Wedding Presents

On a whim, while we were preparing for our wedding, Caitlin and I decided to send a wedding invitation to Orson Scott Card. I've been reading his books for a long time and still haven't found one that I didn't really enjoy, and Cait has read a few and enjoyed them. We were having our reception in South Carolina and he lives in North Carolina, so we looked up his address and sent him an invite. He didn't show up, but that wasn't too much of a surprise. Our reception wasn't exactly pulling in a lot of big named celebrities. But we were surprised when, a few days ago, Caitlin's mom called and said that we got a present from him. He sent us a personalized copy of one of his newer books, Zana's Gift: A Life in Christmases. That was pretty cool. I was a fan before, but Mr. Card taking some of his time to send a present to someone he doesn't really know makes me an even bigger fan.

On a mostly unrelated note: Target sent us an e-mail telling us that they would give us a $25 dollar gift card if we gave up our claim on the super cheap car seat that didn't really exist. Cait says she wont be bought for a quarter of a Century of dollars. But I'm not so Sure. I think I like putting making random Words capitolized.

You must read this book...

...if you've ever had the desire to know everything there is to know about breastfeeding.

The Politics of Breastfeeding

It was out of print for a while, I got a copy on half.com. I read passages from it for a class last semester, but decided to do my final research paper on the relationship between breastfeeding and feminism so I bought my own copy. It is awe-inspiring. You will never want to buy Nestle products again. You will want to bust out your breasts (no pun intended) and feed your child in public as backlash against all of the cultural norms telling you how wrong it is to expose your "sexual" parts in public. I love the quote that jeans commercials show more breast than a woman feeding her child, but that's perfectly acceptable. You'll want to shun all that is wrong and backward in the world (regarding the hindrances to breastfeeding).

Did you know that last year 4 million babies died as a result of not being breastfed? (UNICEF). Did you know that formula companies went to developing nations, dressed as nurses, handed out samples, convinced poor women that they needed to bottlefeed because it was healthy and "Western", and then millions of babies died as mothers scrounged for formula and diluted what they found in an effort to keep their babies alive when their milk dried up? Did you know in most cultures breasts aren't even sexual, and some men just see them as baby bottles hanging off a woman's chest?

I did not know that the reason hospitals are designed with the babies on one end and the mothers on the other end was because formula companies donated money to some hospitals during building and convinced the architects that this was the ideal set-up. Although, many hospitals are getting more progressive (or is it regressive since technically it's the way it was always done before the multinational corporations stepped in...) with rooming-in and early initiation of breastfeeding.

My next book on the list is Pushed: The Painful Truth About Childbirth and Modern Maternity Care. I hear it's a good one from many friends. I learned the other day that childbirth accounts for 66% of hospital revenue every year. And it's not even a disease. And most of the interventions are completely unnecessary. Elective c-sections? Pitocin because you are a day overdue? 95% epidural rate? I was watching this clip the other day from a new movie coming out, and it had this Swedish woman birthing at home (I think like 60% of women birth at home there) and she was like "painkillers? for childbirth? silly Americans..." And laying flat on the back?? A bunch of male OB/GYNs decided in the 1900s that the lithotomy position was ideal for birthing children, though you have gravity working against you, thus longer labor and more of a chance of tearing (bring out the knife for that episiotomy!).

* Before everyone jumps on me about individual circumstances, I am talking about a societal problem as a whole, not your personal experience with childbirth (though I do love learning about that as well). I'm saying these pervasive views regarding birthing and caring for children are not natural, and are very recent inventions of the past 50 years or so. Also, should we trust doctors so implicitly when it comes to our own bodies and their well-being when performing a very natural function? Dr. Hudson tells this great story about being forced to lie flat on her back, but just wanting to get up and squat during the labor of her first child. They let her get up, but forced her to squat ON THE BED. She said it was traumatic, and after that, every baby was born at home where she had complete control over the situation. And before you balk at the idea of having a baby away from a hospital, the statistics actually prove that home births have better outcomes (higher Apgar scores) than un-complicated hospital births, and as long as you are 15 minutes away from an equipped hospital, there is little risk of dying during the birth.

And if you were curious, yes, I plan on birthing my babies at home, barring any foreseen complications.

For further reading, I like these articles:

The NYT put out this last week. I think it's fairly unbiased.

And the Illegal Home birth story. This one cracks me up. I can imagine me being this person (what DO we do with the placenta?)

My last night with Austin/why my husband rocks

On the eve of Austin's much-anticipated MTC entry, we decided to have one more sleepover. You see, when Austin and I lived together (and sometimes when we didn't), we shared a bed. One of those tiny, twin-sized, dorm beds. I think it was a comfort thing. I have a weird thing where I can't sleep alone. I still have yet to figure it out... it only started in college. One night, Melissa wasn't home, and so I went to sleep with Austin and Heather in their room. I think that night I may have slept in a sleeping bag. A few nights later, I went to sleep in their room again (perhaps by accident, I'm known to fall asleep in every place but my bed). After that, Austin and I started our tradition of co-bedding. When we moved out of Liberty Square and into separate apartments, we still would have sleepovers and share a bed, often falling asleep to an episode of Gilmore Girls or Juno played on her little Apple laptop. On the eve of my wedding, I shared a bed yet again (though we thought then perhaps for the last time) with my dear friend Austin (and my dear friend Kaitlyn as well.... this was a king-sized bed). Sharing a bed with my husband is great, but it is different. I missed Austin.

She came to spend the night with me as a set-apart sister missionary (we still are not sure as to the appropriateness of this since Tim was also there and we live in a studio apartment, but oh well). We shared a bed yet again, and it's sad to think maybe it is for the last time (at least for 18 months, that is).




That's right. Austin read the entire Stuff White People Like to get in her fill before the 18 month drought of hilarious and satirical commentary on the urban, eco-aware life of the 20-something white people with liberal arts degrees.


The best part:



Tim not only allowed us to have a sleepover, he encouraged it. How many husbands would be kicked out of their beds by their wife's best friend and not show an ounce of bitterness?

I love coming home to this.

Hm?

To anyone on BYU campus:

Stand south of the Indian statue that is west of the library. You'll see what we're talking about.

I'm going to take a picture if I get a chance.

Ode to Austin

Austin is a big deal in my life. She is really the only friend that I've kept in college. We get along great, and she is more like me than anyone else. You know when people just GET you? That's Austin for me. She understands me better than anyone.

A brief history of Austin & Caitlin:
We met in Liberty Square apartments our sophomore year. We both moved in with our former freshman year roommates, and by the end, we were best friends, and our other roommates were pretty much out of the picture (sorry Heather and Melissa. We still love you both dearly though).




Junior year is when we really were inseparable though. Even though we didn't live together (Austin had more money than me, because she had a real job by this point), I pretty much spent the night with her all the time. Last summer, we hung constantly, again. I was putting in my papers to serve a mission, and Austin was planning on another year of teaching.







One thing lead to another, and I ended up married and she ended up missioned. It's been an interesting few months.





I cried like a baby at the MTC family-goodbye thing. Austin just looked at me, and said "see ya later!" as she skipped away to her alternate reality. It was rough for me though. I couldn't help but think that could've been me a few months ago. But I've settled for a pretty great husband, so no worries, I'll be fine. But.... I will miss Austin dearly! She is going to be a phenomenal missionary.

Just a quick followup

I'll keep my political posts minimalistic: http://rightwingnews.com/mt331/2008/11/rightofcenter_bloggers_select_10.php Shows the 25 most loved people on the right by the right. Number 1? Sarah Palin followed closely by Rush Limbaugh. Dick Cheney at number 20. No comment.

Only in Utah

On the way to Church, Tim and I like to listen to 100.3 religious music. Well, he likes to. I just play along. This Sunday, a song about waiting came on. The premise of the song: There's a girl, she's 15 and waiting to date until she's 16. There's a boy, he's 19 and waiting on his mission call. Three years later, they are dating and waiting to get married to have sex. Hello, singer/songwriter, do the math. This girl is 18! And getting married! Sheesh. Is it really appropriate to advocate teen marriage? Especially considering the divorce rate if you marry before you turn 20 is double that of those marry after 20? Let's just advocate divorce.

A confession

I'm already listening to Christmas music. It makes me sick. Usually I'm all for restraining Christmas joy 'til after Thanksgiving, for fear that it will take over Halloween. But this year I am not doing so well.

I think part of the blame would have to go to Pandora (quick note: Pandora is the bomb, even if I had lots of money I would still listen to my free, commercial free radio on Pandora.com rather than buy itunes. It has an endless variety and gives me indie cred when I find new bands). I created all my stations over a year ago, but the last one that I created was a Christmas station. Now the way Pandora is set up, whenever you log on on a new computer where you haven't adjusted the setting, the first station that plays is the newest one you've created, which in my case happens to be my Christmas station. Now usually I just change stations, but lately I've been drawn to the music. Some would say that I should just create a new station to play first. My stations are a work of art tightly refined over years of work. They are very near sacred and will not be touched. On the Christmas station the music that comes up most often is Josh Groban christmas music (is Josh Groban still cool? he was cool in highschool, I'm not sure if he is anymore), which always pulls me in to listen to 'just one song' which leads to many others. It's an addiction.

I'm ashamed. To alleviate my shame I think I will place the blame on the credit crises and faulty sup-prime loans. Curse you International Paper Market! Or on a lack of Thanksgiving music. Why is Christmas the only holiday with a soundtrack?

I have a confession

I just bought this. It was totally a steal. Tim says it's like buying a coffin that's on sale before you are even dead. But come ON. How cute is that??

But I'm a FEMINIST!

People! I am SO baby hungry. I do not know what is up with me lately. It is consuming all of my waking thoughts. At the sight of any baby, cute or ugly, I get a little teary-eyed. I love baby things. I love looking at baby clothes, toys, cribs, bottles, etc. and fantasizing about what I want to get when we decide to make the leap. I am constantly reading about homebirths, breastfeeding, cloth diapering, and I've even been researching midwives in the Utah County area and figuring out how much it will cost to have a baby right now. Austin got me the book, Green Baby, for my wedding, and I devour it about once a week. I want to have a reason to buy things like this.

On the other hand.... I've been married TWO MONTHS! It's not time yet. We are loving this stage of our lives. I love being able to get out and do whatever I need to without the hassle of lugging around a newborn. I love being with Tim and only with Tim. We're loving the newlywed stage. We're going to Washington DC in the summer so I can do an internship. I'm not done with college yet. I can't have a baby so young! I'm a feminist!

Please. Help me to get my mind off these little creatures! Moms. Tell me how I should wait and it's not that great, and sure babies are cute until they keep you up all night, and you stop having sex, etc. etc.

We finally picked up our wedding pictures

Yayyyy! I've done nothing today but look at our wedding pictures over and over again and re-live that day.

I think this is the ultimate wedding picture of all time and it makes me so happy:



That's right. We did not just take a picture next to the eternity pool. We had to wade in. We're so weird :)

I also love the bookstore pictures:






Sorry Becca. I hate that book.

To view all of the happiness, go here.

Harold B. Lee would not approve

Three things I wish to do in the Harlold B. Lee library, but probably wont because I'm scared of getting into trouble even though I've specifically planned on how not to get into trouble:

1-Drop my old cellphone from the railing right inside the door and watch it explode in the basement. I would probably have someone down on the bottom floor to make sure no one got hit and make it seem like I tripped and dropped my phone, or that it dropped out of my hand, so as not to get into trouble.

2-Use the 'tattle tape' that I use in my job at the Law Library to cause people trouble at the book stealing sensors. This tape is magnetic and designed to make someone go beep whenever they go through the large scanners by the security desks on the way out. I would steal a few from work and then sneak them onto unsuspecting backpacks in the library. Watch that person until they leave (which would also be interesting) and then watch them get stopped at security, even when they've emptied out their entire backpack. Then I would probably try to follow the person and take the tape off because I felt bad.

3- I actually only had two things that I wanted to do, but two didn't seem to be enough to blog about. Let's see, what other hood-winks could I finagle. I think I would rearrange books maybe? I don't know.

No blame on Palin

I'm hesitant to make my second post political, but it's something I talk about a lot, so there's probably not much avoiding it.

I follow Right Wing News, an obviously and self proclaimed right wing leaning political blog. The recently released their most hated people on the right. So basically, a little self hate going on. This is healthy sometimes, I feel. One name that amazed me that was left off of the list was Sarah Palin. Now I'm trying really hard, since the election, to be honest, not to hate Sarah Palin. I think she is a good woman who was over her head. So I don't want to hate her for doing what she feels is right. But certainly, in my mind, she did a lot to spoil the election and generally make life harder for John Mccain. Could he have won if Sarah didn't alienate so many in the center? Probably not. He was quickly becoming irrelevant as Obama-mania grew. But she certainly did not help. But does anyone on the far right blame her? Apparently not. She is not in the top 10:
10) Arnold Schwarzenegger (12)
7) Mike Huckabee (13)
7) Pat Buchanan (13)
7) Ron Paul (13)
6) Chuck Hagel (14)
5) Arlen Specter (15)
4) Colin Powell (17)
3) Peggy Noonan (18)
2) Ted Stevens (19)
1) John McCain (25)

nor in the top 25. This of anything I have read shows me that Sarah Palin is the direction the GOP is heading. Peggy Noonan ends up at number three, mainly, I would suppose for her criticism of Sarah Palin. John McCain, the centrist is more hated then anyone apparently, even more than the man who took bribes from big oil. Other centrists including Hagel and Arnold make the top 10 too. Maybe they wont go as far as Ron Paul to reverse direction, but Sarah Palin I think is looking like the best option in their opinion.

Really?

Our Blog

So this is our new blog, it is kind of boring. But it will be awesome. I swear it. Hopefully I'll be able to post as much as my prolific wife, but don't bet on it. In fact don't bet at all. It's a degrading habit.

Blogger gives some suggestions for labels for posts down at the bottom of the edit page. The three suggestions are 'scooter, vacation, fall.'

I will address scooters. I'm talking about like the Razor scooters. Are they still popular? They sure had a boom a little while ago, but it seems to have died off. But will they die off completely or just find their place in the non-motorized vehicle world, like rollerblades. Rollerblades used to be the shiz, but then their popularity lessened. But they did not die out and have subsequently found their place, with long haired people or people on the beach. Will scooters be the same? I doubt it. First off, they're just not as cool as other forms of transportation. Can you imagine scooters in the x-games? I don't think so. They're like blue-tooth, cool for a while, but then everyone realized how silly you look with one of those, so the only people who kept them are those who need them, like really busy people in suits, or moms who talk in the car a lot. But nobody needs scooters bad enough to keep them alive. They just don't add that much convenience, unless they are motorized. But BYU still has no scooter signs posted in a lot of places. I think that is their best hope. Only if scooters are outlawed somewhere will they give enough street cred to their riders to make them worth riding. That's how I feel.

Initiatory Post

Good evening. Welcome to our official married blog.

Explanation of our last names:
Due to Caitlin's rampant feminism, she refuses to take Tim's last name. This gets very confusing, especially at the temple (those poor old workers can't keep it straight!) We're thinking of just combining the two and creating a whole new name altogether (which will probably be confusing for the genealogists to follow). Herhauser is our latest choice though; it's a combination of both of our mom's maiden names. Progressive? We think so.

Enjoy!

Tim & Cait