No Pigs Allowed!

I did it. I wasn't going to but I did. My original plan was to not vaccinate my kids with the H1N1 vaccine. I can't cite specific examples of why I felt I didn't want to do it. I just knew I didn't. Then I started hearing news stories about perfectly healthy kids that died from H1N1. I know that the chances are slim that one of my children will die from the flu/swine flu. However, it was keeping me up at night. What if Noah, who is still so young, died because I didn't want to get my kids vaccinated? I wavered back and forth about it for the last two months. One day I was going to go ahead and do it and the next day I swore I wasn't. Finally, last week I decided I was going to go ahead and do it. Only problem was that there wasn't any available! I figured I would just keep calling my pediatrician's office and when it was available we would get it. Sounded like a good plan to me. The only problem was that I kept forgetting to call! Today a friend of mine, who uses the same pediatrician (Thanks Chinelle) let me know that they had the H1N1 mist available. I called the office and sure enough they had it. Of course, they only had about 20 doses available and it was on a first come first serve basis. So, I packed the kids into the car and we sped off to the pediatrician. While driving I said a little prayer that God would watch over my kids and keep them safe from any harmful side effects of the vaccine. I also prayed that God would keep Noah healthy and safe because he was too young to receive the mist and they had no shots available. I put it in God's hands and I trust that he will watch over us. I arrived at the doctor's office and my oldest three received the H1N1 mist. We took out three of the doses left, which means that between our family and a couple other random patients there are about a dozen doses at our pediatrician's office. At the last minute one of the nurses informed me that they had one dose of the preservative free H1N1 shot in the back that we could have for Noah if we wanted. Apparently the little boy who was supposed to receive it ended up with a fever. We took it! It felt like the right thing to do. So, my kids have all received their first dose of the H1N1 vaccine and I think I will sleep a little better.

*I did not write this post in order to start a debate. I understand that not everyone opts to vaccinate their children with the same vaccines or at all. I believe it is a parent's right to do what they feel is right for their child. So, if you decide not to get your children the H1N1 vaccine then I fully support you. If you do get them vaccinated, I support you too. :)

Cleaning, Christmas and other random thoughts

I just finished cleaning up my oldest two daughters' bedroom. It is not a task I enjoy or look forward to. Mainly because I know it will end with one or more people crying and lots of frustration on my part. My oldest daughter is an extreme packrat. I just know she is going to be on some TV show in the future that will air on TLC or HGTV. Annie is a wonderful young lady and whomever ends up marrying her will be so fortunate. However, I also think about that young man and giggle. He will be living in a house full of stuff. I can only hope that as Annie gets older she will begin to develop some of my organizational zealous and then maybe her stuff can at least be tucked away and out of sight in pretty little bins and boxes. If not....well I don't even want to picture it.

My second oldest daughter is just..... Well, there's really no other way to say it. She can be a bit of a slob. Now don't get me wrong, she doesn't have moldy food or totally gross stuff laying around in her bedroom. It's just that she NEVER cleans anything up! She will sit down to play and then move on to another acitivity without so much as closing a drawer. Eventually, that leads to a horrendous mess. Maybe I am at fault for this. I distinctly remember singing the "Clean Up" song with her when she was younger and she has certainly been told to clean up. Whatever the reason, she just doesn't clean up. I do continue to ask her to clean up but it never ends well. I am hoping it's just a phase and that as she gets older the mess will start to drive her nuts. I'm probably fooling myself.

Anywho....the thing that really drives me nuts is the toys! I threw out umpteen Polly Pocket outfits that were torn in half. I picked up numerous Barbie shoes. I stepped on about a zillion Littlest Pet Shop accessories. The doll clothes were all stuffed back into their basket. The stuffed animals were once again tidied up. Don't even get me started on the My Little Pony stuff! THE TOYS!!!!!

Christmas is around the corner and I am ready to crawl into a hole! I love Christmas! I love the decorating. I love how I can help others. I love my family coming to visit. I love baking. There are plenty of reasons that I love the holiday season. Toys are not one of them. I struggle each year to figure out what to buy the kids. We have three girls so there aren't many girl toys that we don't have some version of. I know that we have two different See-n-Says, a few magnadoodles, more Cabbage Patch Dolls than I can even count and the list goes on. It's just so hard to think of anything original to buy for them. A couple of years ago I resolved that I was only going to buy things that went with toys we already had. I figured if we got Barbie stuff then that was fine because we had a place for the Barbie stuff. If we got Polly Pockets, that was fine because Polly had her own special spot. The problem was that my girls did not need anymore Barbie or Polly Pocket stuff. By New Year's Day they were sick to death of Barbies and Polly Pocket and there was not much else to play with. Last year I thought it would be great to get them toys that they could actually do cool stuff with....a sewing kit, a chemistry kit, an EZ Bake oven, etc... The problem was that all of these toys required that Mom or Dad help or supervise when they were used. What a hassle! I love to hang out with my kids and do fun stuff but I don't have time to play EZ Bake oven every single day and my husband does not want to come home from work and do a chemistry experiment every single night. I guess the key is to strike a balance.

Ok, so I am sorry to have rambled on and on. I suppose my brain is fried from listening to Annie explain to me why it was so important that she keep that huge pile of cut up cardboard box pieces.

Halloween 2009

We had an awesome Halloween! It was so much fun! I spent Friday and Saturday running around like a lunatic getting ready for our Halloween party. It was worth it! The party was a blast! The kids had fun. The adults had fun. Could you ask for more? Here are some great photos....

The kids all dressed up and ready to trick-or-treat!

We had some adults dressed up too! In case you can't tell, we have Billy Mays (the Oxi-Clean guy), a deranged baseball player, an angel, a witch a Woopie Cushion, the swine flu and I am a domestic goddess!

Annie

Noah and his buddy, Camden.

Carlos and Noah

Megan

Lily, this has to be one of the funniest photos ever!

Lily and Ava ready to head out and trick-or-treat

The Childers family...aren't their costumes amazing?

The day was a huge success as long as you forget the part about baby Camden falling and hitting his head on our fireplace. The shocking thing was how much blood came out of such a small cut! Poor little guy ended up getting his head glued together at the hospital. I think it's actually a cool story...he had his head glued together on his first Halloween!