Taking Jenny McCarthy's Side in the Vaccination Debate

Most of Alexis' early months are a blur buried deep in the back corner of my mind, but her 9th week of life stands out.

It's not for good reasons.

Over eight years ago, a tiny Alexis and I ventured to her doctor's office for her two-month checkup. That's the first of the fun appointments, for those of you who have lost track. It's the first one where multiple shots are a thing. It's multiple shots and a few of the vaccinations have side effects. I think discomfort, irritability, and fever are on the official list, but the unofficial list says it better.

Caution: These vaccines may cause your baby to HATE EVERYONE AND EVERYTHING AND RAWWWWR.

Alexis took the unofficial list very seriously. She was Cranky McCrankerpants instantly. Worse, though, within a few hours of getting the shots, she had a fever. It was just a little one, but still. Baby's first fever is not something you have embroidered on a pillow.

A few hours after the few hours, the fever was a tiny bit worse, despite the fact that Tiny Alexis had been given Baby's First Drugs. The fever was cutting through the Tylenol and gaining momentum.

That led to Mommy's First Call to the Doctor. It was a Friday and I remember it clearly. Her temperature was hovering right around 100 degrees, and I was told to suck it up. Tylenol! Calm! It's not a big deal!

I went with it.

But then Saturday rolled around and things weren't better. As the day went on, things progressively got just a tiny bit worse. Right around the time the pediatrician's office closed, the poor kid looked absolutely miserable. Once we had officially entered that magical time of day when your pediatrician will take your call, but from the golf course, things had escalated out of control.

Alexis' temperature was over 102, so off to the emergency room we went.

I don't have words for how that night played out. The poor kid was dehydrated, feverish, and pissed. PISSED. She became even more pissed when she had to get an IV. She was right around 13 pounds at the time, but it took four adults to pin her down so they could get that IV into her tiny little arm.

If I stop and think about it, I can still hear her screams.

Four days later, Alexis was released from the hospital. She never had an official diagnosis, but it was pretty obvious that the vaccinations were the start of the something bad.

So you can imagine how very excited I was to take Mila for her two-month vaccinations. I wanted a cookie and a Certificate of Excellence for even showing up. I feel like I earned the right to Jenny McCarthy this round of vaccinations, crazy irrational ranting and all.

But then it was done.

And HOOBOY was Mila pissed. She spent the entire day giving me a piece of her mind.

But she didn't get a fever.

At all.

The next day, it was like nothing had ever happened.

Exhale.

Chasing Rainbows

I wasn't kidding when I said I'm failing at feeding all of the people in this house. It seems like every time I feed one, another one complains of hunger. It's as if they need to eat more than once per week or something.

That situation being what it is, carry out is A Very Important Thing these days. It was definitely very important a few nights ago when 8:00 rolled around and dinner hadn't happened. I figured a quick run to pick up pizza would do the trick, so Alexis and I jumped in the car and headed out.

Just as we pulled into the parking lot to get ice cream (What? You don't stop for ice cream on your way to pick up pizza? You totally should.), it started to rain. By the time we got back in the car, it was pouring.

The good news: It wasn't a sharknado.

The bad news: Parking for the pizza place is half a block from the shop.

I wasn't really looking forward to imitating a drowned rat, but we headed for the pizza place anyway. As I drove, Alexis commented on the weather. She noticed that there were sunny pockets amidst the rain clouds, so she started hunting for rainbows.

She hit the jackpot.

"Mom! Look! A rainbow!" she proclaimed as she pointed in the exact direction we needed to go.

I'd like to say I'm all sorts of cool about things like rainbows, but I'm not. I was just as excited as Alexis. There was nobody else on the road, so I stopped to take a quick photo.

The rainbow looked crazy close, so I jokingly commented that we should see if we could find where it started. I didn't think about the fact that Alexis doesn't always get sarcasm, so the next thing I knew, I really was driving towards the rainbow in search of its start.

The further we drove, the further away the rainbow seemed to be. Alexis noticed the optical illusion and urged me to drive faster. "Hurry before it goes away!" she said. She continued on, "Maybe there are leprechauns there."

She thought about her statement for a minute and then decided to recant it. "Not that I believe in leprechauns or that sort of thing. I know they're pretend."

I don't know what "that sort of thing" means, but Santa will be investigating that claim in a few months.

Just as I was running out of real estate to continue the fake pursuit, the rainbow disappeared. It was as if the universe understood how badly I wanted that pizza. So we drove to the pizza place, parked, and started to walk in. Fortunately, the rain had stopped, but then Alexis noticed some dark clouds off to the north. "Look!" she said as she pointed.

"MOM! THERE'S ANOTHER RAINBOW!" she yelled as she tugged on my arm.

"OK, but we need to get the pizza before we chase it," I said.

"MOOOOOOM." She stretched the word to four syllables before saying "But we have to get the pot of gold!"

I promised to hurry as I drug Alexis into the pizza place to pick up dinner. She stood next to me urging me to rush the entire time, at one point saying, "But, moooooom! What's more important, food or money?"

That's a touch question right there. Fortunately, Alexis knew the answer.

"Money is more important, mom! You can always buy food if you have money," she declared.

She had a point. Too bad we never managed to find where the rainbows started. We could have purchased dinner for the entire week.

Keeping Capri Sun Courtside

Every year when the weather breaks, I wonder the same thing -- what ever happened to playing outside? I grew up thinking there was no other option. If it was sunny and above freezing, I darted out the door early in the day and didn't return until the streets lights started to come on that evening.

Thankfully, Alexis is starting to figure out that I'm going to kick her outside to play if she doesn't self-motivate and find herself there. She has a zillion things she can do. Everything from swimming in the pool, riding her bike, playing on her swing set, tumbling in the grass, drawing with chalk, and the thing that she is doing more than anything so far this summer -- shooting hoops.

There are no words that can describe how fantastic it is to see her doing something that I enjoyed as a kid. She's a few years ahead of me as I didn't discover a love for driving down the lane until fourth grade, but still. Alexis is out in the driveway playing basketball hours every day.

And, of course, I'm joining in whenever I can.

Mila is our spectator, hanging out in a swing nearby, as Alexis challenges me to dribble contests and games of Horse. She has discovered that she can't beat me at a one-on-one game yet (key word: YET), but if she isolates either dribbling or shooting, she stands a chance. Mind you, I'm pretty sure Mila is helping her because every time I call time out to tend to the Tiny Human, the score magically changes. I can't even get mad because ever since Mila was born, it has been "every man for himself" around here.

Want a snack? Go find one.

Dinner? Hahahahaha!

Need something to drink? You know where the fridge is.

The good news is that I did prepare for this "every man for himself" phase. The fridge is stocked with tons of healthy snacks and convenient drinks like Capri Sun. Capri Sun Berry 100% Juice is Alexis' current beverage of choice, which is fine because it doesn't contain any artificial flavors, colors, or preservatives. She gets a break from water yet I don't have to worry about her drinking something that will make me twitch.

It's a win-win, even if I can't manage to beat an 8-year old at a game of Horse.

Capri Sun recently changed their packaging and now has a clear bottom on every pouch. That means you can see what's inside with just a tip of your hand. What are your favorite family summertime activities?