Vaccinated

Vaccinated...

...felt like the lesser of two evils.

Swine Flu - Weighing the Odds

"Get your children the swine flu vaccination or they will die." I wish that was an exaggeration of what I'm hearing and reading lately about this flu. But, then I hear people (many of them kids) actually are dying. What's a parent to do? Isn't it one of our jobs to keep them safe??

(Psst..regarding the picture, I couldn't resist!!!!)

One month ago I (Betsy) was at our Drs. office and he talked me into getting JJ the seasonal flu shot b/c it was the non-live virus one and had been in existence for years and was safe. Granted, safe didn't really mean anything to me, I just trusted him when he said that. He is a doctor, he would know, I was thinking! And truthfully I had never really researched what was in ANY of the vaccinations before getting them. Dave and I grew up with all of ours and we've turned out just fine (no comments...please). But then AFTER getting JJ the seasonal flu shot, I started to really look into what is in these flu vaccines. Now I am a little frustrated I didn't do that BEFORE getting him it.

Here are the reasons we are leaning against getting the H1N1 vaccine:

• We were just hearing bad things about it; that it was only available as a live virus and that you could possibly still get the flu even after getting the vaccination, that it had more mercury and hadn't been tested long-term, etc... the list goes on. Our family has not even ever gotten the seasonal flu vaccinations before this year. So our concept has been to tough it out I guess, when it comes to the flu.

• Plus, we have not known anyone personally here who has it or whose kids have it. JJ has been in pretty much full-time pre-school and has made it through fighting off many viruses, so his immunity has been built up in general, plus he's a healthy kid without pre-existing complications.

• I've also not wanted to get it for fear I had become a victim of the "fear propaganda" out there about it. Of course this is exactly what anti-vaccine people say, including my sister. I listened to her about the H1N1 vaccine, and she confirmed what I was already feeling towards not getting it: the amt. of mercury in it is supposedly 20 times more the amount that is considered "toxic" (but of course then I wondered how was it even approved - which I think my sister would say many harmful medicines are approved all the time b/c of who benefits monetarily from it)?? She also mentioned that even if you get the vaccine, there is still a chance you can get the actual virus because it is not the best way to build up antibodies toward it, having it naturally is.

• She is also a Pediatric ER nurse and said most of the kids she sees in there who have tested positive are all mild cases. So, from that conversation, I'm of course wondering how do I know JJ hasn't had it already - maybe even over a month ago when he had a small fever for 2 days and then a bad cough for about a week and a half, and I would be needlessly getting him the vaccine.


However, truthfully, I am a little afraid! And thus here are some of the reasons why maybe we should get it:

• Pro-vaccine people are telling me that if I got him the seasonal one, I might as well get him the swine flu one, which I guess makes sense, because they are made the same way, with supposedly the same components.

• I also have a Physician Assistant friend who just last night said I should get it. She works in both an Urgent Care Facility and a Family Practice, and she said if JJ had gotten the H1N1, we would know, that it would probably be bad, and that A LOT of kids she sees have it and many are struggling, some on ventilators, and some of them completely "healthy" beforehand. Apparently in some people, the strain can really attack their lungs and leave them with a secondary pneumonia infection, which is what people are dying of, basically, most of them because they already had a pre-existing condition, maybe heart disease, diabetes, asthma.

• My mommy friend here, who has 2 kids has been looking EVERYWHERE to get her kids vaccinated because her kids go to separate Pediatricians and both of them do not have the H1N1 vaccine in house. She's still not sure she wants to wait in line for 6 hours to get it, but her mom is telling her to get it b/c a seemingly "healthy" woman with a small child died of it in the hospital her mom works at.

Well, JJ has to go in on Monday to get his 2nd seasonal flu shot and so yesterday I was curious and called his Dr. to even see if they had the H1N1 vaccine. After being on hold for 10 minutes, the nurse came back and said, "We actually just got the shipment in TODAY and JJ can have it on Monday if he wants." When I told my mommy friend that yesterday, she said she would do it in a heartbeat if it was available like that for her kids.

SO...decision time is here.

Any helpful thoughts before Monday??? I would love to hear what others are hearing and doing, or not doing about the Swine Flu vaccination!!

Love Me Some Halloween

Halloween through the years:

JJ - 1 year old

JJ - 2 Years Old


















JJ - 3 Years Old

Soooo, I realized, after Halloween this year, that JJ's costume was actually a Robin costume, not Batman. We've decided to just keep this a secret. Because he thought he was the coolest Batman ever.

Here are some pictures from this year's (almost 4!!) Halloween Celebrations:We made him do push-ups and sit-ups in preparation for this year's Halloween


Not Sure What's Going on in this Picture


JJ Picked out This one for the Blog

What can I say?? I LOOOVE Halloween. I know that some people have different feelings surrounding celebrating Halloween, especially in the circles I've grown up in, but I think it's SOO much fun. This year was the 1st year in a long time that I didn't dress up for Halloween, at work.

True story...no that's not a large basketball, it's me when I was 8 months pregnant with JJ and won the "Best Halloween Costume" at work: I thought I was just a 50's girl, but my co-workers thought it would be funny to say I was a 50's girl who got pregnant in High School. Apparently that was more funny.

Whirnwild

This past weekend was such a whirlwind, it's hard for me to even spell it correctly. I feel like I am still spinning from all fun, happiness, lack of sleep and driving we did. It began with the Fuller Harvest Festival Celebration - an annual event we attended when we lived in California the first time. This year it was really fun to be able to go with Batman, who was actually very serious most of the time, until Nemo (a.k.a his friend Noah) showed up and then it was all fun and games!!

Then we went to our 2nd party that night and there was a crazy Batman running all over our friends' house, hiding in the bat cave (under the table), and having the time of his life. The only sign that he was tired was his never-ending energy!

The next morning we handed JJ off to our friends, who graciously offered to watch him so we could have one last romantic getaway before we leave California. But first we played in a very hot Flag Football game, then packed up our stuff and ventured 1.5 hours past Ventura into the mountains to attend what would end up being the windiest AND one of the most beautiful weddings we've ever been to.
For the first time in a long time, JJ was not with us, and it is quite a different experience being at a wedding without him. Just in front of us sat a 4 year old girl who sat perfectly and quietly in her chair the entire wedding ceremony. I looked down next to us, noticed all the dirt and commented to Dave that, "JJ would've been in this dirt the whole time and not once in his chair!" Honestly, give JJ a mound of dirt and he's happy for hours - It's amazing. He's very seriously into it, like he is with most things and brings all his necessary "digging tools"! During one of our Flag Football games, he and Dave were actually digging for T-Rex bones! Hmmm...an archeologist in the making??

I have to say the wedding was just plain awesome. My favorite moment was the pie table (rather than cake), where it was totally a free for all. It was dark, windy and one big blurry beautiful mosaic of fruit, ice cream, and whip cream going in every direction.

Then we made the trek back to our friend's apartment where 8 of us crammed into it, and it was also just plain awesome. Unfortunately, with awesomeness sometimes comes tiredness, so after not sleeping very much, we sleepily drove a couple of hours away to the next romantic leg of our trip: made a show, had dinner and spent the night.

All was going great until we came across this crazy guy in the trees.

All in all a great weekend!!!

The Club

I never pretended to have mad parenting skills:

This morning as JJ, who was carrying his pumpkin into school, and I were walking into his pre-school, a fellow pre-school friend said called out: "JJ, I have a pumpkin too!! But yours is tiny, and mine is much bigger than yours!!" JJ immediately looked down in a sad way and continued to head to the door. I seized my opportunity just as we entered the door, before the kid and his family came in: "JJ, actually your teacher asked mommy to bring in a very small pumpkin today, so actually you have the perfect size pumpkin (THIS IS WHERE I SHOULD'VE STOPPED)...so really that kid was the one who brought in the wrong pumpkin." Doh!! So, JJ almost benefited from that teaching lesson. Now he's learned that when someone makes fun of you, it's o.k. to point out the other's short-fall. It's a good thing that parenting is an ongoing teaching relationship and I will have another chance to correct that.

The one thing someone didn't tell me before I was a parent was that when I was running late, which is often, JJ will actually move intentionally slower just to bug me by prolonging the inevitable...that we actually have to leave the house! He especially acts up when Dave isn't there in the mornings. This morning we had to pick up the tiny pumpkin at the store BEFORE pre-school, which meant leaving even earlier than normal. So, I started the count-down as early as possible...but it didn't matter. While JJ was supposed to be brushing his teeth, he was playing with his Spongebob soap. (Note to self: Spongebob soap is too tempting and distracting...next time just get regular bathroom soap), and when he was supposed to be putting on his underwear and shorts after going to the bathroom, I found him hopping down the hall in an empty diaper box. That was when I used my angry voice, out of frustration, which JJ does NOT like. We made up in the car, and asked each other for forgiveness...me for not speaking very nicely to him and him for not listening. We're friends again.

Maybe you might remember that for a while JJ was having a hard time fitting in the multicultural community we live in. Well, not anymore!! He's definitely figured out how to belong and get along with the kids in our community. Dave and I frequently get to watch him performing with his friends on the "stage" as entertainers, movie stars, and famous musicians. One of my favorite performance was a duet by Samuel and JJ. JJ was singing "I'm a Rock Star" over and over again while showing off his super cool leg jump moves and Samuel was rocking out to a song called, "264!". They no longer call him "Mr. Apple Juice", and I almost cried the other day when they asked JJ to be in their "club". This is a very special honor - induction into a secret society of sorts for the older kids. There is a special password and they get special titles. When they asked JJ if he wanted to be a "Captain", he responded, "Nah, I just want to be Peanut Butter and Jelly", (UH OH, I thought - here it comes...the mocking...) but then Joshua (a big 3rd Grader) said "O.K. JJ, you can be Captain Peanut Butter and Jelly." Phew - crisis averted.

My son is in the club.

Here are some pictures JJ took, all by himself, in our house and community:

A Child's Theology

JJ was drawing and called me over to tell me something:

True or False

When I met my brother in-law in college, who was not yet my brother in-law, I thought he was one of the funniest people I had ever met!! This blog is dedicated to Mark's hilarious "True or False" from college, but a lot less funny and about our life.

Here's how it goes:

1. True or False: While I was doing some leg lifts the other day, JJ asked me "Mommy, what are you doing?" to which I replied, "...some exercises..." He said, "That's not exercise, that's just leg moving."

That's True.


2. True or False: Kids from other cultures aren't as mean to each other as American children.

That's False. Today in our multicultural community I heard:

Boy in pool: "I see your big butt."

Girl in pool: "Whatever...you have long nails."


3. True or False: Most of the laundry we do is mine.

Actually, that's False. Most of the laundry we do is Dave's and JJ's and like 5% mine.


4. True or False: I laugh every time I see the title of the book "Tramp For the Lord" by Corrie Ten Boom.

That's True. I just can't help it.


5. True or False: I hate to clean.

It's kind of True and False...I hate to clean, but not to clean stresses me out, so I clean.


6. True or False: Yesterday was the first day I got a bad report from JJ's teachers.

True!! I was sort of sad after that because I realized I didn't have the perfect son. Just Kidding...kind of. This is where Dave would tell me not to project my "perfect" issues onto our son, and just let him be who he is.


7. True or False: I married a very wise man.

That is VERY true!


8. True or False: Once our Korean friend came up to Dave at the Coffee Shop and told him the Korean women (at Fuller) thought Dave was the most handsome man at Fuller.

Actually...False. He actually said they thought he was the most handsome man in America!!


9. True or False: I'm afraid of the crazy amounts of French cheese I'll eat while living in France.

Very True!!


10. True or False: I'm writing this blog but supposed to be working.

True.

And that wraps up our first "True or False".