The second tooth has arrived, but either it's still causing pain or there's an upper on the way, because she's still not sleeping well. Her night wakings are these extended hour and a half long affairs of torture for us, while we alternate cuddling and soothing duties. She'll be asleep and then suddenly cry out in pain. Then snooze again. Grr. She'll be just asleep and roll over once she's back in her crib and be wide awaka again. Curses.

Bill leaves for Alaska inn just under two weeks. Which means the Junior Miss will soon have her own room! Where she can practice the latest tricks: standing up with only one hand on a support, and bending over to pick things up while still holding on and standing again. Her sitter claims she'll be running by October. I have a feeling she's right. Gulp.

In non-baby related news: I am reading an interesting book for work: Thy Kingdom Come: an Evangelical's Lament by Randall Balmers. In spite of an endorsement from Rick Warren (blech), I think Balmers is spot on in his assessment of the hypocrisy of and distortion of church values by the Religious Right. For instance: on Abortion...while he thinks abortion is not a GOOD thing and has moral implications, he does not think there's any reason to involve the legal system in it. He talks about how the Religious Right identified abortion as a touchstone not as a reaction to Roe, but as an issue to fill a void left after the initial rallying fight, around the tax status of Bob Jones University, was won. He goes on about how the Bible has more negative to say about divorce than about abortion and homosexuality combined (and you have to search pretty hard to make a compelling argument that the Bible says ANYTHING about those two topics...) and yet conservative Christians aren't fighting about that!

He also happens to talk about the one thing that really sticks in my craw about conservatives and abortion (and other issues too...). He talks about the Baptist tradition and the historical connection between Baptists and the seperation of church and state. And then he makes the point that I always struggle with myself: a true conservative wants minimal government intrusion/interference in personal decisions. I hate it when people don't understand their own position!

Anyhoo...check it out. It's a fast and interesting read!