A 14 pound baby boy was recently delivered naturally and without an epidural in Iowa.

Ouch.

My own baby-chute cringes in sympathy.

Did I really just call it a baby-chute? Impressive what the lack of sleep can do for your vocabulary.

And I didn’t even give birth naturally, but had two C-sections.  Aaaaand, even if I hadn’t had the C-sections, both of my children were roughly half the weight of young Asher.

A good friend of mine had to deliver her second child without an epidural because her labor progressed more quickly than she realized, and she admitted that it was indeed the worst pain imaginable.  That was with a nine pound baby.  Add five more and you’ve got to have some major endorphin rush happening just to stay conscious.

Is it really 2012 already?  Where did the time go?  One second it was a few days before Christmas, and all of a sudden I’m on the flip side of the New Year.  It’s been a rough couple of weeks, you have no idea.  But, onward I must go!   We must move forward, not backward, upward not forward, and always twirling, twirling, twirling towards freedom!*

Our last poll addressed how you were handling the holidays, and an impressive 33% of you were in Martha Stewart mode.  However, that was eclipsed by the 38% who just didn’t care anymore. 23% were in deep breathing mode, and an unlucky 4% were in a full-on panic.  I think I sort of fell in the 38%.  Heh, my kids don’t need holiday memories!

Today I need to know how you feel about 2011.

*Brownie points for the source of that quote!

59% of you feel that schools can only do so much in the face of bullying, which might also mean that in this day and age, school-time bullying is coming in second to online and virtual bullying.  22% think they give it a shot, but it isn’t enough, and 14% say schools don’t do nearly enough to address the problem.

I was never a bully in school, nor was I bullied, but my personal opinion is that bullying starts at home.  By that, I mean the parents of a bully have fostered an environment where a bully feels free to act out onto other people, and there is only so much a school can do to stop that type of behavior other than having a zero-tolerance policy.  Then again, I sort of hate zero tolerance policies, so I’m torn.  When my son attended public school, I cannot tell you how many parents I saw flouting school rules on a daily basis, and I would always think to myself that these parents were teaching their children by example that rules don’t apply to them.  Man, I hated those parents.

But, on to something a bit fluffier, although maybe as controversial.  The LA Times reports on the Vinci, a tablet, Android-based computer marketed specifically to children from 1 week to age 4.

69% of you disagree with LA Unified’s ban on chocolate milk at schools. Which in turn means 30% of you agree.   I’m going to have to say that I am not a fan of the ban. Yeah, it’s some extra sugar.  But if a child is very overweight, then I don’t think it is just the chocolate milk that is the issue.  If the child drinks regular milk at school, yet does not have access to fruits and veggies and lots of physical playtime, then it doesn’t really matter in the long run.  And what about those kids that aren’t overweight at all?  Why shouldn’t they get to choose?

Today I’m all about the British tabloid scandal.  Well, sort of.

Real or fake, still entertaining.

via Buzzfeed

44% of you consider the weather when deciding how long to leave leftovers out.  17% do a couple of hours no matter what, another 17% of you don’t even care, and another 17% of you REALLY don’t care.  Only 3% of you are as anal as I am, it seems.  Er, well, maybe that was just me.

On Friday I got my hair did, and as I was writing the check out to my stylist, I thought to myself that I couldn’t even remember the check I wrote before that.

Oooh! Last week’s poll about watching movies at the theater wound up with a tie!  I don’t ever remember that happening. People, you know my life is in need of a change when I get excited over a tie.

 27% of you enjoy seeing movies at a theater, and another 27% would enjoy it more often if it didn’t cost quite so much money.  Seriously, I think ticket prices, at least in my neck of the woods, are a little out of hand.  20% only like to shell out the dough to see certain types of movies, and 17% would rather wait on it to watch at home.  And that leaves 6% of you who don’t really like watching movies that much at all.

Today I’ve got an admittedly odd question, but I wanted to get a larger sample size than just my friends.  You see, I recently went out to dinner, and we planned on seeing a movie afterwards.  I had enough of my meal left over to take home, but I waffled because I don’t like to eat food that has been sitting unrefrigerated for more than a couple of hours.  One of my fellow diners thought this was ridiculous and offered to take my leftovers for themselves.  And they did.  And they claimed to have no ill aftereffects.  Allegedly.

Do polls fill you with inexplicable joy? I’ve got another one at Manolo Beauty!

I am a sucker, total sucker, for great educational programming.

And the History Channel’s How the States Got Their Shapes falls into that category very nicely.

With Brian Unger (former Daily Show correspondent and NPR host) and his completely deadpan delivery, this show manages to make what could potentially be an extremely boring subject and make it sing.  He’s not to hard on the eyes, either, which always makes for a nice bonus.

If you’ve got a mature 8 year old, they should do fine with this show.  There is some historical violence, such as various reenactments of Civil War battles and so far, they have said the word “hell.” But it is totally in context.

You will find out the answers to these utterly fascinating questions: (and I say that not at all facetiously)

-How did an asteroid create the border for three states and change history?

- Why did we almost have a state called Forgottonia?

-Why does Montana look like it took a bite out of Idaho?

-Did the Civil War actually begin… in Kansas?

The season is already six shows in, but I’m guessing you can find it on reruns.  It IS the History Channel, after all.  If not, they’ve got all previously-aired shows online.

And yes, I am officially a geek.