this woman’s work

You are browsing the archives from 2006 March.

And I’m mostly back. I’ve been catching every cold around lately — must be lack of sleep.

Madison’s chicken pox are nearly over and as soon as I hit “publish” here I’m going to go upload some pictures of her to the photo blog although her pox are hard to see in them. Noah is being incredibly patient with me right now, too, because he had this cold a day or so ago. He keeps coming upstairs to give me advice about how to feel better.

They are both such nice kids!

Now that the piece is done and out there, I am thinking about the edits. And about the letters the piece is getting and how some of what I meant to say maybe didn’t get said although I’m mostly happy with it. Well, actually I am absolutely happy with it.

More below the cut.
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Salon.com Life | Open adoption, broken heart

I faxed the contract about an hour ago, went over the final edits a little bit earlier. And it’s up!

Now, faithful blog readers, you will (with her permission) know J’s real name.

I have to keep note of these things so I can quit making the same mistakes.

When I say “it” or “this,” sometimes I just gotta go ahead and explain what the heck I’m talking about. “I love this!” Love what? “I regretted it.” Regretted what?

Good to know.

Who has experience or knows someone who has experience with the Dove Agency’s Ethiopia program? I’m asking for a friend who is interested in working with them.

But she did sing: Happy Birthday for Gramps

Madison: Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!
Me: Mrmph
Madison: Mommy! Want cheese! Pane cheese!
Me: We’re out of plain cheese, Madison.
Madison: No pane cheese? Buy more at store, Mommy?
Me: Yes, Madison. Later.
Madison: Yater? Buy more pane cheese? Buy more broken cheese?
[she means when we cut the block of plain cheese into chunks]
Me: Yes, Madison, broken cheese, too.
Madison: And mananas, Mommy?
Me: Bananas, too.
Madison: And milk? Milk for my bottle, Mommy?
Me: Yes.
Madison: And pane cheese, Mommy? And broken cheese, Mommy? And mananas?
Me: Yes.
Madison: And pane cheese, Mommy? And broken cheese, Mommy? And mananas?
Me: Yes, plain cheese. Yes, broken cheese. Yes, bananas.
Madison: And milk, Mommy? Mommy? YOOK at me!
[Because I'd shut my eyes again.]
Me: Yes and milk, Madison.
Madison: And pane cheese, Mommy?

(repeat repeatedly until finally I give in and get out of bed)

I really want to get this on tape. Today she asked me if she could hit me with a hammer, if she could hit herself with a hammer and then if she did would I be sad if she hit me and would she be sad if she hit herself and would Gramps be sad? Would ‘Cia (Lucia) be sad? Would Pee-yo (Peanut) be sad? Would Noah be sad? Ummm, Daddy be sad? Again and again and again. Then she would walk away (Ok, I go my room now, Mommy!) and then come back (And Gamma be sad, Mommy?) and go away and back and go away and back…

Pineapple-Cucumber Gazpacho

I can’t remember the name of her raw food cookbook or I’d share it. Here’s the recipe though:

4 cups chopped/peeled cucumber
4 cups pineapple
1 cup fresh pineapple juice (if you don’t have it, just add another cup of pineapple at the beginning)
1 small jalapeno, seeded and diced
1 green onion (the white and 1 inch green)
1 Tablespoon lime juice
2 teaspoon sea salt
1 handful cilantro
3 Tablespoon avocado, almond or olive oil
1 handful sliced macademia nuts

Puree 3 cups of cucumber and 3 cups pineapple with the pineapple juice, jalapeno, green onion, lime juice and salt. Add remaining cup of pineapple, handful of cilantro and 1 1/2 Tablespoon oil. Pulse. Stir in remaining oil, top with macademias and some cilantro. Serve chilled.

It was SO GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That’s what’s on the agenda today. Friends are coming over to try and catch chicken pox. Hasenpfeffer (in the comments) was asking why we didn’t get the shot given that some medical people argue that the shot does a better job of protecting a person from contracting shingles later. I’ve read just the opposite, too — that pox in the wild does a better job of protecting people from shingles and Brett and I found that argument more convincing.

Truthfully, I think it’s nearly impossible to find unbiased information about vaccines (Are the mainstream sources the most rooted in research or are they the most rooted in vax manufacturers PR? Are the alternative sources alarmist and paranoid or just not afraid to uncover the truth?) so we sifted through the arguments, talked to our doctor and decided that we would leave the kids un-chicken pox vax’d until they were about ten and then get the shot if they hadn’t caught it by then. We’ve had three different docs since Noah was of the chicken pox vaccine age and all of them felt this was reasonable and responsible.

The vaccination has only been around for a little more than two decades (in Japan) and so the long-term impact isn’t really known. At the same time, it’s changing the climate of chicken pox where having multiple exposures to it may be what actually gives us lifelong immunity. It may be that everyone — non-vax’d and vax’d alike — will need boosters at some point.

Some of the research we read says that wild chicken pox confers protection from other diseases but again, that’s controversial. Then we read research that people who get wild chicken pox are more likely to get it again and yet more research that people who are vax’d can still catch it (giving us some concern that we would vax and the kids would get it in their teens anyway). There are several documented accounts of chicken pox outbreaks at schools and daycares where all (or the vast majority) of the kids were vax’d but caught it again.

This is a decision I made for my family based on what I read and discussions with our medical professionals. Also, my children do not have skin disorders, asthma and are not immune compromised (all reasons to get the shot). I fully respect and understand anyone else making a totally different decision based on their own research and discussion with their medical professionals. I certainly would NOT want to tell anyone that they were wrong for choosing the vaccination. We came thisclose to choosing it ourselves.

Edited to add: People can get waivers to get past the vaccination requirements of schools and daycares. This has not be an issue for us because both kids are otherwise fully vaccinated (I might have done a more delayed schedule with Madison had she been breastfed and with Noah had I known enough to think about it but otherwise they are both fully vax’d). But among my friends, several of the kids who are either totally not-vax’d or selectively vax’d (choosing some but not others or choosing an alternative vax schedule) most go to school of some kind.

Both sides of the controversy (you will note these sources directly contradict each other at times) are below the cut. I tried to go pro/con leapfrogging each other:
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J came over today and counted them all — the poor baby is covered in pox. I think she’s going to have them much more severely than Noah did. It’s going to be a rough week.

J made us this pineapple-cucumber gazpacho. It was so damn good. You betcha I’m making that for the next potluck.