This, That and the Other

Okay I just recently read an In Touch magazine and felt compelled to report what I read in one of the first three pages. There was a page that was dedicated to polls. There were four different celebrity polls and one of them was "Can Angelina and Brad handle seven kids?" I can't remember the exact percentages but it went something like 30/70 with the latter saying no they can't. Then it had a quote from a reader, "Kids are very needy. I couldn't possibly give positive attention to seven different children." Okay, seriously, are you kidding? These two are celebrities yes, but that doesn't mean they aren't capable of raising a larger brood. In fact, it only makes them more capable if you ask me. They may not do it alone, they may hire nannies, but they can, so who cares? They can afford nannies so they hire them. I don't personally see a problem with it. I don't have a nanny and I never will, but if I was a millionaire, I couldn't honestly say I never would. It certaintly was tempting during the first four months, I will tell you. Obviously, for financial reasons, that would hever happen. And for the fact that I don't want it to happen. But I don't have seven children and if I did, plus a six figure salary, then hey I might splurge here and there. Anyway back to Brangelina. (I hate calling them that, but I admit it is easier to type). First of all, they work. Its not the same work as the rest of the regular nation, but it is long hours. How do you think they make their millions? They work. They have to have some sort of help some of the time, especially because they each have this profession. Secondly, since they are so wealthy, they can provide everything a child needs to thrive and more. So, why do we chastise Angelina for adopting? Aren't these the type of people that we want to be raising kids? These are the types of people that do, actually, care for their child's well-being. And furthermore, hasn't any of these "readers" who took the poll met a family with more than one or two kids? I know a lot of families that have at 5-10 kids. Granted most of these families live in Utah. I know thats cliche, but its a fact. These familes don't have nannies. In many of them, both the parents work. The kids grow up happy, healthy and with a good dose of appreciation (I think anyway). Now personally, I am not from one of these families, so I can't tell it like it is straight from the source, but I do think that it is entirely possible to give positive attention to all seven of your kids with or without a nanny.
This subject brings up another thing I want to get off my chest. Jason and I just recently had a conversation about marriage. Not our marriage, but marriage in general. A close friend of mine has a child with a man that she is not married to. They live together, bought a house together and basically do eveything that a married couple would do but are not legally bound. My friend has admitted that while marriage doesn't sound appealing to her now, she still isn't sure if she wants to marry this person at all. Their situation does have a little to do with it. Their pregnancy wasn't planned and she is ten years younger than the dad. But what they both have in common is that they want to be together and mostly want to be with their child. They never want to live away from him. So, no one really knows what the future holds for these two. But they live in the present. Jason thinks this is a ridiculous arrangement. He cannot understand why marriage is not the next step for them. I really don't see a problem, as long as they both are happy and the child is cared for. Now, obviously this is not the way that I have chosen to live my life. I am married, we did conceive almost immediatly after we were married and we did date for a length of time before he proposed. Jason likes to think it was the way we were raised. We had a lot of influence from the LDS community that we lived in, although Jason and I are not religious. Yes, I think that to a degree, that is probably true. But Jason was raised with his four siblings in Provo his entire under-18 old life with his married parents who are not active. I was raised by my single non-religious Mom with my only sister, moving to AZ at the age of 12. (I cannot tell you how drastically my life changed from Utah to Arizona). My Mom was very cautious of my sister and I getting married, even at the age of 24. Jason's parents were thrilled, not to mention over the moon when I was pregnant. So, I don't think that has a ton do with it because I am living my life entirely different than how I was raised and what I was taught. (Not entirely I guess, but in a sense). My friend was raised much like I was and her mate much like Jason was. So anyway my whole thing is that everytime this topic comes up, which is often because I spend quite a lot of time with this friend, Jason and I get in a little tiff. We fight over the silliest things sometimes (which really I'm glad for because we don't fight often). And what I really want to say is that it is always Jason who fights to the end. Whenever I feel an argument coming on, I grow silent in my absolutely non-confrontational attempt to just be neutral. Why does this bother him so? Its not his life. But he is only human. That's why we have to vote for everything. I am always trying to be inconspicuous, so I don't understand the fighting over gay marriage, and seemingly trivial things in my opinion. Like last night when Jason started up over why I want to get my one wisdom tooth pulled when he has read that it doesn't really matter. Yes, these are the same things I clump together with gay marriage and abortion. I know, I know, I'm not much of a politician. Just had to get that out though.
In other news, I went to Target today. I go there all the time, but today I actually made purchases. Nothing too spectacular, you know just the usual like baby food, baby bath (I LOVE the Target brand Nighttime bath) and some Laffy Taffy. But what was more special this time was that Jason gave me permission to buy a CD. I haven't bought an actual CD in ages. I think the last time was when I bought The Bravery at Target some two years ago. I get all my music from iTunes now. But Jason still really likes to buy CDs to add to our collection. What I really wanted to get was Nickelback because we both really enjoy their music and I thought it would make a good "car" CD. But while I was perusing the New Release section, I stumbled upon Kidz Bop. I know, it sounds terrible and sometimes it is. I know this because I bought it. I couldn't help myself. It was cheap, and its full of pop songs that I hear now and again, but would otherwise pay no attention to. I had to get it for my afternoons with my nephews (I nanny them in the daytime) when the TV has been turned off, but it is too hot or too much to go to the park. I have deisignated craft time to also be music time and what would be better than Kidz Bop? I get to listen to pop songs that I will never buy and they are edited fantastically. The only real annoying part is the when the actual kids sing and it sounds more like yelling. But thats what kids do. Jason actually told me that he loved singing songs in elementary school because he and his friends couldn't wait to yell Bare Necessities at the top of their lungs.
Okay, so I guess I will call it a day with posting. This is a pretty long one and I don't really think anyone even reads this and if they do they are probably wondering why they are wasting their time. Ah well. Til next time.