Tonight's Bible Study

Oh. My.

Not even sure where to start on this one.

4:30 decision was made to move our weekly Bible study to our house for the evening.  Quick glance around the house, not too shabby yet since we haven't even unpacked from our halfway-around-the-world trip, so sure, no prob.

5:00 Baby Bird is still sleeping and the last-minute cleaning is going pretty well.  As in the toilet no longer has 3 months worth of boy grime on it.  Wait, that's not fair.  In all honesty my husband probably did clean the toilet at least once while we were gone.  Thank you my husband, for sparing me the worst of the boy grime.

5:30 Baby Bird's up, Papa's on the phone, the dog's begging to go outside and oops I think we forgot to feed her? and my friend is ringing the doorbell which makes the dog go ballistic and the house still looks like a furball exploded in it and we have people coming over in 30 minutes and Baby Bird's whining for food and I haven't started dinner yet but it's okay because we still have time.  We can make it.

6:00 House is vacuumed, dog is crated, child's happily smearing I mean eating peanut butter and pizza dough's in the works.  No sweat.

6:20 Child is now covered in peanut butter so off to the tub you go.  Baby Bird promptly stands up in the tub, slips, smacks the back of her head harder that she ever has before, screeches bloody murder, and gives me a minor heart attack.  The front door's opens, she's stark naked and covered head to toe in peanut butter, I scoop her up so I'M covered head to toe in peanut butter and people are supposed to be here any second and she's not bleeding but she hasn't stopped crying and we're both still covered in peanut butter and at least she hasn't peed on me... yet.  Where's the towel?

6:30 We're both clean.  And dry.  And peanut-butter free.  But Baby Bird has a nasty welt.  And the leader for the Bible study just drove up.  But that welt has me worried, so I call Daddy.  Who's at work.  With the car.  And the carseat.  No worries, he's on his way (thank God!) and my friend is here with her baby and we watch Baby Bird to see how she's doing and Daddy arrives just moments later.

6:40  Baby Bird seems to be okay.  Mama?  Maybe.  Still trying to put my stomach back in its proper place.  Did I mention I still haven't eaten yet?  Everyone seems to be okay.  Daddy and my friend are doing a great job helping me be steady.  Head injuries scare me.  We have experience with those.  They're not good.  But Baby Bird's okay :).

7:30  Baby Bird lets a Big One.  Shoulda' paid more attention...

7:45 Emergency call home has turned into lunch hour for Daddy, and I've enjoyed a catch-up talk with my friend.  The Bible study never really happened since noone else showed up.  We make plans to restart this week's lesson and get ready to send little ones to bed.  Hmmm... Baby Bird's a bit fragrant.

7:50  Really???  I mean REALLY?!?!  Glad we did this diaper in the tub, because there's no just wiping this one down!  Apricots!  In her hair!  And corn!  And oh Daddy, you gotta' come see what you're getting out of tonight!

One baby girl. Two baths.  Three sets of clothes.  And I'm done for the night.

Was that water dripping on my shoulder just now?  No.  I do not have time for a flood tonight.  Where's the Bailey's?

And So It Begins

Our daughter is 15 months old.  She does not attend daycare.  She's had a whopping one small virus in her whole life, which consisted of a fever and runny nose.  She eats like a horse and meets or exceeds all the "milestones" for her age.  She's small but very healthy.


When Baby Bird was about 3 months old we became more aware of the vaccination controversy so I did what I always do, I started researching heavily so we could make our own informed decisions.  What we came up with is really a work in progress since vaccinations and available research change too.

In general, I'm not opposed to vaccines.  However, I AM opposed to some vaccines for our child.  Take chickenpox for instance.  Really?  A childhood disease that is relatively harmless if no other health conditions exist (which they currently do not) plus a vaccine that is mediocre at best means uuumm.... no.  We'd rather she just get the chickenpox thanks.

Enter the government.

The governmental powers that be have taken it upon themselves to require the chickenpox vaccine for all children who congregate.  Not just at school, mind you.  No, there is apparently a regulation that "requires" us to have our child "fully vaccinated" in order for her to enter a playroom run by the base's family readiness center.  It's not a daycare.  It's a room.  With a chance of other people being in it at the same time our daughter is.

I'm not even going to start on the other valid health risks of getting children together in one room, but I am not at all concerned about whether or not those kids are vaccinated.  The stuff I'm worried about our kid getting, she's protected against through vaccines or oh I don't know, washing our hands.  I would surmise the other parents have done the same for their children.  So where's the problem?

Well, for now the problem is ours.  I see no good reason our child cannot participate in this wonderful opportunity.  Now we have to convince the "powers" of the same thing.

Have any of you any experience with vaccination exemptions, especially overseas?