To vaccinate or not vaccinate, that is the question.

The more I learn about vaccines, the
more I have been rethinking my position.  For my son we determined we wanted to do a
delayed schedule. Our pure, healthy, clean little baby... I just didn't want to
put anything "bad" in his body just yet. We waited until he was a few
months old to start vaccinating and now he is currently up to date on all
vaccines as a toddler. I wasn't sure how to navigate the exemption process and
I was nervous that we could have issues with the state if we didn't
vaccinate.  Since then, I have learned that the vaccine exemption for
philosophical purposes is very easy to complete and electing to not vaccinate for
philosophical purposes is much different than neglecting to follow-up on your
child’s wellness. I think that if we are ever blessed with a second child, I
will elect to only do very specific vaccines.

Here is why. Vaccines today in the US
have tons of additives.  It takes tons of
time and research to conclude all of the additives added to each manufactures
vaccine concoction.  However, this is a
copy and paste from the Center for Disease Control website of some of the “common”
additives:

“Common substances found in vaccines include:Aluminum gels or salts of aluminum which are added as adjuvants to
help the vaccine stimulate a better response. Adjuvants help promote an
earlier, more potent response, and more persistent immune response to the
vaccine.
Antibiotics which are added to some vaccines to prevent the growth of
germs (bacteria) during production and storage of the vaccine. No vaccine
produced in the United States contains penicillin.
Egg protein is found in influenza and yellow fever vaccines, which are
prepared using chicken eggs. Ordinarily, persons who are able to eat eggs or
egg products safely can receive these vaccines.
Formaldehyde is used to inactivate bacterial products for toxoid
vaccines, (these are vaccines that use an inactive bacterial toxin to produce
immunity.) It is also used to kill unwanted viruses and bacteria that might
contaminate the vaccine during production. Most formaldehyde is removed from
the vaccine before it is packaged.
Monosodium glutamate (MSG) and 2-phenoxy-ethanol which are used as
stabilizers in a few vaccines to help the vaccine remain unchanged when the
vaccine is exposed to heat, light, acidity, or humidity.
Thimerosal is a mercury-containing preservative that is added to vials
of vaccine that contain more than one dose to prevent contamination and growth
of potentially harmful bacteria. (SOURCE)”

Another adjuvant found in some specific
vaccines is peanut oil. Every wonder why in the past 50 years peanut allergies
have sky rocketed in the US specifically to the millions? It’s because some
vaccines use peanut oil as an adjuvant. This means when the immune system is
triggered to fight the introduction of the virus, it is also triggered to be
sensitive to peanuts.  Unfortunately, my
son has a life threatening allergy to peanuts now thanks to vaccines, but don’t
worry, he won’t get the chicken pox in kindergarten (insert eye roll here).
(SOURCE)

EpiPen: $300 to $630. Revenue rose to $2.69 billion in the first quarter of 2017 (SOURCE). 

“Vaccines cause immunity and hypersensitivity”
(SOURCE). So, the medical community has decided we will take the good with the
bad. This makes sense for life threatening or untreatable illness like say,
polio… but maybe not Hep B. The chance of your infant contracting Hep B is so incredibly
low and if he or she did, it is in fact treatable.  Also, let’s talk about the chicken pox. It is
not life threatening and in my opinion, it is kind of a rights of passage.  I of course would prefer that my child never
get sick, but being sick for 2-7 days in my opinion is a normal part of life
and development and preferable to living with a lifelong serious condition.

The sensitivity side effect of vaccines goes
even deeper. Anything introduced around the time of the vaccine (specifically
24 hours of injection), your child has a risk of forming sensitivity to. Some
children are more sensitive than others and some children have sensitivities
for longer periods than others and may even become allergies (like food
allergies).  Ever wonder why so many children
have a sensitivity to milk for 6 months and then “grow out of it.”  100 years ago babies had two choices, breast
milk (which had dairy in it from mother’s ingestion) or dairy directly. Now,
the number of children with dairy sensitivities is skyrocketing and that is
because on day of vaccine we feed our children dairy, and lots of it.

Introducing toxins into our body always has a
cost. If I as an adult told you I was going to eat aluminum, you would freak
out. Yet we think it is okay to shoot it into our baby’s blood stream. Yes, it
is a very small amount, but think…. It is introduced several different times
(2-3 shots every 2-3 months) during your child’s first two years on earth
and when they are at their most sensitive (due to the hypersensitivity caused
by vaccines). It has a long term lasting effect.  To quote the CDC again, aluminum has toxic
and tragic effects on the human brain and other organs (SOURCE). I mean, why
are we doing this?

Around the world, different countries view
vaccines differently. Many countries have made it illegal to use some of the
same additives as the US and thus have much lower rates of vaccine injury.  If I had the opportunity to do it over, I
would only vaccinate for life threatening, untreatable conditions and leave the
rest on the table.  

Activated Charcoal, My new favorite.

I feel like every few months, I get a new favorite natural remedy that I just obsess over.  It started with ACV (apple cider vinegar), then moved to passion flower, then coconut oil and so on.... I'm sure many of you can relate. My new obsession is activated charcoal. 

Regardless of your religious or spiritual views, we absolutely cannot deny the amazing gifts that our earth presents to us. We have the capability of healing and preventing nearly every element with clean living, but unfortunately with the way our modern international culture sustains itself, finding clean living or attempting clean living is increasingly more difficult. But back to my initial point, activated charcoal is certainly one of our earths natural gifts.

What is it? 

Activated charcoal is charcoal made from burned coconut shells, olive pits, bone char, peet, coal or sawdust. One of these ingredients is heated to a specific high temperature activating an important pore structure within the charcoal.

How it works.

Basically the pores of the charcoal act as a filter within your own body. Much like a water filter. Additionally, charcoal not only filters, it pulls and attracts toxins into its filter. "On a molecular level, the spinning electrons make activated charcoal highly electrical, putting out a negative ionic charge. The negative charge attracts positively charged substances such as toxins and poisons like a magnet (source). "

Our household has used it to whiten teeth and treat diarrhea, heartburn or constipation in both adults and toddlers. We also use it to purify both adult and babes blood and organs from toxins such as heavy metals.  The adults just take it in pill form, easy, but baby gets a dose in his milk mixed with honey. He loves it!  For topical uses, like teeth whitening or facial mask, go for it, but for ingestion, activated charcoal peaks its use at four weeks. So we do one month on and one month off to get its full benefits. 

You can go youtube binge crazy learning more on this goodie. So enjoy!  

Choosing the Right School

By Contributing Writer: Kim Wilhite of Oregon

We all want what is best for our children and choosing the right schooling is one of those things that will keep a mom up at night. When it came time for my oldest son to start kindergarten, I didn't know what to do or what was best for him. I looked into every option possible to make sure we were putting him in a school that met his needs, as well as our family's needs.

We felt it was very important to choose a school that was safe, had a low workload (little to no homework), a clean campus and small class sizes. Something else that weighed heavy on us was time. We wanted to be involved in our son's education and his daily life and didn't feel public school met that need for us. Sending him to kindergarten for 30 hours per week was daunting., I mean, this was the kid that got tired after playing for an hour at the park. I didn't want my little guy to be coming home exhausted and with 45 minutes of homework. I wanted to be able to play with him and teach him things.

So, the search began...

We looked at a private school, a Montessori school, a charter school and also considered homeschooling. We were pretty bummed when we toured the private school. The prices were high, while the campus was underwhelming.  The Montessori school seemed like a good fit for us because they offered the option to choose between three and five days per week attendance. We really liked the idea of being able to teach him for two days per week, while still being able to socialize him at school for the other three. Unfortunately, we were also disappointed when we toured the Montessori school. The campus was dirty and the classroom was complete chaos. Our son likes organization and learns better in a quiet and calm environment. The lack of structure at this school just wasn't a good fit. 

We were now left with the choice to home school or send him to a charter school. I wanted to home school over everything else, but I had this lingering feeling that he needed to be able to make friends and build a life outside of his parents and little brother (as hard as it would be to let him go). That is when I messaged a local mom group for advise on charter schools in the area. I also verbalized the idea that I was also considering homeschooling. 

I got a lot of recommendations! The one that stood out the most to me was a charter school that had a part time home school option. We went and checked it out and LOVED it! The in class days were Tuesdays and Thursdays, with the other days being left for the parent to home school. 

We decided to go all in and our son attended that school for two years. It was an amazing experience and we all learned a lot. The best thing for us was this school allowed us to be in control of our son's education. We had control of the homework load and what he learned/didn't learn. I would definitely recommend this option for parents who have time to home school, as you need at least 20 hours per week to teach and organize assignments. If you have more children, it obviously becomes more time consuming. 

Kaly Martin Photography