Just when you think you are done being totally surprised!

You'd think by now, having raised three kids to at least a year (well, almost, anyway) that there were very few things that could still freak me the hell out. You'd be wrong if you thought that. I do react with a little more sanity then, say, crying my eyes out over a newborn with a little eye infection because he's born with an unopened tear duct. We have ridden the gauntlet with our middle child, and he hasn't even gotten started, I'm rather certain. They still do things, almost weekly, that just make me freak out and think, "Oh crap, what do I do?" If the fear that reigns in me shows on my face, they'd all be freaking too. Apparently my husband has much more faith in my ability to handle a crisis since he can't even bother to break his stare from the TV when I actually say out loud, "Oh crap, what do I do?" And he's right, but I've yet to actually have faith in myself. Luckily I have great faith in God. I can talk myself out of a certain amount of fear because of His repeated and unending faithfulness to me. And so we start again, one freak out at a time. I must say, though, the third child may cause me just as many, "oh crap!" moments, but they sure do cost us less in unnecessary visits to the Dr.'s office.

Begin rant. Just skip this part if you don't want to read my rantings, which may be hard to follow.
And I just have to vent today about vaccinations and ignorant people. Someone posted on FB today an article about a ten year old boy who died of meningitis. Tragic? Yes. Preventable? Doubtful. It was just another scare tactic story used to try and convince people that vaccinations are the end all be all in medicine. Don't get me wrong, I am not anti-vax. No. Not.At.All. I vaccinate my kids, completely and sometimes even against my better judgment because the state tells me I have to (that's another rant all by itself). But this boy who died was ten years old and he (supposedly) caught meningitis at a swimming pool. The article, of course, goes on to blame the unvaccinated population, which, if you know anything about vaccinations, is absolutely stupid considering the facts. The first fact being that the vaccination is not even available to kids under 12 years old. The second fact being that the vaccination itself is relatively new, so MOST people aren't vaccinated for it. It's absolutely stupid to blame this tragedy on the non vaxing community. There's some stuff you can blame on them, but not this. And to do so just facilitates the same behavior on the "other side." Like the whole "vaccinations cause autism" crap. That too is scare tactic crap with no basis in scientific proof whatsoever. It's all conjecture, personal experience, and other "junk" science. No one can prove this poor boy's death could have been prevented because they have no idea where he really contracted the meningitis and/or if the person he contracted it from shoulda/woulda/coulda been vaccinated. And my experience tells me that people who actually choose to try and educate themselves in this arena, and believe me, it is a lot of work to do so, do something similar to what I do, which is delay/devise a new schedule than the recommended one. People who don't care and/or trust the medical community completely, do what the AAP recommends. And people who believe scare tactics don't vaccinate at all. Of course there are people who believe scare tactics and vaccinate fully, on AAP schedule too, though those seem MUCH more rare. Yet, somehow, I get lumped in with all the whackados that don't vaccinate. And, yes, if you are reading this and you don't vaccinate your kids at all, I just called you a whackado. You are playing with fire, and you (or your kids, actually) WILL get burned by this risky and irresponsible behavior. It's only a matter of time. Hopefully you don't, also, kill someone else in the process of your stupidity. Not only that, but all the whackados are getting closer and closer to making it so those of us that delay responsibly and carefully can't safely do that either. For example, I can safely delay the polio vaccine to a year. Polio has not been irradicated. But in the US we have great herd immunity, for now. If all these suburban housewives claiming education as a reason to not vaccinate don't wise up, that will no longer even be an option because the risk for contracting polio will be too great. So, if you are going to go against what virtually all of mainstream society is doing, and your doctor is recommending, you damn well better know what you are doing is RIGHT! And if your only justification is some random, ridiculous scare tactic like, "my child might get autism," then you better start reading, because vaccines DO NOT CAUSE AUTISM!! And "because someone told me _________ happened to their kid, and I don't want that to happen to mine," is never a reason to do or not do something. Personal examples mean nothing. Scientific fact, however, does mean something. WHEW! End rant.

How is it Thanksgiving? How is my sweet baby girl, who was just eating, pooping, and sleeping without even being able to move herself, now walking, talking, severing frenulums, and just one month shy of a year? Oh time, please slow down. I know that I will have many seasons of my life, but I am certain this will be my most favorite one, so please let it go by ever so slowly. Please. I will try my very best to complain little, love much, and enjoy it, if you will just make it go really slow. Thanks.