Oh, Boo-Hoo

This article contains the complaints of a woman who had had complaints made against her for posturing that the choice of women to stay at home with their children is a mistake. The woman is cuckoo, arrogant, and completely deluded by her own self-importance. She even admits that she was looking for a book deal, meaning that she's really only out to make a buck by incensing lots of poeple. If you read the orginal article, which is linked in the complaint-article, and you read her "rules", I think you will be completely flabbergasted by what she has to say about what women need to do in order to succeed in the workplace, such as find poorer or lower-class husbands so that women will feel more inclined to be the breadwinner.

It's articles like these that really irk me. It is, indeed, a choice that women are given, to either stay at home or to continue full-time in their careers. That is the beauty of our modern society; we have the resources and the capacity to accomodate what women want to do with their lives. In my mind, it is a sad state of affairs when, from a financial perspective, there isn't the choice to stay at home, even part-tme, because of the cost of living in many areas of the country. For those of us lucky enough to have the option of raising our children ourselves, rather than turning them over to someone we hardly know (and probably wouldn't have the time to get to know anyway because of the demands ofa full-time work schedule), I think I can safely say that we feel it is an extremely rewarding and challenging path to have chosen.

It is ignorant of the author to claim that it doesn't take any great intellect to be a mother and housewife. I firmly believe that whatever education we bring to the table in a relationship and motherhood actually benefits our marriage and our parenting skills, even if we decide not to use those skills in the workplace. Because of our education, our children will have fuller and richer childhoods (Jonah, at a little over one year old, already has a love of books that is remarkable), and it allows our spouses to have a meaningful conversation with someone at the end of the day. We also bring a lot to other people in our lives. As a tax accountant, I can give advice and do research for family and friends that they would ordinarlily have had to either research laboriously on their own or pay an arm and a leg to get soemone else to do it. I may be only a part-timer, but my education and job experiences are not going to waste.

And I turly have to womder how herdaughters truly feel about their mother's opinions. I wonder if they really support her theories, or if they've really considered what their mother is saying to them, that they weren't important or worthy or stimulating enough for their mother to give them her full attention and care. How would a child feel if told this by their parent, the one who is supposed to love them and cherish them like nobody else can?

The other article, Everybody Hates Linda, which also has a link off the complaint-article, is actually pretty good. It essentially says that there is no right or wrong decision when it comes to either staying home or not. Each person has to make whatever decision is right for them and their family. Each situation is unique and deserves the respect due a decison that is usually not made lightly or without some real consideration of the costs and benefits associated with it.

Gee, is it obvious that I have no sympathy for this woman? As far as I'm concerned, she deserves all the backlash that she has received.

Leaps and Bounds

Jonah is doing some amazing things these days and all in a very short amount of time. Two days, to be exact.

Yesterday, after months of saying "da-da-da", "ba-ba-ba", and "i-yi-yi", he finally began saying "mom-mom-mom"! He also said something that sounded an awful lot like "kitty-cat", though that could have been my imagination since he didn't repeat it, but who knows?

And today, he took three steps. Not the lunging kind of steps that you often see in the beginning of the crawling-to-walking phase, though he's taken quite a few of those, nor were they the kind taken while holding on to my hand, which he is doing more of these days. These were three actual, deliberate steps on his own! And Josh thinks he heard him say "take this", but, again, since he didn't repeat it, who knows?

Very exciting times in the Cook household!

I'm Blushing

I never thought it possible to receive such praise for simply being me. I've offered to help out my dear friend CEP by having her stay at my home before and after a medical procedure, and to also be at the hospital while the procedure is performed, which is something I just figured to be the least I could do for a friend, particualrly one who has helped me out in the past (recall my sprained ankle a couple of years ago when she carried me down the stairs in order to get to the car!). I've received warm words not only from CEP herself, but from her mother and a mutual friend. Not that I have any self-confidence issues, but it is reassuring to know that I can bring some measure of comfort to the people in my life, espeically those who are important to me.

Narcissus reincarnated 

This is how one looks dignified in a diaper. 

Callie always did make a nice foot warmer! 

And So the Period of Dual Home Ownership Begins

.....and who knows when it will end! We're still waiting to get a bite on our place. I really hope we're able to sell our condo in the next couple of months. You wouldn't think it would be that difficult what with it being one of the more affordable places on the market in Vienna, which is a very disirable location around here, but it is. Please keep us in your prayers, and please pray that God will send someone to us who wants to buy our condo!

And FYI, we won't be officially moving until the end of July/early August, so I'll get the new address and phone number to all interested parties at that time.