I'm Right! You're Wrong!

I was listening to two people argue over some political stuff (we've all done it). Then I realized that nothing ever gets accomplished in these arguments. Just to make the point, find someone with an opposing viewpoint on abortion. Now I have heard lots of people argue opposing sides of this subject many times, and after the first such argument, I have never heard a new thought. Yeah, it's still the woman's body, and yeah, it's a living thing. Then why do we argue these things. Have you ever known anyone to say, "wait, you're right, abortion is wrong! I am against it now." No, nobody has ever changed their viewpoint..at least not based on your thoughts (things can happen in their own life that alters their beliefs).

One day I was watch that silly new show, The Marriage Ref. It is dumb show that will be quickly cancelled, but it does have an interesting idea. Choose a winner! So I decided to make some rules to decide how to pick a winner of an argument. Here is how to determine the winner:

1. Once it gets to name calling...you lose. Here are some common examples. "you're an idiot", "racist", "loser", etc. At this point it is no longer about the issue, and you've clearly made it personal...you lose.

2. If you tell someone to put their mouth on part of your body. "Eat this ", "kiss that..." for example. Once it gets here, you've ran out of good points.

3. Finally, if it gets to cussing and/or screaming. Pretty self explanatory.

Here are some fun topics to try this out on: Abortion, Death Penalty, Health Care, Religion, Israel vs. Middle East, the bailout, Gay Rights, Welfare, and there are many, many more. Enjoy!

Just Close Your Eyes!

Lately, Emily has been either sleeping great or not at all. Just once, I'd like to crawl in her little head to figure out why she does what she does sometimes. Why does she put everything in her mouth? Yesterday, we couldn't get her to open her mouth for food, but I was playing with her outside and she put a bunch of dirt in her mouth. Why?

Saturday night, she started crying around 11:00 or so. Normally, we let her cry for 5-10 minutes to see if she will put herself back to sleep. About 75% of the time, this works and she will cry for a minute, then fall back asleep. Well, Saturday was the "other" 25%. Once she gets a good cry going, it is hard to listen to. She sounds like she is in such pain. Like she was sleeping on a bed of fire ants.

I walked into her her room and she was rolling around in her bed just screaming. I picked her up and held her to my chest to comfort her. Most of the time, she'll quickly calm down as she is being held. Most of the time... This night was different. As I held her, she would kick me and push herself away from me with her legs and scream. Then, I would move her legs and pull her in again, but she would push with her arms and legs (trying to get free?) I never could get her under control and had to call in the big guns. Carrie. For whatever reason, when Emily gets completely out of control, only mom can soothe her. So I bring her to Carrie and a few minutes later, Emily is asleep.

Now I can't sleep. I am a bit upset that I'm not what she wants. I understand that babies always have a natural bond with mom, but I want some of that too. As my mind wonders, I think to myself:

"The sad part of all of this, is when she is older, she won't realize the sacrifice of time, money and sleep. She will be upset with me because I told her to change her clothes to something more appropriate. She will be upset because her curfew isn't where she wants it. I just wish that I could video all of these moments when we are up late on a Saturday night and all we want to do is calm her down and let her sleep peacefully. Let me record Carrie changing her sheets at 4:00 in the morning because she threw up in her bed. Fact is, we will never get full credit for these moments, nor should be expect credit. We aren't raising this girl for credit."

Then I got a backfire....Do I appreciate my parents enough, because they did these same things for me. Having a kid gives you perspective on a lot of things, but strangely, I got perspective on sacrifices made 36 years ago through a 7 month old baby. Thanks Mom, Thanks Dad.

OH NO!

As I hold baby Emily, I catch a whiff of unpleasantness. Carrie won't be home for at least 30 mintues, so I guess I'm on my own on this one. She is in a very good mood, so this shouldn't take but a second.

I pick her up and set her on her changing table, a small dresser about 3 feet high with a changing pillow on top of it, and all of her gear in a basket (wipes, diapers, powder, etc.) I pull off her shoes and pants and see that we have a "problem." Seems that Emily scored a victory over Mr. Pampers, and consequently over Mr. Onsie too. I realize now that I am going to have to strip her down and change all of her clothes. So I get the messy diaper off, and reach for the wipes....none left.

What do you do, when you have a half naked baby with poop all over the place and no wipes? Well, the wipes are in the closet about 5 feet away...do you see a bad idea forming in my head? I take one giant step toward the closet and grab the wipes and return to the table....wrong box. This box of wipes has clothes that she has outgrown. So I again take one giant step toward the closet locate the wip....OH NO, the baby rolling off the changing table!

I dove across the room and reached her just as she hit the floor. I was able to catch "most" of her, but she still took a bump. Did she break anything? Does she have a concussion? Is she breathing? All of this worry creeps up on me. Luckily, I caught enough of her that there wasn't even a bruise. She cried for about 30 seconds, probably more from my reaction than the fall. If I didn't feel bad enough, now I have poop all over me, her and the floor. I finally got everything cleaned up and she quickly returned to a very happy baby. As for me, I just want to apologize to her and have her say, "no big deal, I'm good."

As a parent, you are not allowed an off day or even an off second. I can only imagine what happens when they start walking.