All Joseph got for Christmas was...

a stomach virus! And his two front teeth (yup, in the course of 2 days Joseph's two front bottom teeth magically appeared!)

Joseph's First Christmas.....what a Christmas it was. I wish I could say it was a joyous event filled with wondrous, exciting moments for Joseph. Unfortunately, for Joseph (and Mommy and Daddy) it involved more vomiting and diarrhea than anything else.

The stomach bug was circulating through my in-laws before we ever arrived in Kentucky and unfortunately, we did not escape it by coming at the tail end of the circulation. We arrived on Saturday and I woke up late Sunday night completely sick. I spent all of Sunday night and Monday throwing up every 30 minutes to an hour. Somewhere near the end of the day Monday, I was pretty sure I was going to die laying in Rich's old bed curled up in the fetal position and wrapped around a vomit bowl. Luckily, I survived the night and woke up feeling somewhat better on Tuesday. Richard got a milder version on Tuesday and Wednesday and we both just had little energy to do much more than lay in bed. The whole time we commented on how lucky we were that Joseph wasn't sick and what a tough little guy he was. All that changed Thursday morning (aka Christmas morning).

Joseph slept surprisingly late (like 6:30 am) which is unusual and always gives rise to worry around our house. Rich gave him his bottle and 2 minutes later was yelling for me because he had thrown up all over (all over his very cute "Joseph's First Christmas" embroidered PJs). We were worried this was the start of the stomach flu but Joseph seemed perfectly happy. We stuffed him with some pedialyte to be sure, but by noon without further incident, we thought maybe he had just chugged his 8 oz. bottle too quickly that morning. We got ready to head to Rich's grandparents, about an hour ride away. I dressed him in his white polo and $50 monogrammed Pottery Barn Kids corduroys. We got about 5 minutes from his grandparents when Rich's sister, who was sitting in the back with Joseph started yelling, "Guys, he's throwing up all over the place". We pulled over and by the time I could get to him in the back seat, the poor little guy (and those $50 corduroys) were covered and he was still throwing up. After a 10 minute clean up job and some crying from Mommy and Joseph, we got back on the road, headed in the opposite direction. He threw up again about 5 minutes before we got back to my in-laws house but by the time we got home, he was completely happy! We gave him a bath, which he thoroughly enjoyed.

He acted completely normal the rest of the day but was miserable on Friday. He slept 5 -6 hours during the day and was just not himself. The stomach virus with the aforementioned teething were not a pleasant combination. We still continue to have diarrhea incidents and occasional vomiting. (I actually had to stop in the middle of writing this to go change him and rock him back to sleep after a minor vomit incident tonight in a hotel somewhere near Dollywood in TN). He has clearly lost weight and we just want to get him home where if it doesn't get better, he can at least see his own pediatrician (who has received numerous calls over the last 4 days).

Here are some pictures from his less than stellar 1st Christmas:

A shot of his special Christmas PJs - before he went to bed on Christmas Eve

With Great Nana, Cilla and Daddy on Christmas Eve

Joseph's version of opening gifts (notice the very non-Christmas PJs he is wearing due to his vomit incident in the morning)

And a video of Joseph's favorite Christmas gift. I don't let him watch hardly any TV with the exception of Yo Gabba Gabba! everyday at 4:30. He loves this show and gets so excited by the dancing characters. I also let him watch it because it makes feeding him dinner easier. Joseph doesn't really like vegetables (which is dinner every night), particularly green vegetables and he'll scream the whole meal...except if he is watching Yo Gabba Gabba!. Then I can shovel green beans or peas into his mouth while he sits transfixed. His Aunt Kipling bought him a large dancing Brobee, which he quite enjoyed dancing with, until Brobee hit him in the face, which Joseph did not appreciate.

I'll post more pictures from our week in Kentucky over the next few days but I am exhausted from dealing with his sickness, the 5 hour drive today and the thought of another 3 hours of driving tomorrow.

No Paternity Test Needed

You may all recall a post I made a few weeks ago titled "Wild Thing- I think I love you" where I discussed how wild Richard was as a child and how Joseph had his father's personality. I specifically mentioned the fact that he loved to turn himself around in circles over and over and over again, to the point of being sick. Well, apparently this is an inheritable trait. See video below for proof.

So forget that Joseph has Richard's ears and chin, this is the best evidence I have that Richard is in fact Joseph's father. This whole spinning in the exersaucer thing started yesterday. We were in the kitchen and I was busy washing bottles, putting dishes away and baby talking to Joseph with my back turned when suddenly I realized there was this annoying "whir whir" sound really loudly behind me. I turned around and Joseph was spinning himself as fast as he could over and over again in the exersaucer. His head was thrown back and he was giggling away. I could not stop laughing. He did it again today and I got a good minute of it on video. You can tell he is quite pleased with his new trick. He continued to do for about 3 more minutes after I stopped the video. At which time, he looked rather dizzy and got a nasty case of the hiccups. Oy vey!

The other wild thing Joseph did today was catapult himself out of the Bumbo chair. He was playing with his toys and I was sitting next to him and suddenly he arched his back and flexed his legs so hard in frustration to be set free, that he fell right out of the chair. Luckily, I caught him before his little face could smash into the carpeting. Another reminder that Bubmo chairs really should never be used unsupervised or on raised surfaces.

Every day I realize this child is just like his father. Today, while thinking about this fact, I remembered that Christmas commercial where the little boy is putting out cookies for Santa and writes on a note "I have been a very, very, very, very, very good boy this year". He then remembers incidences such as coloring on the walls, leading a muddy dog through the house, destroying his sister's dolls, etc and starts crossing off the very's. Eventually he recalls so many naughty things he did, that he just writes "I really tried to be a good boy this year". That will be Joseph's letter to Santa every year, I am sure of it. Richard says he can relate well to that commercial.

I have often asked Richard why he was so bad (I hate to say bad, no kid is bad...we'll say challenging) and he claims its not because he wanted to do bad things or planned to do them, there was just always something there tempting him...and temptation ALWAYS got the best of him. Once it was in his head, it had to be done. I have heard a number of times about Richard's incident with an exacto knife. He was about 5 or 6 years old and he happened across an exacto knife in a drawer. Of course, it tempted him and he ended up taking it and jabbing it over and over again into a cardboard box. Well being that he was 5, the eye-hand coordination wasn't fully developed, so one nice strong jab missed the cardboard and went straight into his thigh. He knew he was in big trouble so instead of telling his mother, he found a bandaid and put it over the huge gash in his leg. He kept this painful secret for about 2 days until his mother saw it.

Note to self: Check Joseph for various injuries twice a day after age 2.

So the adventure of raising mini-Richard begins. Who wants in on the pool of how many times we go to the ER by age 5?

DISCLAIMER: At no time has Joseph's paternity been in question. At no time has Richard requested a paternity test be performed. We will not be on Jerry Springer any time soon with my crying that I don't know who my baby's daddy is.

December 15th

Tomorrow is December 15th. For most people, its just going to be a Monday in the middle of December. A start to a new work week and the last full week before Christmas, but for me it has a different meaning. Everyone has "anniversaries" on their calenders that aren't reasons to celebrate, usually the day a loved one was lost. I have been very fortunate to not yet have lost anyone really close to me. I have never lost a parent, sibling, a grandparent or close friends, but I do have two sad days to remember each year, May 14th and December 15th. May 14th is the day I found out at a routine OB appointment that I lost my first baby. December 15th is the day that baby was due.

This time of year was really tough for me last year. I was about 20 weeks pregnant with Joseph and thrilled to have a strong, healthy baby boy growing inside of me but I was still sad and anxious. I felt like a lot of people assumed that because I was pregnant again and everything was going well (I was safely in the 2nd trimester and quickly approaching the 3rd), that all the hurt and pain of a miscarriage should be behind me. Certainly being pregnant again helped ease the pain some, but if I have 16 children, there will always be some sadness about my first pregnancy.

When I found out I was pregnant and calculated a mid-December due date, I spent weeks imagining what my next Christmas would be like. I imagined holding a newborn baby while I watched everyone open gifts. I imagined buying tiny little "Baby's First Christmas" outfits to cuddle my little one in (all that Baby's First Christmas paraphernalia really got to me last year). So when Christmas rolled around and I was still waiting to become a Mommy and my arms were still empty, my heart was heavy. I loved the son I was carrying...but I wanted him now.

It didn't particularly help that I knew 4 people (family, friends, co-workers) who were expecting babies the same week I had been due. I always found it a little ironic that the miscarriage rate is around 20% and I was the 1 of 5 I knew due in mid-December that had a miscarriage. It's not that I was wishing it on any of the other 4, it was just one of those bitter thoughts that runs through your head a lot after something like this happens. It's hard to watch people close to you experience different aspects of pregnancy at the exact time you should have been as well. I spent a lot of the summer and fall sticking my head in the sand and pretending it wasn't happening, but by December 9th, when the first of the little munchkins arrived, denial was no longer an option. I remember walking into work on the Monday of the week I was due and seeing the pictures of the first of the newborns plastered all over someone's office door (yeah, the office right in front of the entrance - I couldn't even avoid it) and almost losing it. Luckily it was a quiet week and I could close the door and let the tears stream down my face for the first hour or so of work. There were a lot of tears that week (you become really familiar with the "happy for them, sad for me" emotion after a miscarriage). I just sat and imagined all the excitement going on in those people's lives and wanted it to be me. Somewhere towards the end of the mid-December baby boom, it just became too much and one night I just laid my head in Richard's lap and cried for over an hour. He just sat there running his fingers through my hair, letting me cry and telling me everything was ok now.

By "everything is ok now", Richard meant that Joseph was on his way and of course, rationally, in my head, I knew that. I knew that the reason for my miscarriage, the hurt, the pain was so that the child I was pregnant with would be welcomed into this world. But my heart still hurt for the baby I loved and lost. I was anxious too. Anxious that something horrible could still happen, anxious that after getting so close, I would again be robbed of the joy of bringing a baby into this world. I felt guilty for crying for the baby I lost when I was pregnant with a child I loved, who never would have been otherwise. It was all these irrational and conflicting emotions that left me as emotionally drained as I had been in the weeks immediately following my miscarriage. That's where I was a year ago.

This year the day still brings a touch of sadness. I would be lying if I didn't admit that in some quiet moments (which are far and few between with a 7 month old), I have let myself think about the fact that I should be having a birthday party this weekend for a one-year old. I love Joseph more than anything in this world and I wouldn't trade him for any of the hurt or pain, but again the irrationality of my emotions, still makes me think sometimes "I want both my babies". I obviously know this is not possible.

I will be busy tomorrow. Monday is always a busy day for us - grocery shopping, laundry and a significant amount of housework gets done on Monday so I can relax a little later in the week and enjoy just rolling around on the floor with Joseph. Throw in a lunch date tomorrow and we have a hectic day. Without a doubt, I'll probably shed a few tears along the way...I definitely will tomorrow night when we hang the ornament on the tree that we bought last year to remember our sweet angel. But then I'll look at Joseph and he'll give me his big ear to ear grin or do something to make me laugh and I'll remember that everything truly does happen for a reason.

Tag - I'm it!

My friend Mandie "tagged" me in a game of photo tag on her blog. So I had to go back and find the 4th photo in the 4th file on my computer. Well, the 4th folder in my alphabetized "Pictures" file, is a very non-interesting folder titled "Baby Stuff" and this is the very non-interesting 4th picture.


A picture of some baby bedding I got from someplace online when I was gathering ideas for Joseph's nursery. Why I haven't deleted this file yet, I don't know.


So I feel like I still have to post something interesting. My 5th folder is titled "Belly Shots" and has pictures of slightly more interest. The 4th picture in this folder seemed appropriate. It's my 22 week belly shot taken the week of Christmas last year. I had just started to look pregnant and had just graduated from wearing bella bands with unzipped pants to actual maternity pants.


We were at my parents house in Vermont and my mom made me pose for the picture. I think this was the day after I had arrived when my mom came running up to me at the airport to touch my belly. This was caught by the news team there to do a story about people travelling for the holidays and we were then asked to do an interview.


It is sort of amazing how things change in a year. The week before Christmas was a time of mixed emotions for me last year. I was so happy to have a healthy baby on the way, but I was terribly sad for the baby I had lost (whose due date was just before Christmas). I was still super anxious for the baby I was carrying and hadn't yet let myself believe that I was going to actually be a Mommy in April. Well, it all turned out perfectly and now I have this lively, wild little man rolling all over our floors, making messes and lots of noise and filling our lives with joy.


So, I guess I need to tag someone now.....Erin and the Toddster, you're it!!!

Deck the Halls!

Between last weekend and this weekend we decorated our house for Christmas. This is no small task when you have a 7-month old who needs to be fed and entertained in the midst of decorating. Luckily, we did most of the decorating last weekend while my parents were town in for Thanksgiving. The extra hands kept Joseph busy and made decorating go faster.

Joseph has his own little tree in his nursery. Growing up I always had a tree in my bedroom. My mom was sort of a Christmas decoration freak and there were several years when we had a tree in every room of the house, including mini-trees in the bathroom. I guess I inherited those tendencies because I couldn't imagine Joseph NOT having a tree. A few months ago I had come across these really cute natural animal ornaments. I had the idea of doing an animal tree for Joseph and bought a giraffe. I really wanted to buy a bunch of these ornaments, but they were a little pricey. After we put his tree up and his giraffe was put on, I decided it was just too cute and I had to have more. Luckily, my mom found the ornaments online at almost 1/2 the cost I had seen them in-store for and got Joseph an early Christmas present. So here are pictures of Joseph's little animal tree.

In these pictures you can see his giraffe, hedgehog, squirrel, raccoon, kangaroo, mouse and elephant. He also has a moose, reindeer, lion, coyote, bear and a zebra.

Here are some pictures of the rest of our decorations, although not nearly as cute as Joseph's tree.

Our formal living room/dining room:

Our den:

On our tree, Joseph has a very special Baby's 1st Christmas ornament. I collect Christopher Radko ornaments, so of course, his first ornament is a Radko as well.

The outside of our house is also decked out but due to my fear of crazy internet stalkers, sadly, there will be no pictures of the outside of our house for the world to see.

Gag Reflex

This commercial for the "Four Christmases" movie cracks me up. It makes me laugh every time I see it because the scene where the baby pukes on Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn chokes, gags and says he is going to vomit reminds me of Rich.

Rich has a really weak stomach. In elementary school a kid threw up on the bus, Rich took one look at it and immediately vomited as well. Not terribly unusual for a 9 year old, but he is 30 now and he still has this issue. Several years ago I had a horrible migraine, threw up in the bathroom at work after lunch (I was convinced for months after this incident that there was a rumor going around that I was bulimic) and needed to go home. I could barely keep my eyes open from the pain and was horribly nauseous, so I had Rich walk over and get me (we were both working downtown) and drive me home. The whole ride home instead of "Are you ok?", I heard "If you are going to puke again, you need to tell me so I can stop the car because if you puke, so will I." Well, I made it home without throwing up but ran into our bathroom as soon as we hit the driveway. I finished vomiting again, cleaned myself up and went to look for Rich. He was in our driveway dry heaving. Apparently, just the sounds of me vomiting were enough to send him over the edge.

Its more of a mental thing with him because once he gets use to something, it stops making him sick. When I was first pregnant with Joseph and vomiting several times every night in the middle of the night, he really had no choice. It was either listen to me or get out of bed at 3 am and go into another room for 10 minutes. Sleep won. It has been the same way with Joseph's dirty diapers. The whole pregnancy Rich kept telling me he wouldn't be able to change diapers. I very bluntly told him that was not an option and he would just have to figure something out. The first few poopy diapers, he definitely gagged and coughed his way through them but now, with the exception of the really big and runny poopy diapers, he changes them without a problem.

But he still struggles with Joseph's spit ups. Even a minor little dribble and Rich is gagging. The few times Joseph has full out projectile vomited on him, I have usually had to take Joseph and clean him up while Rich gags his way through cleaning himself up and starts yelling about how he might vomit too. That is why the "Four Christmases" clips makes me laugh so hard...I think the writers of that movie must have witnessed Rich's reaction and told Vince Vaughn to imitate my husband.

Now I just wait for the day that Rich picks Joseph up from a birthday party and he is loaded up on junk food, candy and soda and says "Daddy, I don't feel very well" and then proceeds to vomit all over our car. I'll be cleaning up puke from two boys.

Gobble Gobble!

Joseph would like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. He wanted me to tell everyone to:

This picture was taken while he was eating his oatmeal and peaches. We have to give him his own spoon when we feed him because he is obsessed with his spoons and tries to take the one we are feeding him with. Unfortunately, he has caught on to our trick and now just wants both spoons. This was him after getting a hold of both and double fisting his breakfast.

We have a lot to be thankful for this year...the biggest is our perfect son!

From our family to yours, Happy Thanksgiving!

Where's Waldo

As some of you may have noticed, several weeks ago I added a "Visitor Locations" tracker to our blog. This is a nifty little tool developed by ClustrMaps that allows you to track how many visitors have come to your blog and from where. I find this highly entertaining mainly because it reminds my of "Where's Waldo".

Thus far, our "followers" have been of the ordinary sort: family and friends across the U.S. However, I am proud to announce that we went INTERNATIONAL today -a small dot has appeared in Kuala Lumpur.

Given the rapid expansion of our following base and our highly interesting life, I can only expect many more dots from around the world to appear very soon! Stay tuned and blog on my loyal followers.

He's got sitting skillz!

We have been working with Joseph on his sitting skills for quite awhile now. Around 5 months he started to tri-pod sit and I expected he would be sitting easily on his own by 6 months. He sort of just stalled out at tri-pod sitting for awhile. I think his impediments to sitting are a) his large head that takes a lot of work to balance and b) his love of rolling. He is impatient to sit for any length of time because rolling the length of a room is way more fun. He seems to be finally mastering his sitting skills.

This morning he sat on his own for 5 plus minutes while he chewed on a basket:

Then when we went to Target today, he sat in the cart, instead of his carseat, for the whole trip. By the end, he was tired and pretty much laid down in the seat, but we got a good 25 minutes out of him in the sitting position.

While at Target, we bought him a new toy to promote his sitting skills. A little ball that sings the alphabet and makes animal noises when you spin it. Joseph has quite enthralled this his new toy and it served its purpose - encouraged him to sit for an extended period of time.

Until he leaned back and fell over into his hamper of toys.

One note on his new toy - each letter has an animal associated with it. When the ball stops on the letter, its says the letter, the name of the animal and the sound the animal makes. I know "X" is a pretty hard letter but the animal for "X" is a X-ray fish. I mean, is this really an animal? "U" is an umbrella bird - which I really question the validity of that animal as well. I think a mythical character like unicorn would be more appropriate. And "N" is a newt. My first thought was "The best they could do for "N" was newt???" But then Rich and I started thinking about it and couldn't think of another animal that starts with "N". Who knew??? You should hear the noise that a newt makes - we can't figure out what in the world it is.

FAIL!

Recently, Rich and I discovered a really funny blog, called the Fail Blog. Everyday they just post funny, ironic pictures of all types of failures. Rich and I have slowly gone through the entire blog. Here are some of our favorites. We were showing them to my in-laws last night (who are in town for a visit) and were laughing until our stomachs hurt...so we thought it warranted a blog entry.

SPELLING FAIL!

MORE SPELLING FAIL!

PRODUCT DESIGN FAIL

ANOTHER PRODUCT DESIGN FAIL

FAIL TO THE PERSON TAKING THIS PICTURE AND NOT WARNING THIS WOMAN!

SOMEONE SHOULD HAVE INFORMED THIS GUY WHEN HE WAS MAKING HIS FAKE I.D. THAT YOU DON'T GET TO HAVE YOUR PICTURE TAKEN WITH YOUR GIRLFRIEND DOWN AT THE DMV.



HOW DO YOU MAKE THIS MISTAKE?

WTF? REALLY, JUST WTF? THAT'S ALL YOU CAN SAY.

FUTURE "MOM OF THE YEAR" AWARD WINNER

(If you can't see the text under the picture it says "Melissa Williamson, a Bullitt Avenue resident, worries about the effect on her unborn child from the sound of jack hammers" This while clearly smoking a cigarette)

BY FAR, OUR FAVORITE FAIL!

Wild thing...I think love you!

Like all expectant parents, Rich and I spent a lot of time imagining what Joseph was going to be like when he was born. I was convinced he would look just like Richard, a blond little boy (Richard was way blond as a baby) with bright green eyes and have my personality. He would be a quiet little boy who liked to read and snuggle with his mommy. He'd be quite studious and just have a sweet little nature about him. I was wrong....dead wrong. First, he looks just like me...dark hair (although not as dark as mine) and dark brown eyes and he has Rich's personality through and through.

I have heard many stories about Richard as a child and quite frankly, they scare me. To say he was a bundle of energy is an understatement. I have heard stories about Richard getting bored waiting in line for something and just turning himself in circles over and over again until he got dizzy and nauseous. Richard is still pretty persistent at age 30. His mother would whisper in his ear after he fell asleep to "Please, please be a good boy tomorrow". Well, welcome to my future...my child is WILD!

Today's examples of wildness include, but are not limited to:

* When holding him and opening up the refrigerator, I could hear him smashing his hands into the items on the door of the refrigerator. Only when I closed it and looked at him, did I realize he had picked up the ketchup bottle (mistaking it for something that looked like a bottle) and was attempting to suck it. When Rich got home tonight, I re-created it to see if Joseph would do it again. He did and here are the pics to prove it:

(You will also notice my other wild boy, our cat Porter, sticking his nose in the refrigerator)

* While feeding him his oatmeal, he decided he had enough of sitting in his chair and proceeded to scoot his rear all the way to the bottom and try to kick the spoon out of my hand. I gave in and stopped feeding him, but went to get a cloth to clean his face. When I came back, he had flipped himself in the chair and was attempting to pull himself up in it. Pictures of this series of events below: * Diaper changes and clothing changes are what I imagine trying to tame a wild horse is like. He flips, he kicks, he screams, he cries. Lately we have found one thing that helps is to give something he can stick in his mouth and chew on. A baby brush from his changing table seems to be doing the trick. We have about 2 minutes before he tires of it and throws it off the changing table.
So I have just resigned myself to the fact that I have a wild thing...but I love him and wouldn't want him any other way (well maybe an hour of non-craziness a day would be ok)!

After dealing with wild boy all day, I needed some Mommy time. Lucky for me, I had dinner plans with my friend and former co-worker, Melissa. Melissa and I have spent way too much time together. We have spent many long nights and Saturdays sitting together in an office as big as a closet with no windows (clients don't really give auditors prime office space). We have travelled to the WORST places together for work. Our client had a plant on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. The eye of hurricane Katrina went right over the plant and the whole area was destroyed. About 2 months after the hurricane Melissa and I had to go down to take an inventory of the plant for the year-end audit. There were no restaurants or hotels open and many of the employees were living in trailers in the parking lot of the company. The company had a FEMA trailer set up for all the consultants who were coming in and out. Guess where we stayed? We shared a FEMA trailer with a tiny microwave to heat up some soup to eat, a shower that had scary cold pink tinged water, and tiny little bunk beds that we curled up in when the heater went out at 2 am. The bright spot was the tiny TV and satellite hookup that allowed us to catch the O.C. (we were sort of obsessed back in 2005). Melissa and I have shared a lot of personal ups and downs in the 4 years we worked together and she is one of a few things I really miss about my job. It was so nice to sit and catch up for 2 hours over dinner and wine.

This is the only picture I can find of Melissa and I from my baby shower. I hate this picture - why I let people take my picture at 8 months pregnant is beyond me. Lesson learned for baby #2.

A Legend Retires...

As many of you know, I was a four year member of the varsity Track & Field team at Georgetown University where I was coached by the legendary Frank "GAGS" Gagliano. Yesterday, GAGS retired from coaching after 45-years. While I can never repay GAGS for everything he gave to me, I wanted to briefly honor his legacy.

I was a good runner in H.S. having finished runner-up in the NC State Championships and top-25 at the National Championships, but hardly the caliber of a Georgetown runner. For those of you that don't know, Georgetown is one of the most storied collegiate Track & Field programs having produced 22 Olympians, 20 National Champions and more All-Americans than can be named.

GAGS gave me the opportunity to be a part of this incredible program, but ultimately gave me so much more - a degree from a prestigious university, a job that provided for my family more than I could have ever dreamed possible, a wife and now a son. In short, he gave me a future that I would have otherwise not realized.

In return, all GAGS asked was for me to compete to the best of my abilities. I was certainly not the best runner he ever recruited or coached, but he always treated as such. In many respects, he was a second father to me and I loved him for that.

GAGS retired from coaching Georgetown in the winter of my junior year to accept a position coaching the Nike Professional team in San Francisco. My running was never the same. While Crystal will tell you it was because I met her several months later (and that is true), it was also because I couldn't (or wouldn't compete) the same for another coach as I did for GAGS.

GAGS was misunderstood by many. He was from the Bronx and had a gruff, intimidating presence to him. However, for those lucky few that had the privilege to truly know the man - he was nothing more than a big teddy bear at heart.

I leave you with the following tribute video (you need to turn off the playlist at the bottom)…

Election Reflections

I have slowly been working on this post for a few days (I warn you its long). I haven't been able to sit for any length of time to finish it because Joseph has been a little bit under the weather. Between a mild cold and vaccinations on Tuesday (which he never reacts well to), he's been a bit fussy and clingy the last few days. He hasn't napped well either - I've pretty much had to rock him for most of his naps - so not a lot of spare time to blog.

You will note that there are no pictures of me celebrating the big Obama victory on Tuesday night. There are two reasons for that. First, somewhere between the media calling Ohio for Obama and waiting for the west coast polls to close so the media could officially call the election for Obama, Rich fell asleep. He mumbled something like "I'm gonna go to sleep, wake me up when they call it, I wanna see Obama's speech" and then fell asleep. Second, the celebration was pretty muted. It was not the long drawn out, anxiety filled night that I had experienced in 2000 and 2004. Once Pennsylvania was called right after 8 pm, I relaxed and just waited for the rest of the votes to come in. So it was not the crazy night Rich was looking forward to. When they officially called it around 11 pm, it was no surprise and no jumping on the couch ensued (which was my reaction when Florida was called for Gore in 2000 - which I had to take back an hour later).

I have spent the last few days thinking a lot about this historical election and here are my somewhat jumbled thoughts:

On Obama's Win:

As the mother of an infant, I know the feeling of looking at your child and wondering what he/she will do with their life. Will they be a doctor, a teacher, an artist? Will they be famous and make millions or live a quiet, simple life? No matter what Joseph decides to do, I know that because of his gender, his race, his socio-economic status and the education level of his parents he can strive to do whatever he pleases. The only barriers standing in his way will be those that can be attributed to his own character. I can't imagine being a parent and looking at my child and knowing that no matter what his/her talents are, there are barriers standing in their way simply because of their race or socio-economic status. Certainly electing Barack Obama allows a much larger number of parents to look at their child and have the same hopes and aspirations as I have for mine.

But there is still work to be done. I hope eight years from now we are celebrating the first woman elected President (Hillary NOT Palin!!)so that my future daughter(s) know that they too can achieve the highest political office in the U.S. I can not really at this point imagine the U.S. electing anyone of non-Christian faith. In certain parts of the country, Obama had to spend money just to reassure people he was not Muslim - as if being Muslim would have disqualified him from being President. As someone who describes her religious beliefs as "agnostic plus" (I believe in a benevolent, omnipotent God, but not one of any particular religion), I know if my son should choose to follow my religious beliefs, he could never be elected to political office. Being a Christian seems to be a litmus test for your moral character. Additionally, should Joseph someday come to be and tell me is a homosexual, I am afraid that would be a major barrier to him holding political office in most places (more on this issue later) and that makes me sad.

Certainly Obama's election says a lot for the progress we have made on racial issues, but I do not believe that we are in a post-racial society. I witness racism constantly. It's certainly more covert than overt in today's society, but it exists. I have heard racist comments made by my family and there are racists in Richard's family. I have heard neighbors and co-workers say things I am ashamed of. My resolution from this election is to stop tolerating it. I don't want to hear a racist remark from a friend, a neighbor or family member and just ignore it. I want to speak up and let people know that those comments are not acceptable to me, especially around my child. Maybe in that way I can play a small role in the continual progress we are making on racial issues.

On Michelle Obama:

I have a serious girl crush on this woman. From the minute she hit the spotlight, I admired her intelligence, sophistication and poise. I also feel like I can identify with her. I love Richard and we can be pretty competitive when we want to be, but he's the breadwinner in our family. He is the one in our family with the career success and I have no interest in taking any role in that besides giving advice and listening when he is frustrated. I did pretty well in my career pre-baby, but it was never my thing. I have always known my life would center around my husband, my home and my children. I want to bake cookies, do crafty projects and walk the kids to school. I will never compete with Richard in the corporate world. I have talents to use but I will find my own areas to excel in - volunteer activities and the PTA, most likely. I guess from what I have seen of Michelle Obama - I sort of imagine this is the relationship she had Barack have (this is all pure speculation, obviously).

Michelle is crazy intelligent - Princeton undergrad, Harvard Law, top law firm job (I don't claim to be even close to as intelligent as she is, but I do think I am fairly smart). She has been successful in her career and probably could be as successful as her husband in politics, but when asked what her priorities will be as first lady, she has repeatedly said her main job is "Mom in Chief". I imagine she is proud of her husband's success but jealous in no way. She has her own work to do and doesn't really need a role in his administration to use her talents. I think she will be a very different first lady than Hillary was. Don't get me wrong - I LOVE Hillary - and if a first lady wants that kind of involvement, more power to her! I just can't really relate to the competitiveness that must exist in the Clinton's relationship. I think Michelle Obama is a great example of an intelligent, ambitious woman who still wants her family to be priority #1.

On the passing of the gay marriage propositions:

I noted in my Presidential Endorsement post last week that I am a huge proponent of gay marriage so you can imagine I am pretty disappointed by the fact that all the propositions to ban gay marriage passed. I don't know all the legal ramifications of these propositions passing and am not well versed enough on the intricacies of the issue to give any great legal argument, but I can tell you in general my thoughts on this issue. I truly believe the gay rights is the next major civil rights battle in this country. Two people, no matter what gender, should have the right to share their life together and have the same privileges under the law - the tax benefits of being married, the right to make health decisions for one another, the right to inherit an estate without paying the inheritance tax, etc. I can't imagine how this destroys the sanctity of marriage. I think Britney Spears' 3 day Vegas marriage and a divorce rate north of 50%, has taken care of that already. A constitutional ban on gay marriage being put up to popular vote seems preposterous to me. I have heard so much about the "will of the people" and how Americans don't want gays to marriage. Quite frankly, I DON'T CARE!!! The south didn't want to be integrated either. If we left that up to popular vote, I'd be drinking under a water fountain that says "Whites Only" even now. The government's job is to protect the rights of ALL people, including those on the margins of society and even when most Americans do not agree. I hope that in the next few years legislators step up and pass gay rights legislation even when its unpopular. Hopefully twenty years from now we are talking about how far we have come on the equality issue for homosexuals.

Well that pretty much sums up my thoughts on the election. Its been a crazy ride and I would be lying if I didn't admit I am having a little bit of withdrawal from the non-stop coverage. I am looking forward to inauguration. I wish I could be there. I made it to the 2001 inauguration of bozo the clown...there were so many protests and it didn't have a very friendly feeling. It was also ridiculously cold and they had shut down the subway and we literally walked over an hour from campus to the capitol and then back. I imagine this year's inauguration will be a little more joyful.

The blog can now return to the Joseph-centric website it was before...

Election Night Update #3 - No Words

I started this night off on a lite hearted note, but must now say that I am simply left speechless by tonight’s events. As a person that grew up in the south and having graduated from the first high school in the United States to bus minorities , my experiences told my heart-of-hearts that the U.S. was not capable of electing a minority president...not now and not today. I'm honored to call myself an American tonight. Once again we have hope - hope that not only are all people equals, but that my children will have a better future than I. For that, I'm forever grateful. Godspeed.

- RH

Election Night Update #2 - "I gottsa do my research..."

Because only dorks drink wine on election night
(what, you didn't have election parties in college?)

Even the cat likes politics...

Consulting with Momma C (and cat) about state of poll results...

"I'm Going to Throw Up Count": 5

"Me Likey the Results" Count:: 3

Election Night Update #1 - "I should eat, but I can't"

Anxiously awaiting early results
















Because one CNN isnt enough...














Independently verifying CNN results (on excel)...






















...and the pain begins!

















"I'm Going to Throw Up" Count: 5

"No doubt exists that all women are crazy; it's only a question of degree.”

Crystal mentioned several posts ago that I didn't know how to blog. To clarify, I certianly know how to blog (give me a little credit)...but I just never had anything of note to blog about. Well, that will all change tonight. While Crystal has explained her affinity for elections, she has not fully defined the person that she transforms into every four years. Words can not do it justice and, therefore, I will be posting pictures throughout the night documentating my lovely wife's transofrmation from a sane person into what can only be described as a political lunatic. In the mean time, I leave you with the following pictures illustrating her likely reaction if Obama wins and if he does not...

IF OBAMA WINS...

IF HE DOES NOT...

Stay tuned throughout the night for actual pictures.

- RH

Announcing my endorsement for President

Today, I would like to announce my endorsement for the President of the United States. My endorsement won’t make newspaper headlines and won't influence any voters, but I decided if Joe the Plumber can hold a press conference to announce his endorsement, I can certainly issue an official endorsement on my blog. Unlike Joe, I promise not to offer my opinion on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict shortly after my endorsement. I’ll leave negotiating the intricacies of foreign diplomacy to the experts….something Joe should have considered doing as well.

Below is a list of the issues that were important to me in my decision as to who to endorse:

• I'm staunchly pro-choice. While I may never choose that option for myself, I do not believe I have the right to make that decision for every woman, in every circumstance.
• I’m pro-gay marriage. I see most arguments against gay marriage as religious ones and given my belief in separation of church and state, I see no reason why civil institutions should bar homosexuals from marrying and benefiting from the legal advantages of marriage. Churches can make those decisions for themselves. It’s my personal right to not belong to a church that teaches against homosexuality (and I never will!)– but churches have the right to teach any doctrine they please.
• I’m against the death penalty. There are too many inconsistencies and prejudices in our judicial system to believe that everyone being sentenced to death is guilty. If one person is wrongly sentenced to death, the cost is too high
• I believe in universal health care. As a family whose bread winner is self-employed, losing our health care scares me. I worry our family is one major health issue away from having our insurance revoked and spending all our savings to keep someone in our family healthy. We have done well saving money in the past and still I worry, so I can’t imagine being poor and having this worry.
• I’m ok with higher taxes for the wealthy. I believe in a society that takes care of those less fortunate among us. Sure, the welfare system has its pitfalls and you can find all sorts of examples of abuse of this system, but you can also find examples of people who were able to make it through tough times and turn their lives around with the help of the government. It would be nice if we could leave this work up to charities and neighbors taking care of one another, but research shows the wealthy give less (percentage wise) to charities than the middle class…so you can’t count on it. I guess I believe there are a lot of greedy people out there who would rather buy another luxury car than help out someone in need in their community. So bring on the higher taxes...I'll happily pay them for a candidate who I agree with on all other ideological matters.

And so with that being said, I am sure it will come as a great surprise that I am endorsing Barack Obama for President of the United States.

I sort of live for election day every four years. I am sort of obsessed with politics. Our TV is perpetually on CNN these days. I am not really sure where my interest in politics started or how I became a staunch Democrat but I have been as long as I remember. I remember being in 6th grade during the 1992 election and hoping so hard that Clinton would win. I vividly remember consulting my magic eight ball several times on election day and that night, I excitedly sat down with my homework, which was to color in the U.S. map based on the electoral results and being so excited when Clinton won.

When I was in the third grade, my parents took my brother and I on a trip to Washington, D.C. I LOVED it! We visited every monument, historic site and tourist destination in the city. Our hotel room overlooked the Washington monument and I would fall asleep every night looking at it. I went home with a children's book of the Presidents and wore out the pages, reading it over and over. I checked out a book about the First Ladies from my elementary school library at least 10 times before heading off to middle school. On this trip, we visited the Georgetown University campus and at age 8 I declared that is where I would be going to college. I wore my Georgetown sweatshirt until I couldn't fit into it anymore and cheered on the Hoya basketball team from that day forward. Ten years later, there I was checking into my dorm at Georgetown University. To say Georgetown is a political school is an understatement. Being there for 4 years only heightened my love of politics. And here I am today, watching CNN all day, constantly online looking at the latest polling and hoping and praying this election turns out the way I would like it to.

I already did my part. We voted early on Friday. We had heard lines were running around an hour long, so we got in line about 2 hours before Joseph's normal nap time. The poll workers told us it was about an hour and 15 minutes from the end of the line.

This is Joseph's face as he sees how freaking long the line is!

We waited, we waited and we waited some more. At the one hour mark we weren't even close to being inside the building (where the line continued to snake along before actually making it to the booths). Here is the last picture before we actually got inside.

We're looking a little bored, boys!

At 3:00 we hit Joseph's nap time but we were inside the building and about 20 minutes away from voting. There was no turning back at that point. Joseph was fussy - so Rich walked around and around and around with him. Around 3:30 we finally voted! Two votes cast for Obama. In fact, we voted straight Democratic tickets (well except Rich voted Republican for Lt. Governor because he went to high school with the Republican candidate's daughter and thinks he is good guy). We were way past nap time by the time we left. Joseph fell asleep in the car on the way home...tired by his first experience with Democracy.

This was not Joseph's first trip to the polls, a few days before he was born, we took him to vote in the Democratic primary. Granted, he was inside my belly...but that counts!

This is my third time casting a vote for President. I've never known the feeling of seeing the candidate I support win. I'm hoping the third time is the charm. Either way, Tuesday night will be a late night.