The Puke Procedure

This morning Belly started to cough, and looked for a moment as if he may blow chunks. Of course, he was sitting on my bed at the time, right? So after I pull him to the floor, I ask him if he feels like he's going to throw up. He says yes (My kids have always been pukey) so I march him to the bathroom and present.... the toilet! With a flourish, I stood him in front of it and said, Then throw up in here.
He a few seconds TRYING to throw up before I told him, It's on a need to puke basis. Apparently he thought I'd issued a directive, not an option. So he asked me why he'd throw up in the toilet at all. It went downhill from there.

Belly: But why would I frow up in the toilet? (Yes, he says "frow up")
Me: Because that's where big people throw up.
Belly: Why?
Me: Well, because big people can make it to the bathroom to throw up. Where do babies throw up?
Belly: On the floor.
Me: Yes, and that's hard to clean up. So use the toilet next time, okay?
Belly: No, I want to frow up on the floor. You could just rub it harder to clean it up, okay Momma?

Now THAT'S Dedication!

Whoa.
As anyone who has stopped by my brain fart of a blog here knows, I'm a serious supporter of Barack Obama. Just as Jon Stewart jokes, we Obama supporters talk about him like he's the messiah. But I thought I had it under control. I really did.
Then last night I had a dream that I was actually working for the Obama campaign, recruited by Señor Walks-On-Water himself.
Well now. This is just getting out of hand.
I used to dream about Brandon Boyd, or Brad Pitt, or Taye Diggs. My husband even - well, my husband a whole lot, actually. Hey, he's hot and I'm shallow. But I digress.
The fact is that I'm campaigned out, and election day just can't come soon enough!

Safe Haven Expansion

www.SaveAbandonedBabies.org
www.NationalSafeHavenAlliance.org

Grrrrr..........
Yesterday morning in a suburb of Chicago, a 2 week old, Hispanic baby girl was bundled up, placed in a carrier and LEFT ON A GARBAGE PILE. A man looking for salvageable stuff found her at about 8am yesterday. No thanks to her parents, she's in good health and has been handed over to DCFS. Why go through all the trouble of dressing, bundling, covering with a blanket... only to leave your child in the garbage?
For the past week I've been researching whether to increase the legal age of relinquishment in Illinois from 7 days up to 30 days. At first I thought that doing so wouldn't change anything, because we still have women who abandon babies because they either don't know about the law, or are afraid to test it out. So how will increasing the age change the fact that some women are still too afraid to GO INTO a safe haven? I'll admit that I just don't know. If the law was different, would this woman have taken her baby to a safe haven instead of leaving her in the trash? No way to know. FYI, the current law only covers babies 7 days or younger. This woman would not have been covered by the Safe Haven Law if she had walked into a hospital and said, "I can't keep the baby." She'd have been directed to a crisis center, if she's lucky, or given a list of adoption agencies and told to go about her business.
What I DO know is that if we increase the age to 30 days, it will bring some much needed attention to this law, which was meant to save lives. As always, if even one life is saved by this law, isn't it worth it? If just one child is safely relinquished instead of abandoned or neglected, isn't that what matters? Don't frightened pregnant women need more options when they WANT to be responsible? When they can't keep their child, but want to keep them SAFE?

Out of Nowhere, Part II

A while back I received a call from an old friend. I was less than thrilled, because I remembered all the reasons we'd stopped talking in the first place. So I let it pass, and we haven't spoken since. I've learned that it's okay to walk away from people.
Earlier today I read a post from my friend here http://whatsinsissyshead.blogspot.com
(sorry, the linky thing isn't working) about friendship and how it wanes but can still be resurrected. It was a new perspective for me.

Then later on this morning I got an email from an even older friend - but this was one I was SO happy to talk to! The last time I saw her we were probably 15 years old, and I honestly don't remember how we split. Grew apart? No time for one another? Who knows. But I do have pictures of the last party we went to together. And so does she :) Anyway, got the email. She asked for my phone number, then she called me right away. It was great to re-connect, talk about our kids, and how our lives went from where they were, to where we are now. Also, it was great to explain to someone that my younger son was named after my father, that can say, "Yeah, he was a great guy. Remember when he used to...?" because she knew him. So few people in my life knew my father, it's comforting to speak with someone who did. She's also one of the *very* few people who ever met my half sister, the one I've been looking for over the past few years, with no luck.

Okay, so MySpace isn't a total waste :) Sometimes I'm pleasantly surprised by the people who find me there!

Half Done Life

Some days I feel like I'm living a Half Done life. When people come to our house, I apologize that it's torn up in parts, because everything is Half Done. As in, "Welcome to the Half Done house! We're so glad you could come!" When I get an email about the Safe Haven project I'm supposed to be working on, I race to finish, because it's only Half Done. There's a file sitting on my computer. It's the book I started to write. You guessed it, it's Half Done.
The laundry at home is only Half Done, too.
Do I have some inherent problem with follow through? Or is life just that busy? Character flaw? Or standard mom stuff?
Anyway, this week I fully intend to finish my research on expanding the Safe Haven law, even while Bastard Nation is calling for a repeal of the SH laws in every state. Then again, they do have some crazy backwards thinking, those loonies at Bastard Nation.
But the book and the laundry? Those may remain Half Done for a while. I've got some baby saving to do.