The Good, the Bad, and the Pretttty!

It's been a busy week with no time to blog...so here I am on a Saturday night, and this should give you a good indication of what life is like with an almost-one-year-old. He's in bed by 7:00, and we spend more nights in than we ever imagined. Here are a few fun photos, the first is Myles as we got him ready for bed tonight. He is very fascinated with his shoes, and loves to play with them. The second photo is a drama shot, a reminder in the midst of all the smiley photos that the world of a one year old can come crashing down around them very quickly and life can be just plain hard. Smart enough to know what you want, but not equipped to communicate it, makes for frustration and tears. And a sweet sweet red face. The third photo is Seth at Christmas, and I love it!

This primary season finds our home the center of vigorous debate as Seth and I are lining up behind different candidates (oh to return to the Dean days when we were in it together!). I am all about Barack Obama. The two speeches he gave following the Iowa caucuses and the NH primary have been brilliant in my book. I think he's smart, savvy, positive, articulate, and...the word I think describes him best: dignified. And I'm ready for some dignity in the White House. Seth has been supporting Hillary (which, as a woman, I pretty much dig although I still try to win him over to Obama). So the argument playing out over the news of experience vs. change is the same one we've been having in our house, only ours has lasted more than a few soundbites and been a little more informed on the issues. I am ready to have someone leading our country who I can believe in, someone who bridges this intense polarization in our nation right now, someone who inspires people to believe that we can do things differently. And yes, I am more than ready for a person of color to hold the highest office in our nation. Seth finds some of Obama's hope language a little empty and wants to know where the candidates actually stand on the issues, he wants to read the details of their plans and see how they differ. He believes that we need someone to lead who can get things done, who has the experience of knowing how to get things done. We are both persuaded by the arguments of the other, but still sticking by our folks for now. Seth was pleased that there's still a competitive race coming out of NH, and I guess in some ways that is good for our nation in terms of getting folks invested in the political process.

On the Republican side, I'm just going to throw this out there: we like McCain and we like Huckabee. We disagree completely with McCain's stance on the war, but at least the man is honest and forthright and doesn't feel slippery in the least. Huckabee we disagree with on almost everything, but it's nice to see him win out over Romney's money and there's also a positivity and humor that he has that's somewhat endearing.

What else...Myles got a little sick two nights ago, he threw up twice during the night, but didn't seem sick in any other way and still had a lot of energy and a smile on his face in the morning. We tried to sleep with him after he vomited the first time, and were reminded of how impossible it is to sleep with that little one. He managed to be completely asleep and still poke Seth directly in the eye, and then pull my hair. Then I really had to go to the bathroom cause I had had all this water and I slooowwly rolled out of the bed, tip toed to the door, but as soon as I turned the knob, he woke up. Light sleeper extraordinaire. Finally, we put him back in his crib and turned the monitor up as loud as it could go, and got some sleep. Today, he's refusing to eat anything but Teddy Puffs. Oh, how he loves Teddy Puffs. I managed to sneak some sweet potato, avocado, oatmeal/banana, and cottage cheese down, but just a few bites at each meal before he began waving his hands in front of his face or spitting out the food. Maybe his appetite still isn't back.

Well, that's it from the Hendler-Voss house for now. Have a great weekend yall!