind, I must remember to call and get our satellite package downgraded. I know there will be grumbling from the male contingent but I’d honestly be happy with only broadcast stations, just as long as I had my DVR. We all have to sacrifice somewhere, right?

After 4 days of fever off and on, I took my youngest to the doctor today. Indications are that it’s something bacterial, not viral so in an effort to track down the infection he had to be catheterized. Only in the 20 minutes from the time that decision was made to the time it was actually done, he had wet his diaper. When they cathed him he was bone dry. I can’t even begin to tell you how awful it was for both of us. So I’m back home waiting for him to pee so I can take a specimen. And then we’ll be going to the hospital for another set of chest xrays. How we are ever going to afford 3 doctor’s office co pays and 2 chest xrays on 2 different children in 1 week is beyond me. I already owe a couple thou to the hospital for my 3 kidney stone surgeries last year. I freaking hate the current healthcare system. I don’t know what the answer is, but clearly something has to change. Nobody should EVER have to worry about being able to afford quality medical care.

So when I got up this morning, my oldest was still sick. Vomiting, fever returned, etc. My prospects were looking pretty grim. I took care of him and then hopped into the shower, hoping that things would improve, but I knew deep down there was *no way* I was going to get to go. I thought about taking him with me but knew that it was a bad idea and it wasn’t really fair to him when he feels so bad. So I resigned myself to staying home and hearing about it all later. Then the phone rang. It’s my husband, calling to tell me that a couple of people he works with have had the same virus and it seems to run it’s course in about 48 hours. Great, but as we’re only in hour 24 here, not very helpful for the issue I’m dealing with at the moment. And of course I’m feeling guilty and selfish for even being upset about not going. Nothing beats mommy guilt.

So I launch into complaining mode. As I said yesterday, I could medal in complaining if only they’d make it an Olympic sport. My fabulous husband took pity on me and said he’d come home around 9AM so I could go. Really, I don’t know what I did to deserve this guy. He’d been at work since 6AM this morning and I guess he was planning to leave early this afternoon…so he just switched things around. Anyway, I rush around, carefully picking clothes (it was very chilly this morning!), trying to fix my hair that dried into a disgusting mess while I was on the phone with him, and getting makeup on. All this while trying to convince the oldest to take some medicine to make him feel better and get breakfast for both of the kids.

He pulled into the driveway a bit after 9 and I ran out the door. We live less than 10 minutes away from the site where he was speaking, so it didn’t take me long to get there. Parking was a mess, but they did have people directing traffic so it wasn’t too bad. I walked over to the site and got into a very long line. I struck up a conversation with the people around. One guy said he couldn’t vote for Obama because of his religion. Pardon the expression, but WTF? And I said something about the fact that he’s a Christian, just like every other president we’ve ever had. No, this guy is sure he’s a Muslim. Good grief…are people still buying into THAT load of hooey? Don’t believe everything you get via email, people! (Not that I think being non-Christian should keep you from being President, of course.)

The line finally started moving and we moved into the area where the crowd would be standing to watch. I was at the very back, behind a really tall guy and I knew it was going to be hard for me to see. We stood around for a while longer and finally 2 young women get up on the flatbed and start to talk. They did a cheerleader style routine that was a little lame but people did seem to get into it. Or tried anyway. Then they tell everybody to get out their cell phones and text something to a number. I don’t really know how to text, so I kind of ignored that…then they said they were going to pick 3 of the people who texted to meet and have photos with him after the speech. Cool, I guess I can figure out how to text real quick, right??? So then they start calling the 3 people. First person is a young guy who appeared to be in high school. Next was a young girl who also appeared to be in high school. I’m standing there waiting for them to say they were calling the 3rd person and all of a sudden MY PHONE STARTED RINGING.

The number is not one I recognize and I didn’t think they were calling #3 yet, so I just kind of stood there for a second…and then realized that they WERE calling #3 and OH.MY.GOSH. it was ME! I was *so* excited. I’ve liked Bill Clinton for years and this is a major dream come true for me! They moved the 3 of us into a separate area up close where we can see and take pics. I assumed at the end that he would come speak with us, sign autographs, take pictures, etc. That’s the impression I was given, anyway. More waiting.

He finally arrived an hour+ late (which I understand…I figured this would be the case!) and came up to give his speech. He started off with some funny stuff, then moved onto the real reason for the visit: campaigning for Hillary. His speech was good, I thought. She has some good thoughts, good ideas. (Of course we all know that campaign promises that actually come to fruition are few and far between, so I won’t hold my breath for any of these fabulous ideas to make it past the campaign promise stage.) He touched on a lot of things that have affected me and my husband and kids personally…outsourcing/job loss, health care woes, our messed up education system. I like that they want to scrap NCLB completely. He talked about the hope for repealing the gas tax this summer and how that money would be made up (subsidized by oil companies) and though I had been against that plan before, I now think it may be a viable idea if the money will be paid to the government via other channels. I gained more insight into her campaign than I had before, and that’s good. I like to be an informed voter so if she gains the nomination I feel more at ease with casting my vote for her.

And then the speech was over and he starts coming down the line of people in the front, shaking hands, taking items to autograph, etc. We’re at the opposite end from where he started and I’m trying to conserve camera battery (all I had was my point and shoot…now I wish I’d taken my SLR even though it doesn’t do video!) so when he gets to us and does pictures, I can get some. I decided to hold onto my paper and pen, thinking we’ll actually get a little time with him when he can sign something. Except he didn’t do more than shake our hands. I got no autograph, no photo with him, no chance to say anything other than “Thank you.” Disappointed does not even begin to describe how I feel about this. After he shook our hands, he went over to his car and signed all of the things he was given and we waited, thinking he’d come back to us…nope. When he was done signing, he hopped in the car and left. I didn’t expect a 30 minute convo with him or anything, but I really wanted a photo with him and an autograph.

So I’m glad I got to go, but disappointed in the handling of that situation. Maybe I misunderstood, but I feel like I got screwed out of a really cool experience. I did get some great pictures and a short video clip. No autograph and no photo with him, but I did shake his hand and that alone is a big thing for me.

Pics and a little video clip below. If you’d like to use these photos for anything, please email me for permission (themama at iamthemama dot com) and I’ll send you a full size image.

There is mucho drama and a very long story to share, but I wanted to say I did get to go see President Clinton and I got to shake his hand. Pictures and entire story to come…

For those of you in NC, I have to tell you how awesome this one-stop voting stuff is! With my husband being home all afternoon, we took the opportunity to run and vote today. The advantage to this one-stop stuff is that you can register and vote at the same time. Pretty cool, especially if you’re like us and you had problems with registration. It runs through May 3, so time’s running out! More information is available at the State Board of Elections. If you haven’t registered to vote before now and choose not to do this, you miss out on your opportunity to vote in this primary. For once, NC has the ability to make an impact, so make your voice heard on this and other state and local races.

As we walked into the voting place, my oldest (who is fine…just has some weird random virus that is causing a fever but he’s had no other symptoms since the puking incident this morning which appears to be unrelated to the bug) asked why we had to do this. I explained that it is important to vote so that you had a voice in who makes decisions that will affect everyone. I also explained to him that I couldn’t complain about the people who were elected unless I voted. Since complaining is something I could win an Olympic medal in, it’s very important that I make sure to give myself every right and opportunity to do so!

About 2 hours after we got home, I received an automated call from Hillary’s campaign. Too bad it was too late. It wouldn’t have changed my mind anyway.

In related news, I am really looking forward to seeing Bill Clinton tomorrow. I’ll probably have to take both kids with me (normally my oldest would be in school, but I’ll probably keep him out tomorrow since he was still running a fever this evening) and stand away from everyone, but I am determined to make it and have a chance to see him. I’m no Hillary supporter, but it’s not often you get a chance to see a former president…especially in Sanford! Quelle excitement for this little town!