Experiment

I wanna be sedated.

Ever feel that your efforts to keep the house clean are pointless? For me, the state of my house has a direct effect on the state of my mind. Our living room is the center of our family life. We share meals here. Sophie's therapies (except PT) are done here. We play together here. I blog, check Facebook, pay bills, chat on the phone, change diapers, play Wii and watch tv here.

The kids prefer the room be a mess. Alexander actually tells me so and gets upset when I put the toys away. Sophie follows behind me dumping out whatever I've just picked up and loves to chase the vacuum cleaner. There are days when I just can't bring myself to clean.

I did an experiment of time lapse photography in my living room, over 24 hours, from 2 angles. I started after lunch with my goal to snap a picture every 30 minutes until bedtime and begin again in the morning. The rules I imposed were, be honest, no staging, no cleaning that I wouldn't otherwise have done, don't make it worse than it actually is, whom ever is in the room is in the picture, no posing, no editing.

So what's the point of this experiment? I suppose I had to see for myself if my perceptions matched reality. I need to find humor in this and I need to work on letting go of my cluttered home shame. This video is for all the parents who can't help but feel as if they are spinning their wheels. Now you know how we roll 'round here. I promise to try very hard to not freak out if you want to stop over if only you'll agree not to run away screaming.

Unusual Suspect

I try to stay away from politics. I really do. This was too good. Plus, it pays homage to one of the my favorite movies "The Usual Suspects."

The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist.

Happy Friday!

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Unusual Suspect

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Wordless Wednesday - Mardi Gras

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Breaking News

At PT yesterday, I was just starting to explain how last week Sophie took one cruise step to the right. This was during ST and we were so excited. I said, "Sophie took a step!" Then Sophie said "step."

The following is what happened when I hoped she'd take just one more...

Week 30

The count down begins!

Belly Shot, Week 30

Today is day 1 of week 30. This pregnancy has been a peach with limited nausea at the beginning and typical back pain and heart burn. For this baby I'm seeing a team of 6 midwives. So far I've met 3 of them and you get whom ever is on call when you go into labor. Weight gain hasn't been bad either with grand total of 8.4 lbs. gained so far. I think it has mostly gone to my back side. I permanently have a bucket of ice cream and cookies attached to my mouth lately and my face is taking on a moon pie fullness.

The tests we've done are to check for anemia (negative) strep B (positive for each pregnancy), and blood glucose for gestational diabetes (negative). I've had an early US for dating purposes and a level II US with a perinatologist at the mid point. We have another scheduled for March. Other than that, I'm in and out of my prenatals fairly quickly. It's a blessing, to be sure, but quite different than my last experience and has taken some getting used to. At the end with Sophie, I was getting twice weekly Non Stress Tests (NSTs) and weekly USs.

Having back pain prior to pregnancy has limited what I can do now. Laying flat isn't possible, sitting on the floor to play and do therapy (ouch!) and apparently certain cleaning activities are a no no. I scrubbed the bathroom floor on Friday and ended up with Braxton Hicks contractions that wrapped around to my back for an hour that were strong enough to draw tears. The fix was a couple of cookies and water, lay on my left side, have Mark apply counter pressure (and encourage him to stop freaking out), plus Tylenol and a heating pad on my back. Guess I'm off floor cleaning duty for a while.

I truly love being pregnant, but month 7 is my favorite. Maybe is a nice basketball size and she makes big enough movements that others can see my clothes dance from across the room. She wallops a punch but is still small enough to move around quite a bit. Months 8 and 9 usually have less movement as they rapidly gain weight and have less room to do gymnastics. She's 2-3 lbs. depending on which source you use, and her eyes may be open.

WARNING:

Bare belly photo, complete with unbrushed out stretch marks and gall bladder surgery scars below. Can't handle it? X out now.

Belly Shot, Week 30

1st Global Day to Eradicate the "R" Word, 3.31.09

Click the above picture of Soeren Palumbo to read about the first Global Ban the "R" Word Day which was announced at the Global Youth Rally, one of the non-competition highlights of the 2009 Special Olympics World Winter Games. Mark your calendars, 31 March 2009 is tagged as the first “Global Day to Eradicate the R-word.” “It’s time to spread the word to end the word,” stated Tim Shriver, son of Special Olympics Chairman Timothy Shriver. I missed celebrity spokesman, John C. McGinley (Dr. Cox from Scrubs) who was slated to talk about 3.31.09 on the TV Guide Network on February 16th. (darn) As I get more details, I'll pass them along. In the meantime, check out Team Larkin or Cathy's page to learn more about the Polar Bear Plunge on March 7th, a fundraiser for Special Olympics.

Also mark your calendars for World Down syndrome Day on March 21, 2009.

Even if you've seen it before, its worth reposting the video of Soeren Palumbo delivering his essay to classmates honoring Olivia, his younger sister with an intellectual disability.

Now go and spread the word!

UPDATES here

A Future in Punk Rock?

I always knew he had it in his genes.