Food Connection

I’m admittedly a lover of convenience, and a waster of many things. I spend extra money for less healthy options to save myself the monotonous duties of meal prep, and when I do buy ingredients requiring more production time, I often end up throwing them away after they've gone bad.

I love paper towels, ready-made-rice, Amy’s frozen burritos, pre-cooked rotisserie chickens, and pre-packaged, peeled and cut fruits. Five minutes in the microwave steamable vegetables is my kind of cooking.

I do not enjoy cooking or time in the kitchen. There is a giant exciting world full of people, places and adventures that beckons me, and my countertops are the desolate deserts where I find too many afternoons are spent wandering and praying for a mirage.

I even despise shopping. I order my groceries online and have them delivered to me. No - scratch that, I neglect to bother with this, and so my husband generally orders our groceries online, and they are delivered to our door.

By some standards we eat healthy. Fruits, vegetables, lean means, whole grains, and yet the reality is that many of these foods have lost much of their nutritional value due to their packaging, and have unhealthy additives and preservatives.

I’m proud of the dietary improvements we’ve made over the past year, but I’ve always had a dream of improving my family's relationship and appreciation for food.

Last week, I had an incredible experience at a local farmstand. I’m no stranger to the farm stands - we’ve frequented for corn or fresh blueberries over the years - but this time I was truly in a state of gratefulness for the food before me. I felt an elevated respect for the owner, a deeper appreciation of the food, and a deep longing to prepare this nutrition for my family.

Food is our fuel, we know this, it’s the most essential and instinctual job we have, to nourish ourselves and our families and yet with the busyness of life it often becomes the chore we find the most elaborate ways to get out of.

I have made the most generic of excuses for not improving my relationship with food to benefit myself and my family. I say “We can’t afford organic.”; “We don’t have time to prepare complicated meals."; “Fresh food rots faster, and we can’t be going to the store every other day.”; “I don’t even know where to get local meat.”; “My kids won’t eat it." Whatever the excuse I’ve made, the bottom line is I’ve allowed myself to believe that we just don’t have the time or money to make positive changes to our diet.

So, last week my son brought his piggy bank to the farmstand and bought his own corn. He helped husk it and cook it. When he was done eating, there was still a little left on the cob and he said “Mom, I don’t want anymore but I don’t want to waste this because it was a lot of work, will you eat it?”

This was a wake up call to me and my own lack of appreciation and honor of the foods I’ve been eating because of the lack of effort, time, consideration or blessings that had been put into the process.

I bought a small bag of spinach from the farmstand yesterday and for some reason I imagined a little old lady picking and bagging it for me. As I prepared our eggs for breakfast I spotted the spinach and noted that it would be a shame for it to go bad when someone had put such time and effort into it, and I had paid more than usual for it. I cooked it up in my eggs and it was delicious and nutritious.

What is your relationship with your food? What is your intention when you eat it? We cannot separate our mind, body and spirit. They are intertwined in the most delicate and complex of ways, and the way we choose to nurture ourselves will be reflected in our daily lives.

I am taking steps to change my view of food. I won’t let myself repeat the same old excuses that have trapped me in this begrudging relationship I have with one of life’s most essential and incredible experiences. I choose to nourish myself and my family with appreciation, respect, and a grateful heart. I am changing my intention and, in effect, my actions.

For anyone who is like me, who struggles to be “domesticated” and believes they can’t afford or have the time for positive changes, ask yourself if there is room for any improvements. Consider modest changes, and respect your ability whether it be a small shift or a giant leap.

I have committed to making small and consistent changes to reach my new goals of eating local and organic foods. This week I was able to work out a deal to get farm fresh eggs every week. It’s a step in a positive direction. Trust me, if I can make these changes, Queen of Uncle Ben’s Instant Rice and Drive Thru Abuser, so can you!

We have a responsibility to ourselves, our families, our world, and that responsibility is calling us to stop supporting the “machine” that is killing our bodies and spirits, and take action to rise up and support the future we want for our children.

The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. -Lao Tzu

What is Your Child's Behavior Saying?

My two-year-old son was struggling with a lot of negative behavior, particularly having meltdowns that, at times, led to self-injury. He was diagnosed with autism, and sometimes the meltdowns seemed triggered by his frustration with not being able to communicate well, but often his extreme behaviors seemed to come out of nowhere and were triggered by everything and anything.

I had read a lot of research that talked about the brain/gut connection, specifically in regards to children with neurodevelopmental disorders. After reading enough studies to convince me that it was worth a shot, we adjusted his diet and eliminated several allergens. I used a food journal, in combination with reporting on behaviors, to help decide the possible culprits. After a month of detective work, we decided to put him on a dairy, soy, gluten, egg and dye free diet.

We had already noticed a huge increase in eye contact and awareness within weeks of beginning chiropractic care, as well as a decrease in sensory sensitivities. When we added the diet, we began to see the extreme behaviors dissipate as well, and we started to see progress with speech and other forms of communication.

It seemed we were on the right track, and slowly it seemed my little boy was returning to me. He no longer seemed agitated by his surroundings, and I was no longer receiving unending and unwanted parenting advice about how to discipline his behaviors.

I won’t pretend that I have it all together as a mother, and I know that I could be a little more authoritative and disciplinary at times; however, I have always believed that my children’s behavior is just another form of communication. When a child can not express through language that they are in pain, that there body is overwhelmed, or that they are not functioning properly, the best indicator that something is wrong is negative behavior. Sure, kids act up from time to time to get what they want or test the limits, but I just don’t believe that any child wants to be miserable all of the time. Looking back and realizing all that my son was dealing with makes me so grateful that I was always compassionate and always looking for what was behind the behavior…the cause.

After six months of us being rockstars about his diet, and sticking to it (occasional slip ups on the dye restriction, but rarely) we had him tested for several food and environmental allergies. To my surprise and delight, it came back that he had no allergies, not even an intolerance to any of the foods we had taken him off of. At this time, I slowly reintroduced them back into his diet. I was thrilled to note that he didn’t seem bothered by these foods. He didn’t seem like he had a stomach ache, no extreme behaviors, basically no reaction to speak of and, as it turned out, he loved nothing in this world more than pizza, toast and yogurt. He was living it up and loving it. It wasn’t until about a month later that I noted he seemed less connected and less verbal, but it was such a busy week that I assumed he was feeling overwhelmed, and I made it a point to slow things down. It didn’t take long for the behaviors to follow. He started having tantrums and meltdowns and became irritable over every simple transition.

Feeling completely at a loss, I took him to our chiropractor who decided to do a progress scan to see what we were dealing with. Using the subluxation station, which measures the vertebrae stress output, Dr. D. was able to locate the area that had been negatively affected since his previous scan a couple of months before. At the time, I had not told Dr. D. about our changes in diet, but as he looked over the scan results he explained that it was showing a lot of irritation in the nerves responsible for digestion and asked if we had made any dietary changes. Honestly, I felt a giant lump in my throat and thought I might start sobbing on the spot. In part, I was so relieved to have such an obvious answer, but knowing that he was likely feeling discomfort from the foods I was feeding him, and that they were clearly stressing out his body, I was disappointed that I had reintroduced them in the first place. Dr. D. explained that it can take the gut some time to repair; however, we decided to increase his chiropractic visits to three times a week to boost his body’s natural ability to heal, and give him some added relief. Dr. D. also encouraged me to put Corbin back on the diet that had given us such positive results and to be more vigilant about giving him his daily probiotic.

The Subluxation Station has been a God-send for me in helping track my son’s progress, not only through chiropractic care, but also any dietary changes or other life stressors. Being able to pinpoint problem areas and create a specific plan for my child, along with setting health and developmental goals, has not only brought me peace of mind but has helped me provide my son with the best care available. Had I searched for answers elsewhere, I may have been given a treatment plan to cover the symptoms, or treat the discomfort, but I would not have gotten to the root of the problem – the cause. When I bring my child to the doctor, I don’t want a cream, an antibiotic, a needle full of things I can’t pronounce…..I want an answer. I want to know why! I don’t believe we can treat a problem if we don’t know what has caused it.

We have continued to see progress, as my son receives individual care that promotes his body’s unique needs. I thank God every day that we found our chiropractor, and that he helped us find our son again.

Cherish Every (other) Moment

Today I was reading a Facebook post by a stay-at-home mother of three who was expressing that while she felt so blessed to have her three children (5 yrs, 2 yrs and 6 mos), she was feeling overwhelmed by it all. She expressed that being needed ALL of the time was draining and that she was struggling to find the energy to continue breastfeeding.

Her post really brought me back. While I only have two children, I remember the days of juggling the demands of breastfeeding a baby and keeping up with a busy toddler. I remember life in survival mode where it was all about getting enough sleep just to function, enough food to stay alive, and enough down time to remember that you don’t even remember what you enjoy doing anymore, aside from kissing chubby cheeks and eliciting jubilant giggles.

On this mother's raw and honest post someone commented, “Be thankful you have kids as there are so many women who can’t have kids, and so many who have lost their kids. Think about it when you are complaining about yours.”

WOW! That got me downright angry, and I’ll tell you why. As a society we perpetuate such an idea of euphoria for motherhood that we are telling young moms that they are wrong for feeling anything other than joy at any given time. We tell them “Cherish every moment” or “It’s the most rewarding job you’ll ever have.” If given the choice between my worst mommy moment ever or losing my children all together then, yes, I will live for all eternity in that moment - but what kind of Stephen King book are we living? I do NOT cherish every moment. I can’t think of another way to ensure postpartum depression then to tell a mother who is struggling that she will miss those days and should cherish every moment. I’m so glad people didn’t tell me that when I had cracked and bloody nipples, when my toddler broke my favorite coffee mug, when they both fell asleep on me, and I had to pee so bad I was crying but too afraid to move lest I should wake one of them up when we all had the flu and no one had slept in days. 

Yes, it is worth it! Yes, I am grateful! But the mentality that every moment is euphoric and will be missed or that a mother should never have a bad day because some can’t have children or have lost children is not based in reality. Would you tell someone who broke their foot that they should cherish that pain because some people have no legs?

Motherhood is a sacrifice. Some days you literally sacrifice EVERY moment and in so doing it can be challenging to cherish it. It is not supposed to be easy. It is hard! Some people may find more joy and less sacrifice. Even some moms will boast of how much they enjoy bonding as if it is a badge of how much you love your child. A true badge is to continue to do what’s best when it’s unpleasurable, when there is no joy, when it is only sacrifice.

If you are a mother who has enjoyed the baby stage, who has truly cherished each moment, who finds her role completely rewarding that is beautiful, and I am truly happy for you - but if not, that’s fine. The lack of sacrifice does not prove the presence of love. Our love for our children is not measured by our favorite pastimes. It's okay to love and hate it. It’s okay to wish it was over and know that you’ll miss it. It’s okay to cry and wonder what you would be doing that evening if you weren’t sacrificing your own happiness for someone else's.

If I were to give one piece of advice to a new Mom, it would be this: “How you feel does not measure your love for your child, what you do does.” I have held a sick and crying baby at 3am and felt angry at him. I have even cried “You ruin EVERYTYHING!!!” as I steamed up the bathroom so he could breath enough to nurse.

As our children get older and we are more rested, we have a better perspective on parenting. We can look back on those times and surely miss how safe they were in our arms and how simple our problems seemed, but in the moment we are tired - completely drained - and we don’t get to know that everything turns out okay.

Stop telling new Moms to cherish every moment and that it’s the most rewarding job they’ll ever do. Good Lord, mowing a lawn is more rewarding than parenting - at least in the short term. It will change you, it will grow you, it will make you. You will sacrifice more of yourself than you ever knew you had, and still feel guilty that you didn’t have more to give. But motherhood will also bless you far beyond what you ever dreamed possible.

On that same post where a mother shared her struggles another mother posted “I think we have the most responsibility because we’re the most blessed and that’s incredible and terrifying all at the same time.” How true!

The myth that we can’t be grateful and overwhelmed at the same time is hurting mothers who feel there’s something wrong with them if they are not enjoying every single bit of motherhood.

I am grateful to be a mother. I love my children more than I love myself, and that should be self-evident by the fact that sometimes I have to give up my own happiness for theirs. If someone gave you a treasure chest with 500 pounds of gold and you had to carry it 100 miles to your boat, there would be days you thought about leaving it there. There would be days that you felt sore and exhausted and felt like it was too much to carry. There would be days when you wished that someone else could carry it for you. There would be days that you would be overwhelmed by how difficult it is to carry this treasure and, yes, there would be days that you would be overwhelmed by how grateful you are that it's yours.

I am blessed, I am overwhelmed, I am grateful, I am exhausted, I am in love, I am scared, I am happy, I am sad, I am incredible, I am guilty, I am fierce, I am weak, I am human, I am Mom!

Should I Vaccinate my Child?

I am not anti-vaccine or pro-vaccine, but I am anti-do-what-you’re-told-and-don’t-ask-questions and pro-informed. Dare I comment on one of the most controversial topics in America? If there is one thing that drives me nuts, it’s not being allowed to ask questions. It’s being forced to accept something because the medical profession tells me to and feeling bullied into “what’s best” as if I’m just too stupid to possibly comprehend the complexity of the situation. I’m smarter than I look.

When my first son was about 15 hours old, a nurse/doctor/janitor – some lady I had never met before- came barging in prepared to give my son his Hep B vaccine. Hep B? I was confused. Why would he need that? I was actually a little concerned, wondering if something was wrong. Was there an STD outbreak in the hospital? Was he in danger? A hepatitis-ridden baby napper loose in the halls? Did a test come back saying I had Hep B? What is Hep B anyways?

My confusion was met with anger. This person had no time for my questions. This was what was best for my child (at least in her opinion), and she wasn’t going to explain anything to one more hippie who googled a no-bake granola recipe and accidentally happened upon an anti-vaccine article by which she now hung her child’s life and ultimately the demise of planet earth.

Please accept my apologies over-worked, over-tired hospital lady who has no time to answer my question “why would he need a Hep B vaccine as a newborn?” You see for the better part of a year, I have been day and night growing this child inside of me. Until only hours ago, I was the only person who had ever held him, nourished him, protected him, and I was the only person responsible for his safety. I didn’t eat deli meat or seafood, I quit drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes. I never took as much as a Tylenol for the the sometimes unbearable pain that pregnancy brought on, because it might somehow negatively affect this fragile life inside of me. Now, after he is recovering from the trauma of being born, you are asking to inject a foreign substance into his body to protect him from something that, to my knowledge, does not pose a danger to him. 

My question was answered smugly with “I don’t understand people’s issue. If there was a vaccine for the common cold, I would give it to my child. Why wouldn’t you want to keep your child safe from harmful diseases?”

At this time, having just spent 22 hours in labor and feeling overwhelmed by hospital staff, as well as the new and exciting role of motherhood, I had no comeback. I didn’t realize vaccines were such a controversial issue. I just knew that a lady with a needle was way too eager to poke my son, and she couldn’t answer a very basic question. I opted to wait until his three month visit and have his pediatrician do the shot.

In the two years that followed, my son followed the vaccine schedule with typical reactions. He had irritation at the site of the shot, followed by crankiness and clinginess and sometimes a mild fever or diarrhea. I found out quickly that I was not to ask questions about vaccines. Even asking “what is this one for” seemed to get you grouped in with “one of those” mothers who threatened the health of America with her curiosity. In the beginning, I dutifully read over the paperwork and even browsed the CDC site, but as the joys, struggles and business of motherhood soon made upkeeping a baby book impossible, I found that I no longer even kept track of when they were due, what was due, what he had gotten or why he had gotten it.

Just before my oldest was two years old, his little brother was born. Little brother did not handle his first round of vaccines as well. He got giant welts at the site of the injection, he cried inconsolably, and he seemed agitated for days that followed. I started doing a little internet research and found some compelling information that these vaccines may be carrying more than his little body could handle. Yes, I wanted to safeguard him from the dangers in the world, but not at the risk of disarming him of his natural ability to thrive. I was also learning that the effective rate of many vaccines was not as I had hoped. The side-effects were more severe and prevalent than I had expected, and the testing before being released to the public was unsettling. Even the wording on the CDC website was unnerving. Everything read as if it was spun, and there were no straight answers provided. Instead of simply saying one in so many children have a severe reaction, it read one in one million injections. We know the average child gets over 70 injections in their lifetime so this did not give an accurate depiction. Also, if it was deemed unsafe for immunosuppressed children, wasn’t it at least more dangerous for a child with a weakened immune system?

My son’s pediatrician simply told me “children are resilient.” Are they? Childhood cancer, diabetes, developmental disorders, allergies and autoimmune disorders are all on the rise. What if children aren’t resilient? What if in our efforts to safeguard our children from illness, we are stressing their bodies so severely that they are incapable of fighting off so much as the common cold, let alone the plethora of disease that we don’t have immunizations for? Our children’s immune systems are their greatest protection from a world that threatens them, and at what cost do we give that up?

After my youngest son struggled with his first round of vaccines, I told the doctor that I wanted to split them up. It was too much on his little body all at once to introduce so many toxins and live vaccines. He wasn’t handling it well. His pediatrician thought I was overreacting, she fought me tooth and nail. She laughed at me, rolled her eyes at me, and made me feel like an irresponsible mother. I left crying regularly and finally found a different doctor. This time it was so much worse that I actually returned to the previous doctor because at least being bullied was better than being ignored.

When my son got his DTaP around nine months old, he cried for longer than usual before becoming lethargic and momentarily unresponsive. His doctor told me it was just because he became so overtired from crying. She blamed his moodiness and commonly irritable personality for the inconsolable tears.

That was the last vaccine my son received. He was later diagnosed with autism and sensory processing disorder.

If I’m being honest, I don’t believe that one single vaccination gave him autism. I believe that it was one of many things that over-stressed his body and prohibited him from developing properly. I believe that unlike the age-old belief that children are resilient, they are, in fact, very fragile.

I do not argue that every vaccine, for every child, is always wrong all of the time. I argue that living in a world that is so closed off to the possibility that it could be harmful to a particular child at a particular time is dangerous.

I’m not a doctor, I’m a Mom, I don’t know enough to tell anybody else what to do, and maybe I’m not even educated enough to dare question the almighty medical doctor, but I have common sense. My common sense tells me that we are over-vaccinating and some of our children are suffering for it.

I’m not here to argue with doctors or convince anyone that what they are doing is wrong or unsafe. I am here talking to the Mom who already knows but needs to hear someone else say it. Ask questions! Get answers! Look deeper! Be informed! Our children deserve nothing less. This entry

Pro-Safe Vaccine Schedule

Recently I went to a press conference in Albany, NY where Robert Kennedy Jr was speaking regarding legislation which would mandate that meningitis vaccine and booster be added to the current vaccine schedule. 
(This bill has since passed in both the senate and assembly)

A safer vaccine schedule is something very close to my heart. I know this is such a controversial topic - and people can get quite heated in these discussions - but I believe the current schedule is overwhelming our children’s immune systems and that not all children are lucky enough to be able to handle that stress. I believe that these mandates should be thoroughly reviewed from every angle before removing the healthcare decisions from the family and the doctor and putting them into the hands of those who are influenced by those who profit from providing the vaccines. Because I am pro-healthcare, pro-parents' rights, and pro-safer vaccines, I have been angrily labeled an anti-vaxxer. I have been told by some that they hope my child dies of a disease that vaccines could have prevented because of my views. I’m always so perplexed by all of the hatred that prevents us from calmly discussing this subject. If we put aside misconceptions, many of us would find that we have far more to agree on than not.  

Specifically I am lumped in with a group that is looked at as “crazy autism moms” who are just looking for someone to blame for their child’s condition. I’m frequently told that there are NO links between autism and vaccines, and I’m reminded of polio and smallpox or other grave epidemics which vaccines took part in eradicating. My voice is not heard, my story is missed, I am disregarded. Why? I’ve never experienced this in any other debate. I’ve generally been treated with respect and seen as intelligent in most discussions that I’ve taken part in...until now. Now I am written off as ignorant and dubbed as a threat to the health of America.

"Anti-vaxxers" is a cruel and discriminatory name that does not respect the viewpoints or efforts of those who oppose the current system and demand that parents and doctors have rights in the decisions of their child’s vaccination schedule.

The ugly truth is that this one-size-fits-all vaccine schedule and dosing is not working...not for everyone. We are trying to mainstream our children’s health and sadly many children are unnecessarily becoming casualties for the greater good.

It baffles me that everyone is willing to accept that many children can be hospitalized or die due to a peanut allergy, but they can’t possibly entertain the thought that some could be sensitive or intolerant of vaccines.  

As I mentioned, the press conference I attended was about a new bill that would mandate the meningitis vaccine for 6th and 11th graders. The facts presented by Robert Kennedy, Jr. in opposition to this mandate were as follows.

He explained that NYS reported 5-7 meningitis cases last year. He then presented the number of children that would receive vaccines under the mandate, and by using the CDC’s own numbers for reported adverse effects and death caused by vaccines he deducted that by mandating this vaccine New York will potentially see 3,000-4,000 children adversely affected and 9-15 children killed. All in the name of preventing 5-7 cases of meningitis (which last year did not result in any deaths). 

See, the issue with some of these mandates is that the research is not being done. To justify the mandate of something - to remove the rights of the healthcare professional and the parent and push an objective - there should be an ENORMOUS risk to the safety of others. Please believe me when I say that my heart goes out to those affected by this disease, and to the loved ones of those who have died, and I am in no way downplaying the loss of even one child...but where does it end?

There were more serious injuries or deaths last year from children on staircases or falling off of swings. What will we mandate next?

My son is diagnosed with autism. When you watch your child deteriorate neurologically, and you see that something has triggered a loss of function and health, you become a detective. You leave no stone unturned. The regurgitated dismissal of an autism/vaccine connection is scientifically unsound. Thousands of parents have been awarded compensation for their child’s vaccine injury resulting in autism. The connection is sited in peer reviewed studies and is not dismissed by scientists. My son has been tested and these tests reveal decreased glutathione levels. This is the body's ability to detoxify itself. We don’t test children for this before they are injected with preservatives and known toxins used as carrying agents for the vaccinations. Likewise my son has markers for chronic viral infection. He has a neuroimmune disorder.

We have done everything possible to protect and safeguard him. After two prominent regressions where he lost all verbal skills due to viral infections which were the straw that broke the camel's back, so to speak, we turned down a road less traveled. We made dietary changes, we added supplements, we made lifestyle changes as a family to encourage his overall health. We pulled up and replaced every carpet in the house, bought air purifiers, and bring him to a chiropractor who specializes in neurological function. We did everything in our power to reduce his stress levels caused by any kind of trauma, toxin, or situation. We began to see improvements. Our little boy was returning to us. My ears catch a word now and then and my heart can barely contain the joy. At one time I wondered if I would ever hear him speak again. Yet, as his eye contact improved, his mood, his health, his joy, I realized that it was not his words I had missed so much, but his laughter. My son is happy again, and if that’s all we get back, it’s enough.

My son cannot receive a medical waiver based on this data - not yet. We need more proof first. Do you know how to prove that your child will continue to lose more neurological function under an aggressive vaccine schedule that his little body can’t handle? How to prove that the vaccine ingredients which cannot be expelled from his body due to his reduced levels of glutathione (antioxidants) and are therefore stored in his gut and his brain, causing inflammation, headaches, stomachaches and increased autism symptoms? Do I continue to expose him just to prove the point? That's like mandating national peanut eating day, and the only way to opt out is to eat a peanut and have a reaction. I refuse!

I’m glad we’ve pooled our resources together as a nation and eradicated so many diseases. I’m proud of our progressive country and our ability to see problems and aggressively attack them. But, in this case, the casualties are too high, and what’s worse, they’re not being addressed. The pendulum swings and we will look back on our current situation with similar disdain as we do past epidemics and trends. The day our sons' lost their voices, a day when a generation of children experienced more developmental and neurological damage than ever recorded in history, and prayfully more than we ever see again. 

We need to push for safer vaccines. We need to allow doctors to make informed decisions about their patient’s health, without threats of being out-of-network for not adhering to mandated schedules that are not a fit for every child. We need to allow parents - the people who know their children better than anybody else - to have a voice in their children's health and development.

There is a call to action here. This is not a fight for anti-vaxxers, this is for EVERY parent who believes that a child’s health is fragile and unique. The CDC schedule is flawed. It hurt my son. I don’t pretend that there are no other factors. I believe he has a genetic disposition, I believe that dietary choices and environmental stressors are involved as well, but I am not mandated to continue feeding him GMO’s and I’m not mandated to continue exposing him to toxic chemicals in cleaning products, and I’m not mandated to give him foods that while rich in nutrients and vitamins, make him ill. NYS wants to mandate one of the few vaccines still using thimerosal (mercury) which is a known neurotoxin. Thankfully many children will tolerate this, sadly more than we save from meningitis, will be damaged by it.

I don’t want to put fear and distrust in the hearts of anyone, but I do ask that as mothers we band together. Let’s hear each other out. Not in anger and accusation, but in sincerity. There are a lot of factors to consider when we address something as complicated as vaccines, but the next time you disregard or spew hateful words at an “anti-vaxxer” please consider that there is a common ground here, and despite our charged emotions, we can work together to find it.

Stand for something or you will fall for anything. Today's mighty oak is yesterday's nut that held its ground. -Rosa Parks