My Helpmate...er, what?

You know how it is at the end of a pregnancy? Esp. when you have health issues that arise. Labor itself is a huge task. And then there is that recovery period...lasting at least 2 weeks where you are advised to just really lay low.

Joel has been so awesome in taking over and taking charge during these times for me. During these times in our case has meant every year to year and a half for the last 5 years, lasting for at least 6-8 weeks. He has joked around, looking at me saying, "Now, who's the helpmate here?" Believe me, although he loves his family, there is noone hoping for that break that we are hoping for between this child and the next more than my wonderful and serving husband. He's tired (he rejuvenates quickly though...that's good).

Despite his fatigue, he just keeps coming up with such darn fun stuff for us. He is the best Daddy in the world...and my kids would agree. I have some big shoes to fill now that he's back at work (as of today). He wrestles, he cooks fun food (the pictures are of when he bought little personal pizza crusts and the kids made their own...great fun), he makes great "special drinks," he goes fruit picking with the kids, he takes them on scavenger hunts, he rides bikes with them, and the list goes on and on. Yep, how will I ever measure up now?

A few nights after Cass was born, this was the fun meal Joel and our older 3 had outside. I'm telling you...Mama would've never done this. Thanks Daddy!! And thanks, Babe, for taking such great care of all of us for so long. You're the best ever...seriously!!

**Scroll all the way down for answers to the last post.

















Hadley



Cass




Grady
Eissa

Congratulations to Amanda (the 2nd time around), Leah, Alice, Amber, and Shelly for getting it right. If you missed it, don't worry...even Joel got them wrong (I probably would have too). They do look alot alike as newborns, that's for sure. Thanks for playing.

Who is Who?

These are newborn pictures of each of our kids, taken when each was just a few days old. Can you tell who is who? Leave me your answers in the comments. **Family members who were there, don't spoil the fun game for others. You can make other comments, but don't give away the answers. Thanks. ;)

I am not going to post tomorrow and may not post again all weekend. I might give you a few days to play this game, depending on my need to post. :) The answers will be provided next time.

Now, everybody play. Name that baby...

1.
2.
3.
4.

To Vaccinate or Not

This is another one of those "hot topics"...tends to be controversial and can really spark some good debate. Know that I have no energy for that right now. :) But, Leah brought it to light in mentioning it yesterday in her comment, so I do want to just talk shots for a bit and explain what we do and why. Some of you might say, "it's none of our business what you do and why...we don't really care." But, some of you have truthfully asked over the years (new parents, even newer than us, trying to decide what they'll do about this issue). So, here goes...

There are many reasons that people choose not to vaccinate. If you have never heard of any of these reasons, all you have to do is google...there are plenty. Beyond the natural reasons, we have friends who don't necessarily choose to forego vaccination for any of those reasons, but instead just, after prayer, do not feel peace about vaccinating. I just have to say that God knows your child better than any studies or odds or risks or fears you may have. If God has not given you peace about vaccination (and you've ruled out the possibility that you are just living and acting in fear), then chances are your child would do best not to have vaccinations. Just my guess considering that GOD IS GOD AND KNOWS BEST, right? Could it be that your children would have a bad reaction? Could it be that your child would be one of the ones that comes down with any number of the things that the non-vaccinators say are caused by vaccinations? Whatever the reason, if you feel God is telling you not to vaccinate, don't. This is just another one of those areas that I feel like people sometimes don't even think to pray about. I'm telling you people, pray about everything. Seems like I've heard that somewhere before (um, Bible maybe).

Just wanted to throw that out there. Sometimes we just do things because that is the status quo...that is what is expected of us. Educate yourselves, learn, and pray about what is best for your child.

Now, on to us. We had Grady and were deciding about all of those kinds of things. We had several friends who had chosen not to vaccinate and several, of course, who did vaccinate. We talked to all of them, read alot, prayed alot, and in the end decided to vaccinate, but not according to schedule. Here's the deal. We knew we would eventually be going to another country. Chances are, we were going to be going to an underdeveloped country or underdeveloped parts of a country somewhere. In those places, there is still cause for concern and certain diseases running rampant. For instance, Brasil...here we get a TB vaccination. They don't even have a TB vaccine in the U.S. We asked the lady at the shots place yesterday why that was (even though we felt we knew the answer). She said that there was no need in the U.S. In fact, her words were that "TB is a poor people's disease." I found her answer to be very interesting on many levels, but we won't get into that right now.

Point is that there are people who go to underdeveloped parts of the world who still choose not to vaccinate. We are not those people. God will protect those people He has told not to vaccinate...in fact, like I said, if He's told you not to vaccinate, that is probably His protection right there. But, after much prayer we felt we were supposed to.

Now, one thing we did differently is that we waited. Each baby was at least 6 months old before we started introducing them to shots. Why? We just felt like we wanted to know our babies a little better than we know a newborn. If they had some sort of reaction, we wanted to be able to know our babies and the norm for them in order to be able to spot a possible reaction. We know a couple who told us a story about their 2nd child (they now have 7). She had a reaction to a shot and if they had given that shot to her when she was supposed to get that shot (according to the shot schedule), they just wouldn't have known her well enough to be able to spot it so quickly. It made total sense to us and we wanted to just know our babies before we started introducing things like shots. By the way, we probably would've waited more than 6 months, but with each child, circumstances encouraged us to go ahead at the age of 6 months (traveling, etc.).

With Cass, here in Brasil, honestly the higher prevalence of illness/disease here coupled with the lack of options in healthcare (as compared to what we are used to in the states)...and all of that in light of the risks and odds involved in vaccination: Again, after much prayer, we feel more peace and feel it best and wise to just go ahead and give the vaccinations to her now without waiting until that 6 month point. We feel the risks of not giving them to her outweigh the risks of giving them to her in these circumstances (given our location).

So, just a little history of us concerning shots if you are one of the ones who wants to know. ;) I hate to keep going back to this answer, but this is again another one of those things that I feel like is a very personal, you-have-to-be-led-by-God-individually things. It's not about fear or studies or risks or circumstances...all of those things can contribute to your reasoning. But, in the end, it's 'what did God say to you about it?'

Sorry, I have no new pictures...another reason it was a good day to post about this. Give me your thoughts...again, no right or wrong here, just tell me what you feel God has told you to do in this area. It'd be interesting to see the different answers each one of you have gotten and the reasonings God gave you. I know there are people on both sides of the camp that read this. Share.

We're off to Goiania for the day...last check-ups for a while for both me and Cass. Have a great day!

Shots and Sadness - Revisited

Do you remember this post? Basic recap: We went to get shots back in July and inadvertently got the one shot that I didn't want my kids to be exposed to that leaves a nasty scar on their arm. It is the shot for TB that they give here. I found out later that there were 2 different TB shots available here...one that leaves a scar and one that doesn't. I was MAJORLY upset to say the least. (By the way, we are still praying for no scarring.)

Well, such regret I felt...until January when we went to another place to get some other shots. We were told there that they no longer make that TB vaccination that doesn't leave a scar. Yes, it is no longer available. So, even if we had remembered to be on our guard about that shot and even if we had waited to get the TB vaccine, we would've had to have this one that leaves a scar in the end anyway. Sad that the only thing available now leaves a scar, but glad that we would've ended up with the same thing anyhow...therefore, no more regrets. Although, we do have more of a sense of being on guard about things now since that experience, which is good.

Anyway, so we went to get Cass's heel pricked yesterday, had her ears tested, and also swung by to get...yes, shots. I am happy to say that I am the proud recipient of a yellow fever vaccination now. :) Cass got that awful (but necessary) TB, scar-leaving, shot and also a Hep. B shot (she can only get the yellow fever shot when she is nine months old; Eissa just happened to be nine months old when we went for shots in July, so everyone else already has their yellow fever shot). Poor little Cass. She did fine though.

We have a hard and fast rule about shots...whenever we get shots, we get treats (yes, even me at my age and Cass, even though she doesn't even know what's going on...it still counts...rules are rules). Here in Anapolis the treat place is none other than Cows (McDonald's).

So, we picked the kids up from school and ALL piled in our little car for the first time. It was funny...Grady got in the car and asked if we were going to Cows. We hadn't said a single thing about it and they didn't even know that we had gone to get shots. I guess he just thought something was up since we were both picking them up and were in the car instead of walking. Anyway, we had a blast at Cows last night for supper and ice cream.

It was also Cass's first outing yesterday...first time out of our house period. As of last night she is now a week old. Fun stuff. I have a couple of pictures of before we headed out to get shots, but unfortunately didn't take the camera with me to Cows. Bummer too...would've gotten some great shots. The car ride alone is quite comical in and of itself. Eissa is behind Joel (driver's seat) in her carseat, Cass is behind me in hers, and then Grady and Hadley share the seatbelt in the middle. It's crowded, but we are making it work...we have to right now. Soon I'll get a picture for you all to see that sight.

In the meantime, just a few of right before yesterday's outing. And, to start off, a couple of the sisters holding the little one, taken a couple of nights ago.

By the way, we had another great night last night. Cass is amazing me. I fed her at 11pm, 3am, and then she woke at 7:30. So, basically she is only waking up once at night already...not bad for a week old baby. We'll see if this trend continues.


Is it just me or does Eissa seem so much bigger these days? :)



Hmm, not so sure she's into going out. Funny, I don't even remember her crying...it must've just been a split-second thing.
Eissa was being a toot and not smiling, so I had to tickle.

Cass Faces

We're running out the door to get a heel prick and some ears tested. Things are going great. Nursing is super and Cass is a very easy, calm baby (so far). :) We had our best night last night. I fed her a little before midnight before we went to bed. She woke up at 3 and ate and then 6. It was good. Things are falling into place. She is my kind of girl. Next week I will have to start staying awake after that 6 o'clock feeding, but this week while Joel's home...I am taking full advantage of it while I can. We stayed awake for a while after the feeding and then...snoozed some more. I have always LOVED sleeping late...staying up late too, so I'm not a total lazy bones. But, I love to go to bed when everyone else is getting up and sleeping while the sun is out. That's why working nights was right up my alley.

Anyhoo, this girl has got the right idea. She sleeps her longest stretches in the mornings like that. We went back to sleep and she (therefore, we...since she is my alarm clock) slept until 11 o'clock!! Nice. This will not always be the case, but I'm enjoying it for now.

I feel like you haven't seen much of Cass. I mean, I know you've seen her, but now's your chance to really see her...and lots of her. Enjoy.





























Grady was totally and completely making fun of me taking so many pictures...it was hilarious.
That's a good lookin' boy, idn't it (that's southern for 'isn't it')?

And we'll end today with some smiles.