"It's my spit up - I should be the one to carry it"

This morning was one of those where you just have to laugh in order to avoid crying.  Chris had an early-ish flight to Nashville, I had to get both kids to school/daycare and be at work by 9am for a meeting.  Julia's school does not start until 8:35 and Sam cannot be at his daycare until 8:45.  I was up for the challenge.

Everyone was loaded into the car by 8:03.  Julia picked Starbucks as her drive-thru of choice for breakfast and we were off.  Although she stayed home yesterday with a slight fever and upset tummy she had been totally fine (tummy-wise) for 24 hours.  So, she goes for a chocolate milk and banana bread.  She took one bit of the banana bread and chugged 2/3 of the box of milk.

I was doing so well on time I even had time to stop at the gas station.  As the car was filling up, Julia signals to me that she doesn't want any more of her breakfast - she is full.  I take the bag from her.  She burps.  Then she regurgitated it all over herself in the car.

For a brief minute I thought - "can I send her to school like that?"  She must have thought the same thing because instead of freaking out she looked down at her dress and said "I can just wipe it off and go to school."  Somehow I think the teachers may have noticed...

She was adamant that she wanted to wear that dress to school and didn't want to go home and change.  Since that wasn't going to work, I just put the kibosh on school, called my dad and told him I was dropping off a vomit-ridden kid at their house.  He said "ok, let me put on pants first" :)

We get to his house, unload her booster in case he needs to drive her somewhere and take up the mat under the booster that protects the seat.  The mat was covered in regurgitated chocolate milk.  I folded it up along its 4 pleats and was going to take it inside to rinse it off at which point Julia takes it out my hand and says "it's my spit up, I should be the one to carry it."  Seriously, is it possible for a kid to be too responsible?  Today, I might argue yes.

Then Sam cried the whole way to school.  Good times.  On the bright side, I was only 10 minutes late to my meeting!

Oh, ps - she is totally not sick.  I think her tummy had not yet readjusted to food (specifically dairy & chocolate) after very little food yesterday.

Are we there yet? I think not.

When I was a teenager in NC, there was one interracial couple in my High School and nobody (to my recollection) that was openly gay.  Even in college at the very liberal UNC-CH where 'rainbow stickers' were on every other car in town, I knew only one or two people who were 'out.'  Today, some of those same people who were not 'out' are major players in the LGBT fight for equality.  In the past 20 years you have come a long way NC, but as we learned on Tuesday, not far enough.

I can only hope that as my sweet Julia and Sam grow up they live in a world where there is less discrimination than there is today. 

I've been watching all of the heated arguments on Facebook this week and it seems that many religious zealots are quoting Biblical phrases to support their argument for Amendment One.  They are defending their vote by saying that "God's word is that marriage should be between one man and one woman."  While I'm no religious scholar, it struck me that these same folks seem to be taking the tact of "do as I say, not as I do"....while the Bible may reflect these 'sayings' (and a lot of other things that are outdated or taken as not applicable such as men owning women and not eating cloven foot animals), Jesus was  compassionate.  There are other verses that describe His actions including love and compassion for outcasts and sinners. 

John 8:7 - He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.

*Note: For the record, I do not believe that homosexuality is a sin or that homosexual marriage is a sin.  I'm merely using the last sentence as a general bucket for the outcasts (at that time lepers, adulterers, etc.) that Jesus did not shun.

Today is a Good Day

As the entire family waited in line at our local polling place this morning, I was reminded of the last time I was there with Julia, 18 months ago.  I woke up that morning with terrible cramps and let's just say what I thought were signs of a miscarriage.  I called the doctor, made an appointment, took Julia to the polling location, then school and then made a bee line to my OBGYN.  As we all now know, an ultrasound showed that everything was ok and little Sam's heartbeat was a strong as ever.  Looking back I can't believe I had the presence of mind to vote (and continue the tradition of Julia always coming with me to vote).  However, seeing little "I VOTED" stickers on my kids today and teaching Julia today about why we vote (and listening to her complain that she has to wait 13 years until she's 18 to fill out an actual ballot), I knew it was worth it.  I thank my parents for that lesson.  They voted in every election - big or small - and taught all of us the importance of feeling empowered and influencing decisions.

And now onto the other normal kid topics....
Sam is crawling, pulling up, cruising and eating like a champ.  We thought his first word was "mama", but it turns out it was "ma" which means MORE in his baby speak.  He can babble mama and dada, but really prefers to just stare down something he wants and grunt.

Julia is finishing up preschool this June and will be headed to kindergarten (yikes!) in July.  She is still very active with ballet, gymnastics and taekwondo.  She is reading like a champ and is an amazing big sister to Sam.  Let me tell you one funny story before I sign off.

So, a few months ago we were going to see Matt, Jenn & Ady, but Julia got sick and so I told her we would no longer be able to go.  I remember distinctly that she was standing on a ladder in our bedroom (Chris had been replacing an air filter in the ceiling return) and said very firmly "I want to go see Ady, damnit."  I looked at her and asked "what did you say?"  She repeated her statement just as Chris was walking into the room.  I said "Julia, where did you learn that word?" and her response was "Daddy says it when he watches basketball."  It took every ounce of our being not to crack up.  Instead we agreed on an approach where daddy puts money in her piggy bank if he says that word again and vice versa.  That seemed to solve the problem and she learned not to say that word.  Oh my goodness, the things kids these days come up with ;)