free advertising for vitamin water

I recently discovered Vitamin Water and it is so good...so good that I'm blogging about it.  I never thought that I would use the words 'water' and 'so good' in the same sentence.  I am not a fan of water and didn't drink the 10 gallons a day of it that you're supposed to when you're pregnant.  I just don't prefer it.  Truthfully I could live off of iced tea, lattes and coffee.  I know, not so good.

So two weeks ago I was stuck at a workshop for my job and needed a drink, hence the Vitamin Water.  It was yummy and I couldn't believe that it was just flavored water!  And since I'm not typically a healthy drinker and eater, I think this may be just the thing for me. Good tasting water with vitamins, I mean seriously?  Now maybe it's not that good for you, who knows, but by the looks of the ingredients and of course, all of the vitamins listed, it sure does seem as though it's healthy!

Each flavor is called something, like "sync" or "defense" or "power-c" just to name a few.  Here is the coolest part...the labels.  Each label has a funny little blurb about that particular flavor.  And when I say funny, I mean I'm laughing when I read it.  And I read the same one again and again.  I don't even read books for entertainment.  So now I'm getting vitamins and entertained at the same time...by a flavored water drink!  You might be thinking that I either have too much time on my hands or that I've completely lost it but neither is true.  I'm as busy and sane as usual.  Here's a sample of what I'm talking about:

(This is written on the "defense" flavor and is my favorite thus far)...

"If you've had to use sick days because you've actually been sick then you're seriously missing out, my friends.  See, the trick is to stay healthy and use sick days to just um, not go in.  And this combination of zinc and fortifying vitamins can help out with that and keep you healthy as a horse.  So drink up.  Remember, don't overdo it on the coughing and sniffling (big rookie mistake).  Just stick with the ever-elusive "24-hour bug".  The symptoms are vague and people will actually encourage you to stay home."    

Is that funny stuff or what?

potty talk

Lately Emily has been into saying the words "Poop" and "Pee".  She'll randomly add one of the words to the end of a sentence like this, "Can I be done with my dinner pee?" or to the end of a song like this, "Ashes, ashes, we all fall down poop."  When this started a few weeks ago I initially ignored it.  After a few days I decided to explain to her that those were "potty words" and that the only time she should be saying them is when she's in the bathroom or during a diaper change.  It's actually very hard not to laugh when she says the words because it is funny but she'll immediately look at me so I have to make sure that I reinforce what I explained to her...they are potty words.  It's definitely diminishing but still popping up here and there.  Here are two recent examples:

Last weekend as we were getting out of the minivan to go to my nephew's birthday party, she asked me..."Mom, can I say poop and pee at the party?"  I responded no, to which she asked..."Can I say poop and pee in the bathroom at the party?"  So of course, I had to say yes.

And then tonight, two minutes after she went in her diaper she had this conversation with Connor:

Emily: (Walks up to Connor and points her butt at him) Do you want to eat my poop for lunch Connor?
Connor: (Appalled) No!
Emily: Why, did you already have lunch?

happy birthday blog

My blog turned one year old on October 29th.  In celebration, I'm going to create a book of my blog.  This will be the last post to be included in the book.  My cousin did this recently and she said her book turned out great..she loves it.

I started the blog at the beginning of a new chapter in my life, to record my year off from work and home with my kids.  I also became a slacker with the baby books so I figured the blog could make up for that.  (Apologies to Emily and Camryn because Connor has a really detailed baby book...sorry girls.)  I had every intention of continuing this blog though, even while working full-time.  I've been back to work for 11 weeks and I'm still blogging...so far, so good.  I actually don't think I could give it up if I wanted to.  It's for my kids.  I guess there will come a time when they no longer want to be blogged about and I'll have to find other things to discuss.  But for now, I still want to record every minute of their lives.  I want them to know how much they are loved and adored, how funny they are, how smart they are and how much they have to offer, even at their young ages.

So, happy birthday blog.  It's been a great year.    

halloween

We've always loved Halloween. It's my favorite holiday. We dressed up until we were into our 20's I think. Our first few years in this house before we had kids, Carl would dress up as something scary (a witch, a vampire, an old creepy man, and a scream guy) and he would scare the crap out of the kids in the neighborhood. It was so much fun. We would have people over, a kind of informal Halloween party, and just have fun watching the kids run screaming from our door. I laugh just thinking about it. The best year was the year of the witch. I wish I had a scanner so that I could put the picture in here. Carl put the witch from the Wizard of Oz to shame. He sat in our upstairs bedroom window and would cackle and talk to the kids as they were approaching. I'd answer the door and play dumb when the kids would ask me about the witch's voice they heard. Talking to the kids for 10 seconds would buy Carl just enough time to run downstairs and out the door at them or sometimes he'd go out the backdoor and sneak around to the front. I remember this one kid was trying to get away so fast that he fell on the grass and then was trying to crawl away quickly...hilarious. We tried not to do this to the really young kids of course. For a few years though, our house was the talk of the neighborhood and people couldn't wait to see what we came up with next. I had people asking me weeks in advance what Carl was going to be or do. That all stopped when we had kids. Our focus changed, we started trick-or-treating again instead of giving out candy and we also didn't want to scare the crap out of our own kids, just other peoples kids.

This year we had a fun week leading up to Halloween. The kids and myself met Connor's friend, mom and sister at Duffield's for the hayride and pumpkin picking. The rest of the week was spent making Connor's costume, which was all Carl. Connor and I had been out to every Halloween store around and couldn't find any costumes that he wanted to be. Carl came up with the idea of a homemade robot costume and did a great job with it. He got a lot of compliments and had so much fun wearing it. The day before Halloween was his school parade. And on Halloween, Carl actually got to take the night off from work (being a manager and having off on a Saturday night in the Casino business is pretty much unheard of). Grandpop and Mom Mom Petrilli came over for pizza and trick-or-treated with us.

Our neighbors always ask when we're going to start scaring again. It may be a year or two, but we will definitely be back.

Hayride at Duffield's

Connor's Kindergarten class

Camryn as Winnie the Pooh and Emily as Stephanie from Lazytown

Connor the robot

Getting ready to trick-or-treat

i just have to do it

Here it is, a post about the flu vaccine. With the recent story about Desiree Jennings, I can't hold back anymore. There is widespread panic about the swine flu and upcoming flu season and I'm sure the drug companies are loving it. They get to make more vaccines, which equals more money for them. Add the drug company lobbyists that help put a spin on things just enough for politicians and the media to grab hold and run with it. This is why your average American is in a panic about the swine flu and flu, and then running out to get their vaccines. Well not me and not my kids.

In 1999 the FDA reviewed the use of thimerosal in childhood vaccines and found no evidence of harm, but as a precautionary measure, recommended removing thimerosal from vaccines routinely given to children. Thimerosal was removed from all pediatric vaccines in 2001 with the exception of the flu shot. There is a single-dose, thimerosal-free vaccine available but it is in short supply and not typically advertised. You have to ask for it. Do you know why? Well, I'm going to tell you...because it's more expensive. It costs less money to use Thimerosal as a preservative, enabling physicians to give the flu shot from multi-dose vials rather than a single-dose vial.

Most people will say that the chance of something happening because of the flu shot is rare, a one-in-a-million chance. Desiree, the woman in the video, stated that she would not have had the shot if she knew the risks. That is just sad. She should have known the risks, as rare as they might be. I do my research...on pretty much everything. On this subject, I've read the CDC report and the FDA report. I've read the position statement of the American Academy of Pediatrics and I've read documents written by the anti-vaccine movement. I am responsible for myself, for the choices I make. I am also responsible for my kids so it's even more important to me that I make decisions based on information, not on blind faith and trust. Be an active participant in your own care and your children's care. Do some research. Read. Seek. Find. And then make the decision that is best for you. But please, just make it an informed decision.

cam update

Just a quick follow-up to my last post. Took Camryn to the pediatrician on Wednesday. He ruled out anything bacterial that would be the cause of the fever...strep, pneumonia, flu, ear infection, sinus infection. She had no rash, lumps or anything alarming on exam so the "rule-out" diagnosis was "it's something viral". The fever broke on Friday and she's fine. Five days of a high fever, no other symptoms. I'm glad it was nothing, but if a fever is the body's way of fighting something off, then I guess it was something. Just don't know what the something was.

stay away

If you know what's good for you, stay away from us until the spring...maybe even the summer. If you see us coming, run for your lives. The kids are sick, again. It's going to be a long fall and winter.

I've been meaning to post about this for about a week and it was originally going to be called, "Going through the big D and don't mean Dallas", which is a country song reference. In the song, "the big D" means divorce. In my house, "the big D" means diarrhea...and lots of it. Connor got things going on October 1st. After seven days of it, I took him to the pediatrician. Since there were no other symptoms, they had me collect stool samples for the lab with these instructions:

• Get a foil baking pan and mold it to the toilet when he has to go. Picture that for a second.
• Collect the sample.
• Divide the sample up among five containers and three slides.
• Label everything.
• Put one container in the freezer, one container in the fridge and leave three containers at room temperature.
• Seal the slides in the envelope.
• Take everything to Quest as soon as possible.

Piece of cake! Of course, he had to go in the middle of dinner and I didn't want to pass on an opportunity to collect crap in a baking pan, so off Connor and I went while the girls ate. After the collection, I gathered the containers and slides together in the kitchen, which was completely appropriate given we were in the middle of dinner, and I divided it all up into the proper places. It took about 10 minutes. A few minutes into it the kids wanted to know what the smell was. Seriously? My kids are smart, and knew what I was doing, so I was completely baffled by the question. I was like, "Uh...what do you think the smell is?" They really are brilliant kids but somehow that one got past them.

By the time all of Connor's results were in a few days later, the girls now had diarrhea. The results were fine...no salmonella, rotavirus, parasites, etc. The nurse practitioner told me to make an apppointment with a GI doctor, even after I told her that the girls now had the diarrhea and that it wasn't a problem exclusive to Connor. I didn't get that one. So, I used common sense and decided to wait it out instead of taking him to a GI doctor.

Today it's been one week since then and we seem to be in the clear. The girls were actually over it faster then Connor. He had 19 days of diarrhea. That's insane. We're over it though and already on to the next thing. Camryn is on day 3 of a fever. No other symptoms. Tomorrow is the magical day 4 that the pediatrician always says to wait until to call. So I'll call, and probably end up there tomorrow. I know there will be an exam, ear check, likely a strep throat swab because they always seem to do that no matter what. Maybe I'll even get to collect poop again.