g's inauguration day brunch

Garrison LOVES eating. We've started having two solid meals a day. For lunch he usually has some oatmeal (he's not a huge fan of rice cereal), a fruit and a vegetable. For fruit he still has favorites--pears and apples, but he also likes mango and plums. His vegetable selections are usually green beans, a winter squash or yams. He will have 2 ice cubes (I use ice cube trays to portion the food I freeze for him) of fruit and one of vegetable for lunch (plus the oatmeal). Sometimes we'll throw in a few cheerios for fun too (he is a big fan--do all kids love them? They seem like the universal take-along snack for the younger set.) If he finishes everything we'll usually have 1/2 a teething biscuit (he has never come close to finishing a whole one). For dinner he'll have 2 veggie cubes, 2 fruit, some cheerios, and if we're eating something he can have, he'll have a little of it. For desert it's the other half of the teething biscuit. I'm getting a little bored with the selection I have in the freezer, perhaps it's time to do another vegetable, I have been trying to use fresh stuff (preferably what is in season and local), but that's not always possible. I'm not sure what to try next--so many choices. We do still have to go back and try bananas again, I really do want him to like them. Anyway he's a joy to feed, a very neat eater (which to me means he keeps his hands out of his mouth when eating), and eats with gusto. Amos said, "maybe he'll be a chef."

Here's a photo of G enjoying a post-brunch cookie while watching Barack and Michelle walk down Pennsylvania Ave. (note the THREE empty bowls.)

our day of service

I was too busy on monday to write a post about our day of service activities, so today will have to do. We took Barack's call to service on MLK's birthday to heart and wanted to do something on Monday. Originally I was going to go to work with others on sewing blankets for West Side Baby, but 50 people had signed up before me, so I didn't get to do that. Amos was going to take care of G, so that I could do that. After learning that I couldn't do what I had wanted to do Amos and I decided to do a mini project ourselves at home. We sewed bibs for West Side Baby--THIRTY of them. We did things assembly line style while G was napping--I cut and Amos sewed. When G was awake Amos took care of G and I did sewing. I have to say Amos was very speedy on the machine, and very neat (he compared it to using some kind of saw). We had a good time and think we'll try to do this more than once a year for them.

The fruits of our labor...

what's new in G-town--G (and the rest of the U.S.) has a new president

On this historic day I just felt it appropriate to talk about what happened. No pictures can do the day justice.

It was very gratifying to watch the inauguration with A & G today. We felt very invested in this campaign, writing personal letters to neighbors, making phone calls, giving money, collecting obama keepsakes...it's taken a day to process all of it, and A and I have had several conversations about O's speech. I think he is a courageous man. He did not mince words at all. He called Bush and his policies out, and renounced them. This is a man with whom he'd had coffee just moments before. He did not feel the need to be gracious. He held his tongue these past 2 months (which certainly seemed more like two years!) on matters of foreign policy, but not today.

I also loved this bit where he quoted Washington...

"Let it be told to the future world ... that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive...that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet (it)."

And used it to explain the resolve we need to have in this crisis today.

America, in the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

I liked that he put the onus on us. He is a strong man, but cannot bear the burden of this crisis alone, it is far too big (thanks, dubya!)

Anyway, Garrison, when you read this when you're older, I just want you to know how special and proud I felt to watch your new President with you. Barack gave us the faith in this country's future to make the thought of having a child seem reasonable. And after we knew your arrival was immanent we felt an even stronger sense of urgency about making sure this man was elected. Today our dreams for you came to fruition and it was even sweeter sharing it with you. Your future is brighter because of him.

mom, dad, joe and barack

Here's a great picture of my mom and dad from the announcement of Obama picking Joe Biden (or Joey B! as we like to call him around here) in springfield this summer. It was apparently a very hot day and there was no water to be had anywhere. But my super awesome parents braved the heat to go see it. I think it's awesome that I'll able to tell G they were there. That's the old state capital in the background, and a bit of Lari trivia-- I worked at a soup restaurant right there on the square the summer before I started taking education classes.

Mom and dad are the origins of my political views. I grew up in a house where old skool crossfire was on at the dinner table and we had lots of conversations about politics. I think they are two of the most generous people I know, and it is reflected greatly in their political beliefs. I love you, mom and dad!

Wow. Just wow.

I'm speechless. Pictures will have to suffice. G stayed up late to wait for the returns.

li'l g's election challenge

I thought I'd challenge you all to pick the outcome of the elections. Maybe I'll even give the winner a prize. I'll use the rules from Daily Kos' challenge. If you want to play along fill out the form below and I'll keep track in the google spreadsheet and post the results wednesday or thursday. (Washington Post has a handy tool where you click on the states and it calculates the electoral votes.)
Here's mine.


57 Democratic Senate seats
41 Republican Senate seats
258 Democratic House seats
177 Republican House seats
390 Obama Electoral Votes
148 McCain Electoral Votes
52.4 Obama Popular Vote Percentage
47.6 McCain Popular Vote Percentage

'tis the season to be voting

Monday we took the G-man to the King County elections office and did our early voting. Amos and I have always voted the day of since we moved here, but this time we decided to just be safe and get the votes banked. G decided it would be a good time to poop his pants (AWESOME!)

There was a modest line relative to the stories you hear about in Florida and other parts of the country. I suppose it's because nearly everyone votes by mail. Oregon does it all like that, but there are two counties in Washington that still vote at the polls (at least for this election, but this is the last). So, we're kind of the freaks voting at the polls in these parts. I don't know, I think all of the people that like it are transplants from the midwest and east who like that feeling of "going to vote." (not saying all transplants like it, just that those who like it are transplants).

Anyway, it felt good to darken those bubbles for Barack. We also got to vote on the Assisted Suicide thing (just like Oregon's is how it is billed--we were pro). Then there was another thing to raise some money to fix the Public Market. And, a couple of other road & public transportations initiatives/tax measures.

Oh, and then there was the superintendent of public schools. I had mixed emotions on this one. I heard the two candidates have a discussion on NPR here, and I just wasn't impressed with the challenger, but the incumbent has really pushed this state testing thing (not necessarily all her fault) so she is unpopular. The challenger talked about math as "calculation" and that bugged me. I think that's a pretty narrow view of what math is all about. But, I always check the state education associations endorsements, because it's always good to go with the teachers. They endorsed the challenger. I was torn about which to support. On the one hand I felt like this guy sounded like he was running on an anti-incumbent platform. He didn't really talk too much about his own ideas, he spent more time attacking hers. It reminded me of an Obama McCain debate. I had to check a paper's endorsement to see what they thought as a tie-breaker.

Anyway, it's kind of hard to be an informed voter some times. Do you all have any interesting places you check for endorsements that you trust? Oh, we also look at the local indie paper's recs when we go to vote, because they're so liberal!

update! BTW, the campaign is giving away a cool shirt with every donation over $5 (they've done this a lot, but this is a NEW one, it's has a nice message.)

what obama means to me.

Sitting tonight and watching Obama accept the democratic party's nomination for president was quite emotional for me. It wasn't just the speech or the setting or any of that, but it was the fact that I was watching it with G. You see, many of you may not know this, but Barack Obama is directly responsible for G.

Yep, that's right.

You see, when Amos and I got married it was June of 2001 and dubya was already in office, then 9/11, then the war, etc. By the time we'd have wanted to have a kid my outlook for the future of this country and the larger world was dim. Why would I want to subject a kid to a world like we've had the past eight years, is what I thought.

My parents were always amazingly generous to me. Not just with stuff, but with time and love. I've often asked how I would ever repay them for all of the good they've done for me, their reply was always, "just do the same for your child." You have no idea what a huge burden that is for me...I mean they've been such good parents and given me such a great life, and I wondered how I could ever do the same in this world as it is.

That's where Barack comes in. You see, I had no HOPE for this country's future. People ridicule Obama for using that word so much, but they are foolish. Hope is a powerful thing. Barack restored my hope. He restored it and paved the way for me to see the possibility of a world in which I'd want a child to grow up. MIchelle Obama spoke of how she had heard Barack talk about "the world as his should be" and striving for it. It's not that I think that Barack himself will make the world as it should be, but that he has given me the hope that we, TOGETHER, want to remake the world as it should be--the hope that we CAN and the BELIEF that we will.

So, without Obama, there might not be a G. And without G there wouldn't be the urgency I feel. Tonight we inched one step closer to the world as it should be. We are the ones we've been waiting for!

Si se puede. (if you liked what I wrote, go donate a few bucks to the campaign. I just did--again. Oh, and that's Sheppard Fairey's Hope poster.)