Archive for the ‘Parenting’ Category

  • 26 Aug

    Posted by
    Jillian Frank


    Category

    Fuzzi Bunz-FAIL

    0

    Oh Fuzzi Bunz. How I’ve wanted to be able to love you. You’ve been in our employ for more than two years now, and while you’ve served us to the best of your ability (I’m sure), you’re time with us is through. Today I ordered some Chinese prefolds and wool diaper covers (and the necessary accessories), so soon, you’re being put out to pasture.

    The members of the Frank Family are BIG fans of cloth diapers. We’ve been CDing since Jude was a few weeks old. Cloth diapers are not only better for the environment than disposables are, but they also cause less diaper rash and are cute, to boot. Fuzzi Bunz were suggested to us by Jude’s Godmother. She has a daughter who’s about a year older than Jude, so they had had some experience with different types of cloth by the time was born. She said FBs worked well and were easy to use. I totally agree with the “ease of use,” but find them to do a horrible job containing the copious amount of pee my boy puts out.

    Maybe that’s the problem. Maybe Jude just pees a lot in a two-hour period. I don’t know. What I do know is that I’ve been double stuffing those suckers since Jude moved into the medium sized FBs, and that wasn’t even able to stop the leaking. Oh–and forget about trying to CD overnight. There’s no way I wouldn’t have to wash our sheets every. single. day. if we tried.

    So, we’ve moved on. The ladies on the diapering forum at Mothering suggested prefolds and covers as the most economical way to replace our FBs. We decided to go with the (pricey) wool covers because wool is breathable, naturally antibacterial, and because wool contains natural lanolin, which makes it naturally waterproof (though you do need to treat your covers with lanolin occasionally).

    The Chinese prefolds were chosen because they’re the most absorbent of the bunch. Considering how much fluid Jude takes in and puts out, absorbency is a MUST in this house.

    Although I spent more money than I would have liked to this morning, I’m really looking forward to trying out our new diapering system. If everything I’ve read about these prefolds and covers is true, we might try overnight cloth diapering!

  • 09 Jun

    Posted by
    Jillian Frank


    Category

    Harnessing Evil

    1

    Well, okay, not exactly evil, but today I employed the use of the almighty DVD so that I could finish (re)reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. There. I admitted it. I used VeggieTales as a babysitter. Guilty as charged.

    But back on the topic of Harry Potter, I have to say that even after this, my fourth read-through of the final installment of the HP series, I still feel unsatisfied. The Dumbledore of book seven didn’t read like the Dumbledore of the previous six. The final battle, while grand, didn’t unite the houses, though the Sorting Hat asserted that harmony between them was crucial in this, the fight against evil. We saw little of Snape and even less of Ginny, who I think we all assumed was going to be a great asset to Harry in defeating Voldemort. *sigh* The magic just wasn’t there for me this time around.

    In non-HP news, Jude and I had another really nice day together. We read and cooked; napped and walked; hugged and wrestled. I’m relieved that, for the time being at least, Jude seems to be feeling good–well-rested, well-fed, and well, heard. My goal for tomorrow is, weather permitting, to get out to the park right after breakfast. We spent just a little time there this afternoon, but the number of kids there (especially older kids) overwhelmed this mama, and we abandoned the playground quickly in favor of a walk around the neighborhood.

    How did you spend your Tuesday?

  • 15 Apr

    Posted by
    Jillian Frank


    Category

    Vaccine Research-Getting Started

    2

    After reading my last post on vaccinations, some of you may be considering (or reconsidering) the safeness and effectiveness of vaccines. Perhaps you want to do some research, but don’t know where to start. Well, today’s your lucky day! The lovely members of the Mothering Forums have compiled an outline of sorts to help organize each vaccine’s pertinent information.

    For each VPD (vaccine preventable disease), research, research, research until you can fill in each part of the following outline:

    1. Name of the disease
    2. Description of the disease
    3. Length of time from initial infection to end of all symptoms
    4. Infectious period
    5. Normal symptoms of the disease
    6. Known serious consequences of the disease
    7. Proportion of persons infected developing serious consequences
    8. Transmission route of the disease
    9. Prevalence of the disease
    10. Treatments of the disease and efficacy of those treatments
    11. Relevant research about the disease
    12. Name of the vaccine
    13. Company that makes the vaccine
    14. Contents of the vaccine
    14A. The significance of whether or not the vaccine is live
    15. History of development of the vaccine
    16. Known side-effects of the vaccine and rate of incidence of those side-effects
    17. Possible side-effects not yet acknowledged by the vaccine maker
    18. Relevant research into the vaccine
    19. How effective is the vaccine at preventing the disease?
    20. What is the vaccine meant to do? (Many vaccines are not meant to prevent infection or transmission.)
    21. Number of cases reported each year
    22. Number of deaths reported each year from the vaccine and natural disease

    Here’s a list of resources to get you started:

    Info from the CDC
    Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report: download the current issue
    CDC Pink Book
    Reported Cases and Deaths from VPDs, United States, 1950-2007

    Info from VAERS
    Package Inserts- .pdf format

    Videos
    Dr. Sherri Tenpenny talking about vaccines
    Are Vaccines Safe?

    Books
    Vaccinations: A Thoughtful Parent’s Guide by Aviva Jill Romm
    What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Children’s Vaccinations by Stephanie Cave

    Excellent Blogs with References
    Inside Vaccines
    We don’t Buy It–specifically, Laura’s posts labeled Vaccines

    I don’t claim to know everything there is to know about vaccines, but if you have a question, post it in the comments section or shoot me an e-mail. If I can’t answer it for you, I should be able to point you in the right direction.

    Happy researching!