Yes, I do realize that Rachel and I may be the only Mothertalkers following this story, but after posting my first two stories on this (here and here. ), I HAVE TO post the happy ending!

I wanted to post some updates on some of the posts I've made lately.

First, did everyone see this kick-ass ad that ran in a lot of papers today?

(BOO!  I can't get the pdf to show up.  I'll have to resort to a link.  Click on it, the ad is great.)
CheneyCare

Nurses are awesome.  You can find more about CheneyCare and the bill they are lobbying for, HR 676, here.

HR 676 sounds like my dream come true--no deductibles, no hidden fees, no availability dependent on your employment.  I'm unclear as to whether people pay a premium.  I don't mind paying an affordable premium, I'm not looking for a total free ride.  But I will be writing my Congressman this evening in total support of this bill!

Amen sister! -Elisa

How many times have we all heard it?  "The free market is the best for healthcare!"  The typical conservative reaction to any mention of universal healthcare.

Well, I'm here to say, with an incredible amount of frustration, free market healthcare is a MYTH!

Now, I'm sure, 98% of us already realize that.  Elisa certainly does.  I have spent the past two days belatedly going through my outstanding medical bills, stupidly AFTER my open season at work had closed.  As a government employee, I supposedly have some of the best healthcare in the country.  That, ladies, is also a myth.  But the worst part of it, as I realized today, there is no way for a consumer to make an informed decision about their healthcare insurance!

Before Benazir Bhutto was assassinated, I had been following the story of another female leader who is still paying a very high price for her ambitions.  In 2002, Senator Ingrid Betancourt was running for the presidency of Colombia when she and her running mate, Clara Rojas, were kidnapped by the revolutionary guerrilla group known as FARC.

She's been in captivity ever since, and her family had had no "proof of life" since 2003, until this past November.

Ingrid Betancourt's letter

I wanted to share this wonderfully thought provoking op-ed piece from WaPo with the Mothertalkers, since we were discussing Jamie Lynn Spears.

Learning From Jamie Lynn and Juno

Ruth Marcus offers a measured, rational response to the whole mess.  I really liked her approach, and the way she thought it through.

Ladies, I need your perspectives on a (down)side of pregnancy that I really wasn't aware of two years ago.  I am having a really horrible time with all the physical changes that have happened in my body since having a kid.  This is stuff that I never thought about, and I'm trying to figure out what is normal, and what I need to fix.  Oy.

At the risk of getting banned from this site forever and ever, the one downside of pregnancy that everybody knows about was never a problem.  I sweated the weight away in about two weeks.  Not through exercising, mind you, but through night sweats.  I had been so sick throughout my pregnancy that I only ever gained 20 pounds.  By the time I sweated it all out, I actually ended up 10 pounds lighter than I had been before the pregnancy.

Ok, please, put down the bats.  Really, there's more.  (And I've put the 10 pounds back on anyway through my amazingly bad eating habits.  Yay me.)

First, I want to thank all you wonderful ladies for the helpful comments on the "I hate Daddy" incident.  This board is just such a good place for support.

Since I posted about the bad comment, I wanted to post about the good one.  Tonight as I was putting her to bed (for the SECOND time) I told DD she had to go to bed because we have dance class tomorrow, and I bought her new tap shoes.  Her face lit up, and she got all excited and clapped her hands and said "yay, dance class!" (or actually, "dance cass") Then she settled down, folded her adorable little hands, and looked at me and said "Thank you."  (Or "thangoo") Justed melted my heart, she did.  Ah toddlers, they are so much fun.

Oh, boy.

It has come.

The daughter has uttered the H word.

OK, this isn't exactly mommy related, but for some reason this story gave me such a lift yesterday that I had to share it.  (I hope you can read it without registering.)

Japanese wives boot the bums out.

Basically, a significant change in Japan's divorce laws has empowered Japanese women to take charge of their own lives.

The most critical piece of advice about parenthood that no one bothered to tell me, and that I now make sure to tell every new mother I know, is that Everything Changes.  Again and again and again.

I am constantly surprised, and to own the truth annoyed, by how previously set patterns of parenthood-related behavior can change overnight.  Sleep patterns, food preferences, you name it.  JUST when you think you've got a handle on this whole mommy thing, BAM.

Today was the first day of a really big change in our household.  My husband has started a new job.  He works in IT, and its seems that he changes job every other year.  (SO aggravating.  But I digress.)  Somehow, though, he has almost always managed to have a commute of less than 5 miles.  Can you imagine?  How sweet is that?  In DC traffic terms, its possibly the biggest employment benefit any job could offer.  However, with this new job, he is commuting all the way to Capitol Hill, and gasp, he has to take public transportation.  THis is having a remarkable impact on our family.  We expected some impact, but I wasn't really prepared.

The timeliness of this story takes my breathe away, especially after what happened to me at work today.  

Bloomberg financial services company has just been slapped with a class action lawsuit alleging systematic discrimination against pregnant woman.

EEOC Files Lawsuit Against Bloomberg

I have had a couple of very bad days.

Last Friday, my husband and I blithely set off for our first sonogram.  Since I'm only 7 weeks pregnant (according to the calendar, mind you), it occurred to me that this one was a lot earlier than with my first pregnancy.  But my doctor or her aide (since I had only talked to the aide so far, not the doctor!) hadn't mentioned any concerns about the pregnancy to me, so it never occurred to me to be worried.