I Love Monsters and Libraries.

On our way to Wegman's Monday,  Ami and I were listening to the radio. Ina May Gaskin was a guest on the Diane Rehm Show. I wish I could have listened to it the whole way through, but I got just a little snippit. She mentioned that 1% of births in the U.S. happen at home, while that 1% gets the flack for all the birth mishaps.

I think Midwives have more knowledge overall about giving birth than doctors and hospital nurses do.  In one of the books I read when I was pregnant with Ami, doctors aren't being taught how to deliver breech births anymore. If the baby is breech, it's automatically a C-Section. The art of helping a woman give birth isn't being acknowledged and is becoming lost.

I've been doing my exercises to train the baby into birthing position- I've been doing the Kegels as well. They're so important and doctor delivered mommas aren't told to do them. It is amazing to me.

Don't get me wrong, doctors are handy in emergencies... I think they know they are only needed when surgery is involved so they involve it often.

On to another subject...  

Tuesday was lovely.

The weather chilled on the heat front for a bit and we went down to Reston to visit one of my favorite ppl.

We met at his house then drove to a sushi place to pick up sushi. While we waited for our order, we went into the used bookstore and browsed. Ami WAS SO CRANKY!!! and my patience is much thinner than it has been so we didn't get the book I wanted to get for her.   Ah well... I realized she was a bit hungry which contributed to her crankiness.  

On our way back to the house, I gave Ami a banana and she calmed down a bit.

We ate beautifully plated sushi on the balcony garden. It was so nice. Ami ate a whole bowl of edamame and tried just a little bit her sweet potato roll.  I ate the others for her as well as the cucumber avocado rolls.  Yummmm.  

We played with bubbles then I realized we needed to head home to beat traffic.

Right before we left, Ami played with two toy dragons she wanted to take home.  She didn't, but later on she remembered them and asked about the dragons.

Before we went home, we stopped by my sister-in-law's house where my mother-in-law and the fam were. They were busy helping Trish get the downstairs of the house ready for new renters. 

We played w Thomas and Cathy upstairs then we ordered dinner from Tarntip. It was pretty tasty. 

After dinner, Ami and Cathy read a fairy book together.  I'm thinking we could make one of our own.

Either for her or for Ami's friend Sarah... or both.

We came home. I watched Tattoo School which was pretty lame. 

I've honestly been on the fence about it, considering I know how hard it is to get an apprenticeship and deal with what you get dealt esp when you are a minority in the field, specifically being openly gay. 

But what I realize an apprenticeship does is break down egos... something I think is very important for tattooing.

If tattoo schools were like art schools, I think maybe tattooers may feel differently.  The students would get critiqued and broken down.  I think there may be less appreciation for what students have going to tattoo school than if they went through an apprenticeship. I heard a lot of praise and the students were able to take more risks than if they were out of school. The school also seems like it is producing future scratch shop owners and gaining money doing so.
Not that art school isn't shit. It is.
I'm also thinking ppl going to a tattoo school aren't taught what a good tattoo is, and probably don't go about figuring it out.

I think this is what most tattooers are trying to say but are too blinded by rage to express it.

On a lighter note, here is a monster that Cookie Monster is presenting that Ami drew.

And here Ami is playing at the Library. I may or may not join a "Mommy Group" that meets at the library every third Wednesday. There were some crazy kids up in there- standing on tables and just causing a raucous. I could hear them on the other side of the library. 

I was SO TIRED AND CRANKY today.  Ugh.  I still am. My tummy is acidic and my brain is mushy. I barely played with Ami today, I just tried to sleep after we got home from the Library.  I actually had her asleep by driving around the neighborhood.  I got her up the stairs and then she woke up and cried and wanted food.  Ah.  Bad timing and poor planning on my part.