Sweet kids

Nostalgia

The picture I have in the post below of Nate playing with Jon on the couch reminded me of a picture of him from the day he turned one.



My baby certainly isn't a baby anymore! :)

Pics

We've definitely been missing my mom since she left a week ago. Here are some pictures for you, Mama, and one picture of the bathroom too! :)

Vaccines: some things I've been learning

There are those in the autism community who believe certain vaccines like the MMR caused their children's autism. I am not one of those. Nate's was not a regressive case, where he was "fine" and then, one day soon after a shot, lost skills, language, etc. Looking back, we can see signs all along in Nate's development. However, I agree with the experts (like in the book I'm currently reading, Changing the Course of Autism: A Scientific Approach for Parents and Physicians) who posit that autism is not merely a genetic disorder, but a disorder perhaps involving some genetic predispositions (in the brain? gut?) that are triggered by environmental factors that affect the gut, brain, and other areas of the body. One of those environmental triggers might be some of the ingredients in vaccines.

Some studies have found that children with autism are unable to process certain metals, like mercury and/or other vaccine ingredients, properly. Their bodies hold onto these materials, sometimes to toxic levels, which can then manifest in "autistic" behaviors. I'm being as careful as possible with Lucy's vaccinations since 1) autism tends to run in families and she may also have those "genetic predispositions" and 2) I've been finding out what's in these vaccines (a lot of junk, including aluminum, formaldehyde, and human tissue!).

Lucy got her first shot, the Hib (prevents Haemophilus influenzae type b bacteria, which causes bacterial meningitis, pneumonia, and other infections) at five months. Babies' immune systems often aren't ready for shots by two months, so we gave Lucy's body more time to develop. I'm getting her vaccinations one at a time (more spread out), so she only gets one shot at each doctor's visit, as opposed to the four or more that is standard protocol*. Also, she won't get the combination shots like the MMR; instead she'll get separate measles, separate mumps, and separate rubella shots. Here's how I plan to do all of her shots (probably not exactly to this schedule, but in this order and not any sooner than the ages listed):

5 months: Hib
6 months: DTaP
7 months: second series of Hib, IPV (Polio)
8 months: DTaP
9 months: third series of Hib, IPV
10 months: DTaP
15 months: measles
17 months: fourth series of Hib, IPV
27 months: rubella
39 months: mumps**
4-5 years: boosters for the measles, rubella, and mumps** shots (if possible, though, you can check for "titers" before giving boosters and may not need to give the boosters at all)
4 years: Hepatitis B

I haven't listed the chicken pox (varicella/varivax) vaccine because I may not get it for the children at all. I may file exemptions for both Nate and Lucy for some shots. Several states, including California, allow parents to file "philosophical exemptions." This way, they can still attend any school. FYI, California's school immunization record form has space on the back for a "personal beliefs" exemption request.

The book I've gotten most of my information from is What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Children's Vaccinations by Stephanie Cave. I like that the author, a doctor, isn't completely anti-vaccine; she just gives a fuller picture about what's in each vaccine, possible side effects, how best to protect our children, etc.

* More information on why I'm spreading Lucy's vaccinations out and only getting one at a time: "Marcel Kinsbourne, M.D., a pediatric neurologist and research professor at the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University, expressed his concerns about multiple dosing to the House Committee on Government Reform when he was asked to speak on the subject of vaccine safety. Dr. Kinsbourne told his audience that 'when several vaccines are given at the same time, they may have adverse effects that none of the individual vaccines have when they are given by themselves....' In addition to the added assault on the immune system when more than one vaccine is given, injecting several vaccines makes it virtually impossible to know which one is responsible for any adverse reactions that may occur" (Cave, 2001, pp. 33-34).

** I keep thinking of more stuff to add! Lucy might not get the mumps shots at all. The major threat of the mumps disease is male sterility. (In addition, the rubella disease is rather mild except in cases where a pregnant woman contracts it; it can kill the baby. So girls don't need the mumps vaccine as much as boys do, and boys don't need the rubella vaccine as much as girls do.)

Edited to add: The book I'm currently reading presents evidence that the main issue with the MMR is the measles portion, and even separated out, the measles vaccine has caused problems.

Update January 2008: I have since decided not to get any vaccinations for Lucy. She has gotten the Hib (once at 5 months and once at 9 months), so I will probably get the other two rounds of that shot for her, but nothing else right now.

Fun week

We've been having such a good week with Mama here! I have "helped" ("Yes, that looks straight") as she wallpapered our guest bathroom, and it looks amazing. I'll take a picture tonight after we put up the mirror and light fixture. She also spoke at our MOPS this morning and did a terrific job. Since Nate got his cast off yesterday (YAY!!), we will probably take the kids to the Spectrum this afternoon so he can run in the fountains.

I've been putting together a post on vaccines and hope to get it done soon.

Nate saying "thumbs up!"


More fun pictures:

Visit

Speaking of house guests, my mom is coming tomorrow! She'll be here until Friday, and I am so excited. I told Nate today that Mimi is coming over tomorrow after church, and though he probably doesn't get the "tomorrow" thing, he has been saying "Mimi" randomly throughout the day. (He says it correctly now. And speaking of that, he is saying more and more every single day, including correctly pronouncing words he has thought he was saying correctly for weeks or months.)

My cousin, Hallie, posted some devastating information about what's in some of the vaccines we give our kids. I've been thinking about posting some of what I've been learning about vaccines, so I'll try to put something together soon.

Motivation

I love having guests to the house because it's my best motivation to do a good house cleaning. We're hosting a dinner tonight, so I've swept, mopped, dusted, cleaned bathrooms, and tidied our junk piles (kitchen counter and computer desk). I like having the house picked up and clean all of the time, but things do pile up. I'd love to be the mom who can keep a pristine house and play with her children too, but if it comes down to either or, I choose to be the mom whose house sometimes shows evidence that she just spent time with the kids that day!

Exersaucer

Nate at around 5 months and Lucy today (she'll be 6 months next week):

Explosion

Nate must be in the middle of a language explosion. He is saying so many more things just in the past week, including the actual words for yes, no, on, off, hi, and bye. He also started saying Daddy instead of Dada. It is so fun!

Oh no!

We woke up today to two sick children. I'd been thinking Lucy might be getting a cold for a couple of days, only because she had been sneezing. I was right, and Nate woke up with the same thing. At least they're only colds.

Progress

I feel like it's time for another inventory of all the progress Nate is making.

- He started saying bye bye (not just waving) about a month ago, and just in the past couple of days has started saying hi. (Both at appropriate times.) He pronounces "hi" very well, and then sometimes he is overzealous and it sounds like a karate chop "hi-ya!"
- A couple of weeks ago, Jon and I realized that Nate has stopped making his "signature" grunting noise--a loud, annoying noise he made when he was frustrated or not getting his way and that would get worse if we told him to stop. As he acquires more ways to communicate, he doesn't need that frustration noise anymore.
- In the past several days, he has started to put two words together (sporadically): bye bye Mama, bye bye snack (this afternoon), hi Dada, and all done (though I'm sure he thinks of "all done" as one word).
- He can jump really well (no more head-banger bouncing!), and it's cute too.
- He is sleeping so well--not waking at night and not crying in the morning. Months ago, he slept fine most nights, but at least one or two nights a week would involve waking and crying in the middle of the night. Also, he usually makes noise when he first wakes up in the morning now. He used to just sit/lie there in his crib for up to an hour just sort of waiting.
- He is eating a tiny bit better. He ate several blueberries for me at several meals this past week, though he refused the other new foods I tried to give. Food is just one of those battles that's really hard to win as a parent, since I am physically unable to make him eat something.

-This isn't necessarily progress, just a positive thing I'm always happy about: Nate is always gentle with others, especially children (and Lucy). I really love his gentle spirit. It's nice not to have to worry or interfere/referee if he is around other kids.

I'm sure there are more things, but it's time to get going to AWANA--the first night of the fall!

Good job, Nate!

Funny event this afternoon:

Couch

Here's a dimly lit picture of our new couch. It's a chocolate brown color, and the fabric is microsuede (very soft). It also has a sleeper. I like it!

The ottoman is new, too (ebay).

Weekend pics

Lucy on our new couch

The guys on the old one

A favorite time of day

That first hour after nap time is always so happy! Nate and I have gotten into the routine of reading several books together after he gets up. This works well because Lucy is usually still asleep; by the time we're done, she's often awake, so we go down together and say hi to her. I love this video.

Lucy - 5 months

Lucy is over five months old already! She has a fun personality and a very sweet disposition. She smiles a lot at Nate, and although he doesn't really get that, he still enjoys kissing her. She usually transitions from fully asleep straight to big smile. She still can roll from her stomach to her back and has almost rolled back to stomach but isn't quite there. She started chewing on her toes this past week. She usually catnaps in the morning since we are often out doing things or at therapy, and she takes a long afternoon nap around 12:30 or 1:00. She often still needs an evening catnap but doesn't easily go to sleep on her own at that time, so sometimes she's fussy. She doesn't laugh a big laugh like Nate did at this age; she does more of a cough-laugh, which is so cute. If she's smiling big, she opens her mouth really wide and gets a sparkle in her eye. She almost never spits up now (that change happened around 6 weeks to 2 months ago).

I think the rice cereal is upsetting Lucy's stomach a little bit, because she has woken up crying a few times during naps and also was awake six or seven times last night. (I'm tired!) I'm going to stop doing the cereal for a few weeks and then try again; I might just end up doing what I did with Nate, which is skip the cereal and go straight to baby food.

Bummer

I took Nate to get his cast off today! But, after an hour in the waiting room (and therefore a falling-to-pieces child), they took off his cast, took x-rays, and decided his bones aren't healed. They put on a new cast, but at least this one is under his elbow... and at least it doesn't smell (yet)! The entire ordeal was tiring but not too traumatic (even with the saw/vacuum thing they use to take off casts). I'm disappointed that we have another three weeks of no swimming, more difficult park-going, and no fountains at the Spectrum, but I want his arm to heal correctly, so that's OK!

Quick

The Zyme Prime arrived two days ago, so Nate is getting back to normal. It's nice to know what we're doing is having some effect!

Today in my parent meeting at Cornerstone, the head ABA therapist mentioned specifically that Nate is doing really well. He's interacting well, took turns well today, and is vocalizing a lot. :)

Revelation

I ordered more enzymes for Nate last week, as I have done several times, and they were set to arrive just before I ran out of the ones I had. The package came with only Peptizyde (not Zyme Prime) and a notification that Zyme Prime is backordered. I was out of Zyme Prime. I gave him just Peptizyde for a day or so until I could go to the local natural foods store and find a substitute "broad spectrum" enzyme to use until the ZP got here. The substitute I found has a much lower concentration of the various enzymes, but apparently a much worse taste (Nate takes it but then rubs his tongue to try to get the taste off), so I'm not even giving him a full capsule. Because of the low concentration of this replacement enzyme blend, I'm thinking it might be just above giving him nothing. Anyway, for the past three days or so, Nate has been very whiny and also very stimmy (turning in circles/spinning and doing lots of tip-toe walking, both things he hasn't done in months). It's a very obvious change. So, I guess it's nice to know the enzymes are really working well, but it's also really frustrating having the ZP backordered and not knowing when we'll get it. If it's going to be more than a couple more days, I need to go back to the store and find a better (more expensive, higher concentration) replacement.

Fun with Lulu

My sister helped me give Lucy her first rice cereal on Friday evening... She wasn't quite sure what to think!

Woowoo

My sister is here for the weekend! Nate saw her this morning and gave her a hug. He is calling her Woowoo (Lulu). :)