Random Irony

Ok, so VNB and I were in bed two nights ago, flipping through channels before falling asleep, and he kept switching between the Democratic National Convention (Sen. Clinton's speech) and Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (Episode III) on Spike.

He and I both found it ironic that her speech coincided with Anakin killing off the younglings in the Jedi temple and Sen. Palpatine declaring himself the Emperor - both for the "good of the Republic."

We really wondered about the programming director on Spike. Did s/he plan that? Because I mean...seriously...

Definitely made us giggle.

Breakthrough of a Different Sort

Not talking about teeth this time. He's got a mouthful of choppers already - the canines are the last to come in. I guess he's supposed to get another set of molars eventually, but I don't know where they'll fit.

Anyway...

Before I got pregnant again and horribly, miserably sick for 3+ months, AJ was doing pretty well with eating at least a little of what Momma and Daddy were eating for dinner. He was big into green beans and would eat rice dishes with some regularity. Then I was horribly, miserably sick for 3+ months. It was a good day when there was food for him to eat (and us - preferably without me barfing it back up later) and his diaper got changed a couple of times (again, preferably without me barfing). So while we'd been edging away from the little plastic Gerber containers, the horrible, miserable sickness cured us of that. And AJ got VERY used to eating from the little plastic Gerber containers. He was never a fan of their "Stage 3" stuff, so we didn't waste time or money on those and stuck with "Stage 2."

Well, now that the horrible, miserable sickness seems to have passed for the most part (although I'm still weaning myself off the drugs - who knew Unisom did so much for nausea?), and I'm coming out from under the dark cloud of months-on-end of feeling and being sick (not to mention gas prices and everything else spiking during all of that, making me feel guilty for not doing my part in cutting down on household expenses), I realized that not only was he pretty much only eating the Gerber mush, that was ALL he would eat anymore. Don't get me wrong, the occasional kid's meal chicken nuggets and french fries would still usually get eaten, as would peanut butter sandwiches and the occasional grilled cheese...but you can't eat peanut butter every day and grilled cheese involves cooking and dishes and while I'm feeling better, I'm still never going to like causing myself work, even for a grilled cheese.

So we tried the "eat this or eat nothing" for dinner tactic. He just loaded up at breakfast and lunch the next day. We tried the "airplane coming into the hangar" tactic. It'd make him laugh, and occasionally we'd get a rice grain or two down the gullet, but it never made the hangar doors open indefinitely. We tried the "stuff it into your mouth and hold your mouth closed until you swallow it" tactic. But dude has some STRONG jaw muscles and that mostly just made us both mad.

Well two nights ago we had a break through. It was essentially mac and cheese, except that there was chicken and broccoli in it too. And there was corn on the side. And he wouldn't touch any of them. But he had leftover raisins from his afternoon snack still on the table that I was ok with him finishing. He was eating them, but I was bored and we were talking about eyes and ears and other exciting toddler talk, so I decided I'd make a smiley face out of the raisins. Then we ate his eyes and his ears and his mouth and it was fun. That gave me an epiphany. So I put the pasta on the same plate in the same face shape. It took a little more convincing, but eventually he ate the two eyes from my hand, then got down from my lap, finished eating the face I made, then went to town cleaning out the bowl all on his own with NO encouragement from Momma and Daddy!

Then last night, he just started eating his spaghetti. No rigamarole. He _did_ steal one of my meatballs (and would have stolen more if I hadn't eaten them all), but I was ok with that. We'll see if the eating continues with peace. Here's hoping, because those little Gerber things get expensive.

Good Gracious Sakes Alive...

I don't know who still checks this. I've been off the air for so long that I doubt many do. And if you do, I don't (necessarily) know where you stand politically. But where ever you are politically, whomever you're planning on voting for, you need to go to Google (or some other such search engine) and enter the words "Illinois infanticide law" (without the quotes). This will bring up internet traffic from both sides of the abortion issue concerning Sen. Obama's lack of support for a "Born Alive Liability" bill that made its way three separate times through the Illinois senate legislative process while he was an Illinois state senator.

I'm not going to pontificate on this, mostly because my wee one still in utero is exactly the age of the babies they're talking about.

God help us. And God have mercy on Sen. Obama, no matter what his reasons.

Success?

So I have succeeded where VNB failed. While he _almost_ totalled my car, I have succeeded. Is that looking on the bright side?

AJ and I were on our way from his doctor's appointment (bug bite that wouldn't go away, but thankfully isn't Lyme's disease) to baby sibling's sonogram when I realized that I was about to miss the exit. I cleared the semi next to me, but then found another car next to him that I wasn't going to clear, so I swerved back to the left, and in trying to regain control swerved back to the right...where the semi's front left bumper found my rear right one.

AJ had just fallen asleep, so all it did was wake him up (he was a little nervous getting back into a car later that night, but he's gotten over that, thankfully). I haven't even been sore other than just from the adrenaline rush (no air bags involved). The guy in the semi might have lost his job (he was new to that company and so was on probation), but was unhurt and assured me later that he'd be able to find another job with no problem (so pray for him that that works out). And the baby was pretty much normal in all regards (with the same due date) as per the sonogram that we got to a little late. But the car, she is totalled. Officially. No way to wiggle out of it.

So, if you're going to have a car accident while pregnant, have it when you're on your way to a sonogram because it means that your husband will be nearby to speak coherently for you and it will give you added peace of mind that your unborn baby is ok when you get to see them showing off their hands and feet for the "camera." Someday "soon" I'll scan those pics and show them off. They should let you bring in a flash drive and just copy the pics onto that so we don't have to deal with the whole scanning thing.

Anyway, so we'll be used car shopping over the weekend, hoping to find something with gas mileage equal to or greater than my poor 2001 Ford Escape (it usually averaged about 25mpg which is really good for a SUV, and not that bad for a sedan, really) that I don't mind driving (I really just don't like driving sedans anymore, although stepping up into our Escapes has been becoming increasingly difficult). And we'll be hoping against hope that whatever this "nused" car costs, it'll be less than what USAA will give us for my old one. While still being reliable. And economical.

Oh, and to the "Princess Leia" in TN who has an outstanding warrant for bank fraud? There are some MD Transit Authority cops who almost took me in for fingerprinting and possible extradition to TN because of you. Fortunately, my SSN doesn't match yours and the cops were feeling generous to the crying pregnant lady who'd just been in a car accident with her toddler son. But they know you're out there and they're looking for you!