He has always had a love for my guitar on the wall, but recently he loves hearing me play too! I know he is going to be real into music, just like me. :)
Lucas
Olivia
Frankie
Kolbe
*John & Samantha*
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Kicking & Talking
To anyone who is not Lucas' mom and dad, this video might be boring...but I think he's so smart and love to watch it, you guys might be able to vicariously enjoy it too! Susan was cooking me some dinner while I played with Lucas. He was in a very good mood and was trying to talk, and kick the little toys on his bouncer--he succeeded.
He has always had a love for my guitar on the wall, but recently he loves hearing me play too! I know he is going to be real into music, just like me. :)
He has always had a love for my guitar on the wall, but recently he loves hearing me play too! I know he is going to be real into music, just like me. :)
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Yankee Candle Factory
Last weekend our game night friend's Jim and Shawna came out here for game night and John and Jim really wanted Red Lobster (for the lobster special they have right now) and it's one of my favorite restaurants. But I gave up eating out for Lent, and Shawna doesn't care for Red Lobster so I took Lucas and she took her 2 yr old Alex next store to the HUGE Yankee Candle Factory Flagship store. It has a vintage toy store, candy store, build a bear, candles, food, gifts, a christmas land area where it snows every 10 minutes, and a cafe.
We stayed mostly by the water fountain where Alex likes to look at stuff, and I fed Lucas:
Here's Alex and Shawna in the cool toy shop:
And here we are in Christmas land where it snows!:
All in all, it was a fun time to sit and chat with Shawna, and it helped me resist the temptation of pigging out at Red Lobster! Jim and John enjoyed their little man-date too*, and of course had to brag about how great it was!
Then we decided to have game night at their house since Alex needed to get to bed, and Jim had baked us a cake (i'm sorry no picture!) that said "Our 100th Game Night!" So cute Susie-homemaker! He also had to brag about his winning scores (he added up all the scores and did a whole elaborate statistics spreadsheet) and he put HIS winning percentage in cake frosting! I sadly haven't won in a while- but I get second to Jim a lot which ain't too shabby! Next weekend Team Hodge is taking it all!
Lucas Dr. Appt- 2 months
Well, Lucas had his 2 month appt, but I decided to delay his shots since he still had a little thrush and I wanted to give it time for his jaundice levels to go down more. So we just had a regular checkup until later this month but here is a picture of my chubby baby:
And here he is enjoying the bumbo, in an outfit my mom's tennis friend bought him-this picture makes me laugh:
And later on, he gets angry with the bumbo-these also make me laugh:
I have to say I am dreading his shots...I don't want him to have yet another reason to be crying in pain (his tummy still, his teething, and then the soreness/fever from the shots).Plus John has a fast cruise for 3 days next week when he gets the shots...I hope they aren't too bad!
And here he is enjoying the bumbo, in an outfit my mom's tennis friend bought him-this picture makes me laugh:
And later on, he gets angry with the bumbo-these also make me laugh:
I have to say I am dreading his shots...I don't want him to have yet another reason to be crying in pain (his tummy still, his teething, and then the soreness/fever from the shots).Plus John has a fast cruise for 3 days next week when he gets the shots...I hope they aren't too bad!
Dr. Laura- When Will Women Be Held Responsible?
Dr. Laura just posted a horrific story that happened recently in North Carolina. A woman left her 2 yr old son with her 25 yr old boyfriend DonJuan Smith seen here:
(admitted gang member of the 'Bloods'). The 2 yr old boy was beaten to death; 41 blows caused his liver to burst and brain to bleed...and the man is being charged with murder, but the mother is being charged with...NOTHING. She knew he was part of the Bloods gang and that her son would be in danger, and didn't care.
Dr. Laura asserts (and I thoroughly agree) that this is all just part of the backlash of the abortion movement (and feminazi in general) constantly devaluing babies and children as disposable burdens who must fend for themselves.
I can't imagine how that boy must have felt being punched to death, or how the man could've perceived that the boy deserved it, (much less how the mother could endanger her own child) but I hope it was quick and that the boy didn't suffer as much as I think he did. I know it's spiteful to say, but I hope that man gets beat in prison where he will spend the rest of his life, and I hope mothers will someday be held accountable for what they allow to happen to their kids.
*Cyd Charisse*
I just was looking at some clips of Cyd Charisse and she was such a beautiful dancer, I thought I'd share. John and I both like watching 'Singing in the Rain' together, and I always liked her dance scenes-maybe even more than the rest of the movie:
Cyd passed away last year at the age of 86 from a heart attack, but not before receiving the National Medal of the Arts and Humanities, the highest U.S. honor in the arts, from President George W. Bush.
Also, here is a tribute video for her: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kviMoycMg4s
T-Bagging Washington
I got an email about the "New American Tea Party" (basically a coalition of Americans for tax reform) and how someone on their site started an idea of everyone sending a tea-bag to Washington D.C., to continue reminding congress that many in this country do not support the constant bailouts on our dollar, for ridiculous and unnecessary uses. I have sent letters to my state representatives asking them not to vote to pass FOCA; we'll see how that goes...but I agree that it is time for regular citizens across the country to stand up to congress and remind them who their constituents are--and what we won't stand for. It might seem like a futile attempt, but I think our voices will be heard when they realize they want to be re-elected in a couple years. If you are frustrated like me, on April 1st send your tea-bag to:
1600 Pennsylvania Ave Washington D.C.
Monday, March 16, 2009
There is No Good
There is no good to be made of abortion. But the evil powers that be, seem to think they can win over people in the middle of the abortion argument by adding pseudo-benefits that even if successful, would be the very definition of counter-productive.
So Obama is so stressed and overwhelmed with taking on the position of commander-in-chief of the free world that he has made some major mistakes like the embarassment of giving the British PM a set of DVD's (in exchange for a pen holder carved from one of the ships whose wood was used also to make the oval office desk), and countless flawed appointments to his administration. The only ones that have not resigned/withdrew their names, or skipped out on paying their taxes, are purely rabid leftists like Kathleen Sebelius, good friend of abortionist George Tiller.
George Tiller runs an abortion clinic in Wichita Kansas, in which he many times performs late term abortions/partial-birth abortions. These babies are sometimes born alive and left to die or murdered after being delivered and thrown out. Although he sometimes offers funeral services and a photo-op of the mom with her dead baby as if she had merely lost her baby and didn't choose to pay him to kill it. Really backward--but at least he admits the baby is a baby and deserves some human rights...limited to funerals, baptisms and cremation. Tiller was also involved in the death of a 19yr old girl with down syndrome who died of sepsis after having an abortion at his clinic. And the fanatically pro-abortion Sebelius is ironically going to be the head of Health and Human Services under Obama..what a joke.
Here they are together:
Anyway, Obama should be focusing on fixing the 'economic crisis' (that he downplayed while running for president) and by fix, I don't mean have 'focus groups... to plan... strategies... of brainstorming... ideas' (I had a Robert Gibbs moment there)that never come to anything useful. I don't mean merely printing out money to hand over to Nancy Pelosi so she can fund the evil projects on the list she has been compiling the past 8 years. *like stimulating the economy by giving more tax dollars to contraception....
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi
I guess these people who think abortion stimulates the economy think that one of the reasons we are so deep in debt in this country is because of over-population...which is blatantly false. The same people tend to overlook or remain ignorant to the fact that for example the whole housing crisis was due to democrats (including B.H.O.) forcing lenders to give loans to risky borrowers who knew they wouldn't be able to afford their mortgages....but not to worry, they won't ever have to because the new socialist administration will always bail them out at the cost of responsible tax-payers and businesses. That's another scapegoat people like to blame our economic problems on---big businesses, or 'rich' people in general. But the term 'rich' is arbitrary; who defines who is rich? I know it is written and said all over the T.V. and internet, but people don't actually hear/read it: THE TOP 5% PAY ABOUT 50% OF THIS WHOLE COUNTRY'S TAXES. Think about how huge that is...the wealthiest 5% of this country are responsible for half of this country's federal tax expenses. And yet, the people who supported Obama get excited when he says he is going to give tax breaks to everyone but the rich...Do they understand that he is screwing the middle class by doing so? The 'rich' that invest in this country, and the big businesses that supply this country, are being robbed of even more of their fairly-earned money, so they in turn hike up their prices...of the products that you and I purchase.
What is so wrong with the idea of capitalism, which has made us the great country we could still be, if Obama's policies are not carried out? Shouldn't everyone be given a FAIR chance at making the most of themselves, and being rewarded for hardwork? Don't people realize that eventually, there will be no "rich" class, as no one wants to foot the bill for all the lazy entitled people in this country? I guess not.
But back to what I was really supposed to be getting at in this blog..Obama has had 3 months in office, with this economic crisis to deal with, and yet he still makes it a priority to push his hateful murderous agenda. He has supposedly undone the ban on federal funding of Embryonic Stem Cell Research--I say supposedly, because tucked inside the close-to 500 page bill was a provision that banned federal funding of "research in which a human embryo or embryos are destroyed, discarded, or knowingly subjected to risk of injury or death.” There is no proof that using embryonic stem cells will do anything. There is just supposed, 'potential'---and even if it helped Michael J Fox with the effects of Parkinsons, it will never make sense in my mind, to create life (IVF), to destroy it, to merely make someone's disease a little easier to deal with. South Park creators put it best with this episode (you can fast-forward to 00:40):
And now the experimentation may expand to encompass aborted babies also. Oxford Professor Richard Gardner wants to use aborted baby organs as transplant material to sick people. It's like the western version of a legitimized organ black market (like China killing criminals and political dissidents to sell their parts).
Here is what journalist Warner Tod Huston has to say:
And I already wrote about Obama's blatant disregard for the rights of a baby born alive during an abortion in past blogs. It seems we will all soon be on the replaceable list if we don't conform to what Obama-nation wants us to be; totally enamoured and dependent on him. But of course, Obama has to keep the promises he made to Planned Parenthood and the like if he wants to be re-elected in 2012.
So Obama is so stressed and overwhelmed with taking on the position of commander-in-chief of the free world that he has made some major mistakes like the embarassment of giving the British PM a set of DVD's (in exchange for a pen holder carved from one of the ships whose wood was used also to make the oval office desk), and countless flawed appointments to his administration. The only ones that have not resigned/withdrew their names, or skipped out on paying their taxes, are purely rabid leftists like Kathleen Sebelius, good friend of abortionist George Tiller.
George Tiller runs an abortion clinic in Wichita Kansas, in which he many times performs late term abortions/partial-birth abortions. These babies are sometimes born alive and left to die or murdered after being delivered and thrown out. Although he sometimes offers funeral services and a photo-op of the mom with her dead baby as if she had merely lost her baby and didn't choose to pay him to kill it. Really backward--but at least he admits the baby is a baby and deserves some human rights...limited to funerals, baptisms and cremation. Tiller was also involved in the death of a 19yr old girl with down syndrome who died of sepsis after having an abortion at his clinic. And the fanatically pro-abortion Sebelius is ironically going to be the head of Health and Human Services under Obama..what a joke.
Here they are together:
Anyway, Obama should be focusing on fixing the 'economic crisis' (that he downplayed while running for president) and by fix, I don't mean have 'focus groups... to plan... strategies... of brainstorming... ideas' (I had a Robert Gibbs moment there)that never come to anything useful. I don't mean merely printing out money to hand over to Nancy Pelosi so she can fund the evil projects on the list she has been compiling the past 8 years. *like stimulating the economy by giving more tax dollars to contraception....
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi I guess these people who think abortion stimulates the economy think that one of the reasons we are so deep in debt in this country is because of over-population...which is blatantly false. The same people tend to overlook or remain ignorant to the fact that for example the whole housing crisis was due to democrats (including B.H.O.) forcing lenders to give loans to risky borrowers who knew they wouldn't be able to afford their mortgages....but not to worry, they won't ever have to because the new socialist administration will always bail them out at the cost of responsible tax-payers and businesses. That's another scapegoat people like to blame our economic problems on---big businesses, or 'rich' people in general. But the term 'rich' is arbitrary; who defines who is rich? I know it is written and said all over the T.V. and internet, but people don't actually hear/read it: THE TOP 5% PAY ABOUT 50% OF THIS WHOLE COUNTRY'S TAXES. Think about how huge that is...the wealthiest 5% of this country are responsible for half of this country's federal tax expenses. And yet, the people who supported Obama get excited when he says he is going to give tax breaks to everyone but the rich...Do they understand that he is screwing the middle class by doing so? The 'rich' that invest in this country, and the big businesses that supply this country, are being robbed of even more of their fairly-earned money, so they in turn hike up their prices...of the products that you and I purchase.
What is so wrong with the idea of capitalism, which has made us the great country we could still be, if Obama's policies are not carried out? Shouldn't everyone be given a FAIR chance at making the most of themselves, and being rewarded for hardwork? Don't people realize that eventually, there will be no "rich" class, as no one wants to foot the bill for all the lazy entitled people in this country? I guess not.
But back to what I was really supposed to be getting at in this blog..Obama has had 3 months in office, with this economic crisis to deal with, and yet he still makes it a priority to push his hateful murderous agenda. He has supposedly undone the ban on federal funding of Embryonic Stem Cell Research--I say supposedly, because tucked inside the close-to 500 page bill was a provision that banned federal funding of "research in which a human embryo or embryos are destroyed, discarded, or knowingly subjected to risk of injury or death.” There is no proof that using embryonic stem cells will do anything. There is just supposed, 'potential'---and even if it helped Michael J Fox with the effects of Parkinsons, it will never make sense in my mind, to create life (IVF), to destroy it, to merely make someone's disease a little easier to deal with. South Park creators put it best with this episode (you can fast-forward to 00:40):
And now the experimentation may expand to encompass aborted babies also. Oxford Professor Richard Gardner wants to use aborted baby organs as transplant material to sick people. It's like the western version of a legitimized organ black market (like China killing criminals and political dissidents to sell their parts).
Here is what journalist Warner Tod Huston has to say:
"Where does it stop? What sort of human life is sacred? What type of human life is worth keeping alive with heroic measures and what type of human life is only worth the spare parts it might lend to others? Where does that line get drawn?...
Whose fetuses will be aborted most often? Minorities? Will they find their children murdered to supply science at a greater rate than the majority in any given country? How do we assure whose babies are killed with “good” reason?...
Science is a great thing, we all know. But science cut free of the moorings of morality and a respect for human life is a destructive force that will lead to our demise as a species."
And I already wrote about Obama's blatant disregard for the rights of a baby born alive during an abortion in past blogs. It seems we will all soon be on the replaceable list if we don't conform to what Obama-nation wants us to be; totally enamoured and dependent on him. But of course, Obama has to keep the promises he made to Planned Parenthood and the like if he wants to be re-elected in 2012.
Lucas is 9 weeks
Here are some new videos: My mom bought him a few toys, like this talking/singing bear he likes:
And here he is doing his favorite thing to do, taking a bath. He learned what 'splashy' means and (before john came up with the camera) he was splashing a lot and really excited using his whole body. I will have to get a better video of it next time:
And here he is doing his favorite thing to do, taking a bath. He learned what 'splashy' means and (before john came up with the camera) he was splashing a lot and really excited using his whole body. I will have to get a better video of it next time:
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Lucas is Reading
Here he is in the Bumbo chair Shawna lent me--he was staring at my shirt and I think he can already read. :)
Such a smart baby. Here are some other shots Susan got yesterday--I edited them a little bit:
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
More Interesting Stuff About My Dad
My brother Reggie, from my dad's first marriage, has been studying my dad's family genealogy to make a book. This is how I found out some new information regarding my heritage; my dad was a product of rape during the time his mother was a P.O.W. in WW2 in the Philippines, and she was raped by a Japanese guard. This means I am most likely 1/4 Japanese.
Anyway, Reggie also sent some military forms/certificates from when my dad was in the Army, and some pictures I thought I would share. This is my dad evidently hunting pheasants and ducks:
I don't know how old he was there--but it looks like it was Christmas.
And this is a picture of my dad's mom, when she married Gregorio Gallardo, my dad's stepdad who raised him in Hawaii:
Anyway, Reggie also sent some military forms/certificates from when my dad was in the Army, and some pictures I thought I would share. This is my dad evidently hunting pheasants and ducks:
I don't know how old he was there--but it looks like it was Christmas.
And this is a picture of my dad's mom, when she married Gregorio Gallardo, my dad's stepdad who raised him in Hawaii:
Monday, March 9, 2009
Lucas is 8 weeks today
This video shows Lucas really trying to form the words "I love you" and to copy the shape of my mouth. He also says a very cute "Hi" in the beginning. And the end he gives you the finger, and then says "just kidding" and leaves you with a big smile.
I think he is going through a big growth spurt as he is suddenly sleeping for long periods of time and eating quite a bit each feeding- about 5 oz!
I think he is going through a big growth spurt as he is suddenly sleeping for long periods of time and eating quite a bit each feeding- about 5 oz!
Friday, March 6, 2009
Smart Girl
My grandma Emma sent me the link to this video-why can't adults be as logical? This 12 year old girl participated in her school's speech contest, despite being threatened with disqualification because of her topic...and ends up taking first place, after an "offended judge" quit!!
"Steve Zissou?"
John was playing with Lucas last night and watching 'The Life Aquatic' and he started saying "Steve Zissou?" to Lucas and he loved it! Here is some video of it at the bottom.
And I got this picture also--isn't it scary!? His purple tongue and all (from the gentian violet medicine for his thrush).
'Why So Serious!?'
And I got this picture also--isn't it scary!? His purple tongue and all (from the gentian violet medicine for his thrush).
Lucas-7 weeks
John came home early yesterday and we went to the mall. Lucas slept most of the time, but woke up very hungry so I fed him as he looked at the ceiling of the mall and listened to all the echoing noises. 
And then he watched American Idol with us and went to sleep around 10:30pm AND HE DIDN'T WAKE UP UNTIL 5:30AM!!! I couldn't believe it--not even when John was getting ready did he wake. It had been 6 hours since I pumped, so my boobs were SOOOOO engorged and leaking everywhere, through the nursing pads. Needless to say, I pumped a quick 8 oz that time! I knew I had to get Lucas out of that diaper so I woke him up and he only had a pee diaper!
He was whiny so I knew he had to poop, but I waited and tried to help him, but he kept crying so I fed him again...and he tried to push again...and he cried, so I thought a bath might help him. He liked the bath of course, but still didn't poop.
Well, he went back to sleep this morning in his swing, and I heard him waking up and exploding in his diaper as I thought he would...and it came out the back of his diaper. But now he is clean, happy and hungry again, most of all relieved, and at least I got some funny video out of it---check out his 'oooh' pooping face I have been talking about:
And then he watched American Idol with us and went to sleep around 10:30pm AND HE DIDN'T WAKE UP UNTIL 5:30AM!!! I couldn't believe it--not even when John was getting ready did he wake. It had been 6 hours since I pumped, so my boobs were SOOOOO engorged and leaking everywhere, through the nursing pads. Needless to say, I pumped a quick 8 oz that time! I knew I had to get Lucas out of that diaper so I woke him up and he only had a pee diaper!He was whiny so I knew he had to poop, but I waited and tried to help him, but he kept crying so I fed him again...and he tried to push again...and he cried, so I thought a bath might help him. He liked the bath of course, but still didn't poop.
Well, he went back to sleep this morning in his swing, and I heard him waking up and exploding in his diaper as I thought he would...and it came out the back of his diaper. But now he is clean, happy and hungry again, most of all relieved, and at least I got some funny video out of it---check out his 'oooh' pooping face I have been talking about:
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Bath Time
Lucas still has a thrush, albeit his tongue has cleared up a little. His butt still has a yeast rash that his nystatin medication is supposed to clear up, and if it doesn't clear up this week, I will ask the doctor for something stronger like Diflucan.
Anyway, since yeast grows in wet dark areas, I let him 'air out' after changing him for a little while and sometimes, he poops and pees again so we end up giving him a bath, which I am beginning to think he does on purpose because he enjoys baths!
Here are some pictures from last night that John took--look how big he is now in that tub!
Rock Band
This is our new hobby- Norman leaves his Xbox and Rock Band game here, so Susan and I are getting pretty good at the drums and it's fun! Lucas likes watching too. Norman of course is a freaking genius on the guitar still. Once I get really good at it I will put some video up. It's a fun game!
Monday, March 2, 2009
Thank You Great Grandparents Emma + Charles!
Lucas got a package in the mail today from his great grandparents Emma + Charles in California--Grandpa Charles has always loved trains and has so many in his collection along with toy airplanes which I am sure are very valuable collectibles. We hope to get out to see them later this year, so they can meet Lucas and show him all the trains and planes, but until then they sent him this gift- a beautiful train piggy bank (with a $1 coin sign up bonus! lol). They wrote a very nice letter personally to Lucas (which I thought was very cute) and told him to start saving for college with this bank! John will also appreciate it when he gets home. Thank you both very much- we love you both and hope to see you soon!
Purple People Eater
Lucas has been taking Nystatin for a week to clear his thrush, but it hasn't improved his tongue at all, and in fact, the yeast in his poop has caused a bad diaper rash that we got prescribed ointment for. That rash has not improved either, so at the advice of another mother and many articles online, I bought some gentian violet over the counter medicine. It kills the yeast within 4 days, but it stains clothing, and skin for a few days.
Lucas didn't mind taking it, or the nystatin (which I am still giving him) but when we layed him down to change him he peed up, and into his mouth!!! Call it our 'homeopathic' treatment day. Let's hope one of the above medicines clears this up for good! He's such a good baby- such a champ!!
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Stockholm Syndrome?
Idiot (and former comedienne) Janeane Garafalo recently said that any "woman or person of color in the Republican party has Stockholm Syndrome," and she also mocked Michael Steel the "black man of the republican party" who recently took on the job of the RNC chair. She also said any woman who enjoys listening to Rush Limbaugh's radio program has Stockholm Syndrome, which to any of you that don't know, is a mental disorder in which a prisoner falls in love with their captor. She is admittedly 'self-loathing and narcissistic' but she wants all women to 'think' (and I use that term loosely) and act like her. And regarding Steele, as Andy Levy said on Red Eye the other night, there is a word for the idea that people of one race should only think and act a certain way; Racist.
Well, I already enjoy listening to Rush's program, and after last night's speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference, I guess you can diagnose me with stockholm syndrome. He is one of the few people willing to speak honestly and passionately about what conservatism truly means; principles, not policy. He was only allotted 20 minutes originally for his speech, but he spoke the truth so candidly and inspired the crowd so much (getting constant standing ovations) that he ended up going over that time limit by a whole hour! Here are some clips (to see all 10 clips, click here) Listen to his radio program monday-friday at noon-3pm online here.
I say Rush Limbaugh 2012!
Well, I already enjoy listening to Rush's program, and after last night's speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference, I guess you can diagnose me with stockholm syndrome. He is one of the few people willing to speak honestly and passionately about what conservatism truly means; principles, not policy. He was only allotted 20 minutes originally for his speech, but he spoke the truth so candidly and inspired the crowd so much (getting constant standing ovations) that he ended up going over that time limit by a whole hour! Here are some clips (to see all 10 clips, click here) Listen to his radio program monday-friday at noon-3pm online here.
I say Rush Limbaugh 2012!
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