Not For the Faint of Heart

Ok now that I've given you the disclaimer, believe me, the pictures posted below are so hard to see.  This is what happens when Eliseo eats anything with egg.  Actually, I'm even questioning if this was from egg.  Obviously, he had another severe food reaction, we probably should have given him the epinephrine, but we didn't. Our pediatrician has engrained in our heads that next time we will give it to him.

I took these pictures as we were in the doctor's office, waiting for her to finish observing him. It took Benadryl, Prednisone and about 3 hours for him to look like himself again. We will be managing this food allergy more aggressively from now on. Poor baby.

A Bunch of Stuff

Ok so it seems like all of a sudden, it's all coming together for my baby Eliseo.  I feel like these updates should have happened over a few months, but I guess they'll all go in this post!

1.  TALKING--I don't know what he's saying, but he has a lot to say.  And apparently, it's really funny, cuz this is how it goes:  GNAA GNAA GNAA.....hahahaha (insert hearty, hilarious laugh here).  GNAA GNAA could mean so many things, maybe one day we'll figure it out.  Also on the list of new (and real) words:  MAMA....FINALLY!!!  Mama isn't entirely new, he has incorporated Mama into his whines and cries for a while now, but a happy, cheery "Mama" didn't come out of his mouth until this week.  Now, it's his favorite chant:  Mamamammamamamamama.  OK yeah, I love it.  And I might add, I love it even more because (other than uh oh)...it's his first real word, and he said it before DADA.  Ha...so there you go.

2.  WALKING--I mean, we don't have an all out marathon, but we have steps.  A couple of days ago, he and I were playing in the living room before bed.  He was standing there, and just decided to take a step, then another and another...and there I was, in complete awe that he decided to do this for the first time in my presence.  So I stood him up again at arm's length, and he took more steps towards me.  Glenn was sleeping, I went ahead and woke him up since I figured he wouldn't want to miss this...unfortunately because of his schedule he misses out on too many firsts.  I tried to get a video, but it's tough when you are the only person there (Glenn didn't jump up out of bed, he gave his half-asleep "good boy" and then conked out again).  The next day I brought him to daycare and he was taking steps between me and Janelle.  His preferred method transportation is still crawling, he's the fastest crawler you've ever seen, but I think as he figures out how much more convenient walking is, he'll be running around here before you know it.

3.  DANCING--boy's got moves, let me tell ya.  Glenn was working out in the yard and had E with him in one of his exersaucers.  He was sitting in front of the keyboard,  and I came out of the front door.  He hit one of the keys that plays a song, and I started dancing, moving my arms up and down.  He mimicked me, moving his arms up and down dancing with me.  So now, he hears music, he shakes his little booty and moves his arms up and down like he's doing a baby robot.  Sooo cute.  During my work day, I listen to a Sirius XM radio station on TV, it's an 80s and 90's country music station.  As soon as put on the music everyday, he gets a big smile on his face.  But you know, he's loved music since he was in my belly.  The most notable thing I remember in pregnancy was being in church, and when the music would start, he would kick.  Now when we are in church and the music starts, he is mesmerized and I sing in his ear.  He absolutely LOVES music.

4.  TAKING OFF HIS PANTS--well, there's nothing more to say about this one, is there.

Alright, those are a few of the things going on around here.  I just keep thinking everyday as he keeps discovering new things, and as he realizes his potential, that he's only going to get bigger and learn more things and amaze us in ways that may seem simple, but that are huge steps in his little world.  He's never going to be this little ever again; it is something to be appreciated.  He might not have been the youngest baby to ever talk, walk, dance or take off his pants, but why would I be in such a hurry for him to grow up?  And sooo soo much to look forward to.

The Daily Grind

Yep, back to our normal. I used to think normal was boring, that life was about the moments that were out of the norm...but now I like good old predictable normal.  I guess normal makes you appreicate extraordinary and vice versa. Anyway...enough of my philosophy.  Today was a normal beginning to a normal week, probably the first full week of normal we've had in a while.  E cut a new tooth, up top to the left of his front tooth....that's tooth #7. And it is causing him the same pain and discomfort as the first 6. I gave him Tylenol before bed yesterday but he still woke up in agony at around 430. I tried to let him cry it out but I could tell he was in pain. So I went up, Orajelled him and then cuddled with him on the couch. He didn't fully go back to sleep until about 7.. so I slept past my alarm but what the heck, we don't do daycare on Mondays so I just enjoyed the extra bit of sleep.

We've been experimenting with all kinds of foods lately, I've been trying to give him proteins for each meal and at least a veggie for dinner and fruit throughout the day. Although, I do find myself giving him a fair amount of pasta and some kind of sauce.  And cheese.  This kid can take out a ham sandwich like you've never seen.  Its hard to be creative with food for the little guy, but I dont want him to eat a bunch of processed stuff ir the same things every day.  He usually ends up helping G or I finish off whatever we choose to eat. One thing is certain, he loves food.

E and I went for a walk in the park tonight. Its been a little muggy but not too bad today. I'm thinking of taking a half day on Wednesday and taking him to the pool. We are working on our tans so we don't fry in Jamaica. We've been walking a lot lately.  I also started up my Bikram yoga classes again...bring on the torture! Naa...its really not bad....the yoga part is awesome. The smoldering heat..well I'm getting used to it again.  Its worth it for the last few pounds.  And I haven't passed out or vomited yet, despite some close calls.

And that's all I got folks.  I know its not the mind shattering blog post you might have been looking for, but that's just normal life for ya.

Family

I have gone missing for the last few weeks, but with good reason.  We've had lots of company around here lately....and who wouldn't want to come and hang out with Eliseo?  He's at the point where he is starting to show his personality, and it turns out he's got a pretty good sense of humor!  He's super talkative (although he still has his own language), the greatest facial expressions, and he laughs so much; you've never heard a little boy laugh so much.

So, Grammy was in town for quite a while.  This kid LOVES his Grammy.  When she's in the room, he actually prefers her to me.  What's up with that?  What a little traitor...lol.  She does all the things that Grammy's do...feeds him sugar, coffee (yes, coffee), riles him up and then gives him back.  She can't stand to be away from her little guy, either.  When she's in town, even though she has her own place she either comes here everyday, or we go there.  He loves to go to Grammy's and play on her deck, play with her giraffes and spend time in the pool.  It's truly a blessing that he gets to spend so much time with her.  We just wish it wasn't every now and then.  We'd like a more permanent Grammy situation. 

While Grammy was in town, Aunt Dawny and his 3 cousins Jordyn, Jayden and Jessica came to visit.  The girls have always been fascinated with him (all babies, really), but this time Jayden took a little more interest in him too.  We were busy every day, swimming in the pool, visiting with my brother and his family and my cousin and his family that live in town.  We enjoyed a day at the zoo...it was a hot, sweaty day at the zoo but we made do.  They had those big swamp cooler type fan misters out, we spent a lot of time in front of those.  We took a ride on the train, but Eliseo fell asleep the second it took off and took a good, long nap.

Then last weekend, after everyone left Missouri, we all met up in Indiana for my cousin's fiancée's bridal shower.  I decided to get E a nice outfit for the summer, since we have several showers, 2 weddings, and oh...a trip to Jamaica (who could forget that).  So, I got to dress him up a little for the shower and he looked soooo cute (as usual).  The shower was fun:  Christmas in July theme.  E kept very busy, crawling around and playing with all his cousins.  We just love being around family.  It makes me happy for E that we live close to everyone.  I want him to have his family.

Anyway, that's what we've been up to.  Now everyone is gone, we've been enjoying the quiet but it always makes me a little sad.  I kinda like the chaos :).  But, I've conked out on the couch pretty much every night this past week, catching up on my relaxation time I guess.  We have about a month until Jamaica, we are going to an out of town wedding the week before our Jamaica trip and another out of town wedding a couple of weeks after we get back.  We were going to try to fit in a trip to the Jersey shore, but my aunt that lived there lost her house to Superstorm Sandy (but they are rebuilding).  We have other family in NJ, but another trip seems like too much travel right now.  I'm already wondering how all these trips so close together are going to affect E's schedule (or more likely, mine!). 

All for today, it's a nice day out so E, Snickers and I are going to go for a walk before it gets too warm.  Maybe some pool time later...I love weekends. 

Too late for a 4th of July Post?

I'm gonna write about it anyway!

So I am a traditional girl. On the 4th, give me a parade, a pool, a BBQ and a good fireworks show and you will see a happy girl. I guess that made me a very happy girl this 4th of July.

My mom and sister and kids were in town which made it awesome. We started off the day at the Wentzville parade... big disappointment this year.  Last year it was decent, this year. .LAME.  Next year we'll try O'Fallon.  I mean, we sat out there with our candy bags ready to collect and I think one person threw a Tootsie Roll our way.  We had to beat up little girls for some beads. Wentzville must have had some budget cuts.  Though one thing was way better than last year...the weather! Last year it was 102 degrees and we were melting. This year was about 85 and a day full of sunshine.  E was so little last year, he slept through the whole thing while I was shvitzing under his warm body. This year he was in his umbrella stroller playing with his cars. He didn't really care much about the parade, but a thing or 2 caught his eye.

After the snoozefest of a parade we got our bathing suits on and went for a dip in Grammys pool. I decked Eliseo out with his monkey swim shirt and trunks, sprayed on the 50 spf and put him in his little raft. He loved it. He was even kicking his legs like he was swimming for reals.  I was pulling him and Jessica around each in their own raft. Good workout for the mommy.

Next up was the BBQ. One of my running buddies of yore was in town and she is now prego so I HAD to see her, plus all of my current buddies too, so we trekked over to Illinois for some food, more pool time for the kiddos and some belly rubbing! We stayed there to catch the towns fireworks, which were pretty decent, I must say.  E did really good.  Hr was tired already but he had his head on my chest and I covered his other ear with my hand so the noisy ones didn't scare him. He was a little clingy every now and then, but no major freak outs.

The only down side to the day was that Glenn had to work so he couldn't join us. I haven't checked next years calendar but I hope he gets to enjoy it with us cuz he worked last year too. Next year E will be 2 and I bet he's gonna have a ball.  Or be scared shitless.  I guess we'll see.

A Day at the Allergist

Oh my, I am a SLACKER!!!!  Slacker, I tell you.  I've just been so busy lately.  My mom has been in town and my sister visited and we stayed super super busy.  By the end of every day I've been ready to just pass out.  No time for thinking about what to write.  Even now, I'm supposed to be doing something else, but I feel guilty for not updating you all.  I guess I have a few things to go over, including our 4th of July and visit with E's cousins, aunt and Grammy,but first and foremost a big day was last Tuesday, allergy day.

Following our big egg incident, the pediatrician sent us to the allergist (remember that this is our 2nd big reaction to food).  She said that some allergies you just don't mess with.  Anything that causes anaphalactic shock--high on the list.  I didn't have to go this one alone, Daddy and Grammy also came along for this trip.  I was so nervous about the test hurting him, as we were sitting in the waiting room we heard a little kid screaming.  The receptionist saw my angst and said "It's not that bad, it doesn't even hurt."  Hmm, this kid was freaking out.   I was maybe freaking out a little myself.  But they called us back, Grammy stayed in the waiting room while Glenn and I prepared ourselves to experience the worst.  The nurse asked us lots of questions:  what I thought caused the reaction, what the reaction was, what other things he might have reacted to in the past.  The test consisted of 8 small "panels" of small needles that would just penetrate the skin.  She was able to fit 5 panels on his little back.  We tested some food stuff and some environmental stuff.  And you know what?  It was over so fast, and he didn't even wince.  He did want to scratch...like RIGHT away.  The results:  NO peanut allergy YAY!!!  Egg allergy...check.  Cats...but no dogs YAHOO!  Maple and elm trees (good thing we got an oak!), some grasses, ragweed....and the most surprising was wheat.  Like, a MAJOR reaction to wheat.  WTH??  How did I not notice that?  So now we have to be very careful about reading labels and avoiding things with egg and wheat.  Obviously, he can tolerate some level of these things, since he has eaten cakes and breads, including wheat bread with no reaction.  But, we don't know those answers from the screening.  So we have to do bloodwork.  I am questioning myself on this, do we need to put him through that?  I think egg and wheat are very difficult things to avoid and we need to know exactly what he can tolerate, since the reactions he has had (especially the last ) were pretty severe.  We are equipped with Eppi-pens...oh Lord I hope I never have to use these things.  What we have aren't exactly pens, they are more like cartridges and they talk you through the process.  You take the lid off and it tells you exactly what to do.  The pharmacist was demonstrating and I swear I was going to have a panic attack. I haven't made the bloodwork test yet, but we think the sooner, the better.  He won't remember it now, I will for sure be more traumatized by this.  The good news is, children do tend to outgrow allergies to egg and wheat.  The bad news is, we have to test again next year to see if he's outgrown them. 

So, that's it for now.  I promise to tell you about our Independence Day and all the fun stuff we did while my sister was here.  And I won't wait another week, I swear!