Frankenbaby and other silly tales.

It's Tommy...but with the scratch on his head, I've been referring to him as Frankenbaby.

I think we've got a solid Halloween idea there, no?

And this is Tori.  We had grilled shrimp last night (and broiled fish and tons of veggies--my kids will eat anything!).  Tori declared the shrimp to be whistles, and spent most of dinner making music with the shrimp!

This picture of Dani is unremarkable, except if you saw a picture of my mom at the same age, you would think they were twins.  I need to dig up a photo and put them side by side.

 Dani thought shrimp whistles were the funniest thing ever.

In pediatric gastroenterology news, Dani's headed to Albany Med for an upper GI series tomorrow.  Here's hoping we can figure out why she's such a little gaggy kid.  And while Big Man takes her, I'm taking Tommy to the doc for a wellbaby visit.  I hope he doesn't need a shot.  I've never had to do a visit with a shot...

Baby blobs for Obama!

At the Obama event on Monday, I managed to capture just a little bit of video--lifting my arm over my head wasn't really conducive to good picture quality, so it's short.

As this health care debate rages on, I need to weigh in for just a moment. We need a public option for health care. As I sat in the waiting room at my OB's office today, it occurred to me that the entire cost that I will incur for this pregnancy (barring trips to the ER which are a $50 copay) is $15.00. Yep, that's $15.00. This includes every doctor's visit, ultrasound, blood test, etc., including the c-section and stay at the hospital. Pretty good deal, I'd say.

What if I didn't have health insurance, and I was so (gasp!) irresponsible to get pregnant? Clearly, that's what the right would have you believe, that it would be an act of irresponsibility. If I couldn't qualify income-wise for Medicaid, I probably wouldn't be going to the doctor regularly, couldn't afford many of the tests, and my health and possibly my baby's would be at risk. I know people who have had thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket costs associated with hospital stays and pregnancies, and they have insurance. The US is the only developed country in the world where people declare bankruptcy due to medical bills. Small businesses can barely afford to pay for insurance; I had a potential client in my office yesterday who was paying about $600 per month for insurance for he and his spouse, and it is now going up to nearly $900; he's almost 3 years from being old enough for Medicare, and, due to the economic downturn, is living on his $1200 social security check; he's going to spend the next 3 years uninsured; at the age of 63. Where's he going to get a job with benefits in this economy and at his age? He ain't.

If my insurance cost more so others could have it, I would pay more.

If I had to wait a little longer to see my doctor for non-emergent care, I would wait.

Health care for every American is the right thing to do.

Here's my little pro-Obama baby blob, age 8 weeks. He wants me to let everyone know that he supports the public option too and thinks that if people can say that the right to bear arms is a constitutional requirement, then so is health care as it is part of providing for the general welfare (see the preamble mo fo.)

On a lighter note, somebody's got 4 teeth:

(and it's not mommy, she has a few more than that.)