Two Paws Down

Mindy, I thoroughly enjoyed your book review. As a half-breed myself, I related greatly. But that is not what I want to talk about today. I would like to review a book as well. A book that arrived at this house in the mail ealier this week. Allow me to present, “Pat Them Gently” by Melanie Fear-Monger (errr I mean O’Brien).

“When you meet a pet, don’t touch them yet
First, ask ‘please’ and do not tease
Please don’t dare, chase, hit, or scare.
Say a quiet “hello” and be very slow
Softly stroke their fur. They’ll love you for sure if you…
Pat them gently!”

On behalf of dogs everywhere, allow me to retort. Why must humans continue to strike fear in the hearts of their children? I tell you what, I’m far more likely to bite you if you come at me with the ninja-like stealth attack proposed above. And I am not impressed by meaningless human manners or greetings. So you can save your pleasantries for your own phony species. I enjoy to be chased, hit (well slapped rather hard in the face) and scared (unless balloons are involved.) I’m not so sure how I feel about being dared, since nobody has actually approached me with verbal challenges. But I suppose I would enjoy that as well. Finally, I find the punctuation of the last sentence confusing and contradictory. Pat them gently, exclamation point? Huh? Do you want them patting us gently, but with fervor? Idiots.

So, basically everything written in that rag of propaganda is a lie. I get angry just thinking about another generation of humans growing up immersed in the same lies and stereotypes. And I know which one of you sent this to my house. Just know that when you show your face here, it is on. I am going to “unleash” a fury the likes of which your sinuses have never experienced. My fur will rain down on your hypo-allergenic ass. And I double dog dare YOU to approach me the way that your “book” suggests. See what happens then! And that is how you use an exclamation point.

Reilly Dog Out!!!!

I will shout it from the rufftops

I am the voice of reason. I am the man who stands up against tyranny. I speak from a place of painful experience. Having your genitals mutilated is no puppy treat. The penile guillotine is to be feared. Parents please paws and think before you do this thing. There is no need for more bloodshed.

Reilly Dog Out.

A Work in Progress

Mike and I registered at Babies 'R Us over a month ago. I knew there were some things I was going to have to change later, and a month later, I've finally made most of the changes! There's a chance that I'm going to be able to borrow a breast pump from Mike's sister Cheryl, so I still need to add bottle-related items oncce I know what kind of pump it is.

Okay, all you experienced moms and dads out there, take a look and let us know if there's anything we've missed: http://www.toysrus.com/registry/myregistry/index.jsp?overrideStore=TRUS&action=deleteItem&pidnum=3500152

Many thanks to Pamelamers and Mamacita for helping us know what to register for - you ladies are the best!

The Results Are In

The doctor's office called this afternoon, and I'm GD negative = I do not have gestational diabetes! Next time, I will have to make sure the first glucose test isn't scheduled anywhere around Halloween.

Picture me making that cute little baby sign for more

To be honest, after reading the chronicle o' diabetes I was kind of left wanting. There are so many holes that I have to fill with my imagination. For example, what happened between 8 a.m. and 8:10 a.m.? One can only wonder. And only one visual aide? It would have been nice to get some action shots of you in the chair while they drew blood. Or if that's not allowed, at least an artistic rendition of the scene. Finally, I think some segments from others perspectives would have really added to the piece and served to make it more objective. Maybe you could have interviewed the nurses to see if they thought you were really the fearless blood warrior you portrayed yourself to be. Or if you wanted to get a little creative, you could have written about the experience from Stryker's point of view. The only thing I know about Stryker's experience is he gets really excited when Andre Agassi talks about meth. Actually, that scares me a little.

Also, I have a bone to pick with our readers. Why do you all want to maim our child? There is only one reader of this blog who wants our child's penis to remain intact. Only one individual out of the whole lot of you who thinks that the way God made the penis is beautiful and needs to be cherished. I would like to commend that person for going against the crowd and standing up for what they believe in. Please come forward and be recognized.

Adventures From the Blood Lab

This morning, I went in for the three-hour glucose test that looks for gestational diabetes. I brought our laptop so that I could post blog entries in real time, in what would have been a first for the Graves blog. However, Austin Regional Clinic apparently doesn't think that WiFi is a viable technology, because they don't provide it for their waiting room. Anyways, what follows is an hourly account of my time in the lab and waiting room this morning.

8:00 AM - I check in with the receptionist. I notice that there are a lot of other people who schedule 8:00 AM appointments. The waiting room is already full!

8:10 AM - The lab tech draws two vials of blood from my left arm as a baseline. Because I just had blood drawn last week, I am an old pro at this and do not even flinch. But I still do not look and can't bear to see the needle before the lab tech sticks my arm.

8:15 AM - The lab tech gives me the glucose drink. It looks like Gatorade, but it does not taste like Gatorade. I am also unpleasantly surprised at the size of the bottle (see pic below) - when I took the one-hour test last week, they only gave me a Dixie cup to drink. I manage to drink it all, but the after-taste is less than savory.

8:22 AM - I finish the glucose drink, and the lab tech smiles sympathetically and tells me we will draw blood at 9:22 AM, 10:22 AM, and 11:22 AM. I go back out to the waiting room, where I learn there's no WiFi available. At least Bon Jovi is playing on "The Today Show."

9:22 AM - The lab tech notices I'm already bruising from this morning's first blood draw, so she draws one vial from my right arm. I go back out to the waiting room and find that Andre Agassi is on "Regis and Kelly" talking about his crystal meth addiction yet again.

9:50 AM - G-Baby is REALLY moving around. Note to self: keep this kid away from sugar when he gets older.

10:22 AM - I have a different lab tech this time. She draws one vial from my right arm. Although she was better at inserting the needle without too much of a pinch, I kind of miss the first lab tech. I wonder if she is on break or did she go to lunch already? Once I'm out in the waiting room, I discover that Kathie Lee is now on the "The Later Today Show" or whatever it's called. I'm curious how this show is different from "Regis and Kelly," and I wonder why Regis and Kathie just can't reunite.

11:22 AM - My original lab tech is back, and she draws the last vial from my right arm. We're done, and the test is finally over - hooray!

11:30 AM - I am extremely hungry, so I head to Chick-fil-A for lunch.

In total, they drew five vials of blood over three hours - Edward Cullen would have been jealous! My arms were a little sore immediately afterwards, and I have some small bruises, but in all honesty, the overall experience wasn't that bad. I should find out the test results in the next few days. Stay tuned!

G-Baby's Room

We finished painting and putting up a chair rail in G-Baby's room this weekend. I use the term "we" liberally. Read: the chair rail was my grand idea, but I was going to ask Mike to do most of the work. He was a good sport and agreed to take on the project, even though it meant he had to give up some football time on the weekend. He did a good job, and I love how the room looks!

Mike's parents have offered to to buy us a cherrywood crib (in keeping with the tradition that they've purchased all the other beds in our house!), and the bedding we've registered for is blue, white, and chocolate brown. I'm still trying to decide what other decor to add to the wall and/or ceiling. I can't wait to see how it all comes together!

Peds, Sweet G-Baby, and Belly Pics

Mike and I went to a "Meet the Pediatricians" event last night at the doctor's office to see the practice and meet the pediatrician whom my ob-gyn highly recommended. There are six different pediatricians in this practice, and we liked all of them. (In true Mike fashion, he wanted to organize a fantasy draft with the four other couples to see which doctor we would get. Unfortunately, in order to draft our #1 pick, we might have had to rumble with a larger woman who liked to ask astute questions even more than me.) We especially liked the doctor recommended to us, Dr. Spencer. I was impressed with Dr. Spencer because through the course of the event, he was able to successfully persuade Mike that there are some health-related benefits and not just cultural reasons to circumcise G-Baby (see poll to the left).


In other news, I took the 28-week glucose screening test at my doctor's appointment yesterday. I was very proud of myself for staying calm while they drew two vials. Unfortunately, the lab called this afternoon to say that my blood sugar is up, so I have to come in next week for the THREE-HOUR glucose tolerance test. When I asked the nurse if they had to draw blood or if it was a finger-prick, she laughed a menacing cackle and said, "Oh, you should be so lucky to have just a finger-prick!" Very reassuring. So some time next week, I have to go into the lab between 8:00 AM - 11:00 AM - that's THREE hours of drinking sugar water, waiting, and drawing FOUR vials of blood. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that next week's test results will come back negative for gestational diabetes. Stay tuned...

Also, I've been remiss in not posting updated belly pics. Here are some new shots from the last few weeks - as you can see, I'm definitely showing!

Week 24

Week 25
Week 26

Book Review

Pamelamers let me borrow a book called Does Anybody Else Look Like Me? The book is specifically written for either parents of multiracial children or parents who adopt children of another race than their own. I found the book to be thought-provoking, and two realizations come to mind after finishing the book:

1) While reading the book, I couldn't help but reflect on my own childhood as a Korean child growing up with white parents. I thought it was quite interesting that I didn't experience many of the same negative experiences and feelings as the multiracial young people in the book. I'm not sure that I can ever recall a particular instance of feeling isolated because I didn't "match" my white parents. Obviously, I was very aware that we looked different from one another, but I never felt that our family was weird in any way. I guess this speaks to the tremendous job my parents did raising me, if I do say so myself!

2) Until reading this book, it never once occurred to me that people might treat Mike's and my kids differently because they are mixed. Although we are in Austin, the liberal and progressive pulse of Texas, we are still in Texas after all. I expressed this concern to Mike last night who reassuringly told me, "Don't worry, our kids will get teased for many things in addition to their race." And as a school psychologist working with kids every day, I guess he knows.

Overall, I thought the book was a worthwhile read and it definitely had good intentions to help parents prepare for how they can answer their kids' questions about being a multiracial family.