If I could only have gotten a picture!

I did a risky thing today and took a shower after Samuel woke up. I have been extremely exhausted this week for some reason and just couldn't convince myself to get up. The fact that he woke up at 6 AM didn't make it any easier to beat him to the punch. Anyway, I jumped in the shower while Audrey was lying in the boppy on our bed (a no-no, I know) and Samuel was playing in his room. I told him to leave her alone, but hurried nonetheless. Right when I was finishing up, I saw him bring a diaper I had changed earlier into our bathroom, and he made the cute sound he makes whenever anyone toots or Audrey has a poopy diaper. I asked him what he was doing, but he ran out before answering. I heard the wipes container fall off of the table as I was getting out, and when I finally got my glasses on, Samuel was standing on the edge of our bed (balancing on about a 1/2 inch "ledge") and Audrey was almost completely undressed and he had pulled her way off of the boppy. He is fascinated with snaps, as I've previously mentioned, and I thought maybe he had just unsnapped her sleeper. Further investigation revealed that she had apparently pooped while I was in the shower (something she only does about every other day or more) and it had leaked, and he was changing her diaper himself! Some of the poop ended up on the bed, but I couldn't help but laugh/be proud of him. He pays so much attention to what we do! He had even tried to wipe her clean, and he did a pretty good job! I got her cleaned up the rest of the way and washed my hands and he came over to wash his, too. Brad said he thought he might cry when I told him about it. What a good helper!

Meet me, Jodi the plumber

It's crazy how having two kids can literally make you too busy to do some things, like post a blog! We've just been trying to get other things done and I actually haven't even spent very much time using a computer in the past week or so!

My title alludes to the day I had on Saturday. I was all motivated to paint Audrey's room and maybe the kitchen, too, but it was not to be. I started working on priming the walls in Audrey's room - it's a dark green right now and I'm aiming for white. I was interrupted several times to feed Audrey, since I'm the only one with the milk, and an unfortunate incident with Samuel removing his diaper put me even further behind. We finally got the kids calmed down and while Brad was working on the dirty dishes - I love that he does that! - he called me from Audrey's room and said that water was leaking from under the sink. We found quite a large pool/puddle and figured out that the pipe under the left side of the sink was dripping. When I started fiddling around with the pipes to see what was going on, the metal pipe (as opposed to the PVC pipe) literally broke in half! Long story short, I fixed it basically by myself! We obviously had to purchase the supplies, but I used a hacksaw to cut down the pipe and a channel lock wrench to loosen the pipe that broke and replace it with the new one. I was kind of proud of myself.

Back to Samuel and the diaper removal situation. He now knows how to work snaps, zippers, buttons and add to the list - diaper tabs! Saturday was a record - he completely removed all of his clothing and his diaper four separate times. A friend at church mentioned on Sunday while we discussing it that her nephew had a problem with that and his parents had to duct tape his diaper on him for a while. I would rather figure out some way to get Samuel potty trained, but he doesn't seem at all interested. I know he would understand, but I guess I also feel like I don't have enough time to devote to it right now - not that I will once I go back to work in less than 3 weeks - yuck. That's a whole nother issue.

Compliment?

Last night Brad and I went to vote together, due to the fact that by ourselves, we are outnumbered by our children. One of the older ladies working the polls was assessing the kids and asked me if I stay at home with them. I told her that it is my greatest desire, but it's not currently feasible. She replied, "Well, I was just going to say that you can tell that your son is a happy child," or something to that effect. So was she saying that my children shouldn't feel loved because I work outside of our home? Even though she basically implied that Samuel was an exception to whatever rule she considers true for non-SAHMs, I didn't know how to take the comment.

One

I am a one issue voter, which frustrates the life out of some people. I cannot understand how Christians can bring themselves to support any candidate who will choose to vote in support of abortion or anything having to do with the "right to death." I know it offends people, but if you vote in support of a candidate who will vote in favor of abortion and/or assisted suicide/euthanasia, then it is as if you are killing those people yourself - because you are supporting it with your vote! Abortion is so incredibly evil I almost cannot stand to think about it. When I was in nursing school, one of the nurse practitioners who taught in my OB class talked about how she had to work in an abortion clinic ("family planning clinic") as part of her clinicals for her women's health NP degree. I got the strong drift that she hated it, and she basically insinuated that she was horrified by the things she had to do and assisted with that day. I was never interested in that Master's program, but her testimony certainly sealed the deal. How can you think that anything like the economy, "climate change/global warming," energy, the war, etcetera, matter, if we do not support and protect the right to life? I read a quote a few weeks ago that basically said that if conception occurs, it means that God has a specific intention and purpose for that life, and we dare not take it away! Dr. Dobson said a few years ago that the issue with abortion is no longer whether the baby is alive or a person in the womb, it's all about choice. He's right - some people still act like unborn babies aren't alive, but for the most part, the main issue with abortion is that a pregnant woman should not be "forced" to carry a child against her will, or as our apparently soon to be President said, she shouldn't have to carry that "punishment" to term. Although I do not think that actually delivering a child is the most fun thing in the world, after two pregnancies that both lasted at least a week after my estimated due date, I can definitely say that there is nothing more amazing that you can do in life than experience the growth and development of a child inside of your own body. It's also a great testament to how stupid the theory of evolution is - how could you ever deny that God created pregnancy uniquely, and it's not just a coincidence that humans are "made" that way? Back to my main point - I will never vote for or support a candidate who outright supports abortion. It was so frustrating to hear people say, "Well, even if McCain were to win, it doesn't mean that Roe v. Wade would be overturned," or that if it were overturned, it would just make abortions dangerous for those who still chose to murder their unborn children. How is that the issue? Just because it's not going to go away completely, then we should just act like it's not an issue? Millions of people in our country have been slaughtered and continue to be slaughtered, and I feel that they are screaming to us to do what we can to stop it! Abortion, just like many other issues, highlights the main problem with Americans - we think that life is about us and what we want from it. Obviously we have strayed very far from what our country was founded upon, but life is about what God created us for - to glorify Him! We are not helping other people when we help them avoid the consequences of their sin - and there is no greater blessing in life than a child anyway! I know I'm just rambling. I am not fearful for myself, but I worry about what is going to happen to my children. God is sovereign, and I know that He knew the outcome of this election before the creation of the world, and He loves my children and His plan is for their good and His glory, but He made me their mother, and I want to protect them from evil and prevent the world from corrupting them and drawing them away from the One who created them and loves them most.

What a weekend!

Brad worked extra for nine days so that he could be off last Friday for a family day. We got to sleep in a little late, and then he went for a haircut. I somehow managed to injure my neck while towel-drying my hair, so I was glad Brad was off for the day! I never appreciate the value of free range of motion until it's impaired. We did family pictures at the mall at 11, but unfortunately Samuel was extremely skittish and therefore uncooperative. We only were able to get him in a picture of all four of us, and I had really wanted to get some pictures of he and Audrey by themselves, and pictures of both of us with the kids separately. Oh, well. Life goes on.

Our main goal for the day was actually to go to the Great Pumpkin Patch, since it's less busy during the week and most things are cheaper. Unfortunately, it rained all day. We called the pumpkin patch to see if they were even open due to the weather, and they were closing for the day right when we called. So glad we did that, because we would've been quite disappointed if we would've driven all the way there! We ended up just spending some good time together at home and then had supper with family at my parents' house. Yummy chicken and rice!

We've recently been on the hunt for a new digital camera, mainly now because ours is starting to make funny noises and I'm afraid it will die all of a sudden and I'll be crippled without a camera! Brad's been researching them for sometime now, with the idea of investing in a back-up camera, so I started looking at the ones he liked. I have since spent many hours reading and comparing, and it's actually becoming more difficult to decide the more I research. I'm very tempted to go the DSLR route, since I do mainly take pictures of my children, one who moves very fast and one who will soon enough! The main thing that is keeping me from investing in one is that I like to have my camera with me everywhere I go, in case of a good photo op or just to document day to day life. I can't afford to buy both a DSLR and a new point & shoot, so it's quite a dilemma. The main feature I want is good light capturing ability, which I know is the main point of any type of camera, but they don't all do it as well as I'd like. The camera we currently have, a Fuji F20, does a good job in my opinion, and I'm so afraid I'll end up being worse off when we purchase a new one. We've gone and tried out several cameras at different stores, although we'll likely be buying whatever we choose off of Amazon, but I'm getting less sure of what I want the more we try them out. Any input would be appreciated in this matter.

We made it out to the Great Pumpkin Patch on Saturday, after hitting some garage sales. The weather was beautiful, but it was very busy. Samuel again was quite uncooperative, so it was not as enjoyable as last year. He did enjoy the petting zoo and the pumpkin patch itself, but it was hard to "corrall" him. I don't remember there being so many stinging insects last year, but we avoided injury. I did sit in a huge puddle of water just a few minutes after we arrived, on a swing that Samuel was attempting to get into. I'm sure it looked lovely. I'm glad we went again, but I wish we could've helped Samuel to have a better time somehow. Maybe next year!

Saturday night we had a fun supper with our good friends the Kennedys. Samuel loves their 5 year old daughter, Jada, and it was so cute to see them run to each other and embrace when we met. She is so good at keeping him entertained. We had originally talked about going to the pumpkin patch with them, but we couldn't get our schedules coordinated. Samuel might've had a better time.

I made a yummy cinnamon spice cake for breakfast yesterday - I originally saw it on Paula Deen, which I never watch! We had a disatrous time getting to church. Brad went to church early to practice for the Praise Team. While I was in the shower, Samuel managed to pull all the books off of one of the shelves in his room. I of course got behind on my target time to leave, and things always go wrong when you try to rush out the door. Audrey's cute pacifier clip broke while I was dressing her. Samuel temporarily lost one of his shoes and it took me several minutes to find it. Then he fell down the steps while heading for the garage. I got Audrey out of her bouncy seat and she was covered in poop. I was glad on the one hand, because she hadn't gone in three days and I was starting to get concerned, but then it ruined the outfit I had her in and I had already put Samuel in his car seat, so he waited for us down there. When we got to the car, he had pulled off his socks and shoes again! Audrey spit up all over herself as soon as I put her in her car seat, which she does all the time. I realized about halfway to church that I had forgotten Samuel's cup and he doesn't know how to use sippy cups, just straws. Best of all, we were almost side-swiped by a woman who cut us off at the new double turn lane onto South Shades Crest Road from Hwy 150 and I had to slam on my brakes in the middle of the intersection! I was glad no one was behind me. Since she already had herself covered, Audrey spit up all over me as soon as I got settled in church. It was a "fun" morning.

We made in to the evening service, although pretty late. Audrey was quite fussy on our way home, and we discovered when we got home that she was once again covered in poop! I gave her a quick bath and you could tell she felt so much better. We were all doing well until Audrey woke up at 3:45 to eat. She's had a cold for the past few days and her little nose was so stuffed up, poor thing! I noticed that I was quite sore and full on my left side, but didn't think much of it. After I laid Audrey back down, I tried to go back to sleep as always, but I suddenly I had shaking chills and just couldn't warm up. I even got up and put on sweatpants, and sweatshirt and very thick socks and my teeth were chattering! I couldn't go back to sleep, so after I fed Audrey again around 5:30, I checked my temperature and got online for a minute. I didn't have a true fever, but 100.7 felt pretty awful! I'm pretty sure I had/have mastitis, and I'm thankful I had my 6 week check-up this afternoon. I was worried about being put on antibiotics, but what I read said the best treatment is feeding your baby. I can definitely do that! Back to the rest of the "night." I woke up with Audrey again at 7:40 (I'm not sure why she woke up so much - she usually doesn't), and I was drenched in sweat! I took off all of the warm clothing I had and put my nightgown back on, and I was still so hot! Brad went to work an hour late just to make sure I was going to be okay. It was a weird night.

Better tend to the kiddos.

Family Visit

My grandparents left this morning, after being back from Florida since Tuesday evening. It was so nice to spend some time with them. I didn't go straight to my parents' house yesterday morning because when I did it last Thursday, I ended up watching the kids by myself while everyone else was doing something else, and it was quite a challenge. I stayed home for a while because it's a lot easier to reign Samuel in at our house. Anyway, he needed a nap badly, so we stopped at the thrift store after he woke up, on the way to my parents' house. After we got there, my grandma commented that they were disappointed that I didn't come over earlier (I got there around 3 PM). I told them that I wanted to come over earlier, but I figured I'd give them some time alone with my mom (their daughter), and Grandma was feeling very poorly from a bladder infection Tuesday evening, so I didn't want to add to her stress. Mom told me this morning that Grandma was feeling bad about our misunderstanding about me going over there yesterday, and it made me so sad I started crying. I wanted to go over there at 7 AM, when Samuel woke up, but I knew they probably wouldn't be up, since Grandma's sick, so I held off. I'm so sad about it because we hardly ever get to see each other, and by the time they come back, I'll be back at work and won't be able to spend very much time with them at all. I hate having to work so much, for so many more reasons than just that.

Brad worked longer hours the past two weeks so that he can have the day off tomorrow. We're going to go to the Great Pumpkin Patch after we have pictures done at the mall. We never did 18 month portraits for Samuel due to a variety of reasons, which I'm sad about now, but I want to get pictures of the kids and maybe all of us before Audrey gets too much older. We had a lot of fun at the pumpkin patch last year, so I hope it'll be enjoyable. It's supposed to be much cooler tomorrow than it was last year - we were downright hot and sweaty when we left last time! I hope Samuel enjoys himself.

On a totally different note, how hard is it to understand Plinko? I have the Price is Right on for Samuel to watch while eating a snack and I sit here and type. A girl just played Plinko and when she was trying to win the chips, she couldn't understand that the actual price either started with the first number of the wrong price or ended with the second number of the wrong price. I've seen people do this two other times. Drew Carey will say, "It either starts with a 1 or ends with a 5. What do you think?" The contestant will say, "It starts with a 5!" He explains it again, and then they'll say, "It ends with a 1!" At some point after he explains it again they'll get the point, but I just don't see what it's so hard. Maybe he doesn't explain the games as well as Bob Barker did.

Rainy days and Mondays always get me down

My title's not really true, but I love the Carpenters, so I had to use it. I actually enjoy rain, although the humidity makes it less so. My grandparents arrived early (probably because Grandpa drives so fast) and we got to see them for a few hours on Wednesday night! I missed them so much - we hadn't seen them since early January, when I was only a few weeks pregnant with Audrey! It's so funny that they arrived the day after Audrey's 1 month birthday, because that's almost the exact age at which they met Samuel - he was one month, three days old. Neither of them wanted to hold her on Wednesday night because they both have colds, but I convinced Grandma to hold her yesterday because Audrey is her namesake, plus I just wanted to them to see how sweet and cuddly she is! Samuel loved hanging out with my Grandpa, even though he was slightly unsure of him, since it's been a large portion of his life since he's seen them! We spent a lot of time outside with Grandpa yesterday afternoon and Samuel was imitating everything he did - I wish I would've had my camera, but I was afraid to drag Samuel inside and make him so upset just to grab the camera.

Anyway, Samuel's 18 month and 24 month check-up was yesterday, even though he turned 22 months old yesterday! I missed taking him this summer because work was super busy and I was going to the OB so much that I just forgot for a while. Then it was so close to Audrey's due date that I just didn't feel like going, since we were doing fine. The check-up went fine. He sat perfectly still for Dr. Stone when he examined him - even his ears - and he even sat perfectly still when they pricked his finger to check his hemoglobin (for the 24 month part)! I wanted to cry because he was so brave! He only started to fuss a little bit when he couldn't get his band-aid off. He has always hated them for some reason. I took it off of his finger before he became a total basket case, but his thumb was still bleeding and it took a while to stop. Audrey slept the whole appointment, which I was thankful for. We got there extra early (7:40 AM) so that we could get in right away, but in true Children's form, we didn't even get called back until after 8, which was his actual appt time! I know better for next time.

Poor Samuel also got four shots yesterday and I forgot to give him Motrin before heading to my parents' house, so he was not himself. When he was a younger baby, he would sleep almost the whole day after shots, but he tried to be tough and played and played until he couldn't keep his eyes open. He only got about 40 minutes of good rest and then the waterworks started. He was so pitiful. He was happier once I took him outside to explore, and that's when he started copying Grandpa. We ate supper with the family last night and then they left for my cousin's wedding this morning. They're supposed to be back Monday nightish.

Brad was so upset because we missed The Office last night - I don't feel as badly because we can watch it online, but I'm trying to avoid reading people's comments about it on the Facebook.

I'm planning on heading to the Kid's Market after Audrey eats again. I'm too cheap to go during the regular price days, so we'll see what we find. It irritates me when so many people won't allow their items to be discounted, but that's why I like garage sales better.

I just caught Samuel messing with my chapstick on my bedside table. I am so tired of him doing that - he will crank the whole stick out of the tube and then try to shove the top on it, resulting in a huge mess and a wasted stick of chapstick. He also thinks it tastes good, so he he always licks it and makes whatever might be salvagable gross. It's so frustrating!

Change of weather, still together when it ends

It was nice to see a "5" as the first digit of the temperature outside this morning, although it did mean that Samuel woke up extra early (6 AM) because he was cold. He still refuses to keep covers on him, and I'm still putting him in pajama shorts because he gets sweaty. Anyway, apparently it's been so long since we've put Samuel in pants that he doesn't remember ever wearing them. I put him in pants this morning because of the nippiness in the house, and he was so confused as to what he was wearing. He must have messed with them for about 20 minutes and then he realized that he could unsnap them and basically made himself a khaki skirt. He looks hilarious.

Audrey turned 1 month old yesterday, or technically, last night. We always did homemade portraits of Samuel at each month milestone, but I'm beginning to realize that even though he never slept, he tended to be more smiley than Audrey has been thus far. Of course, we did try to do her pictures last night, and she might've just been tired from the day, but she wasn't too inclined to keep from fussing without her pacifier in, and I really wanted non-pacifier pictures. I am really getting bad about writing run-on sentences! We did get some cute pictures regardless. Samuel also obviously does not remember doing that, because he tried to lie down next to Audrey, as if he thought that's what the point was. It was cute.

My step-grandmother is coming over to see us today. She still hasn't met Audrey because she was out of town when Audrey was born and then was sick when she returned. My mom's parents are coming down from Minnesota, but they probably won't be here until tomorrow afternoon, and then they're leaving again with Mom on Friday morning to go to my cousin's wedding in Florida. I guess we could've attended the wedding in theory, but I don't think it would've actually worked out in reality with a 1 month old and 22 month old in the car for 10 hours. We'd probably have to stop so often that it would end up taking at least 15 hours. Yuck. Anyway, what an exciting week!

What was I thinking?

I learned a hard lesson last night. I put Audrey in nursery for the evening service because our good friends were the people assigned to be in there. I would never put her in nursery at this point otherwise, because she's still so young. Right before church started another person came in and asked about holding Audrey. I said that it was fine, because I figured they'd leave to attend the service. I told everyone in there that if Audrey woke up I need to come feed her, so I asked if they'd text Brad. I was antsy throughout the whole service because I knew it was past time for her to eat (if she was ready) and we hadn't had any contact. I sneaked out when Scott opened it up for questions and when I got down there, the same person was still holding Audrey, who was asleep. I remarked that I couldn't believe she was still asleep, and I was told, "Oh, she was hungry when she was awake, but I got her back to sleep." It was really hard for me not to express how upset I was. Why does my child have to go hungry because she is breastfed? If I would've had a bottle in her bag, she would've been fed, but because I want to feed her myself, she was deprived. She was very hard to console when I took her because she woke up immediately and of course was starving. Then she gulped down all this air because of her hunger and it was just a bad time. I balked on putting Samuel in the nursery when he was an infant because of this, and now I know that I am not putting Audrey back in there for a long time, and I will just have to leave in the middle of the service to feed her if needed, because apparently not everyone can be trusted. It made me so sad for my poor daughter.

Fun Family Weekend

After about 48 hours, I finally remembered what was supposed to be the other part of my earlier post - the speed at which time passes. Everyone always says that time goes by faster the older you get. I agree with that, but since having children, especially Audrey, it seems like even the minutes go by faster! I cannot believe how fast two or three hours go by now! I used to just notice the days and weeks and months going by faster but it's crazy now!

Anyway, we had big plans to go to garage sales early Saturday morning, but somehow the morning got away from us - when I looked at the clock, it was 8:27! I'm thankful Brad let me get some extra sleep in, though, because sleep deprivation is still hard to overcome, even though it's not as much sleep deprivation with Audrey as with Samuel. We did venture out to some garage sales in our area around 10 AM, but the ones we headed for first, that had the most hype and advertisement were a huge let down! We were sort of disillusioned, so we just picked some at random to check out, and we actually had some great finds! I never find anything for myself anymore, but I'd rather find stuff for the kids anyway!

We had a somewhat productive afternoon after we got home, too, which is pretty rare! Brad and I worked outside while Audrey slept in the bouncy seat, and Samuel "helped." Unfortunately, we discovered a yellow jacket nest after about an hour and came back in. I was not willing to put Samuel at risk just to get the backyard cleaner. We had a nice supper and watched some football and enjoyed the evening.

We always have the best of intentions on Sundays, but since last Sunday was just the first time we've actually made it to the morning service since Audrey came, I wasn't sure if Sunday School would be doable yet. It wasn't yesterday. We were awake plenty early, but it just takes so much longer to get ready with two children than it did with one! I know it took us longer when Samuel was first here, so I think we'll be okay once we get into a better routine. I think we had to go back upstairs to get stuff at least six times! We were also the latest to church we've ever been - by a large margin! I didn't think we'd even get to hear most of the sermon - I think we only missed a minute or two, though. I was disappointed that we missed most of the music, but it was mostly my fault. My hips are apparently much less inclined to shrink this time, so I have a harder time finding something to wear.

My grandparents are coming from Minnesota this week, so it should be an exciting one!

Lighter Notes

The only TV show we let Samuel watch regularly is "The Price is Right," or "Dew" (Drew Carey), as he calls everything on TV. It gives me a little break from chasing him around the house and makes it much easier for me to do things like feed Audrey or clean up a little. Anyway, as we were watching the other day a thought I've had many times before came back. When people who are not from Los Angeles win trips on that show, do they have to pay their own way back to LA in order to go on the trip they won? You know how the announcer always says, "You and a guest will fly round trip from Los Angeles to beautiful...?" It's a subject on which I've never reached a definite conclusion.

For the life of me I cannot remember what else I was going to put here, so I'll have to update later if I remember. My poor brain. I don't think I can afford to have any more children, or I won't even be able to take care of myself anymore!

Scary phone call

My cell phone rang around 4:45 PM yesterday and the number was our pediatrician's office. I knew the only reason they would be calling was if Audrey had an abnormal result on her repeat newborn screening, but I tried not to freak out before the nurse could tell me what was going on. She said that Audrey's PKU sample was "unsatisfactory," so we'd have to come back and get another sample. She assured me that it doesn't mean Audrey might have PKU, but I added that it doesn't mean she doesn't have it, either. In the logical, thinking nurse part of my brain, I knew that there was no reason to be concerned yet, but in the mom part of my brain, I was about to panic. I didn't remember much about PKU except that you have to avoid all artificial sweeteners, and then when I started reading about severe mental retardation and limited breastfeeding, it didn't make me feel any better! I know Audrey's in the Lord's hands and I'm trusting Him for the result, but the waiting is certainly not fun. I don't know how long the result will take.

I did find out some interesting things while doing my research on PKU. The CDC had a couple of presentations on unsatisfactory samples and it turns out that the state of Alabama is second in that nation behind West Virginia for percentages of newborn screening samples that turn out to be unsatisfactory. In addition, Alabama is second behind West Virginia for states that "run" unsatisfactory samples. So, Audrey's was so unsatisfactory that it couldn't even be run on the machine. I feel badly because I remember the nurse tried so hard at her 2 week check up to make sure that she had every little circle saturated exactly right so we could avoid this! This also marks the first time I will be out of the house by myself with both children, so it should be an adventure.

In other news, The Office was pretty funny last night. Audrey did exactly what Samuel did as an infant and started crying as soon as the show started. Needless to say, we have come to rely heavily upon closed captioning ever since having children. Anyway, I learned once again last night how naive I am/was because when I read the lyrics to "Let's Get Physical" thanks to the closed captioning, I was shocked by how "suggestive" it is! I haven't exactly ever been a huge Olivia Newton John fan, though.

We also watched the SNL Election Update after The Office and I was not surprised to hear that AIG blew a bunch of its "bail-out" money on a retreat. I know it's extremely sad that I received legitimate news from SNL, but it's the truth. I read an article that talked about how the supposed "bail-out" plan was setting companies up for this sort of behavior, because they knew that they could get more money from the stupid federal government (i.e., taxpayers - why does no one understand that?) than from anyone in the public sector. They held out on selling, which is why the stock market fell so markedly the day the first bill didn't pass, and then they go whoop it up to celebrate when the second one did! I'm sure those who supported and voted for the bill will express their shock and disgust at AIG's behavior, but again, we should not be surprised.

On a totally different note, I am so tired of dealing with the same disobedient behaviors from Samuel day in and day out. I definitely understand sin nature much more since having children. This morning I lagged behind Samuel for about 30 seconds and ended up finding Audrey's mylicon drops poured out onto the floor next to our bed. This marks the third time Samuel has done this in about two weeks. I know there are a lot of things he does not understand, but I know he understands that he is not supposed to do this. As soon as he knew he had been caught, he ran away from the scene as fast as he could and started crying. Of course the question in my mind was, "Why don't you just not do the bad behavior, and then you wouldn't have to suffer the consequence?" It made me extremely upset this morning and as I sat on the bed, holding Audrey and crying, I realized that this is exactly what I do day in and day out, and God must be thinking the same thing. It certainly makes "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us," hit home a lot harder. I am so thankful for His mercy and grace; however, I also really want to do better with discipline and our children. Any tips would be appreciated. We did a study on "Shepherding a Child's Heart" by Ted Tripp while I was pregnant with Samuel, but a lot of it didn't stick due to the fact that we didn't have a child outside of the womb in our house yet. I need to read it again, but time goes by so fast when you're working and have an infant/toddler, and now it's going by even faster!

I'm thankful to report that Audrey slept much better last night, when compared with the previous four nights. She still fussed a good bit and was quite unhappy until about 9 PM, but then she went to sleep for the night. The other nights she had been staying up until as late as midnight fussing. She still would be okay once she actually went to sleep, but it was quite a fight getting her to that point. I'm also trying very diligently to put her down while she's drowsy and not fully asleep, as "they" recommend, to try to avoid the problems we've encountered with getting Samuel to sleep. Any tips on getting him out of his crib and into his toddler bed would also be greatly appreciated.

Praying for a quick and not too painful visit for Audrey and fast turn around on the results.

Think Twice

I've had lots of ideas for posts in the past few days, but no time to post them! Anyway, my title relates to the fact that I am going to think twice before ever telling anyone I have an "easy" child again! I finally had the nerve to share with some people at church this weekend that I think Audrey is closer to the definition of an "easy" baby than Samuel ever was. This impression grew from many parts of her personality, but mainly from the fact that she is a better sleeper at this age than he was at six or seven months! Anyway, I'm not superstitious, but maybe I should be, because Audrey has had some of her worst nights to date ever since I "bragged." I wasn't really boasting about it, I was just expressing how nice it was to have a child who slept! She's also been much more fussy, which is weird, because everything about her is more "mature" since the day she was born, and she seems to be having more problems with gas and such. I am praying that this is just a temporary thing, because it is very hard to function on this little sleep, especially with Samuel's high energy levels!

I cleaned off our screened-in porch on Saturday (it had a lot of pollen that had accumulated) and put some of Samuel's plastic toys out there and he's been having a ball playing out there every day. I try to let him go out when it's cooler, in the morning, and he just plays and plays. I haven't let him go out this morning yet, due to the rain, but I'm sure he'll be up to it as soon as I mention it!

We made it to the morning service at church finally this Sunday. I had contemplated going the week after she was born, but that wasn't really feasible, and the week after that was still a little too early. I kept her in her car seat when people were around, to avoid having to deny anyone the opportunity to hold her. I think people wanted to hold her, but I just feel like they should ask and not just expect me to hand her to them! Anyway, we even made it to the evening service, too, and she did fairly well both times.

People have been so generous in bringing us meals, and that has really helped, especially since Brad went back to work. He has the option of doing 4 longer days a week rather than 5 eight hour days, so I'm looking forward to when that starts. I'm still praying and hoping that something will work out and I won't have to go back to work, but I'm also trying to stay realistic. It's hard to think about, though. It makes me extremely sad.

Who won?

I had a hard time watching the debate after the first 45 seconds, when Biden claimed that our current economic situation is the result of "8 years of the worst economic policies this country has ever seen" (my paraphrase). Anyway, am I the only person who learned in economics class (in high school and college) that it takes years and years for the full effect of changes in economic policies to be felt; i.e., maybe Clinton's policies just might have something do with the impending "collapse." I just get so sick of the Obama campaign's focus on "Bush is a failure, so vote for me!" I don't think Bush is as much of a failure as the media makes him out to be, and even if he is, he is not running for re-election, so that shouldn't be the main point! I am also a big believer that anytime the government gets more involved in anything, the end result will be worse than where we started. I think this is true in pretty much all areas of our lives - education, religion, the economy, etc... I just cannot believe how many Americans believe that further government involvement will improve anything! I do not want my freedoms taken away and my life legislated by the federal government! Biden said that Obama thinks the taxpayers should be considered investors in our government system - are you kidding me? I do not want to invest in further bureaucracy and waste! I also love how Biden corrected Sarah Palin and said that it is not "redistribution," it's "fairness." As if calling it something different changes what it is! Also, I have learned from being alive for the past 20+ years and was also taught by my mother that life is not fair! Do people not get that? I'm stopping my rant now, since it is just making me upset all over again, but I wanted to post the explanation of the different forms of government that Dear Abby gave a few years ago that I think are quite accurate:

COMMUNISM: You have two cows. The government takes both of them and gives you part of the milk.
SOCIALISM: You have two cows. The government takes one and gives it to your neighbor.
FASCISM: You have two cows. The government takes both cows and sells you the milk.
NAZISM: You have two cows. The government takes both your cows, then shoots you.
BUREAUCRACY: You have two cows. The government takes both of them, shoots one, milks the other, then pours the milk down the drain.
CAPITALISM: You have two cows. You sell one of them and buy a bull.

Smartie

I have to post this to remind myself of it in the future, when frustrations arrive. I guess I don't give our precious son enough credit, because though he is mischevious, he is also a pretty intelligent kid. I replaced the batteries in his old (Audrey's new) baby gym this morning so that Samuel could help Audrey play the music - we spend a lot of time getting him to "help" with things, so he feels involved and feels good about it. Anyway, I had to use the screwdriver to open up the battery compartment and I put it back in the drawer after I used it. When I was feeding Audrey a little while later, I heard a drawer opening in the kitchen, where I knew Samuel had gone, but I figured it was the utensil drawer because he loves to take the can opener out and put it back. I didn't see anything out of place when I finally got to the kitchen, so I figured he had replaced whatever he had removed. Later on, I needed the screwdriver again, to replace the batteries in another toy, and I couldn't find it. I was very sure that I had put it back, but I question my memory nowadays, as it's failed me many times since having children. Samuel came in the kitchen while I was searching for the screwdriver, and I asked him if he had gone in that particular drawer, because I needed the screwdriver and I was pretty sure I had put it back in there earlier. He said, "Where'd it go?" which is his favorite phrase to say when something's missing or hidden, and then he went into the living room and said, "There it is!" and brought the screwdriver to me! Although I wish that he wouldn't have relocated it in the first place, I was really impressed that he did that, since he loves to pretend that he doesn't understand me in situations like that. I guess I shouldn't be too terribly surprised, since he does understand what we're saying to him even though he doesn't choose to speak that much. He's my sweet boy.

Recent Goings-On

We attended the viewing/visitation for our friend Chris last night at church. It was good to see how many people came out for it and to hear the things they were saying about Chris' testimony and strong stand for Christ. It's so comforting to know that he is with his Creator and we only mourn for the loss we feel. He will be greatly missed.

I had my first day alone with Audrey and Samuel yesterday. It went fairly well. Naptime came later than I would have hoped, but I got a good hour of sleep in before the neighbor's car doors slamming woke Samuel up! Samuel had been looking for Daddy all day, so he was glad when Brad got home (so was I). Audrey was pretty restless all day, but she slept during the viewing and then actually slept for almost a six hour stretch last night! I am sort of afraid to post that, because I don't want it to change, but I'm not too superstitious. :)

Audrey's two week check-up is this afternoon, so it'll be interesting to see how much she weighs. Samuel weighed 10 lbs at two weeks, and I'm pretty sure she's not that heavy. Of course, she sleeps more now than he did at six months (again, knock on wood)! I always thought he was a "good baby" except for the sleeping problems, but I think after having Audrey I can say that she is definitely closer to the definition of what most people consider a "good baby." I love them both so much, though!

Too Much Excitement

We had a good scare shortly after arising yesterday morning. I was getting dressed and Brad came in our room and while we were talking, we heard a loud bang/crash/thud noise from the kitchen and Audrey started screaming. We ran into the kitchen and Samuel had toppled the bassinet with her in it. Obviously she did not lose consciousness, which was the most important thing, and it seemed after a few minutes that she mainly started crying because she was scared. She had been sleeping soundly until Samuel entered the kitchen. Anyway, it scared Samuel, too, and he was sobbing, and of course I started sobbing as soon as I saw Audrey on the floor. Samuel "fell" out of our bed/I dropped him when I was feeding him in the middle of the night when he was exactly 8 weeks old, but those extra 6 weeks make a big difference in my mind. They probably do in reality, as well! Anyway, I really did not want to go to the emergency department with Audrey, which we did do with Samuel at the time, so we waited it out. Like I said, the fact that she didn't lose consciousness was the most important thing, and I know how to monitor for neurological dysfunction if things were to deteriorate. Praise the Lord they didn't.

Some of favorite cousins from my Mom's side of the family were visiting and we got to spend some time together on Friday night and yesterday. We learned to play a new game that my cousin Mark brought with him, and we introduced them to a new game that Joel bought for us for Christmas. We had a good time visiting and just enjoying making memories together. They make me miss living in Minnesota all the more. Brad enjoys playing basketball with them and discovered at this visit that Paul enjoys some of the same video games he does, so I suggested that maybe that could tip the scales in favor of us going up there permanently! :)

We made it to church for the evening service tonight, and I'm so glad we went. I was missing the fellowship and worship and pretty much everything. Samuel even seemed glad to be back, and he had a good time playing with his buddy Avery in nursery. Audrey didn't do as well as Samuel did at his first church service, but she didn't do too badly. I'm so thankful for our wonderful church family and the love they've shown us and our precious children.

Trial Run

Yesterday Brad went to work for about 4 1/2 hours, which left me alone with both kids for the first time. I wasn't too scared, and it didn't turn out that badly (I am, however, scared about being with them by myself all day). My main concern was trying to get some sort of nap in at some point. Audrey slept most of the time, only waking up twice to eat. Samuel had fallen asleep in his high chair before Brad left, so that messed up his normal nap routine. He only ended up sleeping for maybe 45 minutes and he woke up as soon as the garage door opened for Brad to leave. We had a fun time together, spending most of it working on his new ball popper. He put a ball in it that was just big enough to fit in the opening but too big to come back out, and I couldn't get it out for the life of me. I took everything apart that didn't require a screwdriver and considered going the next step, but Brad managed to knock out a ball that had been lodged in it when we bought it, so I told Samuel we should just wait for Daddy. He was fine with that, but he still wanted to work on it himself and proceeded to do what he could by banging on it with his fists and making various frustrated grunting noises. It was quite cute. He probably did that for a total of two of the hours that Brad was gone. He also helped me with some laundry and I eventually convinced him to cuddle with me and read his favorite book, "Llama Llama, Red Pajama." We read it about 4 or 5 times and then he finally fell asleep. We napped for about 45 minutes before Audrey woke up, and then Brad called to say he was headed home. I was still pretty sleepy, but of course, you make it somehow.

We received a yummy supper from a sweet lady from church, but poor Audrey vomited all over herself and me while Diane was dropping it off - that pretty much eliminated any chance that she would want to hold her! They quickly left so we could get cleaned up - the saddest part was that I had literally just put those clothes on, fresh from the dryer, because I don't have that much that I can wear right now. So is life with a newborn! At least it was on the couch this time, and not the bed or all over Brad, which were the other locations for vomiting this week. The couch is easy to clean thanks to Scotch Guard (yay 3M!). We enjoyed the delicious meal and then got to watch the season premiere of our favorite show, The Office! Even Samuel enjoyed it, and he used to just scream and scream every time he heard Michael Scott/Steve Carrell's voice (back when he was a little older than Audrey is now). We got some pretty good rest - I didn't have to wake Brad up for help even once for the first time - and we're going to have one last family outing before Brad goes back to work full time on Monday. I love family time.

Family Adventure!

We had our first "major" family outing yesterday. Brad wanted to hit the mean streets of Alabaster for some errands, so we finally headed that way around 11:15, after coming back inside about 10 times for things I had forgotten! By the time we got to 459 I realized that I had forgotten my shopping list for Wal-Mart - great. Well, stunningly enough, I managed to remember every single item on it by the time we actually went shopping! Sadly, I forgot to actually get one of them, which would've been a big help - a fridge lock. Samuel figured out how to open the fridge and realized the existence of our central vacuum in the same night last week, and we've been struggling with him trying to get in the fridge ever since. I spent probably at least 1/2 hour shredding chicken the other night, and the next morning he got into the fridge anad dumped half of it on the floor - what a waste of time! Anyway, I hope I don't forget it again next time we go!

Our first stop was the Alabaster thrift store, where I always enjoy trying to find a gem or two for our family. I fed Audrey in the car when we first got there and Brad and Samuel went inside to look around - a car pulled up across from us and only the driver went in, and the lady in the backseat basically stared at me the entire time I was still in the car. I thought, "Go ahead, it's really not that interesting." I put Audrey in the sling, and I'm starting to think we should've gotten a bigger size, because even though the sling is an appropriate size for my non-pregnant, non-breastfeeding state, I did not have much room to accomodate little Audrey and I felt like she was being smushed the whole time. She definitely generated a lot of comments, though! Brad didn't really find anything before we went inside, but I managed to find a nearly complete Mr. Potato Head set for Samuel for $1.48 and later found an intact Playskool Popper for $1.98. I found three others with parts missing and another intact one for $2.98, but we got the best deal! We also found some other things we needed, like long pants for Samuel for this fall/winter, and Brad bought a Nintendo 64 for less than $10. We had a 10% off your entire purchase coupon from the Enjoy the City coupon book, so we saved even more! It was a good trip, overall.

We headed to the Colonial Promenade and Brad "ran in" to Game Stop while I sat in the car with a sleeping Samuel and wide awake girl. Samuel woke up as soon as we pulled into Full Moon, where we ate a good lunch. Audrey's first trip to Wal-Mart went smoothly as well, even though we have to use two shopping carts to complete our trips now (at least when both of us are there). We finally got a piece of plywood for Samuel's toddler bed, and he likes it at least in theory. Getting him to sleep on it is another issue.

We came home and had a fairly uneventful evening, and then Audrey actually slept for a 4 1/2 hour or so span! I couldn't believe it when I woke up at 1 AM and she had been asleep that entire time! She did really well with eating and sleeping last night - probably the best since our first night home, although we had a glitch around 3:45. I was changing her diaper and apparently she had been holding out for me to do so, because she sprayed me with a large amount of baby poop immediately when I removed her soiled diaper! I quickly woke Brad up to help, and she managed to pee all over herself and the bed before he could get the next diaper on her! I was literally covered in poop, so after getting her a little bit situated, I ran downstairs to soak the dirty clothes - I think that's the first time I've started a load of laundry at 4 AM! Nothing was still stained when I finished the load about an hour again. I'm definitely a little skittish about changing Audrey now! Quite a day.

Further Thoughts

I seriously don't expect anyone to read my entire post from earlier - like I said, I just wanted to this in order to document our family history.

Throughout the course of the morning some more thoughts came into my head. When I was pregnant with Samuel, my first and at the time, only pregnancy, I was trying to be an informed health care consumer and good advocate for myself and my baby. In doing so, I spoke with my OB about labor and delivery issues and the things that concerned me. WARNING: "Female issue" content follows. For instance, I was very concerned about the frequent and apparent unnecessary use of episiotomy and wanted to know what he considered my "risk" to be for needing one. I love my OB, but he is "old school," having started practicing 20+ years ago, and he was pretty sure that most first-time deliveries would require one. I had read extensively that tears heal better and carry fewer future risks than episiotomies and made it quite clear that I would rather have to deal with the former than the latter, but of course that didn't become an issue when Samuel was born because he didn't actually come out the correct way, although he came close and it might've been a possibility had a different OB delivered him (he wasn't delivered by my OB). Anyway, I spent most of my visits with this pregnancy talking about VBAC issues and the associated risks I would be facing. I didn't think a lot about the other issues because I figured it was known that my previous feelings still stood. Well, because Audrey was born on the weekend late in the evening, the OB who delivered her wasn't even one my OB's partners - he's a part of the main practice, but not their group. Everything went so fast that I didn't think to state my opinion on episiotomy, and of course, when the possibility presented itself, Brad and I had about 0.0001 seconds to say anything before the deed was done. Now I have been reading more and more about how much worse episiotomies are versus tears for future deliveries, and it makes me quite sad. Why do they continue practices that have been shown to be outdated and worse than the alternative? And why do I continue to have to be the "victim" of them?

I got my "wish" in a major part of Audrey's delivery because I did not want Pitocin - I refused it outright, but they didn't call it that - and everything progressed fine without it. I didn't want my water broken because the combination of breaking my water artificially and upping the Pitocin most definitely was what put Samuel into the "late decels" that ended in a c-section, which ended in wound dehiscense and twelve additional weeks of OB visits and wound care. Despite that request, the delivery MD insisted that my water needed to be broken because they needed to put in the internal monitor in order to make sure my scarred uterus was okay. I agreed to it, and Audrey was born less than an hour and a half later! That's why I previously referred to the fact that everything went so fast with Audrey - I went into labor around 4 PM, we got to the hospital at 8 PM, and she was born at 10:51 PM! I went into labor with Samuel at 1 AM and he wasn't born until 1 PM, and of course that was by c-section! I know that he was my first one, obviously, but I thought my body might consider Audrey to be like my first one because I never got to complete Samuel's delivery - I just pushed for a couple of hours before they said he was in danger. People have commented that we'd better go straight to the hospital when I go into labor with our next one - I hope I have a couple or more years before that day comes!

First Post

Inspired by several other people, I've decided that blogging would probably be a good way for me to document memories our family makes. Due to the fact that we've recently grown exponentially (as far as children go), I feel that it's even more important for me to do so. My title was inspired by my Uncle Craig, who upon hearing that we were expecting another child comment, "You know it's multiplication, not addition, right?" I thought there was probably some wisdom to that and boy was he right! Although we've only been home with Audrey for a few hours short of a week now, it feels like we have way more than two children around this house. Somehow the work and stress have gone up by a factor of at least three, even though we only added one child! That being said, I hope it's not too weird of a title. I was attempting to be creative.

I previously had a different blog, but obviously didn't keep up with it. Starting fresh with this one seemed to make sense, since having a/another baby changes everything and you basically start over with the way life goes. Also, because I'm doing this mainly as a way to document our family history, I apologize if it's boring.

I think it's interesting how we've learned from our mistakes with Samuel when he was a newborn/infant and have (so far) been able to avoid some of them with Audrey. The major area this applies to so far is in feeding/sleep patterns. For the first three weeks we had Samuel at home, I remember a lot of screaming on his part and a lot of feeling like we were losing our minds in the middle of the night on our part. Also, because he was (and still is) such a bad sleeper, he slept in our bed with us for the better part of two months, if not more. I assumed such might be the case with Audrey, but we actually successfully moved her into her bassinet after two nights. My reasons for putting her in our bed those first two nights were two fold - I assumed that I would be up most of the night and having her right there would make it easier to get to her/I could quiet her down quicker and therefore hopefully avoid waking Samuel, and she seemed so "young" compared to how old Samuel was when we brought him home and I was afraid to have her even five feet away from me in the bassinet. Ridiculously long sentence, I know. Anyway, our first night home with Audrey was amazing compared to the same one with Samuel. She only woke up around every two hours and went right back to sleep after I fed her - it felt like a dream! I felt great the next day and was hopeful for the future. With both of these munchkins, we had to go to the pediatrician the day after we were discharged from the hospital. For Samuel, it was because they couldn't check his bilirubin at the hospital before we left, because the machine was "down." It was quite disappointing to hear that, since they stuck him twice for the sample before discovering that fact. Being a new mom, I was unaware that getting his bilirubin rechecked was the entire reason for his "required" pediatrician visit, and I willingly scheduled his appointment for the next day. Bad idea. I got maybe 30 minutes of sleep at a time because the child acted like he was literally about to starve the entire night. We barely made it to the pediatrician's office intact, definitely no showers had by either of us, and I fed Samuel in the car while Brad waited in the waiting room. The pediatrician thought Samuel looked great and commented that we definitely did not need to recheck his bilirubin because he had gained back to his birthweight before we were even discharged from the hospital - take a second to imagine how often I was feeding this child in order for that to happen - and the whites of his eyes were perfectly white. Well, DUH! I could've figured that out without the subsequent charge to my insurance and $20 copay on our part! Anyway, back to our visit with Audrey. We had a great night, I obviously couldn't drive yet, so we all loaded into the Pilot for the first time and headed out. Brad and Samuel went to Best Buy while I was at the pediatrician with Audrey, so as to avoid our "wrecking ball" of a kid destroying everything in sight. I of course was there for an hour and heard almost exactly the same thing about her that was said about my five day old Samuel. On top of that, they put me in a room where Samuel had previously received a rocephin shot (to no avail) for one of his many ear infections during his first year, and being in the weepy post-partum state I was in, I immediately started to bawl and was desperately trying to pull myself together before anyone came in the room so as to avoid being asking if I was "okay." The icing on the cake with the visit for Audrey was that our pediatrician had forgotten to report off to the pediatrician who was supposed to be rounding in the hospital the day we were discharged, which prompted our visit to the office. We waited all day at the hospital for a neonatologist to come check her out, and he made us "promise" to take her for a visit because we were being discharged early (before she was 48 hours old). Good thing he let us go, because I had been a literal basket case all day due to missing Samuel and wanting to come home. Oh - rabbit trail off of the many I'm already on - we were pleased to receive a separate bill from the neonatologist's office a couple of days after getting home because they bill separately than the hospital, and one of them came to see our child while we inpatient. I am very tempted to call that office and let them know that they can call our pediatrician's office for all of the insurance and working information they are "requiring" of us, since our pediatrician's office is the one who made the intial referral. It seems that we cannot get out of the hospital without some kid of ridiculous and life-altering "glitch" occurring. I was just thankful that Audrey passed her hearing screen right off and that she (obviously) didn't have to be circumcised. Samuel had both done in succession and no one told us until the night before discharge that he had failed his hearing screen on his right ear three times - they use the term "referred" and of course I knew exactly what they meant by that, having had a baby two days earlier and being without sleep for three nights! We definitely had a much better hospital stay this time overall, since I didn't end up having an emergency c-section, and the aforementioned things went more smoothly, but home birth is starting to make more and more sense to me, except for the lack of opportunity for pain relief in the form of medication/epidurals.

Anyway, the next two nights were increasingly bad, but we got back on track Friday night. I don't know if Audrey exactly has her days and nights mixed up - it seems more like she has the right idea, because she's so sleepy at night that it's nearly impossible for me to get her to eat well and then she wakes up hungry in about an hour. During the day, she stays awake and eats really well, although she definitely sleeps a lot between feedings. The worst time is between about 1 AM and 5 AM, but I'm definitely taking it all in keeping in mind what a much more difficult time we had with Samuel. She is just waking up, somewhat fussing, and eating frequently, not screaming for hours on end without relief! I realized after we arrived home last Tuesday that my greatest fear about nighttime was that she would be like Samuel and he would end up being awake all night, too! On our worst night to date, last Thursday, he did wake up when she was crying around midnight, and it was not a fun time. I was so upset because I felt badly for him, plus I didn't know how we were going to make it through the night or any other night that ended up being like that, but we did make it. I was Psalm 30:5 personified - weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes with the morning! Subsequent nights have been much quieter, although I won't deny that I have struggled to stay awake at times! I am looking forward to getting out of the house a little more in the future - the only other time I've left the house since the pediatrician appt (which, by the way, the office is maybe 2 miles from our house), is to go to Chick-fil-A with our good friends the Kennedys on Saturday evening. It was a very enjoyable outing for me, although it did get a little stressful when Samuel lost it because he had to leave the play area! Anyway, it was worth getting out! We're making baby steps of progress. With Samuel, I ended up having to go back to my OB so often due to my incision dehiscing and all of the subsequent issues with that that I didn't feel like leaving the house for any other reason and was a little "down" for quite a while - I think I lived off of double stuf oreos for two weeks - that really helped with losing the baby weight (and probably with the wound healing as well)!

Since having Samuel, my opinions on healthcare and especially pediatrics have evolved quite a bit. Obviously I work in pediatrics, although in a specialty area, and I have never been one to think that you (as a parent or a health care consumer) must do exactly as any health care provider/physician directs you, simply because they say so. I have always believed that physicians merely have educated opinions on things that we do not necessarily deal with as commonly as they do, and you should take what they say and consider it as valuable information as you make a decision. For instance, in my specialty, pediatric oncology, I do not think that any parent is obligated to allow their child to go on a study or be given a prescribed treatment course merely because it is recommended by their child's physician(s). God gave that child to you and therefore it is your responsibility to make an informed decision to the best of your ability as He guides you. We have not had to deal with anything like that in our family at this point, but I am almost starting to get resentful of pediatrics and their whole "schedule" of when you need to bring your child in for "well" check-ups and the like. I did as I was told with Samuel and we ended up going in probably at least twenty times in his first year, due to the combination of well child check-ups and his many sick visits. I never strongly questioned anything until Samuel had his second ear infection at four months of age and the word "tubes" started flying out of the mouths of seemingly every person I encountered. I had absolutely no desire for my child to be placed under general anesthesia for even a "minor" procedure at less than six months of age! I started doing some reading - thank you nursing school and grad school for helping me perfect the art of a literature search - and found that tubes have not been shown to improve any developmental outcomes (hearing and speech) in children who get them when compared with those who do not. Chronic "serous otitis" is not going to make your child deaf or even delay language skills. All we hear about at work and in nursing is "evidence-based practice," that is, basing the things you do (practices) on proven methods that are effective and necessary, shown via research (evidence). Well, the majority of recent evidence I read showed that tubes are not necessary and this was the approach I took when discussing the topic with others. Everyone acted like I was a total nutjob, including our pediatrician, who I know has only been in practice for fewer than 10 years and I feel should make recommendations based on current evidence! We had this "fight" for several months, while we went through three rounds of antibiotics for the second ear infection (one including three days of rocephin shots, which did nothing) that lasted for five weeks, and then a third one that wasn't quite as bad but during which I was convinced to "try" rocephin again and again it did nothing! After all of this, wasn't I pleased to read in the headlines that exposure to three or more rounds of antibiotics in the first eighteen months of life increases ones risk for developing asthma exponentially? I was especially pleased about this when Samuel developed his first wheeze and had to be placed on two inhalers when he developed the flu - two weeks after completing his "required" round of flu shots! I know that the flu shot only "covers" one strain and he likely developed the flu from a different strain, but it certainly made his suffering seem for naught. We didn't get to see our pediatrician for the visit when he was diagnosed with the flu, and actually have only seen him once for a "sick" visit, but the pediatrician we did see, who recognized that I am educated on the matter, mentioned something along the lines of, "Have you discussed the possibility of asthma with your pediatrician? You know..." and I finished his thought, "Yes, I know that there is a correlation with ezcema (which Samuel has) and subsequent asthma development and he's also been on many different antibiotics, but no, we haven't discussed that." I think I kind of made a face that let him know I wasn't interested in discussing it, either. So, yeah, after all of that, I (kind of subconsciously) decided that we were no longer going to the pediatrician for sick visits, unless it was a matter of life or death. We were supposed to take Samuel in for a recheck in a couple of weeks, but of course he got sick again and I wasn't interested in putting him on anything for it, so we layed low at home and he eventually recovered. When we went in for our next well child visit, our pediatrician commented that Samuel's ears were "still" a little red and he gave me a prescription to fill at my discretion, since he said he trusts my judgment on whether Samuel actually has a full blown ear infection or not. I definitely did not fill that prescription, after further research revealed that not only do multiple rounds of antibiotics increase your risk for developing asthma, but they have not reliably been shown to get rid of ear infections - i.e., most of the time your kid's ear infection is probably cleared up because of his own bodily defenses given to him by God, rather than medication. That pretty much eliminates any reason for me to take him in when he's sick, since I trust my own ability to assess and "treat" him for minor things. So, yeah, when I knew we had another one on the way, I started thinking about well child check-ups and realized that it sort of offends me that I'm supposed to take my child in at these specified intervals in order for an "expert" in childhood illnesses (not even really child-rearing) to make sure that I haven't screwed him or her up too badly? As I started reading, I came to realize that most of the well child check-ups center around vaccinations, and it's sort of just an excuse to bring you in at all. I, again, feel that God gave my children to ME and therefore it is my responsibility to make decisions on their behalf that are in their best interests. He did not give my children to the CDC or to the Federal government, so they are not in a position to tell me what is best for my children. After seeing how sick my poor Samuel got after several of his rounds of immunizations (not necessarily related to the specific vaccines, but moreso to the fact that getting them occupied his immune system and other illnesses were given an opportunity to thrive), I realized I wanted to back off on the "schedule" the CDC recommends. He has not been "sick" a while now, and I don't want to go back down that road again! I also don't want to go back down that road with my new baby - I would hate for her to be sick for that long - it felt like Samuel was sick continuously from the day after I went back to work (3 months) until around this April or so (16 months). Not fun. So, yeah, I decided that I really don't want Audrey to even get some of the vaccinations that Samuel has already received until a later date - I am not opposed to vaccination, I just want to slow down the pace at which my children receive them. For instance, the Hepatitis B series for which you receive the first shot shortly after birth - I started thinking - what would put my child at risk for this disease? It is blood and bodily fluid-borne and I do not have it, so that eliminated her need to receive it right after birth (according to current recommendations). I'm pretty sure she won't be a health-care worker in the next few years, and the "risky sexual behaviors" better not be an issue, so I would think it's okay to wait until she's at least school age to do that one. I talked with a friend at work about this and she pointed out some interested things - Rotatec, which is supposed to prevent Rotavirus, is it really necessary? The major risk with Rotavirus is extreme dehydration due to excessive diarrhea - am I going to let my child get that sick before taking her in to be seen or at least get some fluids? No! Also, Prevnar, which is supposed to prevent ear infections, probably actually contributed to the development of a couple of Samuel's because it put that "thought" into his body. The insult of the immunization could have been just enough to lead to a full-blown ear infection. That really helped my Mom-guilt. I don't want Audrey to get either of those - I just don't see a need. Even the Varicella vaccine - the major risk with the chicken pox is encephalitis - again, am I going to let my child get that sick without seeking care for her? No way! In addition to these things, the major point of vaccinating children in the US (supposedly) is to reach the point of "herd immunity," where those who are vaccinated cover the "gap" left by those who are not. The news and those in pediatrics definitely don't reflect that supposed purpose. I mentioned to one of the nurses at Samuel's last check-up that I wanted to hold off on more shots, and she said, "Well, you don't want him to get behind, because then he could get really sick!" Well, sorry lady, but my child's already been pretty sick several times, and that was while he was getting everything "on time." So, I actually went against my pediatrician's advice, and Samuel hasn't gotten any shots since he was 12 months old. It is sort of a coincidence that it's been that long, because he was "sickish" at this 15 month check-up and I somewhat forgot about the 18 month one because we were ridiculously busy, I was very pregnant, and he was doing well and I didn't see the need to take him in. I am thinking about taking him in for a check-up when we go to Audrey's 2 week check-up, but I wonder if our insurance will cover an 18 month check-up when he's 21 months old? I guess we'll see.