Heights Jamboree

First of all, thank you to everyone who donated and helped us reach our Red2BlueMN goal. We managed not only to reach our first, but our double goal as well!

As for us, Smartie and I took Munch to her first street festival. We spent Saturday at the Heights Jamboree, where Munch seemed to greatly enjoy the beer garden.

Our friend Jodi was there taking pictures as well, especially of Munch on her first carousel, but we're going to have to wait a while until we get to see those.

A short week this week, then the 4th, and after that Grandma comes up to visit again...

(note - pictures later, I seem to be having problems with my system)

$240

A new post is coming later, but first, remember it's the final day of Red2BlueMN, and we're less than $240 from our goal. It looks as though you all have been quite generous, especially to Sarvi, so I'd like to advocate a bit of cash for El today, since he's lagging behind. Sadly, I have no cute pictures of him and Munch, so if you can get him up above $500 by the end of the day, I'll have to go find him and get one taken.

It's one more day, and less than $240. Please help us make our goal!

Give to Red2BlueMN!

Red2BlueMN - day three

By the end of day two, we had already met our $1000 end of quarter fundraising goal. what do you do when you already made your goal? Much like the current administration, we are moving the goalposts!

We have until Monday to reach $2000 in Red2BlueMN. I've already advocated for Madia and Sarvi (mostly because they were Munchie's favorites), but now that she's had a chance to listen to him speak, she's decided she likes Al Franken, too. Plus, that man sure can draw his states...
Franken drawing all 48 continental states by memory

So if you haven't yet, please consider sending some cash Franken's way before the end of the quarter through our ActBlue site, and tell them Munchie sent you...

Where's Munchie?

Peekabo!

Tonight, Smartie and I are taking the Munch to a Franken fundraiser, then over to Drinking Liberally.

Speaking of fundraising, today is day two of Red2BlueMN, so if you haven't given yet, please consider a small donation to one of our numerous great challengers.

A twofer! $27 & Red2BlueMN

Putting aside the mommy hat for a moment to put the political hat on -- something that will be happening a little more often here as we get closer to the election (sorry, family!). Or, actually, I'm keeping the mommy hat on as well, since this is a twofer.

According to PunditMom over at Momocrats, "if every woman who voted in the 2006 national elections had contributed just $27 to any presidential candidate or party, we would pour $1.3 billion dollars into the political system."

$27 dollars. That's less than one 32oz container of formula. About 2 and a half pianos. Or 4 packages of 100% organic onesies (come on, you know she'll just outgrow them in two weeks anyway...)

Hence, I've decided to join up with the $27 challenge, and I encourage every woman who reads the site to do the same. I don't care particularly which candidate you choose, be she or he local to me or to you, or even which party you pick. Just pick someone.

However...

If you are looking for some suggestions, I have a few that are Munchie approved, and you can help the Minnesota Progressive bloggers get them a little scratch by donating here as part of Red to Blue MN.

Munchie's favorites:

2nd CD Candidate Steve Sarvi

3rd CD candidate Ashwin Madia

Nothing today

sorry, sleeping

Everyone gets toys!

A good weekend for everyone. Munch had a great weekend with the grandparents, with no fussies or crankiness. Smartie and I enjoyed a fun-filled weekend of friends, errands, and...well, a little freedom.

By the time it was all over, everyone had new toys.

Ours...


And Munchie's...



Needless to say, she's already showing the beginnings of musical genius. Now if I could just convince her to sit up so she can play it with two hands, I believe we'd have a little Mozart on our hands. Or at least some decent Chopsticks...

How I sleep...(Vi's post)

An Open Letter to Katherine Kersten

In your Sunday column you stated:

"We all know what organic produce costs. And toxin-free kids' togs from companies like Hanna Andersson can also set you back a pretty penny. That company sells '100% organic cotton' clothing in which 'every fabric, button, thread and zipper is rigorously tested for over 100 potentially harmful substances.'

The surprise is that there are any survivors at all among the poor folks who shop at Sam's Club."

This weekend I bought two packages of 100% organic cotton onesies at Wal-mart. They cost $7.48 per three-pack. I understand your inherent need to belittle eco-conscious shoppers by painting them as out of touch liberal elitists, but at least try to get your facts straight.

Alone again, naturally...

Last night we took Munch to her grandparents for the weekend, as we have a jam packed few days with a wedding, friends in town, etc. This morning I was all alone.

I miss her sunshine face and her morning giggles. But sleeping until 7 am was lovely. Going for a 4 mile walk without pushing a stroller or worrying she was getting fussy, and being able to jump right in the shower after I got home was wonderful. Sitting with a cup of coffee and running through my email was amazing. And I'm discovering right now that two hours of conference calls is much easier when I don't have to keep checking to see if she is into something, eating something inappropriate, grabbing cats or falling over, much less wondering when the morning poop is going to show.

I love her a ton, but sometimes you don't realize how hard it is until you step back for a minute and get a breath.

Sometimes I think daycare is the answer. Then I realize I'll miss moments like this, and I'm not so sure.

So instead, I'll just enjoy this brief break while I have it.

My favorite game

I like it when mommy stacks things and I can knock them down...

6 month checkup

Height - 27 1/2 inches (96%)(over three inches growth in 2 months)
weight - 15lbs 9oz (45%)

She's gone down a little bit in weight percentage-wise, but the Dr is unconcerned -- she gained over 2lbs in the last two months, which is what he cared most about. He doesn't think the spit up, which is mostly resolved but still attacks occasionally, is anything to worry about. He was amazed by her crawling, her strength and dexterity. We had her try to sit up, and he says she's fine (I was little worried she skipped that stage, but shouldn't be, I guess.). She still has a tiny little head (25%), but it's a consistently tiny head, and anything bigger on her skinny body would probably topple her over.

All in all, everything checks out fine. She's on the 3 month program now, so no more check ins until September.

No pictures -- baby's too fussy.

Cut off

I've been giving munch pretty much full run of the house now that we gated off most of the bad parts (computer, entertainment center, keep the bathroom door closed, lay a chair down in front of the kitchen since the doorway is so crooked you can't put up a gate). Which means munch gets the living room, dining room, hall, her room and our room to roam through.

She used to get the sunporch, but not now...



Yep, that's her playing in the coat rack. Good thing I have loud watchcats who alerted me to where she had gone.

Other adventures on the sunporch included:



...pullups on her stroller...

...and a pretty rousing game of peekaboo with the front door.

Tomorrow, 6 month check up, so expect status updates and shots.

Busy Weekend, Busy Day

Munch had a very big weekend. She got her first sunglasses...


...and a new hat...


...and she climbed her first stairs on Father's Day...

Munchie's New Best Friend

she loves to play with baby in mirror...

She'll even kiss her hello...



In awards news, the website took third place. Our media critic took first in his category. I think we ended up with third because of our low skills website, so hopefully we'll place better next year with our new design.

Another busy week -- after working 12 days straight, I get a weekend off. Tonight I watch the Munch while Smartie goes to a bachelor party. Tomorrow we make a run at lapsit if Smartie isn't too tired, and maybe Stone Arch festival, then I have a bachelorette party (yes, same couple). Sunday is Father's Day, so I have presents to wrap tonight, and a funny story about cards to tell monday. Speaking of cards, better put grandpas in the mail since I've now forgotten three days in a row.

6 months ago

6 months ago we had this...

Now we have this...

She is very happy..

Although easily distracted...

especially if you are in front of her cartoons...

In other words, a total joy. Even if she still refuses to sit up.

Happy 6 months, Munchie (and thank you to Lori and Al and family for the pretty dress!)!

In other news, my cousin's boy who was at the camp has minor injuries, but is mostly unscathed.

Busy day today, and tonight, the Society for Professional Journalist Dinner, where we find out officially how the Minnesota Monitor placed for best independent website.

Too much exercise

makes the baby sleepy

I eat your camera!

What, that's naughty?

In other news, we looked for a plane ticket so we could make a quick trip to Omaha for the weekend sometime in August. All tickets were over $450, and the nonstops nearly $600. Since I just booked a ticket Thursday for San Francisco in three weeks and it was down to $360, I was pretty shocked. Maybe if I hold out a while that Omaha will go down, too.

rumors that I physically threatened fox news reporters are highly exaggerated

I would like to point out that not one person on this screen was actually AT my conference.

Business, then pleasure...

For those of you who are coming over here because I met you or you heard me speak at the National Conference For Media Reform, it was good to meet you and/or I hope you enjoyed what you saw. My current political writings are mostly over here at the all newly relaunched Minnesota Independent, and I have some more here, although we've been woefully bad at keeping it updated. Hopefully I will get to see many of you again at Blogher!

This site, however, is mostly personal, although occasionally I will forget and point out things like how John McCain's new commercial should be shown directly juxtaposed with his "Bomb Iran" shtick. So, going back to personal...

It's one of those guilty little secrets, but when you work from home and care for the baby at the same time, getting out for an evening is one of the most fantastic things ever. Running away for three whole days? HEAVEN!

This weekend was the best of both worlds for me, in some ways. I missed the munch horribly, but not too horribly. I could see her for a bit in the morning, then I ran off and had the whole day to speak, network, grab a bite here, a drink there, hit this party, that bar, etc. And then I came home, kissed the baby while she slept, and went to bed and started all over again.

A funny thing happened last Friday, though. Munchie turned into a holy terror. Smartie said she started screaming at about 3 pm and wouldn't stop. He spent over an hour getting her to bed (Me? I was at a Media Consortium Party after spending a few minutes at a Code Pink Bash.).

Then the unthinkable happened -- Munch woke up at 3 am. She never does that. So I sprung into mommy mode, rocked, sang. I spent an hour, and when I laid her back in the crib she woke back up.

That's when I woke Smartie up, told him I had a panel in the morning and needed sleep, and went upstairs.

The next night I didn't even bother to pretend. After Smartie told me what a terror she had been all day, I just went straight to bed upstairs.

I got home in the early evening on Sunday. She I put her to bed at her normal time and she went down easily. Monday she was a dream girl, playing, no fuss, and slept straight through the night again.

Smartie thinks she might have missed me...

I feel a little bad -- I was looking forward to Smartie having a few days alone with her so he could see what it's like for me every day. but I didn't mean to traumatize him. Good thing Father's Day is this weekend -- he scored some pretty nice presents out of it, at least.

Busy

Relaunching Minnesota Monitor as Minnesota Independent today. More later.

Q&A

Q: what do you get when the baby wakes up at 2:45am and won't go back to sleep, and mommy's has a panel to present at 11:30am?

A: We'll find out in about 4 hours...

National Conference For Meda Reform

I'll be spending the rest of the week downtown at the NCMR and Live From Main Street, where I'll be speaking and working tables, so likely no posting.

Smartie's home watching Munch. He just realized how fast she is and has tried to handicap her with a "ball and chain." It's not slowing her down at all...

My Daughter the Monkey

She's learned to climb...

Obama Clinches

In April of 2006, when I first started traveling to events political events to do live coverage, Smartie and I got into the press area for an Amy Klobuchar for Senate rally. The event was crowded, but it became fairly clear once we got inside that many of the audience weren't really there to see the candidate who would eventually be Minnesota's first female senator. They were there to see this rising-star senator who was creating a buzz headlining democratic rallies.

They were there for Barack Obama.

Sadly, the experience was documented over at DFLSenate, which has since gone to seed, and is lost to the ages. But Smartie and I can still vividly remember the power of his speech, the energy of the crowd, and the feeling of shaking his hand as he left the building. This picture is from that day.

Senator Klobuchar did become the first woman senator elected from Minnesota. And now Senator Barack Obama has become the first African American to win a major party presidential nomination.

And, hopefully, in 5 months, we will be able to say that on that day we shook the hand of the President of the United States.

The End is Near

It's the end of the primaries today, and hopefully we will officially have a Democratic nominee tonight. I've been writing for MinMon, since they are short staffed this week, as well as trying to get materials written and designed for the National Conference for Media Reform, where I will be an a panel, as well as hosting a table and doing some radio shows this weekend. Munch took advantage of my distraction to advocate being removed from THE CAGE and allowed to run around and play. Honestly, it's better this way, since inside the cage all she does is pull herself up and fall down and scream, where as now she crawls and plays and hardly ever bothers to find something to pull up on. Besides, who can resist this face behind bars?



BTW -- I am now officially an adult. A geeky adult. I just donated to public television. I did it for the children's books...

(Note: there may not be much more posting this week because of conference prep...)