Not enough H1N1 to go around

Interesting article here about those needing the shot the most, declining it due to "side effects." Bascially to get the H1N1 shot at this point in time you need to be under 24, pregnant, or have a compromised immunse system.

The H1N1 Debate

I just read this great post on a Daddy Blogger's site about why you should get your child the H1N1 vaccine. Read it here. I particularly liked these quotes from his post:

• The evidence in favour of the flu vaccine (much as with routine childhood vaccinations) is so overwhelming and clear that getting the vaccine -- and making sure your children get it -- seems about as clear and straightforward as buckling up before you go for a drive.

• Basically every medical expert -- from public health officers down to family doctors -- is saying people should get the vaccine. So why isn't that good enough for you? Or is it only when it comes to preventative medicine that you think you're smarter than someone with a medical degree?

I'm a strong believer in shots. Claire got the flu shot when she was 6 months and the booster that same winter. She has all of her shots done now until she goes to Kindergarten. I have also gotten the flu shot every year since I was 18 and never gotten "the flu" -- coincidence or not, I'd like to think it helps. We've already gotten our regular flu shots this year (at the start of Sept!) and I've been calling the OB and Peds office to see if they have them in yet. The Peds office has a message saying they are not in. My family doctor that I go to said they do not have any and will not be getting any. So it might not even be an option for us to get them, but if and when they become available, I will definitely be getting them for Claire and I. Josh isn't eligible.

We travel a lot and actually venture into the world so I think we need vaccines. Going to get groceries even...who knows what you could pick up there. If you actually think about the variety of products and where everything came from as far as types of fruits, veggies, and meats...as well as boxes and cans and all sorts of products that have been touched by several sets of hands to just end up on the shelf...not to mention all the shoppers who touch stuff...you are exposed to lots of germs just walking into any store. I guess the fear factor is in place with me. I'd be scared not to have my child vaccinated. I guess some people have a stronger faith that their kid will not wind up sick. I'm just a big chicken!

I have talked in length with my mom and cousin Kami about the shots. I guess since they are both nurses, they have seen and cared for the sickest of the sick with this. Kami was telling me about a male Josh's age who also works in an office on computers who thought he was getting a cold and ended up on her floor for almost 2 months. It's definitely not an illness I feel comfortable with me or my family getting if I could've prevented it. On the other hand, I also respect those people that don't want to get shots for their family for whatever reason. My logic is, however, at some point, they will have to show shot records for something...school, living in a dorm at college, being a teacher, or working in a medical field...what do you think?

What is the biggest fear out there? From what I've read on other blogs and facebook...the non-professional stuff...it seems like the biggest concern are the additives. Well, we don't eat organic. I tried that for about 3 weeks in Jan. and decided it was not possible living in the Midwest unless we wanted to spend about 5 times as much on food. We don't buy all organic clothes, bedding, and toys. We are probably still breathing in highly "toxic" fumes from the paint, wood, and carpet in our house that was built just over 4 years ago. Ha. You're damned either way on the house thing...if you live in an old house you'll have lead paint and other toxic things! I'm sure we bathe in toxic soap and wash our hair with poisons. I even read something awhile back about how "toxic" different cars were. You know that great "new car" smell. Yeah...TOXIC! CHEMICALS!!!!!! Everything has some sort of side effect. I guess the only truly safe thing would to be to move to the middle of nowhere and live in a tent. You'd have to live in entirely clean air and drink water completely untouched by chemicals. And if you think drinking bottled water is safer than tap...you've got the plastic bottle to worry about. HA. So anyways, my point is just that any preservative or additive in a shot is probably a lot less harmful than some sugar or caffeine which people readily and eagerly dump into their bodies. Seriously...they are not out to get us...they are not trying to kill us all or force injections.

I think it's great that the offer shots in schools again. Why should a parent have to take off work, have the kid miss school and go to a doctor's office...usually full of sick people to get a shot that takes all of one minute/person to administer. It drives me nuts when people say they get sick from getting the flu shot. WRONG. You get sick because you probably sat in a germ-filled doctor's office and picked up some creepy-crawlies there! They have to get permission slips signed, so don't freak out they are going to jab your kid if you don't want them to be jabbed. Heck, at Ben Davis, they not only brought a mobile doctor for schooly physicals, but a mobile dentist to school! I think shots are a little less invasive than those more lengthy procedures. Yes, I understand food enters your body differently than shots do, but really...it's all gonna mix around eventually.

I think another big concern was the way shots were made. Yeah...think about any consumable product. Have you read My Year of Meats or The Jungle which are excellent books on the meat industry. It will keep you away from steak for a few weeks after you finish reading it. They are along the same line as Fast Food Nation ... if you look into anything too much, IT WILL DRIVE YOU NUTS AND SCARE YOU! NOTHING IS 100% SAFE! I mean if you pick apart water or H2O you have HYDROGEN! AHH! IT'S A FLAMMABLE GAS. But whatever, I'm done with this post...so tell me if I shouldn't get the shot...leave a really long detailed comment with lots of links, but make sure to read that first post by the daddy blogger as he does address the comments from Dr. Sears who say "maybe" to the H1N1. I really am interested in reading both sides pros/cons.

But telling me the shot contains monkey brains or something won't scare me. I enjoy eating liver paste and have tried cow tongue and brains. :) I've also eaten raw hamburger and goose lard...delicacies in Germany! And I still eat meat after reading those meat books I mentioned!

Grumpy.

I went to bed with Claire at 8 last night and enjoyed sleeping till about 8:15 when she woke me up. ;) Oh, did I mention she still wakes up at night. Like all the time. Like 3-4 times/night. I know, get her out of our bed, right? Well, I guess her waking up isn't that bad because I'm too lazy to walk like 5 minutes to her room and put her in her room in a crib and walk back...my goal is to get her set up in a twin by Jan. or so and start laying down with her in her own room. Sigh. Sounds like work.

I'm grumpy because I'm still having a lot of queasy morning sickness feelings even though I've tried all the suggestions. Stop reading if you don't want to hear more about morning sickness. I don't like ginger. I've tried all those wacky ginger products too. I don't like ginger ale because of the carbonation. The bubbles make me feel sicker because then it makes me feel like I have to burp since I don't drink pop...except rarely a Sprite...anyways it's starting to tick me off. Grr. Preggy pops suck. I'd rather eat a sucker covered with hair that Claire found behind the couch if that tells you how badly they suck.

I've been sleeping with a trash by my bed it's that bad. When I was pregnant with Claire the only time I ever chucked was about midnight...fun. And only then half a dozen times...this pregnancy is the same...not chucking, just feeling like I have to all the time, which is almost worse. After I chuck, I always feel better.

The sickest thing is when someone clears their throat or "hocks a loogie." I seriously want to chuck in their face and then punch them. Repeatedly.

That is all for now.

I did not put Claire down for a nap today. She didn't ask either. I like the earlier bed time.

Double Double Fail

Major Fail #2 for the day- Go to Wal-Mart after failed nap attempt. Look at sheet/comforter sets. Ask Claire if she wants Dora, Tinkerbell, or Princess bedding. This will help her sleep in her own bed, right? Ha. She put all three in the cart. My idea about having her help put stuff in the cart. FAIL! I tried to put her in the cart. Fail. I tried to put the bedding back. Fail. Well, I put it back because I wasn't really planning to buy it today...but I wanted to know which one she would want...I'm thinking our Christmas gift to her. So she had a fit. Shopping with a toddler fail. Seems like we were just at the store...anyways...I had gone to buy a coat rack since I broke our other one. FAIL. They didn't have any coat racks. Wal-mart sucks. I resorted to bribery. I told her if she stopped crying we could buy ice cream. Guess who stopped crying.

Guess who probably needed a nap and not ice cream? HA. I will try to do the every other day nap for awhile. Seriously though...she doesn't even know what sheets are...she just liked the packaging. Marketers are geniuses. I was actually reading about rewarding for potty-training last night. Like if she goes pee on the potty, she gets a Skittle; poop she gets 2. I totally see that working for her, but I didn't want to use food as a reward. I just might do this. But I am gonna wait until we get back from San Francisco in Nov. to start really potty training her. My goal is to do 4 days of panties and see how it goes...I've just got to do it. Maybe I'll try to keep her in the kitchen those days. Dang light carpet in the rest of the house. Anyways, I was reading that it's ok to "reward" vs. "bribe." A reward would be something consistent that she knows is coming. Example: pottying in potty for a Skittle. A bribe would be what I did today: Stop crying and Mommy will buy you ice cream because Mommy is pregnant and feels like eating some ice cream today, too, because she didn't get her nap either and needs an afternoon sugar rush after dealing with the sheets tantrum. Bribery fail.

Major Fail #3 -- Cool mom fail. We got home and ate our ice cream at the table. I was watching these 2 boys climb the tree in our back yard. It's a mulberry and very messy. I have told these same 2 boys at least 2 other times in the past 2 months not to climb the tree. There are like 4 and 6. I swear they are too little to be out alone. I don't even know where they live. I never even see them with a parent or adult. Anyways, I told them to get out of the tree again. I was nice and have been in the past. Do I need to start being mean? I told them it was not safe to climb trees, especially ones on a hill like that one. Plus it was rainy this morning, and I'm sure the tree was all wet and slippery. Did I tell you I trimmed a bunch of trees? Well apparently I need to get a saw and hack off the lowest branch because then they would have a harder time getting up there. Am I being paranoid? I really just don't want to watch them fall out and break something. Then I'd have to be the one to call 911...and I don't even know how we'd tell their parents. They always get right out and say sorry, but it's getting old. I feel bad that I'm ruining their fun, but what to do?


Major Fail #4 - Walmart sucks. But we know that. I bought diapers. The cashier was talking to Claire and goes, "These aren't for you are they? You're too big for diapers." Fail. And that seriously pissed me off enough to make me want to call in and say something to the manager, but I didn't say anything...I didn't want her to ring me up wrong or something. So what do you do in a case like that? Have you ever had a cashier comment on something you bought. It's always awkward. And probably really needs her job at Wal-Mart...I don't want that kind of Karma.

Epic fail would be losing Claire...and that's only happened like 3 times for less than a minute each, but very nerve-wracking indeed!

My day was full of fail this afternoon, but at least we had a great morning today! :)

NAP FAIL.

I just laid down with Claire for 30 minutes. Aka...I tried to doze while she was jumping around, poking my face, and generally not at all interested in laying down. FAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIILLLL!

Yup. Major fail.

I needed a nap!

Claire took a nap today because I decided that I WANTED A NAP! So we laid down, and I set the alarm. See the problem is that when I lay next to her for a nap we can easily sleep 3 hours. AWESOME! Especially on a dark rainy day like today. Well...if she sleeps for 3 hours in the afternoon...she is so not going to bed at 8. So we slept for an hour and it was oh so glorious. I am torn on the nap thing...to nap or not to nap...maybe we'll just take it one day at a time and do whatever I feel like doing or see how she is acting. This morning I made some super-yummy applesauce in the crockpot from all my apples. SO GOOD! I love my crock-pot. I don't even put it away half the time. It has a permanent spot on the counter.

I'm super-proud of how awesome my yard looks from all of my hard work yesterday. Good thing I did some yesterday because today was much colder and wet. Boo. I want some nice fall days to enjoy before winter surrounds us and we are stuck inside.

I took Claire to the library to play today since story time is on "fall break" this week and next. They were cleaning the fish tank, and she thought that was great. They also have a creepy stuffed owl she loves looking at. I think she thinks of the Owl in all of our Pooh books. She also got to see her story time teacher, Miss Emily, which confused her when we walked in and her nametag wasn't laid out. Then we had been playing for some time, and she kept saying, "Story time bell?" because they ring a bell when it's time to go in the room. She was ok with it though because she got all the toys to herself. There was nobody else there on this cold, wet morning!

No Nap -- Day TWO!

Yesterday was Claire's first day without a nap. Today was her 2nd. It seems to be going well...we'll see where things take us...but today was a busy one! We started the morning as usual, but headed out for an early lunch with mom friends at a pizza buffet. It was major fail on my part. I was only a tiny bit late...5 minutes. But everyone was already seated and I just walked it all the way to the back. I put my stuff down and got food...it was a pizza buffet. So then I ask one of the other moms if the waitress had already been around to take orders for drinks. GASP.

FAIL #1 for the day. I walked by the cashier at the front and did not pre-pay and get my drink at the front like you're supposed to. See, this is why I like chains. You know what to do at Crapple-bees (Applebees). So then I had to go up to the front and pay and get my drink after the fact and felt mildly retarded.

Then I went to a local consignment store always looking for a steal. Claire loves it because it has a play room. This is great because she can play while I look around. Sometimes...usually I find nothing. Today I found her a super-cute Christmas outfit for 5 bucks. SCORE!

We headed home and I realized it was really freaking nice out. So I set Claire up in the driveway with chalk and her bike and weeded my front flower beds along with cutting down all the nasty dead yellow hostas and other flowers. Then I trimmed the trees in the front...I hate how they get all those little shoots. What I hate worse is going on walks and seeing hundreds of trees around our neighborhood with tons of shoots. Really people...are you trying to grow a tree or a bush? TRIM YOUR STUFF.

I drew Claire a hopscotch and showed her how to jump on it. She had a blast with that while I trimmed our bushes on both sides of our house. I hacked the heck out of them. I trimmed them just in July and THEY'RE BACK!!!!!!!! So they are now tiny knee high ones. Hopefully I killed them both. They are forsythias which I totally pruned wrong now after reading this http://www.flower-gardening-made-easy.com/prune-forsythia.html Good. Death to them. :) Hey, they were cheap freebies...what...freebies are cheap! I got most of our trees from the Arbor Day website and they tossed in 2 free forsythias. All of our stuff from them has grown really great! I love our willow tree, although I trimmed the heck out of that today too.

Anyways, I filled up like 6 giant black bags (which I then took to a local trash compacter after dark hehe)...and don't complain about not mulching them or something. If you want to do that...I'll tell you where you can go get it tonight and do it yourself! :) So now I am sore.

So then I took a quick shower with Claire. This is an oxymoron. Doing anything with a 2 year old is never quick. I fill up the bottom. She plays with toys. I wash my hair, etc...I get out, dry off, wash her, let her play in the water some more...get myself ready...finally get her out even though she begs to stay in!!! Seriously though...I can't believe how dirty kids get. She gets chalk everywhere. She helps me pull weeds and gets full of dirt/grass/mulch. She needed a bath more than me!

Then we went trick-or-treating around the local HS with friends. Check out my latest Facebook album for pictures...because this site sucks for uploading pictures. My goal for tomorrow is to make some applesauce...homemade of course...and lots of it!

Did anything go right?

I recently posted about my struggles nursing Claire as a newborn for several reasons. One was just thinking aloud and recalling what it was like. As my regular pants have turned into elastic waists, I realize this new baby will be here before I know it! I am TERRIFIED about nursing a newborn again. However, I understand from several women, that their milk came in faster, and mothering was just altogether easier because it wasn't brand new. My mom asked me if anything went right with nursing Claire...yeah...I triumphed. I freaking did it. I didn't give up! And really by 5 weeks it was easy! And actually I really owe it to my mom. I mean she answered her phone at all hours and came to spend Claire's first 2 weeks with us. I couldn't have done it without her. Thanks, Mom! And thanks, Mom, for instinctively teaching me how to nurse by nursing me when I was a baby!

They say to circle 6 weeks post-partum on your calendar and to give nursing your all for 6 weeks. It takes 6 weeks for milk to come in fully. A lot of women "dry up" before this time for many reasons. Most of the time, the milk never had a chance to come in because formula was introduced too early...sometimes even in the hospital. I can see why though...nobody wants their baby crying or starving or getting labeled FTT (failure to thrive). Guess what? Claire was labeled FTT (later, not as a newborn)...check out my back posts on this blog! But I wasn't about to start her on anything other than my milk if she wasn't ready for it!!! But she did drop a lot of weight to start with, which no doctor or parent likes! But anyways...

The 6 week time-frame for nursing to get easier is actually an easy time frame to remember as that would be your 6 month post-partum check with your doctor. You know, ideally when your doctor tells you everything is fine, you can resume "relations" (nudge, nudge, wink, wink!) or like mine....he will say that your stitches still aren't healed and don't look very good. Then you will go back in for 2 rounds of steroid injections down there to help break up scar tissue clumps from stitches that popped. Yay. Anyways...CHECK OUT THE OCTOBER BREASTFEEDING CARNIVAL POSTS!!! I link them at the bottom of my post here.

There are several other blogs listed that made posts about "WHAT I WISH I WOULD HAVE KNOWN ABOUT BREASTFEEDING IN THE EARLY WEEKS." The problem with breastfeeding in the early weeks is that you are sort of thrown in. It is like learning to swim by being dumped in a lake with no life jacket or anyone to help. Freaking hard. I would say nursing Claire was harder in the early weeks than pushing her out of a tiny hole. And that's hard work, too!

I think for me one of the thoughts that kept running through my mind was that I would never "get it" or that it would never get easier. I thought to nurse my baby for 12 months I was going to have to park my butt on the couch for 12 months and not be able to do anything. But see, God and nature have a plan. MOMS NEED TO HEAL. Breastfeeding is designed to make mom park her butt in the bed or couch for like 6-8 weeks so her body can focus on healing and mommy/baby can bond. What a great plan God has!!

Anyways, I think society has failed lots of women by doing lots wrong, but who's fault is it anyways? Nobody? Everybody? SOMEBODY! Well, I decided to do something about this wrong. I mean, you all reading know that I'm pretty passionate about breastfeeding and MOTHERING through breastfeeding. So I decided to do something about it.

About this time last year, I started working with a local LLL on the East Side to become a leader. I wanted to be able to "pay-it-forward" and help other moms. And now I am an official, accredited LLL leader. I am able to lead meetings, take phone calls from moms, and do home visits. It's all volunteer, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Now here is a disclaimer...anything you read on here is coming from ME AS A MOM...not as an official LLL leader! Tell me however if you want some LLL advice...email/call/leave me a comment and I will keep it "official."

While going through the accreditation process, one isn't supposed to advertise one is working on leadership. This is mainly because it is about a year-long (approximately) process and some people do not finish. To dispense official LLL advice, you also have to agree to follow their LLL philosophies while speaking on their behalf. I also have to have liability insurance through LLL. That's kind of scary that someone would need that to help a mom, but it makes perfect sense.

I didn't post right away on my blog that I am now a LLL leader because I'm not sure that would be kosher. But I figure 1) I never see you and it won't matter or 2) I see you a lot and you're gonna find out one way or another! So I thought I may as well bring it into the light. Plus, I thought maybe someone would benefit from knowing this. I can help your friends via phone! I can email with them or if they are local, I can set you/your friends up with meeting info.

I am also excited to announce that the East Side group will be moving to Greenfield starting in Jan. (due to low East Side attendance)!!! I enjoy going to many LLL groups around Indy and still will. But at those other meetings I will just get to be a Mom again, and I will not be leading those meetings. I get to have "playtime" instead of being on "my toes" and leading meetings, although both are fun and stem from my love of school/learning.

So I guess I wish I could do more for moms who want to try to nurse their babies, so this is my way of trying! It's something that's going right!

DVDs do not make your child smarter...you do!

Gotta love marketing! Here's an interesting article that says babies can't really learn from a DVD. Duh. Here are three things you can do to help your child develop.

1. Read to them and follow their lead...talk about what the child is pointing to or looking at and let them turn to their favorite page.
2. Play with them, which of course involves lots of talking.
3. Talk with them, as in conversation style. Ask them questions and give them time to respond even if they are just 8 months old and just go "Gah!!!"

I think the big one that gets forgotten about is play. Reading and talking sort of come easier. I think it's generally harder for parents to get down on the floor and manipulate toys. I read somewhere that you should let your child lead you in play for at least 10 minutes/day. They should also have 30 minutes of "free-play" by themselves where they can do what they want, and then you should read to them for 30 minutes/day...so depending on their age you might break that up into 3 chunks of 10 minutes throughout the day.

I have mixed feelings about "bedtime" books. I think it's great as a way to remember to read everyday, but so much more is gained when you can play with the books and interact. Like say you are reading "THE RUNAWAY BUNNY." You can have your toddler go find her bunny toy from the shelf...not exactly what you want to do if you're trying to settle a child down for bed.

As far as language development goes, I have tried to practice "on-demand" reading...think of "on-demand" nursing. Basically I will drop whatever I am doing and go read to her for 10 minutes. I've been known to turn the burners off on the stove, etc. because if a toddler wants to sit and read...you better sit and read while they are paying attention!!!! Now that Claire is slightly older, she will want to come read when I offer, but like at this time last year...no way.

Other than those 3 things I haven't done anything special with Claire...have you seen that info-merical on a program of teaching your toddler to read. Now that's just creepy. Lol! And besides that's more "memory" anyways...

We started doing Baby Signs with her at about 10 months when she started waving, but really have dropped it altogether since she talks so well now. I still think sign is fascinating, though. I would love to learn more. Maybe we'll watch some more sign DVDs this winter. And I'll know I'll start doing it again when this 2nd baby is about 10 months or so.

I try to remember to do something writing related where she gets to use her fingers once a day. I have been looking for plastic safety scissors for her to try, but haven't seen any. Maybe I should look online. Any links for me? I bought some safety ones, but they are metal and still feel sharp. I haven't gotten brave enough to try them with her. She still SOMETIMES puts writing utensils or playdough in her mouth so I'm a little nervous she could slice her lips if she wants to taste test the scissors I got for her.

I have already started started to look into preschool for her...crazy, I know! I remember going to preschool and absolutely LOVING it! It's only like 3 days/week for 2-3 hours depending on where she would go, but it wouldn't be till fall. I could have her start in January at 2 1/2, but I think we'll wait until she turns three and just do a regular fall enrollment.

She is at the age where she loves other children. She always has loved other kids, though. She asks to play with friends now however. "I have friend come over, Mommy?" Or "I go Story Time, see friends?" It almost breaks my heart that we don't have MORE stuff scheduled that is just for her. I think she'll really like going to preschool...plus it will give me a chance to go grocery shop with just a small baby and no toddler! :)

Anyways, what kinds of activities do you do with your child/ren that are educational? I mean really anything at this age is educational. Going on walk and pointing out a fire hydrant is like a mini-lesson. She likes to tell me know what fire-hydrants do. "Mommy, that fire hydrant. Water come out! Put out fire!" We enjoyed going on a walk today in this nice fall weather. I hope it's nice on Halloween so she can go trick-or-treating!!! Daddy came with us, and it was really nice!

Claire is sleeping now. I have struggled the past few weeks getting her down for a nap. Her naps were getting later and later. This meant bedtime was getting later and later as a result because she wasn't tired yet. Then yesterday she didn't get up from her nap until 5pm. That is way too late to go to bed at 8. Well, today I decided to try a full day without a nap. It worked! We went on the walk during nap time. We'll see how tonight and tomorrow go! What age was your child/ren when they stopped napping and how did you know nap time wasn't working anymore? She's already sleeping now ... bed at 7:30 yay!