MERRY CHRISTMAS!

We had such a wonderful Christmas!

And, of course, Princess Casha was in full effect.

Welcome

Leo William Joseff

7.14 lbs 20.5" at 5:10 am

Proud Moment

I think they're both proud, Ryan just as proud of AJ as AJ is of himself.

Me -> :-D Big Cheesy Grin

Why I won't accept H1N1 vaccine or the seasonal flu vaccine for that matter

• The CDC recommends that anyone with flu like symptoms be treated aggressively prior to ever being tested for the flu. This is because the rapid flu test is detecting something like less than half of H1N1 infected people. On our local news, it was reported by a school nurse that "Doctors aren't even testing for H1N1" so they're sending every child with flu like symptoms home immediately. This is troubling to me because there is absolutely no way of knowing how many true H1N1 cases there really are. It's simply being assumed by the medical community that all flu is H1N1 even though it could be the seasonal flu. So, while the news is reporting scary stories of people dying from swine flu, we don't truly know if it's swine flu or seasonal flu. This means we could be vaccinating unnecessarily which is what causes viruses to mutate and then we have nothing to combat them with. Not to mention:
• In the U.S. vaccines are grown in chicken eggs. The H1N1 virus does not grow very well in eggs and so it has been decided that an immune stimulant be added to ensure it's effectiveness in the human body. This ingredient, also know as adjuvant, has never been approved for use in the U.S. (nor tested!), until now that is. The two adjuvants being used in H1N1 both contain squalene. While this is a naturally occurring substance in animal and human tissue, it's use as an adjuvant is not necessarily safe as it can cause an autoimmune response. (see definition below) In this situation, the body basically attacks itself by, in layman's terms, telling T-cells to make bad antibodies rather than good ones. This can have a vast number of negative impacts on the human body including extreme lethargy, memory impairment, poor balance, and diminished concentration.
• Additionally, there is a Canadian doctor (Dr. Moulden) who has more than likely determined that vaccines of all kinds can have many serious consequences including micro-vascular strokes. He has determined that our bodies immune system can hyper-react (what the adjuvant I mentioned above is designed to do) to vaccinations sending large white blood cells into the bloodstream to attack the foreign particles (vaccine). Because the white blood cells are too large to enter the bloodstream they can clog and collapse the capillaries cutting off the path for small red blood cells (carrying valuable oxygen) to travel to organs near those capillaries.

Autoimmune Response: a condition where the immune system fails to recognize it's own biochemical markers and attacks bodily tissues as if it were foreign matter.

Some autoimmune diseases are: Autoimmune alzheimer's, autoimmune arthritis, autoimmune autism, autoimmune cardiomyopathy, autoimmune Chrohn's disease, autoimmune chronic fatigue syndrome, autoimmune epilepsy, autoimmune lupus, autoimmune rheumatic fever.

The most frightening to me, with regard to the topic of this post is, Autoimmune acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) which is a flu followed by seizures and coma, causing encephalitis (inflamation of the brain). This is so frightening to me because by vaccinating we are knowingly infecting ourselves with the virus in question. In some cases we actually acquire the illness from the vaccination. If you couple that fact with the fact that the H1N1 vaccination contains adjuvant, I think we could all be taking a very big risk for an illness that isn't even being tested for, in most cases.

Editing to add a link to a news cast:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1z7KSEnyxw

Gifted or just "allowed" to learn?

I read an interesting question online today, "Are children gifted or 'allowed' to learn early?" hmmmm I've been pondering this all day and have some thoughts on how this relates to my family.

The original question was being posed to inquire whether young children are gifted or being taught things by their parents that other parents might not be teaching. Many thoughts about this have crossed my mind today. I thought of those "teach your baby to read" infomercials and how I consider that to be teaching, and ridiculous but let's not go there now. I feel babies should be crawling around and exploring their world, not learning to read.
This led me to think of my son who did not read until he was 7 1/2 years old while at the same time was able to add multiple multi-digit numbers in his head at age 5. He had an amazing grasp of complex concepts that were beyond his years yet none of it was "taught" to him. He just seemed to know things. He had, and still has, a sensitivity that one wouldn't expect not to mention his need for justice and justification. He's very eye for an eye.
This brings me to the youngest of our brood. How much of her language is "taught" and how much of it is just who she is? She learned the entire alphabet in a single weekend by simply playing with magnetic letters. She has the language of a child older than she and yet she's only been hearing since June of 2007, a very short 28 months. So, have we taught her enough language in those 28 months that she's managed to acquire the language of a 4 or 5 year old or is this just who she is?
Of course, there's the first born who has always been a wonderfully talented artist and the second born who has an amazing eye for photography. Those talents were certainly not taught. They just can. So, is it teaching if the child can read or calculate in their head but it's not teaching if it's artisic and they happen to have the natural born talent? Did I teach the ones that did math early and learned the alphabet early but didn't teach the ones with artistic talents?
And, what about the early walker? (the first born, btw) And, the one who was able to play with toys beyond her years because she was mature enough (yes, even at age 2) to not put inappropriate things into her mouth? How about not reading until age 7 but doing math at age 5? What's with the language that should be well beyond the abilities of a deaf 3 year old? (I haven't gone into her musical talents. Another day, maybe.)

IDK, I'm just not buying the notion of "teaching" gifted children the things they know. Sometimes, they just know.

Why is it?

Why is it that complete strangers feel it necessary to post on our blog about their stupid toilet sprayer company? I mean really. One can't find another place to post their advertisement? Or at least ask me first? Then I could take a look and be sure I'd endorse their product. I suppose, in their moment of enlightenment, they didn't consider that I might endorse their product or even buy from them! So, they figured it'd be best to get a free plug in on our blog.
I'm guessing most of the people that read our blogs won't be buying any products from the company in question. :-D

Ultra Sound pics

Casha and I got to see Baby on tv yesterday and we brought home a couple of pictures for Daddy who could not join us due to the fact that Mike broke his race car;-)

This one's a bit creepy. He turned and looked right at the "camera".

But, he sure looks like Casha to me.

Not to mention, the kids a PORKER! Look at that belly! LOL

And, this one's for Ryan. We had the most hysterical ultrasound tech. We had one another in stitches the entire time I was laying there. Nice lady.

Anyway, she snapped the most perfect shot for Daddy:-D

The joke at the race shop was, "No, that's not a middle finger." LOL

Oh no, he doesn't want another dog. Not at all!

Tuna Noodle

This is my version of a "How pregnant is she" joke.

Dinner last night was tuna noodle casserole, an old family favorite comfort food. I was very proud of myself as I had decided to buy enough of the ingredients to make a second batch to put in the freezer for after baby.

So, I dice the celery and onion, sweat them for a few minutes, add the soups and a bit of milk. I get everything rolling, pastas on the stove, crush up the crackers for the top, I'm really feeling accomplished, right? AWESOME!

The pasta's done so I mix the soup mixture and pasta together and get into the casserole dish, sprinkle some cheese on top then the crushed crackers, throw the bad boy in the oven and sit down for the first time all day.

Casha was painting at her easel, Ryan commented he was getting hungry, I told him the tuna noodle would be ready shortly and a few minutes later I asked him to take it out to set. Dinner would be ready in ten minutes.

I knelt down to help Casha with something and at just that moment I realized the tuna was still in the cabinet. I said, with my hand covering my mouth in shock, "I'm so pregnant!" I had forgotten to add tuna to the soup mixture before mixing with the pasta! OMG!

It all worked out, I just dumped the already baked casserole into a large bowl and added the tuna. I threw it all back into the oven with more cheese and crushed crackers on top and dinner was served shortly there after.

The moral of the story: Don't let the pregnany lady cook alone. :-D

My Cana Bloomed!

The only flowering plant in the garden that I actually chose without input from a three year old.

I think I'll be adding more of these next year.

Tomatoes from Siam and a butt

Need I say more?

15 minutes, VOILA!

What I did with my time yesterday.

So cool I had to share

http://organizedchristmas.com/holiday-grand-plan

Back to School for the Leader of the Free World

Be sure to watch this "historic" speech as Obama addresses the nations youth on September 8th live on the White House website at http://whitehouse.gov/live/

Is he attempting to inspire or brainwash?

By the way, this speech is being shown to our children in school on September 8th. Short of keeping them home from school that day, and despoiling their perfect attendance record, we don't have much of a say in whether our children watch this speech nor will we be able to discuss it with them before their teachers do. The only chance we have, as parents, to discuss this speech with our kids before the school does is to address the matter before the speech even takes place. That makes it pretty darn difficult to chat with them about it.

The Garden's in Full Swing Folks!

We started out this growing season with a little less than last year due to lack of funding but thanks to some wonderful people who love us we have a JUNGLE IN OUR YARD!

Some of these plants are taller than I am.

Picked and eaten yesterday.

(yellow pears and marzanos)

Holy mortgage lifter Batman!

Welcome!

After chatting a bit, we decided that this family needed a new blog. Don't panic! We'll still keep Casha's blog updated but it was originally intended to be a blog to update her progress, etc so we're planning to keep it that way.
On this blog you'll find updates about racing, children, diapering, food, education, cars, etc. If it happens in our house, this is the place to read about it.
Thanks for visiting and do snoop around a bit as you'll find lots more to do around here than you're used to.
ENJOY!