Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Still here...I've been very tired lately. My mom visited for a day and a half and I really enjoyed seeing her. I saw the doctor yesterday and everything is fine. The baby is getting big and we are all anticipating when she will decide its time. I am off to take a nap and try and summon some energy for the rest of the day. It's rainy and cold, so I doubt we will do much, but I need to get the laundry finished.

Friday, January 25, 2008

One month to go!

Oh wow! I woke up this morning and check my little bloggie for comments and noticed that the baby in the in pregnancy ticker moved to the very end! It's starting to sink in, I guess...

Caroline is really enjoying her gymnastics class. She listens to the teacher and follows instructions. It's really quite impressive. She is talking more and more about her baby sister coming (baby in mama's tummy is what she says).

Isaac is changing everyday. He is now copying the things his sister does. If Caroline jumps, Isaac tries to and it is so cute. He loves watching Barney and reading Barney books. When I put in Barney for the kids, Isaac starts giggling and squealing with delight.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Forget Big Oil, let's talk about Big Milk

I've been working on our January budget today and I'm starting to wonder why our food expenses are so high. Is is because we eat a lot of filet mignon? Maine lobster? Not really. We are a beans and rice family, primarily. Of course, we buy lots of fresh produce and the occasional box of cereal (a big treat) and everything seems to just really add up. I perused my receipts from Fresh Direct (our primary food source) and I see that weekly we spend anywhere from $20 to $30 on MILK. Just milk. That's over $100 a MONTH. Now, I am considering making MILK its own budget category. After all, I budget for internet service and that is only $29.95 a month. So...why is milk so expensive? Are market forces to blame? Is there a massive bovine beverage shortage? What, pray tell, is going on? Are cows on a production strike? Well, it turns out the that the government instituted price controls on milk in the 1930s. These price controls are price floors or minimum prices below which one cannot legally sell milk. Huh? Minimum prices discourage low cost competition. That is, if someone wants to sell milk below the set price, they cannot. There are a myriad of other programs supporting the artificially high milk prices. There is the Dairy Price Support program from the 1940s, the Income Price support program from 2002 and others too numerous to list. These programs are all just ways to raise the price of milk on people like you and me. Next up...finding a milk alternative. Here and here are articles on the subject.

Retro Coffee

$1 Coffee? I figured the $5 cup of coffee would get old eventually.
Tom Brady, the football player, was on the front page of the all the tabloids yesterday wearing some kind of cast on his foot. Everyone was speculating about whether he was injured and would get to play in the Superbowl. I thought to myself at the time that if I were a pro-football coach, I would put all my major players in casts and crutches a couple days before the big game. Why not let the opposition think they've already won? In high school, I was in a few plays (very minor stuff) and the day of the first performance, the people playing the lead roles would arrive to school on crutches or have "laryngitis." Some of the teachers would freak out a bit, but the drama people all knew what was up. Apparently, Tom Brady is not really hurt, the special shoe was just precautionary. Here is the story.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Well it seems the markets have recovered, somewhat. It should be good news for most, even if its just short term gains. I may actually get to see Todd tonight, after all.

The baby is doing fine and as far as I'm concerned, she can make her appearance any time. I am eagerly anticipating the delivery and keep wondering "when?" and "how?" It is sort of odd going into the end of pregnancy and preparing myself for possibility of needing major emergency surgery (c-section). I certainly don't expect the baby to arrive that way, but I think it would be irresponsible for me not to consider it a possibility. I also worry about getting stuck in an elevator during labor and having to deliver there. It could happen. Perhaps, I need to get some hobbies to occupy myself until D-Day. My bag is packed. The apartment is clean. The baby clothes are washed. What else is there to do?
I'm off to see the doctor today. It's nothing special, just a regular appointment, which I have every week now until the birth. My oh my did you all see the massive international sell-off yesterday? Today is going to be interesting. I feel like sometimes I live the markets as we are so close to Wall St. and well, it is quite a hobby of mine. Here is what I've been reading, if you are interested. I also recommend this blog. I know that both those sites have more to do with housing/mortgages than the economy, but it's still quite relevant.

Here are a few other goodies:

The Skeptical Optimist
The Chicago Boyz

Monday, January 21, 2008

Caroline started a gymnastics class last week. She really seems to enjoy it. There are 5-7 kids in the class and they are all about 3-4 years old. She listened very well and was able to do tumbles and handstands with all the other kids. I was impressed! I hope to take some photos this week.
Read me.

Sunday, January 20, 2008

The baby dropped!

This isn't typically supposed to happen in subsequent pregnancies, but today while I was cleaning, I felt the baby move down. Very strange feeling. And my belly is now really low. I'm not sure what this means, but I can breathe now. Yay!

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Very good article on housing.

Here it is.

Random thoughts

I woke up this morning at 3am with a million things running through my mind. Last night I read a few articles about the new Bush economic stimulus package as well as a few other articles, and really, I cannot help myself. I have to comment.

(1) Giving people a tax rebate to spend on stuff is not going to help our economy. Sure, it may give it some life for the very short term, but it will not help in the long run. The problem with our economy is not lack of consumer spending, it is the absence of savings. People have accessed every form of wealth they can to spend spend spend and they are not saving for retirement or emergencies of any kind.

(2) I don't watch much television, but since American Idol started this week (yippee!), I have been watching that. Anyway, I don't recall seeing this before, but I saw a car commercial (probably Ford, since they are sponsors) and the advertisement went like this "Brand New Ford Excuse only $249 a month!" I don't remember the exact name of the car, but you get the idea. The price of cars is now portrayed as a monthly payment. There was no mention of the cost of the car, just the monthly loan payment. That's really scary. Are people not recognizing the overall cost of a car these days? Financing a car for 6-7 years (a new trend) makes it cost a lot more than the actual sticker price.

(3) Why is it that children are routinely diagnosed with adult psychiatric diseases? A child diagnosed as being bipolar at age 3? Children are not just miniature adults. They have growing brains and these drugs being prescribed to children are not tested and there is no research on the long term issues associated with taking these drugs at a young, fragile age. I sometimes think my 3 year old is bipolar. She will go from happy, sweet child, to a full blown tantrum in 60 seconds flat. Sure sounds like she's bipolar to me. NO! She's three and 3 year olds have tantrums. It's what happens when your little brain is growing and trying to make sense of all the disorder and chaos in there. It's not just psychiatric issues either. Doctors are prescribing far more antibiotics to children for colds and ear infections than they should. And parents give out medicine for every little fever and cough. You know, sometimes we get sick and the best remedy is sleep and hydration. Unfortunately, there's not much money to be made on THAT research, so I doubt it will happen any time soon.

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Caroline and daddy, a long time ago.

 
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Caroline in the park

 
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Isaac and the potty

Isaac has started imitating his sister when he can. He plays with her dinosaurs and anything at all she is interested in. Last night, I found him sitting in the toilet. He had one leg on the seat, while the rest of his body was wedged in the toilet bowl. I guess we should started potty training soon.

Republican Rivals share one bond

They're all losers. Read it here.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

My little boy is growing up.

Ever since Isaac's hair cut, I've noticed a big change in him. He's no longer my little baby :( he is a toddler and he lets you know it. He hits and screams to get his way (this does not work, but he tries) and takes toys from his sister. I guess he is getting a little pay back for all the toys that Caroline has taken from him. I am having to separate them on occasion when they start fighting and screaming at each other. Oh, the joys of sibling rivalry. I am really enjoying the development of Isaac's personality, but I also miss his baby days.

Monday, January 14, 2008

This is a good article.

Sunday, January 13, 2008

40 weeks is just cruel...

I'm so tried of being pregnant! I can barely sleep more than an hour each night without having to use the bathroom, get some water (yeah, I get pretty dehydrated peeing every 20 minutes), adjust my many pillows, realize once I am comfortable that I have major heartburn and need to find my tums. *sigh* I really don't like to complain, but lately I feel like a broken record these days. Well, I have 6 weeks to go so it won't last forever.

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Free Speech?

There's something about that First Amendment to the Constitution. Freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion. There are quite a lot of goodies tucked into that little amendment.

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.


Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech. I think its pretty clear that the founders of our country felt strongly against making laws restricting speech. Political speech is now subject to a myriad of laws restricting it, in the form of Campaign Finance regulations. To me, political speech is the most important form of speech and should be protected from the reach of congress. Here is an example of silencing political speech. The judges in this case found that the anti-Clinton film was a form of political advertising and thus subject to campaign finance laws which limit its use. I'm personally not into political movies like this, but to restrict it on the basis of it being political advertising is just ridiculous. Is this blog advertising? When will the madness end?

More on the CFL

Here is a really good article about the push to ban the bulb. I am most irritated that the government is now starting to dictate how I decide to light up my living space. The energy savings, mind you, between using CFLs and using incandescent bulbs is not huge. It turns out that when I used CFLs, I needed more lights on, because just don't work as well. It's just like the water efficient toilet. The government sure knew what it was doing when it banned the 3.5 gallon flush toilet. Now we have 1.6 gallon toilets that you need to flush 2 or 3 times. Flush more save more, I guess is how it works. Now all the government needs to do is ban top loading washing machines and disposable diapers.

Congress bans the incandescent light bulb.

I am so disappointed that the President signed this piece of legislation. I do not use compact fluorescent light bulbs because they contain mercury, a highly toxic pollutant. When these bulbs break, and they do so easily, expect to pay thousands of dollars for cleanup as this person did. I have broken two of these energy-saving CFLs in my lifetime (before I knew about the risks) and once I learned, I threw them all away. Yes, you cannot recycle these lightbulbs. I asked around and did some research and there is NO way to recycle them. Now, because congress and the President feel we should be saving energy, we will flood the market with unrecyclable, mercury containing light bulbs, which break far too easily. I am just disgusted.

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Before the big hair cut!

 
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Cute PJs

 
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Before...

 
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After...

 
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Isaac's new haircut

Todd and I took Isaac for a haircut today. He needed it in a bad way. I hope to post some before and after pics tonight or tomorrow. I think I will be going to bed soon, because I am tired!!!

The problem with politics these days...

I really don't like doing political posts on this blog, but I can't help it sometimes. This current crop of Presidential candidates has me, um, not excited, at all. I haven't found anyone I like and everyone has major problems that prevent me from voting for them.

John McCain--Against free speech. McCain-Feingold, better known as Incumbency Protection and the legal restriction of political speech. I like his fiscal conservatism, but FREE SPEECH is one of the big ten. Not going to work for me.

Barack Obama--Not enough experience. 1 term in the Senate is not enough. Against school vouchers, against privatization of social security, helped introduce "The Biofuels Security Act", supported tariffs on imported ethanol, for universal healthcare, doesn't want to stop illegal immigration. I am for universal healthcare, but I highly doubt that Obama wants this to be done using private markets. In other words, if he were president, we could expect a huge increase in the size of government. As for "Biofuels," he is quite mistaken that Ethanol is somehow a "clean" energy and one that will end our issues with oil. Ethanol is dirtier for the environment than gasoline. Plus, in order to grow enough corn to support ethanol production, we would need to raze many thousands of acres of land that was returned to forestland in the last 60+ years. If you really want to end our dependence on foreign oil, why don't we do more drilling in Alaska or build more oil refineries?

Hillary Clinton-- She tries to be everything to everyone and really doesn't seem like a politician with a real thought on anything. For the war. Against the war. For illegal immigrants getting licenses. Against illegals getting driver licenses. Government Healthcare. Higher taxes.

Rudy Guiliani--Former Mayor of New York City. I think he did quite a lot of good for NYC, but I don't think it qualifies him to be President. He is against the flat tax that doesn't provide deductions for state and local income taxes because it "unfairly" hurts citizens from high tax states. I think this is really dishonest. It means that people from low tax states subsidize the federal taxes of people from high tax states. He supports abortion and doesn't feel there should be restriction even for late term ones. Supports restricting gun rights. Supports embryonic stem cell research.

John Edwards--I think this man is just silly. He worked at hedge fund to study poverty issues? He also pretends to have grown up poor, which isn't true. You can't trust this man.

Mitt Romney--Changes his positions more frequently than Hillary. 'Nuff said.

Michael Bloomberg--I'd rather this man not run NYC, but President is not the place for him to go. He's banned transfats in NYC, banned smoking inside restaurants and so on. Do you really want this man with the authority to run the country?

Huh?

So apparently, Hillary Clinton won the New Hampshire primary in what people are calling a stunning victory. Huh? She won by 3%. How is that stunning? She is now the "comeback kid." Excuse me? She barely squeaked out a victory in New Hampshire. She had numbers to take the Iowa caucus and she LOST by 9%. Three percent is not a stunning victory, it is a shaky victory. It shows that her assumptions (all women will vote for Hillary) do not hold up. For the record, I think her qualifications to be President are a joke.

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Good news! The baby's fluid levels were much better yesterday. They had been 5cm, which is the very low side of normal (anything below 5 is considered oligohydramnios, which is not good). The baby is measuring right on target and looks healthy.

Sunday, January 06, 2008

pregnancy week by week

And it starts...

I had contractions for several hours tonight. Not the real thing, but practice contractions. I should probably have called my doctor, but I knew she would just make me go to the hospital where they would put me on monitors for several hours, give me IV fluids and send me home at 2am. Not my idea of a fun Sunday night. Anyway, I will probably have these episodes daily until real labor starts. I'm sure I will know when it's time, but every time the contractions start, I start to wonder...is this it?

Tomorrow, I have 2 doctors appointments. One is with the Fetal Evaluation Unit and it is going to be a Biophysical Profile (ultrasound) and a Non-stress test. I think these are pretty standard tests towards the end of pregnancy. They will specifically be looking at the baby's fluid levels to make sure they are not too low. (we have reason to suspect that this is a problem) I also have a regular appointment with the doctor. I will update the blog when I know more.

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