H1N1 is spreading around here like wildfire.  Every day I hear of new cases, more schools closing and so on and so forth.

We decided not to vaccinate our kids against H1N1.  We decided this for a couple of reasons.  First of all, the vaccination is too new.  I don’t trust it – plain and simple.  And I cannot get a concenses from doctors as to whether or not it’s a good idea.  Some say definately get it, others say definately don’t.  So in my mind, the risks outweigh the benefits.

Second, I’m not even sure that I would be able to get it.  Sloan’s school has to keep pushing back the date on the vaccine because they haven’t received their supplies yet and I would only be able to vaccinate him.  I don’t even know that I could get it for the other two – if I wanted it, that is.

Third, I feel like it’s inevitable that we’re going to get the swine flu.  I’m taking every precaution I can think of short of holing ourselves up and barring the door.  The kids are getting double the amount of vitamin C, I’m faithfully administering their JuicePlus vitamins, I’m serving them more green vegetables and raw fruits, we’re washing hands, I’m *limiting the amount of dairy they receive, I’m washing sheets more frequently in hot water and so on and so forth.  I’m not really sure what else I could be doing.

Despite all of that, however, I feel like this H1N1 thing is a ticking time bomb and I would almost rather we just get it and move on.  I know that sounds terrible and I’m not hoping my kids get sick, but if they’re going to get it, I’d rather it happen sooner rather than later so we can move on our merry way.

I heard on the radio this morning there are 1300 confirmed cases of the swine flu in the St. Louis area, which is more flu than doctors usually report in an entire season.  It really is spreading like the plague.  Even my friend Nicole has been affected and she takes similar precautions to me.

So we’ll see what happens.  I heard that this week there were 13 confirmed cases at Sloan’s school and five kindergartners were home sick today (I don’t know if they were any of the confirmed cases or not) so we’ll just take it one day at a time.  I did get the kids a seasonl flu shot this year for the first time since 2006 in the hopes that if they do come down with the swine flu it will be a milder case.  Who knows?  It’s just crazy.

* There are studies that say that dairy products increase the amount of muscus your body produces, so by cutting back on dairy, I’m hoping to help their bodies eliminate as much unneeded mucus as possible.  I can’t cut it out all together, as my kids love their milk.  But I’m pretty much only giving it to them in the morning at this point, rather than throughout the day.

Anyway, moving on…

Today was Sloan’s first field trip to the pumpkin patch and oh my goodness he was excited.  He’s talked about it all week.  Yesterday when it rained all day long, Mother Nature and I had a long talk about how she better not ruin my boy’s first time to go somewhere with his class, and she obliged somewhat – if you count freezing cold and overcast obliging.  But alas, at least there wasn’t any rain.

I didn’t think I would get to go because I didn’t have anyone to watch Tia and Landon, but at the last minute my friend Jessica offered to keep them and I was able to surprise Sloan and show up.  I’m so glad I went!  It was fun to see him in that environment.  Thanks again Jessica!

And I think he was glad I was there.  When no one was looking he gave me a big hug.  Of course, when he was eating lunch with one of his friends, he said I was weird.  Ha!

I’ll take it.

So that was a fun highlight of the morning.  And now I’m off to get the house in order because Lee and I are going on a date tonight.  A date!  What is a date?!

I’m not sure what we’re going to do.  We wanted to see our friend Joe and his band play downtown, but they aren’t going to start playing until 10:30 or 11:00.  Couple that with the fact that our babysitter doesn’t drive, which means I’ll have to drive her home and the knowledge that we have three little alarm clocks that will drag us out of bed at the crack of dawn tomorrow. 

Needless to say, we’re not going to do that to ourselves.  Getting old bites.

We may go see a movie instead, which sounds like an old person thing to do, but I was thinking about it today and I’m pretty sure it’s been about two and a half years since Lee and I went to the movie theater together.

I think we’re due for a movie night…

Happy weekend!