Why I Vaccinate

When I was pregnant with my first baby, Niah, I planned and researched everything you could possible think of to become well informed. One thing, I spent an enormous amount of time researching is vaccinations. Before, I made the decision I wanted to be well informed.

After hours of research, I chose to vaccinate and this is why:

This is Malachi right after getting his vaccinations this week

1. I want my kids to travel all over the world for leisure and missions. Niah has already been to Mexico and we will hopefully be going somewhere this winter with Niah and Malachi. When they are a little older like 5 and 7, I want to take them on a missions trips to help other kids. Vaccinations make that travel safe for them.

2. Children all over the world suffer from the sickness my kids are getting vaccinated for, because the vaccinations are not available to them. I have personally been to orphanages in desperate need of vaccinations and quarantine kids that had sicknesses and kids that didn't as they waited for the arrival of the vaccinations. I want my kids to take advantage of the privileges in the US and to never be at risk for getting those sickness.

3. History shows that vaccinations help eliminate illness.

4. Their is no hard evidence or studies that show that vaccinations are harmful or cause autism.

I do not have them get the flu vaccination but almost all other vaccinations they get. As parents we have to make the best decision for our kids. Vaccinations are the best option for our family but may not be for everyone. Do you vaccinate, why or why not?

Busy, Crazy, last few months

I apologize with not keeping up with the blog but I have been so extremely busy since the start of summer. Every spare moment is used enjoying my babies and the lake!!

So a few things we have been up to:

We spent some wonderful days at Big Cedar with just our family!

My husband almost finished our beautiful patio. The only part left is the kids play house

Niah got her first haircut in June, it was not even enough hair for me to save. I just had her trim the bottom to help with growth.

Malachi will not touch purees but he will chew on crackers and bread. I have got him to nibble on green beans and carrots.

Niah enjoyed swimming in the lake this summer which was so fun!!

Malachi has 6 teeth and I think 7 and 8 are just about to break through

Boat Rides

Nephew/Cousin being born.

We went to the zoo in Kansas City

8 Months Old

I am still late but better than last month.

Dear Malachi

You have really been showing your personality this month. You are mostly laid back with your feet crossed but when you are mad you are mad and let us know. You have a loud voice and want people to listen when you speak. You have said "mama" 3 or 4 times without mimicking me. You say "hey" when you mimic someone. You love to make spitting noises and love when I tap my hand on your mouth and you yell. You often just throw your head back and laugh. You love to interact with people.

You are so desperate to be on the move. You are a rolling machine and have a pretty good army crawl. You do push ups trying to get into a regular crawl but have not mastered that position yet. You love to get into everything especially cords. If there is anything in front of you at the table you are grabbing it and get angry when we move it.

You are starting to become interested in bites of food but you do not really eat them just play. You will only consider food if you are the one in control and putting it up to your mouth. If someone's hands tries to put something up to your mouth you clamp your lips together and nothing is going in. You got 2 more teeth this month so we are up to 6 teeth which at this time Niah had none.

We are so enjoying every moment with you and love your little personality. We can not imagine our lives without you.

7 months old

I know my dear sweet boy is almost 8 months old but better late than never.

Malachi

How did you get to be 7 months old so quickly. You are such a happy content baby. You constantly smile and laugh and the only time you cry is when you are hungry, tired, or you lose your toy. You have become very active and you roll all over the place from one side of the room to the next. You have started trying to crawl but have not figured it out. You desperately want to move like Niah and Kyah; when you watch them your little toes start moving in anticipation of what they will do.

You still do not like any kind of food. I have tried oatmeal, rice cereal, sweet potatoes, bananas, avocadoes, yogurt, green beans, peas, and white potatoes. Nothing is a go and you start hitting my spoon and taking it after you take one bite, it is quite comical. You start clenching your lips together as soon as you see food. You have four very sharp teeth. I have not see any other teeth start to come in. You have slowed down on spitting up, now you only spit up usually 1 time a day compared to spitting up every time you ate.

You love the water. You get so excited in it and just splash and splash. You hate to lose something you are playing with and get very mad and start to holler. You have really started to find your voice. You make very loud intentional noises because you are are happy, mad, bored, or sad. You are ready to get up and go, even though you are not quite there. You absolutely love your sister. You love to watch her, you love it when she gives you attention, and you love when she talks to you.

You are such an amazing little guy and we can't imagine life with out you!!

Paci's and Potty Training

This mommy took on, taking away the paci from the 4 month old and taking the diapers away from the 2 year old.

I had kinda played around with potty training Niah who turned two in May right after her birthday. She was starting to understand it so the last week of May I decided, I was going to get serious and not use diapers anymore. A month later I will say we have only had 1 or 2 pee pee accidents and 4 or 5 poopie accidents. She has going potty down and does really good, the only time she has had accidents is when mommy and Niah are really busy and I forget to ask her. Most of the time Niah will tell me she has to go. Now, poopie is hard for her because she gets the feeling she has to go 20-40 mins before she has to go. We will sit on the potty 3 or 4 times and she tries to go but because it does not come out as quickly she says all done. We are still working on it but I think we will have it down soon.

The same week I decided to get serious with potty training, Malachi who at the time was 4 months old started waking up every 2 hours in the night wanting his paci. I never let him use his paci for night time sleep but it did not matter he still knew he wanted it. After night 2 of waking up, I said that is it we are getting rid of the paci. I read lots of articles on how to do it and I decided to just go cold turkey. No more paci! It took 2 nights for him to go back to his 8 hour sleep schedule at night but after that it was back to normal. Naps, where he used his paci always to fall asleep and stay asleep took about 5 days to get back to normal. He started to take only hour long naps instead of 2 or 3 hour naps and was a little fussy. After a week naps slowly got better and longer.

It has been a month (now 2 months, I wrote this the end of June) with no paci and no diapers and it has gone well. I am so proud of Niah for how well she is doing with going potty in the big girl potty. I am so glad that Malachi has adjusted well and got past using the paci!

Niah sitting on her potty.... She actually does not even use the potty chair now

Sleeping boy with no paci

Summer fun

Summer is extra busy for our family because we work at a Christian summer camp so we are at our busy time of year.  We may work long hours and lots of days but we still find time to make memories.   

Niah loves the water, this is her first swim in the lake

Niah's new hat... Golf rides (as she calls it) is a favorite activity

Boat rides

My sweet happy boy

My babies

Sibling love

If I do not blog much, just know I am spending time with my babies!! How are you spending your summer?

Remembering on Father's Day

I have wonderful men in my life to honor on father's day, an absolutely great dad, an amazing husband, and even a good father in law. This year, I am missing one man more than I usually do, he is someone that I think about daily, but for the last few months have had a terrible ache for him to be here, my grandpa (known as papa). My Papa went to be with the lord after struggling with cancer in October of 2007.

I have missed him on all the big occasions of my life wishing he was there. I missed him on my college graduation after he cheered me on and supported me all through college. I missed him on my wedding day as we had previously always talked about how he (my papa) would officiate the wedding. I missed him when we finished building our house and I didn't get to show him. I missed him when I gave birth to my baby girl and showed her off to my family and he was not there to dote on her, as he doted on me. I again missed him when I had Malachi.

Not only do I miss him on the big occasions but I miss him and the small things in life. I miss his giving personality, he was a man that would give. I respected him and how he handled his financials (You can not say that often these days). He was a man that came from 13 and had very little but a man that wanted his children to have more than him and gave them all an inheritance. He was a man that never spent his money foolishly but always would give in abundance to God's ministry. My papa spoke his mind and never pushed anything under the rug (which is both a positive and a negative). He was a very strong sensitive man.

In the 6 months from the time he was diagnosed with cancer to his death, he sang and praised our heavenly Father. Believing that God would take care of him and his family. I saw him at his worst and I saw him at his best and even at his worst, he was still concerned about the small things in my life. I spent countless hours at his bedside in the hospital, and had some of the most precious moments with him. He was a Godly example to me and a huge part of my life. I miss him all the time but know he is in a better place


I have wonderful men in my life but he can never be replaced.