Immunization Dilemma

Do you immunize your children to protect them from disease, or do you choose to take that chance and protect them from the immunization it’s self?

Not long ago it was fairly rare for someone to question the importance of immunizations, yet now it’s become quite a dilemma, mainly in children. Which is the lesser of the two evils? This is the question everyone’s asking. It simply depends on who you ask though.

I know this is a topic that is up there with politics, religion, and abortion in controversial status and will always spark strong debate from both sides. Just the kind of topic I choose to avoid discussing on a personal level, BUT (yes, there’s that word…) I am going to go out on a limb and tackle it today. I am going to post my real life opinion along with some controversial facts right here on this blog…

Let me just list a little bit of information on what could be entering your child’s (or infant’s) body…

DTaP: formaldehyde, aluminum hydroxide, aluminum phosphate, thimerosal, and polysorbate 80 (Tween-80).
Act HIB: ammonium sulfate, formalin, and sucrose (or HIB Titer: ammonium sulfate, thimerosal, and chemically defined yeast-based medium).
MMR: hydrolized gelatin, chick embryo, human diploid cells from aborted fetal tissue.
Verivax (Chickenpox): phosphate, sucrose, and monosodium glutamate (MSG), processed gelatin, fetal bovine serum, guinea pig embryo cells, albumin from human blood, and human diploid cells from aborted fetal tissue.
IPOL (polio): neomycin, streptomycin, and polymyxin B, formaldehyde, and 2-phenoxyethenol, continuous line of monkey kidney cells.
Havrix (hepatitis A): formalin, aluminum hydroxide, 2-phenoxyethanol, and polysorbate 20, residual MRC5 proteins -human diploid cells from aborted fetal tissue.
Flu Shield: trivalent influenza virus, types A&B, gentamicin sulphate, formadehyde, thimerosal, and polysorbate 80 (Tween-80),chick embryonic fluid. (Fluvirin: influenza virus, neomycin, polymyxin, beta-propiolactone, chick embryonic fluid.

*You can see where I got this information HERE*

Now this is only to name a few of the most popular. Do you recognize ANY of these ingredients? I mean aside from the obvious and reoccurring formaldehyde because I’m sure we all know what that is. Would you EAT any of this? Would you give your child a teaspoon of any of this? I’m pretty sure that answer was no. If your answer was yes then I recommend looking a few of these things and their side effects up and reconsidering (possibly seeking professional help).

If you wouldn’t eat it why would you inject it into your veins? Or even more important a child's?

I understand, they say the amount of each of these harmful chemicals is minimal, but I’m still not ok with it. There are so many disgusting and awful ingredients listed here but, formaldehyde, really?! We fill dead bodies with that, why would we begin filling our babies with it? Every couple months, every six months, a year, two years, whatever the case. It all adds up. So I ask you, why? To protect your child from a disease? Is it really worth it?

Research on this is so conflicted it makes my brain hurt. One side saying that these immunizations are perfectly safe, the other side saying they can cause (or trigger) things like SIDS, Autism, Multiple Sclerosis, Diabetes, and other life altering disorders that you can’t reverse. I do not know everything about every one of these chemicals and the impact each of them have on the human body, nor am I claiming to, but I do know that I would not willingly put these things into my own body(much less a baby's). I do believe God made our bodies capable of building up an immune system and fighting off disease for a reason. You can argue that (however long ago) people died from these illnesses and the invention of the vaccination was a “God send”. I will only counter with clean water and really clean anything was also scarce, hygiene practices were not what they are today, things like Autism were much less common. Coincidence?

It’s true, by choosing not to get immunizations you have to be more careful, sometimes depending on your surroundings A LOT more careful. But with this said and with my oldest in a public Kindergarten, my children have been sick with more than a runny nose only ONCE in the last year and a half and even that passed rather quickly. I don’t keep them in a bubble and I don’t limit their exposure (we go to places like Chuck E Cheese *GASP!*), we simply practice good hygiene habits, wash our hands after being in public or after touching something dirty, and before eating.

Again, everyone has their own opinion on the subject and is going to do what they feel is right for their family, this is simply what I chose. I will always remember what a lady said after she was done telling me why she chose not to and that is:
”I would rather my child get sick from something I didn’t do, than become permanently damaged from something I did do.”

Kayla

Comparing what we have

Do you ever run into those people in life where their entire life just seems “perfect” somehow?
I do, I do quite a lot actually. I know, I know, I really shouldn’t try to compare my life to others because I truly don’t know what happens “behind the scenes” or what they had to go through in life to get to “that place,” but it’s really hard not to notice.

I notice, compare, and even start to envy… I really should be ashamed, I know, my life isn’t bad by any means and I really have no room to compare my life to theirs but in the moment, I can’t remember any of this. All I know is that I “wish” I had whatever it is that they have. A better “this”, a newer “that”, a life where everything seems easier and less stressful. The latter is the most difficult for me though. I don’t really mind not always having “newer and better” but in the midst of a stressful day at home (or really wherever) I find my self thinking about how *enter random name of the day here* seems to have it all together and I feel like I’m struggling to barely make it every day. Struggling to get out of bed every morning to start my day, struggling to stay positive and not let frustrations get the best of me, struggling to get the every day “supposed to be easy stuff” done, struggling to get my laundry caught up, struggling to keep up with never ending dishes and keeping two kids fed and healthy. It looks pretty darn easy for some people, yet no matter how hard I try I just can’t seem to cut it. I feel like I’m taking on the world and just somehow seem to keep falling a little more behind every day.

Don’t get me wrong, I am insanely blessed and I know it. I get to be a stay at home mother and wife, I have a husband who makes this possible and I don’t have to worry about where our next meal (or rent) is coming from. Not everyone has these luxuries. I know I am incredibly blessed, it’s just way too easy to forget that while “looking” into others’ lives, comparing mine to theirs. I mean really, who am I to compare my self like that anyway? I do believe it’s a sin to envy someone (or their life) because you wish you had something they have…. Like God has been unjust, or forgotten to give me something I “deserve”. This is where I am a bit ashamed. By comparing and wishing my life was like their life I am showing ungratefulness, setting my self up for failure and to be let down, and also setting my self up for one heck of a bad mood. All of this and lets not forget the impact it has or will have on my two beautiful girls.

Do I want them to grow up never finding contentment? Feeling ungrateful even when they have a million things to be grateful for? Absolutely not.

I want to work on being content with my life and stop comparing my self to others so much. Instead, try to just be happy with the life I DO have. The one God gave me without “owing” me one second. The life that could have ended before it begun, and still could end any day He chooses. I’m also going to start reading Ann Voskamp’s One Thousand Gifts again. Yes, I did say again…. :) It is one of the most inspiring and uplifting books I have read.

So join me in finding contentment and learning to be grateful for every thing (big or small) we have been blessed with.

Kayla

Ohh And By The Way

I just realized until my “book” post, I hadn’t updated you guys since BEFORE Serenity started school! So just a little update:

Today was Serenity’s 100th day of school!!! They did a lot of creative 100’s activities. She has such a wonderful teacher, these past 100 days wouldn’t be the same without her. We have been very blessed to have Serenity in such a great school, with such a great teacher.

This picture is HORRIBLE quality but I don’t have time to find the original and I have decided it’s good enough haha. This is Serenity today: 100th day of school (she made the shirt in school the other day) 100 beads on her necklace and 100 dots on her shirt :)

Serenity knows all of the kids names in her class (and a little about each of them). One of her classmate has been battling Leukemia since he was about 18 months old, were all praying that this will be the last of the cancer when he is finished with this last round of treatments (in about a year and a half I believe). Both of the girls remind me every night that we need to pray for him, if you could pray for him as well that would be great. :)

Serenity will be 6 this September and Destiny will be 3 in one month from now. Absolutely insane, I know. We are trying to decide between a Minnie Mouse or Cinderella themed birthday party for the little munchkin but her mind changes hourly, so we shall see.

I now have that piano I told you all about in THIS post, needs a little fixing up but I am so insanely excited to have not only a wonderful piece of my childhood but a pretty cool family heirloom as well. <3 I think it is safe to say, I am in love with that thing.

I FINALY started taking my GED tests! I have taken two out of five, hopefully I will finish fairly soon and get to cross that off my list. That’s pretty exciting. I’m not sure if there is any more to update you all on but if I remember anything worth while I will come back and let you know. :) Have a wonderful night!

Kayla

Some of My Favorite Children's Books and Such

I know this was supposed to be a sewing/craft blog BUT please do forgive me, I have found that I get rather bored posting about the same things over and over so I believe I will try something new.

Lately the girls and I have been to the library quite often (we try for once every week or so) and we have recently discovered a few “new” favorites.

Fairly new favorites:
A Giraffe and A Half / Shel Silverstein
Tell Me Something Happy Before I Go To Sleep / Joyce Dunbar & Debi Gliori
I Love You This Much / Sue Buchanan

Not so new favorites:
The Magic Tree House (series) / Mary Pope Osborne
The Cat In The Hat / Dr Seuss (or really any book by him of course)
The BFG / Roald Dahl
Charlottes Web / E.B. White

Those are all the ones I can think of off the top of my head anyway. I wish our library kept a list of all the books you’ve checked out, then I could tell you all of our favorites haha. We also have a couple favorite movies from the library though.

The Secret Of Moonacre is a huge favorite, about a moon princess and well, I shouldn’t spoil it for you ;) You’ll have to go find out for your self.

The Great Music Caper

Signing Time this is a GREAT series of videos that do a wonderful job at teaching children (and your self) American Sign Language. Now before you close this window and call me a KOOK, I promise you – This isn’t one of those boring “teach your self”/ “self help” videos that you want to turn off five seconds after you turn it on. Trust me, I probably have the shortest attention span ever in the history of the universe when it comes to learning something new. But this is one my kids absolutely love and I even find my self listening/signing along haha. My two year old knows sign language because of this show…. Ok, anyway, moving on now…

I love books, I absolutely love them and I hope that if nothing else I am able to share that love for books with my children. A book is a place where you can escape reality and be consumed by a world of wonder, a world so completely different than your own, and not only that but you can also choose which “world” you enter.

I am currently reading The Hobbit for the very first time ever (at 23 years old haha horrible right?) and so far I am loving it. I saw the movie that just came out first and that is what sparked my interest in the book, there will be three movies so of course they had to end it without a real ending and everyone was left “wondering” until whenever they decide to release the next one so that is why I picked up the book. Did you know right now my library has over a hundred holds on this book??? Insane, right??? I was just lucky enough to find it in the “lucky” section where there are books that aren’t allowed to be renewed and are only available for seven day loans haha. Speaking of which I believe it was due yesterday (but I am not done) I am a horrible person…

So, I thought I would share a few of our current “favorites” and now I think I will get back to that book before the library starts hating me ;) Until next time,

Kayla

So Incredibly Excited!

There are more than a few things going on around here which is why I haven’t posted anything lately. Also the fact that my sewing machine is “out of order” at the moment… A huge bummer, so I am trying to get that fixed this week or hopefully next. Until then I will probably be away from the blog for the most part but for now I thought I would share a few exciting things taking place in the near-ish future.

I remember -when I was very young -a huge (or to me it was huge) piano sitting in the dining room of my grandpa’s house, we weren’t allowed on it often and I never quite understood why… Regardless of that and the fact that I could not and still cannot play worth a penny, I grew very fond of this piano – It would soon hold some of the best memories of my childhood… It was one of the few things that was just “always there”, never changing, never moving… That is until my grandpa decided to retire and move. After he moved (not sure what year but it was somewhere around 2000), I had no idea where that piano went. I have always hoped it was still in the family somewhere but never counted on seeing it again. Well talking to my great aunt KC (my grandfathers sister) a few months ago I learned a lot more about that piano. Like the fact that it originally belonged to their mother, and it in fact WAS still in the family… Jump forward a few months and they have decided they can’t store it any longer and need to find a new home for it… Guess who was asked? THAT’S RIGHT! She asked me if I would like to have her mothers/or as I knew it-my grandpas piano! Absolutely, YES! So that is my very most exciting news…. Possibly ever. That thing means more to me than I even know how to express… Even more so now that my grandpa has passed on.

Next bit of exciting news, Serenity starts Kindergarten THIS September! I don’t know about you but September 3rd 2007 does not seem like it was that long ago. I remember so clearly the night/early morning that little girl decided to come into this world. *tear, sniffle sniffle* Yeah. yeah, yeah, they grow up… My babies aren’t supposed to grow up this fast though haha, can’t they be exempt???? Ok. Ok. Really though I am so excited but still a bit sad that she is growing up so quickly…

There could be another exciting thing (or maybe two) that I can’t quite post about until I know for sure if we want to go through with it… Lots more brainstorming and debating first. That is all I am saying about that. Well and I’ll tell all of you asking if it has anything to do with another baby, that is a negative. Not completely ruled out forever but for right now in our lives the two we have are perfect. :) Also – like I said to a friend- have you been to our house?! The two (lovely) girls we have now can be quite the handful ;) Currently Ren’s thing is telling destiny to do or get something after I have already told Ren no, and Destiny’s thing is climbing in the pantry to "get snacks" at all hours of the day - claiming that she is starving - when lord knows she's not (I think she eats more than serenity – Destiny is my foodie child) -I can't imagine what a third would bring into the mix, it could get a little scary haha.

So, that covers most of the updates for now. If you’re looking for a new project head over to Make It and Love It for a neat baby Bubble Romper tutorial. Or if you’re looking for a little something to spice up your home you can try this Decorative Satin Flower Pillow also by Make It and Love It, she says “I triple promise you that this will be the easiest/loveliest little satin flower pillow you will ever make.” What are you waiting for?? Go see if she’s right!

New patterns!!

I just got FIVE new patterns from Violette Field Threads and I can't wait to test them out!

I got these five patterns:

Emmaline- a cute maxi dress                                     Elise- adorable shirt

Vivienne- beautiful skirt                                            Audrey- cute peasant dress

Chloe- party dress

*Tip* If you plan to buy more than one buy them in a bundle from their etsy store instead of their website. It's a little cheaper this way. :)

These patterns include very descriptive instructions, use words even I know ;) and they have a ton of pictures to reference too! I would say they definitely look user friendly!

You can count on a new post featuring one of these projects soon!

*Note* All pictures in this post are the property of Violette Field Threads. Please do not use without getting permission and giving proper credit where it is due.

Thank you!

Childrens Pajama Pants

I made these a couple weeks ago and JUST got around to posting this.... Yeah, I guess you can call me a slacker ;)
I just want to say this is one of my easier tutorials here. You will need fabric - the specific amount depends on your child's size and whether you are making pants or shorts (I made pants). Regardless, you will need enough for four "leg cut outs" (you can see what I mean below), a pair of pajama pants the same size or a size bigger to trace, and if you're doing this for a girl maybe a little piece of ribbon tied into a bow for the front of the waist band. Last, but definitely not least, elastic- enough to go around your child's waist.

To start, lay out your fabric and fold the pants you will be tracing in half, and trace them like this:

Picture From Simply Modern Mom

Apparently I didn't get as many pictures as I thought I did, please for give me. The picture above is from SimplyModernMom.com

Make sure to add a few inches to the top (we will be folding it over to create the casing for the elastic to go through later) about 2 ish inches should be fine *I used 3/4in elastic*. (I traced a regular pair of jeans and didn't add enough extra fabric to the top and ended up with a waist a bit lower than I like.... So just know this is the worst that can happen lol).
Now after you have traced and cut out your "quarter of the pants" four times (see the picture below) you can start sewing them together, going down the longest side of each. Make sure right sides are together, again see the pictures below...

Two of the 4 pieces - BTW I these are a size 5
I told you the waist was a bit short... Make
Sure you add those couple extra inches ;)

If you look closely you can see where I have sewn
down the right side (longest side) -now do this again
with the other two leg pieces

Instead of four quarters (four leg pieces) at this point you should have two pieces that look like the picture above.

Now you're ready to sew the shortest two seams - so open up each of the two leg pieces...
Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of this part either so I will substitute with this one from "My Cotton Creations"

Picture By My Cotton Creations

Imagine there is a seam down the middle of this (because that's what yours should look like), After you place your two pieces together like this you will be sewing the short curvy part ONLY. DO NOT sew down the legs yet and DO NOT sew the top.

Now fold this together so that both of those curvy pieces you have just sewn are touching...

You will see on yours that the insides of the legs aren't sewn together yet (this photo of mine they are - didn't get a picture of the before but you get the hint...) You will want to sew them together now. I sewed up one and right down the other so I didn't have to stop and go up the other leg and hope everything matched up etc.

All that's left at this point is hemming up the bottom of the legs, I folded them up twice so that I didn't have another raw edge *exactly why you'll need those extra couple inches*, and creating a casing for the elastic at the top.

The top of the pants I folded over about 1/4 inch and over again about an inch. You'll sew just at the bottom of this ALMOST all the way around. Leave about an inch opening to get your elastic through.



I suggest using a safety pin at the end of the
elastic to help pull it through.

Once you have pulled your elastic through, sew the ends together - Thought I had a picture of this too but I guess not. Basically you will pull on both ends and over lap them about 1/4-1/2 inch and do a zig-zag stitch to hold them together. Now you can close up the hole that you used to pull the elastic through.

TADA! Now you have pajama pants :D I had this piece of blue ribbon laying around that just happened to match, tied it in a bow and hand sewed it on. Perfect finishing touch!

Have you made pajama pants yet? Any ideas or suggestions? What should I do next? Please share in the comments section below!