The whole Chris Brown/Rhianna situation is driving me crazy. I am so fed up with the way the media is discussing this situation. I think this is a perfect opportunity to talk to teens about domestic violence, dating violence, etc. and the media is really missing the boat. With the way the media is discussing the situation are we really as a society teaching our children appropriately about violence? I don't think so.
First the media continues to say that it was a "fight". This doesn't make sense to me. A fight is when two people are fighting with one another. A woman being choked, bitten, and punched is not a fight. That is abuse! A woman cowering in a car while a man attacks her is not a fight again that is abuse. If Rhianna had been riding home in a limo and the limo driver did these same things to her the media would say that she was attacked! They would not say she was in a fight. Let's use the correct words here.
And if I hear one more person say that it was a mistake and Chris Brown is sorry I will scream. Mistakes are when you forget to pay your phone bill, you accidentally run a red light, you lock your keys in the car. You don't mistakenly hit someone in the face. You don't mistakenly bite someone. You don't mistakenly choke someone. You make a decision to do those things. So no Chris you didn't mistakenly think your girlfriend was a sandwich and bite her. You abused her!
So instead of making excuses for dating violence and teaching teenagers that this is acceptable behavior let's get real. Let's make it clear to our children that under no circumstances is it okay to abuse another person. At no point in time is it okay to stay in a relationship with someone that hurts you. That one time is to many and that you should leave. Instead of making this a glamorous event where the solution is a fancy vacation let's get real and talk about what services this young couple needs to utilize to move forward in a safe and healthy way. Let's be responsible adults and use this as an opportunity to teach our kids a lesson.
And seriously don't call it a fight!
Friday, March 13, 2009
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Bye Bye Steroids
Goodbye nasty steroids! The Hulk is officially done with the steroids! Praise GOD!!!! Those things turned my sweet baby boy into a little monster! Seriously last night he threw a fit for 2 1/2 hours! I'm not kidding. There was screaming, crying, flopping, kicking, thrashing, nasty baby boy behavior occurring at our house. I didn't know that a kids bones can dissolve and turn into jello making it impossible to pick the thrashing jello blob up off the floor. But they can! For the first 30 minutes I tried to be loving and supportive. I tried to soothe and cuddle him. Then after that I just took some Tylenol and let him carry on while I made tutu's for the little girls I take pictures of. I figured if I ignored the behavior it would stop. When it didn't I resorted to a very mature and supportive parenting technique. I laid down on the floor beside him and threw my own fit. I fake cried and flopped around and guess what it worked. He slowly sat up and stared at me and then started laughing. Crazy kids! Tonight he was back to happy boy!
We did have our follow up appointment today with the doctor and he took him off the steroids but left him on the breathing treatments. He will only have to do one treatment a day. If he has an attack I can give him more treatments as needed. But hopefully we can avoid another bad attack!
Here are some pictures of The Hulk and his cousin Kerrington. The Hulk is always very enthralled by her. He likes to hold her hands, rub her head, and occasionally fish hook her in the mouth. He teeters on the edge of good cousin/bad cousin frequently. This was a good day though.
We did have our follow up appointment today with the doctor and he took him off the steroids but left him on the breathing treatments. He will only have to do one treatment a day. If he has an attack I can give him more treatments as needed. But hopefully we can avoid another bad attack!
Here are some pictures of The Hulk and his cousin Kerrington. The Hulk is always very enthralled by her. He likes to hold her hands, rub her head, and occasionally fish hook her in the mouth. He teeters on the edge of good cousin/bad cousin frequently. This was a good day though.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Randomness
I'm feeling totally random today. There are too many thoughts in my head for a very focused post... So you get to try to follow along with the radomness of me...
I've been thinking a lot about our recent hospital stay. I've been playing things over in my mind and I am just amazed at how well it all went. I know that sounds crazy but I've heard such horror stories about kids and hospital visits that I really thought it would be worse. In fact I had several horrible hospital stays with my mom when she was sick. But honestly we got such amazing care and met some really great people. I hate it that The Hulk was that sick but I'm so grateful that it was a positive experience rather than a traumatic one. Honestly a lot of good came out of it. Not only did The Hulk get better but we were able to share our adoption story with so many people. Almost every nurse that came in asked about how I adopted him, if it was an open adoption, etc. It was so nice to share our story and hopefully display such a positive adoption situation. So often single parent and transracial adoptions get bad press so it was a real blessing to share with them.
Also looking back now it was pretty amazing to me that when we were doing the admit process and they were asking a million and one questions about The Hulk that I knew all the answers. And it hit me then. He really is my son! I know in my head and heart that he is mine but it really made it dawn on me that I am honestly the only person in the whole world that knows all the answers about The Hulk. No one else can say that! Heather can come close, Darby can come close, Shawn and Amanda can come close. But I am the only one that gets them all right! How cool is that? And I was worried that baby wouldn't bond to me! We are pretty dang bonded!
Speaking of bonded The Hulk now calls me MaMa! I love that. He started doing it in the hospital and it has stuck! I love love love it! He also says no no no regularly too! Crazy kid! When I tried to change his diaper this morning I got a mama no no. Nice! He is already sassy.
And since I am so random I must tell you that today I was heading into my office and noticed a guy walking a large group of dogs. There were five of them total. And it seemed odd. Not so much the number of dogs but how weird they were all walking. So I stopped and watched as they came closer and realized it. All the dogs had something wrong with them. A couple only had three legs. One of them had four legs but one of them didn't work. Another one had something wrong with it's ear. Strange combo of dogs. But then I realized it. That guy is open to special needs dog adoption. How sweet is that!
Also last night I made sweet and sour chicken in the crockpot. It was yummy. After dinner I filled the crockpot with water and dishsoap to let it soak and was going to wash it this morning. But this morning when I came into the kitchen some crazy things were going on. The crock pot had water and lots and lots of bubbles pouring out of it! I couldn't figure out how this could have happened. But I actually left the crock pot on by accident and the water was boiling bubbles! Super!
So that's the radomness of me.... Also I'm working on a Q & A post. I have about 4 questions to do that people have emailed me. If you have any questions for me leave them in the comments and I'll add them in. Feel free to ask anything....
Clickin Mama
I've been thinking a lot about our recent hospital stay. I've been playing things over in my mind and I am just amazed at how well it all went. I know that sounds crazy but I've heard such horror stories about kids and hospital visits that I really thought it would be worse. In fact I had several horrible hospital stays with my mom when she was sick. But honestly we got such amazing care and met some really great people. I hate it that The Hulk was that sick but I'm so grateful that it was a positive experience rather than a traumatic one. Honestly a lot of good came out of it. Not only did The Hulk get better but we were able to share our adoption story with so many people. Almost every nurse that came in asked about how I adopted him, if it was an open adoption, etc. It was so nice to share our story and hopefully display such a positive adoption situation. So often single parent and transracial adoptions get bad press so it was a real blessing to share with them.
Also looking back now it was pretty amazing to me that when we were doing the admit process and they were asking a million and one questions about The Hulk that I knew all the answers. And it hit me then. He really is my son! I know in my head and heart that he is mine but it really made it dawn on me that I am honestly the only person in the whole world that knows all the answers about The Hulk. No one else can say that! Heather can come close, Darby can come close, Shawn and Amanda can come close. But I am the only one that gets them all right! How cool is that? And I was worried that baby wouldn't bond to me! We are pretty dang bonded!
Speaking of bonded The Hulk now calls me MaMa! I love that. He started doing it in the hospital and it has stuck! I love love love it! He also says no no no regularly too! Crazy kid! When I tried to change his diaper this morning I got a mama no no. Nice! He is already sassy.
And since I am so random I must tell you that today I was heading into my office and noticed a guy walking a large group of dogs. There were five of them total. And it seemed odd. Not so much the number of dogs but how weird they were all walking. So I stopped and watched as they came closer and realized it. All the dogs had something wrong with them. A couple only had three legs. One of them had four legs but one of them didn't work. Another one had something wrong with it's ear. Strange combo of dogs. But then I realized it. That guy is open to special needs dog adoption. How sweet is that!
Also last night I made sweet and sour chicken in the crockpot. It was yummy. After dinner I filled the crockpot with water and dishsoap to let it soak and was going to wash it this morning. But this morning when I came into the kitchen some crazy things were going on. The crock pot had water and lots and lots of bubbles pouring out of it! I couldn't figure out how this could have happened. But I actually left the crock pot on by accident and the water was boiling bubbles! Super!
So that's the radomness of me.... Also I'm working on a Q & A post. I have about 4 questions to do that people have emailed me. If you have any questions for me leave them in the comments and I'll add them in. Feel free to ask anything....
Clickin Mama
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Around The House
Well there have been some big changes around our house. We did a major room swap this weekend. A big thanks to Heather, Kelci, Shawn and Amanda for helping me! Even with all of us working at it it took all day Sunday to accomplish. But we love it.
The switch occurred for a couple of reasons. The main reason is that I had put my nice dining room table that belonged to my mom out in our shop building to use the dining room as my photo area. But I was a nervous wreck that the table was going to get damaged. So in order to bring the table back in the house and still have an area for the photo studio we had to switch rooms. Also The Hulk is a hot mess falling all over as he learns to climb and walk. And the old living room has hard ceramic tile. He was making me a nervous wreck too. So the room switch means he will be on carpet most of the time.
So while the living room is much smaller now the baby and table are both protected. And The Hulk and I have had such fun the last two nights playing in the new living room. It's very cozy and we can rough house and roll around on the floor. And the "stuff" in this room is very minimal which means The Hulk doesn't have as much to get into and I don't have to say no as much! WAHOO!!!!
So here are some pics of the new arrangement.
The new living room with the The Hulk toy corner....
All of the books on that bookcase belong to The Hulk! They were all in various baskets before so I didn't realize how many there were! That boy has some books.
The whole room with the dog checking it all out. She was a little freaked about the transformation.
The photo portion of the new dining room/photo studio...
And the dining room section. I need to get a really large piece of art for the wall...
The switch occurred for a couple of reasons. The main reason is that I had put my nice dining room table that belonged to my mom out in our shop building to use the dining room as my photo area. But I was a nervous wreck that the table was going to get damaged. So in order to bring the table back in the house and still have an area for the photo studio we had to switch rooms. Also The Hulk is a hot mess falling all over as he learns to climb and walk. And the old living room has hard ceramic tile. He was making me a nervous wreck too. So the room switch means he will be on carpet most of the time.
So while the living room is much smaller now the baby and table are both protected. And The Hulk and I have had such fun the last two nights playing in the new living room. It's very cozy and we can rough house and roll around on the floor. And the "stuff" in this room is very minimal which means The Hulk doesn't have as much to get into and I don't have to say no as much! WAHOO!!!!
So here are some pics of the new arrangement.
The new living room with the The Hulk toy corner....
All of the books on that bookcase belong to The Hulk! They were all in various baskets before so I didn't realize how many there were! That boy has some books.
The whole room with the dog checking it all out. She was a little freaked about the transformation.
The photo portion of the new dining room/photo studio...
And the dining room section. I need to get a really large piece of art for the wall...
Monday, March 9, 2009
Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.
I can promise you that I did NOT forget that it was Monday and forget to do this post until the end of the day on Monday! I had it done several days ago and just didn't post it. I was making you wait for it...
In fact I do NOT have all of my days mixed up from our stay in the hospital. I have NOT been a day off all week!
I also am NOT struggling with the time change at all! I am NOT tired and grumpy and confussed. I am NOT feeling like I'm a day and an hour behind the rest of the crowd. Nope Not ME!
I did NOT let my baby go without pants all weekend because I just didn't want to fight with him over pants. I mean really who needs pants when your sick and stuck in the house!
I did NOT have to dig dog food out of The Hulk' mouth twice this week! He does NOT eat dog food! And the dog does NOT eat The Hulk' food. They do NOT share everything!
I did NOT find myself in a hospital bathroom on my knees this week praying for my baby. I did NOT find myself overwhelmed with emotion when we finally got home. Overwhelmed by the fear, the stress, the joy, the exhaustion, the everything of the days prior.
And I did NOT eat my weight in fruit chews while we were at the hospital! I did not get a bag of fruit chews from the gift shop several times a day. I did NOT just dump several bags of fruit chews into a plastic cup and eat them by the handful. NEVER!
So what did you NOT do this week?
Clickin Mama
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Baby Christopher
I had a really fun newborn photo session yesterday evening. Bob, Shayla and their precious baby boy Christopher are friends with my brother. I just met them for the first time last night but we had a blast taking pictures. Well I did anyway, baby Christopher wasn't to sure about the picture ordeal. Christopher is only 8 days old! He hasn't even been out of the hospital that long. Shayla had a complicated delivery and Christopher had a great deal of fluid on his lungs and wasn't breathing when he was born. But miraculously he is doing great now. And I can promise everyone that his lungs work great now. So welcome to the world Christopher! I can't wait to take your 1 year pictures.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Catching Up
I've been spending the day getting caught up on all the things that got ignored this week while we were in the hospital. The laundry, the bills, the dishes, the stuff of life... And while I was busy doing that I think all the stress of the week has caught up with me. Now that I've had time to unwind it's all kinda hit me. I've had a horrible stomach ache all day and I'm just exhausted. I think the stress and the unhealthy food has taken it's toll on me.
So the plan for tomorrow is to relax! I'm going to bed early tonight and I'm sleeping as late as The Hulk will allow me too. Hopefully that will help me get back on track.
As for The Hulk he has had a great day. He takes the breathing treatments really well and he was playing like a little fool. I've had a hard time trying to keep him down, I don't want him to do to much and get winded. But try getting an 11 month old to sit still! I did put him in the bathtub to play this afternoon and soak off all the tape from his iv and bandages. He liked that and it kept him somewhat contained so it was fun and safe play. The only problem is that the steroids do make anxious, emotional, and restless. But he can breath and laugh and smile. So I'm thrilled!
Clickin Mama
So the plan for tomorrow is to relax! I'm going to bed early tonight and I'm sleeping as late as The Hulk will allow me too. Hopefully that will help me get back on track.
As for The Hulk he has had a great day. He takes the breathing treatments really well and he was playing like a little fool. I've had a hard time trying to keep him down, I don't want him to do to much and get winded. But try getting an 11 month old to sit still! I did put him in the bathtub to play this afternoon and soak off all the tape from his iv and bandages. He liked that and it kept him somewhat contained so it was fun and safe play. The only problem is that the steroids do make anxious, emotional, and restless. But he can breath and laugh and smile. So I'm thrilled!
Clickin Mama
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