Oh Mama!

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Dancing Queens

The Tuckers and the Tomaszeks have decided to learn the Cotton Eyed Joe before July 4th. We started today, dancing and laughing our tails off in the living room. To be clear, we are not good dancers. We might be weaker dancers than we are singers - and for anyone who has heard the tribe belt out Buttercup, you know that's saying something. But we're learning it anyway, because we think it will be a hoot to do at the annual Fourth of July cookout. If anyone wants to come practice with us, you're welcome to do so. I promise you'll have a good time.

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Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Baby girl

She is 12 years old.
She is beautiful and funny.
Instead of saying, Mom, you're embarrassing me
she laughs and says, "Mom - you're scaring me."
It's her joke.

She is 12 years old.
She is in love with a boy from school.
And one from the theater.
She ponders herself in the mirror,
practicing for the rest of her life.
This is like one long rehearsal and she wants to be ready.

She is 12 years old.
She comes into my room late at night
- to check on me.
Not because the thunder woke her,
but because she thought maybe I needed something.

She is 12 years old.
She stamps her foot and bites her lip when she's angry.
"Whatever."
And walks out of the room.
We both know she can't stay mad for too long.

She is 12 years old.
She says "I love you" to
me, her dad, her brother and sister.
Aunts, uncles, cousins.
Friends from school.
Can't bear to part company without letting her people know she loves them.
What if it's the last she'll ever see them? An accident or something
could part her from her loved ones - she worries about this.
She worries that the last words they hear from her won't be
"I love you."

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Monday, January 07, 2008

Family Dinner

Fried chicken
Collard greens
Cheese grits
Candied sweet potatoes

Three generations
Father >>
Daughter > Fiance, 9 yr old son, 15 yr old soontobe daughter, 14 yr old soontobe daughter
Daughter > Partner, 12 yr old daughter, 9 yr old daughter, 7 yr old son > Kids' dad
Daughter > 5 yr old son

Two dogs (trapped in bedrooms), One dog (free to roam the house), Two cats (trapped in basement), One tortoise (happy on the buffet), One guinea pig (cuddled and hand-fed salad), Seven hermit crabs (quickly fed and then ignored out of respect for the crabaphobe)

Laughter, squealing, Iloveyou across the room.
Paper plates, rooster salt and pepper and shakers.
Hugs, song lyrics, wooden spoons brandished and a decided lack of aprons and hot pad holders.

Cubist turtle picture drawn in one quiet corner of the house.
Lego worlds built and disassembled.
A rare 60 minutes stolen on the Nintendo 64 while dinner cooks downstairs.

We've repeated this scene with minor variations at least 5 times in the last two weeks. We are lucky. We are blessed.
We are family.

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Saturday, June 02, 2007

Anybody ever wonder why I’m skeptical about state mandated vaccines?

This HPV vaccine has scared me since before its official FDA approval last year. When several states introduced legislation to mandate its use in pre-teen populations, I was incensed as well as dubious. The first reports are now coming about how potentially dangerous this vaccine can be. Read on...




http://www.judicial watch.org/ 6299.shtml

Judicial Watch Uncovers Three Deaths Relating to HPV Vaccine

Event Reports Obtained from FDA Detail 1,637 Adverse Reactions to Gardasil

(Washington, DC) -- Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, today released documents obtained from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, detailing 1,637 reports of adverse reactions to the vaccination for human papillomavirus (HPV), Gardasil. Three deaths were related to the vaccine. One physician's assistant reported that a female patient "died of a blood clot three hours after getting the Gardasil vaccine." Two other reports, on girls 12 and 19, reported deaths relating to heart problems and/or blood clotting.

As of May 11, 2007, the 1,637 adverse vaccination reactions reported to the FDA via the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) included 371 serious reactions. Of the 42 women who received the vaccine while pregnant, 18 experienced side effects ranging from spontaneous abortion to fetal abnormities.

Side effects published by Merck & Co. warn the public about potential pain, fever, nausea, dizziness and itching after receiving the vaccine. Indeed, 77% of the adverse reactions reported are typical side effects to vaccinations. But other more serious side effects reported include paralysis, Bells Palsy, Guillain-Barre Syndrome, and seizures.

"The FDA adverse event reports on the HPV vaccine read like a catalog of horrors," stated Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. "Any state or local government now beset by Merck's lobbying campaigns to mandate this HPV vaccine for young girls ought to take a look at these adverse health reports. It looks as if an unproven vaccine with dangerous side effects is being pushed as a miracle drug."

Judicial Watch filed its request on May 9, 2007, and received the adverse event reports from the FDA on May 15, 2007. Judicial Watch has posted the adverse event reports below.

(A recent study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, also questioned the general effectiveness of Gardasil.)

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Friday, February 02, 2007

O.K. again

We are recovering. The first round of chicken pox has finally ended. It wasn't really any longer than most cases of CP, but it was more severe than I've ever personally witnessed.

My oldest daughter had more than 500 pox. For those wise-asses out there who want to know if I actually counted them all - I can tell you this: I quit counting after I found 40 behind her left ear, more than 150 on her back, and more than 100 on her face. Using my very best deduction skills, I knew that if I had found almost two hundred on less than 1/4 of her body, we could safely assume that we had crossed the 500 pock mark.

To be clear, I chose this. The varicella vaccine was one we omitted intentionally, knowing that natural immunity was stronger and longer-lasting than the kind you get in a bottle. What I didn't expect was that it would take until she was almost 12 before we found a case virulent enough to infect her. She ran a fever of 103 for days. She barely ate, barely slept. She lost about five pounds, which she could scarcely afford to lose. She was brave - and she hardly ever even scratched the pox, in spite of the fact that they itched her to the point where she looked liked an wounded animal. Sometimes she cried, and sometimes she clutched my sweater and said, "Mama, make it stop! Please make it stop!" Those were times when I cried, too. I cried and I rocked her and I told her I was so sorry, I didn't know it would be that bad.

But it's coming to a close. Today she's sitting up on the couch, laughing and playing Life with her dad. She's so so so hungry and ready to take a real shower and wash her hair. We'll spend some time today brushing her hair out and going over her missed school work from the week. I'll probably continue to sigh with relief that it's finally over and that she seems to be O.K. again.

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