White Crap.....Again.

Well, today has turned into a fine mess.  And by today, I mean the outside.  And by a fine mess I mean, the copious amounts of snow that keeps falling from the dang sky.  WHY!?!?!?  Why, oh, why must I endure more of this snowy wonderland hell!?!? It's all just too much for me right now.  I'm fairly certain that it will never stop snowing and we are entering a new ice age.  The whole polar vortex thing can stop too.  I've never been so cold in my life!!  In my life, I say!! Will the earth ever be warm again?!?!  GAH, why me!?!?!?  (You know, because I am the ONLY person going through this winter storm).  I'm sure the snow Gods have it out for me.  And the cold.  Did I mention the cold????  *sigh*

4 X 4

On this day as we get another round of stupid snow, I am thankful that we bought a vehicle with four wheel drive.  Also thankful that we are past our minivan stage.  (I never really did like driving them much.) And no, we will not be moving on to the 15 passenger van stage, haha! Now, I don't feel quite as sick to the stomach to get out and pick kids up from school! yay! 

I Really Don't Want To Blog

While everyone else in the world seems to be on the New Year Health kick I am sitting here hugely pregnant.  I am in cooking mode and making all the things on Pinterest that looked wonderful to me but, I didn't make because I was being good.  Things like Warm Lemon Pudding cake (which I have made a few times now....sooooo yummy!), cake batter rice krispie treats, the cookies I bought from a school fundraiser, full fat home made mac and cheese, etc! Yesterday I made Vegetable Beef Soup and Italian Herb Bread. The other night I made Beef and Blue Sliders that were AMAZING!  Those are keepers for sure!  Tonight is the Sopapilla Cheesecake that I love! Oh and I am doing an Olive Garden night with Fettuccine Alfredo, Zuppa Tuscana, Garlic Bread, Caesar Salad!  I sure am enjoying myself.  I know darn well I won't like taking all the extra weight back off again but, whatever.   

I bought this book recently (amazon) after reading about it on Pinterest.  It is AWESOME!  I also ordered some cute owl chore charts and a new Mom Planner.  The author of the book is a mom to 5 kids ages 4-14 and has some great ideas that we are implementing in our house.  So far, so good! 

 

Shoes For Froo

As I have said, I am ADDICTED to two sites...Amazon and Zulily.  Pretty much everything I buy comes from one of these two sites.  This fall and winter I have been very good about not buying too many shoes for Eden as I have in the past.  In fact she only had two pairs.  Well, I saw these on Zulily and could not resist!!! I am IN LOVE with the red boots!! I hope she will wear them!! I wish they had them in my size too....and they were a FANTASTIC deal!!  I cannot wait for them to get here!! 

On a side note:  Tonight Cullen said to Jeremy: "Jeremy, can you go check on Froo?" 

Rant

I'm at my wits end with this whole animal revolution that is happening right now!  Ugh!  People treating animals like people or in some cases BETTER than they treat other people!  It is irritating!  I am all for loving animals and treating them nicely and not hurting them or mistreating them but, there are way too many people taking this WAY too far!  Makes me wanna puke.  I wonder how in the crap animals survived before people came along and started rescuing them?!!?  Drives me bonkers!!!  What's even better is....if it is a dog or a cat, then people are all for saving them from cold, heat, the outdoors, whatever.  But, no one cares if a poor little bat is duct taped into a box and left out in the polar vortex!!! Bahahahaha!!! 

Hairy Mess

As you can see from old pics I post of me as a child on here or facebook, my hair was always at the epitome of style.  I spent many hours grooming and primping and prepping.  Lies.  I was reminded that I HATED having my hair combed or even washed for that matter.  And I do remember screaming my head of to no end when my mom or anyone tried to brush my hair.  And I am still not one to do a whole lot with my hair.  I like it simple and easy to do.  So, Eden isn't so strange after all, when she won't let me do her hair.  :)

Our Keurig

I have been wanting a Keurig for a long time now.  It was on my Christmas list for a couple of years and this year I decided I was just going to get one for myself.  I hadn't really researched it a whole lot until Jeremy asked me which model I wanted.  How the heck do I know!?!? I saw some good deals on Keurigs when the girls and I were shopping in Peoria then and learned that you can get ones that are single cup where you have to add and heat water each and every time you want a drink or there are ones with a water resevoir that you fill occasionally and the water is constantly heated so you can have a drink immediately.  Anyway, I kept trying to buy one and Jeremy kept talking me out of it, insisting that he wanted to wait until he could find a really good deal on one.  I was sure that he had gotten me one for Christmas.  Well, turns out, he didn't.  But, my mother-in-law did!!! I was so stoked and she got the model I had picked out with Jeremy too! I had wanted a commercial one so that it would last longer and do more stuff.  I am thrilled to have it!! It is all I wanted and more!!! 
Okay, so you know how you walk into a coffee shop or a gas station and you can just pick out any kind of drink you want and it just pours right out of the machine for you??? Well, that is what I have in my own home!!  I guess with the non commercial models you have to wait 5 or 10 minutes for the water to heat up and then percolate and all that mumbo jumbo.  Not this one.  I walk into the kitchen, put a cup in, pick out my drink, push the button, and 30 seconds later my drink is ready to drink.  Heaven.  Pure heaven.  Jeremy loves it too and says he doesn't think he can live without it now!! He said he is excited to get up in the morning and get a drink now, LOL!!! 
I just ordered a stand on Amazon to hold the Keurig and it has drawers underneath to hold the K-cups.  Right now we have K-cups running out our ears and they are taking over my counters  Can't wait to get it on Wednesday! 

The Ultrasound and ASD

Yesterday was an interesting day for me.  Jeremy and I were going to Peoria for my ultrasound.  We had gotten all the kids to school and I was trying to get Eden ready to go.  I put a brand new outfit on her and wanted to do her hair up extra cute since we would be at the hospital and then were going to have lunch with my friend, Tuesday, afterwards.  I have tried and tried and tried to get her to let me do her hair on a consistent basis....all to no avail.  I am lucky to get a ponytail in her hair daily and that usually ends up messy and crazy looking before too long.  I LOVE her hair, it is gorgeous!  But, she wants nothing to do with me doing it.  Ever.  But, she will let Trisha and Debbie do her hair super cute.  This usually does not bother me in the slightest.  I am so glad that they want to do her hair and that she lets them because it always looks cute.  But, yesterday, I guess I was hormonal and I have so much on my mind with everything that is going on that I was on edge and crazy anyway. So, when I tried to do her hair and she threw a huge tantrum it really bothered me to my core.  I couldn't help it.  I just sat and cried and cried.  Why won't she let ME do her hair!?!?  Jeremy came home then to load the car up so we could go and told me not to worry about it, it's not that big of a deal, and gave me a hug.  I gathered myself together and we took off for Peoria.

Now, I have had a lot of time to think about what is going on with Asher and Eden both.  Typically, I can take the news of things rather well when things are thrust upon me and I did the same for both Asher's diagnosis and Eden's impending diagnosis.  But, the more time I have to think on these things and the more doctors that are involved and the more ways we have to think and change things to function, it is starting to overwhelm me and make me wonder how we are going to cope with all this forever.  I know that Eden is being considered for being on the Autism spectrum.  And the more I learn about everything, the more frightening it is.  There were signs all along that I never knew.  Things like chronic constipation that I have blogged about before.  It is one of the most common signs of children with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder).  We have to watch Eden VERY carefully to maintain her regularity and Miralax and Apple juice are staples in her diet.  Children with ASD are 3.5 times more likely to suffer from chronic constipation or diarrhea.  And there are some studies saying that the bacteria associated with chronic constipation can actually worsen ASD.  Many children on the spectrum have to be on a gluten and casein free diet to help with it all and have lots of probiotics.

The speech therapist called while were were on the road to Peoria and we are now setting up Eden's speech therapy as well.  We are starting with twice weekly.  So two times a week, we have to drive the hospital in Quincy for her speech therapy.  She is already making big improvements in her speech. And this is just the beginning.  Eden now has 6 different doctors that I have to keep straight and get to.  And Asher has 2.

After the speech therapist called.  I was looking at facebook on my phone and one of my friends in St. Louis posted a video with a comment attached.  She said that her son was bi-polar and had ADHD and she had started him on these new products and he had improved greatly.  Jeremy and I watched/listened to the video and then started researching the products.  They work great even on severely autistic children.  Non verbal children have started speaking, social skills improving, tantrums made more managable, etc.  It's something we have to look into for sure.

Anyway, we got to the hospital and I don't know if any of you have ever been to OSF in Peoria (or any large hospital for that matter) but, it is HUGE, and BUSY.  It's like an airport.  It was overwhelming for Jeremy and I, let alone Eden.  She did fairly good walking through.  She would get scared or nervous at every single door and not want to go through them.  At one point in the middle of the hallway bustling with people she just stopped and laid on the ground with her hands on her ears.  She has sensory issues we are learning more and more.  It was all just too much to process for her.  But, we just talked to her and actually didn't have any major meltdowns in the hallways.  The ultrasound itself was very thorough and very long.  Jeremy had to keep her in check the whole time and didn't get to see the baby very much.  But, the baby girl is doing great!!! Thank goodness!  The doctor there said he doesn't see anything at all wrong with her or the pregnancy!  Good news!! YAY! But, Eden was ready to go for sure.  We got in the car and rushed to meet Tuesday for lunch.

We knew it was going to be hard to take Eden to a restaurant.  But, we chose a Chinese buffet thinking that we would get food quicker and Eden may sit and eat some food for a minute.  OMG, it was a nightmare.  As soon as she went through the doors, which she was nervous of again, she couldn't handle it.  She just ran in circles and wouldn't stop.  If we picked her up she would hit and kick and struggle....and boy is she strong! Now, I know what people think.  And I hate hearing this...."If you don't take them places, they won't learn how to behave there."  Great.  I get that.  For a normally functioning kid, this makes sense.  But, children with ASD don't process the world, sounds, visual cues the way we do.  You have to do things differently with them.  Or there are the people that say or think "Learn to control your children."  I would love for these people to learn how to function with a child on the spectrum.  No one gets it until they have to go through it.  And that is another thing that makes me feel alone.  But, whatever.

 Jeremy ended up not being able to eat with us and sat in the car with Eden.  Tuesday and I ate and then sat in the car with Eden so that Jeremy could eat all by himself. :(  And such is our life.  I talked with Tuesday about it a bit.  She was very understanding.  She has a special needs nephew and knows that things have to be done differently sometimes.  Eden wouldn't talk to Tuesday and if Tuesday looked at her she would scream and cover her ears.  I am so glad to have such great friends that understand and love me anyway and my kids.  Tuesday just kept saying how cute she was and that Eden could warm up to her another time.  Which Eden will do too.   She just has to warm up and sense things on her own.  Then she is fine.

We left then because Tuesday had to get back to work and we had to get home.  I stopped at Baskin Robbins first and we had to go to McDonald's to get Eden a happy meal.  We got home after 7 at night.  Poor Eden had a poop episode.  I felt so bad.  I feel responsible for those because I am the one in charge of her diet.  She hadn't had enough apple juice.   It is really painful for her and hard.  Anyway, we got through that and put her to bed.  They day was super exhausting for all of us. 

I will obviously have a TON more to say on these topics as time goes on.  People will have to bare with me as I am learning and growing too.  Obviously she hasn't had an official diagnosis yet and I keep thinking that maybe this is just a stage she needs to go through.  I keep thinking that I don't want to overreact to any of the symptoms because you can have symptoms and not be autistic. Life is a strange little trip but, one I am glad to be on.  I only hope I can be the mom that my kids need and want.

Now, I feel bad for typing all this out.  What if she doesn't have it?  I love her either way.  She brings so much happiness to me daily.  Just looking at her brings a smile to my face.  She is my baby girl and always will be.  I just need to figure things out.  Thanks for listening. 

What To Do, What To Do?!!?

I was looking through Joanne's blog and she just did a baby girl room.  (They had their first girl, Sadie, in December) and her room turned out super cute! It is making me want to redo Eden and new baby girl's room!  I have had the room the same now since we moved in...well, I added the owl theme when Eden came into our lives but, I kinda wanna do something else now. Like I have time for another project but, it is something I am mulling over.   At least this project wouldn't require builders or anything like that, lol!  Hmmmmm. 

Happy Birthday, Dad!

 Today is my dad's birthday.  I am feeling sentimental today as I look through old family photos. I so wish he were still here.  It bothers me to no end that I didn't get to tell him all the things that he did that made an impact on me and I didn't get to say good-bye.  It is tough to lose a parent that you thought would always be there whenever you needed them.  It's beyond tough.  There are no words really. He did get to live a full and eventful life but, I feel like I didn't get all the time I wanted with him.  I am feeling selfish. 

This is a random snapshot of my dad walking me down the aisle. 

 This is hilarious because this is an oldie of my dad with an old girlfriend!! lol!  My mom always says that!  Wasn't he handsome though!??!  And it's so funny to me that he has a pack of cigarettes rolled up in his shirt sleeve.  My dad smoked up until he was 25 years old and then he quit cold turkey when he joined the church. It always blew my mind that he smoked because I just could never imagine it! 

 My mom and dad with Mike, David, Clayton, and Ginny!  This is so cute!  I see my dad in my brothers and I see my kids in my dad and brothers too!  Crazy!  Jeremy's family swear that Liam looks like Jeremy and my family swears that Liam looks like me and my brothers.  I am pretty sure the boat just tipped to my side! lol!  He is definitely a Trapp!  I haven't seen any pics of Jeremy that look anything close the the similarities with Liam that I found in looking through old Trapp photos.  I think I am finally starting to see us in our  kids!  lol! It's about time! Also, my brother Clay, looks like Asher and even Cedric a little bit!  And I see a little bit of Cullen in David and Clay.  Wow!  I need to put some more of these up!! lol!

 My mom and Dad on their wedding day!

 Mom and Dad 50 years later!!

 My dad when he was a small boy.  See Liam a lot there too!  

Wow!  

 My Dad

January 14, 1938- April 25, 2007

 My mom and dad with Tristan and Cedric.  I wish I had gotten more pics like this taken.  Darn it.  

The pic below is out in Utah for Matt and Kathy's wedding.  My mom and Dad and me with some of Mike's kids(Garrett, Teryn, and Kyle).

This is the day of my dad's funeral.  All my brothers with my mom.  This made me tear up too.  Next month will be one year that Russ has been missing.  I miss him.  He was such a good big brother to me and it's weird that I cannot talk to him.  It's like people don't even care but, I know it's because they don't understand.  No one gets things until they go through it themselves.  It's like when my dad died, there were people who never said one word to me about it, like it never even happened.  It's heartless and rude but, I think they may just feel awkward.  I don't know.

I came across this and just had to post.  This is my sister Ginny's kids when they were little.  Sidney is the youngest and she is in the corner.  Everyone always said she looked like me but, yeah, check those curls out!! An exact replica of Liam's curls when he was that age.  Also, that is what my hair looked like only blonde!  Cute!  And I just noticed that Justine (far left) looks like Eden....same color of hair and everything!! I need to look at old pics more often! haha!

 Some snapshots of another one of my dad's birthdays at Sue and Todd's old house in Carthage.  That is Nick with him above.  My dad was such a great guy.  Kinda and gentle.  I know people think I am exaggerating when I say that he never yelled but, I am dead serious.  I wish I could be more like him.  I want to have his patience and kindness.  Even to people that weren't exactly kind to him he was ALWAYS kind back to them.  

 Happy Birthday, Dad!  I can't wait to see you again someday!  

Baby Update

I joined the baby site called TheBump.com.  Every week they have a calendar that tells you what is going on with you and the baby.  The kids like to look at it and see how the baby is growing.  Liam is especially curious!  I love that he cares so much!  Every week they compare the baby's size to the size of a fruit and some weeks they don't make much sense to me but, whatever, lol, it is fun!   

 

 

22 Weeks Pregnant

During week 22, baby’s invading your space, which is why it might be tough to catch your breath and why your back might be killing you. Hey, as she grows, she may be expanding your belly so much (so fast) that you might have some stretch marks -- and you might even have a newfound “outtie”! What’s not so cool is that the stretch marks may never fade, but we promise they’ll fade in color after delivery. And your outtie will go back to an innie, we promise. As for sex, all these body changes, along with another fun one -- discharge! -- might be messing with your mojo, but some moms-to-be actually find they have an increase in libido around 22 weeks. That’s because your hormones are pretty much raging at this point. This is also a good time to schedule a maternity portrait session. You’ll want to aim for the third trimester -- but not so late that you risk going into labor before your appointment.

your baby's the size of a papaya!

During month five, the average fetus measures about 10.5 to 11.8 inches and weighs about 12.7 to 20.8 ounces.

your baby at 22 weeks

• Now that he's got more developed eyes and lips, he's looking even more like a newborn.
• He's sleeping in cycles -- about 12 to 14 hours per day (hint: they're probably those times you're not feeling any kicks!).

Another Rambling Post

Yesterday we decided to buy a "new" Expedition.  It is used.  Some friends of ours from Nauvoo, Kelly and Mike Siegfried, were getting rid of theirs and we need a new one.  I refuse to buy a really new car until the kids are all at least past the age of 10.  So this one is a 2004 Eddie Bauer Ford Expedition.  We don't have it yet but, will soon and I am excited.  I am most excited about the 4 wheel drive because of the amount of snow we have had to deal with this year.  Driving in a rear wheel drive vehicle in the snow sucks really bad.  The new one also has a few more perks than our current one so I am excited.  Now, that we have that figured out we can move on to our house project.  I seriously am daunted by the thought of it all.  I have no idea where to start.  It is annoying and I wish someone would just come in and do it already. And then I keep having second thoughts about it all....like should we do it because I really want to move but, then there is no where to move to either.  Like if we sold our house right now there isn't a single house in Nauvoo that we actually want to live in. 
Eden is recovering nicely from the chicken pox....the natural way, the way the body is supposed to.  She was a champ the whole time really.  She is talking up a storm as well!  She repeats everything I say and do.  It is crazy!  And wonderful!
The baby girl is growing really fast all of a sudden.  I feel huge and can't move right anymore.  And she is a mover and a shaker!  I am starting to freak out a little that she will be here before I know it and I am not ready yet.  I have some serious shopping to do. I might have to take a day and drive to the outlets in Iowa City.  This Thursday is my ultrasound in Peoria to make sure all is well with her.  I hope it all is.  I am really starting to get EXCITED!  More and more everyday.  I bought her a few outfits this past week and forget how tiny she is going to be!
I started menu planning our meals out to help cut down on our grocery bill.  And it helps with the whole "what are we having for supper tonight" debate every night too.  So far, so good!  Jeremy took Liam and went shopping this last Saturday morning.  I sent a detailed list and they did a great job coming home with everything I needed.  
I feel like I haven't seen anyone in years!! LOL!  Since Christmas between celebrating the holidays, being sick, and bad weather, I feel like I haven't seen or talked to anyone in ages!  It really hasn't been that long but, whatever.  I still have a ton to catch up in with the blog but it is a task that seems so tedious and complicated right now! I WILL do it though.

I had another mother I know that has four boys email last night asking me if there was anything different that we tried to "get" girls!! BAhahahaha!  It was really cute!  I gave her what little advice I had which was none really but, Jeremy swears he has it figured out!! LOL!!  He should write an article on it!! heehee! 

Oh and I have to boast for minute!  I am so darn proud of Asher!! This whole year he has brought home all A's every single report card.  And his behavior is one of the best in his class!  I am so happy that he could have Mrs. Winkler this year.  It is just such a difference from last year in Carthage.  I KNEW he needed a change!
Now, all the other kids have all or mostly all A's, and I am equally as proud of them but, Asher has come such a long way when last year the teacher was telling me he couldn't do certain things and I knew she just wasn't wanting to actually TEACH him the way he needed to be taught.  Schools are so frustrating that way.  And with the new common core standards it just makes it all the worse.  Ugh.  But, we will figure it all out. 

Chickenpox (Varicella) Vaccine Creates Shingles Epidemic

Chickenpox (Varicella) Vaccine Creates Shingles Epidemic

Chickenpox (Varicella) Vaccine: This Is Why a Shingles Epidemic Is Bolting Straight at the U.S.

November 02, 2010 | 361,680 views

Diane Murphy, MD, is the Director of the FDA's Office of Pediatric Therapeutics (OPT). The mission of OPT is to enforce a Congressional mandate that assures access for children to innovative, safe, and effective medical products.
Historically, many medical products have not been tested for use in children, leading to an increase in adverse events and the use of ineffective products.
Murphy notes that young children and neonates require the development of a new directional endpoint that can better help us to not treat children with our best guess, but with knowledge.

 

Dr. Mercola's Comments:

It's now been fifteen years since Merck's chickenpox (varicella) vaccine was approved for market.
What had always been regarded as a relatively benign childhood illness was suddenly reinvented in the 1990s as a life-threatening disease for which children must get vaccinated or face dire health consequences.
But wait—Merck to the rescue!
As is true with many new and potentially unnecessary medical interventions used on a widespread basis, there are often unintended consequences. The chickenpox (varicella) vaccine is a perfect example.
By trying to prevent all children from experiencing chickenpox naturally, this policy may have actually created a NEW epidemic—not in children but in adults, especially elderly adults.
Vaccinating children for chickenpox may very well be causing a shingles epidemic.

Chickenpox—Another False Epidemic

Before the live virus chickenpox vaccine was licensed in the United States in 1995, most children acquired a natural, long-lasting immunity to chickenpox by age six. For 99.9 percent of healthy children, chickenpox is a mild disease without complications.
It is estimated there were about 3.7 million cases of chickenpox annually in the U.S. before 1995^,1 resulting in an average of 100 deaths (50 children and 50 adults, most of whom were immunocompromised). This hardly represents a dire, life-threatening epidemic that requires mass vaccination of all children!
Chickenpox is caused by the varicella zoster virus, which is a member of the herpesvirus family and is associated with herpes zoster (shingles). Chickenpox is highly contagious but typically produces a mild disease characterized by small round lesions on your skin that cause intense itching. Chickenpox lasts for two to three weeks, and recovery leaves a child with long-lasting immunity.
Half of all cases of chickenpox occur in children ages five to nine. Before the vaccine was licensed in 1995 and states started passing laws mandating that children get it to attend school, it was estimated that only 10 percent of Americans over the age of 15 had not had chickenpox.
Up to 20 percent of adults who get chickenpox develop severe complications such as pneumonia, secondary bacterial infections, and brain inflammation (which is reported in less than one percent of children who get chickenpox). Most children and adults who develop these serious complications have compromised immune systems or other health problems.
Although chickenpox is typically not dangerous, there is a related disease that is more of a cause for concern: shingles.

Chickenpox's Evil Cousin: Shingles

Chickenpox and shingles are related. They are caused by similar viruses, both in the herpesvirus family. After you recover from chickenpox, the virus can remain dormant ("asleep") in your nerve roots for many years, unless it is awakened by some triggering factor, such as physical or emotional stress. When awakened, it presents itself as shingles rather than chickenpox.
Shingles is marked by pain and often a blister-like rash on one side of your body, left or right. Other symptoms can include headache and flu-like symptoms. Shingles typically runs its course in three to five weeks.
Although very painful, most people who get shingles will recover without serious complications and will not get it a second time. However, in people with weakened immune systems, shingles complications can be severe or life threatening. The most common complication is postherpetic neuralgia,² or PHN, where the pain may last for months or even years after the rash has healed. The pain is caused by damaged nerve fibers, which then persist in sending pain messages to your brain.
Other less frequent complications include bacterial skin infections, Hutchinson's sign, Ramsay Hunt Syndrome, motor neuropathy, meningitis, hearing loss, blindness, and bladder impairment.
A person with shingles can infect someone who hasn't had chickenpox, who may then develop chickenpox rather than shingles.
If you do develop shingles, as I mentioned earlier this summer, you can use topical honey to treat shingles symptoms and it appears to work better than the drugs.

Chickenpox Is Nature's Way of Protecting You from Shingles

Nature has devised an elegant plan for protecting you from the shingles virus.
After contracting and recovering from chickenpox (usually as a child), as you age, your natural immunity gets asymptomatically "boosted" by coming into contact with infected children, who are recovering from chickenpox. This natural "boosting" of natural immunity to the varicella (chickenpox) virus helps protect you from getting shingles later in life.
This is true whether you are a child, adolescent, young adult, or elderly—every time you come into contact with someone infected with chickenpox, you get a natural "booster shot" that protects you from a painful—and expensive—bout with shingles.
In other words, shingles can be prevented by ordinary contact, such as receiving a hug from a grandchild who is getting or recovering from the chickenpox. But with the advent of the chickenpox vaccine, there is less chickenpox around to provide that natural immune boost for children AND adults.
So as chickenpox rates have declined, shingles rates have begun to rise, and there is mounting evidence that an epidemic of shingles is developing in America from the mass, mandatory use of the chickenpox vaccine by all children.
As hard as scientists try to come up with ways to "improve" human biology, they just can't outsmart Mother Nature. In trying to tinker with the natural order of things, we tend to destroy processes that nature has masterfully orchestrated to keep us healthy.
This dance between chickenpox and shingles is a perfect example.

Vaccine Protection Is Only Temporary

The chickenpox (varicella) vaccine is made from live, attenuated (weakened) varicella virus. But chickenpox vaccine provides only TEMPORARY immunity, and even that immunity is not the same kind of superior, longer lasting immunity that you get when you recover naturally from chickenpox.
It's important to realize that naturally acquiring a case of chickenpox is the ONLY way you can establish longer lasting immunity that will protect you until you come in contact with younger children with chickenpox and are asymptomatically boosted, which will not only reinforce your chickenpox immunity but will also help protect you against getting a painful case of shingles later in life.
When the chickenpox vaccine was licensed for public use in 1995, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) estimated it was 70 to 90 percent effective in preventing disease.³ The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) later reported, "The effectiveness of the vaccine is 44 percent against disease of any severity and 86 percent against moderate or severe disease."
But the vaccine may be LESS effective than that—around 40 percent—according to an investigation of a chickenpox outbreak among 23 children at a New Hampshire daycare center. The outbreak began with a child who had already been vaccinated.
And a Washington Post article reported that, in another outbreak, 75 percent of the children who came down with chickenpox had previously been vaccinated for it!
It is also interesting to note that most 10 year-old children with no known history of chickenpox are actually immune.
A study in Quebec, Canada, involving 2,000 fourth graders was done to determine the proportion of children who would need to be vaccinated in a "catch-up" program.
Of the youngsters with negative or unknown chickenpox histories, 63 percent had antibodies against the virus, presumably from having had such a mild case that they didn't even realize they had it. This isn't terribly surprising given that healthy children occasionally have minimal symptoms (such as a low fever and headache), without manifestation of blisters, indistinguishable from a mild case of the flu.
Bottom line is, the vast majority of children who do NOT get the chickenpox vaccine wind up immune to chickenpox anyway.

The Chickenpox Vaccine Itself Can Cause Injury or Death

As is true with most vaccines, mass use of the chickenpox (varicella) vaccine has been followed by many reports of serious reactions, injuries and deaths.
Before consenting to your child's receiving this vaccine, consider the following:

• Between March 1995 and July 1998, the federal Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) received 6,574 reports of health problems⁴ after chickenpox vaccination. This translates to: one in 1,481 chickenpox vaccinations is followed by an adverse health event.
• Four percent of reported adverse events (about 1 in 33,000 doses) involves  serious health problems such as shock, encephalitis (brain inflammation), and thrombocytopenia (a blood disorder)
• 14 of the 6,574 chickenpox vaccine adverse event reports ended in death
• As a result of the reported vaccine reactions, 17 warnings for adverse events were added to the manufacturer's product label⁵ AFTER the vaccine was licensed and being used on a mass basis (including cellulitis, transverse myelitis, Guillain-Barre syndrome, and shingles)
• There have been documented cases of accidental transmission of varicella vaccine strain virus from a vaccinated child to household contacts, including transmission to a pregnant woman
• Adverse vaccine events are notoriously underreported—by as much as 90 percent, according to some experts—making the safety profile potentially even worse than the above statistics would suggest

The chickenpox vaccine may be even more risky when combined with other vaccines, like MMR.
According to Barbara Loe Fisher of the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC):⁶

"We have been getting reports from parents that their children are suffering high fevers, chickenpox lesions, shingles, brain damage and dying after chicken pox vaccination, especially when the vaccine is given at the same time with MMR and other vaccines."

Many questions remain unanswered.
For example, will a young pregnant woman, who got varicella vaccine as a child instead of recovering from natural chickenpox, pass on vaccine induced antibodies to her newborn baby like mothers used to pass on natural maternal antibodies to chickenpox to their newborns?
This is one of many questions about mass use of chickenpox vaccine that is being debated today.

The Birth of an Epidemic

Now, 15 years into the mass use of chickenpox (varicella) vaccine , there are signs a shingles epidemic is underway.
This is not surprising when you consider that the mechanism keeping shingles largely at bay has been drastically reduced, if not eliminated because older children and adults are no longer coming into contact with younger children experiencing chickenpox and there is less and less natural "boosting" of immunity occurring in our population.
The natural "herd" immunity to chickenpox among Americans is being lost and we are becoming vaccine dependent. PLUS a shingles epidemic is taking shape.
Research done by Gary S. Goldman, Ph.D. who served for eight years as a Research Analyst with the Varicella Active Surveillance Project in Los Angeles County with funding from the CDC, revealed higher rates of shingles in Americans since the government's 1995 recommendation that all children receive chickenpox vaccine.⁷
According to an article describing his work:

"Dr. Goldman's findings have corroborated other independent researchers who estimate that if chickenpox were to be nearly eradicated by vaccination, the higher number of shingles cases could continue in the U.S. for up to 50 years; and that while death rates from chickenpox are already very low, any deaths prevented by vaccination will be offset by deaths from increasing shingles disease. (Emphasis mine)

Goldman was so concerned about an epidemic of shingles that he has co-written a book on the matter, entitled The Chickenpox Vaccine: A New Epidemic of Disease and Corruption.
Dr. Goldman isn't the only one who is concerned about a potential shingles epidemic.
A team at Britain's Public Health Laboratory Service (PHLS) found that adults living with children enjoy higher levels of protection from shingles. They stated that, although chickenpox can be life threatening for the immunocompromised, thousands of elderly people could also die from the complications of shingles. PHLS called for a re-evaluation of the policy of mass chickenpox vaccination in the U.S., as well as other countries implementing this practice.
For decades, shingles was thought to increase with age as older individuals' immune systems weakened. However, research suggests this phenomenon is more a result of the fact that older people receive fewer natural boosts to immunity as their contacts with young children decline.
In fact, the effectiveness of the chickenpox vaccine itself depends on natural boosting, so as chickenpox disease rates decline, so will the effectiveness of the vaccine.

Are These Predictions Coming True?

Absolutely.
The incidence of adult shingles has increased by 90 percent from 1998 to 2003, following the release of the chickenpox vaccine for mass use. Shingles results in three times as many deaths and five times as many hospitalizations as chickenpox, and accounts for 75 percent of all medical costs associated with the varicella zoster virus.⁸
Even children are beginning to come down with shingles,⁹ as evidenced by school nurse reports since 2000, which was one of the concerns prompting Dr. Goldman to warn the CDC that it may be bringing about a shingles epidemic.
Prior to chickenpox vaccination, shingles was seen only in adults.
All evidence points to the fact that we have traded a relatively mild illness (chickenpox), which does NOT involve complications for 99.9 percent of healthy children, for a more serious illness in our elderly (shingles) that has the potential for compromising the health of an entire population.
Another peer-reviewed article by Dr. Goldman presents a cost-benefit analysis of the chickenpox vaccination program,¹⁰ with disturbing findings. chickenpox (varicella) vaccine would have to be universally used for at least 50 years to demonstrate a cost benefit, due to the substantial additional medical cost of a shingles epidemic. This is CLEARLY not worth it, when chickenpox disease presented such minimal risk to society in the first place!
What do you think was the CDC's answer to a potential shingles epidemic, when presented with Goldman's findings?
Another vaccine—of course.
Merck – the pharmaceutical giant that makes the chickenpox vaccine – rides in on their white horse with the very answer the CDC was hoping for: A shingles vaccine! Yes, shingles vaccine was developed by the same manufacturer who markets and is the sole source of chickenpox vaccine in America.
What an incredible profit-making scheme – the same drug company that profits from mass, mandatory use of the chicken pox vaccine also profits from sales of a shingles vaccine in a market created by the chickenpox vaccine!

Sound the Horns! Merck 'to the Rescue'—Again!

The FDA approved Merck's shingles vaccine (Zostavax) for use in people age 60 and older in May of 2006. So they have come out with a vaccine (shingles) to reverse the damages to your health caused by their earlier vaccine (chickenpox).
Sound familiar?
It is very much like the polypharmacy used to "treat" chronic disease. You get a drug to supposedly make you better, but it causes adverse side effects, so you are given another drug to treat those side effects. Then, THAT drug creates more problems, and pretty soon, no one can tell what's causing what, and down the drain of poor health you go.
Meanwhile, you are taking a long list of drugs, and the only people truly benefiting are the pharmaceutical companies who make money each step of the way.
In the case of varicella vaccines, they are profiting from the cause of an epidemic, as well as the supposed cure...
But is it REALLY a cure? Will a shingles vaccine prevent a shingles epidemic?

Vaccines: Public Health or Profit Center

Adult vaccination programs have rarely proved successful.
The cost of the shingles vaccine itself ($200) is prohibitive, especially for many older Americans struggling to meet monthly expenses on fixed incomes. Research shows that few adults are making use of it.¹¹
And what unanticipated health effects might the shingles vaccine have on the elderly—particularly those who are immunosuppressed or already challenged with chronic illness or cancer?
The conflicts of interest between vaccine manufacturers and vaccine researchers, and government bodies entangled with both, represent another layer of trouble.
How reliable and unbiased is the vaccine information you get if it's provided by researchers with financial ties to both vaccine manufacturers and government health agencies promoting mass, mandatory use of vaccines?
In the words of Dr. Goldman:¹²

"When research is sponsored by agencies that promote vaccination, and reimbursed by the pharmaceutical company itself, and receive enrichment by immunizing children, my experience is that they demonstrate certain biases which allow them to continue operating as profit centers and unfortunately, at least sometimes promoting vaccination to the detriment of public health."

Hundreds of Vaccines on the Way

U.S. public health doctors say your child should receive 69 doses of 16 different vaccines before age 18. And 145 more are on the way!¹³ Yes, believe it or not, Big Pharma has 145 more vaccines in the pipeline and most are in their final stages of approval, in clinical trials or under FDA review.

Vaccine Awareness Week: November 1 -- November 6, 2010

Mercola.com & the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) dedicated the first week of November 2010 as Vaccine Awareness Week!
In a collaborative effort to raise public awareness about important vaccination issues, Dr. Joseph Mercola and NVIC published a series of articles and interviews on vaccine topics of interest to Mercola.com newsletter subscribers and NVIC Vaccine E-newsletter readers. The article you've just finished reading is one of those.
Vaccine Awareness Week arose from the following shared goals:

1. Raising public awareness about the need to take an active role in preventing vaccine injuries and deaths
2. Protecting and expanding legal exemptions to vaccination by securing broad medical, religious, and conscientious belief exemptions in all state vaccine laws
3. Promoting the human right to voluntary, informed consent to medical risk-taking, including vaccination
4. Raising funds for NVIC, a non-profit charity that has been working since 1982 to educate the public about vaccination and defend the ethical principle of informed consent.

My Appeal to You

Don't sit this one out! We've got them "on the run."
Tell everyone. Tell your friends, your family. With a little bit of effort, you can make significant strides toward preserving your freedom to make VOLUNTARY health care choices – including vaccination choices – that affect you and your children's health and future.
NVIC has launched the NVIC Advocacy Portal, an online interactive database and communications network that gives you the tools you need to take action to protect legal, medical, religious, and conscientious belief exemptions to vaccination in YOUR state.
Go there now and register! And while you're at it, please make a donation to NVIC so they can continue fighting to preserve our freedom of make voluntary health choices.
Your Donations to the NVIC help fund efforts that raise vaccine awareness, including the following excellent vaccine resources:

• State Vaccine Requirements
• Influenza Mini Guide Ebook
• Special Report: Influenza Vaccine Mandates Ineffective & Unwise
• Are You Over Vaccinating Your Child?
• Vaccine Ingredients Calculator
• How to Legally Avoid Immunizations

For information about legally avoiding immunizations in Canada, please see the Canadian Vaccination Liberation website
www.vaclib.org.

For more vaccine related news and information, visit the Mercola vaccine information site.
Stay tuned to this newsletter for more updates, or follow the National Vaccine Information Center on Facebook. Together we CAN make a difference!

A Few of My Goodies

Like I said Jeremy did great with Christmas gifts again this year.  These are two of my faves.  I finished the book the day after Christmas, lol! I didn't really put it down once I got it!  And the onesie for our new little girl is just perfect!  You have to be a fan of the Walking Dead to understand it but, it is flipping awesome!!!  Another goodie he got me is a Dr. Who blanket of the Tardis!  It is soft and fuzzy and oh so darn warm! 

Craptastic Day Part 2

So, the doctor called back about 2pm and said they wanted to see Eden at 4:30.  I quickly hopped in the shower, which I didn't want to do because I felt like crap on a stick but, did it anyway so as to not offend them with my non-showered stench.  Luckily Eden had fallen asleep for a bit and I let her sleep because I knew she was feeling crappy too.  Then Jeremy got home from an appointment in Lima and said that I should not drive to the doctor now because the roads were still stupid.  So, I called the doc back and they took my word for it that Eden has the pox and called in a prescription to help shorten the duration of it.  I am to dab calamine lotion on her spots and give her colloidal oatmeal baths, tylenol and benadryl.....all of which I was already doing.  I never gave any of the other kids any prescriptions for chicken pox but, whatever, the sooner it is over the better.  Now, I only wish this had happened when the new baby girl was here because now I have to figure out a way for her to get the pox too.  Ugh.  I am supposed to go to my doc tomorrow.  I feel like death warmed over.  Pretty sure the kids aren't eating tonight or any time until I feel better.  Microwave popcorn it is.  Or ramen.  They can all make those themselves, lol!  Just kidding.  Somehow I will suck it up and do all the things I am supposed to do.  I just might be a giant grump monster while I do it.  Oh, and the hot water came back to my washing machine so yay, I guess I can do laundry too!  I'm thrilled. 
P.S. It is snowing again and I am cursing the frost giants for this weather!!!  Hurry up Spring!

Craptastic Day

And now the kids are getting sick and Jeremy and I are getting it bad too. All upper respiratory and throat.  And Eden just might have it the easiest of all of us with a case of the chicken pox.  Poor thing has them all over in her crotch though. I can't get her in to the doc to make sure that is what it is but, it sure looks like it.   Great.  Freaking great.  FML. I have a call in to the doctor to see if there is anything that can be done.  I don't guess anyone out there wants to take all my kids so I can rest!  haha! Oh wait, I don't get to have sick days. You know what is worse than going to work sick??  Staying home with sick kids and being sick too.  Or better yet, taking the sick kids with your sick self to the doctor.  Oh, and being pregnant too. I feel like garbage.  My kids aren't going out any more this winter.  No friends or families houses, no sleepovers, nothing. We have not had this much sickness EVER.  What is with this winter?!  Ugh, whatever.  I'm gonna roll with it.  I have to catch up on laundry too because our pipes froze to our washer. Jeremy went to Walmart late at night the night before last to get a space heater for the basement to help unfreeze it.  Two hours and a $100 later he was home and opened the box to find out the manual is missing and so are some of the parts to the dang thing!  Gah!  Somehow he got it worked out with his mad man skills and put the heater in the basement.  This morning we have cold water to the washer but, not hot.  Hopefully that will come too.  We cannot go without laundry around here. I am seriously annoyed. 

Once There Was a Place Called School

Just got word that schools will be cancelled again tomorrow.  Great.  I didn't want this Christmas vacation to come to an end but, it has to sometime, right?!  Oh well, we have been having "parties" with the kids and they really like it.  A party is just good food (and boy have we been eating our fair share of "good food"), movies or good tv shows, soda or punch, and games!!  Easy peasy. Each of the kids got a new board game for Christmas so we have been playing a lot.
I was trying really hard to eat good this pregnancy and then all of a sudden I got HUNGRY.  Like I want to eat all the time hungry.  Ugh.  It's okay, I am going to embrace it and have my last baby and get fit again all before I am 40 and my metabolism changes yet again in my life.  haha!  Good plan, right?  I think so.  The way I look at it, this is my last time to overindulge and have a legitimate reason for it, so I better take advantage of it!
Looks like we have another party night tonight!! Hopefully with no bat this time!!  

Christmas Morning 2013

 Santa Claus had to move the Christmas tree again this year when he delivered presents.  It just makes the Christmas day so much more festive when the tree is in the room that you are opening presents in.  The kids were amazed at the sight they saw bright and early.  Jeremy and I didn't get to bed until almost one.  Tristan woke up right after that.  Cedric was up at three and got Liam up.  I had to pee at four and they kept me up.  I was so dang tired.  At 4:45 I told them they could go get Dad and Cullen and Asher.  They were all so excited but, we didn't know what to do about Eden.  She was actually sleeping and we know that she is a giant grump when she gets woken up.  But, we finally did it and just took things slow with her.  She did great!  

 I took more video than pictures this year and if they video turned out anything like the pictures then oh my!  I was like the drunken, delusional photographer or something! lol! I was so groggy that everything is out of focus or the flash wasn't on or whatever.  Oh well.  

 Eden got a doll house and LOVES it!!! Thank goodness!  I LOVE it too!

 Each year we decide on a specific number of presents to give the kids.  They like to count how many they have and they younger ones don't realize the value of the money yet so number of presents works out good for us.  So, this year we wanted to make Christmas more about the SPIRIT of Christmas rather than the GIFTS of Christmas.  Each kid got the smallest amount of gifts we have ever given and I think it ended up being the BEST year yet!  They got the things they REALLY wanted or needed and not a lot of "filler" presents (well except for stocking which I was also proud of this year but, didn't get pictures of, dang it.) Anyway, I always remember Christmas morning getting a crap ton of presents from Santa Claus and it was magical for me.  

 The whole month before Christmas Cullen had three things on his list:

Train track

Iron Man

Robot Dog

And Santa came through with that and a little more!! He also got a tablet because he is always stealing our phones to play games on, the little stinker.  He was so cute and giddy!  

 Eden wouldn't pose with all her gifts or even stand there with the ones I could get stacked.  Every time I started to stack them up, she got mad and took them away, lol! So, this is not all of them.  

 Liam is such a clown!  I never get a serious face or smile out of him but, I don't mind!  He was really excited the whole morning too and I think Santa really surprised him on a few things!! Score one for Santa!! Liam had asked for a Nintendo DS and he got it too!

 Tristan had asked for a tablet and that was it.  He got that and some other things he didn't know about.  He was especially thrilled with the headphones he got so he can do some online gaming better and easier!  

 Asher was overjoyed with all his loot as well!  He got a new PSP and was especially stoked for the new Beyblades!! 

 Cedric got a new tablet as well and another highlight was his Dr. Who Sonic Screwdrivers!!  I love that he loves Dr. Who!

After present opening, I put the Christmas casserole that I made the night before in the oven and let that cook....It has to cook for nearly two hours so that early in the morning is a great time to put it on! lol! It is a tradition now and hopefully for years to come.  We all settled in with our new stuff to veg and eat and play.  

The night before Jeremy and I had exchanged gifts and he did great again as usual.  I just did okay for him as usual, lol!  One of the things he got me was a new lens for my camera (a portrait one) and a bunch of new toys for my camera that I will have to play around with!  And a Kindle Fire HD that I think Jeremy will keep for himself because I don't like it. You just can't do the same things on a Kindle that you can do on a tablet and that is what I want, a tablet. 

Eden played and played and played with her new dollhouse.  I have to admit, it is flipping awesome.  I played with her for while too! 

 Liam has been playing nonstop Pokemon ever since!! 

 Cullen and his Iron Man toy!

 Eden was the first one to pass out! 

 The boys were pretty much in computer induced bliss the rest of the day!  

 Cullen liked the dollhouse too.

 Liam and Asher playing really good together with their new Pokemon cards.  I took a video of it too.  I will have to post some of the videos because I'm sure they are great! 

We had such a good Christmas this year!  I am so thankful for my wonderful family.  Christmas was on a Wednesday and Jeremy decided to stay home the next day too so we could all continue our time together.  It was awesome.