Timothy Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Workweek, is matching all donations made by midnight Sunday (his birthday) on his page at DonorsChoose.org. The upper limit is a total of $100,000, so this is a real opportunity to make a difference. Please check it out, seriously. Donate whatever you can, and then spread the word yourself.
My darling son, it is shocking to me that an entire year has passed since the morning you came into this world. Your first year! What a wonderful one it has been, but it has passed so very quickly. Already you are walking, and starting to talk to us. We only understand a few of your words so far (”mamamama” — which can either mean me or food, “dadu” — for your daddy, or sometimes your grandma, “da!” — for “I want that!”) but you are working very hard on beginning to communicate with us (and we are working very hard to keep up). It amazes me how much has changed in the past year. One year ago today was only our third night home with you from the hospital. I’m very proud of myself, and of your dad — we’ve learned an awful lot in the past year, and we’ve gained a great deal of confidence. But mostly, I am proud of you. You are growing into such a lovely, sweet, smart little boy. It is hard to believe that is has been a year already.
How to turn yourself into James Bond, or his femme fatale, in two words.
What’s all the buzz about Argentine Tango and why should you care? It’s simply the best legal way to enter a world of fiery passion. Anyone can do it. Young, old, fit, round, man, woman, tall, short…anyone.
“Let’s Tango”
Those two words raise the ambient temperature, turn a man’s blazer into a tuxedo jacket, and transform a woman’s little black dress into a long satin number slit to the hip more surely than ever did, “shaken, not stirred.”
Excited yet? You should be. Read on to learn how you, yes you, can learn to undergo that metamorphosis at will.
Learn How to Punch Through Walls, Leap from Building to Building, and Dodge Bullets….While Eating Popcorn
Are you stuck in the rat race? Is the biggest question in your life Who Moved My Cheese? If you have a spark of life in you, and want to rise above the conscious level of a rat, read on, buy yourself a copy of The Matrix, and jump to the next level.
I had a lot of mixed feelings coming up to my induction. I was very excited about the impending birth of my son, but I was a little bit disappointed to have missed out on the experience of going into labor on my own. Leading up to the night I was to go to the hospital (July 17) I kept hoping I’d go into labor spontaneously, but it didn’t happen. There was, of course, a lot of anticipation and excitement anyway. I was honestly a little relieved at not having to worry about my water breaking in public, or going into labor and not being able to reach anyone, or having my baby on the side of the Dulles Toll Road in rush hour traffic. Once I accepted that I wasn’t going to go into labor on my own, I started to hope that once the induction had been started, the Cervadil alone would be enough to start my contractions, so that I would at least have some of the experience of going into labor spontaneously.
We went to the hospital around 8:30 Thursday evening. We were shown to our room — lucky number 13. I’m not a superstitious person, but it actually occurred to me to ask for a different room. It seems to me that maybe they should skip room 13 on the labor & delivery floor, kind of like skipping floor 13 in hotels. I decided I was being silly, though, and joked a bit about being in room 13 coupled with the full moon! I sat around for quite a while, waiting while Dan went and checked us in officially. Eventually, the nurse came in, hooked me up to a bunch of monitors and got the induction officially underway by inserting the Cervadil, at around 9:00. (That part wasn’t very exciting, though, because nothing really happens at that point — it’s a bit anticlimactic.) The nurse took a medical history that took FOREVER. It wasn’t that big of a deal for me (just kind of boring) but I can imagine it’s not a lot of fun to go through that for someone who already is in active labor. When the nurse checked me, I was the same 1 cm dilated I had been at the doctor’s office the week before. I was disappointed — I had been hoping that I would be one of those fortunate people who show up at the hospital halfway to having a baby without even knowing it. No such luck!
There is no way I could have known what it would be like to bring you into the world, and into my life. In just one moment, everything about me changed. My priorities shifted. You became the center of my universe.
I look at you and I can’t believe the love that I feel for you. I love you completely, and without any conditions or requirements. I will love you every day for the rest of my life. You don’t have to do anything, be any kind of particular person, or accomplish anything for me to love you or to be proud of you. Unconditional love is something that I now understand, because I have it for you. You are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my entire life. I love you more than I knew I could love (and I’m pretty good at loving!). You are perfect, exactly as you are.
Well, I have one week left. Or less. My labor will be induced next Friday, July 18, if baby hasn’t come before then.
Because of the gestational diabetes, I knew I wouldn’t be allowed to go beyond my due date. But my due date is July 23. They couldn’t schedule me anytime the week of July 21, so July 18 it is! The absolute latest this baby could come is July 19 (if they induce the labor on the 18th, but it takes until the 19th for the baby to be born. That’s it. Wow!
I’ve written about a lot of different aspects of my pregnancy, but I haven’t talked a lot about this yet: I am so excited about the imminent arrival of my son. Of course, I still don’t feel ready — I’m not sure it’s possible to feel completely ready — but I think we’re now prepared enough that we can start to get really excited. We have a lot of the laundry done, the bassinet is almost ready, the car seat base has been installed. Those are a lot of the big things. Now I feel like we can focus on his arrival.
I’ve now made it to the 36 week mark in my pregnancy. No doubt about it — I have a month (or less) to go. I’ve been dealing with gestational diabetes since the beginning of May, and so far, it’s really not that bad. Now, I’m not saying that’s the same experience everyone is going to have. I know that different people have different levels of insulin resistance in pregnancy, and some have a much harder time than I have had managing their gestational diabetes through diet alone. But at least for some (including me) it’s really not that bad.
I see a lot of people who are interested in purchasing a Chincoteague Pony from the Pony Penning and auction, but they really aren’t sure about what’s involved in buying one. I’d like to answer some of those questions — here, I want to address the Pony Penning purchases specifically. As far as purchasing a pony from a breeder (either a young one, or an adult) it’s a far different scenario, so I’ll address that separately at another time. When is the Pony Penning? Are the ponies really wild? Can I buy an adult pony, or just a baby? How much do they cost? How hard are they to train?