The President

You all new it was coming. . . my thoughts on the outcome of the election. For my own personal thoughts and journal, I found this article in the Wall Street Journal to be very interesting. My candidate for President lost, so it is true I need to put my support behind Obama when he becomes our president(and maybe like he admitted in his acceptance speech, he may not get what he promised accomplished in one term). It is a great day in our nation when an African American can be elected as President. I respect him and hope that he represents our country well. I have to say that the economy is responding to him winning the race for the presidency, yes, that is right, the stock market continues to go down. Maybe because businesses don't like Obama's ideas on taxes? Hmmmm. (like I said, I will stand behind him when he BECOMES our president) I also don't understand why it is important for our country to unite behind him when he is president, but not before hand. Well, here is the article:

"Earlier this year, 12,000 people in San Francisco signed a petition in support of a proposition on a local ballot to rename an Oceanside sewage plant after George W. Bush. The proposition is only one example of the classless disrespect many Americans have shown the president.
According to recent Gallup polls, the president's average approval rating is below 30% -- down from his 90% approval in the wake of 9/11. Mr. Bush has endured relentless attacks from the left while facing abandonment from the right.
This is the price Mr. Bush is paying for trying to work with both Democrats and Republicans. During his 2004 victory speech, the president reached out to voters who supported his opponent, John Kerry, and said, "Today, I want to speak to every person who voted for my opponent. To make this nation stronger and better, I will need your support, and I will work to earn it. I will do all I can do to deserve your trust."
Those bipartisan efforts have been met with crushing resistance from both political parties.
The president's original Supreme Court choice of Harriet Miers alarmed Republicans, while his final nomination of Samuel Alito angered Democrats. His solutions to reform the immigration system alienated traditional conservatives, while his refusal to retreat in Iraq has enraged liberals who have unrealistic expectations about the challenges we face there.
It seems that no matter what Mr. Bush does, he is blamed for everything. He remains despised by the left while continuously disappointing the right.
Yet it should seem obvious that many of our country's current problems either existed long before Mr. Bush ever came to office, or are beyond his control. Perhaps if Americans stopped being so divisive, and congressional leaders came together to work with the president on some of these problems, he would actually have had a fighting chance of solving them.
Like the president said in his 2004 victory speech, "We have one country, one Constitution and one future that binds us. And when we come together and work together, there is no limit to the greatness of America."
To be sure, Mr. Bush is not completely alone. His low approval ratings put him in the good company of former Democratic President Harry S. Truman, whose own approval rating sank to 22% shortly before he left office. Despite Mr. Truman's low numbers, a 2005 Wall Street Journal poll found that he was ranked the seventh most popular president in history.
Just as Americans have gained perspective on how challenging Truman's presidency was in the wake of World War II, our country will recognize the hardship President Bush faced these past eight years -- and how extraordinary it was that he accomplished what he did in the wake of the September 11 attacks.
The treatment President Bush has received from this country is nothing less than a disgrace. The attacks launched against him have been cruel and slanderous, proving to the world what little character and resolve we have. The president is not to blame for all these problems. He never lost faith in America or her people, and has tried his hardest to continue leading our nation during a very difficult time.
Our failure to stand by the one person who continued to stand by us has not gone unnoticed by our enemies. It has shown to the world how disloyal we can be when our president needed loyalty -- a shameful display of arrogance and weakness that will haunt this nation long after Mr. Bush has left the White House."

I think that says a lot about our country. President Bush is not solely responsible for much of what has gone on in our country. Think about all the things that have been thrown at him as President.

I think McCain graciously lost (I wonder what would have happened had it been the other way? I can't help but think that we would have all been accused of being racist and riots may have broken out in Chicago? It's funny how so often there is such a double standard isn't there?) As a history nerd I think, just like most presidents, our nation will eventually look on President Bush in a positive light. And that will conclude my political thoughts forever more.

Happy Halloween!

I absolutely love Fall! Maybe because I finally get to wear sweaters, maybe because its my birthday, but definitely now that I am a mom, because I get to dress my little boy in a darling Halloween Costume. How cute is he? I absolutely love his costume but I'm not so sure that he does. Much like his dad, he is a little heater and gets pretty sweaty. Here are a couple of pictures from our many Halloween parties!

So the last one is of our family. Tommy won best costume for that. Yea for Halloween! And I don't know what is wrong with me but am I the only sane person in the United States who doesn't believe Obama and doesn't think his ideas will work? I will spare you the rest of my political rant and just share my ideas with Tom, but let me just say I am against wealth redistribution!!!

Just About There!

He's quite wobbly, but today Porter took his first steps! Five of them with a pause in between to be exact. But if this is anything like crawling, now that he has taken those steps, it will be a while before he actually starts to do it. Although he tends to walk and balance when he isn't thinking about it. And because of that temper (see post below) lots of times when I try to make him, he just arches his back and brings his feet to his chest so he can't stand up. He's quite the independent little boy, and I'm sure this means even more trouble, but I'm proud of my little scrunch. (sorry, I'm slacking with pictures lately, maybe I'll get some video next time)

18 Screws and 2 Plates

Well after 4 days in the hospital and a four hour surgery that put 18 screws and 2 Plates into her foot, my mom is finally home. She has to be completely off of it for 6 weeks and the feeling in her foot may never fully come back. The doctor also instructed her that she should never be alone in case she did fall. So Porter and I have taken it upon ourselves to be her company and help. She came home late Tuesday night. She is pretty much helpless and depressed. I have to help her do everything, even shower! But we will make it. Most importantly, we have to keep her occupied so she doesn't get too depressed. Porter is fascinated with her foot and will not stop touching it.
Speaking of Porter, man is he a naughty boy! A very cute and darling naughty boy. He hates to eat, get his diaper changed, and sleep through the night. He now throws temper tantrums, throwing his head backwards and waving his arms when I take him away from his naughty fascinations such as the bathroom garbage, the toilet, the fireplace, the stairs, and the dog and her food. This is the only time when Porter and the dog actually get along.
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Okay, well also here:


When I change his diaper, I have developed a wrestling position where I pin his arms down with my feet. Well today when I was attempting this feat, he bit my toe! I just started to laugh and he started to cry. Where did he come from? Most people would never believe that he behaves this way. When we are around other people he just flashes that irresistible smile and talks in his sweet soft voice. Don't get me wrong, he is still a sweet little boy who cuddles with his mom and talks and plays with me for hours, but there are just a few things that we definitely clash over. I was talking to my mom about my frustrations today and she informed me that this is exactly how I was at this age. So he is even more like his mom than we thought. Just not in the good way. But I still love my sweet little boy and hopefully we will grow out of this stage soon. But on the cute side again. Not that I am counting these as his first words, but maybe they are. Porter definitely understands Bah-Bah as bottle. He crawls towards me saying Bah-Bah and when I give him that that is what he wants. And when Tommy leaves in the morning for work, he says DADADADADADA for like fifteen minutes after I tell him to say goodbye to DaDa. He also (when he wants to not when I want him to perform) says BABA when people leave. It is so dang cute!

Slip Up

Its amazing to me how a split second can change everything. This past weekend, Tom was helping my mom install an electric dog fence in her backyard. (Keep in mind my mom is a bit accident prone. Anyone remember a couple years ago when she broke her collar bone on a scooter and broke her front tooth, both while on her cruise? Oh, and there is the time she broke her toe, and the one where she broke both her legs at the same time, her nose problems, breaking her tooth again, and falling down the stairs like twenty times!) Well, anyways, somehow she slipped and busted some bones. She started screaming and Tom came running. (my dad was at funeral) She kept yelling at him to do something (poor guy) and so he finally called the paramedics. It was disgusting, we have a picture, but I'll spare you the visuals. Long story short, she will be in the hospital for three days. She just got out of surgery with 18 screws and two plates! She is off of it for six weeks. Looks like I now what I will be doing but at least I don't have to do her hair this time! I feel so bad for her. Keep her in your prayers!

Moving Day

It's been a while, I know, but life just gets away from you. We've been busy. And no, it wasn't our moving day. This past weekend we helped move my aunt from my parents basement to her new apartment. Yes it was a lovely early Saturday morning of moving. . . in the Rain. But we got her moved and still managed to catch Conference. In other news, Porter is becoming a very naughty boy who cries when he doesn't get his way and laughs when he know he is doing something he shouldn't. He loves crawling stairs and playing in Mikos food. Atleast we have gotten over the no sleeping part. This morning I went to check on him because he was sleeping a lot later than usual and he was just standing up in his crib. I turned on the light, which was too bright. He tried to turn away from the light and smacked his face on the crib. Sad!

On a different note, here is my political rant for the day. Don't read on if you are not interested because it may get a little boring or you may disagree. Man what a pathetic race this is and to me, I don't believe either candidate is a good choice. And let's be honest, unless something huge happened, Obama's got this one. (in case you couldn't tell, I am for the McCain Palin ticket although they would not be my first choice, I think they are the lesser of the two evils) From a history teacher's point of view let me say this. The two most important jobs of a President are one, to declare war, and two, to appoint Supreme Court Justices. Now Judge Stevens is 88 years old and no Justice has served past 90, so the next President will nominate the next Supreme Court Justice. While McCain said he would appoint one that would adhere to the strict interpretation of the constitution, Obama wants to appoint one who is sympathetic to poor black men, unmarried pregnant women, etc. Which is all great except that the point of a supreme court justice is to be unbiased and not sympathetic to certain groups. I respect that everyone has their own political views but I wish that those that are voting for Obama would at least tell my why. Yes Obama wants to give everyone health care because so 40 some odd million people are uninsured. Let's make sure we realize all those that are included in that number. Many wealthy people chose not to be insured because they have enough money to pay for medical expenses and many chose not to be insured even when their companies offer them money to buy their own health insurance, and some want a government handout. Now don't get me wrong, I do believe that there are many people that want insurance that can't afford it and they should be helped out, I just don't think that that figure correctly reflects what we are talking about. So although McCain's plan may not be the best, I would rather give a tax credit to those that are paying for their health care than just give it to everyone. That only leads to socialized medicine(which I won't get into right now). And here's the thing, I do believe that a person's personal life is important when we are talking about the President of the United States. Your personal life is reflected in your public life. And yes, we all have our skeletons, but some of them are too serious to overlook. And I know my ideas are biased because I am supporting McCain, but I just have to get my feelings about Obama off my chest. Obama is a liar, even about little things and his relations with William Ayers really disturbs me. I could go on and on, but I will just say now why I am scared of Obama becoming president. I don't support Acorn with which Obama is closely associated. Two of Obama's top economic advisors are from Freddie Mac and Fannie May, hmmm. In Chicago, and this really bugs me as a teacher, the teachers make close to 100,000 and don't even work a full school day while only about 50% of their students even go on to college! Obama has failed to reform education in Illinois because the teachers unions are some of his closest political allies and he wants to keep it that way. With as bad as public education is getting, I don't like the idea of putting Obama in charge of reforming education in America. Okay, I could go on and on, but I will spare you all if anyone is still reading. On one final note, I am disgusted by the ads on both sides of the campaign lately, but I do have to point out one thing. McCain's camp accuses Obama of associating with known terrorists and people that hate the U.S., which he really can't deny. All the Obama camp has is accusing him of McCain's association in the savings and loan scandal 20 years ago. In 1991, the Senate ethics committee cleared John McCain (the lone Republican involved) of having acted improperly but he was criticized for having exercised “poor judgment”. . . twenty years ago. Is that all they can find? Like I said, I can go on and on, but I will spare anyone still here with me.
Oh and P.S., I am from the historical schooling that much of the blame for the stock market crash was stupid people who caused and reported panic. So how bout the press stop reporting on the "worst drop in history" and just let it work itself out. If we freak out and tell everyone to sell, then it will crash.

Battle of Wills

I finally see that Porter is my child. For those of you who don't know, I have a temper. When I was little I would throw temper tantrums and kick the wall and would have to be locked in my room. Well, my nine month old is following suit. Oh help us all. Up until now, he was a power sleeper and overall a very sweet boy. But man has his temper taken over. When he gets his way, he is perfectly content and relaxed as the picture to the left shows. For two nights straight I have put him to bed and he has cried for almost an hour at the top of his lungs as if someone is beating him. I am worried my neighbors are going to call. As you can see in this picture, I won the battle last night. After a long cry, my little boy finally gave in. However, I can't say little, at his checkup, he measured in at 31.5 inches (that is above the 98 percentile!) His weight is only 21 pounds. Which brings me to my other problem. He has decided not to eat. Everything I feed him is spit back onto me or fed to the dog. For any experienced mothers out there, I am open to any ideas about either of the two above problems. However, cross your fingers because Tom just put him down and he is out. Maybe this is only a phase. . .