Whew!
I may have a few minutes to post. Miracle! The baby does sleep a lot, but when she sleeps I start doing housework. I know, I know. Something must be wrong with me. I’m a terrible housekeeper. I work better with a deadline and having an unknown deadline seems to motivate me–gotta get stuff done before she wakes up, rush rush rush!
Every single computer moment has been reserved for the moms club newsletter. I finally finished it and made copies. Remind me to never ever try to do any sort of desktop publishing in Word again. I was trying to use the template the old editor used and it was a major pain in my ass. Even if I had to retype everything and redo the calendar I probably would have finished in half the time with Publisher and it would have looked a lot prettier. I’d give this newsletter a C for layout. It’s not pretty, but it’s done. I don’t have time to obsess over borders and even finishes and all that jazz.
We had a really nice weekend. It was our 7th wedding anniversary but we have a seven week old so didn’t really get to celebrate the way we would have liked to celebrate. Instead, we went to the beach only to find the beach was closed. Bah!
Our friends know of a state park on the Chesapeake Bay a mere hour from here. We drove the hour, only to be turned away at the gates to the park. Instead of getting pissed, we went to 7-11 and got a map of the city. We found a regular park just three blocks from the 7-11 and set up camp there. It wasn’t the best park in the world, but it was shady and virtually bug free. My biggest complaint about our current area is the bugs. Even on relatively cool summer days it is miserable to be outside because there are ten million gnats and they all like to hover around your head, flying into your eyes. I hates it.
I suppose I wouldn’t drive 2 hours round trip just to go to that playground, but it was wonderful to sit around outside and not be miserably hot and gnatty.
The boys even did pretty well until the last 45 minutes or so. They are just a few months apart and they always beg for each other, but they often can’t seem to get along. It is no one’s fault, really. They just have VERY different personalities and both want to be the boss of the world. Erik is your typical rough and tumble boy. We have not encouraged that and I hate it when he wants to fight all the time, but it is what is it. We deal with it. Irish Lad, our friend’s son, is a gentler sort. He told his mom he only likes to play with girls because they are gentle. When Erik does his growling and rough housing, he screams and tattles. I an see his point, and I want Erik to behave better, but I also get tired of having to be on Erik all the time. I want to tell the kid to man up, but I’m just a bitch.
Yesterday they came to our place for a little barbeque and it was amazing–they played nice the whole time. I even put out the wading pool and they didn’t freak out and fight the whole time. Such a relief.
Also a relief–I got a Moby wrap and my friend showed me how to use it! Basically it is five feet of fabric that you tie around yourself, then you stick the baby in the fabric. Elsa loves the front carrier we have for her, but my back hates it. I’ve tried out the Moby for a few minutes and it is amazing–no back pain! I’m sure it will eventually hurt, but it was way better than any other carrier and even better than just carrying her in my arms. We only have one slight problem–it’s summer. Five feet of fabric wrapped around me in the summer? UGH! I’ll use it around home, but we’ll stick with the stroller while we’re out and about. I got one of those snap-and-go stroller and really love it. It is much, much superior to the travel system we had with Erik. Those things are such a pain in the ass.
What else?
I am really pissed at the squirrels. I had four beautiful, big green tomatoes on the vine. I found them sitting on the deck railing. At first I thought Mike had left some apples out there, but then I realized they were my beautiful tomatoes. Little bastards didn’t even eat the whole things. They just did some nibbling then abandoned them. I wish there was a way to get rid of the squirrels, but I guess that’s just a dream.
Erik started camp today and it apparently went well. He told me it was the most fun day he’s had in his whole life, so I’ll call that a success. I was a little worried because he was convinced that he was going to be camping out in a tent and spending the night and all that, even though I told him over and over that it wasn’t going to be like that.
How about a political rant?
Our little town is growing by leaps and bounds. There are two hospital systems that want to put in a new hospital in town. One system, Adventist, has been a part of the city plan for years and years. The other system, the Catholic church, didn’t tell anyone their plans or anything. They just decided they were going to build a hospital.
Once word of that got out, things went a little nuts. Only one of them will be allowed to build so they are going through all kinds of committees and stuff to see what will happen. If you read the letters to the editors and stuff you’ll find it is a highly controversial issue and people are out for blood.
I have always been pro-Adventist b/c they had everything in order and did everything they were supposed to do, but I didn’t have any strong feelings either way.
That’s all changed now.
I’m sure you’ve all read about the nun who was ex-communicated because she allowed a life-saving abortion at a hospital. This is just all kinds of wrong and makes me wonder how anyone can still support a church that hides child rapists but ex-communicates a nun who was just saving the life of the mother. How is this even pro-life? Instead of a dead fetus, let’s have a dead fetus and a dead mother? The fetus was 11 weeks, I think.
Which brings us back to the hospital issue.
Now I am adamantly opposed to the Catholic hospital. If they make decisions based on their religion and the people running the place have to worry about their spiritual home being taken away because they save the life of a woman, I NEVER want to be treated there unless it is literally life and death. If I was in an ambulance and there was time, I would tell them to take me to a different hospital, even if I didn’t think I was pregnant. What if I was pregnant and didn’t know it and I was having problems because of the pregnancy? That happens. Would I want my medical care dictated by a religion that I don’t even believe in?
I think all women who give it any thought would be terrified to be taken to a Catholic hospital. Now that the nun was ex-communicated, what will her peers do in the same situation? Just let the woman die so the wrath of the Catholic church doesn’t come down on them?
Normally I say live and let live, but this religious policy could actively kill women. I will sign whatever petition I need to sign, donate to whatever committee I need to donate too, etc, to support the other hospital and hope the Catholic hospital loses the right to build out here.
I know these policies not what most real, on the ground Catholics support. I am not Catholic. I have never been to a Catholic church. I do not understand how it all works. I really do not understand how so many people, especially women, entrust their moral code to unmarried men who have never had families. Normally it doesn’t affect me, but this issue has me riled up. It could have a very real affect on me or someone I care about if we are ever in the situation that woman was in.
And on that note, I better go do some more laundry.