thanks

Due to my news-induced rising blood pressure, I've sworn off watching tv until Tuesday. This has given me some time to think about my personal life and my wonderful family. Over the past 17 months my family has gone through some difficult times. I got a promotion, lost my job, moved twice and had a baby. Any one of those things happening to a family is cause for increased stress levels, but all in less than a year and a half would cause some to just lay down and cry. I feel it's not out of line to thank a few people whom have been particularly wonderful to us during our times of turmoil and triumph. First of all, thank you to my wonderful wife for all the love and support. I really couldn't be who I am without you baby. I love you so much. Cort, Dave, Fia, Roman. You guys have been so helpful and supportive. Thank you for opening you home to us and treating us well. You're all ok in my book. Mom, Dad, Justin, we couldn't have sustained life without your support. Thank you so much for everything. I can't wait to bend a few elbows with you on my birthday. Mammy and Grandpa, you've shown me nothing but warmth and compassion during a time when I'm sure you just wanted to strangle me with your bare hands. Thank you for not widowing my wife. Grandmom and Popops, you guys are undeniably the most wonderful people I've ever met. Nicey, Micky, Adam and Jenny, I know you've gone through some changes in your families too. I love all of you and I'm so happy to be part of your family. UB, you're more awesome than you probably know. Aunt Trudy and her wonderful family, I hope we can all reconnect soon. Bobbi Jo, I know you didn't have to do some of the things you did. You are kind and wonderful and I'm so glad to have you as a friend. Thanks to everyone who gave me a positive recommendation so I could land a new job. For the record, I applied to just over 600 jobs in just under 60 days. It's hard out there. I apologize in advance if I missed anyone. Thanks again....until next time.

as promised

I said before that I would comment on what I hear back from my congressman when I hear back from my congressman. Well, I've heard back via email. Here is the response to my letter of concern:

Dear Mr. Davis,

Thank you for contacting me with your views regarding ongoing federal budget negotiations.  It is good to hear from you, and I would appreciate your continued input on important issues facing our nation. 

During the greatest economic crisis our country has seen in a generation, I do believe Congress must pass a budget that is fiscally responsible.  In addition, I believe we must pass a budget that lays out a pragmatic timeframe for reducing our $14 trillion national debt, a debt we should not pass down to our children.  However, while reducing the national debt remains one of my main priorities, Congress must ensure certain programs such as Social Security and Medicare are not raided or cut in order to pay off unrelated debts. Current proposals continue to include cuts to these programs, when such suggestions should be off the table.  We must also protect benefits for our active duty military, military retirees, and veterans.  Balancing the nation's budget on the backs of seniors and our current and past servicemembersis unacceptable. Rest assured as Congress continues to consider future budget proposals I will keep your views in mind, and I will work with my colleagues on common sense solutions toward addressing the United States economic situation.

Thanks again for taking the time to contact me.  If you would like to learn more about my positions on the issues or stay updated on important developments in Congress, please visit www.kissell.house.gov and sign up for our E-Newsletter to keep you more informed of my work in Congress.  Please check my website for more information.  I look forward to hearing from you again soon.

Sincerely,

 
Larry Kissell
Member of Congress


I"m kind of up in arms about this response. It is definitely a "reply all" kind of response. I'm sure that the Congressman's staff has one-size-fits-all emails that they use to reply to different national/international issues. I'm just not sure if that's good enough for me. My Congressman represents me. I know he represents a bunch of other people too, but I'd like to think that if he wants my vote, he would take the time to give a legitimate response to an honest voter's concern. Anyway, that's my take. let me know what you think.

out of many, we are one

After watching the President speak last night I feel it's my responsibility to make a few comments. First of all, the President spoke well. If nothing else, he's an eloquent speaker and has good speech writers. But he didn't really say anything. There was no substance, no time line and no announcement of an agreement. Where is that speech? I am a "real American" (what does that mean anyway???). I depend on both national and local forms of government to maintain my lifestyle. I'm a voter and a taxpayer. I have a voice, a keyboard and internet access. So here I go: I, like many of you, have been following the debt ceiling situation over the past few months. The media tells us that the government runs out of money on August 2nd. What does that mean? I don't know. Does it mean that we will default on our current loans? If so, what does that mean? Does it mean that millions of social security checks will not go out? I doubt it because old people vote and no state or local representative can get elected without the votes of old people. Does it mean the wars are over? I don't know, but probably not because someone has to get elected in 2012 and if we pull out of the war, it will be spun that democrats are week and unable to manage a time of war. Does it mean the Chinese will move into Camp David and the US government will charge them an agreed upon rental amount? Probably not because it'll take 3 branches of government 25 years to agree on how much to charge and by that time China will have bought America and turned it into their cornhole court. So, where are we in the eyes of the government? I don't know. In order to get a better perspective on this situation, I emailed Congressman Larry Kissell this morning (my representative for the 8th district of North Carolina; THE FIGHTING 8TH!). I have not yet received a response, but it's still early. I'll comment on what I hear back when I hear back. The media continues to doom and gloom us into thinking the country sucks and we have to watch the news in order to survive. Heaven forbid we change the channel and Nike and Miller Lite won't buy advertising time. Michael Jordan needs to sell those shoes man. For a perfect example I just heard this statement on a news program I watch every morning, "Washington can't agree on a deal. But maybe they will. We'll be right back to discuss it more." What? Then to 3 minutes of commercials about violent films, beer, shoes and carpet replacement companies. Is anyone as outraged about this situation as I am? Or do you have more sense than I do and ignore the news and go about your life? I'm pretty sure that regardless of the debt ceiling situation, I'll still have to go to work on August 3rd.

plans of her own...

Tuesday at 3:37am our second little girl came into our lives. here's the story: our plan was to check into the hospital on Wednesday morning and our scheduled c section was to be completed by 7:20am. However Evelyn had her own plans which we would find out soon enough. On Monday I hurried home from work at 7pm because I had some things to take care of before we were to check into the hospital on Wednesday morning. I needed to cut a friends grass and pick up a new (used) glider with ottoman for Evelyn's room (finally complete). So I get home, change my clothes and I'm running out the door when I notice that rings on my wife's key chain were one short of a pair. A few months ago she took her rings off because her fingers were swollen as a result of the pregnancy. I asked if she had lost one. She said no. Well there's only one here. What? let me see. it was her great grandmother's ring and sure as shit, it was lost. A few years ago, I had had it refinished and added a sapphire and given it to her as an engagement ring. This ring was about 200 years old and it meant quite a lot to Jackie. So, nine months into what wasn't the easiest pregnancy in the world, she's balling on the floor of the living room wondering what could have happened to her family heirloom. I hated to do it, but I had stuff that needed to be done. So I said, "i'm really sorry baby. I have to go. I'll be back as soon as I can." So I go cut the grass, then pick her and Gracyn up at home. We drive to pick up the glider (sweet by the way) and start on an adventure to look for the ring. We drove to 3 different parking lots where she had been that day. Didn't find it anywhere. Tore the house apart, the car, got on my hands and knees in the parking lot of Target and Babies 'R Us. nothing. By the time we get home, it's about 11pm. So I get some food (haven't eaten all day) and take a shower (I still stink from the grass cutting) and walk the dogs. (i'm getting to the point now). I get back to the house at about 1am. I sit down and start watching something mindless on tv; it's how I relax at the end of the day. Jackie comes downstairs at 1:45. "my water just broke." SHIT. we weren't prepared at all. We were so certain that we were going to have a scheduled c section on Wednesday that it never dawned on us that Evelyn might have plans of her own. So I scramble around the house, throwing random items that we may or may not need into a bag, and start making phone calls. All we really needed was for someone to come over and hang out at the house for a few hours while we were at the hospital. Gracyn was sleeping and she rarely wakes up in the middle of the night. I called Bobbi Jo, I called Brian, Jackie called Kelly, I call Jimmy, I called Jessee, Jackie called Cortney, Carmen, I called Jason. YES! Our friends that live right up the street have an 11 month old and they were awake anyway because he had an ear infection. I get all of Gracyn's crap together, wake her up, load her into the car and drive her to our savior's house. Thanks Carm and Jason. You guys are truly life savers! If it wasn't for you, Evelyn probably would have been born on my kitchen floor. (I would have swiffered first!). We high tailed it to the hospital. I didn't get lost this time! YEAH! the 4 minute drive to the er took more like 2 minutes as I squealed tire around every corner, ran every red light while Jackie was in the passenger seat saying things like, "slow down please. it's not going to do us any good if you get into an accident or get arrested before we get there. THE SEAT BELT IS DIGGING INTO MY BELLY! SLOW DOWN!" I didn't care. I was moving. So we get to the emergency room and I pull up to the er valet entrance. As we drove up, there was a cop convention outside the er entrance. (my registration is expired). At the moment I couldn't care less about the registration. I pull up, jump out of the car, run around to the passenger door and one of the cops is helping Jackie out of the car already. (good thing. it's not like any of them were doing anything anyway.). I tell the cop that Jackie's contractions are about 2 1/2 minutes apart. the cop knew what time it was. he helps Jackie into a wheelchair and walked at warp speed to the maternity ward (all the way on the other side of the hospital campus). We get to he nurses station, there was about 8 of them standing around talking. "um, hi. we're having a baby." They asked if she was having contractions. I said yes and told them the duration. Organized chaos ensued. They grabbed Jackie and threw her in the closest room, propped up her knees and started feeling around. She was 8cm dilated! This baby's coming now! Dr. Wood (obgyn) comes in and talks to us for a few minutes. "well you're 8 1/2cm dilated now. do you want to continue with your c section plans?" "yes. our first daughter was born via c section. let's just do it that way again." Anesthesiologist comes in, "you ready to get prepped for surgery?" "yes. do it already." Nurses come back in and feel around a little more. 9cm. "no time for surgery. you wouldn't make it to the room. the baby's coming out now." "epidural?" "no time for an epidural." SHIT. I tried as hard as I could to calm Jackie down. She was crying and clenching and sweating. Not more than 20 minutes later I see the head. 2 minutes later, I the head is out. 30 seconds, the shoulders. Push baby. it's almost over. you're doing so good. (i force the tears back remembering the somber words of my mother: "don't let your wife see you cry! man up and get in there and show her everything is going to be alright!") Evelyn pushed her shoulders through, her chest, torso, hips, legs, feet. I'M A FATHER OF TWO! Dr. Wood did his little squirting air into her throat and nostrils thing (freaked me out). She cries. I cut the cord (by the way, the cord is kind of hard to cut through. it's like cutting through a 14/3 cable). The nurses clean her up and give her to mommy. Tears. Final stats: 7lbs, 9oz, 20in. Labor time: 1 hour 52 minutes; 4 stitches. I'm so proud of you Jackie! You're tough as nails, sweet as pie and cute as a button. How did I get so lucky?

new roomate

well i hadn't planned on discussing anything personal on this blog, but since no one is reading it and i'm expecting another member of my family in 2 days I figure, what the hell. Evelyn America Davis is scheduled to enter the world via c section on Wednesday morning. I'm sure that this delivery will be more smooth and uneventful than my first daughter's entrance. The first daughter of the Davis family absolutely tortured her mother for close to 19 hours before she was delivered. as the father and more importantly the husband I felt tortured as well. Jackie nearly broke my hand, forehead and sole with her shouting and clenching as we patiently awaited becoming parents for the first time. Throughout that day I felt such a sense of satisfaction that I did the right thing by marrying Jackie. She showed magnificent charisma during what had to be an agonizing experience. I've never been so proud of anything as I was of Jackie in that moment. Jackie and I had spent the night before staying up late and watching movies because we figured it would be the last time for a long while that we would be able to do that. after finally falling asleep at around 4am, Jackie's water broke just before 6am. we hightailed it to the hospital (a 4 minute drive from our house) and somehow I got lost on the way. i was a little distracted. Jackie's mom met us at the hospital and stayed with us all day. all day. she was the voice of calm that we both needed. I will forever be in debt to her for adding an element of unruffled support that day.

anyway, Evelyn's room is done. Had to install a ceiling fan, hang some letters, move some stuff around but all in all it wasn't too tough. We have plenty of diapers, bibs, burp clothes, receiving blankets, onesies, fake nipples everything you might think you need. however, i'm sure that i'll have to run to target a few times in the first week. you never know what's going to come up. when Gracyn was about a month old, my dad and I were watching her. that afternoon she pooped like an elephant. i'm not kidding. it got everywhere. we had no idea what to do. after the scent of the most foul thing you could imagine wafted through the living room, we picked up the little pooper by the armpits and looked at each other for what seemed like 20 minutes. we started giggling a little both wondering what our next move should be. what the hell do we do now. so I carried Gracyn to the kitchen sink, dad holding a towel under her so no poop leaked onto the carpet. holding her over the sink, my dad cut her clothes off with scissors, picked them up with tongs and put them in a plastic bag. he sealed the bag. step one complete. then he turned on the water and activated the little hose in the sink. as he squirted her down with water i swear she was laughing at us. after she was hosed down he grabbed a towel and we wrapped her up. yep you guessed it, she shit again. SON OF A BITCH. open the bag back up, add the towel, rinse, repeat. after she had gotten it all out of her system we wrapped her up in another towel. as I walked with her back to the living room she fell asleep. shit. now we have to put a diaper and onesie on a sleeping baby. we developed a plan. I was to lay her on the changing table while keeping my hand under her head and lift her legs with my other hand. dad would slide the diaper under her, fasten it and we would worry about dressing her when she woke up. what could go wrong? so i lay her down, get her legs lifted and as dad slid the diaper under her raisin like butt. she peed on us. you've got to be kidding. you're doing it on purpose aren't you? she didn't wake up. if she had woken up, we could change her diaper put some clothes on her and put her down to sleep. so, back to the drawing board. after brainstorming for a few minutes, we said screw it. we didn't try the diaper or the clothes. wrapped her in an additional towel. i sat in the rocking chair with a naked baby wrapped in two towels and watched the bowling tournament until mom got home. time to pass off the kid and grab a drink.

as terrifying as that 30 minutes was, I'm looking forward to experiencing more memories just like it.

I can't wait to meet you Evelyn. I'll try to be the best dad I can; if that includes washing poop off in the sink, then so be it.

-dfb

casey anthony

i'm rufusing to use spell check and/or punctuation in this message. if casey anthony doesn't have to play by the rules of society...then damn it, niether do i. i'll admit that as i imagine most of you have watched limited amounts of this trial on tv and read limited amounts of infomration in the news papers. the conclusion i have come to at this point is that a 2 year old child is dead. i think that most of us have gotten past that fact. we get all wrapped up in what was or was not disclosed to the police or what kind of person casey anthony really is and we forget that a poor defensless kid is no longer living. what the hell? that's like paying such close attention to the garnish on your plate, you don't notice that you're about to eat an elephant turd. isn't preservation of life the most inherent instinct in a mother? so who went wrong here...was it casey anthony or did she just not get that part of the human psyche. so if that's the case, should we prosecute that human psyche? should all mothers be put on watch becasue this mom effed up? what happens the next time a psyche gets out of line?

anohter theory: this was all a scam by national (or possibly international) agencies plotting for all of us to be talking about this instead of something else that may or may not be happening right now. maybe they don't want us to notice that there a two wars going. maybe there is about to be a military cue...we won't notice because we're all on the internet bitching about the casey anthony trial....and of course lindsay lohan...we probably won't pay any attention to the space ship hovering over the white house. but we do need to talk about these things in the public light. i think it's ok that this trial got as much attention as it did. we like to have an open debate in our society and this is just the ticket. no other trial event in our generation has been as talked about more than the oj simpson trial. yeah, it is a shame to have a double homicidal maniac or a toddler killer on the streets, but it affords us the opportunity to talk about the criminal justice system, the judiciary system, the role of law enforcement and of course lindsay lohan. these things should be talked about in the light of day...it just sucks that no one would be talking about it if it was a just and fair conviction.