Connecting the Dots

I just heard one Elaine Donnelly from the Center for Military Readiness describe, for NPR listeners, exactly why it’s important that Congress pass a bill codifying Defense Department policy which excludes women from units which participate in direct armed conflicts. Before we get to Ms. Donnelly, why is this happening now? Pentagon policy also excludes women from units which “collocate routinely” (that is to say, move) with combat units, and apparently there’s a sense that in Iraq, units including women […]

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Well, that last post was perky, wasn’t it? Nothing like a good attitude…(and that was nothing like…). Well, here’s another thing I’m not so crazy about in this, the last few weeks of pregnancy: I hate the publicity of the whole thing. Oddly, for a blogger, I’m a very private person, and there is really nothing private about being nine months pregnant. It’s part of the reason I’m always so reluctant to tell people my actual due date. I don’t […]

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Sam at his holiday concert. Originally uploaded by kjda. lesbian movie clipscfnm moviemovies teenmovie hentaiplayboy moviesshemale moviesmovies mike apartmentsex downloads movies free Map

I belong to The Well and mostly frequent a really good freelancer group there, where I am middling to low on a totem pole that includes regular writers for Vogue, Wired and Salon but also people who don’t really see their byline in the national pubs very often, if at all. I love being a part of it. Today, I read an announcement that a fellow byliner just sold her first novel in a “major deal”. I was over the […]

At the Biltmore house in NC Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ

Lily and her haunted house Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ

I am having a moment of sudden understanding–and thus sudden anger–about the Iowa caucus. How can this be the way we want things done? Here’s my problem with the caucus system: What if everyone in Iowa wanted to participate? I know, that’s crazy, but let’s just say they did. Not possible. What if you’re on dialysis? How many 17-year-old babysitters are there to go around? Who will man the 911 system, the emergency room, the quickie mart. What if you’re […]

Actually I have no idea why I can’t read. What I do know is that I get those codes on blogs and groups–the ones that prove you’re human–wrong about half the time. Which would make me half human.

A meal I can’t get in Hanover Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ Dell’Antonia (Please attribute any drastic spelling and punctuation errors to my poor thumb-typing and creative autocorrect.)

Lily’s spring concert Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ Dell’Antonia (Please attribute any drastic spelling and punctuation errors to my poor thumb-typing and creative autocorrect.)

Lily and Wyatt at Fratello’s Originally uploaded by kjda. The funny thing is that It was Wyatt’s idea. KJ Dell’Antonia (Please attribute any drastic spelling and punctuation errors to my poor thumb-typing and creative autocorrect.)

I was glad you liked the kids singing. They were so pleased with themselves. And Sam really liked playing his piano into the phone to you. I don’t think that had ever occurred to him before. It was almost like you were here! Rob got everyone into pajamas tonight by sheer force of personality, since he can’t really manhandle them. I find that as exhausting as just sitting on them and doing it myself. Having him able to do it […]

Après ski nap Originally uploaded by kjda. KJ Dell’Antonia

Spring at Duke, originally uploaded by kjda. And at home, not soon enough! Don’t you LOVE this time of year? KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone

We leave 6/16. We come back a family of 6 7/2. I’m not panicking. Really.

It’s a very scenic hotel Originally uploaded by kjda If you like signs in Chinese, and dejected looking people in masks. I asked my friend Julia to put up an update, but I can’t see the site now–I should have a connector cord later today. I just belatedly realized I could blog this way. As I said, we are all fine. Feeling a little too lively. Fortunately, the hotel has all the amenities…ping pong, badmitten, holes in the walls, 3 […]

Fwd: beijing ditan hospital.jpg Originally uploaded by kjda Pic of the quarantine hospital. (Beijing Di Tan) On the way out I noticed that they had 2 people in some of the little 8×10 cells.

Alcohol Ocean Originally uploaded by kjda I meant to offer up this odd little bit of China yesterday, but other events intervened. It’s right next to the White Swan hotel, and I can imagine a few adoptive parents needing it. I particularly enjoyed the stunned-looking older couples wandering around with the ten-or-so- month old babies. Every one of those truly new parents needed a drink. We are home, and happy to be here, brushing out teeth with water from the […]

I was just reading Brain, Child, and came across a little offhand comment from a mother of three: Another child would … tip us over into another category: that of the Big Family, the sort that, dispite how well-behaved the children are or how fantastic the wife’s guacamole she brings over, simply entails too big a crowd I hadn’t exactly thought of Rory as a social liability… I really do make good guacamole.

Apparently Lily Needs Another Little Sister Originally uploaded by kjda During Rory’s time out. Can’t cure the tantrums in one day after all! KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone

Whoa! Originally uploaded by kjda KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone

Thanks, New Kid’s Store! Originally uploaded by kjda In honor of the grand opening of our semi-new kids store (and to understand the magnitude of this, you must realize that there is no kid toy or clothing stories in town), there were girl gift bags, and boy gift bags. I know it’s a little blurry, but you can see the intensity with which the purple lip gloss is being applied. To lips. To cheeks. To forehead. Every once in a […]

On the way out Originally uploaded by kjda Now that she grasps what trick or treating is, she may never come back. KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone

It’s Here! Originally uploaded by kjda Genuine snow, about 2 inches of it. Enough to sled on and toss a small snowball or two. Enough to force me to finally get out the snow pants. Enough to thrill everyone and count as Rory’s true first snow. She loved it. The funny thing is, we went to a Waldorf winter fair today. Waldorf being what it is, there is no Santa, but there IS a King of Winter, who was walking […]

I took only Rory and Lily to dinner at the home of one of their friends recently. New friends, a family I didn’t know, along with another family we were already acquainted with (the boys were home on the sick side with Rob). The new friends have two daughters, 2 and 4, and although I don’t have the impression their girls are peaceful and retired types, I’m not sure they were prepared for Rory–who took one look at their large, […]

But I’m not going to go into details. And actually, all this reclusiveness and the MRRPHS and the Thingy and the HH wasn’t because I’m worried about my fellow parents involved in Thingy. Actually, it was all reasonably civil, and although some ugly things happened they were reasonably civil ugly things, and I will have an interesting story to tell everyone one of these days. Nah, the parents within Thingy–I mean, I’d already written a litter, so saying I’m all […]

The American Girl Doll Store Originally uploaded by kjda Yum…but after, there was Orange Cup Yogurt: my new absolute fave. KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone

Rainbow Cupcake results Originally uploaded by kjda And indeed, they made everybody very happy. Well, everybody except me. KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone

Today was an easy day with nicely set apart activities, little rushing–it should have been so easy. But I decided I needed to do something on the computer during the hour in between one thing and another (order a new bike helmet) and then it took longer than I expected, and then, oh, then, Wyatt took my whatever! Rory wont let me have my turn! Lily not hellpin’ me! In other words, from all three, loud and clear: pay attention […]

Lily Rocks the Hula Hoop (and more) Originally uploaded by kjda > > Lily had a friend’s festive birthday party, obviously, which she attended with enthusiasm today. It was all of 40 degrees here, but still an improvement over yesterday’s rain, which just went on and on. I am a little grumpy…we had our big annual party sort of thing here Friday night, a museum auction, and I had such a good time that it’s a little bit of a […]

Well, yes, yes it is. In fact (and this is awful, and I know it), you were already annoying. Far more annoying than your brothers and sisters. and I’m trying to figure out why.   Rory doesn’t mean she’s annoying, of course. She means she’s annoyed (by Lily’s singing in the car, and in this case, she’s absolutely right). But ti’s something she says often, and oh, it rings so true for me. Why is Rory (4, and home for […]

We’re crazy for baby names. The marketing genius behind Nameberry.com knows it, and she knows that any time she can release some new scoop on who’s naming who what, the parenting world will pounce. We believe names matter, and we’re right: as Sierra wrote earlier this year, girly names doom a boy to teasing and poor-sounding names decrease your odds of success. As Time magazine put it, we want to be unique, but not too unique. Or maybe we do […]

How is this not getting more news coverage? I know, Wikileaks has compromised the “war on terror” and oil still oozes into the gulf, with a storm bearing down on it for good measure. I know, President Obama is going on The View. But for pure newsworthy entertainment value, how did the camera crews of the world manage to miss Kate Gosselin and her 8 Goss-lings going camping with Sarah Palin? You have to figure the shoe has yet to […]

From this month’s O Magazine, perhaps the most off-base advice Dr. Phil has ever given. To a SAHM unhappy without her career, Dr. Phil says, in essence, tough. “Bloom where you’re planted” has never sounded so patronizing. A mother of two writes in, saying that she and her husband agreed, before having kids, that she would stay home until they were in full-time school. Now that the kids, aged 2 and 4, are actually here, demanding snacks and generally absorbing […]

Kids on Bikes Originally uploaded by kjda KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone —

A friend, neighbor and fellow blogger is a big devotee of Parenting On Track, and last week I persuaded her to loan me her cds for in-car listening. She has three kind, thoughtful and independent girls (at least they look that way to me) and I know she’s followed the program to the letter. I’ve known other people who’ve gone to seminars and raved about them, and I’ve felt in need of some guidance lately. I lose my temper too […]

It was Sam, my big guy’s, turn to have a rough day. It was a teacher in-service day for Sam and Lily, and Lily fulfilled a long-overdue wish to go to school with Rory and Wyatt. I don’t think she had as much fun as she expected to, but that’s another story. Sam and I planned to go ski Killington with friends. The weather was less than super, but a morning skiing was doable (half-price day for locals, too!). But […]

Farewell, Great Wolf Lodge Originally uploaded by kjda KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone — KJ Dell’Antonia www.kjdellantonia.com