Typhoid Day 3 (and other stuff)

Last week Scott and I went to see the travel clinic nurse to get our vaccines. We elected to take the oral version of the typhoid vaccine to cover five years instead of the injectable (is that a word?) version of the same vaccine. He took his 4 doses last week, but because I was starting (and finishing) a cold last week, I chose to wait until this week to start mine. Today is day 3. We both took each dose of the "vaccine in a capsule" at night to sleep through any nausea that might occur. The nurse indicated that the nausea would be the worst (oh yea and the potential rash that might appear???) but if you took the pill at night you would sleep through the worst of it. It's 10pm and I took the capsule about an hour ago.... uh oh!

On another note.... a friend of ours who lives in the great swing state of Pennsylvania (can we get a shout out!) had asked a question about our dog, Shadow. She was wondering if we are taking her with us or what is her plan. Well.... we really don't know what we are going to do with her. She is definitely not taking the trip with us, as they eat everything on four legs, fragrant beef anyone (ouch!). We have had a couple of family members "volunteer" to keep her for the two years that we will be abroad, but we are still unsure of what her address will be.

She is a sweet dog (Boxer, age 6) and very well behaved.  She does like to sleep on the couch and as you see from the picture she has to have a warm blankie for cold Atlanta fall mornings (insert laugh here!).  This kind of sounds like the dating game for dogs......  

On yet another side note.....  Tuesday is November 4th.  If you have not voted yet (we did last week ~ in Georgia we could early vote), please make it a point to go out on Tuesday.  It is your civic duty as an American!  

Mark your calendars...........

As we were watching Good Eats tonight (a very weird Mr. Sweeny episode) we saw the first commercial for the Dear Food Network Thanksgiving episode that Jacob and I participated in back in August. We are so excited that it is finally going to be on. The "premiere" will be on November 17th at 9pm. And if you miss it then..... I'm sure that it will air another 100 times before Thanksgiving day. I have promised Jacob that we will watch it together that first night, even though it is a Monday and a school night.

So mark your calendars and don't forget the popcorn.............

Happy Birthday Jacob!

Happy birthday to our youngest son, Jacob. It was 10 years ago that I waited until the finish of the Monday night football game between the NE Patriots and the NY Jets to deliver you. I cannot believe that you are 10 years old!

Happy Birthday sweet boy!

Governor Palin on SNL

Reality

I think that reality may be setting in. Today I realized that we are approximately 8 months from the much anticipated 16 hour flight to Shanghai, followed by the bullet train ride to Suzhou. I came to that realization today by phoning the pediatrician and also the local health department to schedule the appointment for the first of many vaccines. The Hepatitis A vaccine is a 6 month process, vaccine then 6 months later a follow up blood test. The kids are scheduled to get theirs on Friday right after their dental cleaning (a good way to remember the 6 month follow up). Scott and I are waiting for the International Travel Clinic at the Clayton County Health Department ~ is that weird to say? ~ to return our message to set up our appointments.

We will all need to get our Hep A vaccines, then the Typhoid vaccine (which I heard is not fun), then perhaps the rabies, and finally the Japanese Encephalitis. Wow! The last 2 vaccines will depend on what the "expert" at the health department tells us. Those vaccines are "optional" depending on where you will be traveling.

If you are interested in learning more about traveling to China (to see us????) check out this website:  http://wwwn.cdc.gov/travel/destinationChina.aspx

On a side note, we purchased our tickets for the upcoming King Tut exhibit and also the upcoming Terra Cotta Army warriors that will be "visiting" Atlanta during the next 6 months or so. We are very excited, even though the few people that we told about the exhibit at the High Museum to see the Warriors just laughed at us since we will see the actual site in Xi'an. We cannot wait for both, and I'll take lots of pictures and will surely post a few here.

If you missed it: