Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Jeremiah goes to school

Monday was Jeremiah's 1st day of preschool




Tuesday was his first day to ride the bus


Jeremiah started preschool yesterday at our elementary school. He did great. We took him and picked him up. He loved it. His new teachers Ms. Jane and Ms. Cindy are awesome. We met his bus drivers, Mr. Harold and Ms. Lori. They were both really nice and reassured me he'd be fine. So today, he rode the bus. He is such a big boy. He just got right on and sat down and rode off. A bittersweet moment for me.

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Thomas update




Thomas is growing so much. He is pulling up on everything and lets go to stand alone for a second. He has started walking with the furniture and transferring between pieces of furniture. His hair has had a major growth spurt. it is cute. It curs a little at his ears. He is sleeping great, from 8 pm to 8 am. He says mama all the time now. He is really at a fun stage. He loves to play hide and seek and loves his big brother. He laughs at him all the time.
Jeremiah starts Preschool tomorrow so I will post new pics of him soon.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

a little allergy info...

 

10 Things Families with Food Allergies Want You to Know! 

By Gina Clowes

 

Severe food allergies require a dramatic change in lifestyle, but unless these allergies have affected your immediate family, you have no idea of what goes on behind the scenes to keep these children safe.  This holiday season, we’d love to spend time you, so we need your help.  With no rule book or etiquette guide, we don’t always know how to ask for that help.  If you really want to know what will make our season bright, here are 10 things that we allergy moms would like you to know. 

 

 

  1. Be careful with your kisses!  If you’ve just eaten anything that our child is allergic to, we’d prefer that you kiss her on the top of her head or give her a hug or an “air kiss”.  This is what we do!  Sound extreme? We know, and that’s why we feel so funny about asking you. But trust us when we tell you that the only thing worse than seeing your child suffer an allergic reaction is  knowing that you have caused that reaction.

 

  1. We’d love you to wash your hands. We don’t want to ask. But we don’t know what you’ve eaten or touched and we really don’t want to risk it. We know it sounds crazy but our child has reacted to “just touching” things he is allergic to.

 

  1. Use care with your baby's foods and bottles. We love your children and know that they need to eat a variety of foods.  However, those foods and the milk or soy formula that they drink can cause allergic reactions in our child.  Please don’t allow your toddler to walk around with a bag of cookies, goldfish or cereal while we’re together.   One dropped piece could cause a problem for a child with severe food allergies.

 

  1. Please, watch your pets’ and their food. Many pet foods and treats contain allergens including milk, fish and peanut, and an innocent lick can cause a reaction in allergic children. 

 

  1. Please don’t feed our child.  Raising a child with food allergies is a whole new way of life. Allergy Moms and Dads can’t possibly expect others to keep in mind all of the nuances of where and how allergens hide.  If you’d like to help, hold the baby so mom can get a bite to eat, build a block tower,  read a book,  or follow our toddler around for awhile to give his mom a break.  There are many ways to show love that do not involve food!

 

  1. Call us! If you are hosting a child who has food allergies, talk to the parents in advance.   If you are setting out foods that may be safe, save all of the wrappers. Better yet, let the allergy mom or dad help you put the safe chips out. (Remember that if you touch the cookies with nuts or the shrimp, and then touch the chips, they are now cross-contaminated.) 

 

 

  1. Try not to fuss over what our child is eating. If he or she needs to have a different menu of safe foods, please don’t call attention to it.  Don’t make food allergies a big topic of conversation.  For example,  “Well what can he eat?” 

 

 

  1. We’d be grateful if you’d confine the food to one or two areas. For example, don’t allow food into the family room, or the basement if that is where the children will be playing. That way, all the children will be safe and your house will be cleaner too!                                      

 

                                                       

  1. We’d love it if you’d ask your children to wash their hands.  We know that your kids are able to eat whatever they like, but children are notoriously messy eaters.  You’d be doing us a great favor if you’d encourage them to wash their hands when they’re done eating.  We know it’s not our place to ask this of your children but it we worry that our kids are not safe if they share toys or touch each other with food residue.

 

 

  1. Ask for suggestions because we want to make this work for everyone.  If you want to bring something to a home with a food allergic child, talk to the parents in advance for specific suggestions. Your homemade casserole or brownies may not be suitable but a bottle of wine, some fresh ground coffee, a fun board game, whole fruit, or some beautiful disposable hand towels for the powder room might be appreciated. 

 

 

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The contents of the AllergyMoms site and newsletters are for informational purposes only and are not a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. For medical advice, please contact your physician or other qualified healthcare professional.

 

 

Saturday, September 6, 2008

9 month check up






We love our mac and we love torturing our kids on it. poor baby!!


Thomas had his 9 month check up this week. He was still in the 25% for weight at 19.1 pounds.
He was up to 90% on height at 29.5 inches long and his head was still giant at 47cm. He didnt have to have any vaccines this time. They just checked his hematocrit to check for anemia, which i am assuming is normal since i didnt get a call back. It was very unevenful, which is good. We did get a new prescription for some stronger hydrocortisone cream for his eczema.
He is growing like crazy. he is very opinionated and lets you know very plainly when he isnt happy. He pulls up on everything now and lets go and stands a brief moment before he falls. His hair is so long and blonde and he has beautiful blue eyes like his brother.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

our Staycation

It has been awhile since I last blogged. I am sorry. We took a little staycation, which was so nice. I did, however, forget my camera so I have no pics of the week.
Dave took Wednesday and Thursday off last week and has Friday off anyway and then Monday was Labor day so we went to a hotel and stayed downtown Wednesday night. We at first got a King size bed. Jeremiah wanted to sleep with us so we tried but it was a small king so we switched to 2 doubles. Dave thought it would be fun to stay on the top floor. I am afraid of heights so it was near impossible for me to look out the window or for Jeremiah to be close to the window. We checked in and swam in the pool and jumped on the bed and all the fun hotel things. We went to the museum on Thursday and then all took a nap at the hotel and then went to the aquarium and Dewey's for dinner. It was a blast. We went back to the hotel and finally got the kids down to sleep so Dave and I watched TV for awhile and then went to sleep as well. Then at about 11 pm, the fire alarm starts to go off and an alarm saying please evacuate the building/do not use the elevators! So, Dave jumps out of bed in a panic and starts to get us all motivated to go. We grab a few things (diaper bag/milk/J's monkey) and head down 22 flights of stairs at a very quick pace. It ended up being a small fire on the 5th floor, but it was quickly contained. They let us back up to the 22nd floor before too long but had trouble getting the alarm reset so every time we got all settled back down, it went off again. I think Daves adrenaline rush had Jeremiah a little overly nervous so each time it made a noise, he jumped out of bed, in a bit of a panic. We chose to at 12:30am to head back home so that we all could sleep. They called us the next day and apologized for the fire and offered us another night for free so we asked if we could stay Sunday night. They made some room for us at the hotel so Sunday night we got to go stay again and walk down to the river and see the fireworks that are so HUGE in Cincy. They said there were 250-500 thousand people there on both sides of the Ohio river. The fireworks were really fun. it was super crowded and hot. Thomas wasnt really sure about it. It was a little too loud for him, but once it stopped he was immediately out and slept the whole way back to the room and then resettled quickly into his bed.
We also went to 2 different churches this weekend since Dave was off. Sat night we went to Crossroads, a huge church of about 10,000 or so. The nursery was actually full, which sucked for me, but I understand how it works. If you don't have the volunteers, you cant watch the kids. So we kept Thomas and Jeremiah went to class. He liked it a lot. He said afterwards to call everyone and tell them we were not coming back to Eastside, that we were staying there. That says a lot coming from him, a kid who doesn't like many churches. Sunday we went opposite end of the spectrum and went to a church plant of about 50. They had a family Sunday, that they have 4 times a year that day so kids stayed with us in the main room. It was good to hear about their vision and values. That is actually what we heard about Sat at crossroads as well, so it was nice and inspiring. It was refreshing to go somewhere else and to actually get to go to church with my husband. I enjoyed it.
Monday was very low key. We went to a friends house for a few hours to eat and hang out. It was good. Then we hit Tuesday and it is back to reality. Dave is back at work and I go back tomorrow. He starts school next week so then Mondays will be gone. I have had a great time and I love my life.
We are moving next week to a 2 bedroom apartment rather than this 3 bedroom. It saves us $150 a month, so we are selling things and packing. Fun fun fun!!!