13 Weeks

It's true!  We are expecting our third child sometime around September.  Our boys are ABSOLUTELY CONVINCED it is a girl.  I hope it is a girl; but, I know we will all love and adore whomever comes.

We are so grateful we ALL got to hear her/his heartbeat at our first prenatal appointment last week.  The next morning, my 4yo said to me, "mom, when I heard that heartbeat, it sounded like a girl".  He's probably right, you know.  My boys are crazy-intuitive.  But, like I said, totally OK either way!

We had been trying for many months.  This wasn't normal for us.  We were fortunate before.

When things weren't "working", we tried not to worry.  We made some changes.  I was worried my health was affecting our probability.  My husband was worried about his health!  Some red flags went off.  My dad moved out at the end of August 2013.  Then, some space in my head cleared a bit.

I realized that we had always had our Culligan water filtration system working for our other pregnancies (it broke 3 or 4 years ago...was fixed and broke again).  Soooo, I bought a special shower filter and a "bath ball" filter to make sure we weren't getting harmful chlorine in our bodies (which, especially after flooding last year, smelled worrisome strong).  We have always filtered our drinking water and I don't know why I did not think of the shower filter sooner...(btw, I am looking for a new drinking water filter and would prefer a portable one...any suggestions?)

After my vitamin debacle (who knew vitamins could be so...harmful!), I decided to follow the FODMAP diet very closely and not eat ANYTHING that might cause problems for me...and, something worked.  Last November, I had a really good month!  I need a "repeat" button, however.

Also, my husband and I were trying to make sure everyone got a good night's sleep (and weren't thinking about our hormones aligning); so, my husband was sleeping in our son's room and would move our younger son to sleep in our bed with me.  We talked to our boys about it; and, it took a lot of ups and downs and adjustments before we were all sleeping well again.  But, we did it! 

And, lo and behold, we conceived after making these changes (and, we will never know if any of them made a difference; but, we are grateful everything aligned).  27 weeks to go!  We are so EXCITED!

Raise the Minimum Wage

This is something I feel strongly about.  Because I believe in a world that treats people well.  And, I believe it is up to each of us, in each decision we make, to make our world better for those that come after us.  For me, I think of my children and (possibly) grandchildren.

I believe our state and our country should raise the minimum wage.  The argument I have put together (below) is based on Illinois raising their minimum wage from $8.25/hour to $10.00/hour (to more closely match the rate of inflation; but, is still not, in my opinion a "living wage").  This is not a "utopian" viewpoint, as I am sure some people may argue.

The #1 argument is that it costs employers more, especially small business owners, right?  Let’s say a business makes $100,000/year.  Let’s say they have 2 FTE (80 hours/week), that’s $7,280/year if the minimum wage was increased (many SBO have more than 2 employees; but, are likely a mélange of PT).  BUT, that employer is not going to want to lower their income; so, they will raise prices based on what the market will bear.  THUS, NOT ONLY enabling more people to AFFORD their goods/services BUT ALSO not reducing their own income. 

It’s just a fear of the unknown.  And, I get it, no one wants to lose money.  But, seriously, there should not be SO MANY poor people in our country and SO FEW rich.  SO CRAZY.  Everyone can do their part to change this.

This argument has been played out over and over throughout history, ever since the Fair Labor Standards Act of the last century (1938!), I imagine.

Let’s put ourselves also in the shoes of a large business owner, with profits well into the millions.  Those corporations (and possibly their stockholders) would likely easily have $1 million saved somewhere--sitting in some investments (or even offshore accounts), not REinvested into our American economy, really.  Imagine that same $1 million spread out among 1,000 people.  Each of those people would have $1,000, that they WOULD likely SPEND and THEREFORE boost our economy AND our tax base! 

There is no argument here.  It makes sense to raise the minimum wage to (get closer to meeting) the rate of inflation.

Another argument COULD be that teenagers are the ones that would be making more money.  But, REALLY, there are a LOT more people making minimum wage that are NOT teenagers.  But, for argument’s sake, let’s say our teenagers make more money.  THEY ARE OUR BIGGEST SPENDERS!  THEY HAVE THE MOST EXPENDABLE INCOME, percentage wise!  They are always a consideration when new businesses are looking for possible consumers! 

 

Let’s BOOST the economy AND leave the world a little better, one step at a time!!  It starts with raising the minimum wage.