I used to love the Muppets, and now thanks to youtube, so does my 3 year old boy! Agirl even whatches this one. We love it!

I just did some henna tattoos on me and my family.

Here are pics.

G was completely adorable BTW while I was doing this tattoo. I kept telling him G, just sit really still. Please sit still. You aren't sitting still. Because every time he would talk to my mom who was sitting near us at the table, he would move a little. He was also trying to look down at what I was doing and moving a little - so some of the lines are a little shaky, but he was really trying to be still. Every time I told him to be still, he would try really hard and then he asked me (in a whisper) "can I move my head?" and I said, no, because when you move your head your body moves. So he said "can I move my mouth?" and I had to laugh and say yes, you can move your mouth. I swear, he was trying to hold his breath...

I've recently started watching The Closer and I just saw an episode where Brenda is diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome.

Did any of these writers read about any of the symptoms of this? Because skinny little uber-feminine Brenda doesn't really fit the bill.

At least from what I know...

They should have made her borderline diabetic. pffft.

update: I just found this wikipedia page with infant mortality rates listed by country:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_infant_mortality_rate
and though we aren't listed 42nd on either chart, these statistics are VERY up to date (looks like maybe she was working off some older numbers last night. We still aren't up near the top. I wonder what the vaccination schedules are like in the countries near the top. (or the bottom rather, where the countries have the fewest number of deaths per 1,000 infants)  I need to look into that.

I had the dream again.

This time I was in an SUV and I drove off a bridge over some water. As my car fell with me in it, I thought to myself "Oh God, I dream this all the time. I can't believe it's really happening!"

Then, at the peak of my car's arch I came up under some electrical lines. I was able to reach up and grab the lines. I stayed up hanging there while the car fell out from under me into the drink.

I SAVED myself.

That has to be a good sign, right?

I think I was in a pretty dark place the time I dreamed my car went over the cliff, I hit to bottom and then it burst into flames with me inside....

My Mom's dog Libby is staying with us while they are away on vacation. G keeps asking me if Libby is our dog now.

Little Miss got tooth # 2 today! Let me tell you, she worked for it too. Poor kid was in such pain today. She shoved everything she could get those little mitts on into her mouth and she made some valiant attempts at crawling today to get to a few of those items. She's sleeping now, I hope she (and me too) has a smooth night. I've been working on some SEO for http://hennatattoos4u.com the past few days and last night I got way to involved. The kids were sleeping well, so before I knew it I looked up at the clock and it was 4:45am!!! yeah, I got about 4 hours of sleep last night. Hopefully tonight I will be in bed by 1am.

Still haven't done step two for (highlighting) my hair either... I wanted to do it today, but never got the chance. My sister moved to her new apartment in PA this week and I was going to visit her tomorrow, but she is panicked about having us come with STUFF everywhere in the unpacking process. Looks like tomorrow will be FREE, so I'll try to get hold of my old friend Megan who contacted me through Myspace and see if she will be around. Maybe we can take the kids to Atlantic Farms or to Winward or something. I'm going to try to do my hair tonight when I get off the computer. (hahahahaha)

I made a turkey recipe in the crockpot today and it came out really good! Much better than I thought it would so here it is....

Easy and Delicious Turkey Breast

from Gail Bush in Landenberg, PA

From the Fix it and Forget it Cookbook

makes 4 to 6 servings...

1 turkey breast (I used a "turkey london broil" it was probably about 2 1/2 to 3 lbs)

15 oz. can whole berry cranberry sauce

1 envelope dry onion soup mix

1/2 cup orange juice

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

(I added a 2lb bag of baby red potatos and 1 lb. of sliced peeled raw carrots to the crockpot before I put in the rest of the ingredients)

1. Place turkey in slow cooker.

2. Combine remaining ingredients. Pour over turkey.

3. Cover. Cook on Low 6-8 hours.

I started it late, so I cooked it on high for 4 hours. Some of the larger potatos were a little tough, so maybe it would have been better at 4.5 or 5 hours, but the turkey was cooked through. It was really good and the carrots were so sweet in the fruity sauce. I really liked it. I bet the leftover turkey is going to be great on sandwiches!!

http://www.wqad.com/Global/story.asp?S=8613656&nav=1sW7

Childhood vaccinations suspended at Genesis pediatric clinics

Posted: July 2, 2008 10:19 PM EDT

Updated: July 3, 2008 03:55 AM EDT

by Kia Carter

QUAD CITIES -- Wednesday all Genesis Medical Center Pediatric Clinics suspended their use of childhood vaccines. The decision comes after a baby received routine vaccinations on Tuesday, then died several hours later at home. Genesis Health Group says its suspending pediatric vaccinations merely as a precaution until the cause of the baby's death can be determined.

Tuesday morning a 4-month-old baby boy came to the Genesis East Pediatrics Clinic in Silvis for a routine checkup that included several vaccinations. The seemingly healthy baby boy was brought in for a "well baby" visit, that's a check up that includes routine vaccinations like pneumonia, and DPT, which is for diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough) and tetanus. Then Tuesday night his
parents found him dead with no obvious cause for his death. Now all childhood vaccinations at Genesis clinics in Silvis, Bettendorf and Davenport have been temporarily suspended. A Genesis spokesman says hospital administration have no reason to believe the vaccines caused the baby's death, but they want to be overly cautious.

"They'll be a coroner's examination of the baby and we'll get a report. At that time we'll most likely resume our vaccinations, because we don't think there was a link between them and the child
passing," says Craig Cooper, Genesis Health Group spokesman.

Genesis has also sent the batch of vaccines the boy received off to the Food and Drug Administration and to the makers of the vaccines for testing. This is the first time Genesis has ever suspended pediatric vaccinations at it's clinics. We'll continue to bring you the latest as Genesis finds answers.

We went to the boardwalk today and had a really nice time. Ate ice cream, played hoops in the arcade, walked in the fresh air and sunshine, bought the baby a hat, won some little toys for G.... we had a nice time. Until, on the way back down the boardwalk, back to the car, my 75 year old great aunt got distracted, drifted along as she walked and FELL OFF the boardwalk. It was about a 3 foot drop down into the sand. I was about 20 feet ahead of my mom, grandma and my aunt and I turned around just to see one of her feet miss the boards, catch air and down she went. My heart lept in my throat because I could have SWORN I saw her head hit the bottom of an iron fence running parallel to the boardwalk.

Well, she got up slowly. Some passersby stopped to help us get her back up on the boardwalk and get her standing. She shook it off and only her pride was hurt. AMAZING. It was a BIG fall. Thank GOD.

I'm so glad she is ok, but now all they will remember about the trip was that my aunt fell. Sigh...

Once we've negotiated the heady maze of information on vaccines and "killed the Minotaur," we turn back to the simple life. And what is the simple life? It is life as it should be. It is our bodies in our own hands.

It's not the CDC's responsibility to prevent my disease or yours. It never has been and it never will be. My health is my responsibility, not the responsibility of some far-off government agency that doesn't know the first thing about me.

I'm tired.

I've been on the computer a good part of the day updating the vaccination site (the update isn't live yet, I'll post when it is) and scanning pictures and catching up with people on facebook (I know that's not working) and running to and from my mother's and going to costco and now finally home. Jasper is reading G bedtime stories at 10:52pm and I am exhausted.

I'm going to kiss the kid goodnight.

I'll admit facebook confused me a bit when I first joined, but today I've been fooling around on it basically all day. I have work to do damnit and now I'm addicted. Someone get me off this thing!

HONEY GETS MORE THAN LEMON

The above link is to a post about the new campaign the AAP has in store for parents who choose not to vaccinate. They are like bullies on the playground for F's sake. I mean really, this person hits it right on the head.

Anyway, the kids are taking a nap so I'm sure to be up late tonight with them. G will want to be awake till at least 11pm. We went to Winward beach today with Joan and Joanie and had a really good time. We went close to noon though, so I know it was a lot of sun for them. We had no umbrella, so I slathered them in sunblock, kept her hat and little outfit on and left after about an hour and a half. I nursed her under a towel a couple of times, but I just don't know how much sun is too much for such a little one and so I didn't want it to sneak up on her.

G had a good time with his buckets and sand and Grandma taking him into the water up to his knees. Winward is really the river, not the ocean, so there are no really big waves there. That's better for the little boy. He would have gotten really nervous with the waves and probably not even want to put his feet in.

I brought my camera, but didn't take it out of my bag. I did this on purpous once I got there because I have broken 2 cameras on beaches (one on my honeymoon!) because they got sand in them. I hated not to take pictures of the kids today, but if I want anymore pictures this summer, I have to keep the camera working.

We brought them to the mall yesterday and when we were getting into the car getting ready to leave Jasper was strapping G into his seat in the back. G looks up at the overhead light (as always) and feels like he wants the light on because it's getting dark outside. The usual conversation goes like this. "Mommy, keep the light on." I say "No, we can't drive with the light on at night. It's against the law. It distracts other drivers and the police men don't like it. If Mommy gets pulled over, she'll get in trouble. We have to leave the light off" and that's the end of it. He does ask pretty much every time though.

Yesterday however, he looked up at the light and said this instead "Mommy, when we see a cop, we'll turn the light off and when we drive past him we can turn it back on again."

Oh yes he did.

Could you even?

The little bugger.

Boy am I in trouble.

#1. Goo, Gack, or Gobbledee - gook. Do you all know what I mean? My sister in law just got G a spiderman toy that comes with "web goo" to fling (yes, the kid is supposed to fling goo while playing with this toy) at a spinning bad guy. This stuff is nasty and when I was a kid they had a similar product called GAK. That stuff smelled TERRIBLE and was slimy and snotty as hell, but at least it stayed in one piece. This stuff is slimy, snotty and stringy. It gets everywhere, and when it dries it looks like a slug trail. Exactly like it, it's even kind of shiny like that. Yeah, the toy was on clearance and I know why. Kids love it though.

#2. Silly string. - not as bad as Goo, but still requires parental clean up when they are done playing with it. This stuff is way too tempting to shoot AT other children and pets and it runs out in about 30 seconds. Since a can can cost up to $6, there is definitely not enough bang for your buck. Again, kids love it.

#3. Guns. - I know that kids will pick up sticks that are bent at just the right angle and pretend they are guns or even just stick out there finger and thumb and make pew pew pew noises, but to actually BUY them guns? Especially guns that actually shoot balls, darts and pellets - I just can't stand it. Hate to say it, but kids looove guns.

#4. C/O silverlinings  'How about a drum set?   My sister offered to buy Meg a drum set becasue she loves drums ... I told her "over your dead body."'

#5. C/O rockhockermom 'LEGOS... very good for the imagination... very BBBAAAADDDD for the feet.'

#6. C/O katmandoo 'metal jacks from when we were little? Those things will go right through the toughest of foot soles!'

#7. C/O katmandoo 'Perler Beads? Awesome for a 9 year old girl, but not so good for cleaning up when you spill a bucket that holds 1000 of them!'

#8. TRANSFORMERS or any toy that transforms. The bigger they are the worse they are because it takes a rocket scientist to do it. I've seen adults work at these things like rubix cubes while the 3 year old bounces up and down in anticipation. The newer ones are even worse because peices literally fall off the thing while you are working on it and you have to follow a set of INSTRUCTIONS to turn the robot into the car/plan/helicopter or whatever.

Anyone want to add to this?