modesty survey

For our youth Sunday School, we are doing a guys/girls split right now.....I'm doing the book "for young women only" by Shaunti Feldhahn with the girls and the guys are doing "for young men only". When I was getting ready for this sunday's chapter, I came across this survey online ...it's very interesting girls. Check it out if you have some time.

to vaccinate or not to vaccinate?

Jaxon is now 7 months old and has had none of his vaccinations yet. I'm very torn whether I should get them done or not. I'm scared to get him immunized, and I'm scared NOT to get him immunized! There is conflicting opinions out there about the safety of vaccinations and their link to autism, especially in boys.

I have found this website very interesting and helpful - it's Jenny McCarthy's website on autism.

One of the things that REALLY surprised me is the number of vaccines that are given now, compared to the number that were given in the good ol' 80's when we were kids. Look here to see the comparison. In the 1980's autism was known to affect about 1 in 1,000 children, but now the National Institute of Health estimates the number to be 1 in 150. Hmmmmmm....

I can't stand the thought of my precious, sweet and smart little boy developing autism if it was completely preventable in the first place. But at the same time, I also can't stand the thought of him developing something like measles or Rubella because I didn't get him vaccinated!

Just FYI - we DO plan on eventually getting Jax immunized. Jenny's site has an alternative vaccination schedule on her website. It suggests to wait until your baby is 18 months old before starting the vaccines, and she's got a whole list of other precautions to take when you do get to that point. It also suggests that you get no more than 1 vaccine given at a time, which is an issue here in Canada. You can't get the "5-in-1" shot separated, because "that's how it comes". Grrr.

Generation Rescue did a survey that revealed some interesting facts.

"We surveyed over 9,000 boys in California and Oregon and found that vaccinated boys had a 155% greater chance of having a neurological disorder like ADHD or autism than unvaccinated boys." - Generation Rescue

All vaccinated boys, compared to unvaccinated boys:

• Vaccinated boys were 155% more likely to have a neurological disorder (RR 2.55)
• Vaccinated boys were 224% more likely to have ADHD (RR 3.24)
• Vaccinated boys were 61% more likely to have autism (RR 1.61)

It's pretty hard to get a clear answer from any medical professional. They basically say that "there's no evidence that vaccines cause autism".

I guess I need to keep researching (and praying!) till I feel peace one way or another. I'm sure this is just one of the many confusing decisions we will have to make as parents!

Any (kind) input is welcome.

I've been tagged!

I've now been tagged a few different times, by a few different people...and I have procrastinated doing it! So...here I go. I will go find my 5th folder and post the 5th picture...........

here it is.....



Ironically, the 5th folder is my compressed "Blog Pictures" folder, so this picture is very recent! I think it was taken 2 weeks ago. This is the new haircut that has taken me a LONG time to get used to. Since I was about 12 years old, my sister Karen has been my hairdresser. She always does a great job and she knows how to deal with my hair. Now that I live in the Soo, Karen is 8 hours away so it's not as easy for her to do my hair anymore. And when we are together, I don't want to waste our precious visiting time getting a haircut. So last week I finally got the nerve to go to a salon here in the Soo to get a much-needed haircut.

My friend Penny got a really cute haircut about a month ago which I loved, so I thought "oh good....I'll just go where she went" - thinking how easy that was to find a hairdresser that I could trust (I like to find hairdressers by asking people who's hair I like where they go)so I booked an appointment with her. She was even the sr. stylist in the shop so I thought - "Oh good! This will be great."

I brought some pictures along of how I wanted her to cut my hair, and made sure that the sides would be longer than the back. She seemed to understand exactly what I wanted. I tried not to say anything while she was cutting it but I should have because it turns out she was thinking something very different than what I meant. sigh. SO, this is my new haircut. Choppy, short, short, and short. And the sides are shorter than the back. Grr. Oh well. The good thing about hair is that it grows back.

This happened to me in Nipawin too. Thankfully with that haircut though, it wasn't terribly short so I just went somewhere else and got it re-styled. With this haircut, there's no way I want it any shorter! I think I might stick with my sister from now on. Or have a big long chat with the hairdresser before we start cutting.

I think I'm supposed to tag 5 people now. If you've already been tagged by someone else...no worries. I tag...

- Joelle
- Susanna
- Erin
- Valean
- Karina

first tooth!

Jax got his first tooth this morning! I'm not sure if you can see it or not (I can see it because I know it's there :) but it's his bottom left. I'm thinking the second one is coming soon too....I actually thought his right one would come first because of the way it felt! We'll see.

I'm quite surprised I managed to get a picture this clear. It's pretty tricky to get a view of his bottom gums but I only had to take one picture!

look what I found at the grocery store!

...a sleeping baby! I think I'll keep him.

tired and confused

Our boy just keeps us guessing all the time. Just when we think we've got him figured out, he changes :) At 11 weeks, Jaxon started sleeping 12 hours at night...from 8pm - 8am , with no interruptions in between. Then, before Christmas he got a cold and that was the end of wake-less nights. It seems that between colds, teething, and growth spurts, there's always an excuse for me to feed him in the middle of the night even though he's definitely old enough now that he doesn't need extra calories at night. I admit, I can't help but melt when I pick him up out of his crib to calm him at 2am and he wraps his arms around my neck and latches onto my cheek.

Two weeks ago I went to bed one night totally prepared to do the 5-10-15 thing that night in effort to try and get him out of his nighttime waking/feeding habit. I was dreading it all day but Dan and I agreed on a plan and we were prepared for a tough night. He must have heard us talking that day because he slept till 5am that morning! Since he went 10 hours, I fed him and put him back to bed and he slept till 8:30! It felt like heaven. It's so great to wake up before your baby.

He continued this wonderful pattern for a week and I thought that was his new little routine. He lasted 6 nights and then he somehow fell back into his old routine. I think he might be going through his 6 month growth spurt right now so I'm going to give him a few days, and then attempt the 5-10-15 thing again. Lets hope it works! :)

the italians would be proud

Gwen, a very thoughtful and sweet lady from our church heard me say that one day I would like to find a pasta machine to make my own pasta, and at Christmas time she handed us a nicely wrapped box with a brand new pasta machine in it!

So this morning Dan and I decided to play around with it and make lasagna noodles for our lasagna tonight. It's actually quite easy to make your own pasta, and so much fun!






After we got bored making lasagna noodles we decided to try some spaghetti......I felt like a little kid with a play-dough machine....very fun. I would like to think that the thousands of Italians in Sault Ste Marie would be impressed.

happy vawentines

to my mommy's friends
mommy thinks I'm napping wight now but I just had to sneak into the office to put these pictures on her blog and wish you all a happy vawentines day tommowow.

I better get back in my cwib before my mommy catches me!

wuv,
JAXON

first food & visit to Goderich

After realizing how good Jaxon was at drinking a sip of water from our cups, we decided it might be time to try giving him some rice cereal! It was quite fun introducing him to his first real food, and he did pretty good! He knew what to do right away, but it was a bit messy........ :)





he's also teething off & on right now so he's doing a LOT of chewing.....
I thought this picture of him in the car seat was so cute....his teething buddies in each hand.




Last weekend Jax & I had the awesome opportunity to get a ride to London with Brian & Carol since they were going anyway. And it just HAPPENED to be my sister Karen's birthday that weekend so Jax & I surprised her! It was so much fun. We stayed with my parents and had a nice weekend together.

stretch time in the van!



Happy bday auntie Karen!

great resource

Hey moms out there........I found this really interesting website for parents with ALL KINDS of resources you can use. Check it out : http://www.familyeducation.com/home/