Laughing Quadruplets For Maggie

Quiverfull Makes Me Quiver, And Not In A Good Way

Alright, have we heard about this movement? This was just brought to my attention today and I have to say I'm oddly fascinated and terrified at the same time.

Quiverfull essentially means that when two people (man and woman) are married then no birth control (Pill, condom, rhythm method, NOTHING) may be used. Have as many children as you have, each is a blessing, each is from God, etc., etc.

And it seems that this is catching on, in some areas of the world. Most notably in the US and now in Canada.

Hey, if you want to have tons of babies, by all means, go and procreate. It's really no skin off my nose.

However, please don't tell me that if you have 12 children you'll be able to spend as much quality time together. Or that you'll all be happy all the time. Let's be real. When you have a gaggle of babies (just as if you would only have one or none) nothing is perfect. I think this is the part that drives me the most insane. That everything is wonderful, everything is perfect, nothing is ever difficult and sleep is readily available.

For me, I find the most interesting conversation to be about this idea that more and more women are choosing (and in some cases I would use the word 'choose' loosely) this type of family planning.

The idea of a woman essentially being a vessel is a hard idea for me to accept, even if this is what they want. Call me a snob- but I am completely obsessed to know what the personal identity of those women are. Apart from the labels of 'mother' and 'wife', I wonder what they would classify themselves. I would love to pick apart their brain, although I imagine myself say "No, but really, what is your personal identity- without the kids. Because eventually the kids will leave and I want to know what you do for yourself. So tell me."

Then I stumbled over an article that spoke about Andrea Yates. If you don't remember her I'll jog your memory. She was the mother who drowned all five of her young children in the bathtub when her husband was at work. After she was arrested and found that post-partum depression played a large role even more evidence rolled in. According to reports, a couple of days previous to the horrifying deaths of the five Yates children, Andrea started to get pamphlets and visits from her Quiverfull-devoted church. And these visits were not the "how's it going" variety. It seems that people had heard about Andrea's desire to stop having babies and unhappiness with her role as mama.

Hm. Hopefully the lack of support was kept in mind when she was punished (which was deserved).

And then there's the fascination that media has, and in turn a large population of us. Television shows and specials are being massed produced (Duggars anyone?). And the ratings are fantastic. Which is good for them, feeding a brood of 13 children gets expensive. However I had seen some families be very resourceful with saving money (Tater Tots, making clothes, diapers and using all that free manual labour).

I may sound self-righteous about this, but I think my concerns are valid. Couple this with the fact that roles in the families are straight out of Leave It To Beaver (girls are in charge of cooking and sewing, boys in charge of outside maintenance), we should all be talking about this change in family makeup.

But again, I will stress that my mantra "My uterus, my decision, so keep your theology off my biology" swings both ways. So while I have warranted concerns, if the Duggars want to usher in baby number 20 after number 19 is born in January- by all means go for it. *Jessie shudders for Mrs. Duggar's vagina*

What's My Name?

Meet the newest addition to the Foubister family.

It's a girl!

And she has no name.

Any suggestions?

I think Che is a good one, but Tracy doesn't like it.

I Love Her But...

Would you want this hurtling towards you and your brand new camera phone?

I barely had time to retreat.

This is Rachel Zoe. She's awesome, and probably the most adorable kid ever. Especially when she tells you that you're beautiful (unless you wear your hair in a ponytail, then unfortunately, you are no longer a girl - I believe 3 years old is when you start defining gender).

Rachel and I spent the weekend together and I learned a lot. Mainly what I learned was that I, indeed, do not want children.

She great, don't get me wrong. But she's very...busy.

I turned my back for 24.3 seconds and in that time she successful painted her entire arm in finger paint. A think coating. And cleaning her off was no walk in the park.

Speaking of which, she doesn't do that, walking in parks. After a solid 20 minutes of playing (consisting of me climbing around with her) she requests being carried home. And of course I oblige because I'm a sucker.

At the end of the weekend she pronounced to Annie (who left an hour after the parents did and returned 3 hours before they came back as to give the impression she was there the entire time) that she peed her pants over the weekend (2 times, both on me) and she "...wasn't sorry".

Nice.

Thanks Rachel. I had a great and exhausting time. Next time our parents go out for the weekend I'll need to get a B12 shot before coming over. Or I could just use your Epi-Pen junior.

Things Jessie Learned This Weekend With Rachel:

- She's adorable at 6AM

- She's not so adorable at 6:30AM when she tells you she's hungry

- Never believe her when she says "Trust me, Jessie"

- Her timidness about getting her hands dirty with finger paint is a ruse to lull you into complacency so she can lunge at you with tiny paint covered hands

- For the love of all that is holy, don't leave the house without Cheerios

- Watching the same movie over and over again is very soothing

- "The Land Before Time" movie has been ruined as it is on it's 15th sequel, somewhere Little Foot is weeping

- She's precious

- Dora is the devil

- Rachel's pretty

- When trying to feed Rachel, bacon always trumps fruit

- While bribes undermine the discipline her parents taught her...they work so well

- Any other small child is an instant new friend, even if the other child is afraid of the very forward Rachel

- Monkey bars are aptly named

- When travelling add on 60 minutes to accomodate for a child (they take very small steps)

- When travelling with a child you must realize they require you pack for an expedition-like excursion

- I love her

RAFFI ROCKS

Ok, so we all know and L-O-V-E Raffi.

We grew up with him and sang all the classics.

And maybe Raffi's next career move doesn't seem so far off...he's just wanting to protect little ol' baby beluga in the deep blue sea. He swims so far and he swims so free...

Or does he?

Our beloved Baby Beluga is in trouble folks.

The culprit?

Global Warming.

And Raffi is striking back in his own way.

Nothing pisses me off more than when celebrities (and yes, Raffi definitely IS a celebrity) start talking politics...except when they do it through their art, which is what Raffi is doing.

Raffi just completed a song called "Cool It". And it rocks.

Check out the video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSn9KrK0peM

You won't be disappointed!

Besides that, Raffi's website kicks it.

http://www.raffinews.com/

Hold on "Baby Beluga" we're using "The Wheels On The Bus" to get "Down On Grandpa's Farm" so we can avoid polluting by "Riding On An Airplane" so we can go "Ha Ha This-A-Way" and eat some organically grown "Apples and Bananas".

Ok. Now I have to go and "Shake My Sillies Out". "Day-O" everyone.

It's A Girl!

Ok, here she is...isn't she beautiful???

I L-O-V-E her!!!!!

If you're lucky you can get a ride...but not if you're Maggie because she mocked my colour choice.

I'm already having nightmares (literally) that I'm crashing cars...luckily the cars in my dreams that I'm crashing are my parents and not mine.

TA DA!!!!