Friday, March 11, 2011
A sad day.
Today there was an 8.9 magnitude earthquake that hit Japan, followed by a massive tsunami. The death toll is rising by the hour, hundreds are dead or missing. It will take a long time before we know how bad it really is. It makes me sad, so sad. The people of Japan are going to need our thoughts and prayers in these days to come, as they start piecing back together their world. I am thankful that the US military is reporting no casualities. I am thankful that Hawaii and our West Coast was spared a lot of damage. But even with all the good news, I can't stop thinking about those people, those lives lost and changed forever. Pray, a lot, they need it.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Wanting my children
Today I was reading an article in Parenting (March 2011 issue) while waiting in the doctor's office.
*Sidebar - We had an adventure with a toilet seat/lid smashing Asher's boy parts. No permanent damage, but he's in some pain. Poor kid.
The article was about same sex families. Now I don't want to make this a political or religious blog, so I'm not going to go into rights or wrongs. I, personally, don't have a problem with anyone being a parent, as long as they are good to the children. I know plenty of straight people who have NO business having kids and I know homosexual people who are or would be great parents.
Anyways, this article is written by a woman in a lesbian relationship raising twin boys and talking about how we need to redefine what "Family" means in this country. I am fine and dandy with that. Family is a group of people that love each other. There are all different kinds of families, and I support them all.
The thing about this article that bothered me as when they started talking about a study. The U.S. National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study, which followed the children of a number of lesbian mothers over a 25 year period. It showed that teens of lesbian couples had fewer behavioral problems and better school performance than their peers with straight parents. I don't have a problem with that, I think it's actually rather interesting. However, the reasoning one doctor, Nanette Gartrell M.D., gave really pissed me off. She said that she wasn't surprised by the results because "The children we studied we highly desired. They didn't result from a broken condom or too much alcohol. Their parents worked hard to have them and didn't take the privilegee of having kids lightly"
What the hell? So, children born to straight people aren't desired? We just have broken condoms or drunken accidents and so we take the privilege of having children lightly? I'm sorry, but that's just crap. I honestly cannot believe anyone would write something that repulsive. I read and re-read this, thinking I must have taken it the wrong way, but no matter how I read it, it just offended and insulted me down to my core! Yeah, I didn't have to do IVF or any kind of fertility treatments to get pregnant, but we tried for 2.5 YEARS before we had Asher. And Abby Kate nearly killed me while I was carrying. My kids were desired. My babies we prayed for every single day. I used to cry myself to sleep almost nightly before we got pregnant, begging God to please let us have a baby. Just because we're straight and most straight people can get pregnant easily doesn't mean we don't want our children! It also doesn't mean that unplanned pregnancies result in an unwanted child! Gah! I didn't have a problem with lesbians, but if they're going to act holier than thou because they had to try harder to get a baby, then I am going to have an issue.
That little rant aside, my thanksgiving is how glad I am to have my sweet precious little miracles. I prayed for these two children. I dreamed about these babies. I worked VERY hard to get them here. They are a gift that, for a time, I was afraid I wasn't going to get. I thank God everyday for the privilege of getting to share my life with these beautiful souls who bring me more joy than I ever dreamed of.
*Sidebar - We had an adventure with a toilet seat/lid smashing Asher's boy parts. No permanent damage, but he's in some pain. Poor kid.
The article was about same sex families. Now I don't want to make this a political or religious blog, so I'm not going to go into rights or wrongs. I, personally, don't have a problem with anyone being a parent, as long as they are good to the children. I know plenty of straight people who have NO business having kids and I know homosexual people who are or would be great parents.
Anyways, this article is written by a woman in a lesbian relationship raising twin boys and talking about how we need to redefine what "Family" means in this country. I am fine and dandy with that. Family is a group of people that love each other. There are all different kinds of families, and I support them all.
The thing about this article that bothered me as when they started talking about a study. The U.S. National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study, which followed the children of a number of lesbian mothers over a 25 year period. It showed that teens of lesbian couples had fewer behavioral problems and better school performance than their peers with straight parents. I don't have a problem with that, I think it's actually rather interesting. However, the reasoning one doctor, Nanette Gartrell M.D., gave really pissed me off. She said that she wasn't surprised by the results because "The children we studied we highly desired. They didn't result from a broken condom or too much alcohol. Their parents worked hard to have them and didn't take the privilegee of having kids lightly"
What the hell? So, children born to straight people aren't desired? We just have broken condoms or drunken accidents and so we take the privilege of having children lightly? I'm sorry, but that's just crap. I honestly cannot believe anyone would write something that repulsive. I read and re-read this, thinking I must have taken it the wrong way, but no matter how I read it, it just offended and insulted me down to my core! Yeah, I didn't have to do IVF or any kind of fertility treatments to get pregnant, but we tried for 2.5 YEARS before we had Asher. And Abby Kate nearly killed me while I was carrying. My kids were desired. My babies we prayed for every single day. I used to cry myself to sleep almost nightly before we got pregnant, begging God to please let us have a baby. Just because we're straight and most straight people can get pregnant easily doesn't mean we don't want our children! It also doesn't mean that unplanned pregnancies result in an unwanted child! Gah! I didn't have a problem with lesbians, but if they're going to act holier than thou because they had to try harder to get a baby, then I am going to have an issue.
That little rant aside, my thanksgiving is how glad I am to have my sweet precious little miracles. I prayed for these two children. I dreamed about these babies. I worked VERY hard to get them here. They are a gift that, for a time, I was afraid I wasn't going to get. I thank God everyday for the privilege of getting to share my life with these beautiful souls who bring me more joy than I ever dreamed of.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Hooray for boobies!
Yesterday, I aquired my copies of my new family pictures and the breastfeeding portraits we had done. Let me just say, they are beautiful. Anyone who knows me, at all, knows how I feel about breastfeeding. I am a lactivist, and I'm not afraid to show it!
I don't know if everyone reading this is aware of the problems people are having with Facebook, but there have been a lot of people getting their pictures deleted and even their accounts shut down, all for posting pictures of them breastfeeding their children. Pornography. That's what they're calling the pictures. Because boobs are only sexual, don't you know? Ha.
Let me share one of my favorite quotes "If breastfeeding is sexual, then a bottle is a dildo" because that's about how I feel about it. Breasts are sexual, but they are also functional, they were MADE TO FEED YOUR YOUNG. Amazing! Multipurpose body parts, what a novel idea?!
Anyways, so I posted my pictures on my Facebook, and I even set my status to read that if you didn't like the pictures or were offended by them, feel free to delete me. Amazingly, no reports have been made and all my pictures are still up. Heck, I even made one of them my profile picture! *gasp* So, what I am thankful for today is that I have a group of friends that are intelligent enough to be supportive of breastfeeding and realize it's not just best, but normal. I am also super thankful for the beautiful pictures that BLP Photography took of my precious little nursling and me. I'll share some of my favorites.
And can I just say "Yea for Boobies!"
And just for fun, a few from the family shoot, because I have a beautiful family that I adore. :)
I don't know if everyone reading this is aware of the problems people are having with Facebook, but there have been a lot of people getting their pictures deleted and even their accounts shut down, all for posting pictures of them breastfeeding their children. Pornography. That's what they're calling the pictures. Because boobs are only sexual, don't you know? Ha.
Let me share one of my favorite quotes "If breastfeeding is sexual, then a bottle is a dildo" because that's about how I feel about it. Breasts are sexual, but they are also functional, they were MADE TO FEED YOUR YOUNG. Amazing! Multipurpose body parts, what a novel idea?!
Anyways, so I posted my pictures on my Facebook, and I even set my status to read that if you didn't like the pictures or were offended by them, feel free to delete me. Amazingly, no reports have been made and all my pictures are still up. Heck, I even made one of them my profile picture! *gasp* So, what I am thankful for today is that I have a group of friends that are intelligent enough to be supportive of breastfeeding and realize it's not just best, but normal. I am also super thankful for the beautiful pictures that BLP Photography took of my precious little nursling and me. I'll share some of my favorites.
And just for fun, a few from the family shoot, because I have a beautiful family that I adore. :)
Monday, March 7, 2011
Deployment is on the brain
I was thinking about this post as I was drifting to sleep last night. I realized I already kinda suck at the blogging, being as I wanted to do it everyday, and totally flaked this weekend, but it was for a good reason. This weekend was probably the last full weekend we'll have before the deployment.
Yikes.
That makes me so sad in so many ways. This deployment is one of the big reasons for wanting to do this project of thanksgivings. For anyone who isn't a military wife, deployments are harder than you can even imagine. It's a time when you're alone with yourself, a lot, and that can be a scary thing. It can also be a good thing for your soul, to get to know yourself again.
When you get married, and especially when you have precious little babies, sometimes you get lost in the shuffle. I know that Sarah sometimes (most of the times) gets neglected so that everyone else has the time they need. One good thing about deployments is that you have time to work on you. It's also scary to see yourself again, because you can be hard to recognize. I'm looking forward to me being a project.
Most everything else about this deployment is killing me. I am worried about my sweet husband having to say good bye to two babies, and I'm worried even more about the two babies being left behind. All I can do is tell myself we will survive, because what choice do we really have?
We still have a couple of months before he leaves, before the dreaded good byes, but the hours are going to be terrible and then there is an underway too. (Did I mention I love the Navy?) I have decided that I am going to try, really try, to keep the black cloud of a looming deployment at bay, and try to enjoy our time together to it's fullest. Not an easy task, but I'm tough, I can do it. I am just thankful that this is our last one with this command. When he gets home, we'll have 3 glorious years of shore duty to look forward to. So that's my thanksgiving, this is our last one of these sons of bitches for awhile. Hey, at least I like him enough that these are hard, right?
Yikes.
That makes me so sad in so many ways. This deployment is one of the big reasons for wanting to do this project of thanksgivings. For anyone who isn't a military wife, deployments are harder than you can even imagine. It's a time when you're alone with yourself, a lot, and that can be a scary thing. It can also be a good thing for your soul, to get to know yourself again.
When you get married, and especially when you have precious little babies, sometimes you get lost in the shuffle. I know that Sarah sometimes (most of the times) gets neglected so that everyone else has the time they need. One good thing about deployments is that you have time to work on you. It's also scary to see yourself again, because you can be hard to recognize. I'm looking forward to me being a project.
Most everything else about this deployment is killing me. I am worried about my sweet husband having to say good bye to two babies, and I'm worried even more about the two babies being left behind. All I can do is tell myself we will survive, because what choice do we really have?
We still have a couple of months before he leaves, before the dreaded good byes, but the hours are going to be terrible and then there is an underway too. (Did I mention I love the Navy?) I have decided that I am going to try, really try, to keep the black cloud of a looming deployment at bay, and try to enjoy our time together to it's fullest. Not an easy task, but I'm tough, I can do it. I am just thankful that this is our last one with this command. When he gets home, we'll have 3 glorious years of shore duty to look forward to. So that's my thanksgiving, this is our last one of these sons of bitches for awhile. Hey, at least I like him enough that these are hard, right?
Friday, March 4, 2011
Here we go
So, if you're reading this, chances are you know me. I'm Sarah, wife to Bryan and mother of Asher and Abby Kate. We're a young military family, so life is pretty crazy, but also pretty fun. I have been thinking of blogging for quite awhile now, but never really found the right reason. I was laying in my bed the other night, between the husband I was pretty ticked with and my sleeping snoring little girl thinking about what a bad day I had. I was pissed, I was so mad at the world that I couldn't even sleep. Just about that time, Abby Kate gets restless, turns over, and snuggles right into me and gets this beautiful sleepy smile as she drifted back to sleep. I looked down into that precious little face and I thought about how no matter what seems to happen in my life, there is always something that happens each day that I can be thankful for. Some poignant moment, some hilarious observation Asher makes, some milestone hit, or something as simple as eating something super yummy. Sometimes in the middle of this crazy life, we all forget that there is always something to be happy about. I am so guilty of this. There are times that I am so ready to throw in the towel, throw up my hands and say "Okay Universe, you win!" That's when you have to sit back, take a deep breath, and count your blessings. If you don't choose to see the glass half full, then you will always be empty. So this is my mission, I am going challenge myself to write about something positive that happens each day, something I can be thankful for, so that I can remember how blessed I am. So here it goes, my year of thanksgivings.
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