Bama and Donna

For some reason Eli has taken to saying Bama and Donna. Bama we think might be from saying Obama (but we hardly say that, just when talking about the news, so who knows). Donna started from Done, which he still uses often, but he made a variation. Donna is good because that happens to be Brandon's mom's name! In the car, he said "OH YEAH!" yesterday. Brandon was thrilled because he always jokes saying that.

Spot

Just call Eli spot. His rash came back on Sunday and is almost gone today. I called the doctor of course, and now they don't think it's Baby Measles and definitely not the vaccinations. It's either a virus, or a food allergy. I made sure to stop giving him anything with blueberries because that is the only new thing I've introduced before the rash. Since it's almost gone again today I am not worried, but it is frustrating to not know what it is. I waited all day yesterday for the CDs. Guess what time they arrived....8:00 P.M.! After Brandon and I put Eli to bed, we literally waiting on the porch we were so excited. Everything arrived okay and they look great to us! We won't be selling them until our CD release party, but it is a huge relief to have them here. We are just finishing setting up all the digital distribution and other details of the concert.

Eli is completely spot free. The rash went away in a couple days, and he didn't have any issues with it. He is getting his 6th tooth, so he's been up a lot at night and has his whiny moments during the day, but we're getting through it. When he's teething he has a lot of "toddler moments". Hitting is the main issue. He understands "no" and usually cries if we say "no hitting" or "we don't hit". He definitely is testing his limits more. Sometimes I do kind ignoring (one of the awesome techniques I read about). It's basically denying him attention for half a minute or so just like a mini time out. He hates it. It's literally like 20 second of not paying attention to him and just turning my back or whatnot, but he totally understands. We went and took Elijah's one year pictures yesterday and even got family picture taken. He hated it, but as soon as we started saying "boy" he smiled enough to get a couple good pictures. Brandon got a guitar amp that he's been really needing (he keeps having to borrow one from a friend). It's like his dream toy. All the guys were drooling over it last night. We had our band over for a pizza dinner and to work on a live acoustic version of our song Africa. Eli got to play with his friends Ethan and Lillie. It was cute to see them all play. The only issue I had to deal with was Eli trying to play with Lillie and Ethan's hair. He loves playing with my hair, and hasn't quite gotten the concept that he can't just play with any hair he wants to :-)

P.S.-TOMORROW THE CD'S ARE SHIPPED TO OUR HOUSE!!!! The UPS guy is my new best friend!

Baby Measles

So, we now know why Eli had a fever last weekend and was miserable. He has Baby Measles or Roseola. It had nothing to do with the vaccinations, thank God. It is a virus that is more common in the Spring that causes a really high fever for a day or two and then a bad rash (that doesn't itch or hurt) for up to a week. There is no vaccination for it yet. On Monday he had a couple little spots on him, but it just looked like he'd scratched his stomach. Yesterday, he had a few more so I called the doctor and they told me to keep an eye on it. Today, he's COVERED (only his arms and legs are rash free...even his throat has it)! We took him in this morning and they filled us in on all the details of Baby Measles. He was mostly contagious to other kids during the fever, so I'm so glad we never left the house. I'm definitely not taking him anywhere until the rash is completely gone (which could be up to 4 days more). He doesn't act like it bothers him at all. We got through the bad part of it last weekend. There's really no way to know where he got it because it can take 5-15 days to get it, so I can't really narrow it down to any certain place. I'm just glad we know what is going on!

Vaccinations

Many people are in fear of vaccinations recently and have altogether stopped vaccinating. Of course I'm always wary of everything and do tons of research before I decide anything when it comes to Eli. Brandon and I agreed together that the vaccinations are important to us. The risks from the vaccines are WAY lower than the risks of getting the illnesses. I know the MMR shot has gotten a bad rap recently in association with Autism, even though many scientific studies show there is no link. We decided to go ahead and have Eli get it, as well as the Chicken Pox vaccine. Here are the reasons why:

1. Our church is full of very natural/hippie/home birth type people who don't vaccinate their kids. Thus, Eli is very likely to catch diseases/illnesses from the kids at church or the toys in the nursery. Even the kids of our closest group of friends aren't vaccinated with the MMR. Also, people are constantly bringing their kids to the nursery sick (which pisses me off). Someone actually brought their kid to the nursery with Foot and Mouth disease. Point taken!
2. All the diseases that had been contained with vaccines are on the rise because people have stopped vaccinating. There was a death recently (a baby Eli's age) in the news from Measles or Mumps I can't remember which and it was spread to about 7 other unvaccinated kids before it was stopped. Once Eli enters preschool etc. he's going to be even more exposed to unvaccinated kids. Also, I am worried about him getting something and passing it on to me that could cause defects or death in our next baby during my pregnancy or even after while the baby is unvaccinated.
3. Although Thimerasol has been removed from the shots since 1999, Autism is still on the rise. A California study showed that autism increased after it was removed. Even though vaccinations are lower than ever and the MMR shot is being refused more and more, the autism rates are still rising. Less vaccines but more autism? It doesn't make sense. It it is mercury, like some claim...shots aren't the only things that have mercury. There is environmental mercury as well, such as the pollution from coal plants and other industrial sites. It's complicated.
4. Although there is less autism amongst the Amish people (who usually aren't vaccinated...but also grow their own food, drink unpasturized milk, less pollution, no preservatives etc.), there still are cases of autism in unvaccinated kids. Good luck finding the unidentified environmental trigger/factor because they know part of it is genetic, but they can't find the trigger. It's going to be near impossible because there are so many factors.
5. You may reason that we all had chicken pox, so what is the big deal. Well, if you can prevent chicken pox, then you can prevent Shingles. Ask anyone who has had Shingles. They would have done ANYTHING to have been vaccinated!

There are so many other reasons, but these are just a few!

Fever

So....I was so relieved last week when Eli had no reaction whatsoever to the vaccines he got. Unfortunately, I had forgotten the fact that she said the symptoms would begin 5-7 days after the shot. We definitely were greeted yesterday evening to a not so fun fever exactly 6 days after the shots. I gave Eli Tylenol and hoped for the best, but when I checked on him at midnight he had a temperature of 103...felt like he was burning up. I gave him Tylenol and rocked him until his temperature started to go down. Needless to say, between midnight and 5:30 Brandon and I got sleep stretches of about 20 minutes. It was horrible and Eli was miserable. He had a fever all day today, but it was only 102 at the highest. He was so red, flushed, and hot. Once in a while he would have chills and his balance was off. This morning he was so tired from not sleeping and felt so horrible that he would only lay in my arms with his head on my shoulder all morning (he wouldn't even go to Brandon, so my arms felt like they were going to fall off). We were worried...we've never ever seen him act this miserable. He was whining/crying the entire time he was awake until I finally got him down for three/four naps, and around 1:30 p.m. we had a turn around. Brandon and I slept every time he did...we were all exhausted. His fever finally broke around 3:00 today (almost exactly 24 hour after it started like the doctor said it would). I had used Tylenol every 4 hours since it started. What a relief. I can tell he's still worn out from the whole ordeal, but he's actually playing and not wanting to be held. We even went outside and enjoyed the beauty. Eli has taken a liking to our back deck, which we love because we can work on the garden. I am so glad this all occurred while Brandon was home and on a weekend we had nothing going on. Praise God! We feel like fever experts now...we're so used to his usual temperature that even when it's slightly off we immediately know! Eli kept saying "baby baby baby baby" yesterday all day long. We'd say, "Do you want a boy or a girl", and of course he'd say "boy" considering that's the word he can say! He's so funny.

Exploration

We've had a fun start to the weekend. During Eli's morning nap, Brandon and I worked on our garden and yard. We finished planting red and white potatoes, as well. Now we just have to wait until April and May to plant the rest of it! I'm sure Brandon is dying to plant his beloved peppers. We just got home from the Exploration Place. We went to see the whale exhibit, which was really interesting. Of course Eli loved the kids area. He played forever with this water table and got soaked! He also liked the bubble wall. The photo above is Eli's monkey face. I finally got a great picture of it. He does this everytime he's really excited. Isn't it hilarious?