Stolen from the comments of the Tampa Bay Business Journal

Newly Proposed Peramble To The Constitution: "We the sensible people of the United States, in an attempt to help everyone get along, restore some semblance of justice, avoid more riots, keep our nation safe, promote positive behavior, and secure the blessings of debt-free liberty to ourselves and our great-great-great-grandchildren, hereby try one more time to ordain and establish some common sense guidelines for the terminally whiny, guilt ridden, delusional, and other liberal bed-wetters. We hold these truths to be self evident: that a whole lot of people are confused by the Bill of Rights and are so dim they require a Bill of NON-Rights." ARTICLE I: You do not have the right to a new car, big screen TV, or any other form of wealth.. More power to you if you can legally acquire them, but no one is guaranteeing anything. ARTICLE II: You do not have the right to never be offended. This country is based on freedom, and that means freedom for everyone -- not just you! You may leave the room, turn the channel, express a different opinion, etc; but the world is full of idiots, and probably always will be. ARTICLE III: You do not have the right to be free from harm. If you stick a screwdriver in your eye, learn to be more careful; do not expect the tool manufacturer to make you and all your relatives independently wealthy. ARTICLE IV: You do not have the right to free food and housing. Americans are the most charitable people to be found, and will gladly help anyone in need, but we are quickly growing weary of subsidizing generation after generation of professional couch potatoes who achieve nothing more than the creation of another generation of professional couch potatoes .. ARTICLE V: You do not have the right to free health care. That would be nice, but from the looks of public housing, we're just not interested in public health care. ARTICLE VI: You do not have the right to physically harm other people. If you kidnap, rape, intentionally maim, or kill someone, don't be surprised if the rest of us want to see you fry in the electric chair. ARTICLE VII: You do not have the right to the possessions of others. If you rob, cheat, or coerce away the goods or services of other citizens, don't be surprised if the rest of us get together and lock you away in a place where you still won't have the right to a big screen color TV or a life of leisure. ARTICLE VIII: You do not have the right to a job. All of us sure want you to have a job, and will gladly help you along in hard times, but we expect you to take advantage of the opportunities of education and vocational training laid before you to make yourself useful. (AMEN!) ARTICLE IX: You do not have the right to happiness. Being an American means that you have the right to PURSUE happiness, which by the way, is a lot easier if you are unencumbered by an over abundance of idiotic laws created by those of you who were confused by the Bill of Rights. ARTICLE X: This is an English speaking country. We don't care where you are from, English is our language. Learn it or go back to wherever you came from! (Lastly....) ARTICLE XI:You do not have the right to change our country's history or heritage. This country was founded on the belief in one true God. And yet, you are given the freedom to believe in any religion, any faith, or no faith at all; with no fear of persecution. The phrase IN GOD WE TRUST is part of our heritage and history, and if you are uncomfortable with it, TOUGH!

I was 32 weeks on Saturday, so I'm in the home stretch now at 8 months pregnant.  Only 7 weeks and 5 days until my due date and only 4 week and 5 days until I am considered full term.  I know I won't be having her at 37 weeks, but I really doubt I'll be making it to 40 weeks either.  She is now in a head down, anterior position so she's getting ready to go!  I haven't dropped completely yet, but I would definitely say she is engaged in my pelvis.  I'm getting excited and nervous.  We still have a lot to do down in on the bottom floor and I feel like it's never going to get done.  My home visit is in just 3 weeks and I need to have everything ready to go and I just feel like it's not going to happen.  We also need to pay the midwife another $100 for renting the birthing tub.  I wrote out my birth plan also, and will be posting it on here after I edit it a little more and there's one or two things I'd like to add to it also so once I've done that I'll put it in another posting.


I also have my most recent tummy pics but once again that will have to be another post :)

So a little about me, because if you're actually reading my blog you may actually want to know where I'm coming from.

I'm a Florida girl born and raised and Florida will always be my home....eventually I may even end up back in the state for good, but for now I'm moving back and forth and all over with my husband.

Speaking of my husband, I've been married for 4 1/2 years, and been with him for 12 years in September. He was my high school sweetheart :) Michael has been my rock and helped me through some times in my life that were both good and bad and I'm thankful that I have him. We also have 3 kids, James who is 5, Jade who will be 4 in November, and Steven who will be 2 in November and we are expecting Willow who is due late October. My kids and my husband are my life, under God of course.

The things that make me who I am are God first and foremost, then my family, both my immediate ones I have right now, and the family I grew up with. I have a very close family and although we have our moments where life interferes I know that I can count on them if I really have a need. They are just awesome like that.

As for my views, I am conservative with most of my views and have been since I was 8 years old. I am for less government, I don't want to be told by the government, when, how, or how much. Especially when it comes to my children. I do want the government to provide protection, public education for those who choose to utilize it (although it should be adequate and not the way it is now), and help for those who need it, but I do not believe in lifetime welfare. In fact I think that church's and not for profit organizations should be encouraged to help those in need more than the gov't should be required to give it. I believe in the right to access to things like healthcare, jobs, and money, but that we are not entitled to any of these things and we must work for them.

As for parenting, I am an AP parent, which just means that the needs of my children are put before mine MOST of the time. Not all of the time, but I nurse/feed when they are hungry, not when I say they should be, and sleep when they are tired. I encourage night time sleeping, so I am most definitely NOT allowing my children to just play all night long, but during the day I allow naps when they are tired, even if it means I miss out on doing something, or running an errand or something like that. My children do not run my life, but I do think there are certain things that parents should sacrifice and realize they have to sacrifice when having children. I also breastfeed until the baby is ready to stop, I don't force that issue, it's a mixture of nutrition and comfort after a year old and the benefits of breastfeeding after a year continue, it doesn't stop magically as soon as the baby turns 12 months old. I baby wear my infants constantly, and my older infants moderately because I believe that closeness develops bonds that encourage Independence. Once your child feels comfortable in relying on you, they are more likely to go out and seek independence on their own rather than being pushed into it. Same with our co-sleeping. We bed share and co-sleep from birth until the 1st year at least, and then slowly encourage the transition to their own beds. This has worked very well and all three of our children sleep in their own beds, with only cuddles in the morning.

I am also one of those weird non-vaxing moms. My oldest two are fully vaccinated at this point, but will not be receiving any more vaccines, and my youngest hasn't received any, and will in total receive 4 vaccines and so will our new little girl. I have done extensive research into what is in vaccines, and the history of vaccines, and feel this is what's best for our family. I do not believe vaccines are the miracle a lot of people believe they are as the diseases that vaccines have claimed to "cure" were all on a decline long before the vaccine was introduced.

We are also a homeschooling family. We chose this method of education mostly because of my husband's career as a solider in the Army but it works on many levels for us. It has been challenging at times but it works well for us. We don't have to worry about moving from school to school as my husband gets new orders, or the quality of the schools we attend and we have more freedom to learn whenever or wherever we are.

I will post more blogs as I go along about the things I'm passionate about, including my home birth that is coming up :)