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My little snowflake
My little girl is now 9 months old. It's been a tough 9 months. Each day is very, very long, but the months have flown by. It almost seems that she learns something new every day. She has been on the edge of crawling for a couple weeks now. Yesterday I came home from work and she is scooching around on her bum. Now she is able to go forwards and backwards where before she could only go backwards.
She loves the XBOXONE. The power button lights up and makes a do-do-de-do sound when you touch it, and she LOVES playing with it. She will sit there for minutes (hours in her world) powering on and off the xbox. Yesterday I was holding her and looking out the back window and there were some magpies hanging around the yard. I said "Look at the bird." She tried to say bird (pretty good). I show her our dinner "potatoes" - "padada".
I get up in the mornings and take a shower while she sleeps. Normally when I get out she is awake. She goes "dada" when I enter the room. It's pretty nice to be recognized. Every night we read books before bed. I started about 4 months ago to start a routine. Read the books, then go to bed. She really loves reading with me. We started with only one book, but are up to 3 now: Pooh's Honey Trouble, Moo Baa La La La, and Jamberry. (all are great books. I would recommend all of them).
It's not all good though... Last night was pretty tough. My wife got food poisoning or something and so she was basically unable to leave the bathroom for a couple hours. This was just after we put our daughter to bed. She woke up, so it was my job to take care of her. She was crying pretty hard so I picked her up and rocked back and forth while reciting our books from memory. She fell asleep on my shoulder and I was able to put her back to bed. She woke up 1 minute later and started crying crazy hard. There was nothing I could do... MY wife was stuck in the bathroom, and I was stuck with a screaming baby. Nothing I did would calm her down. It's times like that where I really question my decisions...
Coming home from work is still hard. I get home and I'm mentally tired. I just want to hide in my computer room for a while and unwind, but I can't. Dinner needs to be made. The baby needs to be fed. I need to eat. Dinner needs to be cleaned. Baby needs to be bathed. Baby needs to go to bed. Every night. I feel drained when I come home from work, but I still need to perform. It's tough.
My wife is amazing. We are lucky enough to live in Canada and our socialist policies give us a year of government handouts so one of the parents can stay home with the baby. It's really nice. I honestly don't know how you Americans have babies. Anyway, she has to go back to work in December. She'll only go back 3 short days per week, but it's still going to be tough. My wife has been a great stay at home mom. She has infinite patience. I couldn't do it.
Having a baby is hard. It changes everything in your life. The first few months were the worst. Fucking miserable. It's slowly getting better though. Those first few months I would have "I hate this baby" thoughts every day. Now those thoughts are rare and out numbered by "I love this baby" thoughts. She's growing on me.
Now, I just have to figure out how to get her to sleep in her own bed. I want my bedtime cuddles from my wife back.
McDonald's Rick and Morty Szechuan Sauce Stunt Backfires
Weinstein Accused of Rape
Harvey Weinstein Accused of Rape in New Yorker Exposé
From Aggressive Overtures to Sexual Assault: Harvey Weinstein’s Accusers Tell Their Stories
Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie and Others Say Weinstein Harassed Them
Harvey Weinstein Paid Off Sexual Harassment Accusers for Decades
Harvey Weinstein gives first interview after shocking sex harassment claims
Did somebody say Paltrow?
Las Vegas Shooter: Stone Cold Vampyr
Calm Before the Storm
What Did President Trump Mean by ‘Calm Before the Storm’?
President Trump was clearly looking to make some kind of news, but about what, exactly, was not clear. And the mystery, as it often does with a president whose statements baffle even his staff, only deepened the next day.
On Thursday evening, the White House told the presidential press corps that Mr. Trump was done with his public schedule for the day. But around 7 p.m., Mr. Trump summoned reporters who were still at work to the State Dining Room, where he was throwing a dinner for military commanders and their spouses.
Gesturing to his guests, he said, “You guys know what this represents? Maybe it’s the calm before the storm.”
“What’s the storm?” asked one reporter.
“Could be the calm before the storm,” Mr. Trump repeated, stretching out the phrase, a sly smile playing across his face.
“From Iran?” ventured another reporter. “On ISIS? On what?”
“What storm, Mr. President?” asked a third journalist, a hint of impatience creeping into her voice.
As the generals shifted from foot to foot, Mr. Trump brought the game of 20 Questions to an end. He praised his beribboned guests as the “world’s great military people” and excused the stymied reporters, who returned to their workstations to start another round of: What was the president talking about?
By Friday, the White House was still unable to shed light on the matter; several of Mr. Trump’s aides said they had no idea what the president meant. But the press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, wanted to make one thing clear: Mr. Trump wasn’t just teasing his favorite antagonists. He was sending a message.
“I wouldn’t say that he’s messing with the press,” Ms. Sanders told reporters. “I think we have some serious world issues here. I think that North Korea, Iran both continue to be bad actors, and the president is somebody who’s going to always look for ways to protect Americans, and he’s not going to dictate what those actions may look like.”
Suddenly, Mr. Trump’s preprandial banter took on an ominous tone. Maybe he was foreshadowing war with North Korea, which he has already threatened with “fire and fury” if the reclusive country aimed its missiles at the United States. Or perhaps he was predicting a clash with Iran, a week before he is expected to disavow the nuclear deal negotiated by his predecessor, Barack Obama.
“He certainly doesn’t want to lay out his game plan for our enemies,” Ms. Sanders declared.
U.S. House of Representatives Passes 20-Week Abortion Ban
House passes 20-week abortion ban
The measure passed heavily along party lines, 237-189.
The bill allows exceptions in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the woman and wouldn't penalize women for seeking to get abortions after 20 weeks.
The legislation is likely to face a tough sell in the Senate. A similar bill passed the House in 2015 but was blocked by Senate Democrats.
With only a 52-seat majority it would be unlikely Senate Republicans could gather the 60 votes needed to move the legislation to President Trump's desk.
Skin Flutes
Semen-contaminated flutes might have been given to children, California school officials warn (archive)
Several school districts in Southern California warned parents this weekend that flutes and recorders given to children through a nonprofit music program may have been contaminated with bodily fluids. At least one district specified that those fluids could have been semen.
Local, state and federal agencies were investigating a male music teacher who visited schools in Southern California through a program called Flutes Across the World, according to updates from the Saugus Union School District, which serves the Santa Clarita area.
“The performer distributes a flutelike musical instrument made of PVC pipe or bamboo to students during a music lesson, and the allegation is that he contaminated some of these instruments with semen,” Saugus Union Superintendent Joan Lucid said in an email to parents on Saturday. “These allegations are deeply concerning, and I realize they raise many questions.”
The California Department of Justice and the U.S. Postal Service were among the agencies investigating the program, the district said. Lucid said children were never alone with the music specialist, who was not a district employee.
Flutes "stained with a man's bodily fluids" issued to California schoolchildren
Flutes Across the World: Japan Edition.
