Placenta and Nuchal Cord Charts!

 You know how I like to do those charts (See: Charts!, More Charts!, and Another Chart!)? Well, here are some more:

And a more general look at that:

And then this one:

How Do I Feel About My Bangs?

How do I feel about getting bangs, you ask?

Well, I'm not sure.

I think my expectations were a bit unrealistic.

Looking back on it now, I'm pretty sure that I went into it with the expectation that having bangs would make me into a more beautiful person. But, instead, I look more or less the same. I still look like me. Except I have bangs now.

And I'm not any more beautiful.

I Got Bangs!

It happened. I did it. I really did.

(I suppose I could have posed for a better picture. Those are my pajamas you're seeing.)

I Love Thomas Merton

So, there is this Catholic Trappist monk who was also kind of into Buddhism and interfaith understanding who I really love. His name is Thomas Merton.

Here is a quote from him, in his especially awesome book, "New Seeds of Contemplation":

"A saint is capable of loving created things and enjoying the use of them and dealing with them in a perfectly simple, natural manner, making no formal references to God, drawing no attention to his own piety, and acting without any artificial rigidity at all. His gentleness and his sweetness are not pressed through his pores by the crushing restraint of a spiritual strait-jacket. They come from his direct docility to the light of truth and to the will of God. Hence a saint is capable of talking about the world without any explicit reference to God, in such a way that his statement gives greater glory to God and arouses a greater love of God than the observations of someone less holy, who has to strain himself to make an arbitrary connection between creatures and God through the medium of hackneyed analogies and metaphors that are so feeble that they make you think something is the matter with religion." 

I just love him really a lot. That is all.

Montessori Schools

I was talking to this lady from church about education the other day. Her kids went to a Montessori elementary school (J.J. Hill Montessori in St Paul, for those of you wondering), and she was wondering how they would transition to a regular school setting when they entered junior high. So, when he entered junior high (Ramsey Junior High in St Paul, for those of you keeping track), she asked him how he was transitioning. And he said, "It's easy. The teachers do all the work for you."

And then we were talking about how our church school (St Mark's in St Paul, for those of you still playing along) wanted to increase their enrollment (they're goal is 50 new students in kindergarten for the new school year, but it's been said that they would be happy getting half of that), and I suggested that they should make it a Montessori school because parents today (at least all of my friends) love Montessori and people are willing to pay for a Montessori education. I know I, personally, would rather pay for my kids to have a Montessori education over a Catholic one (which is what I actually do... but we get a HUGE scholarship.). I just don't see much difference (aside from being able to talk about God in school) between the Catholic school model and a regular school. (Vern used to be an elementary teacher and has taught in a couple of Catholic schools.)

Maria Montessori (the founder behind this whole thing) was a devout Catholic, but there is only one Catholic Montessori elementary school in the Twin Cities area, and that is way up in Blaine.

Maybe I should suggest that to the school board or something. Now, if only I were that type of person...