Quit it. 'Cuz it's buggin'.

please read with the patented "Breeland Sass":

We all do it. Some more than others. but we need to quit it, cuz it's buggin'. We read something, or see something, or hear something, and immediately try to get our panties in a bunch over something we want to be offended by. Case in point:  "Ann Romney has never worked a day in her life."  I saw how those wheels started turning. "oh no she didn't say that! Ann Romney is a good stay at home mother. and i know how much and how hard stay at home mothers work! i'm a stay at home mom! i work like crazy all day and all night long, and i never get thanks for how hard i work! no she didn't say i'm lazy! how dare she say i'm lazy! no body can understand how hard i work! how dare THEY say i sit around and mooch off my husband's work. how dare they try to laugh me out of my life choice! i know what i do matters and is important! how dare they try to get me to change my standards! they want to control how i live and make me live like them! how dare they not respect my choice and let me have that choice!!"  blah blah blah.

well guess what? Nobody has said boo-diddly about anyone being a stay at home mother. Nobody said anything bad about anyone who chooses to do that. what did Rosen say? She made a critique on M.Romney for saying his wife is the one he asks about women's issues in the workforce. The WORKFORCE! No matter how much work we stay at home mothers do, we are not part of the economic workforce. And why is A.Romney not a good person to ask about any workforce issues? Because she has never worked (in the workforce) a day in her life. She does not understand what it means to be a working woman or mother in today's world. Has she even studied the history of women in the workforce? i don't know, but that would at least give her some credibility on the subject.

The point is, don't TRY to get your panties all wedged uncomfortably for nothing. It pollutes the conversation and makes it so we don't talk about real issues. there are lots of real things to jump on a soapbox over; no need to be creating angst where none is.

I am NOT raising a future mother

I'm not raising a "future mother". I'm raising an individual to think for herself, to make wise, educated, and enlightened choices for her own life. And while those two things are not mutually exclusive, by saying I'm raising "a future mother", I am attempting to put her on the path of my choosing. I am saying what is the right choice for her life. By doing that I am undercutting any and all other choices she makes. And if motherhood is never an option for her, she has failed. She will have failed to accomplish or live up to the right path, the chosen path. Well, I am not raising "a future mother". Whatever my girls become, I hope I have raised them to be responsible, loving, kind individuals who make wise, educated choices for whatever they are doing. And that is all I can strive for.

Marla's favorite toy

It's been a while since we've posted anything

new Marla photos

Angela's labor story

Marla Iyoko Ericson

Marla was born 20 minutes after we got to the hospital today. Had we left our apartment any later she could have been born in our new Mazda.

7lbs 15 oz, 19.5".

She and Angela are doing great.