Great Blog

OK- I just happened upon this blog. (I am sure all you regular blog readers out there already know about it.) It was such fun to rediscover some old favorites in the way of classic children's books. She also has some from the 1970's that I remember but have not seen in years.

http://www.vintagechildrensbooksmykidloves.com/

AACK! Flu Shot Fever!

Okay, so here goes the crazy mom again.   Give me a second to hop up on my soap box.

Now...

My (not) favorite person, Julie Geberding, CDC Director, was quoted as saying she "has a smile on her face this year because we are looking at a wonderful supply of flu vaccine this year."

I just read that the CDC is recommending not just one (mercury and aluminum-laden) flu shot for babies, but TWO flu shots, only one month apart, for the youngest children.

The CDC states that 86 children died from the flu last year.  That is a tragedy.

There are approximately 1.5 million children in the U.S. with autism.  That is a national crisis.

If you feel you MUST get a flu shot this year, for you or your child, please request the Thimerosal free version.   This is the one without the mercury, though it still contains aluminum, another known neurotoxin.

And if you are pregnant, please please please - choose the Thimerosal free version.  Wish I had.  I'm not saying the flu shot in my first trimester caused Big T's autism, but it certainly can't help.   Plus, when there's an option, why take the risk?

Okay, off my soapbox now.  By the way, if you have a chance to read Jenny McCarthy's new book Warrior Mothers, you'll be glad you did.  It's filled with autism recovery stories!

Muffin-Tin Munchies - with Book themes!

This is such a cute idea!   The Sycamore Stirrings blog does a weekly Muffin Tin Mondays theme, and one of the themes was children's literature!   Such a clever idea for an after-school snack - sort of an ode to the bento box craze - plus, you read a book together while they eat, and our picky kiddos might actually try a new food or two!  Here are a couple of my favorites from the books "Mouse Mess" and "Pinkalicious":

Check all the others out here.

Simple Fun

OK- I was feeling like I needed to contribute something more practical than that previous post...so...here is an activity that is a huge hit at our house. It involves those cardboard fans on a stick that they hand out at the 4th of July Parade and balloons (not helium). My kids will spend all morning playing "tennis" with these things. If you don't have any fans, just blow up a balloon and play "volleyball" with it. You will be amazed at how long it will keep their attention! You can see my kids in action (still in our pajamas, as you can see) loving every minute of it!

Yearbook Yourself

OK- this is my first time to finally post...so you would think I could come up with something a bit more maternal or wise than this...but...I am having so much fun with this website I just discovered! www.yearbookyourself.com 

You can upload a picture of yourself or someone you know and it will morph it with an old yearbook pic from the 50's, 60's, 70's or 80's. Here are the ones I made of me and my sweet husband...his is hilarious!

Just to Make You Feel Better

I loved this article by Nancy Wilson. She talks about how being over-organized is maybe a bit over-rated. Music to my ears!

Gardasil - Risky Business

Haven't posted a lot lately... the summer's been crazy!   I'm actually glad school will be starting for my little one next week and we'll all be back to our routines.

For now, I wanted to share with y'all that none other than the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine came out with an article criticizing the lack of safety and efficacy research on Gardasil, which the American Academy of Pediatrics currently recommends for young girls.   Sad that the NEJM is more concerned than the AAP.

One of my favorite autism blogs, Age of Autism, has pulled out a few choice parts from the article:

"Despite great expectations and promising results of clinical trials, we still lack sufficient evidence of an effective vaccine against cervical cancer. Several strains of human papillomavirus (HPV) can cause cervical cancer, and two vaccines directed against the currently most important oncogenic strains (i.e., the HPV-16 and HPV-18 serotypes) have been developed. That is the good news. The bad news is that the overall effect of the vaccines on cervical cancer remains unknown. 

How will the vaccine affect preadolescent girls, given that the only trials conducted in this cohort have been on the immune response?  

Vaccinated women may feel protected from cervical cancer and may be less likely than unvaccinated women to pursue screening.

How will the vaccine affect other oncogenic strains of HPV? If HPV-16 and HPV-18 are effectively suppressed, will there be selective pressure on the remaining strains of HPV? Other strains may emerge as significant oncogenic serotypes." 

For the full text of the article in the NEJM, click here.

Feeling excited and overwhelmed!

I spent the morning at TCA's Orientation for Peyton! I had a mix of feelings as it was almost surreal sitting in the auditorium . . . it took me back to when I was a student and I could literally remember how I felt sitting there 20+ years ago! I'm so excited for Peyton as she will start half-day Kindergarten on Wednesday. I'm also feeling overwhelmed . . . overwhelmed with how many volunteer opportunities there are, overwhelmed with how I'm going to manage getting her to school and picking her up everyday, overwhelmed with managing a new school year for two little ones as well as taking care of two babies! BUT, I am thankful for our group (as always) for preparing me for such tasks . . . and for the encouragement I will receive from you all during our meetings. This is a fun time . . . yes a little sad as one chapter of Peyton's life is coming to a close, but there are so many wonderful times ahead! And, she is excited and ready . . . ready for the adventure! So, here we go . . .

Some random tid-bits

I can't believe I'm doing this . . . but I had to join in the fun and offer some info (hopefully helpful)!

1. Story-time at the library with Miss Katy was AWESOME! I'm embarrassed to say how amazed I was at the downtown library (it's been ions since I've been there). What a treasure it truly is! They have SO many incredible children's books - I was blown away. I could have spent hours just looking through books! I would encourage all of you to try it out.

2. Jason's Deli . . . what a deal for kids! Their kids meals are $1.99 and healthy for the most part. AND, they have free ice cream. I was able to eat there with the girls for about $11 and I love their "healthy" approach to all of their meals - no trans fat, etc. - so much better than your typical fast-food place.

3. My new favorite drink (and I created it on my own). Mix decaf iced-tea with Ocean Spray's White Cran-Peach juice. It's refreshing, peachy and the best part is that it doesn't have any high-fructose corn syrup!!!

Paper Source at NorthPark

Paper Source... LOVE this store & it just opened in NorthPark (near the Gap).  Grand Opening was yesterday.  I think it's the first Texas location although they have stores all over the US.   Their tag line is "Do Something Creative Everyday."   How cute is that?  They offer fun, creative classes (paper flower making, book binding, calligraphy, stamp making, wrapping, etc.)  along with their neat inventory of stuff (paper + other unique things.)   One of the workshops might make for a fun girls night out.  Anyhow... visit their website www.paper-source.com and plan to check out their new store!

Inspiring Words...

As I perused a site called Grace Gems today, I came across this excerpt from "Home-Making" by J.R. Miller from 1882. It inspired me, so I thought I'd share it.


Four walls do not make a home

Four walls do not make a home—though it is a palace filled with all the elegances which wealth can buy! The home-life itself is more important than the house and its adornments. By the home-life, is meant the happy art of living together in tender love. We enter some homes, and they are full of sweetness—as fields of summer flowers are full of fragrance. All is order, beauty, gentleness and peace. We enter other homes, where we find jarring, selfishness, harshness and disorder. This difference is not accidental. They are influences at work in each home, which yield just the result we see in each. No home-life can ever be better than the life of those who make it.

Homes are the real schools in which men and women are trained—and fathers and mothers are the real teachers and builders of life! Sadly, the goal which most parents have for their home—is to have as good and showy a house as they can afford, furnished in as rich a style as their means will warrant, and then to live in it as comfortably as they are able, without too much exertion or self-denial.

But the true idea of a Christian home, is that it is a place for spiritual growth. It is a place for the parents themselves to grow—to grow into beauty of character, to grow in spiritual refinement, in knowledge, in strength, in wisdom, in patience, gentleness, kindliness, and all the Christian graces and virtues. It is a place for children to grow—to grow into physical vigor and health, and to be trained in all that shall make them true and noble men and women.

A true home is set up and all its life ordered—for the definite purpose of training, building up and sending our human lives fashioned into Christlike symmetry, filled with lofty impulses and aspirations, governed by principles of rectitude and honor, and fitted to enter upon the duties and struggles of life with spiritual wisdom and strength.

Pioneer Woman Cooks

Okay, so, I really don't cook much.   Shh.... don't tell the other Creative Homemakers!   Really what I do these days is "prepare" or "assemble."  Yes, again, I'm mother of the year.

Anyway, there's a website I'm semi-obsessed with, called The Pioneer Woman.   She has this incredible love story all chronicled on her website, but today we're going to talk about her cooking.    She's a really talented photographer AND cook, so the combo is, shall we say, delicious.

While I must confess I've never made anything on this website, it looks simple, beautiful and delicious, so maybe it'll be inspiring to all of you GOOD mommies!

There are photos of all of them and it's just the kind of cooking I'd do if I cooked more!

Jott

Check this out:. It tells you how to simplify text messages with something called Jott. I have to say that no one ever texts me. Is that a generational thing or am I just not very popular? Anyway, this is fascinating!

Stacking Toys

Finding out that a classic toy benefits my child makes my day! This post from Conscious Play tells how a stacking toy helps children from a motor perspective. Interesting!

Hooray for Home Depot!

I know you all think I've gone off the deep end, but this is really important!

As I posted earlier, I'm a little worried about all those compact fluorescent light bulbs, because they contain mercury - a potent neurotoxin - which means if these bulbs break, in our homes or in the trash, you have to go through a big ordeal evacuating the house, etc.   Plus, if they're thrown in the trash, they'll certainly end up breaking and the mercury will spill into our water, soil and air.

I'm thrilled to hear that Home Depot has just announced that that every single one of their stores will be recycling old CFL bulbs!    Just bring any unbroken CFL bulb to the returns desk, and voila!   Hooray!  

FYI - the new energy-efficient halogen lightbulbs by Phillips don't contain mercury and are much safer.

Kold Sore

My eighteen month old baby boy suffers from a chronic diaper rash. Dr. Smith's, the magic ointment that always did the trick for my older child didn't do a thing. We've been through tube after tube of the special prescription cream that our pediatrician has prescribed. It works a little bit, but not great and not for long. Supposedly, one of the best things you can do for diaper rash is to let them go au natural a lot to dry it out. We did that and still, that persistent rash. Finally, I knew we had to try something else. So, I called Dr. Park. He is an acupuncturist and wholistic doctor here in Dallas. He is the doctor who gave me the herbs to help me get pregnant and they worked! Anyway, he said he had something he thought would help the diaper rash. It's called Kold Sore. At $15 a bottle, I was at his office that morning with the cure. It's a miracle. My little guy's diaper rash is so much better--almost completely gone! It's all natural--drug free. Today, his office called to see how the baby was doing--yes, that's how wonderful these people are. I told them how I was amazed. They said that Kold Sore works on all kinds of skin irritations--cold sores (the name might give that one away), mouth ulcers, cuts, and scrapes, etc. I love it when a problem is finally solved! And just think how happy my baby is!

My favorite purchase from NYC

I just got back from a FUN visit to New York!    I'm still in re-entry mode, so for now, I'll just leave you with a photo of my favorite purchase from NYC...

Detox: the series begins

I am the proud mama of two sweet little boys.   My older son, we'll call him "Big T", has autism.

So many people ask me what I think causes autism, so I'll give you my opinions here on "A Mama Told Me" from time to time.     Keep in mind these are my opinions, based on my research and consultations with doctors and experts (and a bunch of other people WAY smarter than I am) - but if this was all cut and dry simple, we'd have figured it out by now.  So here goes:   

Genetic predisposition + environmental insult = Autism.

I believe some children are less able to detoxify all the gunk we put in our bodies.  So when the are exposed to outside toxins, their bodies can't filter and excrete the gunk out as fast as it's coming in, and they get pushed past their "toxic tipping point", and descend into autism.

Kind of like someone born with a deadly peanut allergy.    Genetics, plus the toxic insult (in this case, peanuts) causes a terrible reaction.

And I agree with a lot of the newer research that says that the autism spectrum is really a long line - with ADHD/allergies/asthma at one end, and full-syndrome, non-verbal autism at the other.     So maybe a child who would have just been "ADHD" would be pushed down into autism after a toxic exposure, and perhaps a completely healthy child is pushed into ADHD or allergies and asthma.

I know, I know, I sound like a nut.   This, coming from the chick who's always preferred the indoors, welcomed all chemicals, and loves air conditioning.   I never even used to wash my produce.   (Except when I had company, of course.)

But I believe this is very real, and our children are the canaries in the coal mine.

But don't freak out - all we need to do is to try to be better than we were before.   In the coming weeks, I'll post about ideas for reducing our toxic loads that even lazy moms like me can do. 

For now, if you're totally antsy to learn more, visit www.tacanow.com for lots of info.

Don't Laugh! The "Ped Egg"

Okay, so maybe I don't get out much.    At least, not to hip cool night spots.   But I have been wearing these cute Tory Burch flip-flops almost every day this summer, and I've really started to notice my "you're not so young and dewy anymore" rough feet.

It was time to take action.   I was in Target (where I can be found at least several times a week) and I saw this:   the Ped Egg. 

  It's the best!    It is easy to use, it totally works, and it even contains all the "dust" (let's just call it that so we can avoid being gross) inside the egg, so it doesn't make a mess!

My feet are smooth again!   All is well.  ;)

ML's Pineapple Casserole

Rocks in My Dryer is having a Five-Ingredient-or-Less Entry Day for Works-for-Me-Wednesday. Here is a super easy crowd pleaser. Our friend ML gave us this one. You can serve it as a dessert, but it's meant to be a sidedish.

Pineapple Casserole
30 oz. can pineapple chunks (or tidbits)
1 stick butter
2 cups sugar
4 beaten eggs
4 slices of white bread (cubed; no crust)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Let butter soften. Drain pineapple. Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, bread, and pineapple. Pour into greased casserole dish and bake for 45-60 minutes at 325 degrees.

Enjoy!