My cynical side....

Ugh! I hate how Satan works in me to bring out the worst.

First things first though.

Maggie had her 2 month check-up today.

9 pounds, 8.5 ounces

23 inches

I thought she was pretty long compared to the other guys. Nope. When I got home I checked their calendars. Max was 12 pounds, 9 ounces and 24.5 inches long and Molly was 10.5 pounds and 23.5 inches long. Anyone who knows Max knows that he hasn't grown too much in height since then :)

She is beautiful though. I know I said the same things about my oldest 2, but somehow it seems different this time around. Maybe it's because she is my last.

Now on to my cynical side....

doctors, media, drug companies, government....

Maggie got 3 shots today and an oral vaccine.

Yes, I made the decision to have them done. I think vaccines are extremely important and my kids have always handled them very well....their biggest side effect being more sleep.

Yes, being poked 3 times as opposed to the 4 times Max and Molly were poked at 2, 4, & 6 months is better.

However, one of those shots had THREE different vaccines in it. One shot had Hep B, polio, & Dtap in it. And doesn't DTap have 2 or 3 vaccines in just that one alone?

So vaccines today were:

Hep B

Polio

Dtap

Prevnar

Hib

Rotovirus

Are things really that bad out there? I do it because I want to keep my children from getting polio or hep b or ending up in the hospital for a week. But do really need to do it all within the first 12-15 months of their lives? Do they do it this early just because they can't run away?

I don't give my kids the flu shot...never have and they have never had the flu.

I know people who get the flu shot EVERY year and their entire family gets terribly sick with the flu EVERY year. Who knows???

Max is due for the chicken pox booster next month. Not a chance. What's wrong with getting the chix pox? I am with those moms who have chicken pox parties.

The cynical side of me says that the government is making big bucks off of this stuff.

Not so many years ago you didn't hear of ADD, ADHD, Autism, allergies to peanuts, gluten allergies, etc. WHERE IS IT ALL COMING FROM????

You have doctors saying that all of these vaccines are safe.

You have doctors meeting with kids for all of 20 seconds diagnosing kids with ADD & ADHD and sending the ridalin to schools so that the kids can line up 10 minutes before lunch to take their pills.

Organic, organic, organic....if it is SO good for you then why on earth is it SO expensive????

If the government truly wants us to be healthy and cut health care costs and all of the other nonsense then why does milk from a normal cow cost almost 7 bucks a gallon.

And if anyone knows me they know that I don't have a lot of faith in doctors anymore.

After one wanted to cut me open and put a stint in for a kidneystone that I had already passed....

After another told me to prepare for the worse when my 3 week old baby girl's blood work came back abnormal...only for them to come back 4 hours later and say oh never mind she is just fine...

I don't have a lot of faith in them. I go for the well visits b/c I want a second pair of eyes to check her over and make sure her eyes and ears look good. The vaccines b/c I think that they are important and if my kid has an illness, I go for the scrip. I don't let them fool me into making me think they know my child better than I do.

I'm one of those people who believe that cancer will never be cured b/c the drug companies make WAY TOO much money off of it. People counter that with "yeah, but won't they make a ton more money off the drugs that they will use to cure it". There is probably big money in that, of course. But if you cure it then people won't keep coming back for the chemo and radiation treatments that cost thousands of dollars per treatment.

The media loves a good story and vaccines is where it's at that's all we hear about.

If it's eating organic...that's what we hear about.

If it's about getting the latest vaccine...that's what we hear...until we hear that all of these great vaccines suddenly may have a problem and they are pulled.

The government, media, drug companies....they certainly know who to go to to make their big bucks...a mom.

Tell a mom that their kid needs it or he could get terribly sick and end up in the hospital or worse.

The guilt of a mother...not too much out there with greater power.

pottery, subway, dead batteries, target, & LOTS of smiles...

What a terrific day spent with my kids!

Did they drive me nuts? ABSOLUTELY

Was I at the brink? DEFINITELY

Did they know it? OF COURSE...Molly was even asking..."Are we driving you nuts Momma?"

That one is something else.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE her. Even when I tell her not to touch the bathroom door again when her brother is in there and she looks me straight in the eye and touches the door. Not only does she intentionally defy me, she tells me she is doing it. "I touched the door Momma," she says. She is unbelieveable.

Which reminds me...movie night was this past Friday and we rented Herbie from the library. (Very cute movie).

During some of the race scenes Max just kept saying over and over, "Whoa Momma, did you see that? That was unbelieveable!" The first girl to break his heart better watch out!!!

I decided a few weeks ago that I wanted to take the kids to one of those paint your own pottery places. Today was the perfect day to go. It was raining.

The kids were very excited when I told them that they could pick out a piece to paint. Molly chose a puppy and after a bit of consideration, Max chose the jet. The jet won out over the skateboard, trophy, & crocodile.

They chose their 4 colors very carefully and for about a half hour only the puppy's head was painted. Molly was more interested in getting as much paint on her brush, sticking it in the jar of water, and watching what color the water turned. The other tough task of the day was getting the kids to dab their brushes after they rinsed them off.

Needless to say, the paint was a bit drippy.

The kids had a blast. When I told them that we had to leave the pieces there to dry and get shiny they told me that they could blow on them so that they would dry before we left.

They seemed to get it by the time we left.

I chose to do a dinner plate with the kids handprints on them. When the guy told me that we would only be able to do Maggie's footprint and not her hand, I just nodded my head in agreement. Of course this guy had no clue what a mother will endure to get their little girl's handprint on a plate.

Maggie passed out.

I laid her in the stroller.

We painted her hand.

Brought the plate to her hand.

Wa-La!

All 3 handprints on the plate.

I can't wait to see it next week.

The kids and I then had lunch at Subway. The kids split a pizza when Max figured out that Subway doesn't not serve cheeseburgers or chicken strips. Subway now serves pizza though. Who knew???

So out to the parking lot we go. I got diapers changed & kids clicked into the careseats. I get clicked into my seat only to put the key in the ignition and turn it...nothing happens. I instantly start grilling the kids on who left the very back light on in the van.

A few seconds later I am on the phone with my husband very upset with myself that it was in fact my fault that the battery was dead. I left the headlights on. Apparently, I didn't know that they were still making cars that have headlights on them and don't turn off when you turn off the car. Oops.

Aaron tells me to call a towing company. I wouldn't have any idea where to call. I'm in this city for the first time without my husband and 3 kids.

Out of nowhere and out of ALL the cars in this mall parking lot, the people parked right next to us come walking out of the mall asking us if we need a jump.

It was like the Lord knew that I was on the brink sitting in my car just staring.

And just as quickly as they showed up they were off. THANK YOU! I can't imagine what kind of afternoon that would have turned into had they not shown up.

We were off. Found Target. Max really wanted a new bag for school so he found a nice Thomas backpack. We also found a suitcase for Maggie. We won't have to pack her clothes in plastic bags anymore.

We were finally on our way home after spilling bit of popcorn in Target and trying to eat it all off of the floor and bottom of cart. Not too long after we leave Max starts freaking b/c he has to go #2. We pull off the freeway. All 4 of us make it to the not-so-clean restroom. Max gets on the toilet. Peed a few drops. That was it. No number 2 until well after we returned home. There was no way I was getting everyone out to do nothing again.

Anyhow, hopefully everyone gets some rest tonight b/c they have to get up early for school.

Oh and is my Maggie's smile the most beautiful thing you've ever seen????

It was a great day with my kids, but am really looking forward to being away with my sisters in a few short weeks. Our little traditions of the evening are something I look forward to for 364 days a year. I can't wait. And my new book should arrive shortly before the conference. Since I can get ZERO reading done here, I plan on having my book read cover to cover by the time I arrive home.

Just a few more short weeks....yippee!!!