Now that I'm back to blogging when it is nearly December, let me go back in time to election day...
It was a crisp and sunny fall afternoon. The stars were aligned for Obama...hahaha. OK, seriously...it was a very beautiful day. Mark and I packed up the munchkin to go find our polling place, which was about 2 blocks away. The town we live in in extremely dinky, even by rural standards. I think the population is nearly 4000 (up from the whopping 800 or so that lived here when I was a kid...blame the real estate boom). We first headed to the town hall because I assumed that is where they would have the polls. I was wrong. It only took us about 2 minutes of driving around to find another building, which was clearly labled "vote here".
We parked in the gravel lot and headed inside the metal Morton building. Yes, I said Morton building. For those of you who have no idea what a Morton building is, it is a cheap metal building constructed primarily of 2x4's and sheet metal. It is used often in farming communities to store farming equipment and what not. Keep in mind this building is in the middle of "town". Although our town is surrounded by cornfields and, in fact, still has a working field in the center (I shit you not. I totally have been meaning to take a picture of this because it is hilarious. On one corner a park, the other 2 corners have modest homes, and the forth is where the cornfield begins...surrounded on all sides by houses.) Anyway, you get the picture.
We walk inside and chaos ensues. First the overtly sweaty babbling woman at the end of the table tries to explain to us the process, which she clearly doesn't even understand herself. And its not like it was a complicated process: last names starting with A-L go to the lady at the end of the table, last names M-Z go to the lady standing next to her.
Ok, so we get in our appropriate lines since Mark and I have different last names. They find Mark's registration, he goes to vote. Mine, however, they cannot find. They call the records office and proceed to tell me that I'm not allowed to vote because I am not registered. I find this interesting since the girl in front of me got the same line. I explained that I had voted in the primaries and even double checked my voter registration at the DMV when I was last there only a few months ago. I also explained that my husband and I registered to vote at the same time when we moved here and somehow they had his information. The bumbling fools couldn't say anything except. "Sorry, maam. You can't vote today."
I insisted on being given a provisional ballot. No one in the room had even heard of this. I had to have one of the women call the "help" line, but this proved to be of little help to her. She handed the phone over to me so I could explain that it was my right to have a provisional ballot to the woman on the phone...the woman who was there to answer questions about voting!
After a long process of finding the appropriate documents, I cast my vote. When we returned home Mark called the CNN "problems with voting" 800 number and we were connected to someone in our county who was actually informed about the voting process. She explained that I was not in a unique position. They had been getting calls all day long about this. The problem seemed to be effecting women voters in our county who had registered at the DMV. How crazy is that?!
To this day I don't know if the problem was resolved. I never read anything about it in the paper and I seriously doubt all of the women that were turned away that day knew enough to demand a provisional ballot. Of those who did, how many took their proof of registration to the courthouse within 48 hours to make sure their vote counted?
I will never cease to be amazed by how easily I can check my email by phone while in the middle of the woods, or how I can register my vehicle by phone or internet, or how I can drive my car down a tollway in Illinois and my toll will come out of an IPASS account whether I have to transponder in my car or not (its true you only need to have the liscense plate on file). Despite all of these conveniences, the state of Illinois cannot manage to properly record my voter's registration information, but they sure manage to fine me EVERY TIME I've passed through a toll without an IPASS.
Amazing!
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Saturday, November 29, 2008
So Much to Say
Sheesh time flies, huh? I can and can't believe it has been an entire month since I last blogged. I think it goes without saying we have had a lot going on.
Shortly after halloween my grandmother passed away. It was one of those moments where I had mixed feelings. I knew she had been suffering for a very long time so I was relieved that she was finally at peace. Of course, I was also very sad since I wasn't ready to see her go. I am grateful that we lived so close to her this last year because I was able to see her grin ear to ear each time she saw my ginormous baby belly get even bigger. She was so excited that my cousin Jamie and I were both expecting our first child...and even more excited that they were both boys. She told me over lunch one day that she always dreamed of having 5 boys so she could have her own basketball team. She got 2 daughters and 5 granddaughters, how funny is that?!
Each of the grandchildren wrote a brief story that was read at her memorial. I think we all did a great job at writing something rather funny since my grandmother was known for her dry wit. Of course, the pastor totally screwed up my story (according to her reading my grandmother ended up giving birth to herself) as well as the story written by my cousins Ashley and Sarah (Ashley described my grandma as "maticulous" and the pastor read this as "malicious"). At the time I was pretty disappointed with the pastor's reading since I worked hard to write something that would make people smile as that is exactly what my grandmother would have wanted. In hindsight, I think it was probably better that the woman screwed it up so bad...my grandmother would have found it hilarious. I can just imagine her telling the story over holiday dinners.
My sister was able to delay her return to Tanzania. I am glad she was able to be there, I think it meant a lot to her. My cousin Jamie just had her son (also a preemie) on Oct 1st so she was not able to fly home, but will be here soon for a private burial we'll be having. It is nice that both Jen and Jamie would have an event to attend for closure.
On a more positive note, we are looking forward to having photos taken with Santa this year. It was my cousin's idea to have Benjamin and Isaiah have pictures togethr with Santa since they are so close in age. We are super excited about it. Hopefully Isaiah will still be able to fit into his reindeer outfit because that would just be adorable.
Speak of the...he cries for food...again. Don't worry, there is tons more news and mindless banter to come.
Shortly after halloween my grandmother passed away. It was one of those moments where I had mixed feelings. I knew she had been suffering for a very long time so I was relieved that she was finally at peace. Of course, I was also very sad since I wasn't ready to see her go. I am grateful that we lived so close to her this last year because I was able to see her grin ear to ear each time she saw my ginormous baby belly get even bigger. She was so excited that my cousin Jamie and I were both expecting our first child...and even more excited that they were both boys. She told me over lunch one day that she always dreamed of having 5 boys so she could have her own basketball team. She got 2 daughters and 5 granddaughters, how funny is that?!
Each of the grandchildren wrote a brief story that was read at her memorial. I think we all did a great job at writing something rather funny since my grandmother was known for her dry wit. Of course, the pastor totally screwed up my story (according to her reading my grandmother ended up giving birth to herself) as well as the story written by my cousins Ashley and Sarah (Ashley described my grandma as "maticulous" and the pastor read this as "malicious"). At the time I was pretty disappointed with the pastor's reading since I worked hard to write something that would make people smile as that is exactly what my grandmother would have wanted. In hindsight, I think it was probably better that the woman screwed it up so bad...my grandmother would have found it hilarious. I can just imagine her telling the story over holiday dinners.
My sister was able to delay her return to Tanzania. I am glad she was able to be there, I think it meant a lot to her. My cousin Jamie just had her son (also a preemie) on Oct 1st so she was not able to fly home, but will be here soon for a private burial we'll be having. It is nice that both Jen and Jamie would have an event to attend for closure.
On a more positive note, we are looking forward to having photos taken with Santa this year. It was my cousin's idea to have Benjamin and Isaiah have pictures togethr with Santa since they are so close in age. We are super excited about it. Hopefully Isaiah will still be able to fit into his reindeer outfit because that would just be adorable.
Speak of the...he cries for food...again. Don't worry, there is tons more news and mindless banter to come.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Quick update.
Isaiah had his 2-month birthday on the 28th! Fortunately, Halloween was just a few days later so we used that as our celebration.
The day before Halloween was Isaiah's 2-month visit to the pediatrician where he weighed in at 9 lbs, 3 oz and 23 inches long! If you calculate his growth using his due date (since he's a preemie) he's in the 10th percentile for weight (not too bad for a preemie) and the 75th percentile for height (holy shit!). Mark is average height and we all know I'm a shorty so we were both surprised to have such a lengthy son. He is growing out of NB clothes, not because of his weight, but because of his height. Hopefully he'll be putting on the pounds this next month so he can start filling out those clothes.
We wrapped up the visit with the dreaded immunizations...3 shots and 1 oral dose. He was not too happy about this experience, nor was I. It was unpleasant to say the least to hear my baby scream the way he did when he got his shots. He spent the next 24 hours pretty fussy and didn't sleep much, but was back to happy baby the next morning.
On Halloween, Aunt Jen bought Isaiah a cute little ghost hat so we paired that with a long-sleeved, white onesie from Gail, some ghost socks, a mummy bib, and a matching ghost blankie from Lindsay and we were good to go.
Isaiah was a bit cranky that evening...I think there may have been a bit too much excitement for his taste since he was interested in sleeping most of the time. This worked out great for me though...Isaiah started sleeping in his bedroom by himself a little over a week ago. By the pediatrician's definition he is already sleeping through the night. Yay! We're still trying to nail down a consistent schedule, but he's good at loading up on calories between 9pm and 11pm in order to sleep at good 4-5 hours. He wakes for another big bottle around 3 or 4 am and sleeps until 6am. This is when the schedule varies all day long with mini-naps or loooong naps, depending on his mood. I'm flexible though and I really don't think its bad for him.
We had a ton of visitors on Halloween night, which made the evening. My aunt and cousin stopped in and brought Isaiah the CUTEST little outfit ever. I can't wait until he's big enough to fit in it. Joe (dressed as Jimmy Buffet) and Gail arrived next...just in time for Lillian (as a witch), Logan (as a goulish motorcycle guy), and Nicole who stopped by to trick-or-treat. The kids even got to run around our neighborhood with Joe to trick-or-treat. They scored some serious goods!
Jen dressed as an angel, using her actual wedding dress as the gown (hey it arrived on Halloween and it just seemed to be the perfect way to round out the outfit). Of course, all of the kids were totally excited when they saw her answer the door. Apparently it is just the coolest thing to have a beautiful angel give you candy. She got several wide-eyed smiles and a few, "you are soo bewtiful!"
Today we're planning on adding more footprints to my belly cast and will be relaxing allllll day! Love it!
The day before Halloween was Isaiah's 2-month visit to the pediatrician where he weighed in at 9 lbs, 3 oz and 23 inches long! If you calculate his growth using his due date (since he's a preemie) he's in the 10th percentile for weight (not too bad for a preemie) and the 75th percentile for height (holy shit!). Mark is average height and we all know I'm a shorty so we were both surprised to have such a lengthy son. He is growing out of NB clothes, not because of his weight, but because of his height. Hopefully he'll be putting on the pounds this next month so he can start filling out those clothes.
We wrapped up the visit with the dreaded immunizations...3 shots and 1 oral dose. He was not too happy about this experience, nor was I. It was unpleasant to say the least to hear my baby scream the way he did when he got his shots. He spent the next 24 hours pretty fussy and didn't sleep much, but was back to happy baby the next morning.
On Halloween, Aunt Jen bought Isaiah a cute little ghost hat so we paired that with a long-sleeved, white onesie from Gail, some ghost socks, a mummy bib, and a matching ghost blankie from Lindsay and we were good to go.
Isaiah was a bit cranky that evening...I think there may have been a bit too much excitement for his taste since he was interested in sleeping most of the time. This worked out great for me though...Isaiah started sleeping in his bedroom by himself a little over a week ago. By the pediatrician's definition he is already sleeping through the night. Yay! We're still trying to nail down a consistent schedule, but he's good at loading up on calories between 9pm and 11pm in order to sleep at good 4-5 hours. He wakes for another big bottle around 3 or 4 am and sleeps until 6am. This is when the schedule varies all day long with mini-naps or loooong naps, depending on his mood. I'm flexible though and I really don't think its bad for him.
We had a ton of visitors on Halloween night, which made the evening. My aunt and cousin stopped in and brought Isaiah the CUTEST little outfit ever. I can't wait until he's big enough to fit in it. Joe (dressed as Jimmy Buffet) and Gail arrived next...just in time for Lillian (as a witch), Logan (as a goulish motorcycle guy), and Nicole who stopped by to trick-or-treat. The kids even got to run around our neighborhood with Joe to trick-or-treat. They scored some serious goods!
Jen dressed as an angel, using her actual wedding dress as the gown (hey it arrived on Halloween and it just seemed to be the perfect way to round out the outfit). Of course, all of the kids were totally excited when they saw her answer the door. Apparently it is just the coolest thing to have a beautiful angel give you candy. She got several wide-eyed smiles and a few, "you are soo bewtiful!"
Today we're planning on adding more footprints to my belly cast and will be relaxing allllll day! Love it!
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