Winter is Coming
Today it’s 31 degrees in Fort Collins. However, yesterday it was around 65 degrees. Strange for November in Colorado. It usually starts snowing on my birthday and stays cold until March in Colorado. I welcome this cold weather though. It’s a nice change from being hot all year round in Florida.
At the gym today and at the store yesterday night I heard some women saying that they were sad that it was getting colder. I laughed to myself because there I was walking outside enjoying the brisk weather while they were almost running from their cars to the heated building. I can’t wait for snow to come. That’s when it will really feel like winter is here and Christmas is around the corner.
Big Hole
Our house is starting to get built! It’s exciting to see them finally dig the hole and get ready to pour the basement. Here’s a picture from yesterday. As our house gets built I’ll be posting pictures of the progress.
Have I mentioned that Isabelle LOVES Samson? Here’s a picture of her at the top of the stairs with Samson.
Cheap Entertainment
I really don’t know why I buy toys for Isabelle. She’s perfectly happy just playing with just paper! She’s going to have a great time at Christmas. Lots of paper….
Happy Birthday to Me!
I’m older now…. Yes, I am now 26. Last Wednesday, my sister Michelle and her husband Jim tried to surprise me by coming into town for the week of my birthday. Yes, they tried…I actually figured it all out the night before. However, that’s pretty good considering they had planned this entire trip in August. If it hadn’t been for Luke saying that he needed the car on Wednesday morning at a particular time and saying that I couldn’t ask any more questions since it was my birthday I probably wouldn’t have figured it all out.
It was still a nice “surprise” though! On Friday, Michelle and I spent the day in Denver. Luke had gotten me a massage at the Ritz-Carlton Spa, and Michelle had planned high tea at the Brown Palace Hotel in Denver after the massage. We met up with Luke, Jim and Izzy for dinner at an amazing Brazilian Bar-B-Que restaurant called Texas De Brazil. The spa was amazing and just what I needed since I had been covered in baby throw up for a couple days. (Click on the picture to see more from my birthday) Luke also bought me a nice new coffee maker, which I desperately needed, since the one I have, I’ve had since my college days.
Izzy was sick all last week. I’m not sure what she had, but I’m guessing she had a stomach bug. By Saturday I was extremely worried that she was not keeping down enough fluids or food, so I called our doctor. By Sunday she seemed better. Now she seems to have her appetite back, which I’m extremely thankful for.
Jim and Michelle leave on Wednesday night. We will see them again soon, since we will be together for Thanksgiving at their place.
Rough Day
It was a rough day today. Izzy hasn’t been able to keep her food down for the last two days, so we’ve gone through many outfits and I’ve been covered in baby throw up at least 3 times in the last 24 hours. Tonight I gave her some electrolyte solution to help her keep hydrated and tried to give her a bottle tonight which I hope she keeps down. Tomorrow we’ll try solid foods again and see what happens. If it doesn’t improve we’ll go see the doctor.
To make matters worse, Samson ALSO threw up today. So I feel like I literally spent my entire day cleaning up throw up. Being a mom today was not glamorous at all!
After Samson threw up, I think he felt a lot better because I found him tanning in the sun…
I See Two Top Teeth!
I’m so happy that Isabelle’s two top front teeth have finally broken through! She let me take a peek in her mouth this morning, granted I did have to tip her almost all the way upside down to see, but they’re there! It looks awfully painful since they’re razor sharp teeth. It looks like there are two more teeth on the way, and a whole mouthful more to go. If I can get a picture of those teeth I will.
Higher Education and the Election
* Before I start, I know I will be ruffling some feathers and am straying from the lightheartedness of this blog, but these are my thoughts from the past couple weeks. I promise to resume posting the lighthearted and trivial details of our lives on the next blog post.
Today I spent some time reading friends blogs, political views, and other peoples comments. Most of these blogs were about the pending election, why they’re voting for a particular person and some of the core issues they are voting for. It was quite interesting to read these heated discussions between Christian classmates of mine about why some are voting Democratic and some are voting Republican this year.
Living in a college town there are plenty of Democratic supporters. When walking around downtown, young college kids approach us asking us, “Are you registered to vote?” while flashing the Obama/Biden sticker on the back of their clipboards. Why is it that places of higher education are a breeding ground for the Democratic party? Here’s my theory…it’s tied to something called Secular Humanism in higher education.
Here are some of the core beliefs of Secular Humanism:
* There is no absolute right or wrong
(According to the Council for Secular Humanism “We are opposed to absolutist morality, yet we maintain that objective standards emerge, and ethical values and principles may be discovered, in the course of ethical deliberation.“)
* Tolerance of human decisions since there is no absolute right or wrong
(According to the Council for Secular Humanism “For secular humanists, ethical conduct is, or should be, judged by critical reason, and their goal is to develop autonomous and responsible individuals, capable of making their own choices in life based upon an understanding of human behavior.”)
* Man is the highest entity and is basically good
(According to the Council for Secular Humanism “Human beings can develop the self confidence necessary to ameliorate the human condition and to lead meaningful, productive lives.”)
* Belief and reliance on reason and scientific method
(According to the Council for Secular Humanism “We believe the scientific method, though imperfect, is still the most reliable way of understanding the world. Hence, we look to the natural, biological, social, and behavioral sciences for knowledge of the universe and man’s place within it.”)
Charles Francis Potter, author of HUMANISM, A NEW RELIGION, wrote “Education is thus a most powerful ally of humanism and every American public school is a school of humanism. What can the theistic Sunday schools meeting for an hour once a week and teaching only a fraction of the children, do to stem the tide of a five-day program of humanistic teaching?”
If a student of higher education is not keenly aware of how the secular humanist doctrine is woven into everyday textbooks and lectures it becomes easy to be (warning..I am about to use a strong word!) indoctrinated. The Council for Secular Humanism will deny that it is in higher education, however supporters and believers in Secular Humanism are the ones who are in the classrooms and writing textbooks. How can their beliefs not spill over into the education they are providing?
If students become more sympathetic to the Secular Humanist point of view (knowingly or unknowingly) they should also be sympathetic to the current Democratic party because of their stance on many “hot” (in my opinion) moral issues such as abortion (refer to “no absolute right and wrong”) and stem cell research (refer to “belief and reliance on reason and scientific method”).
As a Christian, election year always provides a challenge. Which is the lesser of the two evils to whom I should cast my vote for? Here’s where my Christian worldview comes into play. I’m voting Republican this year because of these core issues: taxes, abortion, stem cell research and Iraq. However, I do wish that the Republicans would do something about the energy crisis besides drill (I believe that we need to take greater care of the planet God has made), and come up with a better health care plan (I don’t believe that either plan that the Republicans or Democrates will solve anything).
Why Buy Toys?
Seriously…why spend the money on toys when babies like packaging, string, dirty shoes, and basically anything else that they’re not allowed to play with. Isabelle has a whole basket full of toys to play with during the day and what’s her favorite things? Our computer cords, internet routers and basically everything that keeps us plugged in and working during the day.
Bedtime Stories and Good Friends
Every night Isabelle and I read a Bible story before her bedtime bottle and sleep. Below is a picture of us. She’s got crazy hair because she just had a bath. Today we had Julie and Alan in town. Julie’s my good friend from high school. It was so fun seeing them after their first year of marriage! The picture of them was taken at the New Belgium Brewing Company here in Fort Collins.
Almost 9 Months!
We has our first visit with the new pediatrician this week. Here’s how Isabelle has grown:
Weight: 17lbs
Length: 28 3/4 inches
She’ll be nine months old on the 26th of the month. Crazy! She’s really getting around now doing a combination army crawl and real crawl. Her favorite toys…our internet routers…which she’s disconnected a couple times while we were working or on our internet phone. So now we’re trying to teach her the meaning of “NO TOUCH!”