We went strawberry picking this morning.
It was fun, kind of. The people weren’t as friendly as the
people at other berry farms, but the kids had fun. I only had
$5 so we didn’t get a giant load of them, but it didn’t really
matter since no one lasted that long anyway. We met Michelle
and co. and while we picked the kids ate. I ended up with just
under a pound of strawberries and I’m pretty sure the kids ate
at least another pound. We left just as the sun was breaking
through the fog and headed to Panera Bread. That was nice
:)

This afternoon I packed
the kids up for another WW meeting. I’ve been struggling with
motivation for the past few days and another meeting was just
what I needed. I think WW is really going to help me because
the support network is what I need most. I know all about
exercise and healthy eating, but what I need is someone to
understand why I make bad choices when I feel guilty about
yelling at Lex, for example. So we went today and it was my
favorite one so far! The leader was great, the group was small
and everyone really liked the kids. I’m going to try a lunch
time meeting next week, with the same leader. I was thinking
that well rested kids at an afternoon meeting would be best,
but instead I have two very energetic, active kids. Maybe at a
lunch meeting Lex will be tired and happy to sit quietly and
read or something. We’ll see. I did an unofficial weigh in and
was very happy with the results. That helped a lot with the
motivation :)

So it’s official. We have allergies. Eve
tested positive for peanut allergies and the doctor recommended
avoiding nuts in general and we are now the proud owners of two
epi-pens. Bummer!!

The plan was for Alan
to stay home with Lex while I took Eve to the doctor. I tried
to get Lex in bed for a nap, but he wanted no part of it. When
the time came for us to leave, Lex was crying, “no mommy, don’t
leave me. I want to go too.” I was feeling a bit anxious about
the appointment and I think he may have been picking up on
that. So Alan decided to come along and the family went to the
doctor. Lex and Alan hung out at the hospital and ran some
errands while Eve and I were in the office.

Fun with
the camera and mirror.

Pretty
girls.

Eve was
a model patient, playing happily and letting the nurse and
doctor examine her. She didn’t even fuss when they wrote on her
back with marker and then pricked her back three times. I was
amazed. I was all prepared for screaming, but she took her plug
and cuddled into me and barely flinched at each prick. Then we
played for awhile (time has no meaning in doctor’s offices)
with the nurse coming in off and on to check on her progress
and measure her reaction (with a ruler). There was a big mirror
in the room and I entertained her for awhile with the mirror
and the camera. Then the blood pressure cuff hanging on the
wall became the object of desire and that killed some more
time. I hardly needed the bag of toys and books I brought for
her. The test itself consisted of three needle pricks, two
control pricks “to make sure the test is working” she said, and
the third actually contained the allergen. After awhile it was
determined that she had enough reaction from the allergen to be
considered allergic and the doctor came back with some
pamphlets and a prescription for the Epi-pen. For those of you
who haven’t seen one, it’s basically a big pen-shaped shot and
if she has a reaction from peanut exposure we have to take the
top off and jab the needle into her thigh, then rush her to the
hospital. Yuck!

See the
treasure map on her back? The top two are the positive and
negative control pricks, and the bottom is the allergen. I
think they put it off to the side because there was a chance
we’d have to do another one. We lucked out, I guess, not having
to do a second round. Her reaction was fast enough and clear
enough that no additional testing was necessary.

The
final verdict. They washed off the allergen after that. Not the
marker though. At bath time Lex said “what is on Eve’s
back?!?”

We
have a follow-up appointment scheduled in October to discuss
any issues or concerns we’ve had. The doc said we can cancel it
if we’re feeling super confident, but most people are full of
questions by that point and appreciate the follow-up visit. I
suspect I’ll fall into that category. Then we have to go back
again when she’s 3 (or 4?) and they run blood tests to start
tracking her peanut allergen levels and to try and narrow down
other nut allergies. After that we may be able to give her tree
nuts (walnuts, cashews, etc.) The doctor said that some people
do outgrow peanut allergies and that the milder the initial
reaction was the more likely the kid is to outgrow the allergy.
That sounds positive, but maybe he was just trying to soften
the news. Who knows.

So for now we have
some instruction books and “how to read the label” cards to
study, and the interesting task of creating a nut-free world
for awhile.

The good news is that my
concerns about her eczema and diary issues were unnecessary. He
said that if she can eat yogurt, cottage cheese, cheese and
other dairy products then she definitely doesn’t have a milk
allergy. Apparently cows milk changes the chemical content of
urine in a way that can cause rashes on sensitive skin. About a
minute into her appointment he mentioned that she has very
sensitive skin, hence the blotchiness and redness she gets
sometimes. So the diaper rashes she was getting after drinking
milk were probably a combination of the new urine content and
the general cloth diaper issues we’ve been having. She has been
rash free for a week or two now, so I gave her some milk
tonight and we’ll see how she does. The doctor also said that
although eczema can be allergy related, if it’s mild and not
itchy (which describes her’s perfectly) then it generally isn’t
allergy related. He said to treat it with lotion if I want, but
stop trying to link it to food or allergens :) One less thing
to think about anyway.

So that was our
day. Tomorrow we are off to pick some strawberries (weather
permitting, of course). I made a funky strawberry pie earlier
in the week and Lex is very excited to make another one. I’m
excited to make strawberry jam. If I make it sugar free I might
even be able to eat it and still follow my WW plan. I fell off
the wagon a bit with the stress from this afternoon. I’m going
to stop rambling now and add a few pictures. Then I have a
house to clean and two kids still awake! Lex fell asleep in the
car on the way home from the hospital (around 4:30) and Eve and
I took naps when we got home. I think we were all exhausted
from the day. So now it’s 9:20 and they are both still going.
Oh well. Maybe they’ll sleep in a bit in the morning
:)

Have I said this lately? I love my house.
The inside is comfortable and roomy enough for my little family
and the outside is just right. The lawn is a bit of a jungle
(it’s hard to find time for mowing, especially when the boy is
afraid of the loud noise), but that’s ok. It’s soft and good to
run around in. My garden is growing like mad and my pea plants
are out of control. Lex eats peas on a daily basis and is
eagerly awaiting the green beans and tomatoes. We have lots of
toys and the kids are easily entertained outdoors, and lunch
always tastes better on the picnic table. Today we took a walk
to the post office, and the playground to meet some friends,
then walked up to Alan’s office to pick him up after work. Now
the kids are sleeping in their comfortably air conditioned room
and Alan and I are enjoying all the comforts of home. Life is
good and I love my house! :)

My out
of control peas! I’m not sure if they are supposed to grow this
tall, but they have way exceeded my trellis and they don’t seem
to care!

Our new
clothes line. Before you laugh, let me explain. It’s a
retractable line and has a little hook thing to keep it tight.
About 3/4 of the way done I put a pair of jeans on there and
the hook came undone and the line dropped. Ahhh! So I had to
hold it up with one hand and reattach/adjust the hook with the
other, which resulted in a very low line :) We put it up mostly
for diapers, but I couldn’t resist hanging out this load on the
first sunny day in weeks. It was mid-80s and sunny with a
slight breeze. The clothes dried in no time!! Lex loved it and
happily handed me clothes pins. I, of course, had to stop him
from running back and forth under the (low hanging) wet
clothes. A good time was had by all :)

Cool
dude decided to wear shades instead of a hat today so “my eyes
don’t get sunburned.”

Eve was
fascinated with these flowers in the neighbors garden. She
“smelled” them and played with them and touch them and felt
them for a very long time. They are very nice flowers with
interesting buds (you can see one between the two pink flowers)
and she loved them.

This is
a silly picture to post, but I just love how cute they are in
the stroller. He was holding a snack and she was cuddled in to
him (to reach the snack) and they were just so sweet.

Tomorrow we go in for Eve’s allergy testing.
Wish us luck! Fingers crossed we can celebrate with
PB&J; and a big glass of milk!!

Not much. I haven’t been in a blogging
mood lately, as I’m sure you’ve noticed. Nothing terribly
exciting has been going on, just life. I’ve spent a lot of
mental cycles trying to figure out why first Eve, then Lex, got
really horrible diaper rashes. I think I’ve got the cause
figured out (bad inserts in the cloth dipes) but the poor boy
has been in disposables and slathered in diaper cream for
several days now. If only he’d learn to love the potty :) Once
the rash is gone (and it’s a really bad one!) I’ll try him in
cloth again with the new inserts I just bought. Fingers crossed
we can keep all the little bottoms happy and healthy going
forward :)

We’ve had sunshine and
thunderstorms every day for about two weeks now, and the 10-day
forecast looks about the same. Blah! At the moment it’s sunny
and thundering. Crazy times!

We had a
nice weekend, rain aside. In a brief moment of sunshine we had
dinner with my grandparents by the lake. It was the one day in
forever that Lex chose to wear his sneakers instead of his
crocs and, of course, he walked straight into the lake! So he
spent the rest of the evening in soaked pants, sock, and shoes.
Eve got mad because I wouldn’t let her walk into the lake too.
She’s getting a real personality lately. Alan’s parents braved
the weather and came up to visit on Sunday. We were hoping for
a nice BBQ dinner, but the thunderstorms prevailed and we got
pizza instead. Maybe next month or the following we’ll get some
sunny, dry weather. (though my plants are LOVING this weather!)

Actually, there is some big news that I
just remembered I wanted to blog about. Eve can talk!! She’s
got a whole bunch of words now, including “happy,” “walk,” and
“Lex.” Well, “Lex” is more like “yeck!” but she’s trying. She
also says a somewhat passable “thank you” and even uses it
appropriately sometimes. The other day Lex gave her a spoon
(another favorite word of hers) and she said “dah do yeck!!”
With gusto! She’s funny and silly and becoming more and more
strong willed by the day. Always a pleasure though. She walks
around at my WW meetings saying hi to everyone :)

I’ve been kind of meandering though life these
days. We don’t have much of a routine, so some days we’re just
hanging out at home, but other days are jam packed with
playdates and playgrounds and all that stuff. The WW thing is
going, slower than I’d like, but going. I struggle most with
motivation… and my desires to drink Coke! Ahhh… yummy
delicious toxins… :) Since I’m the only one who seems to have
a problem with my weight (several docs have said not to worry
about it :/ ) some days I find myself really motivated and
other days not so much. I’ve started feeling a little sciatica
pain again too, which worries me. Perhaps from the increase in
exercise?

I went for a walk this
morning with Lex in the backpack. That’s a good workout! I
liked it though because we could talk. When he’s in the
stroller I can’t hear him. I let him choose which direction to
go each time we came to a decision point. As we turned down one
road he said “This road has a drain. A blue and brown drain.”
Sure enough, when we got to the sewer drain it was brown (of
course) with blue spray paint. I said, “you have a funny
memory” and he said “we were looking for wolves at the zoo, but
we couldn’t find any.” A true story from our trip to the Ross
Park Zoo. Alan teases me for verbalizing my streams of
consciousness and I think Lex has inherited that from me. Or
perhaps it’s a toddler thing that I never outgrew.

We had a terrible WW meeting this morning.
I’ve been taking them to afternoon meetings and they do ok, but
I thought I’d try a morning meeting instead. Lex didn’t sleep
much last night (perhaps diaper rash related) and Eve slept
right up until the meeting, so she was hungry and he was tired
and they both just walked around and made noise. He was cute
though because he walked around reading all of the posters on
the wall. Full volume voice, but reading really well. We ended
up leaving a few minutes before the end.

I think this post just proved my stream of consciousness
point…. so here’s a picture to close. What’s a blog post
without a picture? :)

I submitted Lex and Eve in the Parents
Magazine cover model search. You can view their pics and
recommend them here:

Lex’s
pictures
Eve’s
pictures

I posted six of each
of them and you can click on each picture and vote for them
individually. I don’t think the viewer voting actually affects
the judges’ choices, but it’s fun anyway and there are over 63K
entries, so I’m not expecting much :)

It’s late and I really should be sleeping,
but Alan is out and I am terrible at putting myself to bed, so
I’ll post some pictures for awhile instead :)

When
Eve feeds herself. (Notice the two bowls? She finished off Lex’s :)
)

Hungry
toes?

Lunch
today on the picnic table. The kids LOVE eating at the picnic
table. It’s always such a treat.

Look at
that healthy lunch he’s eating! Some days I’m very proud of
what I feed them. Some days I’m extra proud because they
actually eat what I feed them!!

Eve
loves this car and I love when Lex pushes her :) They are so
fun together. She got up from the table, mouth still full, and
sat in the car, so he jumped up and ran over to push her around
the yard. She honks the little horn, he works so hard to push
her, I enjoy the moment.

Both of these series
involve food and I have to point out that we *might* be
entering a new eating phase. It’s still early and I’m probably
jinxing myself just by writing this, but in the past two days I
have made two meals, outside of Lex’s normal 3-item repertoire,
that he has tasted! This really is a big accomplishment because
normally he’s happy to go hungry before tasting anything. I’m
talking pretty basic foods here, I’m not exactly a fancy chef.
In the messy Eve pics they had Hawaiian Sweet Potatoes for
dinner and he ate about 5 bites!! The lunch series was
sunflower butter on a bagel (we’re avoiding peanut butter until
the allergy testing) and a peaches/kiwi/Kix mixture. He ate
almost the entire lunch, except for what Eve helped herself to.
She is a very good eater :)

And on a
somewhat related note, he put himself on the potty tonight (I
think it was a bedtime procrastination, but it’s been weeks
since he’s used the potty so I didn’t argue) and he proceeded
to pee and poop! It’s been forever since he’s done that! I
don’t want to get anyone’s (ok, my!) hopes up, but we *might*
be entering a new phase here :)

No more
excuses now, off to bed!

I know I’ve mentioned in the past that Lex
is getting very independent, and this morning I have a shining
example. I went out for a walk and got back to find Lex, by
himself, standing on a chair at the sink. I was a little
freaked out by this scene and immediately asked “where’s
daddy?” Lex said he was upstairs sleeping. Lex can’t open the
baby gate at the top of the stairs, so Alan must have let him
down, but then Lex took care of himself. By the time I got home
he had gotten a sippy cup from the cabinet, filled it with
water, added some ice (a trick I haven’t seen before), and put
the top on. He’d also gotten out his snack foods (goldfish,
annie’s bunnies, dried fruit) and a bowl and had started
preparing the snack. Dried fruit makes his hands sticky, so
after he put it in the bowl he got a washcloth, wet it in the
sink, and washed his hands. This is where I came in. The whole
scene is a little scary, but impressively independent. I’m not
sure I’m ready for this to be a regular thing, because of all
the “what ifs” but I guess it’s another stage of growing up.
Eeek!

We made corn on the cob
for dinner tonight. Lex was very excited to help prepare it,
shuck it, wash it, cook it, etc. I was excited that he even
tasted it! Only a few bites, but that’s better than he usually
does. Eve, on the other hand, LOVED her corn! Tonight was her
first experience with corn on the cob and I think we’ll
probably do it again some time. A few minutes after she got
down from the table I turned around and saw her carrying an ear
of corn around with her :) She had reached up and grabbed it
off the table and was munching on it as she wandered around.
Silly girl.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pr86L0BPf-U]

PS. I added two
other movies in the movie box over there. They are from this
morning when we were playing with Thomas (Lex’s age) and Martin
(baby).

We were down at Jim & Julie’s
house this weekend and Lex ate all of the peas out of their
garden. When Alan couldn’t find any more ready ones, Lex said
“I’m watching the peas grow. When they’re ready I can eat
them.” I’ve been so excited to get peas in our garden and today
we found some! Yay! Lex ate the ready ones and loved them! The
garden is coming along so well. I hope we get lots more veggies
for his eating pleasures.