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!”
Baby Signs
Isabelle and I have started learning sign language to get her through the next year or so. I’ve been doing a few signs for at least a month and just this week I noticed that Izzy’s started to do the sign for milk! I need to take a video of her doing the sign. She usually starts signing “milk” whenever she’s eating solid food because I think she knows that milk comes after she’s done with her food.
This afternoon when I went to go wake her up from her nap I found her sitting up in her crib, happy as can be. She must have figured out how to pull herself up into a sitting position from laying down. I think now is a good time to start lowering the mattress so she can’t pull herself into a standing position and fall out of the crib!
Teeth, Choices, Free Shipping and Fall
Isabelle is teething her top two teeth right now. What does that mean? It means, few to no naps, a little more cranky and not wanting to eat as much. Doesn’t that sound fun?! Okay, I’ll admit, I have it pretty easy compared to some other moms I’ve talked to. Isabelle just won’t let me see how those teeth are coming in.
In home news, we’re in the process of picking out everything for our house. Last weekend was appliances, this weekend it’s lighting and hard surfaces, weekend after that probably cabinets. Whew…I didn’t realize there was going to be so many choices!
Business wise, Luke just hired his first employee for FreeShipping.org. I’m so glad he has help now because he doesn’t have to spend as many nights and weekends at his computer. The website has gotten some pretty good TV coverage lately. Stations across the US have been picking up on the website and featuring it on their news hour.
It’s fall in Colorado, so the temperature is cooling off and leaves are changing color. I love fall. I’ve missed fall. I’m going to take it all in! I’m also looking forward to winter. I’ve missed my winter jacket, scarves, hats, sweaters and boots.