Elijah turns 4 and Isaiah is 11 months

Elijah had his 4th birthday this weekend.  I opted out of the birthday party and we chose to do some cake with the grandparents and I took him to the zoo on his actually birthday.  We went last year when he turned 3 and he loved it.  Lowry park gives a free pass if you go on your birthday and there is no age limit (yes, I asked).The video of him seeing the elephant was priceless and I think he rode the train 3 times last year.  

I had high hopes for more fun, new memories, and less tantrums.  I was rewarded on all accounts.  We saw the FL animal exhibit, he watched me pet some sting rays, and he was again mesmerized by the elephants and giraffes.  Elijah rode his first roller coaster with me, the carousel, and the famous train.  He grumbled a bit about the lines but we avoided screaming tantrums this year.  I tried to see the sea lion show but he only survived about 5 minutes in.  It was a fantastic day together.  Baby boy stayed home with Daddy so I was able to devote the afternoon to my big guy.  

In other kid news: Isaiah turned 11 months old yesterday and I can't help but be a little amazed at my youngest son.  The past month has brought so many changes.  He's been walking since he was 9 months so the majority of his growth was in communication and fine motor skills not gross motor skills.  

He grows more social by the day and loves to wave at everybody... Seriously, everybody.  It's cute to see him smile and wave at even the crankiest of the elderly. He's always rewarded with a responding wave and an encouraging word or two.  He brightens my day so much.  

This past month he's clapping when he's excited, dancing to music, crying when he's told "no," and runs for hugs when he sees us. He loves to find things he's not suppose to have and walks around holding them above his head as he says "this!"  Too cute.  He loves animals so far and is eager to pet Zoey, point at ducks, etc.  A tree frog even jumped on him and he didn't even flinch.  I think I've got my animal lover ;)  

 Food wise, this boy will eat anything he can find.  He's really into eating dirt ... Lord help me.  You'd think one taste and he'd be done, but no, he goes back for more.  

I can't believe it's been 11 months since we became a family of four.  Elijah has adjusted well and loves his  "baby bruder."  Now I suppose I should plan his first birthday party - it's only a month away after all.  

Longest conversation with my 3 year old

I said "ow" because a hair was caught on my necklace

Elijah said "oh momma, you okay?"

“I'm okay buddy,” I replied.

"You got hurt ?" He asked furrowing his brow.

“I did but it's okay now.”

"Oh, you got a boo boo?"

“Yes bud, but it’s better now”

November Recap

> Isaiah is 8 months old today.
  Help us all, my boy is standing up...alone.  He spent his last month working on getting more mobile , tried some new foods  (grapefruit was hilarious), got sick on a carrot casserole on Thanksgiving day, played with his big brother, and is laughing up a storm.  It was a fun month and I look forward to seeing this little guy's personality more each day.  He is such a sweet handsome boy and I love how he lights up to see me :)  I'm doing a decent job of recording his growth - I'm just not updating his baby book yet. 
  ONLY 7 months!

>Thanksgiving Day Notes
It was a fun day.  I set up the Christmas tree before Thanksgiving as I just can't wait to see how Elijah reacts to presents this year.  He's growing up so fast.  I think I'm more excited for Christmas than he is though - I started shopping in July for presents on the clearance racks.  The only issue with this is that you have to predict what they might be into come December.  I made my annual sweet potato pie and it was delicious. I should really bake more often.  We spent the day with my in-laws and Noah wore his turkey hat for the day.  It was a great Thanksgiving day.

Baby 7 month update and other October news

Isaiah's 7 month was quite an adventure and brought a whole lot amusement to my life.  Just when I needed it, really. 

This month he started pulling up on the furniture and began standing.  Isaiah took his first trip in the grocery cart seat...I'm sure it's one of many.  Of course this means that I'm going to have to either move Elijah into the grocery cart itself or allow him to walk next to me.  Either way I think my trips to the store are going to be shorter and more frequent.  

Isaiah worked on a lot more crawling this month and he discovered that standing was quite fun.  His eyes are still a blue/green color but I don't know if they are going to stay that way.  It's one of those fun wait and see genetic traits.  Isaiah enjoyed lots of time in his walker outside but I could tell he wanted to be doing what Elijah was doing. 

 I finally decided that I was going to try the whole trick-or-treating thing this year.  I even went so far as to practice with Elijah.  I got him a basic mask and cape.  Elijah started calling himself "Incredi-boy."   I don't know why he loves to identify with the bad guys in movies.  I'm sure it's just because they seem to be having more fun.  At any rate, Elijah quickly caught on and was very excited about it.  What a funny night! Had a flat tire so we couldn't leave home until 7:30. Elijah was happy to go trick-or-treating at Nana and Papa's house first. I finally convinced him to try the house across the street and we followed another couple with their little girls up the sidewalk. Elijah got freaked out when the little girls ring the door bell and turned around and raced away, superhero cape flying in the wind.  He then proceeded to yell "I want to go see Nana and Papa." He was quite thrilled to visit their doorstep again and get more candy.  Isaiah was dressed as a little baby alligator and did not get any candy but he had a good night all the same.

 

In other Elijah news, I've been working with him on answering the 'What is your name?" question and he's finally able to give me a response.  I have him scheduled for his county speech evaluation in December and I'm hoping that he gets approved for speech therapy - I have not clue when they would be able to start but I know he needs it.

Guilt and hazelnuts

Today I spent a whopping $.59 for a delicious Ikea milk chocolate bar with hazelnuts. I devoured the entire thing in 5 minutes and washed it down with a large coke. What makes this exciting is it's the first time in 8 months that I dared to eat any tree nuts. No, I'm not allergic but my son and husband are. I took precautions, I purchased and ate the bar while away from home. I disposed of the wrapper in a garbage can at a gas station. I washed my mouth out. I washed my hands multiple times.

So what's the problem? I feel guilty - like I still broke some unwritten oath of mom's of kids with nut allergies. When we witnessed and confirmed of his peanut allergy, I went cold turkey on all nuts. Some people are only allergic to peanuts (a legume), and others are allergic to peanuts and tree nuts. DH is allergic to tree nuts too so I just decided to give them all up. I don't buy them, I read nutrition labels on all grocery items, I never eat them, and I switched to Sun Butter.  Giving up peanuts and all peanut butter products hasn't really been that bad at all.  SunButter tastes just as good to me.  It doesn't have quite the same texture but is pretty delicious.  But the tree nuts was hard one for a girl who used to eat an entire can of mixed nuts or cashews in one evening.  

So when did we know?  It all happened at the church pot-luck last Thanksgiving.  Noah had promised him a cookie after the meal.  Elijah was 2.5 years old and didn't use very many words at the time, but he made sure to tell Noah about the cookie he wanted.  Well, the husband went searching with him for a cookie and found one.  Elijah was thrilled and immediately took a bite.  He chewed it a little and then spit it out and coughed a little.  Noah found this weird so he smelled it and he immediately smelled the peanut butter in it and threw the cookie away.  Noah is allergic to peanuts but hasn't ever had severe anaphylaxis.  We piled in the car to leave and noticed that Elijah was still coughing a little and he had started rubbing his eyes.  I suggested we drive to CVS down the road for some benadryl.  I quickly ran in and asked the pharmacist about giving my 2 1/2 year old some Benadryl and what dosage.  By the time I returned to the car I noticed Elijah's face (especially around his eyes) were puffy.  Noah, who had been reluctant at first about the meds, totally agreed with me that he needed some.  Elijah had a dose and looked fine by the evening.  

We talked with the pediatrician and she recommended he have blood allergy testing done (and this was an event in itself).  Elijah's radioallerosorbent (RAST) tests results were shocking to me.  The RAST is tests that is done to detect specific IgE antibody levels to suspected allergens.  These levels are then categorized as Classes 0- 6.  See more here.  A Class 0 means no allergy and a Class 5 or 6 usually means high allergy.  The RAST test is used as a guide to what a patient may be allergic to.  Elijah had many environmental Class 2 allergies but the Class 2 food allergies really surprised me (milk, soy, corn, wheat).  His peanut allergy registered as a Class 6.  Time to fit him for a plastic bubble.  Elijah didn't come back with an issue with hazelnuts but who knows...  He does have and epi-pen now for any accidental consumption of the peanuts. 

 *Now I have to note that a person can still have positive IgE levels even if they have outgrown their allergy (obviously not the case if your child is 2). 

After a few months of food elimination and experimentation I can say that Elijah has no real noticeable reaction to wheat products but tends to have digestive issues and eczema if he has too much milk or corn (this includes corn syrup).  He also gets very irritable from anything with too much corn syrup - no more fruit snacks for treats.  Fruit snacks are just glorified candies anyway. So I work around his food issues. It's made us all healthier.  I found out in my experimenting that I am allergic to soy (my throat started to to close up!!) .  It has been a crazy summer of learning for me.

October Days

October was a big month for me as I turned 29.  It's the start of my final year in my 20s.  What's weird is I still don't really feel like an adult that's nearing 30.  My mind still feels very 'young' in many ways.  I still like the new music (as well as a wide variety of older stuff), I still love movies, video games, and reading the same array of books (classics and popular). 

 

But, when I compare myself to 10 years ago, I think that the things that are changing the most are my perspectives.  I saw things so black and white when I was younger and now I see that there really are a lot of gray areas in life.  Nothing on Earth is all good (only Christ is).  I'm more moderate in my thinking and I really strive to see things from both sides of any argument so I can make an informed decision on whatever it is.  I still prefer to be optimist and I'll admit it would be nice if life wasn't a grayscale.

Too busy to break down.

It's been a crazy few weeks but things seem like they are on the up swing now. The hubby had a trip to the ER for chest pain but thankfully all is well with his heart.  He's recovering from it and I'm recovering from the scare. It's amazing to me how you can push everything aside and focus on what needs to be done in that moment.  I just called 911 and explained the situation, followed their directions, and waiting for the ambulance.  I was calm when they arrived and was able to give his vital stats and list his medications for them.  I saw him receive nitro and get loaded in the ambulance without a tear.  I called his parents and left messages for everyone at 3 am.  I found a friend to come stay with the boys so I could go to the hospital and take my husband pants and shoes and support him.  Now that it's almost 2 weeks later, I'm finally sleeping again but I'm tearing up anytime I think about it.

I am having a lot of trouble giving up my dream of a big family.  It's just not realistic, financially or otherwise.  I always wanted to have at least 3 kids but with Noah's health issues (and frankly my own terrible pregnancies), I just don't see it happening.  I'm not that old though and you never know what could change and how God's plans for you might be different than what you think. Still, I think after this last event with Noah, I just need to accept that a bigger family just might not be a possibility. I am so thankful for the two special boys that He has blessed us with raising and I wouldn't change a thing about them.  They make us proud every day.  I miss those little guys when they go to bed every night.

I'm working on being thankful in general....just in time for Thanksgiving too.