Oh, lorene, I feel your pain! (Well, okay, the point is you’re not feeling any pain yet, but you know what I mean 
) My first two kids were each two weeks late. I think the only reason I had the third one on time was that she was a scheduled C-section!
Does anyone want to have an intelligent conversation about the flu vaccine? I’m tired of “OMG!!11! YOUR POISINING YOUR BABY!” with cites from mercola.com, and I figure that here I might get some rational thoughts.
Will you have your child vaccinated? (And how old is your child?)
Will you try to get the thimerosal-free vaccine?
Will you try to get yourself vaccinated even if you fall outside of the risk groups? (I heard a doctor on the radio today trying to talk generally healthy adults out of getting it because of the supply problems.)
I still don’t know why the recommended age was lowered this year, so I’m hoping someone can explain that too.
I go next week for Zackie’s 1 year. I will be asking about both our shots (I fall into the high risk category) I will report back 
My husband is one of those healthy adults but because he lives with me he is recommended to get vaccinated too.
I’ll ask about it at the next checkup; it’s in a couple of weeks. Will report.
I have a new niece! As of yesterday afternoon. She was born a few weeks early by c-section because of a rather bad case of placenta previa. Everybody’s happy and she’s as cute as can be (and enviably small from my POV: 6 lbs. +, not bad for an early bird). Yay!
DangerDad’s coming home from his trip late tonight. Yay!
Yesterday was my first day this year hosting our little preschool group. It’s fun now that they’re a little older and we can do neat stuff that requires more attention. Sometimes we do science experiments, we read interesting stories, and the other day we went to the fire station. Boy, is it tiring, though! I have much respect for teachers; I know I could never do it all day, every day.
Yay for 1 year old Zackie and DangerNiece. ValleyGirl was 6lbs 11oz at one week early, so 6 lbs+ is pretty good for a few weeks!
By the way, I posted a parenting-related thread here. I’m soliciting you guys to come share your thoughts, since my threads usually sink. 
It’s been recommended that we all get the vaccine in my house, since we will have an infant under 6 months there* PLUS I work with health-compromised adults. I didn’t get a shot last year and ended up with a HORRIBLE flu. We couldn’t get a shot for my daughter, either, because her pedi was kind of a dick about it (have a different ped this year), and I was so paranoid, having her in daycare and hearing all those horror stories on the news. So…yes, yes, n/a to your questions.
*if this baby ever decides to be born, that is.
So glad you brought up the vaccine issue, Lily - I’ve been wondering what on earth to do. I thought the thimersol had been phased out & that’s why it’s now called “DTaP”, but maybe I’m wrong. Personally I hate the flu shot for myself, I’ve only had one once & didn’t feel like it helped a whit. But of course I don’t want to take chances with the kids. Is the flu that much worse for babies?
BTW, I like how you put that – there are so many crazy threads about vaccines (on other message boards).
dangermom congratulations! And I hear you on the pre-school, gosh that must be so much work! My Aunt is teaching classes a couple of days a week & has the funniest stories.
norinew hope that surgery went okay! I’ll provide tonight’s recipe, since you’re tied up:
Hot Dogs - grill & serve
Mac 'n Cheese (ketchup optional) - boil & serve (make sure the water’s actually boiling before adding the macaroni) (this is how domestically-challenged we are, my sister did not know this & made a big wad of mac & cheese once)
Salad - ok, I actually did something creative here. Greens & carrots were all we had, so I threw in a pear, plus a little garlic that I’d grilled. And a mushroom. Then I found this jar of pickled ginger Hubby bought to go along with sushi. Added that. It was actually pretty tasty. Needed grapes.
Glad to hear things went well for your niece, she sounds like a nice size for being early
I had to look up the thimerosal, and realized it was what I thought it was. Also it’s been mostly phased out in Canada (at least according to the local health authority).
All of us are going to be getting the flu vaccine, partially because we fall into the ‘high risk/can get it for free’ crowd and partially because I’d like to try and prevent some of the illness. I can get pretty sick in the winter at times and figure every little bit helps. Caterpie is also up to date on all of his vaccines, and not only because he goes to a dayhome. I can understand why some parents don’t get the regular vaccines done but having seen some of the interesting shows and stuff last winter they had about vaccines I figure it’s better safe than sorry.
Lily, my kids are all a little bit above the recommended age, so probably noone in casa de new will get the shot. However, I did have my little one vaccinated last year. There may be a risk from the shot, but I’m pretty sure the risk from the flu is greater.
The surgery went well. My daughter got (legally) stoned. She was being prepped for the procedure and the anasthesiologist came in to check on her; she said she was very nervous, but didn’t guess anything could be done about that. The anasthesiologist grinned and said “We certainly can do something about that!” a few minutes later, a nurse came in with a little cup of red liquid for her to drink. When we were downstairs, just outside of the operating room, Arielle looked up at the wallpaper and said “Mom, why is that wallpaper moving? I’m pretty sure it’s not supposed to be doing that!” I just laughed. I dunno what that red stuff was, but it must have been pretty good. This evening, she’s feeling pretty good, hasn’t even needed to take any Tylenol or anything so far. But I still told her she doesn’t have to do schoolwork tonight. And I made her favorite dinner: meatballs in brown gravy (frozen meatballs, canned gravy), garlic toast, corn (from a can). No cooking prowess needed here, folks.
Sunday is Sophie’s third birthday and the excitement is so thick in chez JohnT that you have to wade through it. I have no idea what Sophie is actually expecting a “birthday” to be, but she knows that it involves Dora, cake, friends and family, and most importantly to our very acquisitive little girl, the birthday is hers.
This week I’m in Blue Ridge GA, a “city” to the east of Ass-end and to the west of Nowhere. Thursday, I had need to go to Sam’s Club (and only Sam’s), and I had to go regardless of where one was located. Looking it up on the internet… oh, joy. The closest in terms of distance was Chattanooga, a good 70 mile drive. Atlanta was a possibility, but memories of the traffic stifled that impulse.
… However, the Knoxville Sam’s (where I live) was only 110 miles away (“only” in the sense that since I’m driving 70 miles…). Also, my family was there, and I missed them. So, off I went. Drove through the Ocoee valley on 64, got to Cleveland TN and turned north on I-75. Less than an hour later, and only two hours after I left, I’m shopping at Sam’s, buying materials for my business.
I decided not to call Mrs. JohnT, planning on surprising her, for Mrs. JohnT professed a loathing of surprises, a confession she has come to regret making. 
Even better, as I was driving home she called me, and, realizing the surprise could be total, we started chatting like things were “normal”, myself with the intention of keeping her on the phone for just 3 minutes (I was that close).
So I pull into our neighborhood, still chatting, and finally end up in the driveway. I slammed the car shut (loudly) and started for the front door…
“Wait, I think someone’s here.”
“Hmmm?”
“I think I heard a car door. Wait a sec, I’m gonna to get the door.” I press doorbell.
“There’s the doorbell. Funny, this guy looks like you….” opens door “…Oh, *#@!%!!!”
She was dumbfounded, as one could expect, but very pleased. I told her what happened and she gave me a kiss and told me that Sophie would be thrilled, for she kept on saying “I need my Daddy” this week whenever she got a boo-boo. L Sophie, napping (Sophie takes late naps, from 4:30-7:00pm, and goes to bed around 9:00pm) heard the commotion and she bounded out of bed, still bleary-eyed, blinking, and rushed to the door, throwing herself at my defenseless legs.
We sat down and watched the Lion King, Sophie on my lap, until she woke up enough so that even the TV couldn’t keep up with her (don’t you just love that moment? :rolleyes: ). She didn’t pay any attention to it, not after the first song, and she spent her time telling me about her week and what she and Mommy did today:
“I saw the Bad Guy and the Big Pumpkin, dada!” The “bad guy” is a large, wind-filled sock puppet on the roof of a party supply store. The “Big Pumpkin” is exactly what it sounds like – a large Halloween-pumpkin balloon on the same store.
“You did?!?”
“Yeah… I bock-toomed with Mommy at Party City.”
“Sophie, tell Daddy about how you and I tried on costumes at Party City.” Smooth. A translation without Sophie knowing that she’s being translated.
“You put on costumes?”
“Yeah! I bock-toomed Dora and Boots and Buh-bah!” Thus, Sophie verbs another noun. As I just did. :smack: Buh-bah=SpongeBob
“Wow, Sophie, that must have been fun!”
“Yeah! Dada, my Birthday coming soon!” And thus the focus is readjusted.
And so on for quite a while – Little Miss is not one to mince words, or leave a detail untold. Later on, we worked for a few seconds on how to say “costume”. I’ll worry about the verb/noun thing later, for now I think it’s rather endearing and a little creative. Sophie was never one to speak in mere words; sentences, phrases has always been her babble-in-trade, and this is just an extension of that:
“Dada? I wanna hi the baby.”
We ate dinner, rough-housed for about 20-30 minutes (Sophie is a pretty physical child who doesn’t mind getting a little bit man-handled), got ready for night-night, and read a couple of her favorite books – can’t remember the titles right now, but they deal with Baby and her dog Daisy, and her puppies, Morris, Delores, and Little Daisy. Really sweet books, I recommend them highly for your toddler. For about six months Sophie has been mimicking (sp?) both our reading and stuff she sees on TV – she’ll sing “Circle of Life”, she’ll “read” along with us during her favorite books, she quotes favorite SpongeBob lines, etc. Today we kind of acted out the book, barking when the puppies barked, pointing when Baby pointed, and etc, until it was over - “one more book. Please???” repeated successfully twice, but finally lost its power over Daddy, who did have a 2 hour drive back to GA. (I explained to Sophie, during dinner, that I would have to leave again after night-night, but will be back tomorrow. She was disappointed, but we think she understood.)
Oh! She also knows “Illinois”, can point to it on the map, and knows it as the place where Dada was born. She also knows where Georgia and Tennessee is… this is something she and Mommy played at today.
Mrs. JohnT and I talked for a few minutes, listening to Sophie jabber in the room next to us (at times we heard her bark, cracking us up to no end). With 9:30 approaching, I grabbed my keys, wallet, and three Diet Cokes, kissed the lovely and virtuous fair lady goodbye, and 2 hours later was back in Blue Ridge.
It was well worth the extra 80 miles.
JohnT, I do so love your little slice-of-life essays. Sophie’s a lucky little girl (Mrs. JohnT is pretty lucky, too, I think).
Me, I’m not having such a good day today. Got the kidney stone blues again. And to top it off, the in-laws are here for the weekend. I’ve put some pork chops in the Crock Pot for dinner; about an hour before they’re done, I’m going to throw a few sliced apples in there for flavor. I made my oldest daughter do dishes this morning, and she groaned at me.
I had such a time with Amanda (my oldest one) and her psych meds yesterday. Okay, let’s back up about three weeks. She’s been seeing a therapist who said that although he didn’t have a psychiatrist working with him to write for psych meds, he would work with Amanda’s pediatrician to get her refills (she’s been on a pretty successful regimen for about six months now). So about three weeks ago, her therapist called the ped. and told the office we need refills soon. I called the office a week later to see if they were ready and was told “Well, I don’t see any scrips for her, but her file is pulled; he must be working on them” I called a couple of days later to see if they were ready and was told no, but the nurse would check on them for me. Well, a few days after that, I had to take Arielle in about her surgery, and seeing the doc face-to-face, asked him what was going on with Amanda’s scrips. He said he’s not comfortable filling psych scrips and she’ll have to find a psychiatrist to do it!! Dammit, why couldn’t someone have told me that immediately? Or told her therapist that, or something?? So, this past Monday, I called the Dept. of Mental Health at the Health Dept. to set up for her to see Dr. Helz, the shrink Amanda had seen before. I spoke with Carla, Dr. Helz’s nurse. Carla said that she wouldn’t be able to get Amanda in to see Dr. Helz until November, but she could phone in refills. I told Amanda to call Wednesday and check with Carla about the refills (in less than a year, she’ll be 18; I’m trying to get her to take some responsibility for herself), but she didn’t; she forgot again on Thursday. By Friday morning, I decided that since the weekend was coming and Amanda was out of Zoloft, I’d better call. Then Carla told me that Dr. Helz would not refill the scrips because she hadn’t seen Amanda since August. Why did she have to wait for Friday to tell me this? Well, Amanda being without her meds for a month or more is simply not an option. So I called Amanda’s therapist, who had me come to his house to sign some release forms and take them to the Health Dept. in hopes that this would help them feel more comfortable about refilling Amanda’s meds. I got home from doing all of this at about 2:35. There was a message on my voicemail from Carla. She said Dr. Helz had an opening, and wanted to see Amanda at 3:00!! Amanda got home from school just in time for me to get her there by 3:00. But holy crap, if anyone anywhere along the line had actually gotten off their asses and called me and told me there was a problem, yesterday’s stresses would have been greatly reduced!
If this sounds rambling, please excuse me. It was very stressful, and I’m currently under the influence of narcotics.
On happier notes, my first ever DopeFest (first ever that I’m hosting; I’ve attended them) is coming up in a week. Too bad none of you live close enough to come, because meeting some of you guys face-to-face would be too cool for words.
norinew, so sorry to hear about your trials and tribulations! Here’s hoping the weekend proves to be more soothing 
. Your dopefest sounds awesome - you never know!
My baby is here! 3 days late, but here!
He was 7lbs 15oz, 20" long. Labor was relatively smooth. We’re all just getting home and catching up.
I really want to read everyone 's latest posts, and I’m sure I’ll have time…oh, around 1am, post-nursing but pre-dozing.
YAY!!!
Congratulations!!!
lorene, congratulations! See, I told you you wouldn’t be pregnant forever .
Congratulations, lorene!!!
norinew, I am so dense that you need to teach me how to use a crockpot. What kind of liquid do you put in with a pork chop so it will cook? So sorry to hear about your hassles and stones. Medical stuff tends to be such a hassle. I’ve talked to people (with good health insurance) who haven’t seen a doctor in 10 years, and it’s just beyond my comprehension how nice that must be.
JohnT, I love your Sophie stories. If you ever do a blog, let me know.
JohnT that was so lovely! Wishing Sophie a Happy Birthday, and the T household much merriment!
lorene - Congratulations!!! We knew you’d all be great! Pix??? (no pressure)
Lily, I am so glad you asked norinew that question, I don’t know how to “do crockpot” either, but was too embarrassed to admit it! Am eagerly awaiting her reply. Your thread on the costumes was an interesting question - didn’t that develop into a great conversation!? I’m repeatedly delighted at what I learn here.
Okay, question from me. Is this weird or what? My daughter, 8 months old, has a temper! Not just the whine or cry of frustration, which both of them do. No. When she’s mad she balls up her little fists and tenses her arms and shoulders, and grunts/bellows “Meh meh!!” in her little baby bellows. Her whole little body quivers! I don’t know beans about babies - do most of them do this? Doesn’t bode well for those terrible 2’s!
JohnT Sophie sounds like a real sweetheart and a happy birthday to her!
lorene congrats on the new little one. Glad things went smoothly and you’re all home now
lily and fessie I usually do roasts and soups in the crockpot myself, so norinew will probably have a better answer but I would think just a little water might be fine (very little for pork chops) or even just pop them in frozen and you have all that you need there. Here’s some online crockpot recipes I bookmarked this a couple weeks ago and haven’t gotten around to really looking at it, but at first glance the recipes look pretty good. I’ve been experimenting a bit with the crockpot. At the very least it comes in handy and is nice for a weekend dinner where you want something filling, but not to spend a lot of time on.
Hey, congratulations, lorene! Hope to hear more (and maybe see some pictures?) soon!
fessie and Lily, with crockpot cooking, you don’t need as much liquid as with stove-top cooking, because it doesn’t evaporate. I usually use canned broth. When I cooked the pork yesterday, I poured about a half-can of chicken broth in with the pork (about eight pork chops). I added oregano, salt and pepper, and then about an hour and a half before serving, I added four sliced apples and a couple of packets of Splenda to bring out the sweetness in the apples.
About a year ago, on flylady.net, they asked the subscribers to send in their favorite crock pot recipes. If you go to her website, and from the home page, click on “Food for Thought”; scroll about a third of the way down the page and you’ll find a little section on slow cookers, along with a link to some great recipes.