Friday, August 28, 2009

Kiddie Pool/Sandbox

So I'm not a mom yet, but isn't this the most genius idea ever?

IMG_6272.JPG.jpg


I copied this from the blog Passionate Homemaking. What a great idea to use this plastic bin as a kiddie pool...it's cheap and you can snap on the cover so you don't have to keep changing the water AND when your kids outgrow it, you can use it for storage!! And bonus - you can switch it to a sandbox easily if you feel like it.

Saturday, August 1, 2009

OUCH!

vaccinations Pictures, Images and Photos
I'm stealing this topic from my friend Laura's blog because I think it's interesting. What do you think?? This is my comment on hers...

I do understand the supposed risks so I wouldn’t call anyone wacko who doesn't vaccinate their kids, but I don’t think that I want to let Jenny McCarthy sway the medical decisions I make for my child either. I thought it was pretty interesting on this chart that very few of them actually contained any mercury. I think when I’m making these decisions for my own kids that I will be careful to only let them be vaccinated with the brands that use no mercury because I don’t trust that stuff.

I checked out both Immunization schedules from 1983 and 2008. I do think that it’s sort of incredible how much it has changed. I also know that diseases are powerful and can evolve (why we get a flu shot every year – or at least I do and I hardly EVER get sick). I noticed that Rotavirus is one that was added and I don’t know much about it so I looked it up. 60,000 people are admitted to hospitals in the US each year and 37 die from rotavirus. Most people in the world have had it by age 5 and the first time is really bad and causes severe diarrhea, then the following times their body has built up enough antibodies to be asymptomatic even though they may be infected. A little boy on WIC died from it soon after I started my job and I still remember his mom calling me on the phone crying and it was horrible. I personally don’t want my kid to have severe diarrhea or put other kids at risk for severe illness and possible death.

http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vac-gen/why.htm
This link explains “the other side” pretty well in plain language. Parents who refuse vaccinations are relying on the kids who are vaccinated to prevent the outbreak of disease.

BUT I do understand proceeding with caution and doing your research is very important, just know where you are getting the information from a reputable source and remember that overall, the disease itself is probably way more of an enemy than the vaccine, otherwise the health community wouldn’t be interested in eradicating it.