2.24.2010
2.20.2010
2.17.2010
8 Months of Gwendy!
Can you believe it? Gwen officially turned 8 months old yesterday!!
This past month has been crazy-busy for our gal Gwen. I will make a list:
Events: A much needed visit from Gramma all the way from California! Also, Aunt Joy's Birthday party and her first Valentine's Day.
Physical Stuff: She cut her first tooth this week, after months of drooling and anticipation. Still no crawling, and nothing that appears to resemble a desire to crawl. She mostly likes to sit in someones lap or on the floor, playing, and so far doesn't feel the need to locomote. Fine by Momma! Oh, and now we have baths in the sink, w/ out the baby tub. She has sprouted lots more blondy-brown hairs too.
Food: She is up to three meals of solids per day, along with breastfeeding.
Sleep: Pretty much sleeping through the night (though we still nurse once before I go to bed and then again at around 5 am). Learning to find the paci in bed for herself (and the fact that there are like 10 of them in her crib) helped a lot.
Words: She says "Mama!" now to me instead of babbling "Mamamamama!" like she used to. Sometimes she throws out an "Eh!" which we think means "Emmy!". Daddy kind of feels like chopped liver since the dog appears to have gotten a mention before him, but what can you do? "Eh" is easy to say, and plus, she licks Gwen's face and fingers, which never fails to crack her up.
Love:
There are not words. She is our sun in the morning and our moon at night. I feel so incredibly privileged God picked us for her parents, and each day is a new amazing adventure. And now, some pics:
Her first Valentine, from Daddy:
This past month has been crazy-busy for our gal Gwen. I will make a list:
Events: A much needed visit from Gramma all the way from California! Also, Aunt Joy's Birthday party and her first Valentine's Day.
Physical Stuff: She cut her first tooth this week, after months of drooling and anticipation. Still no crawling, and nothing that appears to resemble a desire to crawl. She mostly likes to sit in someones lap or on the floor, playing, and so far doesn't feel the need to locomote. Fine by Momma! Oh, and now we have baths in the sink, w/ out the baby tub. She has sprouted lots more blondy-brown hairs too.
Food: She is up to three meals of solids per day, along with breastfeeding.
Sleep: Pretty much sleeping through the night (though we still nurse once before I go to bed and then again at around 5 am). Learning to find the paci in bed for herself (and the fact that there are like 10 of them in her crib) helped a lot.
Words: She says "Mama!" now to me instead of babbling "Mamamamama!" like she used to. Sometimes she throws out an "Eh!" which we think means "Emmy!". Daddy kind of feels like chopped liver since the dog appears to have gotten a mention before him, but what can you do? "Eh" is easy to say, and plus, she licks Gwen's face and fingers, which never fails to crack her up.
Love:
There are not words. She is our sun in the morning and our moon at night. I feel so incredibly privileged God picked us for her parents, and each day is a new amazing adventure. And now, some pics:
Her first Valentine, from Daddy:
2.06.2010
When will I use this in life?
Remember how you asked that question like a bizillion times when your were smart-assing out in high school? And the teacher would then have some vague example of how really, algebra is something you will be called upon to do in order to survive a trip to the grocery store? Yeah, well that was all a bunch of crap. I mean, I'm glad I learned what little I did of algebra, because it was difficult for me and it's good to discipline your mind in concepts that don't come naturally to it. It builds character, and increases your ability to think in new ways, which is always valuable, blah blah blah. But never once have I needed to find"X" while plodding thru my day-to-day world.
But you know what I have needed to know? How to do my taxes. And to budget myself. And save money. And how mortgages work. And not ONE of those things were even touched on in all my education. And that is just plain stupid.
My little brother, a very intelligent and worldly college-educated young man, told me today he has no earthly idea how to complete his tax return. Because why would he? No one ever taught him how.
Maybe it used to be the norm that parents taught you this kind of crap. But they don't anymore, at least not in my case, and in the cases of many of my peers. And even if they did, wouldn't that limit everyone to the financial status and standards of their parents? Wouldn't that keep the poor, poor? Doesn't that sort of fly in the face of that you-can-be-anything-you-want-to-be American ideal?
Ideas as basic as saving for a home, how mortgage rates work, how to correctly claim dependants on your W4s, and paying off the student loan debt most of us incur seem to me to be things that should be covered in say, a 'Life Economics' class in high school.
None of this stuff is rocket science. It's all stuff I myself have learned about under my own power, through both experience and research, and Lord knows, I am not mathematically or fiscally minded. But the unfortunate fact is that many people learn this kind of crap through their mistakes, rather than beginning their financial life informed and ready to rock and roll.
The ramifications of those personal financial mistakes are very clear, particularly today. In the aftermath of so many people taking out loans they couldn't afford and clearly didn't understand, thereby directly contributing to the near-collapse of the global economy, you'd think someone would be pushing for this kind of financial education, no? No. Politicians are too busy chastising the (very guilty) banking industry so that their constituents can see them looking morally outraged on their behalf.
Teaching our kids the basics in how to do well fiscally is an easy, straightforward, and implementable way to prevent them from making the mistakes that have resulted in so many Americans deep in debt, foreclosed on, and owing the IRS their firstborn children. So why doesn't it just happen?
But you know what I have needed to know? How to do my taxes. And to budget myself. And save money. And how mortgages work. And not ONE of those things were even touched on in all my education. And that is just plain stupid.
My little brother, a very intelligent and worldly college-educated young man, told me today he has no earthly idea how to complete his tax return. Because why would he? No one ever taught him how.
Maybe it used to be the norm that parents taught you this kind of crap. But they don't anymore, at least not in my case, and in the cases of many of my peers. And even if they did, wouldn't that limit everyone to the financial status and standards of their parents? Wouldn't that keep the poor, poor? Doesn't that sort of fly in the face of that you-can-be-anything-you-want-to-be American ideal?
Ideas as basic as saving for a home, how mortgage rates work, how to correctly claim dependants on your W4s, and paying off the student loan debt most of us incur seem to me to be things that should be covered in say, a 'Life Economics' class in high school.
None of this stuff is rocket science. It's all stuff I myself have learned about under my own power, through both experience and research, and Lord knows, I am not mathematically or fiscally minded. But the unfortunate fact is that many people learn this kind of crap through their mistakes, rather than beginning their financial life informed and ready to rock and roll.
The ramifications of those personal financial mistakes are very clear, particularly today. In the aftermath of so many people taking out loans they couldn't afford and clearly didn't understand, thereby directly contributing to the near-collapse of the global economy, you'd think someone would be pushing for this kind of financial education, no? No. Politicians are too busy chastising the (very guilty) banking industry so that their constituents can see them looking morally outraged on their behalf.
Teaching our kids the basics in how to do well fiscally is an easy, straightforward, and implementable way to prevent them from making the mistakes that have resulted in so many Americans deep in debt, foreclosed on, and owing the IRS their firstborn children. So why doesn't it just happen?
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