scratch that. THIS was the best email of the day....

Allison:

I honestly, truly believe that he (W) will one day, in time, be regarded by all, as one of the greatest presidents this country has ever had.

He endured 9-11, the worst attack in US history.
He endured Katrina, the worst natural disaster in US history.
He endured the worst economic crisis since the depression.
And through everything -- stayed unwavering in his attempt to make this country better, regardless of public opinion which swayed like a windsock in the breeze.

This country tried to maintain a moral hardline and now moral relativism and post modernism is being ushered in.....HOORAY!

Never again will we fight for anything we believe in, at the risk of offending others. To sum it up let me quote a British philosopher:

War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things.
The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse.
The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.

THANK YOU G.W.

Love,
Jordan*

*Corporal J.H. Rhodes
United States Army
82nd Airborne Division
2 Tours in Afghanistan
1 Tour in Iraq

....and to my great benefit, more warmly and affectionately known as...my baby brother.

best email of the day...

Headlines On This Date 4 Years Ago:

"Republicans spending $42 million on inauguration while troops Die in unarmored Humvees"
"Bush extravagance exceeds any reason during tough economic times"
"Fat cats get their $42 million inauguration party, Ordinary Americans get the shaft"

Headlines Today:

"Historic Obama Inauguration will cost only $120 million"
"Obama Spends $170 million on inauguration; America Needs A Big Party"
"Everyman Obama shows America how to celebrate"
"Citibank executives contribute $8 million to Obama Inauguration"

http://michellemalkin.com/2009/01/20/the-all-new-improved-humble-white-house-website/

The all-new, improved “humble” White House website

By Michelle Malkin • January 20, 2009 02:12 PM

“Humility” was a big theme of the $150 million inaugural today. With that in mind, behold the all-new, improved “humble” White House website.

Remember, friends, it’s not about him.

***

Commenter sonofdy: “All that is missing is the ‘donate here’ button.”

How Barack Obama Will Make Christ a Minister of Condemnation

January 17, 2009 | By: John Piper
Category: Commentary

At Barack Obama’s request, tomorrow in the Lincoln Memorial, Gene Robinson, the first openly non-celibate homosexual bishop in the Episcopal Church, will deliver the invocation for the inauguration kick-off.

This is tragic not mainly because Obama is willing to hold up the legitimacy of homosexual intercourse, but because he is willing to get behind the church endorsement of sexual intercourse between men.

It is one thing to say: Two men may legally have sex. It is another to say: The Christian church acted acceptably in blessing Robinson’s sex with men.

The implications of this are serious.

It means that Barack Obama is willing, not just to tolerate, but to feature a person and a viewpoint that makes the church a minister of damnation. Again, the tragedy here is not that many people in public life hold views (like atheism) that lead to damnation, but that Obama is making the church the minister of damnation.

The apostle Paul says,

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves , nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)

What is Paul saying about things like adultery, greed, stealing, and homosexual practice? As J. I. Packer puts it, “They are ways of sin that, if not repented of and forsaken, will keep people out of God’s kingdom of salvation.” (Christianity Today, January 2003, p. 48).

In other words, to bless people in these sins, instead of offering them forgiveness and deliverance from them, is to minister damnation to them, not salvation.

The gospel, with its forgiveness and deliverance from homosexual practice, offers salvation. Gene Robinson, with his blessing and approval of homosexual practice, offers damnation. And he does it in the name of Christ.

It is as though Obama sought out a church which blessed stealing and adultery, and then chose its most well-known thief and adulterer, and asked him to pray.

One more time: The issue here is not that presidents may need to tolerate things they don’t approve of. The issue is this: In linking the Christian ministry to the approval of homosexual activity, Christ is made a minister of condemnation.

up at 600am.

that's it.

i woke up at 3am...waited...
i woke up at 4am...waited...

...silence...

i can either attribute it to the shots he got at the pediatrician's office yesterday...OR...the HUMIDIFIER i put next to his crib last night!?

i noticed that while i was putting him in his jammies that his nose was so crusted and when i wiped it, there was a wee little streak of red in it. his nose must be so dry, it's cracked up in there somewhere...? dunno. never done this before. BUT i remembered i had a humidifier in his closet that i've never busted out the box yet and i used it -- and he slept for 9 hours straight :) WHEW. knock on wood. or something. cross fingers it works like a charm tonight!

of course, did i take advantage of this additional time to sleep?

sure...after WASTING HOURS reading Eclipse.....

**************

my hubby just returned from a biz trip so i made a big shiny dinner and caught up with him while isaac was napping, which in turn, caused us to miss the President's address. i did however watch it via YouTube this morning and got choked up. i am so SO flipping heartbroken to see him leave office, it's hard to watch him say goodbye. i was again reminded of his courage when he admitted that the world may not always agree with his hard decisions...but at least he was willing to make the hard decisions. so true. so rare in today's world. i feel a knot tightening in the pit of my stomach over the next upcoming week....breeeeathe.....

in order to distract myself, i went ahead and decided to drug myself next week -- quite literally.

i'll be having oral surgery on monday.
and therefore the rest of the week will be hazy, and blurry. just perfect for taking the edge off of inauguration day....

alright, i'm gonna be late for a pre-op appt....

(isaac does this squeeling thing that is SO FUNNY all of the sudden...i should video it so you can enjoy it as well!!)

half-success....?

up at 230am.
up at 330am.
up at 600am.

BUT i only picked him up out of his crib at 330am. more or less cuz i felt bad for him. it had been 8 hrs since his dinner and i didn't want to lay in bed and wonder if he was hungry....

at 230am, i popped the pacifier in his mouth and patted him until, yes, he did fall asleep! i sat there in the rocker in his room, waiting for the impatient, frustrated outburst and he was really sleeping!

until 330am. which. made me mad. until the 'what if he's starving' line of mental questions.

and then at 600am, i heard him but it wasn't so much crying, as it was talking/whining/yelling. nooo sympathy there. i rolled over and tried to ignore it. it went on and off until 8am, when i went to get him up for the day and he was happy as clam.

i tried to fill him up the BRIM with milk all through the evening last evening, hoping it would help him sleep better, but it didn't work at all. he was up earlier in the night, than he was the night before, having eaten HALF that amount. it may just be nothing scientific. who knows.

***********

i have a question for all you moms out there with young babies....what's your daily routine look like? either i'm horrible disorganized, lazy, tired, busy....but i cannot seem to find enough hours in the day to do everything. and i read that some of you go to playdates...and parks...sit by warm, toasty fires, next to your baby as they sleep....

wow. playdates at this juncture in my life, seem like SUCH a time luxury. stroller walks? parks? watching my baby sleep?? that sounds INCREDIBLE, but i don't feel i can spare the time!!!

play by play:

800: isaac is up for the day
800: nurse him, change him, get him dressed, put him in swing, make coffee, brush teeth
845: pump (and blog, clearly...since i'm trapped in this chair)
915: take him out of swing and set him on blankets with toys downstairs.
920: pour cup of coffee, straighten up nursery, go downstairs to play with him.
1000: he's rubbing his eyes...time for nap.
1010: jump in shower, iron clothes, make-up, hair, make bed, clean up bedroom, and IF there is time, do dishes from dinner the night before.
noon: he's up, nurse him, change diaper
1230: bring him downstairs, more tummy time, floor playing, bebe Pod playing, sometimes he can entertain himself for spurts of time. sometimes i must stay there with him. drink coffee. watch FOX. if i'm fortunate and remember, i'll grab lunch since breakfast is a thing of the past.
200: down for afternoon nap. this is my longest stretch of time. he will typically sleep 2-2.5 hours. so it's a MAD DASH to get to emails, phone calls, bills, coupons, dinner prep, any other cleaning in the house i'd like to do, laundry, pump again, (remember i'm back responding to clients now!), prep fed-ex shipments, etc.
400: isaac's up! feed him, change him, bring him downstairs.
430: this has been when i'll put him either in his bebe Pod OR the exersaucer, bc i'm trying to get the dinner going in the kitchen. (we've committed to eating dinner by 6pm each night...long story)
530: play with him until chad gets home.
600: we eat dinner/isaac goes in swing in his room, he'll doze off for 45 min-1 hour.
700: we get him up again, put on his jammies, feed him one last time, and let him watch a 27 minute baby einstein video as wind-down time.
745: put his heart monitor on, read him a book, swaddle, hugs
800: isaac is in bed.
815: hang out with chad, catch up, watch an hour of tv, go through the mail, check email again.
900: pump.
1000: TRY to be in bed myself. (not in bed, literally...but folding/putting away my stuff. reading a book/magazine. surfing the web on my laptop in bed. washing face/brushing teeth....bed 'prep' i should say...)
1130: LIGHTS OUT! (if i'm still awake at that point...)

and none of this includes the bible study i try to get to each week, or doctors appts, oral surgeries i keep having, grocery shopping, ANY ERRANDS at all. i mean, i'll normally try to run errands during his afternoon naptime bc he'll sleep in the car....but still. still. i feel like a crazy person half the time. what am i doing wrong? if you throw a holiday season, or a wedding weekend into the mix...i may as well watch my brain melt away.

and then i shoot weddings on the weekends.
and i also didnt' include in the daily lineup, that i have to edit images in the evenings.
and design proofbooks.
and burn CDs, and make slideshows.

how do you moms DO IT????

HELP! ;)

*****************

off to have a fun day at the pediatrician's office!
VACCINE DAY! :(

multi-tasking...

isaac is in the swing.
chad is out to buy diapers.
i am in the glider, pumping.
and typing.

because i have a situation on my hands.
some of my close friends have already been asked for their advice (sorry if this is repetitive to y'all!)

anyways.
isaac has staged a rebellion of massive proportions.
my PRECIOUS baby used to sleep 12 hours a night.

i don't wanna brag, and i never did, because typically in mommyland when you get all high on your horse -- karma has a way of smashing you down REALLY quickly and rubbing all of your previous accomplishments in your face :)

but for the sake of this story -- from the time isaac was 3mths old, he slept from 8-8. it was glorious. glorious sleep returned to our house. twelve solid hours of miraculous sleep.

and like a thief in the night. it's all over. gone. no more. bye bye.

starting a few weeks prior to christmas, my darling started doing this thing where he'd scream at 1am, 4am, 6am, and then wake up for the day at 8am. so fine. he still slept till 8am...but WHAT GIVES. he was neither hungry, wet, or ready to party. it was a matter of nursing him for 3 minutes (give/take a few...sometimes 30 seconds. sometimes 10 minutees) and watching him pass out again, until the two hours later.

i kept thinking it was a fluke. it'll stop. he's a phaaaaaaaaaase. growth spurt? teeth? ear infection? SOMETHING! this can't all be just for ....fun.

he screamed so much on christmas eve, we ended up in the ER.
and the shady baby that he is -- he decided to laugh at the Docs, roll over for the first time on the hospital bed, and defy all odds. no ear infection. "sorry lady, your baby is perfectly fine."

so for the last month, like clockwork, i've gotten up 3x a night again.
i EVEN in my desperation tried to let him cry it out (GASP! HORRORS! ABUSE!) for thirty minutes...and yes, he cried for the 30 minutes and had i NOT just been in there an hour earlier, i would not have KNOWN that his diaper was fresh, his belly was fine and that he just wants to be ROCKED/NURSED/CRADDLED back to sleep. hella no.

we have not tried crying it out since then bc it didnt' work. sure, he passed out, but he woke up again 30 minutes later as if the whole crying it out episode was a nightmare that he now needed additional comfort for.

*sigh*

after going 2 mths of PERFECT SLEEP....WHAT IS GOING ON....

his weight can sustain 12 hours w/o eating.
the docs told me to give him motrin before bed bc he IS teething...but that still doesnt' change anything.
and before you suggest it -- you should know he's NOT comforted by the pacifier. it PALES in comparison to being picked up and coddled. he's so got my number.

so.
do i continue to endorse these bad habits and give in?! he will be SIX MTHS OLD in 2 weeks....he's TOO OLD for this.

do i hold off at each episode, for, say, 10 minutes and wait until he's ALL HOT AND BOTHERED, in hopes he'll recognize that all is well and nod off again?

do i just let him wail it out, because we've done this song and dance enough now and with enough PRECISION TIMING to know it's his inability to comfort himself back to sleep that is the root of the problem?

(please spare me of the 'cry it out' debate. i've read the books. i'm an attached parent. i'd never deny the kid anything IF HE NEEDED IT.)

he's now asleep in his swing. :)

::: pumping session over :::

uhm.

happy thanksgiving!
merry christmas!
happy new year!!

there...i am all caught up now :)
i'm sad that is so much that has gone on, and yet i haven't written anything lately! i'm still getting my rear kicked, learning how to balance life and baby and everything...maybe i'm getting closer to figuring it all out? maybe not....

but i'll be back soon with pics and great things to report!!

and all of you that effortlessly organize your lives - i live in perpetual jealousy of you.

i have discovered the exersaucer this week, however. and i can see how it could HUGELY benefit my life. all the developemental specialists are REVOLTED by 1) swings 2) exersuacers 3) bouncers 4) baby einstein DVDs....etc. so i've never contemplated using them. well, i have a swing. he loves the swing. but he only goes in it while i'm pumping. so normally i play with him on the floor and get nothing else done. unless he's sleeping. (if you care to know why the developmental specialists hate all of these contraptions, email me, and i'll explain)

but this past weekend....THE EXERSAUCER AFFORDED ME TWO FREE HOURS of time to get dressed and eat (EAT!? ARE YOU JOKING!?) breakfast WHILE he was awake!!? holy tempting. i may succumb. i may lie to our developmental specialist when they ask what he does in his waking hours. i'm not above lying. the exersaucer could hold the keys to my freedom....

so what if he doesn't go to harvard bc i used it. :)

(AND SO WHAT THAT I TRADE SHOWERING FOR READING ABOUT VAMPIRES...so what that i prioritize my life in a fashion that causes my hygiene to suffer...i had a dream i was dating a vampire last night. i think i've crossed the line...)