Idiocy In Tennessee

There are two bills going in front of the Tennessee House and Senate this week.  House Bill 2159 and Senate Bill 2136 can be counted as yet another addition to the "banning bill" craze that has unfortunately become a trend in this country.  

The first issue?  The bill will restrict the use of donated embryos to straight, married couples.  Unmarried and gay women would be prohibited from using egg donation and IVF as a means to become pregnant and start a family.  The bill repeatedly refers to 'a woman and her husband' as recipients. 

Even more idiotic?  The married, straight woman who became pregnant through an implanted embryo, carried for the entire nine months, and delivered the child will be legally known and referred to as the ADOPTIVE mother.  Adoptive?  HELL NO.  

Seriously????  So all the bible-beating daughters who get knocked up by their redneck one-night-stands in between their food stamp and Medicaid appointments are good, wholesome, positive examples of family values?  This is virtuous and true?  WWJD?  

But single or gay women who have the commitment AND disposable income to drop $15,000+ to seek egg donation and IVF to realize their dream are an abomination?  

Tennessee recently passed a law that prohibits a single person or gay couple from fostering or adopting at all.  Hence, the reason for classifying egg donation as 'adoption'.  Thank god we have those Republicans in Tennessee using their time to "save" children from a happy and fulfilling life in a single-mother or gay household.  Isn't it so much better for these kids to be caught up and bounced around in an ill-supervised and failing foster care system?  Praise Jesus. 

NBC conducted an evaluation of 257 cities across the US with statistics from the US Census Bureau, National Center for Education Statistics, FBI, National Center for Health Statistics, and the American Bar Association.  The story deemed Clarksville, Tennessee the worst city in the United States to raise a child.  I am thinking it is NOT because Clarksville is where all the gays live.  

Furthermore, what's up with these lawmakers who are wasting time and energy to go out of their way to attack a married woman, who has assumably already has gone through years of infertility treatment and heartache, by pouring salt in her wounds?  Calling her the adoptive mother?  

Idiocy.  Pure and simple.

Can I say again how happy I am that I live in a blue state?

Eight Is Even Better

Yup, he slept for eight hours last night.  

Two amazing nights in a row!

Seems like a habit in the making......

Seven Is A Great Number

Cooper had his first night of 7+ hours of sleep!

Would love this if it becomes a habit in the very near future! We really can't complain, the kid wakes up once around 3am (Maria takes care of it) and again at 7ish (Lori handles that one) before we have to get started on the day. And? Still not one to cry much - we know, we are so lucky!

Maria was off yesterday, and as always, did a million and one things with Cooper. Went to lunch at Ocean Grill with a few other mothers, walked the 67 blocks home, subway down to an event on 5th Ave, and then over to The Irish Rogue to meet Lori, John, and Jim. Have to admit, this was NOT the first time Cooper has spent time in a bar. :-)


So love this outfit! It was a gift from Georgie and Michael, and we are so happy it finally fits! Wanted to get a couple more shots, but Cooper was starved and wanted nothing to do with sitting still and posing. Next time.

Weekend and Smiles

The weekend, as always, goes by way too quickly. We had Suzanne and Arlene over for dinner on Friday, hung around on Saturday until heading to a party at Jasper and Dave's place, and on Sunday walked miles and miles before arriving at B&H to buy a new video camera.

Such gorgeous weather yesterday, and we just needed to be home and in front of the TV by 5pm......

.......because the Missouri Tigers were playing Marquette! As usual, Mizzou had everyone pacing and filled with thoughts they wouldn't see it through! But lo and behold - SWEET SIXTEEN BABY! Had to read the Kansas City Star for the story! Next game is Thursday against Memphis.

Cooper is smiling and cooing and giggling so much now.

Had to post a few pictures! (Cooper is 12 weeks old today)

Captivating? LoL

We have got to admit something..... 

We are in GO Magazine this month, deemed as one of the 'Captivating Couples of 2009' in their annual feature. 

Hey - nothing wrong with a few moments of fame, right?

The whole thing is kind of cool simply because we have each been featured separately in GO Mag's 'The 100 Women We Love' article in the past - 2007 for Maria, and 2008 for Lori.  So this is it for us!  LoL 

Unless they decide to do some sort of cutest kid article.....

Active

Maria was off on Wednesday and Thursday this week, and seems to have done everything except relax. Out to lunch with a friend on Wednesday at a vegan place named Cafe Blossom on the Upper Westside before going to Kidville for a drop-in infant class. Have to see what is out there and available for Cooper, right? Walked all around the city, down to 18th St to stop in at one of the places where Maria works, and then up to meet Lori at 1515.

Next on the agenda? Julie and Andrea's for dinner. Amazing manicotti, and the only down side is that Cooper was a little antsy after sleeping through most of the day in the stroller. We can not complain at all - the kid still doesn't really cry. (whew!) So good seeing them, and looking forward to spending more time up at the lake this summer.



Not looking to overstimulate the poor kid at this very young age, but he did go to another class yesterday. Maria is not usually off on Thursdays - since she was, she and Cooper attended a BabyFingers group on the UES that her friend Melissa leads. Cooper had a "blast" in both classes..... Smiling and cooing and giggling a little. In reality, he of course was oblivious to what was going on around him, but enjoyed laying on the floor spending 1-on-1 time with Maria.

Later on that afternoon, Maria was involved in a focus group at the Museum of Modern Art. It was a VERY cool experience. All participants first checked out the exhibit 'Here Is Every: Four Decades of Contemporary Art', refreshments in the education building, and then back to the gallery where they had a discussion regarding preferences, likes/dislikes, thoughts, reflections, etc. That area of the museum had closed at that point, so it was a whole different experience roaming around in the space with only 15 of us present. Maria is definitely drawn to the larger works. Two of her favorites:

Gerhard Richter 'Cityscape'
1970 6' 6" x 6'

Paul McCarthy 'Baby World'
1984 12' x 21'

Being part of this group was great, and besides being a very cool experience - Maria earned passes to a few hot collections, a catalog of two temporary shows, and a membership to MOMA. She would do it again in a second!

St. Pat's Day

Not a very exciting St. Patrick's Day....  Lori did partake in a typical Irish meal at lunch, and Maria bought a soda bread.  That is about it! We both avoided the Eastside like the plague - no need to ever be immersed in the bridge/tunnel crowd. 

Of course we have a picture of The Boy! :-) 

11 Week Old Man

Cooper is 11 weeks old today!  

It is just amazing that he is getting so big so quickly.  Now, we aren't about to start up with a rousing rendition of 'Sunrise Sunset' at this point.... But it is all going by so fast!  He is smiling more and more every day, and we have even got him to giggle a few times.  Cooper is even starting to get pretty consistent with his 5+ hour stretch of sleep at night, and his naps during the day are longer and more productive too.  So many milestones - so little time! 

A few pictures while hanging around the house on Sunday:

He Did It!

Gabriel went through with it!  He is a shaven god.  And the greatest success was the fact that he surpassed his goal of $300, and raised a total of $740 for pediatric cancer research. So cool that Gabriel made the decision to help out in this way!

This is a fabulous look.  Good for school pictures. :-) 

Gabriel Griffith - you are our hero!

Mizzou and Sneakers

Most important news of the hour.....

Tigers are the Big 12 Champions 

Mizzou beat Baylor 73 - 60!  The first conference tournament win for the Tigers in 16 years!  Hooray!  Hoorah!  Mizzou!  Mizzou!

We got outside and walked around a bit today...... 

Union Square farmer's market, Best Buy (decided to go the B&H route instead), Wash Square Park, Greenwich Village, etc etc.  Great to be out and about.  Cooper got a lot of attention while at the Mexican restaurant, and we are getting quite skilled at holding him AND drinking our margaritas at the same time.  

Love these sneakers! Grandma and Grandpa brought them from Arkansas, and we couldn't wait until the fit Cooper!

Sesame Street - LAYOFFS

First it happened to Wall St, then Main St, and now Sesame Street.....

The 'Word of the Day' is RECESSION.

Sesame Workshop, the non-profit producer of Sesame Street and other kids' programs, is cutting about one-fifth of its workforce because of the economic downturn.  The company said Wednesday that it's eliminating 67 of 355 staff positions.  Declaring it is "not immune to the unprecedented challenges of today's economic environment," the company pronounced a need "to operate with fewer resources in order to achieve our strategic priorities."

Here is the press conference:

Sesame Street Layoffs - watch more funny videos

It is no secret that Maria thinks Sesame Street is THE GREATEST TV SHOW EVER AIRED, and she spent an hour (or more!) checking out clips on YouTube of old sketches and songs and such.....

Found this one, so LIZA, THIS IS FOR YOU:

Mascot Showdown

Michael and Christina came over to watch Cooper this past Sunday while we were at the L Word event downtown, and they brought a gift - a University of Maryland terrapin.  Cooper seemed to take to Testudo pretty well!

In this Mizzou household..... 

It wasn't long before the tiger made his appearance.


Mayhem ensued, but the Terps came out on top.

They are also pushing to make Cooper a Giants fan.

Cooper had to hit 10 lbs before Michael would hold him!
      (luckily, he weighed in at 12lbs 9oz this week)

Grease Is The Word

Tonight we were in a bit of a nostalgic mood, and watched 'Grease' on ABC Family until the Missouri Tigers game began at 9:30pm. Lori was convinced this family-geared channel had cut out more than a few scenes of the movie.

Now, embarrassingly enough, I know this movie inside and out! Every bit of dialogue. I knew we hadn't gotten up to the part where Rizzo sang, 'There Are Worse Things I Could Do', but Lori was adamant it was censored and skipped over.

Each of us felt enough confidence to gamble on our opinion. Bet= $1. Pinky swear. I've got this in the bag. Then? Lori, in her Megown cockiness that we all know and love, decided we should go double or nothing. NO PROBLEM!

Vegas Baby, Vegas!

You should have seen the look of defeat in Lori's eyes as she slowly realized all the gloating about her cinematic superiority was totally without merit.

MARIA WINS AT THUNDER ROAD

St. Baldrick's

Maria's 10-year-old cousin Gabriel is doing a pretty cool thing.... He has decided to shave his head for a charity that strives to conquer childrens' cancer! The organization is called St. Baldrick's, and they help to raise awareness and funds to support cancer research.
Gabriel's goal is to raise $300 for this cause, and the shaving will commence on Saturday, March 15th. Please feel free to check out Gabriel's donation page for more information or to donate money to this organization.

Check back next week for Gabriel's 'AFTER' picture!

L Word Finale

So that is it! It is over! The culmination of 6 seasons. This stupid, cheesy, melodrama (that we all know/hate/love) has now come to its completion, and we are all cut loose to find something else to do on Sunday nights! Approx 1,000 people showed up to The Mansion, and a good time was had by all.

Very cool venue. And a very cool crowd.

As usual, Lori was running the show!
(and with Maria interpreting)

Couldn't pull it off without Margot and Kalina.

So the show ended kind of "Soprano-style" with the producers wanting everyone to have their own theory as to who killed Jenny. Oh please. They should have named someone. Anyone. It would have given everyone some campy closure at least!

Jersey For The Weekend

Since we were going to be busy in DC all weekend, we decided it may be easier for Cooper to spend the weekend in Jersey with Maria's parents. With Liza/Todd and the boys in Florida, they were looking forward to getting him all to themselves..... But it turns out a parade of visitors decided to stop by! Cooper was adequately spoiled, and (luckily) slept very well on this Jersey trip.

Great Grandma came over on Friday AND on Saturday.

A little male bonding.

So the weekend went very smoothly, but we definitely went through 'Cooper Withdrawl' for the couple days we were away.  Thinkin' it will be awhile before we do this again! :-) 

CMT Radio

CMT Radio Party.
This is how Lori spends her time "working" in Nashville.

Check out what is going on with CMT Radio and Reba McEntire if you happen to be interested.

HRC Equality Convention

We were in DC this weekend for the annual HRC Equality Convention.

The NYC group went to Halo for Happy Hour, and then dinner commenced at Buca Di Beppo, which was great, but basically a wannabe Carmine's.

Lots of useful information was shared at the meetings.

Cocktail party and awards on Saturday night.

Amazing news! Lori and Bryan won 'Best Gala Dinner'!

And? New York also received the 'Steering Committee' award!

All in all..... New York took home 10 awards! More than any other community, and definitely all the "biggies" of the night. The whole group has every right to be proud of each and every accomplishment.

This became a theme over the weekend......