Archive for October, 2009

The Associated Press reports a white Louisiana justice of the peace said he refused to issue a marriage license to an interracial couple out of concern for any children the couple might have.

The justice says it is his experience that most interracial marriages do not last long.

” ‘I’m not a racist. I just don’t believe in mixing the races that way,’  Keith Bardwell told the Associated Press on Thursday. ‘I have piles and piles of black friends. They come to my home, I marry them, they use my bathroom. I treat them just like everyone else.’ ”

“Bardwell said he asks everyone who calls about marriage if they are a mixed race couple. If they are, he does not marry them, he said.”

“Bardwell said he has discussed the topic with blacks and whites, along with witnessing some interracial marriages. He came to the conclusion that most of black society does not readily accept offspring of such relationships, and neither does white society, he said.”

” ‘There is a …

Continue reading Judge refuses to marry interracial couple; says bad for kids »

The Orlando Sentinel put together an odd, yet interesting, photo gallery of celebrity moms who have had C-Sections. Some did it out of fear, some for convenience and some weren’t given a choice in the matter – emergency.

The article reports that: “The rate of caesarean sections are rising worldwide — surpassing recommendations by the World Health Organization that C-sections make up less than 15% of all births. In the U.S., about 1 in 4 babies were born by C-section in 2004, according to the CDC.”

None of my children were born by C-section and I was glad. That is major surgery and I can’t imagine trying to recover from that serious of abdominal surgery while caring for a newborn.

I watched a C-Section one time on TV and it was amazing watching them cut through not only the fat layers in the stomach but all the muscles too.

I babysat for a woman who had  two very active boys and had to have a C-section with her third son. I was there to entertain the older boys. The …

Continue reading Celeb C-Sections: Why they had theirs; why you had yours? »

Filed under crazy and terrible, a 6-year-old boy is floating 7,500 feet over Colorado in an experimental balloon he was working on with his father at home.

He apparently went into the hot air balloon and somehow the thing has managed to float away with him inside of it! (Did the little guy see “UP!” and thought he could do it for real or was it just total accident?)

I’m trying to get the video to embed so you guys can watch it! Here’s the link to the CNN coverage. (Look up in the right-hand corner for the video.)

CNN’s weather guy said the temperature at 7,500 feet would be about 7 degrees Farhenheit.

Here’s two versions of the story. The first one is from the local Denver TV station

The second is from The Associated Press.

Here are some quotes from The Denver Channel.com:

“The balloon, in the shape of a flying saucer is covered in foil and filled with helium. It has a compartment for a passenger underneath. It lifted the boy into the air near Fort Collins Thursday …

Continue reading ‘UP!’ in real life: 6-year-old boy floating away in balloon! »

A mother and her boyfriend were arrested in Florida after punishing the mother’s 8-year-old daughter by making her “eat soap” for saying an obscene word.

Florida Today.com reports:

“The girl, who police said suffered an allergic reaction, has been removed from the couple’s home by the Department of Children and Families, along with her 18-month-old sibling.”

“Wilfredo Rivera, 41, and Adriyanna Herdener, 32, were charged with neglect of a child and child abuse after police were called to a home in the 2300 block of Shenadoah Drive to investigate the incident ….”

“ ‘It caused the girl’s mouth and throat to swell. But they didn’t provide immediate medical care,’ said Yvonne Martinez, spokeswoman for the Palm Bay Police Department.”

What’s not completely clear from the story is: If the mother and boyfriend were arrested because they didn’t get the child immediate medical care or for the actual act of making the child eat soap.

Washing the mouth …

Continue reading Is it OK to wash your kid’s mouth out with soap? »

I’m starting to think we’re big dumb dumbs because we’ve already replaced 630 square feet of carpet in our basement that was ruined in the last flood ($1,300 for anyone who’s keeping track, including a wet/dry vac, and pulling the carpet out), and now I’m panicked we’re going to flood again this week!

I know I will get my exercise today running up and down the stairs checking to make sure no water is coming into the basement.

The thought (stupidly) never even occurred to me the last time. So what we’ve gotten more than 20 inches of rain in 24 hours. We’re not on a flood plain. We’ve never had water come into our house.

It took us three weeks to recover from just that inch or two of water seeping under the basement door. It was sopped up by the carpet and the thick padding underneath.

When the carpet was finally pulled up about four days after the flooding, almost every area underneath was wet. We had no idea it was that wide spread.

I have called our …

Continue reading Is your family buying flood insurance now? »

Have you heard of these “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” books by Jeff Kinney? Are your kids into them? Are you?

There were three books in the series and the fourth book, “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days,” was released this week. The books chronicle the misadventures of two middle-school age boys trying to work through adolescence, home life and school with as little effort as possible.

The plots revolved around slapstick, laziness and ethical lapses that 8 to 12 year-old really enjoy but parents aren’t so sure about.

The New York Times reports:

“The words ‘moron,’ ‘jerk,’ ‘dork’ and ‘hot girls’ are used in the first five pages,” complains a reviewer on Amazon of the first book. “This is a poor choice for good character building in your children.”

But many experts disagree.

“It really captures the struggle of a child that age trying to figure out what it means to be a person,” said Dr. Joshua Sparrow, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at Harvard …

Continue reading Does the ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’ series bother you? »

I know you guys are fairly over talking about the Swine Flu but I just wanted to make sure everyone saw these emergency warning signs for the Swine Flu. This story comes from The Associated Press. I’m taking some of the paragraphs out of order to get to the bad warning signs first!

“Authorities urge parents to seek immediate help if emergency warning signs develop. In children, these are:

Fast or troubled breathing.

Bluish skin color.

Lack of thirst.

Failure to wake up easily or interact.

Irritability so that the child does not want to be held.

Improvement of symptoms, then a return to fever and worse cough.

Fever with a rash.

Parents should also seek medical help if flu symptoms develop in children most vulnerable to flu complications: those younger than 5 or with high-risk conditions, including asthma and other lung problems; cerebral palsy, epilepsy and other neurological diseases; heart, kidney or liver problems; and diabetes.…”

Here’s the top of the …

Continue reading Swine Flu emergency warning signs YOU should know »

A friend, who is a divorced mom, sent me a note that she is relocating from a small town to Cobb County. She was surprised at how different the school hours were for the elementary school, middle school and high school and can’t figure out how she can possibly get her children off to school and still be at work on time.

Here’s what she wrote:

“My elementary school child will have a school schedule from 8:00 to 2:15 and my middle schooler will have a schedule of 9:00 to 4:45pm.  I work from 7:30 to 4:30 M-F. The middle school does not have an after school program and they can’t be dropped off at school before 8:15 a.m.  Maybe some of the other posters would know of clubs or programs that the middle schooler can attend after school. There isn’t a Boys & Girls Club for his school. We will be moving to the Kemp/Lovinggood/Hillgrove school district in Powder Springs.”

“I guess the middle schooler could become a latchkey kid but that is something I ABSOLUTELY …

Continue reading Does a mom’s middleschooler have to be a latchkey kid? »

A pregnant friend of mine posted a note on Facebook that they were going to an ultrasound but would NOT be finding out the sex of the baby because her husband did NOT want to know. She really wants to know and is hoping she can change his mind down the road.

So it made me wonder: Who gets to decide whether you find out the sex of the baby? Do you have to both agree to find out? Could one parent find out and the other not find out? Could you actually keep it a secret?

I was lucky that Michael wanted to know too because I don’t think I could have waited. Plus I would have been terrible at hiding the sex if I did know. We both immediately started using the correct pronoun for the baby once we knew.

I believe my cousin’s husband wanted to know and she did not and I think he hid it from her the whole pregnancy. But I bet they are a rare example.

Did you and your spouse want to know the sex of the baby? Who would get the deciding vote if you disagreed? Did you have to persuade …

Continue reading What if only 1 parent wants to know sex of the baby? »

Lilina was invited to her very first little friend birthday party last week. I was surprised at the bottom on the invitation it said “No presents necessary.”

I wasn’t sure what to make of the request. I don’t know the family very well so I’m not sure if they are just opposed to consumerism or if in such bad economic times they didn’t want friends to feel pressure to spend.

Later that week, a mom friend who lives in New York, posted on her Facebook status an item about her daughter’s little buddy requesting no presents just drawings on 8.5 by 11 paper.

There was a big debate following her posting and apparently lots of families in New York City are making that same request. It makes sense up there because space is so limited in apartments.

My feeling in general is I’m not showing up to any child’s birthday party without a present in hand. We picked up Lilina’s favorite book “Go Dog Go” (about $8) to share with her friend and a Dora coloring book ($2), …

Continue reading Would you throw a birthday party with no presents? »