And i thought i was busy.

So, i thought i was busy.  Cooking, cleaning, part time work, volunteer work, feeding kittens, laundry, kids, paperwork, automobile maintenance, and more -- all the usual stuff.

Then i read this story, and i realize, i have it easy.

In a nutshell, a couple decide they can't afford fertility treatment that has a low chance of success and prefers to adopt.  They meet the mother who is willing to make an adoption plan for her child*, and when she finds out she is carrying triplets, their response is to say that makes it easier, they get the multi-child family they want without having to go through the adoption process again.

The triplets come along, spend months in NICU, and during that time, wife finds out she is pregnant.  With twins.

They now have one-year-old triplets, and two-month-old twins.  They are averaging 300 diapers a week.  Friends are pitching in, taking shifts.  The ladies in their church are making sure they have home cooked meals.

No matter how much help they have, though, they have a busy, busy life.  It reminds me that i have it easy.  And it reminds me, when baby nostalgia hits, to be grateful mine are all older and potty trained.

*One thing i never, ever say is that a woman "gave a baby up for adoption" or "gave a baby away for adoption."  We give up or give away things we don't want, and the biological mother is making a great sacrifice, not just getting something out of her life the way someone else would donate clothes to the local charity thrift store.  She is making an adoption plan for her precious child, and she should be commended for  it.


Today is:

Aspirin Day -- Bayer received its US patent for the medicine on this day in 1900

Charro Days Fiesta -- Brownsville, TX, US and Matamoros, Mexico (Two Nations - Twin Cultures, a celebration of the charro horsemen of Mexico, with dances, parades, and a carnival; through Mar. 9)

Day of Selene -- Ancient Greek Calendar (goddess of the moon, date approximate)

Equirria -- Ancient Roman Calendar (Cavalry Horse Festival)

Feast of the Incappucciati -- Gradoli, Italy (members of the Confraternity of Purgatory makes the rounds of the town gathering food for the souls in Purgatory, which is served at a banquet next week on Ash Wednesday)

Feast of St. Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows/Gabriel Possenti (Patron of clerics, students, young people; Abruzzi, Italy; Catholic Action)

Fettiger Donnerstag  -- Swabia, Germany ("greasy Thursday", so called because of the greasy Kuchli cakes and pastries made today to use during carnival before the Lent fast)

Florida Strawberry Festival -- Plant City, FL, US (celebrating the winter strawberry harvest; through Mar. 9)

Independence Day -- Dominican Republic(1844)

Majuba Day -- South Africa (celebration of the Boers victory at Majuba Hill)

National Chili Day

National Kahlua Day

National Strawberry Day -- no, i don't know why this isn't in June, when the berries are best; maybe the person who put it here had too much Kahlua

No Brainer Day - this day is for me! created by Adrienne Sioux Koopersmith, "America's Premier Eventologist"

Polar Bear Day -- as declared by Polar Bears International

Read Five Pages in the Dictionary Day -- internet generated, and am i the only one who likes the idea?

Runic Half Month Tyr commences (cosmic pillar)

St. Galmier of Lyon's Day (Patron of locksmiths)

The Hop -- Fairy Calendar

Threepenny Day -- Eton College, England (By the last will of two Provosts in the 16th century, each boy receives a threepenny piece on this day -- enough to buy half a sheep back then.)

Weiberfastnach -- Cologne, Germany (Women's Carnival, the day the women run the pre-Lent celebration)


Anniversary Today:

African Burial Ground National Monument is established, 2006



Birthdays Today:

Josh Groban, 1981
Chelsea Clinton, 1980
Rozanda "Chilli" Thomas, 1971
Grant Show, 1963
Adam Baldwin, 1962
Michael Bolton, 1953
Alan Guth, 1947
Mary Fran, 1943
Charlayne Hunter-Gault, 1942
Howard Hesseman, 1940
Ralph Nadar, 1934
Elizabeth Taylor, 1932
Joanne Woodward, 1930
Ariel Sharon, 1928
John Connally, 1917
James Thomas Farrell, 1904
John Steinbeck, 1902
Gene Sarazen, 1902
Marian Anderson, 1897
David Sarnoff, 1891
Hugo La Fayette Black, 1886
Alice Hamilton, 1869
Ellen Terry, 1847
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1807
Constantine I, 272


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"What Makes Sammy Run?"(Musical), 1964
"Road to Utopia"(Film), 1946


Today in History:

The first Russian Embassy arrives in London, 1557
The Treaty of Berwick, which would expel the French from Scotland, is signed by England and the Congregation of Scotland, 1560
Yuan Chonghuan is appointed Governor of Liaodong, after he led the Chinese into a great victory against the Manchurians under Nurhaci, 1626
Jews are expelled from Austria by order of Leopold I, 1670
The Pacific island of New Britain is discovered, 1700
Poet Lord Byron gives his first address as a member of the House of Lords, in defense of Luddite violence against Industrialism in his home county of Nottinghamshire, 1812
The Dominican Republic gains independence from Haiti, 1844
Composer Robert Schumann is saved from a suicide attempt in Rhine, 1854
Russians shoot at Poles protesting Russian rule of Poland, 1861
The current flag of Japan is first adopted as the national flag for Japanese merchant ships, 1870
Charlotte E. Ray becomes the first African American woman to earn a law degree, from Howard University, 1872
Lord Kitchener opens Khartoum-El Obeid (Nyala) railway, 1912
Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben discover carbon-14, 1940
The government of Italy asks for help to keep the Leaning Tower of Pisa from toppling over, 1964
The American Indian Movement occupies Wounded Knee, South Dakota, 1973
People magazine is published for the first time, 1974
U.S. President George H. W. Bush announces that "Kuwait is liberated", 1991
A Muslim mob kills 59 Hindu pilgrims returning from Ayodhya, 2002
The Shanghai Stock Exchange falls 9%, the largest drop in 10 years, 2007
Central Chile is hit with an 8.8 magnitude earthquake, 2010
Wikileaks begins releasing 5 million emails from Stratfor, a private intelligence company, 2012
At Vatican City, Pope Benedict XVI delivers his farewell address, 2013