8 Weeks

I love to sit in the swing and watch the little birds fly around. Look at my big belly. :-) My mama thinks that I always have a content and pleasant look on my face. What do you think?
Sometimes I smile really big.

Yesterday marked 8 weeks of Nathaniel's arrival in this world. It totally snuck up on me and I haven't even scheduled his 2 month well-child check. So I have no idea how much he weighs or how long he is. I do know that he has grown lately though because I can tell a difference when I pick him up. He is starting to get cute little cubby cheeks that make his face really round like Jeremiah's was. His belly gets round and full after he eats, like a little puppy belly. Though I doubt he will be very chubby (his brother never was) he is getting nice satisfying little baby rolls on his legs. His head and neck control are amazing and when we do tummy time on the floor he kicks and wiggles so much that he has turned himself over once already! Jeremiah laughed hilariously at that sight.

And of course there are his smiles! I can never ever resist one of his smiles.

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On a more serious note:

I have probably been subconsiously avoiding scheduling Nathaniel's well-child check up because Aaron and I have decided to delay his immunizations for a little while. When Jeremiah was born we just went ahead and did all the immunizations that we were told to do, on the schedule that we were told to do it. But since then I have been doing a lot more research and am just not comfortable pumping all that stuff into Nathaniel's body while he is still so little and immune sytem is not developed.

Not getting immunizations seems to becoming more of a trend lately. I know a lot of people who have delayed shots or not had them altogether. The issue is discussed now on news shows and talk shows. But I don't want to not give shots just because it is a current trend.

I do know that there has been no connection made between the MMR vaccine and autism. That is not why we are delaying the shots. It's just that as we started researching what exactly is in the shots and researching their potential side effects we started getting more and more nervous. Then we found out that in many other countries they do not start immunizations until a child is 2 years old and has a well developed immune system.

Anyway, when I mentioned to our doctor at the last visit that we were probably going to delay immunizations she did not look very happy about it and gave me the standard government issue fact sheets about the shots that use words to scare you into having them done by using wording such as "children are struck down by this disease". So I am not looking forward to having to face her disapproval again. Even though I know that I am his mother and it is my decision what we do.

I have heard that Dr. Sears is publishing a book about vaccinations the end of this month. I am looking forward to reading it. I have heard that it is very factual and well-balanced and does not try to sway the parent one way or the other. I am hoping that the book will help us in our decisions about the immunization process so that we can make an educated decision rather than a fear based decision.

Note: I would love to hear comments about the vaccination process from my readers in other countries.