Why Obama is right for my family.

I've been debating a while about writing this post, but the fact of the matter is that this election is important to me and to the future of our country. I have pretty strong views about it, but I'm also able to acknowledge that if my chosen candidate, Obama, doesn't win the election the country isn't going to fold. I think both candidates will be able to lead our country in a better direction than it's currently in (though that's not saying a lot--Thanks Bush). But deep down, I know that Barack Obama is the best choice for my family.

It's not just because Obama comes from humble roots, but his background is one of the many reasons that I believe he will be a great president. Obama is not afraid to work hard, he was raised by a single mother to value hard work, education, and helping people that are not as well off as he is. It's refreshing to see a politician that doesn't come from a family of politicians, who actually knows what a majority of Americans are going through. Someone who would turn down a big paycheck in order to do a job that he believed in.

I also agree with Obama's plan for the future (and unlike McCain, Obama actually talks about his plan too, instead of just bashing the other guy). Working in a public school, education is a very important topic for me. Obama's views on NCLB are completely consistent with mine in that teachers should not be "teaching to the test" and that schools should actually receive some of the funding promised when NCLB was passed so that they can improve the education that they are able to give. McCain has repeatedly voted to deny funding for NCLB. In regards to healthcare, under McCain's plan, I would have to pay taxes on all of the health benefits that I receive. I'm lucky enough to have state healthcare through the school (love my school insurance), but I completely disagree with paying taxes on the benefits that I receive (and I received a lot of them this year...). I have family members that are just now able to afford healthcare, and under McCain's plan, they probably wouldn't be able to anymore, and people with pre-existing conditions, such as my nephew who has cancer, could be denied coverage. Bullshit.

But then again, I'm not voting against McCain, I'm voting for Obama. His economic plan makes a ton of sense to me. The rich in this country continue to get richer and richer (as do big corporations...ahem oil companies). I encounter so many families that have two parents working two or more jobs and still cannot make ends meet. Just because they don't have a college education (and even those of us that do but chose careers in non-profit fields such as education and social work) doesn't mean that they don't deserve to be able to put food on the table for their families, heat their homes, have hot water, a reliable vehicle, and health insurance benefits. Raising taxes on the wealthy makes sense to me (I know that many people may not feel that it's "fair" but I'm not one of them).

Then there's the war. Under McCain's leadership, I don't believe we'll ever be out of Iraq. Republicans are looking for a win, but Democrats know that we lost that war when the first American soldier died over there. Our country will only be better for having a president who finally sees war as a last resort, not a spontaneous decision. Who would try to talk to world leaders before we drop a bomb on their country. At the rate we are going right now, I already have to worry about my daughter being drafted in 2026. Obama is respected by other countries and can make American into a country that is once again respected across the world.

I cannot wait to be an American with Obama as my president. I cannot wait to see the changes that our country can make with an intelligent, charismatic, forward-thinking president.

Not everyone will agree with me, but I know that Obama is right for my family. And that doesn't make me any less Christian, less caring, or less moral.

Irregardless of whom you are voting for. Make sure to hit the polls in this, the most important election in a long long time.

Can you see me now?

As if Heidi needed to look any more like her daddy than she already does...my little girl rocks out in her camo (with ruffles, of course). Not only was her clothing adorable on this day, but she was showing off some mad skills and facial expressions, all caught on film for your viewing pleasure:

Big smile, jonesing with mama:

Crazy facial expression, not sure what this one is...


At last, just the thumb and not the entire fist, or better yet, both fists. She's been doing just the thumb more and more lately. Looks so darn adorable...

She did this all on her own. I put the bottle in her mouth and she grabbed on with both hands. She held on for long enough for me to run and grab the camera and take 2 pictures. Then she forgot that if she moved her hands the bottle would move to...alas, mommy had to take over:

And this is the patented "Heidi almost roll." She gets more than half way over and then *psych* flips back onto her back. The one time I helped her roll the rest of the way onto her tummy, she immediately rolled back to her back like I hadn't done a thing. She's hilarious. And I think the butt ruffle is flattering to her tiny bottom :)

Happy Halloween!

This is one of our favorite holidays. What's not to like about a holiday that centers around dressing up silly and eating lots of candy? We made like pirates for Grandma Farm's halloween party and brought along our silly parrot too. Here are some pics:

A bunch of wee-pirates enjoying their pirate dinner (my gorgeous niece Lexi, and nephews Garrett, Triston, Landon, and Seth)

Heidi eating her dinner on the hayride:

Heidi and Daddy on the hayride. Daddy's arm fell asleep from holding Heidi the whole ride, but she stayed nice and warm under the blankets.

My niece Kaileigh (Tinkerbell) and nephews Triston (Peter Pan) and Seth (Captain Hook):

Two fabulous pirates with their wee parrott. The parrott costume only lasted about as long as it took to take 5 pictures or so :)

Happy Halloween!

One week left :(

Only one more week for this mama till she's off to be a working mom. I'm so sad to have to leave my little girl all day while I go to work. I know that she'll be fine. She'll be in loving hands while I'm gone and will probably have fun getting to play with lots of different people, but I just wish I could be here with her until she's 4 years old and off to school. She's doing so many new things right now (nearly rolling back to tummy, giggling, scooting around in circles, and making lots of talking noises) that I hate to have to miss any of it.

Then there is the actual work aspect of it. Ugh. No one has filled in for me while I've been gone, so I basically have 2 months of work sitting on my desk just waiting for me to come back. We're starting to do the state testing the day I come back, I still have DIBELS reports from October to get home to parents and probably by the time I get them done we'll be on to the next round. It's going to stink because with all this work I'm probably not going to be able to leave on the dot and get home to get my little girl. My stress level just thinking of work is at peak level. In some ways it's reassuring that they didn't realize these last 2 months that my job is dispensable. But at the same time, I'm overwhelmed just thinking of it...

Not to mention, the time change is the weekend before I go back so I'm going to have a baby that is not on her normal schedule. And election day is my second day of work so I'll probably be up all night waiting for the final count.

How many days until Christmas break?

Life and the unfairness of it...

Reading the posts below you'd know that my sweet nephew Keagen is battling neuroblastoma, an aggressive childhood cancer. Today was a really bad day, pretty much the worst so far and it just leaves me so damn mad! I just want to punch something or scream at the top of my lungs or cry until there are no more tears left. It's just so cruel! Of all of the people in the world, why does it have to pick my sweet nephew. Not even 2 years old. His mommy's baby boy. Twin brother to his spirited sister, Kaileigh. Baby brother to the loud and rambunctious Triston and Seth. When we first found out, basically the 2 days of constant crying, my grams said something to the effect of "the cancer always gets our family, but at least it's stayed away from our little ones..." until now, of course. Cancer is a cruel enough disease when you're old enough to understand it, to research it, to say your own prayers and understand that all the pain is for a reason. Can you imagine being 2 years old and having no idea why you felt okay when you went to the hospital and now you are sick and in pain almost all of the time? Why just when you start feeling better you have to go back to the hospital and get the tubes hooked back up and then start feeling worse again?

I think the unpredictability of it is the worst. We never know. We never know how Keagen will react to the drugs, if the tumor is shrinking, if he's going to spike a fever in the middle of the night or have a reaction to one of his medicines. We never know if he's getting better or getting worse. And he's too little to tell us where it hurts and how badly. I just can't imagine being my sister and having to go through all of this that she's had to go through. It's just another unfairness of it all though. Unfair that a mama should have to give her baby shots in the leg to help with a blood clot and tear tape off his sensitive little chest to clean the area around his Hickman and rebandage. It's unfair that any mama should have to know that her little baby has to get so so sick before he can get better and that she has to be strong for her 3 other babies along the way.

And in my own selfish way, it's unfair that it makes me terrified everytime my daughter cries out that maybe she is in pain or sick and I just don't know it and won't know it until it's too late.

I hate not knowing. I hate the uncertainty of the cancer, the unpredictability. I hate looking for the silver lining and being positive all the time when sometimes I'm just so damn mad. And most of all, I hate thinking that he might not make it and how damn unfair that is.

3 month pics...thanks Wal-Mart

They see me coming a mile away...new mama...must buy lots of pictures of adorable daughter. Oh well, at least it was Wal-Mart so it didn't break the bank too badly.

Here's my little princess. She was very good and smiled a lot, of course, the photographer was very silly.

And here's one of the three of us, Heidi was kind of done with pictures at this point in time. Them's the shakes.

Welcome to 2008 my dear husband...

So, Josh didn't really know that I have a blog, and I was playing around with it last night and looking at some BN friends' blogs and he "caught" me. Not like I was really trying to hide it, he just doesn't really understand internet stuff and thinks I spend enough time on the computer the way it is. So anyway, I was reading him snippets of a friend's blog that was super-funny and then I had switched to my blog and was showing him Heidi's 3 month pictures and the following conversation occurs:

Him: "So what is this, on your babynames?"
Me: "No, it's my blog."
Him: "What's a blog?"
Me: "It's just like an online place where I can write and add pictures."
Him: "So, is it on your myspace?"
Me: "No, it's just my blog."
Him: "I don't get it. what is a blog?"
Me: "It's just like an online journal, you can just write whatever you want and I put pics of Heidi on there."
Him: "So it's like your own webpage?"
Me: "yeah"
Him: "So how do people find it? Like they just go online and search for 'Ashley Baker'?"
Me: "Well, I have it linked on my myspace and facebook and babynames and stuff, so my friends there can go to it."
Him: "oh."

After this conversation I told him I was so going to blog about this. He told me to shut-up.

Three Thrilling Months

My baby girl is three months old! I can't believe it! I've heard that three months is kind of the "hump" for growing out of her newborn fussiness and becoming a little bit easier, and I have to agree. Heidi has just become such a joy. She entertains herself and enjoys playing on her tummy, her back mat, and in her bouncy chairs. She talks and coos a lot and is never short on smiles these days! She's still refusing to repeat her rolling performance, but I know it won't be long. Here are some pictures of my big girl this morning...these were literally only minutes from the time she was born, so as close to exactly 3 months as we can get :)

And here's a couple pictures from carving pumpkins last weekend. Heidi was getting licked from both sides by her puppy sisters:Then Heidi got tired and so did Molly. Who's longer??And because the mama is always the one taking the pictures, Heidi and I did some self portraits...here's my favorite:

Pumpkins and this is how we roll...

Today was a pretty big day for Heidi. This morning we went with Grandma and Papa Baker to go to the pumpkin patch and get some pumpkins. We also got to see some goats and feed them some corn while we were there. Heidi was so tired and fell asleep right after she saw the goats!

Then we came home and Heidi and mommy were playing when, flip, Heidi rolled from her tummy to her back! I put her back on her tummy, and 2 seconds later she was back on her back. So, of course, I ran up to get the camera, put her back on her tummy, and she did it 2 more times! I think tummy time is a thing of the past for Heidi. Although, she did look scared each time she landed on her back as if she had no idea what had just happened...haha. I'm so happy I was here to see it!

Benefit for Keagen and his family

Read to the post below to learn about my sweet nephew who is battling neuroblastoma...

Laura's best friend, Jayme, has coordinated a benefit to help raise money for Keagen and his family to help cover medical bills as well as traveling expenses, food, etc. for going back and forth to Madison.

The benefit is being held on November 9, 2008 at Brewster's Lanes in Reedsburg, WI. It will include:

• A children's bowl at 10:00am (children collect pledges prior to the event and if they receive at least 10 pledges they bowl for free. The child with the most pledges receives 30 games of free bowling from Brewster's Lanes).
• Two adult 9 pin tournaments starting at 1pm and 4pm. Adults pay $15 to bowl in the tournament. Payout for the winners is based on the number of bowlers present.
• A bake sale with lots of yummy goodies at great prices...all proceeds to Laura and family.
• A silent auction with many large items including Packer memorabilia, Brewer memorabilia, Bucks memorabilia, a brand new children's bicycle, and MORE!
• Raffles throughout the day. $1 for 1 ticket, $5 for 6 tickets. Items include many gift certificates to local businesses.
• DJ throughout the day as well!

What can you do to help??? The biggest thing you can do is come and bowl and bring your kids to bowl as well. It's going to be a super-fun day and it's a great cause. If you can't make it that day, let me know if you would like to donate an item for a raffle, bake sale goodies, or a monetary donation to Keagen's family. And, of course, keep those prayers a'comin'!

Heidi live and in color

Here's a link to a short video of Heidi playing. Hopefully it works. I tried to directly upload the video onto here, but my computer is way too slow...took like an hour to load onto vimeo the way it was....anywho, here she is.

http://www.vimeo.com/1883386

Having a high maintenance baby

Life is kind of strange having a high maintenance baby. Especially for a low maintenance couple. Did you know that one of the top three most frequently asked questions for new parents (after how old is she and what is her name) is "is she a good baby?" I have no idea what to say to that question. Is she a bad baby? No! She's my sweet little angel who smiles and talks, especially to her daddy. She likes her fishy chair and she sleeps all night and she makes big smiles when you blow raspberries and when she sees you first thing in the morning...

But...

Is she a good baby? Hmm...the way you mean it, probably not. Does she just coo and smile all day? No. Does she only cry when she's hungry or has a dirty diaper. No. Does she ever scream for no reason at all? Yes. Does she hate to be put down and forced to entertain herself. Yes. Would she prefer for mom or dad to bounce her on the yoga ball for hours a day? Yes. Does she sometimes refuse to eat and get really really mad when you put a bottle in her mouth? Yes.

But...

She's still my baby. She's still the greatest and I wouldn't trade her for anything in this world. Does she make my life easy--no way! Does she make it fabulous--you bet!

Here's to High Maintenance Heidi Hiccup. The most beautiful, crabby, fussy butt on the planet :)

Keagen and Cancer

My nephew Keagen was diagnosed with neuroblastoma on August 29, 2008 at the age of 21 months. Keagen is one of four kids with big brothers Triston (5 years), Seth (4 years), and twin sister Kaileigh. He is my big sister, Laura's little baby boy.

Neuroblastoma is a solid tumor childhood cancer. Keagen's is a large tumor in his abdomen that has wound it's way around many of his internal organs. He is currently undergoing chemotherapy to try to shrink the tumor so that it can safely be surgically removed (or most of it can be anyway). So far Keagen has finished 2 rounds of chemo, and they're being pretty rough so far. Keagen has already lost his hair, but he has a beautiful round head, so he can pull it off. He also struggles with getting fevers which has caused him and mommy to be spending lots of time in the hospital when they would rather be home. We also got the bad news this week that even after these 2 aggressive rounds of chemo, Keagen's tumor still has not shrank. He starts his 3rd round of chemo on October 10th and they should be changing some of the drugs that are given and hopefully we'll see some progress with these ones.

After the chemo shrinks the tumor enough so that it can be removed, Keagen will have surgery to remove as much of the tumor as possible. Keagen will then have a stem cell transplant (his own stem cells are being withdrawn today and will be reinserted back into him following a massive chemo which would not be possible without his own stem cells to keep him alive and kicking). Keagen will more than likely have radiation following this as well. Of course, this is all months away. Right now we're concentrating on getting the tumor shrunken enough to be removed.

A benefit for Keagen and his family is being held November 9, 2008 at Brewster's Lanes in Reedsburg, WI. It's going to be such a fun day with bowling, prizes, raffles, bake sale, DJ, etc. The medical bills will most certainly be daunting for Laura and Dewayne and we want to do as much as we can to help them financially as well as emotionally.

Keep on praying for sweet Keagen. He really is just the sweetest little guy you'd ever see and I can't wait to see him all better after kicking cancer's butt!

The beginning

So, I've found, strangely enough, that life with a newborn just doesn't allow me to keep 20 million internet pages up-to-date. So, instead of adding pictures to 3 sites, blogging on one, keeping 2 profiles up to date, and emailing friends and family as well, I thought I'd start a blog to hit as many birds as I can with one gigantic internet stone :)

So let me give you a brief overview of life right now in the Baker household. Josh and I have been married for 4 wonderful years. Somedays it seems like just yesterday we tied the knot, while other days it seems like we've been together forever. I love my silly, goofy husband to death (even when he is out hunting everynight...oh wait, that's a whole 'nother blog). Heidi Jean is now 11 weeks old (I think). She is the light of our lives. She's still our fussy, demanding, impatient little lady, but she also has tons of smiles and loves to "talk" to us and to her fishy's in her fishy bouncy chair. She is starting to like laying on the floor and playing more now as well, and she's just started hanging out in the exersaucer from time to time. Oh yeah, I must confess, the kid seems to love the TV as well. Our amazing Bassett Hounds, Molly and Lucy, are four years old--err...28 in dog years. Molly is large and lazy as always, while Lucy is still recovering from a summer run in with a UPS truck. They both love going for walks, eating hot dogs, and licking their little sister.

That's my wonderful family, other than that, we've been busy. I've been spending lots of time with my sister and her family as we learned in late August 2008 that my nephew Keagen has neuroblastoma, a form of childhood cancer. He has a large tumor in his abdomen and is currently undergoing chemotherapy to try to shrink the tumor prior to having surgery. It's a rough road right now, particularly for Keagen and Laura and we're just doing all we can to make life a little easier for them right now. And we're doing lots of praying as well. I'm off of work until November 3rd, when I'll be back in my school psychologist shoes. Josh passed his Master Electrician test in August 2008 and I am so proud of him. He still works for Possum and enjoys it, most days.

I guess that's about it for a random gigantic overview...more blogs will follow with more random information I'm sure.