All in all, swim lessons were a success. Eli has advanced onto ‘Toddler B’ swim lessons, just need to get him signed up. The only downside to week two was the pool water was much colder, therefore by the end of the 25 minutes we had a very blue toddler on our hands (who loved to get wrapped up and snuggle for a few minutes after each lesson).  I had to explain to the swim instructor that Eli’s blueness was normal due to his heart condition, she was a bit concerned at first.

Big Boy Bed: On Monday, Eli and I decided to surprise Dave. My friend/coworker, Katie, came over to help take down Eli’s crib, rearrange his room and to together the twin bed. Eli was in the room with us the whole time and helped as much as he was able to do so. Once we got his room rearranged and the bed set up, Eli spent the next few minutes playing on his bed and getting acquainted with everything. He was quite pleased with how it looked.

The first night was interesting. Eli went to bed just fine but woke up around 2am and wouldn’t got back to bed for a very long time. He wanted to snuggle so I laid down in bed with him. He would snuggle and doze, then wake up and want to play for a minute or two, then he would snuggle again. Finally after 2.5 hours I just left him in bed alone, he cried for a few minutes and then fell asleep for the next 4.5 hours.  Needless to say, I took a nap later that day.

The next few days were uneventful, the only interesting things he did in bed were move around a lot. Up until yesterday, he hadn’t fallen out of bed or gotten out of bed on his own.  Yesterday he woke up from nap time and heard me moving around, he got out of bed, pounded on the door and yelled, “MOM” until I opened the door. Last night he fell out of bed but it didn’t wake him up. We heard him fall and ran into his room, Dave said he was still asleep until he picked him up. Wonder what would’ve happened if we left him alone. Today after nap time he found his wagon full of blocks and brought them over to the door, laid down in front of the door, stuck his hand under the door and yelled “MOM” until I came and got him.

All in all the transition was much easier than we expected which we were quite pleased with. Tomorrow night will be the first time he sleeps in a different bed, in a different house. Eli and I are going to Gramma and Grampa’s house.

Monday – Eli screamed and cried most of the time. I did get him to stop crying for a few minutes while we did some playing. I was getting a lot of pity looks from people. Dave did not come with to the class.

Tuesday – Dave came with us (lessons are in the morning before Dave has to work) and it went much better. Eli cried as soon as we entered the building, fussed as I got him ready to swim, whined as he got in the water with Dave and I, but was laughing within 5 minutes. Dave did a wonderful job of getting him comfortable and laughing. Eli had a much better day in the water.

Wednesday – Eli was happy the entire time. We played ball with the swim instructor and the other student. He had tons of fun hanging out with Dave and making faces at me. He kept signing ‘more please’ throughout the entire class. We all had a great time!

Thursday – Eli waltzed right into the building and headed toward the locker room. He claimed a locker for us, took off his shoes and hat, he needed help with his shirt. He scurried toward the pool door, as soon as we got into the pool area he babbled about the water and balls (there are toys to play with in the pool). I jumped in the pool and Eli insisted on taking the ladder into the pool. He kicked and swam, watched me blow bubbles, threw a ball around in the water for us to chase, put a floaty device on and swam only holding onto one of my fingers and giggled a lot. Eli was having fun until we went over to the landing. He was able to stand up on his down and the water was up to his chest. However, he was not happy. It was something new and different, he wasn’t comfortable with it. There was a lot of cry, screaming and clinging to me for the last few minutes of class. Dave wasn’t able to come with us today due to his work schedule.

Each day, Eli has fallen asleep on the way home from swim lessons. Apparently swimming tires him out! We have four more days of swim lessons next week. Hopefully we can have a great week and end the lessons on a good note.

We decided to try and catch the Cottage Grove fireworks show on our way home. Once home I ran inside to see where they hold their display and to grab a snack. We made it over to the park about 10 minutes after the supposed start time of 10pm. Unfortunately, though, all the cars in the area were driving the other way. They must have started quite a bit early because we missed the big show completely. Fortunately, there were plenty of people who lived around the park shooting off their own sweet stuff.

We were interested to see how Eli would react. He did very well and was very into it. He didn’t seem scared at any point, despite having a couple really loud ones go off right behind us. The best part came when there was a slight lull in the neighborhood display; Eli made a noise, causing us to look at him. He was signing “more.” He did this a couple more times when a break would happen.

About a half-hour after arriving the massive traffic jam cleared and we headed home. We now know better for next year’s show. The only wild-card might be the new baby’s reaction to all the noise.

We are also going to get some bed rails to put on Eli’s crib until we can get a twin size mattress for his ‘new’ twin bed. With me being home this summer we decided now would be a good time to get him transitioned out of the crib (so the baby can have it when he/she is born). We want him to be well transitioned to the new bed before we transition him to the downstairs bedroom (hopefully at the end of the summer). Lots of changes happening in Eli’s life right now.

As for now, let the new adventures of parenting begin!!

It dawned on me on March 8th that I hadn’t had a period for a number of weeks (although I couldn’t remember when my last cycle was). I took a pregnancy test when I got home, it showed up that it was positive right away. I asked Eli if he wanted to be a big brother, he said “no” and walked away. Since I didn’t know when I had my last period, we were able to get in for an ultrasound on March 15th. I just wanted to know my due date so we could tell people our exciting news. We laughed when the technician said the due date was Nov. 10, 2010. We laughed for two reasons: 1. Eli’s birthday is Nov. 11th, 2. it is smack dab in the middle of hunting season. With both babies we tried to NOT get pregnant in February and with both babies we did get pregnant in February. Oops! Oh well.

I should also mention that at the same time we found out we were expecting, we found out our family doctor was leaving. Even though we were super excited for her and her new venture, we knew we were going to miss her greatly.

I knew that I was suppose to see the doctor sometime between 8-10 weeks. Well, I didn’t go see the doctor until I was 14 weeks. I kept putting it off and putting it off and putting it off because I was scared (scared of starting over with a new doctor and scared of what was going to happen). The pediatric cardiologist says there is a 4% chance that our future children could have a heart defect. To most that would seem so minuscule, but to me it is still a 4% chance. I explained my fears and concerns to the doctor. He was very reassuring and very nice, this certainly helped to put me at ease.

At the first appointment I got to hear the heart beat and it made me cry. Even though I was feeling reassured about this pregnancy through lots of prayer, my stomach was in knots before my second appointment. I was able to talk to Dave who prayed for me and God gave me instant peace. At my second appointment I heard the heart beat again and cried again.

We have an appointment in two weeks for an ultrasound. I’m hoping and praying that the baby will cooperate with us and we learn if we are having a girl or boy. I’m also hoping and praying that the baby will be whole and healthy. I know I made it through the heart stuff once and could do it again, but I don’t want to.

If you happen to think of us, please say a prayer (or two) over the next two weeks. Pray for my fears and concerns to dissipate and that I can rely on God’s strength. Pray that God can cast my fears out and that I can be joyful instead of fearful. Pray that the baby cooperates and gives us a good view. Thank you!

TANGENT ALERT: Forgive me if you prefer the word ‘film’ to ‘movie,’ but I have an aversion to using the former as it sounds a little too snobbish for my liking. ‘Film,’ in its current, common use, seems to imply superiority over the other. I liken it to the jargon thrown around in various industries. My own educational experiences yielded many similar examples, most glaring of which is the design industry’s preference for the term ‘typeface’ over ‘font.’ People using the latter were often corrected and occasionally perceived as amateurs. ‘Film’ conjures up similar feelings of elitism. These terms seem to be used in a way that attempts to legitimize taking the time to discuss them. </TANGENT>

I enjoyed the way the movie explored the darker side of heroes and humanity. Oddly enough, I found a similar theme in another movie the other night: The Incredibles. The heroes in that story were also shut down by the government and forced into hiding, living mundane lives as seemingly ordinary people. However, being a Disney flick, their return to glory had a bit happier ending.

A friend asked me after originally seeing Watchmen what I thought of it as a person who had not read the graphic novel [the ill-informed might have called it a comic book; perhaps I should have]. I told him that I liked the great detail that was given to each character and, because it was well done, didn’t mind the length of the show (a long 162 minutes). It would have been very easy to cut the movie down to a more common length by eliminating much of the detail and sticking to a linear plot line, but it wouldn’t have had the same impact.

I didn’t set out writing this post with any great purpose other than to say I liked Watchmen. That said, I would highly recommend this movie.

There were some others at the retreat that were sick toward the end as well. It’s hard to say if they were related, but it seems like more than just coincidence. Who knows.

We (and I mean you and me; the state doesn’t have any money–it’s ours) are projected to spend 14.46 billion dollars on education (that’s K-12 and higher ed) in the current budget. That amount represents 46.5% of the state’s budget. We can logically infer from Mr. Entenza’s statement that 46.5% is not enough. This is where I start to lose faith in the logic, if not the intelligence, of DFLers and any person who is ever-so-eager to jump on the “we’re not spending enough on the children” bandwagon. How much is enough?

Of course, asking this question begs the response that I must hate children and my priorities are horribly misplaced. To those who might rush to such a statement, let’s get a little bit more perspective courtesy of the budget pie chart. Public Safety (people love to complain about not having enough police) is slated to receive only 5.8% of the budget. Transportation (people love to complain about the poor conditions of the roads) is scheduled to receive a paltry 0.6% this biennium. Economic Development (all we need to say here is ‘recession’) is looking at 0.9%. Even the State Government (which I believe is bloated and rife with waste) is only allotted 2.1%. I do not hate children. I have one with another on the way. I want them to be well educated. However, standing up in front of the taxpayers and repeating the tired slogan that we’re not spending enough on education defies logic and the reality of the economic situation we are currently in.

The answer is that there is no such thing as enough. We could spend 100% of our budget on education and DFLers would still campaign on the platform that we need to invest in our schools, and the additional revenue should come from the wealthy, because people who make money are evil and must have gained it in some shady fashion. Ok, perhaps the end of that last statement was a cheap shot (though it seems to be a recurring theme among liberals in my experience).

That’s why raising taxes doesn’t make any sense; there is no such thing as enough (for anything). Trim the fat before you even think about coming to me for more. Even if we left the sacred cow of education alone, there is plenty of trimming to be done. The second-largest budget expenditure (Health & Human Services, aka entitlement programs) will receive 29% of the general fund. Of course, you’d be hard pressed to find a DFLer who would be willing to risk cuts to entitlement programs, thereby cutting into their voter base.

My original assertion (see the above title) stems from my frustration with the inability of DFLers to grasp the situation at hand. They are all too eager to spend other people’s money on their utopian visions with no thought for the practicality of such ventures or the unintended consequences of doing so. What logical person can say with a straight face that, while facing a large budget short-fall, spending nearly half the budget on a single item is not enough? I only hope the public has woken up enough to realize these types of claims are folly. I would hate to see our great state end up in a similar situation as that of California.

After that video I noticed something interesting. I (or anyone else watching) could help choose the upcoming videos via the tv next to the one actually playing the videos. They were using a website’s texting service to choose songs (American Idol-style). The tv on the left showed previews of potential upcoming videos with a text code for each. You could also send a text to find out the current song playing.

It was kind of a neat idea, but at the same time, who cares enough to actually do that. I find myself wondering if this is the way we’re headed given everyone’s (media outlets, social networking sites, blah blah) rush to include interactivity in as many facets of their reach as possible. If so, I will play the “old man” card and say that I don’t care. I just want to eat chinese in the food court.