Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Keeping Blogs Straight...

Okay, in an effort to avoid turning this blog into a family update blog and to avoid shocking my 87 year-old grandmother with my writing (heaven knows she'd be rethinking the decision to NOT push me to be a doctor), I decided to set up a more "personal" less "professional" blog for updates on the family. You all have become like family too, so I wanted to invite you all to stop by when you feel like it. www.mattandaprilupdates.blogspot.com. No, a shorter, appropriate name was not available. I tried. :o)

I've been keeping an idea notebook. And I even got to read recently. Dh had a conference and we tagged along to play. I read two whole books. Tara Janzen's most recent featuring her Steele Street team and a suspense which escapes my memory. It wasn't bad. It just wasn't that memorable. Although I have to give the author a break since I seem to have brain farts at least 3 times a day.

Okie dokie, that's it for now.

April

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Baby Madness

Hello everyone,

I know it has been a long time since I last posted. Things have been nuts to say the least. But I wanted to post an update!

We settled into our new home in Mid-May. Just in time to get started on the nursery. Then on July 2, at 10:30AM, she was born weighing 8lbs even and measuring 20 1/4 inches.

She did really well and the delivery was smooth. Her cord was wrapped around her neck, but the dr was able to get it unwrapped during delivery and an emergency c-section was not necessary. There was one minor complication because our blood types are so different there was a concern over jaundice, but her billiruben levels never went out of the normal range. YAY!

Here's a picture of our new little angel:



Hope everyone is doing well and the writing is going great! I'm hoping to just be able to READ some soon. LOL!

April

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Pardon The Interruption...

It's not often I get political. Not here anyway. But there's an issue my home state has been dealing with. In fact, every state has been dealing with. Which has some very serious consequences that in my very humble opinion have been kept largely out of the public domain.

Recently, the Homeland Security Administration passed a new regulation requiring states to adopt new policies regarding the issuance of IDs to residents. It's called the RealID, you may have heard of it. They did so without any real debate in congress.

Their premise for these new policies, they say, is to increase the difficulty of obtaining an state ID under false pretenses. Which is something I and I don't believe anyone else has a problem with. In some states it is all too easy to get an driver's license or ID with false information.

Most states have bent to Homeland Security's demands and agreed to implement the new measures, despite the fact that it will mean millions of dollars of increase expense to the states in order to implement the changes. Which really should be the first red flag for citizens.

I say the first, because their are several. What hasn't received much attention in the public domain is WHAT makes the implementation so expensive. Included in the "upgrades" Homeland Security is attempting to require states to implement is the placement of RFID tags in all IDs.

For those unfamiliar with RFID tags, they are tiny chips which have often been used by manufacturers to reduce loss by tracking products and where they go. An RFID tag, also known as Radio Frequency Identification tags, are a small thing which can be tracked via GPS. Which means if you have one on/in your driver's license as Homeland Security is trying to enforce, you can be tracked anytime as long as you have your ID on you.

"What's the big deal, I don't do anything wrong or go anywhere I shouldn't?" here's the big deal... Even the most secure, safe-guarded systems get hacked. The Pentagon, the CIA, the FBI... It happens. Which means some of the most unscrupulous people in the world would have access to your every single move.

What's more, when asked by opponents what measures Homeland Security plans to take in order to ensure there are no abuses of American Privacy, their only response is to basically say, "We have it handled."

I am proud say that our state governor has refused to comply with the demands of Homeland Security. And furthermore, our governor issued a letter to the head of Homeland Security making it clear he felt certain aspects of RealID were a clear violation of the privacy and security of Americans. In addition, RealIDs make it much easier for nefarious people to get your information and steal your identity.

The ACLU has been fighting the good fight against RealID, but it still shocks me to discover so few people realize just what implementing RealID would mean to each of us.

I am no expert in this area. RealNightmare.org is a website with more information on the subject. The ACLU has several articles on the subject as well.

Only a handful of states have still not bent to the will of the all-powerful Dept. of Homeland Security. Whether your state has or has not bent, I encourage you to explore the issue, pass along the awareness, and consider speaking out to those who are in a position to stop this from happening.

April
(who promises not to turn this into a political blog) :o)

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Am I insane?

Maybe...

Well, I'm in my 26th week. In all honesty this hasn't been the most enjoyable week so far.

My little darling's movements have grown a bit painful at times. She's definately going to want to be a trapeeze artist, I'm telling you! And my bladder has not been happy with me. I have a hard time dragging my behind out of bed to pee every 2 hours at night. I think I can sleep 10 more minutes, but then 10 turn into 45 and then I'm in serious pain. Not good, I know. And I'm trying to work on it. If only my concious-rational-self could have more control over my unconcious-sleep-deprived-self. Oh well, that's life.

I'm not complaining. No siree. Just sharing :o)

In other news, I think my darling hubby and I may have totally lost our minds. As in gone bonkers for the summer, check in with us when we are delivered home from the looney bin. We made an offer on a house this week.

We've been shopping on and off for a long time, but we're picky. We found a home the beginning of March we liked and made an offer. It finished foreclosing the exact same day and the bank wouldn't look at any offers till they listed it for sale through their broker. Which was Friday. So, after redebating the house on Monday, we made an offer Tuesday. Now we're waiting on word from the bank, which can take anywhere from 2 hours to 2 years. Okay, I exaggerate, but still... banks work on THEIR time, so who knows. In the mean time, it'll take at least 30 days to get us closed which means I'm looking at moving around my 31st week of pregnancy. Now you understand the title of this blog, yes?

I figure dh and I will do the packing and we'll hire movers to do the moving. before we were married I always used movers and it was nice to just label my boxes, furniture and rooms and point. The first move went better than the last, so we'll be going back to that company. I think dh thinks he and our family and friends can do it, but I'm thinking movers are the way to go...

Of course, all of this is IF we get the house, which is yet to be determined. We have enough room for now at our home. We're squished. That's what happens when you live in a place alone, get married and another person moves in with you. But we're just waiting to see what door God opens or chooses not to open for now.

In the mean time, I'm just keeping busy with everyday work which went nuts on me a few weeks ago and trying to catch naps here and there. Oh yeah, and going potty seems to be taking up a great percentage of my time lately too. LOL!

So I'm not the only insane person out there, right?

April

Sunday, March 02, 2008

Spay Day USA

The National Human Society holds a Spay Day USA every year. The hold events all over that raise awareness of the need to spay and neuter pets.

They also hold a photo contest and this year we decided for the fun of it to enter our little furbaby, Buckley. He's a mess, but he's our mess :o)

If you have some spare time (don't laugh too loud, I know we're all busy) will you pop over and cast a vote for our little guy?

Here is where you go: http://www.spaydayusa.org/bin/Rate?image_id=1003134808

Thanks!
April

Friday, February 15, 2008

It's a Girl!

We had a wonderful Valentine's Day. It started off bright and early with a trip to the OB's office. There we got to spend an hour or so in the ultrasound room looking out our little developing bundle. During all of her twisting, turning, and somersaults, we discovered she's a little baby girl. It was also apparent she's going to be a little chatterbox because her mouth was moving a mile a minute.

Here are some pictures:

She's laying on her back, with her hand at her forehead, palm up... So woebegon that mommy got up early. :o)



This one is marked, but note that her arm is up like she's waving at us...



Precious little hand...



This is the tech's attempt at a 3D ultrasound... Our little pea was busy moving so it was difficult to get a good shot of her, but you can see her mouth is wide open :o)


When I got to the office after our appointment, dh had had an edible arrangement sent for Valentine's Day. It looks like a bouquet, but it has fruit instead of flowers. The pineapple was cut into hearts and since I've been craving fruit it was the perfect thing to do. We went to dinner with the in-laws because they wanted to celebrate the ultrasound.

Thought I would pop by and share our news and some pictures. I hope everyone is doing well and writing tons of great stuff! I haven't written much this week, but I'm eager to get back to it... And Lis's comment about fan fiction keeps popping up in my head too. Maybe I'll have to play around with a bit of that!

How was your Valentine's Day? Do anything special?

Happy Writing,
April :o)

Saturday, February 02, 2008

I Wrote Something!!!!

And I posted it over at Word Flirts... Who knew, 2 posts in less than 30 days... :o)

April

Monday, January 21, 2008

Time for an Update

Hi Everyone,

I thought I would pop by and update how things are going...

Overall things are going pretty well. I am 17 weeks today and we get to hear the baby's heartbeat at each appointment. Last week we had our appointment for January and my blood pressure was on the low side which is a great sign for the blood clotting issues.

I lost 7 pounds in my first trimester. I've regained 3 pounds, so I am still down over all. My dr says that's just fine with him because the baby seems to be growing just fine. And he's not kidding there. I'm already starting to show.

We go on Valentine's day to find out the sex. We're really excited. Maybe then we'll finally start to work on getting the cluttered nursery cleared. :o)

There's been time here and there I get to read. Not nearly as much as I want. And it seems when I feel like reading and have the time to do it, I can't find anything that I really want to read right at that moment. So I'm wondering if any of you have read anything really good recently you'd like to recommend... I know you all well enough to know I won't have to beg ;o)

Thanks & Happy Writing,
April