Pictures and Presidents

[altarflame]

This isn't the best picture to showcase it, but Elise was looking REALLY cute when we got back from that Mardi Gras thing last week.


At the theater to see Wizard of Oz - Ananda, Karen, Jeffrey, Isaac, Joanne, Aaron.








Yesterday Grant got a work order down in the Keys, so he left VeriFone and we all went down and when he was done, went over to Anne's Beach. While he was working, the kids and I were just hanging out and decided to go get some floats.

We decided to get Extreme Floats.

It was not easy to cram them in the van, even with the sliding side doors.

I LOVE this picture :)



















Then today, Nancy came and hung out with us - which was great. Ananda ran to her with arms thrown wide as soon as the door opened. She came in with big bags of presents, and I made a big lunch of veggies and chicken and things with orzo. She brought an uber-crunchy boxed mix for monkey bread that I baked this afternoon, too, so yummy. It was so awesome to just sit and catch up. There've been phone calls and emails - a dozen of each at least - since I left Boston, but it's different, you know? Especially with both of us being too busy to ever really go in depth through long distance communication. It's good to be "friends" now, too, and not have her keeping me at Professional Midwife Level Conversation, i.e., not saying anything that would be unprofessional about anyone or anything else. My sister came and met her. And I managed to get her to agree to pictures knowing I'd post them on my blog, which she sees as famous or something because within her circle of birth people, apparently everybody reads.


Elise loves her. And she cried when Elise walked to me, and waved to her, and backed down our step to the dining room, and all the other little things Elise does that are not just normal but double-take advanced for a 9 month old. She's holding her, here, and that's the back of Brian's head down in front. Look at this organized crowd :p



Grant got the job I talked about a few days ago, except the day shift, which is an added bonus. It's every Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and every other Wednesday, 12 hour shifts (7:30am-7:30pm). $38k a year plus benefits after some period or other passes, with hours that will allow him to keep VeriFone, and the bank, and have whole uninterrupted days with us.

I don't know much of anything about Mike Huckabee except that he was on the Colbert show tonight, and cracking up with some double entendres as he played air hockey to try to "win Texas". That might be enough for me O_o I suppose I have to look up some more stuff. I've avoided bringing it up here thus far, but I am really anti-socialist policies. I want to keep my homeschooling freedoms, and I want women to have more birth freedoms, and I even prefer my own personal healthcare situation (choosing to pay out of pocket for our ped of choice who rocks, fighting for Medicaid but getting it in the end for Elise, her and I both getting all the emergent care we needed with bills coming later, all of it) than what I've heard of government health care. I really really REALLY like SMALL government more and more, the more I learn, even when it means that things I'm "Against" get to be done/legal/whatever (like abortion or guns). I don't want a draft, I don't want insane property taxes and death taxes on estates you leave to your kids and on and on, I don't want anyone up in my business. I'm a freewheeling libertarian Ron Paul supporter. I think :p Whenever I hear Obama or Hillary talking, they sound so freaking socialist and the end result is inevitably peoples' freedoms being taken away, in ways that scare me. It's like everyone's forgotten what we all learned in high school history - communism only works in theory. Capitalism DOES take care of (almost) everyone in the end because of the trickle-down effect wealth in a nation like ours has, and it gives everyone the opportunity to strive and reach further and achieve that American Dream if that's what they're after...

I think of really liberal, progressive areas of our country where people like Hillary are popular, like New York City, and it's like...people in New York have no birth freedom at all. They imprison midwives, Nancy told me when I was in Massachusetts that if I were to go into labor while she was in Syracuse for the ICAN conference, she'd have to cross back over to do my birth. They have all these seemingly great initiatives in place for new low income mothers, too...where they strongly discourage co-sleeping and widely teach that you must vaccinate and all this. Moms who do things in "unusual" ways that are ignorantly thought to be unsafe are reported to CPS. Homeschooling is extremely rare, it's just...crap, as far as I'm concerned. That's not what I want.

But of course you can't find a likely candidate who is small government AND cares about the environment (which I do). Enter Ron Paul. Who is not likely :/

I have to wash ye olde dishes.

Comments

The book looks interesting in a hard to wade through way.

[altarflame.livejournal.com]

Definitely not. It actually used to be a big frizzy mess until I just started leaving it alone...back then I washed it and conditioned it every single day (with really expensive stuff) and brushed it about once an hour when it started going wild. Now, I brush, wash and condition like twice a week (with cheap old suave coconut). Air dry with some head flips and hand scrunching. That is it.

I've had a lot of people telling me they'd love to have hair like mine but just don't have the time for it, to which I say, HA!

Anyway, thanks :)

[the-leh.livejournal.com]

I don't agree that our capitalist society helps people to achieve their goals "if that's what they're after." It's not that easy and it's not that simple. A very, very, very, very low percentage of America is wealthy; and the amount of poor people is growing and growing.

The middle class is becoming obsolete. Wealthy people have better access to schools, after school programs, college, and tons of other opportunities to get ahead. It's simply easier -much easier- for a wealthy person's children to become rich than it is for someone who's completely poor to work their way up. VERY few people are able to do that, and it's disingenuous to say that anyone can. Some people simply don't have the opportunity.

Cost wise, it would be cheaper for me (by several hundred dollars a month) to pay 50 percent taxes (which is standard where people have socialized medicine) than it is for us to pay the current tax rate AND our medical insurance.

America is also the *only* developed nation not to have socialized medicine. Do you really think the best thing for us to do is to let people go bankrupt paying for their medical bills -or die because they couldn't afford a treatment they needed? Is that really the best thing for our country?

People don't have birth freedom BECAUSE we don't have socialized medicine. In most of Europe where they do, people birth at home with midwives. Hospital birthing is rare, and the infant mortality rates are lower.

[the-leh.livejournal.com]

I'm also curious to know what you've heard about government health care. I know many people in Europe who get excellent care. No long waits, no obnoxious doctors, just good care. I know a few in Canada and the UK too, who also have nothing but good things to say about their health care.

[altarflame.livejournal.com]

I don't think that you or I could rush out and achieve our dreams with our babies on our hips, or that a poor kid will just float into an ivey league school the way that a rich kid could, no. But, I went to high school with VERY poor people who got full paid rides to state colleges, and I would have too, if I hadn't gotten pregnant (which was my own fault; the scholarships were in place). I guess what I meant wasn't "if that's what they want", but "if that's their priority and they bust their ass for it". I don't think everyone or most people NEED to be "Wealthy", though it is of course troublesome that the divide is widening as the middle class dissapears. The thing is, "poor people" in this country still have it better than "middle class" people in many other countries, and it is BECAUSE of the trickle down effect of capitalism...people like you and I, that share homes with others and only have one vehicle and feel as though we're struggling, nevertheless shop at Whole Foods, buy organic clothes for the kids and blow a couple grand each spring on things like trips to Boston or fancy cameras and kitchen appliances. No, we don't get everything we want, but we get a whole lot more than just what we need. Homeless people here have shelters, soup kitchens, free clinics and such available.

With healthcare, all I can really know is what I see in my own life, and that includes myself and my kids always getting whatever we needed, health-wise, living in "poor" families. Sometimes there's too much paperwork. Sometimes a bill goes unpaid and screws up your credit. But it's hard for me to imagine a situation where we'd die in the US because of lack of healthcare. My dad is broke as HELL and had major surgery and two months inpatient two months ago, with follow up visits. His girlfriend was unemployed with breast cancer and got all the chemo, etc she needed. I mean...nobody asked how I was going to pay for it, when I showed up at the hospital with a sponge inside of me and sepsis. They even gave me my prescriptions free, just like my ped often does (from samples in the cabinet) for my kids. I know that you struggle with Kaiser, but even still I know you're usually on multiple meds and I've read about you going to the dentist and taking the kids to the doc. The only time I've REALLY been exasperated re:healthcare, is when I'm trying to get Medicaid. Meaning...when I'm going through the government. Then, all of a sudden, it becomes a crazy nightmare. I don't want ALL healthcare to be a crazy nightmare.

As far as other countries' birth stuff, I don't think correlation equals causation here. The United States has a faith in technology and a distrust in the natural order of things, that has become dangerous as the government (states' and national) gain power over things they have no business dealing in (imo). I know that if I go through Medicaid, all of a sudden the chiropractor, the chlorophyll I need and the pediatrician who will LISTEN are all suddenly "unecessary" and...that's not a route I want to go down, you know?

[the-leh.livejournal.com]

Btw, and I should have mentioned this in the first place, I really liked your pictures and I'm glad you got to see Nancy. Sorry for not saying that, I was just distracted by the end part of your entry.

[altarflame.livejournal.com]

Thanks :)

I was starting to think that nobody would ever mention the pictures :p That is what I get for always doing multi-topic entries.

I was bizarrely dissapointed last time around when nobody commented about Snoop Dogg.

[heavynleigh.livejournal.com]

I'm a huge Ron Paul fan and I really wish he stood a chance of getting on the Republican ticket and winning the election. I voted for him on Tuesday in the primaries, not that it did much good. :-p

[altarflame.livejournal.com]

I guess I am jaded, but it's hard for me to feel like votes matter at all anymore. Living in Florida our votes seem to always turn out to be shadily managed or get disqualified somehow, and we've been under a president who didn't win by popular vote at all for two terms now :/

[mommydama.livejournal.com]

Well, I agree with every word you said about politics. Thats all I'll say about that...except after reading all the comments about socialized medicine, I must add that we do have a example in our country of what socialized medicine in America would be like. It is the military health care system. I could tell you stories that would make your hair curl. I get outside that system every opportunity I have. I do take advantage of it, but the referral system and the lack of choices and the wait time, etc. all add up to something I would hate to see take over our entire health care system in this country. Because we DO still have a free market system, I can CHOOSE to go outside the military and pay out of pocket. And we've done that numerous times. I'd hate to see that choice disappear. In fact, it makes me feel a bit panicky. I do struggle with this issue a bit because I cannot stand the thought that there are kids out there not getting health or dental care they NEED...but I'm not entirely sure who to blame for that, you know?

I got all misty eyed at the pics and story of Nancy's visit. That has to be so bittersweet for both of you. What a neat lady! She looks like such a comforting presence too. If I ever get pregnant, I'll be looking for someone like that to help me.

I loved those beach pics. I want to go to the beach. I'm totally fed up with the snow and cold here. By the way, I called you last night, but I must have used the wrong phone number again. I left a message. Can you e-mail me the right phone numbers?

[altarflame.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you brought up the military healthcare thing, because that is something else I had forgotten about that I think also strongly reinforces "The US government should not be in charge of healthcare for anyone unless it's a last ditch thing for an individual with no other options" (medicaid for poor pregnant women, medicare for poor elderly, tricare or whatever it's called for full time military with no other benefits available).

I like being able to go outside the system, too. A lot.

She is definitely a comforting presence.

You should come to OUR beach :) I can so totally see the girls swimming with us. Sheesh that sounds so awesome that I want to start trying to ask if that could ever be possible! Calming down, counting to ten...

I will email you momentarily.

[medland.livejournal.com]

The last picture of Elise in the buggy is amazing. I love love love Nancy's ice cream top and matching earrings!

[pikefish.livejournal.com]

I totally love her vest too but missed the matching earrings--- adorable!!!

from eBirdie

[(Anonymous)]

Your pictures, as ever, are adorable. I'm amazed at how many things you manage to get out and do that are fun and out of routine...I don't get out with my daughter as much as I should, and I only have one - it should be easy! Of course, it's February in Illinois and we have about 2 and a half feet of snow out front, but still! Anyway...I'm sure Nancy was *so* happy to see Elise!

And I'm with you on the small government thing.

Re: from eBirdie

[altarflame.livejournal.com]

I am kind of a weirdo I guess in that I really feel it's easier to go out than to stay in, with all of them...scenarios:

-Grant and I are both home, trying to have a conversation, and either getting interrupted to stop mischief or to help someone with something every 30 seconds...OR, we strap them all into carseats and sit in the front alone talking peacefully, listening to music we like.
-I am home alone with all of them continuously messing up the house as I cook like crazy and try to do all I can to interact one on one and entertain the three littlest ones especially...OR, I take them out where there is no cleaning, the food is cooked for us and they are entertained by the world around us.
-I struggle to nurse Jake down while listening for Elise as A and A play with her, or struggle to nurse her down with Jake bursting in loudly every few minutes, all before or after fighting with Isaac about taking his nap for half an hour...OR, they all automatically nap in the van, stroller or carriers while we're out.

I just get really super stir crazy sometimes - when it was just Ananda, Aaron and I, and they were still very young (infant and small toddler), we spent all day every day GOING - to the beach, the park, the mall play area, the library. Home was a place for sleeping and refilling the diaper bag :p

To hell with Huckabee

[redcosmic-earth.livejournal.com]

The man equates homosexuality with beastiality in terms of sexual deviance. Is this someone you want for president?

Re: To hell with Huckabee

[altarflame.livejournal.com]

I stated openly I know nothing about him except that he was on Colbert, come on! I said I have to do more research.

[brightsoul.livejournal.com]

yay! i am so glad...so happy for you guys!!!!

and wow. just cannot get over elise.
that's really neat that nancy went for a visit.

[pikefish.livejournal.com]

OMG-- so much to comment about :) um, Nancy's vest is cute, cute, cute!!! and your kids are...well...you know also CUTE, CUTE, CUTE!!!!! is Elise eating a plum in the first pic? Oh and Grant is HAWT but don't tell him I think so ;)

so glad that Elise is....perfect!!!

((big hugs)) just because!

[altarflame.livejournal.com]

It is a plum, she will eat them down to the pit. Nectarines and peaches, too. He sure is, too :D

*hugging you back*

[gracified.livejournal.com]

"The good we secure for ourselves is precarious and uncertain until it is secured for all of us and incorporated into our common life." (Jane Addams)

I think that's all that those that support socialized medicine/any service are trying to achieve. I've had many a debate on the subject of capitalist freedom, etc. and how "a rising tide lifts all boats"... to that I say, what if you don't have a boat?
I guess my point is, while I do understand that there is a lot of opportunity out there for people in this current system, it's just not all it's cracked up to be. There are some people who have gone from the projects to stardom or whatever, but I think that it had little to do with how much effort was put out on their part. It has more to do with opportunities and money and intelligence and talent- things that are not readily available to all of us.
I guess it comes down to, for me, what I think are our rights as human beings are in this system. I believe that good health care is a right, that education is a right, that housing, food, etc. are all things that people should have regardless of their situation. This does not mean that people will lose their ability to climb the ladder and achieve the "American Dream" and it doesn't mean Communism or that people will be "up in your business." It just means that we are securing some basic rights by also securing the rights of others, and I don't see how that could be bad.
Personally, I don't want to climb the proverbial ladder. I want to live comfortably and know that just because my cousin needed emergency surgery she won't have to live with a crippling amount of debt for years to come. This is certainly a privileged way to think about things- to even have the notion that she has that right- but I think that it is possible and that it's worth making some changes for.
I love your pictures by the way! :)

[gracified.livejournal.com]

I just wanted to add that I don't think the way that this country runs things now would be a preferable option (eg Medicaid). I think it would be crap, so you certainly have a point there. I don't, however, think that should mean we should give up on trying for something better or just deal with what we have now as the lesser of two evils. There are examples out there of systems that work well, and we can at least strive to be like them.

[superflippy.livejournal.com]

Different strokes for different folks. I actually tend to vote for Democrats because here in SC it's always the Republicans who are interfering in people's lives, trying to legislate what we can do and believe and say and think. The Dems may want our money, but the Repubs want our bodies and souls. Given the choice, I'll let the government have the dough and then scream at them stridently about spending it wisely.

[altarflame.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the way you put that makes total sense to me (and I mean that sincerely - I know tone can be weird over the internet).

I don't like republicans, either, really. This is my conundrum. I want a candidate who is for small government, peace, the environment, etc etc...
I want someone who can be pro-family (incentives for staying home with children, tax breaks for families, that kind of stuff) without amending the freaking constitution to disallow marriages or even unions of homosexuals (I mean, come on). My candidate does not exist.

[babyslime.livejournal.com]

I think there are a lot of misconceptions about socialized medicine. What you said here:
"choosing to pay out of pocket for our ped of choice who rocks, fighting for Medicaid but getting it in the end for Elise, her and I both getting all the emergent care we needed with bills coming later, all of it"

Is the same freedoms I experience, except I don't pay for it. I get emergency care when I need it, I choose my doctors (within reason: I mean sometimes their practices are just plain full so I have to look elsewhere). I don't battle about tests, and doctors don't have to bend over backwards for my financial situation nor are they more likely to give me more if I was well-off. It's equal treatment.
Alternative care like most chiropractic, acupuncture, etc you still have to pay for - unless you have a referral. Referrals from other doctors can get it all covered under government insurance. Very awesome. If we didn't have socialized medicine here, I'd be dead - there are just too many times in my life that being able to get through without hassles was a savior for my health problems. I'm thankful for it.

I would LOVE to see everyone else in America have that freedom, too. So I see it totally differently!
Also, the more I hear OBama speak, the more I desperately want him to win. I don't think he will, but I wish he could. Everything he has said inspires me, and I have *never* cared about USA politics as much as I care about who gets the democratic lead.

[aranel.livejournal.com]

You probably wouldn't have been denied or delayed for care under the American system, either, most likely--they give care first and then bill afterward, and if you can't pay the bill, THAT's when problems arise. So you'd probably just be indebted, not dead.

[rockstargrrrlie.livejournal.com]

On Huckabee- I'm not a fan, mostly because he's a firm supporter of the Human Life Amendment, which would ban all contraceptives. I think that's too much of a hold on someone else's body, personally.

On !MORE EXCITING! your pictures- I love Ananda's dress. She's always dressed so cute. Isaac's expressions kill me.

[aranel.livejournal.com]

I'd never even heard of the Human Life Amendment before now, but if you look at the website of the state of Georgia's version, they deny that the amendment would outlaw contraception:

http://www.personhood.net/objections.html

[homefly.livejournal.com]

From what I understand, both Obama and Clinton support creating access for low/no income individuals to get access to health insurance, which from what I understand isn't really the same thing as socialized medicine (government run medical care such as in Canada or the UK). From Obama's website: "Obama will make available a new national health plan to all Americans, including the self-employed and small businesses, to buy affordable health coverage that is similar to the plan available to members of Congress." At least from what they say, it's not socialized medicine like the military has, but a way of getting more people access to health insurance.

Their plans do have quality controls regarding the healthcare, but so do major employers who supply health insurance to their employees (and spend tons doing it. Starbucks recently said they spend more on health coverage for their employees than they do coffee - that's not unusual at all).

However, in the end Obama and Clinton are basically advocating the same "increase access to health insurance" plan. The only major difference between them that I can tell is that Hillary would mandate that everyone buy an insurance plan through the government or get one through their employer, not unlike state auto liability insurance laws, whereas Obama would just make it available and leave mandates up to the states if that's what they wanted to do.

From the Republican debates that I've seen, Paul would get the government out of healthcare all together and get rid of Medicaid and Medicare and replace it with nothing. He does say some things I like, but I just can't see private or non-profit (churches) groups stepping in and filling that gap. Ideally, I wish that would work, but reality tells me that just won't happen, at least not in Texas. Texas is a low tax/low service state, and very few places so far have stepped up to fill the gaps. Texas is no place to be without health insurance.

I'd also like to comment on the liberal vs. conservative thoughts. Most people think of political views as a linear line:

liberal-----------------------conservative

Left to right. Really, from my experience it's more like a circle with far left and far right at the bottom and moderate/mainstream views at the top. When one group gets far left and far right, they actually start to meet. Looking at pregnancy/birth/parenting it's pretty easy to see how crunchy hippie moms and religious conservatives actually agree on many issues. Reading Mothering magazine it's easy to see how these two groups intersect. It's with moderate/mainstream views that they are most different. Just a thought.

[altarflame.livejournal.com]

Thank you for this comment, I actually learned some things. Obama's plan sounds just fine with me, Hilary's is the "scary" one.

And as for your last paragraph, yes, I agree. One strange place to hang out, politically, is the unassisted birth areas. They seem to be polarized by extremists in two directions - the ones that are doing what God intended, like Mary did with Jesus, who tend to be "submissive wives" and "hardcore" as far as outdated ideas of feminity and also VERY anti-feminist, all life is sacred, etc...and in the other corner, the "this is my body", there is no God/I believe in the Goddess, "abortion and euthanizing infants should be legal" people. Both groups seem equally liable to be ultra organic down to no medications and never trying drugs, with half the room plain and mousy and the other tattoo'd and pierced to high heaven (except they don't call it that :p).

[babyslime.livejournal.com]

Holy crap do you realize you have over 100 comments on this entry?!

[altarflame.livejournal.com]

I know, right?

I think everyone is very, very riled up because there is so much on the line right now...

We're used to being spoiled and "the richest nation on earth", but now the news dramatizes recession every day, and hints at another depression.

Many families have fathers and sons in Iraq.

There are scientists and international organizations talking about world-wide calamities from global warming, and even though many don't know who to believe, everyone is talking and all of a sudden there are reusable bags at the grocery checkouts and all we know is, we rely on oil A LOT and use more than anyone else.

It's crazy times...

For what it's worth, I way prefer Obama to Hilary, and I am way ignorant on Republican candidates. On all of them, really. The only person I've read up on extensively is Ron Paul, and that was mainly out of curiosity because there's so much "underground" hooplaw about him (on lj, in peoples' yards, etc). I have a frustrating sense of my vote really not mattering at all, because Florida's votes have been thrown out or tampered with so much in the last couple of elections, and we had a president who wasn't even elected by popular vote, so how is that even a democracy? This time around the democrats did some kind of hackneyed bullshit wherein we decided who our candidate would be months ahead and then tried to use those results when it was time for the primaries, and the national govt said no, you have to do it now like everyone else, and this state basically crossed it's arms and pouted like a 3 year old rather than redo. So we don't even get Democratic Primaries here. It's RIDICULOUS.