About six or seven weeks ago I had asked our pediatrician if Liam needed the pneumonia vaccine. (This was before his illness and subsequent hospital stay. Sean and I had always said that if Liam ever got pneumonia he was sunk and boy were we right!!!) The doctor said that they only give that shot to kids who have a history of pneumonia or who have had it severely. Guess who got a pneumonia shot yesterday? It covers 26 strains of the virus and you only need it once every ten years. Our doctor HIGHLY recommended that he get it…for obvious reasons.
I was discussing the swine flu vaccine with our pediatrician yesterday and I asked him if you need to get it if you’ve already had the swine flu. He said that’s a very good question and his answer was not a resounding yes. It was more of a we’re not sure if you need it if you’ve already had the flu, but it wouldn’t hurt.
A neighbor doctor of mine said that it is important to get the swine flu shot so that the number of host bodies (people who can get swine flu) is dramatically reduced. In other words, it makes it more difficult for the flu to spread if there are less people who can get it.
LOVE the hair!
I love our principal. He is no nonsense, but you would never know it. He runs a tight ship, but does so in such a way that allows others to volunteer and contribute. One of the first things he said when we first met him back in the spring before Liam started kindy is that when he makes a decision he does what is best for every child in the building, which may not be what is best for your child. In other words, you can’t come into his office and try and strong arm him into special treatment for your kid. I have taught long enough and listened to parents talk long enough to know there are parents out there who do expect the principal to bend policies and procedures for their child. It’s not going to happen. He’s not mean about it, that’s just how it is.
I love how when you come into the school you may very well see him working at the front desk so his secretary can go have her lunch break. You may also see him working with small groups of children. Every week he works with small groups of kids from each grade level. How awesome is THAT??? I have worked in four elementary schools in two different states and I have never seen the principal do either one of these things. Nothing is below him and he is not too busy to get in there and do what needs to be done.
I love the way he greets the kids when they get off of the bus each morning. Mondays is a high five, Tuesdays is a knuckle bump, etc., etc.
He is awesome with parents. He is equally or more awesome with the kids. He has a whole army of parents who come into his school each day volunteering in one way or another. He opened the school in 2004 and created a community spirit that you can see and feel every day when you walk into that school. It’s awesome, quite frankly.
The boys got out of school early today and their strings lessons were cancelled, so I decided to take them fishing for the afternoon. First we headed to Sonic for a little treat. Our next stop was Wal-Mart to buy fishing poles and worms. I put the poles together, strung the lines through, put the hooks and weights on and we were ready to go.
Liam’s catfish
Distance necessary to keep the boys from hooking each other
Waiting patiently for a bite.
Colm ended up catching about seven fish and Liam caught two. Now that we have the poles and we still have some worms in the frig in the garage, I guess we can go again sometime soon.
When I was pregnant with Liam we started the search for a pediatrician. A couple of ladies in my neighborhood took their kids to go see Dr. B, we trusted their judgement so we went with him and I am so glad we did. He is so good with the kids. He listens to them, talks to them and I feel like he has a general understanding of their dispositions. He also listens to me. He knows that he is the doctor and that he has all of his medical training, but he also takes into account that as their parents, Sean and I know what works for our kids and what hasn’t worked in the past. I also love our doctor because he knows when he needs to get a medical opinion from someone else. Recently when Liam was (and still is) going through all of his pneumonia stuff he felt like he needed to call the infectious disease specialist at the local children’s hospital just to make sure he was doing the right thing in terms of medications. I am glad he did because the infectious disease specialist changed Liam’s medications. These meds seem to be working and we are SO grateful. He also has five kids of his own, so the man knows a thing or two about kids and families from his own personal experience. If that wasn’t enough, I was told once by a nurse that our doctor was voted the hottest pediatrician by all of the nurses in the maternity ward at the local hospital. I also have a friend who told me that she thinks he smells VERY good. 🙂
Since we didn’t eat at home much last week, we are still trying to work our way through much of last week’s groceries.
Sunday-Stir Fry
Monday-Tacos
Tuesday-Hash Brown and Breakfast Sausage Casserole and Fruit
Wednesday-Tortellini and Salad
Thursday-Sloppy Joes, Corn and Fruit
Friday-Italian Zucchini Pesto Pasta
Saturday-Kitchen is Closed
Sean and I watched this movie finally last night. It has been sitting on our island for weeks, maybe even months. It was definitely time…the boys were getting weary of waiting for the next movie in our Netflix queue which is theirs. 🙂 It is definitely a good movie and only 90 minutes long.
I didn’t go to book club last night since it was our first night home as a family, but the book that was chosen was Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Since our next book club meeting is right before Halloween and since we try to read at least one classic a year, this was a good fit.
My friend Dana introduced me to this author a few years ago. Moriarty’s books are good whether you are familiar with Kansas or not, but I really like that she uses so many landmarks I am familiar with in her stories. If you have spent any time at all on KU’s campus, you can easily imagine the characters’ surroundings in While I’m Falling. This is her third novel. I have read them all and highly recommend them. They are good stories, but are also pretty quick reads.