[imported from livejournal and backdated]
World Breastfeeding Week started yesterday and ends on the 7th. I am
still breastfeeding Tao (2.5) as well as Ruan (9 months today).
Also gakked the following from Alternative Baby, from azure who got it off another blog. Thought it was cool.
This is just too good not to pass on; something absolutely positive for a change.
I
have repeatedly seen the breakdown of the cost of raising a child, but
this is the first time I have seen the rewards listed this way. It's
nice.
The government recently calculated the cost of raising a
child from birth to 18 and came up with $160,140 for a middle income
family. Talk about sticker shock! That doesn't even touch college
tuition and a car.
But $160,140 isn't so bad if you break it down. It translates into:
* $8,896.66 a year,
* $741.38 a month, or
* $171.08 a week.
* That's a mere $24.24 a day!
* Just over a dollar an hour.
Still,
you might think the best financial advice is don't have children if you
want to be "rich." Actually, it is just the opposite. What do you get
for your $160,140?
* Naming rights. First, middle, and last! Nicknames, too!
* Glimpses of God every day.
* Giggles under the covers every night.
* More love than your heart can hold.
* Butterfly kisses and Velcro hugs.
* Endless wonder over rocks, ants, clouds, and warm cookies.
* A hand to hold; usually covered with jelly or chocolate.
* A partner for blowing bubbles, flying kites
* Someone to laugh yourself silly with, no matter what the boss said or how your stocks performed that day.
*Someone waiting for you with a beaming smile ear to ear when you walk through the door after a hard day's
work. You immediately think to yourself, "Wow, nobody is ever that happy to see me."
For $160,140, you never have to grow up. You get to:
* finger-paint,
* carve pumpkins
* play hide-and-seek,
* catch lightning bugs, and
* never stop believing in Santa Claus. (Don't forget the Tooth Fairy, too).
You have an excuse to:
* keep reading the Adventures of Piglet and Pooh,
* watching Saturday morning cartoons,
*pretend you're a Power Ranger, play pirates and sword fights
*have tea parties every day
* going to Disney movies, and
* wishing on stars.
You
get to frame rainbows, hearts, and flowers under refrigerator magnets
and collect spray painted noodle wreaths for Christmas, handprints set
in clay for Mother's Day, and cards with backward letters for Father's
Day. For $160,140, there is no greater bang for your buck.
You get to be a hero just for:
* retrieving a Frisbee off the garage roof,
* taking the training wheels off a bike,
* removing a splinter,
* filling a wading pool,
* coaxing a wad of gum out of bangs,
And coaching a baseball team thatnever wins but always gets treated to ice cream regardless.
You get a front row seat to history to witness the:
* first step,
* first word,
*first piano recital
* first bra,
* first date, and
* first time behind the wheel.
You
get to be immortal. You get another branch added to your family tree,
and if you're lucky, a long list of limbs in your obituary called
grandchildren and great grandchildren. You get an education in
psychology, nursing, criminal justice, communications, and human
sexuality that no college can match. In the eyes of a child, you rank
right up there under God. You have all the power to heal a boo-boo,
scare away the monsters under the bed, patch a broken heart, police a
slumber party, ground them forever, and love them without limits. So,
one day they, like you, will love without counting the cost. That is
quite a deal for the price!!!!!!!
$160,140.00...so that's where all my money went!
Love & enjoy your children & grandchildren........
It's
been fairly chaotic of late, Tao is trying to drop his day nap and Ruan
has cut down to one nap a day (as of about a month ago) and my parents
are down from Christmas Island, so there's been that as well as us
trying to settle into this new pattern.
At least Red Planet
is about done, a few more things to upload and I can sit back and keep
an eye on it as the members on there are fairly self sufficient, just
need to think up some prize-worthy competitions seeing as we have
Criterion backing.
Looking forward to things settling, so I can seriously get back into the animation, doing it in spits sucks.