Vaccines

Without getting into all of the sordid details, I have a fear of getting my children vaccinated. I know all of the reasons for vaccines, but the bottom line is that the heavy metals scare the crap out of me. I've read pages and pages of research to support both sides of the vaccine debate and yet I still feel that rather than making a truly informed decision, I'm burying my head in the sand.

My five year old had about six vaccines, spread out over 7 months and only one dose at a time. We rejected any combination vaccines, and then when it was obvious to me at a year that he was speech delayed (he had no sounds at all besides Dada and Mama), we stopped completely and never went back.

The baby is almost 15 months and hasn't had one vaccine. She has been enrolled in an early intervention program since April that addresses her low strength issues. A PT comes to our home once a week for an hour long session, and although she is doing great and has made incredible strides, she is still not walking and so she qualified for six more months of services.

It seems risky to me to vaccinate kids that have neurological delays; it's like asking for trouble as far as I'm concerned. But on the other hand, now that they are both older and their immune systems are a little stronger, I think often about how nice it would be to know they are protected from something like pertussis.

We have a 15 month check in two weeks and I've promised myself that I will make a real decision before then. One of the ways I plan to do that is by finally reading the Vaccine Book by Dr. Bob Sears; a friend recommended it a few months ago and it's been sitting on my shelf ever since. Once I make a decision I know I'll feel confident in it.

Black bean brownies

Sounds pretty gross, doesn't it? My friend Gina and I were talking about brownies and how they are a weakness of ours, and she suggested a tip she learned at Weight Watchers. When making a box of brownies, instead of the oil and eggs, add a can of black beans. Can you imagine? The good thing about this is you're lowering the fat considerably and upping the fiber big time. Since all three of my kids tend to um, how can I say this delicately? Since they tend to get a bit backed up, I am always trying to increase their fiber intake.

Normally I make Barefoot Contessa's Outrageous Brownies , but in a pinch I'll buy Ghiardelli brownie mix. It's pretty close to BC's, and much less time intensive. So today that's what my husband picked up, and although I normally bake with my 5 year old, I made the brownies on my own so he wouldn't see the secret ingredient. No one even noticed anything was different. It's hard to believe, but I'll make them like this again for sure.

When Jessica Seinfeld's book was all the rage, I made a few of those recipes, including cookies made with chick peas. Over the years I've hidden vegetables in things like tomato sauce, but Jessica inspired me to try chicken tenders and fish fillets dipped in sweet potatoes and squash as well as pancakes made with an orange puree of I'm not sure what. Most of the time the boys realize that something's different, which is why I was surprised the black bean brownies went over so well.

No Garbage for a Year

Recently while skimming one of the six homeschool yahoo groups I'm subscribed to (what can I say, I'm a bit obsessive), something about garbage caught my eye. A poster was asking for recommendations for the best waste removal companies in the Atlanta area. She went on to say that for the past year her family had only had one bag of garbage a month, and so rather than pay for a weekly service, she took her garbage directly to a dump. But now they were generating more garbage, a whole four bags a month, and the dump was now charging and she thought it might be cheaper to pay for a service that would pick up.

Normally garbage is not a very exciting topic to discuss, but because of how a)competitive and b)environmentally conscious I am, I needed to know more. I asked how many were in her family and how she managed this feat. As I waited for her reply, I thought about the mounds of garbage we throw out each week, even with composting, cloth diapering, recycling, and trying to limit what comes into our home in the first place. But one bag of garbage a month? I convinced myself that she was single, worked long hours, traveled a lot and ate most of her meals out of the house.

Imagine my surprise when I heard back from the no garbage lady and she informed me that hers was a family of five, just like mine! The big difference between her family and mine is that they are vegans and we most definitely are not. But still...how much garbage does being a carnivore generate?

Thus began my garbage research. I started talking to like-minded people trying to find out how much garbage they had each week or month. A woman at a homeschool group, who has a family of six told me that they had two bags a week. My competitive spirit kicked into overdrive and I began studying what type of garbage we had the most of each day.

I quickly realized that we could and should be recycling all of our paper, rather than just newspapers and magazines as we had been. I set up recycling boxes under each desk in the house to help with this process and so far it's working well. Next I moved on to food garbage. The garbage lady mentioned that they cooked everything from scratch, which she felt reduced the amount of waste, but I cook from scratch too, so that didn't make sense. I looked at my waste removal company's website and found out that we can recycle cardboard too, so now our cereal and cracker boxes get thrown into the recycling bin.

Even with these changes, there is no way we could only have one bag a month! So for now my goal is to be more aware, to take the empty egg cartons to Publix to place in their egg carton recycling bin, and to get our weekly garbage down to 4 bags.

Volunteering

A few months ago I mentioned that I'd agreed to co-chair our school's Auction, which aside from the capital campaign is the biggest fundraiser they have each year. Although it was a tough decision at first, because of how time consuming it is, I set up firm parameters with my co-chair, parameters that will allow me to fall asleep at night without worrying how to price the sterling silver necklace that was donated for silent auction.

My co-chair is great; she's like me two kids ago with boundless energy and great ideas. She's incredibly organized and well connected. I'm enjoying working with her immensely.

The event will be at the Marriott in Alpharetta, a location we have held Auction in the past. The space meets our needs perfectly, the price means we will be able to turn a profit on ticket sales, and the community is happy we've selected it again. It's so nice to be involved with something so exciting.

Tonight at dinner I was discussing some of the details with my family, and one of my children asked why I wanted to spend so much time on planning this big party. I was stumped for a minute and then I found my words and shared with him how important I think it is to give back to a place that gives so much to our family.

There are many benefits of being involved, such as getting to know the families at school, supporting the dedicated staff, and being an important part of our children’s education. My main reason for volunteering is that, along with a group of very committed parents, I am helping to change the world where my son spends his days.