Tag: [email protected]

Categories
Books [email protected]

Tips for a Happy Toddler, a Toddler Bucket List #Blogust #TBT

Toddlers. Some of the cutest people on the planet. And also some of the most terrible. Within seconds toddlers can be loving, friendly, angry and back to loving again. There’s just no understanding what will set them off to crying or laughing.

But we love toddlers and we want to take care of them and make sure they’re happy. I’ve created a toddler bucket list; a list of items that toddlers need to keep them happy and safe.

 

ToddlerBucket List

I suspect that toddlers are similar all over the world. Take a look at the photos above. Do you know what is similar in both photos? Both children would benefit from  Toddler Bucket List. And who doesn’t want a happy toddler? It doesn’t matter whether children live across the globe or across time.The photo on top is me, the little fellow on the bottom pic is my first born, my #1 son. Ya know what we have in common, right? Vaccines.

Vaccines are important to children everywhere. Toddlers can’t grow up to be Unconventional Librarians or big brothers if they don’t get all the vaccines they need. No matter where or when they live, toddlers need vaccines. Help me make sure that toddlers everywhere live long enough to laugh, cry, and have everything they need on the Toddler Bucket list by supporting [email protected] this Blogust.

 

 

Categories
[email protected]

Baby Sisters Need Vaccines Too #Blogust #TBT

Baby Sisters Need Vaccines Too
#Blogust #TBT

 

When you become a parent for the first time you strive to do everything absolutely perfectly: contamination free zones, no strangers holding baby, homemade baby food, every single baby first documented in the baby book.  By the time the second baby comes along, you mean well, but somehow a binky dropped on the floor no longer needs the sterilization chamber of a hospital ward: just pop it into your mouth and give it right back to baby. Homemade baby food? Yeah right. Give #2 some jar food that you got on sale. Sure I have baby’s photo book ready. Ready to take out of the package and insert all those stunning firsts that are still uploaded into my camera.

So you see where I’m going with this? Second and subsequent babies kinda draw the short straw when it comes to getting things. It’s not for lack of love and affection that seconds draw up short; it’s just that parents are busier and they also learn a thing or two about what’s important and so they cut corners.

The one thing seconds  NEVER get skimped on are VACCINES.

In our house, #1 son came first.

#1son

And we were smitten. As newly minted parents we did everything we were supposed to for him. Photos? Check. Homemade baby food? Check. Vaccines? Check.

Then baby sister came along and our world changed dramatically. If I thought I was smitten with my first child, her brother was smitten with her. Photos? Check. Homemade baby food? Not so much. Vaccines? Check.

Of course we got our precious baby sister vaccinated. She stole our hearts and we wanted to make sure that #1 son had a baby sister for life.

Shot@Babysisters

Without vaccines, big brothers won’t get a shot at having a baby sister. And every kid deserves a baby sister. Look at the two siblings above: at her high school graduation #1 son is still smitten with his baby sister.  This #Blogust in honor of them, I’m sharing my personal vaccination stories.

Help give children life-saving vaccines by joining with Blogust. Each comment or post share will provide a vaccine to a child in need – up to 30,000 in the month of August.

Please help me help the little ones. Share and comment. Every time you do, a little sibling somewhere can get a vaccine.

Categories
resources

I’m talking kids, books, & diarrhea on Capitol Hill with [email protected]

If you’re new here, you might not know that I LOVE to talk about diarrhea.

IMG_20160302_101037

Thanks to my volunteer work with [email protected], I am able to help future little readers all over the globe grow up to be healthy readers.  In the photo above, I talk to new [email protected] champions about how to find their platform by looking inside themselves and seeing where their passion lies. Turns out, mine happened when my toddler became dehydrated from a case of rotavirus and we had to take him to the ER. Twenty three years later, he is a grown man, all because we had access to health care. But there are many mothers who don’t have access to care for their infants. And that knowledge hurt me. In all my inexperience raising my first child, I knew one thing: when all else fails, call a doctor. A doctor is just a 10 minute car ride away.

ea043eba7bd645213ca0f94661496e2a6f8018f5Shot@LifeMozambiqueImage3

But as I learned through [email protected], a doctor visit is often 3 miles away. On foot. In the heat. That knowledge tore me up.  No child should die from dehydration caused by diarrhea and the rotavirus. That’s why I love to talk about diarrhea; I want everyone to have the same options I do. And so I will discuss diarrhea with anyone who will listen. Children who are sick can’t read.

Thanks to [email protected] I can make a difference.

shot_at_life_badge_300x250

Ask me how you can too.

 

Categories
[email protected]

It’s Champion #ShotatLife Day in #Blogust!

During [email protected]’s #Blogust 2015—a month-long blog relay—some of North America’s most beloved online writers, photo and video bloggers and [email protected] Champions will come together and share inspirational quotes for their children. Every time you comment on this post and other #Blogust contributions, or take action using the social media on this website, [email protected] and the United Nations Foundation pages, one vaccine will be donated to a child around the world (up to 50,000).

I’m sharing some quotes on Pinterest. Check them out. Here’s a sneak peak:

Blogustvax2puzzle

Pop over to my [email protected] Board on Pinterest (click the pic) to see a bigger puzzle piece and be inspired!

Categories
[email protected]

School’s Out for Summer but Vaccines Never Take a Break

Hey Friends! Schools out for EVER! (I mean summer) But that doesn’t mean that illnesses and disease take a break. In fact, diseases never take a break and they don’t care if you’re in school or not. That’s why vaccines work all year long.  But you know what? Vaccines don’t work if you don’t get em.  As a [email protected] Champion, I’m still committed to making sure my little readers stay healthy. To be sure, our littles might not be sharing germs with other littles in schools; however if your littles are in day care, germs never stop (shudder).

Imagine a world where little guys like this could be healthy and free from disease?

Shot At Life - UNF, Honduras, Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2012. (Photo/Stuart Ramson)
Shot At Life – UNF, Honduras, Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2012. (Photo/Stuart Ramson)

He’s cute right?  This little cute dude could become a statistic. That’s cuz 1.5 million littles die every year from vaccine preventable disease.

That hurts my feels. All of them. No mother should have to bury her little one.

Ever.

THAT is why I’m a [email protected] Champion. We all want the same thing: healthy littles. I’m a mother. You might be a mother or an aunt or an uncle. And you have a little one you care about. Remember that time you read Goodnight Moon to them? Or took turns reading Hop on Pop?

Fun right?

Sick littles don’t want to read.

Please join me in supporting funding for global vaccinations.

Germs are the bad guys. Vaccines are the good guys. Visit [email protected] to see what we’re doing to keep my littles healthy.

School’s out! Schedule your vaccines for fall NOW.

Categories
[email protected]

It’s World Immunization Week! Let’s Keep My Little Readers Healthy #vaccineswork #WIW15

You know how crazy I am about kids. I’m also crazy about keeping them healthy. That’s why I’m a [email protected] Champion; I want to do what I can to keep my littles healthy.

IMG_5439

 

Here I am getting my flu shot last fall. YES, I totally wore my tiara; why shouldn’t I? My life is important enough for tiaras and vaccines! And speaking of vaccines, did you know that vaccines save up to 3 million lives every year? Yet, 1 in 5 children still lack access to the life-saving vaccines that help keep them healthy.

ea043eba7bd645213ca0f94661496e2a6f8018f5Shot@LifeMozambiqueImage3

 

Look at these little faces? Don’t they deserve healthy lives?

The answer is a resounding YES.

So, for World Immunization Week, follow my other [email protected] Champion friends as we talk about the importance of funding immunization programs all across the globe. Visit [email protected] to see how you can make a difference. Look for hashtags:

  • #WIW15
  • #vaccineswork
  • #endpolio

Let’s make a difference in the loves of littles so they have a shot at reading books!

Categories
Books [email protected]

Martin Luther King Jr Day of Service #MLKDay2015

What are you doing today for Martin Luther King Day of Service?

Temp Logo

Read a book

Help a friend

Help a Stranger

Be a Global Citizen

Og5J_j3O

Change the World

mlk collage

Categories
[email protected]

A Librarian at the United Nations

Thanks to an opportunity provided by [email protected], I had a chance to visit the United Nations! The experience was crazy enlightening and really makes you think about your place in making the world a better place.  Here’s a collage of what we saw that day.

UNCollage

 

The place is amazing! Thanks to [email protected] for an eye opening experience. Have you ever been? Tell me about it!

Categories
[email protected]

Sharing [email protected] at a High School Volunteer Fair

Recently I had the chance to chat about [email protected] at my daughter’s high school volunteer fair. It was a privilege to be able to share the [email protected] message with hundreds of potential new [email protected] champions! During the fair I talked about the need for vaccinations and what we do to help spread the message.

I set up a photo booth and let the kids pick their props and upload the photos to social media with the hashtag #vaccineswork.  Take a look at some of the morning’s events.

Here’s my table.

Shot@Life set up

 

Here I am testing the photobooth

IMG_6050

 

My daughter and her friends.

IMG_6053

 

More friends.

IMG_6051

 

I had to keep an eye on Polio and Pneumonia so they didn’t accidentally find new homes.

IMG_6055

 

It was a great morning; and I was hoarse after speaking so much.  It was an honor to speak to the teens and I look forward to seeing what they do in the future.

Have you ever spoken to teens about [email protected]?

Categories
Books [email protected]

World Polio Day #endpolio

Every year, World Polio Day provides an opportunity to recognize the importance of polio eradication efforts. Every October 24, success stories in the fight against polio are highlighted to encourage worldwide support in the movement to end polio.

With your support, we can #endpolio once and for all.

endpolioforever

We’re this close.

endpolioCOMIC