Samantha's Divine Role

I read in the August Ensign here about a woman who has the gall to go out and work to save the family's business, and prays for forgiveness for straying from her divine role.

Her divine role, maybe. But maybe not somebody elses. Thinking that every man, or every woman has a divine role identical to every other man or woman reminds me of the beginning of the movie "Antz" when the baby ants are hatching and being declared "workers" or "soldiers" and having a pick or sword put in their hand.

Proclamation on the Family notwithstanding, which I believe makes allowances for deviances to the generalities it presents, when I look at Samantha I don't see a future mother and housewife. Maybe she'll choose to be that. I mean, I really want grandkids. But what I see now is a little baby with the potential to choose her own path and find out for herself what God wants her to do. I've read the YW carriculum a bit and it seems pretty bent on pigeonholing our girls into the one officially santioned divine role. I hope that changes a bit or her teachers present the material with a more broad perspective. Either way, we'll have talks frequently about it as she grows older.

The Joker

Samantha Joy has pretty bad reflux. The doctor has us giving her a Prevacid tablet in the morning, and half a tablet at night. It's really just medicine packed in a sugar substrate. Not like adult pills. They dissolve very quickly in her mouth. I'm on duty from 4:30 AM till 7:00, so I will frequently give her the AM dose. I put the pill in, and she kept trying to push it out. Once it dissolved, she wouldn't swallow and was trying to get the spit out of her mouth. Eventually she just barfed out her mouth and nose. Yay. I cleaned her off and got Chris up and we tried again. This time we gave her half, then once she was done with that half we gave her the other half. It was messy, but most of it went down. The rest was all over her mouth. I didn't clean it off right away, and it dried. With the white around her mouth, I thought she looked like the Joker. I picked her up and sat with Chris and we laughed and laughed at the clownface she had.

Then she gave us a really big grin and beamed at us while we laughed. I felt bad that we were laughing at her misfortune when she probably thought we were playing with her.

But that smile... it melts my heart. She's got me wrapped around her finger.

Pacifier

I tried sucking on one of Samantha’s pacifiers the other day to see what was so great about it.  It was strangely comforting.  Do they make an adult size?

BIG NEWS about Samantha

OK, that was just to get you to read this. Samantha is almost 5 weeks old and is doing TERRIFIC. If she would sleep through the night, we would have the perfect baby.

So Chris and I had to work out a schedule for getting up with baby since I have work. The schedule we came up with is that on Sunday through Thursday nights, she wakes up with Samantha from 9:30 PM to 4:30 AM. I get up with her from 4:30 AM to 7:30 AM, after which I go to work. On Friday and Saturday, I get the long haul. So far it’s worked, though it’s meaning Chris has to sleep on the chair most of the night since Samantha only seems to like to sleep if she’s being held.

She is wonderful… but soooo needy.

After i got home from work today, I fed Samantha. After which I decided it would be a good idea for her to taste her first few granules of sugar… and blechhhhh! She barfed all over me. Now, a few weeks ago this would have grossed me out. But I have gained a immunity to baby barf and poop. It makes me think about what a putz Andrea Yates’s husband really was (she’s the mom that drowned her kids a few years back.) Apparently the guy NEVER had changed a diaper. I was a little scared since I had never done it either, but it’s soooo overrated. At least so far.

My Baby, a poem.

Baby, the first time I saw you

The doctor was cutting mommy open with a scalpel.

The little bits of hamburger on his hand but a hint of what to come.

"Those aren't baby kicks!" the doctor shouted above the din "It's a cauturizing device giving you shocks to move your muscles!"

The physician brought out the crowbar, and I felt a surge, knowing you would soon be in my arms.

Crying, they pulled you out into the bright cold world, purple face, blue hands, and body dripping the lifeblood of the mother.

And now I spend each day with you. And feel your soft skin.

And smell your curdled poop.

SLEEP BABY! DAMN IT, SLEEP!

Labor: Hour 35

Chris's water broke at 3:30 AM yesterday, and it's been really slow progress. I'll let you know the full story later. It's not amusing, but baby is safe and that's what's really important.
As the mothers who birthed in hospitals know, you're only supposed to have clear fluids. We've sneaked in Animal Crackers, ginger snaps and Goldfish. But we also take advantage of their popsicles and jello.

Actually, imitation jello :)

It's a gel-type dessert!

I am a god

I'm not THE God. At least I don't think.

So there I was... in the 1st floor kitchen, looking to buy a Snicker's bar. My floor, the 3rd floor, was out. The 2nd floor would only accept correct change. Thus I end up in the 1st floor kitchen.

The Snicker's in the machine cost 80 cents. I put in 4 quarters and press '1' '4' '6' to dispense a Snicker's bar. And pop! One comes out. I think to myself, "wouldn't it be cool if ANOTHER one came out?" knowing that the vending machines here will spit out another item if it senses that nothing fell to you. Well, keep in mind the first bar fell just fine. I hear 2 clinks... my change. Then POP! Another one comes out! Clink! MORE change!

I got 2 Snicker's bars and 55 cents change. Things like this don't just happen. This is miraculous.

Could one of the Snicker's have a visage of the Virgin Mary on it? We shall find out.

Baby Samantha's 32 week report

Samantha had her 32 week ultrasound yesterday, and passed with flying colors. Chris isn't taking the protein-enhanced shakes anymore, so baby appears to be growing just fine on her own. I expect things growth wise to be smooth sailing from here on out. Unfortunately, Chris is starting to get very uncomfortable. She's used to being able to do things like bend over, and I think she didn't miss having cramps. They're not bad, but they're there now. We thought they were Braxton-Hicks, but the doctor says no. However, the doctor also isn't concerned that she's having the cramps because they're not consistent.

We've made progress on the house :)

In the last week, here's some what we (well, mostly Chris) have done:

• Primed and painted the nursery
• Cleaned out the cupboards
• Carpets cleaned
• Rotted siding replaced
• Furnace filter changed
• Furnace serviced
• Bought a new sink and faucet