Events & Happenings

The last few weeks have been filled with adventure as we had back to back vacations from Huntington Beach with Uncle Dave and Aunt Ann's and followed by a trip to Colorado to spend a week with Mom, go to Carrie's shower, and run the Bolder Boulder (of course). This post is more for family history purposes rather than anything, so it's long.

Disneyland

We mostly went for Hudson since he has had an obsession with Mickey Mouse since he knew what the creature was. I have no idea how it all begins. I never remember introducing it. Anyway to our surprise Sadie loved every minute of Disneyland as well. She says her favorite ride was the Winnie the Pooh ride and she loved seeing the princesses and was convinced they were waving to her in the parade. Hudson's favorite rides were the roller coasters. He and Steve rode almost all of them. Steve said H seemed terrified during the ride but as soon as it was over he would say, "let's do it again!".


Steve and I had so much fun seeing the kids' excitement. I was even happy to sit with S and E as they took naps and Steve and Hudson rode the roller coasters. I never thought that time would come that I would enjoy missing a ride, but things don't sit quite the same anymore after having kids. We'll leave it at that. I just loved seeing my kids have so much fun. I am starting to understand how my parents loved to spoil us.


Uncle Dave and Aunt Ann's
I wish I had a picture of them with the kids. We had so much fun. Hopefully they felt the same :). Let me paint you a picture of how good they were to us. After a LONG day at Disneyland we walked in the door. I was carrying E who was drenched in Gatorade that he spilled all over himself, sticky hands from the sucker we gave him (see above pic, we were desperate), and he smelled like throw up b/c I accidentally gave him soy, and he had puked all over Steve earlier that day. H and S were covered in dirt and were in desperate need of a bath. So we walked in, Uncle Dave grabbed E (even though I warned him of the mess) changed him, BATHED him! In the meantime, Ann starts a bath, takes over with the other two kids, and before we could even get the kids PJ's out of their suitcase they were bathed and clean and ready for bed! We were amazed and think they are more than ready for grandparenthood. Aunt Ann also treated us with yummy meals and snacks for the go. We had a great time catching up with them in their lives and spending time with Josh as well.

The Beach

We were lazy on the beach and were able to catch up with Maly and Dan and meet beautiful Mansavanh. The kids were hilarious when the waves came . . . Hudson loved it, and couldn't get enough of it, Sadie ran all the way back to her towel, and Everett cried and wanted me to hold him (not the warm sink bath he is used to). He also consumed about half of the sand on the beach.

We also saw Dolphins! My first time to see wild dolphins.

Colorado

We ditched Daddy, who started his internship and took off to Colorado to see Grandma and Grandpa. When we were taking off in the plane Sadie said, "hold on Natalee!" I had no idea she knew my first name, or where that came from. It gave me a good laugh. The kids did great, but there was a crazy man sitting BEHIND Hudson who complained about the kids the whole time and actually blamed Hudson for spilling his drink. The whole thing is quite a funny story, but this post is becoming anything but brief, so I will move on.

Mom helped me improve my sewing skills and she showed me her new quilting skills. We had fun managing the kids and shopping as well. It was fun, crazy, and relaxing all in one. We were also able to go to Carrie's shower, which of course was a great party.

I was able to catch up with my Colorado friends as well.

I almost forgot to mention I beat Steve in the Boulder Bolder. Love you hon.

I now know why people think I look a lot like my brother Matt. Are you speed walking hon? :)

Anniversary

Oh, and how can I not mention celebrating the six best years of my life. My mom watched the kids while we had a Boulder getaway to celebrate. We love each other. We won't get mushy on the blog.

whew.

Everett's Allergies Cont...

Here is an update on Everett's food allergy situation. I received an email from a friend who's son has major food allergies. I found it so informative I thought I would just cut and paste (for those of you who are interested).

1. Most doctors (I would say at least 90%) are clueless about food allergies. They seem to get pet or pollen allergies but are not educated on the various symptons of food allergies. There is a website, I think it is for the Allergy and Anaphalaxis Network. Something like that. Try to see what you can find on there about possible symptoms for food allergies.
2. I recommend feeding your child nothing but rice (rice pasta is good, Trader Joes sells a brown rice bread, rice crackers, brown rice, rice milk, rice cereals both a hot kind like Bob's Red Mill and other cold like a gluten and corn free Rice Chex), chicken (seasoned with just salt and pepper), potatoes, and apples (best if lightly steamed or sauced). After a week or two of this kind of diet then slowly (maybe one thing every 3 or so days) add in one thing at a time. Corn allergies are quite common so I would definitely avoid corn as well as soy. This means nothing from corn: meal, syrup. starch, and the like. Other highly allergenic foods to avoid for a little while are nuts of all kinds, other legumes (the soybean is a legume) including pinto beans, eggs, wheat, and oats as they are closely related to wheat. It sounds like you have also removed milk. That is probably smart. If you are concerned about calcium there are some good liquid supplements out there.
3. Follow your instincts. The doctors told me (even one of the most well-known dermatologists at PCH) that Josh's problems were not food allergies. I knew they were wrong and the years have proved me right.
4. Read every label.
5. Try to not get discouraged. If taking away all the foods is not working then he might not have allergies. Still, sometimes it takes even 2 or more weeks after you have removed the offending food for the symptoms to alleviate. Your baby doesn't need dairy to survive like a lot of people say.
6. We have no history of food allergies on either side of our family. A and C seem to not be affected. We don't know why J has had all these problems but are glad that we know. So, if the doctors ask about family history and there isn't any that doesn't mean it isn't possible.
7. Throwing up...J used to throw up everytime he ate bananas, hot dogs, soy and other things. Recently Ch fixed us "dino nuggets" from Costco. There seems to be a soy ingredient (soy protein isolate) in those that caused him to vomit. But, he can have things with soy lecithin. We finally figured out that Hebrew National hot dogs have mustard seed so he can't tolerate those. And he has outgrown his banana allergy. J still gets hives from eggs. He is highly allergic to mustard seed, lentils, peanuts, tree nuts, pine nuts and eggs. I can cook with eggs now but he definitely can't eat them if they are not mixed into a recipe. Let me know what you think will work or what foods you are trying to avoid. I can give you some ideas about what to cook. FYI...eating to accomodate food allergies usually makes the grocery bill increase. Whole Foods (we call it Whole Paycheck) has many options for people with food allergies. Good rice in bulk can be purchased at Lee Lee on Dobson and Warner. I feel really blessed for all the times we have adjusted our meals for J. We eat better now because of it. J was allergic to my breast milk so I learned to eat a diet free of eggs, milk, nuts, wheat, and soy. It is possible.

So we have had Everett on the rice, potatoes, apple, chicken diet (I also had him on whole milk and yogurt, b/c I know he is not allergic to those) now for 12 days and he went throwup free for 10 days straight, which is a record since he was about 9 mo.'s old. (on day 10 he threw up randomly and I think he might have eaten something off the floor. Who knows). Anyway, I just started yesterday adding beans to his diet and so far so good. In a few days we will add another food and see how he does and we will continue with this until we hopefully figure out all of his allergies. Thanks for everyone's concern and we hope to get this problem solved!