Comments on Jumping at the Ground and Missing: Observations From The Mattress

Tori - Some people have it as kids and never know ...

2008-07-25T10:27:00.000-04:00

Tori - Some people have it as kids and never know it because it's just a few spots.

I was exposed to Fifth's disease while prego with Prawn, but I think the kid was beyond the point of being contagious. It was still unsettling.

My 3 older ones all broke out in Hand Foot and Mouth the day after Prawn was born. :-P

Thanks for the birthday wishes for Sluggie. :) She had a lot of fun. :)

Kitkat - it IS kinda weird. The bummer is that they're seeing a rise in shingles amongst older people now. I guess our bodies need to "see" chicken pox" when our kids and others' get them to help us remember how to fight it. The vaccines also seem to be making a few stronger strains of the disease (survival of the fittest and all that.) I don't think vaxxing is always the best solution. :-P

Ha! We actually have 2 flu virus plushies. The big girls wanted them for Christmas. :) Fishy really wants one, too, and his b-day is next month. I'm not sure which germ he wants. I think Mad Cow is hilarious with its holstein pattern! :) I think the cold one is one of the cutest, though. I hadn't seen the chicken pox one, though. How funny! :)

Dawn- I know a lot of people who vaxxed and wish they hadn't. We all do what we think is best at the time, but sometimes we change our minds. I'm sure there are some who haven't vaxxed and wished they had, too. But, yeah, we are definitely avoiding Gardasil. There was a guyin our church when I was a kid who had Guillain-Barre from a swine flu vax. It was awful. I guess some of the Gardasil recipients have gotten that. I can't imagine.

Egan - wouldn't it be nice if I could just rest on my laurels? I've seen black belts like that, actually. (not from our school) It's ugly. :-P I like how you take off a year from IronManning and then proceed to beat your old times. What's up with that?

Testing is something of an ordeal, but there's a lot of esprit de corps, and it does feel good each time I survive one intact. ^_^ I think the hardest part is going through several hours of kicking and then having to spar at the end. At that point you just want to lie down and roll over, not dig for the last dregs of adrenaline and try to kick ass. :-P

What's with the semi-annual black belt testing? C...

2008-07-24T14:35:00.000-04:00

What's with the semi-annual black belt testing? Can't you just rest on your laurels?

"I'm a black belt man. Sure I weigh 300 pounds now and can't jump over a candlestick, but I'm a black belt"

That's how it works with the Ironman. I'm not required to do another one my entire life. So cool.

Looking back, I wish I hadn't had them vaccinated....

2008-07-23T15:45:00.000-04:00

Looking back, I wish I hadn't had them vaccinated. I agree about worrying about the long term effects of a new vaccine. That's why I'm not letting them get the Gardasil vaccine (and they just came out with some pretty scary stories about the reactions with that one).

I think it's weird that there's a vaccine for chic...

2008-07-23T14:34:00.000-04:00

I think it's weird that there's a vaccine for chicken pox now. Like, there will be a whole generation of kids very soon that will be like, "Chicken whats?" I guess at some point, people felt that way about mumps.

And speaking of, there's a gift shop at a museum here that sells a series of plush toys in the shape of various germs/bacteria (http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/plush/6708/). One of them is chicken pox, and it has a little tag with what the chicken pox cells look like--they really look like chickens :)

I actually did get my kids vaccinated against chic...

2008-07-23T12:01:00.000-04:00

I actually did get my kids vaccinated against chicken pox, but then regretted it. Their cousin had chicken pox and ended up in the hospital with complications, so it freaked me out and I let our doctor talk me into it.

My mom never had the chicken pox but my brother and I did, which leads me to think my mom must be naturally immune. Either way, if I found out someone we knew had chicken pox, I would gladly expose my kids so they would either be immune for sure, or get the pox and be done with it. I didn't read up on the shots before we did them, just did them out of fear after the cousin experience. Not my strongest mommy moment, but what's done is done.

My 4 year old currently has Fifth's disease, my 8 year old had it about a month ago and I worked hard at getting the girls exposed too (making them eat ice cream from the same spoon, etc.) because when I was pregnant the first time, I got exposed and it was a big deal because I was pregnant.

I know for certain that both my boys have had it now, but am still waiting for the girls to get their rash. I'm glad this sort of crazy talk will probably make sense to you. My neighbors all think I am insane to be trying so hard to get them all exposed and done with it.

Happy birthday to your 11 year old. My daughter is 10 and can't wait until her birthday in January. Apparently turning 11 is an even bigger deal than turning 10 to her. I don't know why, but I am hoping she isn't expecting anything exciting to happen!

Exactly! (re the pox)I had to take YEARS off from...

2008-07-23T11:11:00.000-04:00

Exactly! (re the pox)

I had to take YEARS off from TKD and it sure was awesome to get back. :) That's sucky about the crazy girl. black and red is Bo Dan, sometimes called Temporary Black Belt, Probationary Black Belt, or Black Belt Candidate. Yeah, every school is different. At our gym, there are 3 belts between brown and Bo Dan. (Ours is white, yellow, sr. yellow (yellow with a black stripe), green, blue, brown, sr. brown, red, sr. red, Bo Dan and then Black. It takes about 4 yrs if you don't miss or fail any testings.

Yeah - I'd let the kids get the pox rather than va...

2008-07-23T09:18:00.000-04:00

Yeah - I'd let the kids get the pox rather than vaccinate them. I've heard many stories where even with the vaccine, kids end up with pox when they're adults and that's bad.

Oooh! So close for your testing! I really miss my TKD - I can't wait to go back. I'm planning to go back the first of the year - I figure that will give me enough recovery time from the birth as well as maybe give me time to lose some baby weight before going back. I did see my dojang just had a black belt test - one of the girls who always scared the hell out of me (she was very unpredictable and a tad out of control in her movements and sometimes missed pads altogether and would kick or punch me in the arm...she was the biggest reason I don't go to class while prego)...anyway, she went from a brown belt to the one with black and red - what is that ranking? I'm still trying to figure out my schools rankings...it's kind of confusing and I've found that different schools do it differently.

ANYHOO....I can't wait to hear about the testing!

Yep. They're still learning about the long-term e...

2008-07-23T08:33:00.000-04:00

Yep. They're still learning about the long-term effects, and I'd just as soon the kids got full immunity from the disease itself. :-P

I never got the chicken pox and I've been exposed ...

2008-07-23T03:17:00.000-04:00

I never got the chicken pox and I've been exposed numerous times. Did you skip the vaccines?