Wednesday, January 1, 2014

The Start of a New Year and Other Totally Random Thoughts

The blog has been quiet because the flu has struck our home with a vengeance.  There was no Mass for anyone in the family today because I wouldn't want to inflict this particular plague on anyone else.  It's the particularly unpleasant strain that it seems like everyone has right now and that I thought I'd avoided when everyone else was sick when we were in the hotel, but it's my turn now and so I spent the day with three moderately sick kids laying on the couch while they climbed on me and watched Magic School Bus over and over again.

Despite being sick, I've also been pretty amazed.  Because you guys are awesome.  I'm just so incredibly grateful for the outpouring of support that we've received.

What more can I say?  I'm just so, so amazed.

In other news it's been snowing.  And snowing.  And snowing.  I'm enjoying being inside and toasty and watching the snow pile up outside while reading local weather reports that say things like "it won't be stopping any time soon."

It is cold out there!
Right now it's 10 "feels like -2".
I've also been trying not to sit and stare out my window at our neighbor's TV.  Because the Rose Bowl is on right now and I can totally see every play on it (despite the fact that it's across the street).  I'm watching the score on ESPN, but it's still kind of tempting... especially since it's been such a close game (as of right now there are about 5 minutes left in the 4th quarter).

Besides.  I need to know what happens so that I can tell Boomer in the morning.  Because he's such a big fan.  And also so I can repeatedly call my Dad, who's a Stanford fan (both of his parents went there), so that we can go back and forth over who's going to win.

As you may have guessed there's been a lot of anticipation leading up to this game:


On another totally unrelated note, I had a huge pity party this afternoon when I found out that Paul's school starts on Monday.  You see, we spent those eight days without power and then got back home and he worked a 12 hour shift last night (6 pm to 6 am) and he slept for a little bit and then went back and is working the Rose Bowl right now and has more hours coming up this week, which basically means that the break is over and I feel like we didn't really see each other.

Okay, that's wildly inaccurate because we spent plenty of time trapped in that room, but I'm still slowly letting go of the picture perfect idea of us all spending time together at home before the insanity of the last semester of law school hits, which will be followed by his bar prep class and then the actual test...

It all kind of has me feel like we're saying good-bye to him until August.

I'm almost over being mopey, and I'm sure I'll be totally over it by tomorrow morning (because there's just no point in it), but this afternoon there was some serious "I can't believe school's about to start" moping going on.

I kind of feel a bit like a high school senior in the last few weeks of school.  Six of our seven years of marriage have involved graduate school.  We're in the home stretch now.  Four months.  One semester.  I can hardly wait.

Moving on... Do you know what happens when you complain every time your mom brushes your hair?



She takes her scissors and chops it off.  Short.

And to demonstrate how everyone is going a little stir crazy after being cooped up and sick here's a video I shot yesterday.  Patrick can seriously spend an hour bringing me things and saying "Thank-y" and then taking them away and running across the room and laughing.  Yesterday I tried to get it on tape (the other two were totally ignoring me until the camera came out and then it became a struggle to keep Patch from getting trampled by a certain big sister trying to get in the frame... so this took a couple tries...).


All of the craziness of these past few days has meant there hasn't been much time for reflections or resolutions.  Maybe we'll just skip that part this year.  Maybe when this flu passes I'll come up with something.

In other news the fireworks outside make it pretty clear who won tonight's game in Pasadena!

Go Green!


Happy New Years!  I hope you had a lovely first day of 2014!

8 comments:

  1. Hope you visited Jen Fulwiler's blog and did her little "saint for the year" picking program. I got St. Charles Lwanga. It'd be interesting to see who you, Paul and each of your kids would get. :-) God bless. ~ Bonnie

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  2. You guys need to get flu vaccines :( sorry you're sick. The flu is so miserable and scary.

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    1. The last three times I tried to get them the doctors refused because my immunity was already low. I haven't tried again...

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  3. Is the idea of a warm Arizona winter looking better and better? Our desert town will see a high in the mid-70s today. The Arizona bar is a UBE and can transfer to other UBE states. Oh, and tell him not to study too much in this last semester. Grades don't matter much anymore. He needs to keep up his energy for bar study.

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  4. Responding to one of the anonymous comments above:

    Don't get the flu vaccine!

    http://chemistry.about.com/cs/howthingswork/a/aa011604a.htm

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  5. Sorry, that is one of the lamest anti-vaccine links I've ever read. No offense, but someone who has a very poor understanding of immunology wrote it. The flu vaccine doesn't stop colds and flu-like illnesses? Duh. It prevents against SOME strains of flu. That is absolutely not a dirty secret. The flu vaccine does not take effect in every single vaccinated person? Duh. That is absolutely a well-known fact. That's why everyone who can be vaccinated needs to be vaccinated - to protect those who can't or for whom the vaccine didn't take. The truth is that this year's flu vaccine was a very good match. The flu that is going around right now is H1N1, a super dangerous strain that is particularly lethal in pregnant women and small children. The current flu vaccine protects against H1N1. There is no reason people with colds or other mild illnesses can't be vaccinated, and every person over 6 months of age without a serious contraindication SHOULD be vaccinated (should already be vaccinated, actually) for maximum community protection. Remember, every person who has died from vaccine-preventable flu was infected by someone who didn't bother to get their vaccine (out of a poor understanding of vaccine science, laziness, apathy, etc.)

    Cam, I encourage you not to post anti-vaccine links on your blog. Although I assume most people are well-meaning, things like what is posted above only serve to scare and confuse those who should be listening to their doctors, the CDC, the WHO, the NIH, the AAP, the AAFP, the ACOG, etc.

    I hope that once your family is well you will ALL go get vaccinated! The flu is awful, scary, dangerous and just not worth it. We all need to do our part to keep the vulnerable safe. And Cam, if you have an immune issue, it is ALL the more important that those around you be vaccinated to provide you a cocoon of as much safety as possible. If you can't handle an inactivated vaccine, you SURE as heck can't handle the full-blown flu.

    Prayers and Blessings to you and yours!

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    1. I don't censor comments unless they use profanity, but I do trust that everybody reading here can research because hopefully everybody who's making these decisions does research them! My main struggle at the moment has been getting Patch vaccinated because our doctors offices freezer went bad and they lost half of their vaccines.

      As for me, all I know is that the nurses kept suggesting I get all sorts of vaccines (like pneumonia, which I would have LOVED to have, because I have a tendency to get bronchitis and pneumonia) and the doctors (which included the infectious disease department) kept saying no. It seemed to have to do with my oxygen level being perpetually low, but really I'm not sure why. I do know I got sick for 1-2 months at a time four times last year... so I guess that's probably what they're thinking.

      I get the kids all their vaccines every time we go in... so I'm not sure if they got this years because my brain is ugh... not even working... right now.

      I know I could just go in to a place like CVS and not tell them, but obviously I'm hesitant to do that.

      But I do appreciate everybody's concern so much! It's such a heated issue. I usually stay far, far away from it... but yeah we do vax... rather guiltily and nervously... but we do...

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    2. Don't feel guilty OR nervous. There is so much out there that scares parents, so I do understand the fear. I get that. There is a whole army of people saying they're risky or don't work or cause cancer and blah blah. Rest assured, Mama, that the REAL studies don't bear that out. The real scientists (the ones with, you know, the relevant degrees and experience) advocate vaccination. You are doing the best thing for your babies and yourself by trusting the science.

      When Paul becomes an attorney (my own husband has been one for over 10 years) he will get accustomed to clients who come in, already having "done their research" and have a very clear idea of how they want their case to go and what the outcome WILL be, if only the attorney will follow their lead! It is very frustrating because there are all kinds of problems with their "research" - big holes and inconsistencies and flat-out crazy things. It's hard for my husband to bring these people back down to Earth, and to get them to TRUST the professional they are paying (reluctantly, of course) to handle their issues. Sometimes, clients undermine their own cases by believing or insisting upon foolish things because they "read a blog" or "spent 100 hours in the law library" and simply cannot give over control to their attorney. They know best, after all, it's their case and they are the most invested! At least that is what they assume. I think pediatricians feel the same way with parents who refuse to believe medical science, or trust all the big medical organizations that advocate the vaccine schedule. They want to make up their own vaccine plan or forego them all together, relying instead on herd immunity (if they believe in it) or even herbs, magic, homeopathy. How frustrating for someone to go through all that schooling, an internship, a residency, a fellowship - only to have a mom with an unrelated degree say "no way!" to their recommendations.

      Trust me, in a couple of years it will be YOU hearing the "crazy client who thinks he knows better than I do" stories. They are interesting, but kind of sad, too.

      Were I you, I'd get a second opinion on the flu vaccine. It's totally inactivated and gosh, people with poor immune systems really do need the protection! Of course, as you are seeing here, it doesn't protect against every bug out there.

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I love comments and I read every single comment that comes in (and I try to respond when the little ones aren't distracting me to the point that it's impossible!). Please show kindness to each other and our family in the comment box. After all, we're all real people on the other side of the screen!