In a good place

I haven't found a whole lot of free time to blog lately but things are going great with our little family. Last week was the first week that James and I flew solo with the kids. We did great! I'm sure all the weeks that my mom helped us out were part of the reason. The kids got into a good routine. Anika is now sleeping from approximately 8pm-4am - in HER crib - in HER room! This is HUGE for us because Jack was sleeping with us until he was almost 2 years old. He is also now in his crib, in his room. Anika's colic has greatly improved and her reflux is under control with medicine (Prevacid). She had her 2 month checkup today and she weighs 10 lbs 14.5 oz.

Jack started speech therapy today. His therapist, Courtney, is fantastic. She is so calm, gentle and really gets Jack. He keeps flirting with her but then trips over his own feet or knocks into something. Smooth moves buddy! HaHa!

I also wanted to mention that we are now in a good place with Jack's eating (as you can see from the pictures and video). We have found a great assortment of foods for him that he really enjoys. He has milk protein and peanut allergies so it made it extra hard to find nutritious, calorie rich foods for him. My mom discovered 'ice cream' sandwiches made from coconut milk. As you can see, they're a huge hit! We also discovered SunButter as an alternative to peanut or soy butter. I actually like the taste too.

The last thing I wanted to mention is about the H1N1 vaccine. I've read a lot of blogs from fellow CDH moms and it seems like a lot of folks have already decided to not have their kids vaccinated for fear of side effects from the vaccine. I guess I have a different perspective or maybe just a different opinion. As a virologist my first thought is to definitely vaccinate, however, as a mom I'm extra careful about getting all the info and weighing the risk of side effects versus the benefit of protection. I've been waiting to see how the flu season unfolds (and it's just starting here) and talk to some people I know in the influenza field. Here's my take - vaccinate. A lot of people are scared of "neurological" complications. I suspect this is referring to the higher than normal rate of Guellaine Barre Syndrome associated with the 1976 flu vaccination campaign during the Swine flu outbreak that year. First of all, that was a totally different set of circumstances. The flu was fairly contained whereas this year we're in a pandemic. Secondly, the new swine flu vaccine is made the same way as seasonal flu shots and is safer than back then. Additionally, the H1N1 vaccine is being testing in clinical trials. This is not routinely done for your run of the mill seasonal flu shot so in theory there is going to be more data available on the safety of H1N1 vaccines than seasonal flu. So, in my opinion, if you are comfortable vaccinating yourself or your child for seasonal flu and the data for the H1N1 vaccine is favorable than I think the benefit outweighs the risk for the new vaccine. As an aside, our pediatrician told us today that he is personally seeing 2-3 cases of what he suspects is H1N1 PER DAY in Frederick. They don't test for H1N1 unless you are hospitalized but given that the data from CDC says that the predominant strain of flu going around now is H1N1 I think we can assume the pediatrician is on the money. The good news is that the majority of cases resolve in a few days with no complications. I asked if we'll run out of Tamiflu soon and he said they are preparing for it but don't necessarily know if it will happen. Specifically, they found out that if there is a shortage of the suspension Tamiflu, the pills can be compounded into liquid for kids. At least that's some good news. Anyway, I don't want to rant but I thought that I should offer a different opinion in case people are scared about the new vaccine. My pediatrician's kids took part in the clinical trial and he said they did fine. Granted, they have no underlaying medical conditions but it was reassuring to me nonetheless. At the very least, I would say that in my opinion, we should all see how the data shakes out on the new vaccine before jumping to conclusions to vaccinate or not. Just my opinion.

OK, now that I got that out of my system...how about some new videos! There are 4 total.