Henry's Allergies

For the most part we have adjusted to the new normal of Henry's food allergies.  We have established foods that he can eat and keep gluten-free snacks, gluten-free cereal, gluten-free waffles, vegan butter substitute, soybutter, and almond milk on hand.  I have changed the recipes that I cook so that they are allergy free and have sought out new recipes to try with foods that he can eat.  Maybe once a week the rest of us will have something he cannot and he will have leftovers from another meal, but for the most part, we all eat allergy free at meals.

It is frustrating that with everything we are doing, Henry is still having skin issues and occasional reactions.  Every night we do a "soak and seal" where he sits in the tub soaking up moisture into his skin for at least 10 minutes, then we seal in the moisture by slathering him with vaseline.  I also reapply vaseline every morning.  Even though he hates taking medicine, I pin him down and give him claritin every morning to help with itching to prevent more skin rashes.  We wash his clothes and sheets and towels in unscented detergent and vinegar (for fabric softener).  We are now washing all of our laundry this way because his doctor thought his skin might be getting irritated from our clothing if he rubs against it.

Last night he woke up screaming at 11pm.  He does sometimes and we try to let him cry himself back to sleep to not create a night time habit of waking.  He did not, so I went in and gave him some water but he seemed extra irritated, so I wrestled him while I gave him some benadryl to counter the effects of the allergic reaction he appeared to be having.  He has so far (thank the Lord) only had skin rashes and possibly stomach upset (I am not really sure what is causing his irritability since he can't tell me) as the symptoms of his reactions.  I do not want him to advance to the anaphylactic stage of a reaction which impedes breathing and is life threatening.  However it still breaks my heart to hear and watch him cry because I have failed to prevent his reaction.  I have given him something that he cannot have and he is suffering.  I got up with him 3 times and rocked and sang to him and tried to put him back down, but he would cry again within 10 minutes.  Finally, since my presence was the only thing preventing him from screaming, I sat up with him until 2:20am last night until he was ok to go to sleep.

I am so thankful that there are many foods he can have and I am totally fine with making these sacrifices for him, I love this boy and will do anything that he needs to be healthy.  I just get so frustrated when he has a reaction and I have no idea what caused it.  This also means that it may happen again, because something I am giving him to eat or something he is coming into contact with is causing his distress.  And I don't know what we are missing.

More Summer Fun

 Another beautiful summer day playing outside with the water table.

 The kids love to pour the water into pails and watering cans and whatever other toys they can find.

Stella: where are my eyebrow-things?  I don't see them anywhere.

 The sprinkler is also becoming a favorite.

 We have lots of bunnies in the yard this year, see if you can find it!

 I had sent a picture of us playing outside to nana and so she and Duie could not resist stopping by to see us too.

 We went to Dutch Village today in spite of the forecast for rain.

 We had fun before it started to pour.

 And managed to take a few more rides on the carousel while it calmed down enough to go back to the car.

Henry drove the train

  while the girls did the pumper cars.

 He also loved the slide!

 Jer and the girls tried out the new ferris wheel for the first time.

 Henry and I checked out the animals while we waited.

 He loved following the mama and baby goat around, but started to freak out when he got cornered here.

 He also got to go on the carousel three times and loved riding the horse.

 Somehow these pictures from last night ended up below the rest, but last night we celebrated dad's 82nd birthday!  Henry was not at all afraid of Hobie.

 After dinner and dessert we went for a boat ride.

 Henry didn't like the wind but was fine after he moved behind the windshield.

 The girls had fun sitting with Jenna!

June turned into July

Jeremy and I ran the Town Crier 10k/5k in Saugatuck (he did both, I just did the 5k).

Stella: are you going to stay here forever? 
Abby: where?
S: at the house.
A: no, it is almost time to leave for the race.
S: ice cream store?

The kids and I went to a park while he ran the first race.

The kids mostly fought over who got the swings

because the slides were wet.

Finally I convinced Leila to go on the regular swing so that they could all go at once.  I ended up placing 3rd in my age group, but didn't find out until after we got home.  I did however get to pick up my prize - a town crier bell...which the kids love to ring!

Magic carpet ride.

Stella to Leila: you get the paper, I'll get the crayons. We work together, don't we?
Then Leila started to make up a working together song. Sunday morning cuteness.

Riding in the car...
Stella: mama don't go fast, I might lose my shoes.

Leila, Stella, Henry, and Norah are playing house. Leila, the mom, is putting all the kids to bed. Norah is not cooperating.
Leila: get in bed or I'm gonna call the jail.
Then soon after...
Leila: I will give $10 to whoever goes to sleep first.

We have had a stomach bug going through, it has been about a week and a half going through each kid and finally hit Jer and I.  Here Henry is snuggling with as many pacifiers as I will let him have.

Doing Leila's hair...
Leila: what could be fancier than a ribbon rubber band? An apron headband I suppose.
Me: what is an apron headband?
Leila: a headband you use for cooking, silly mom.

Leila: if there were no rules, I would eat all the cheese I could. And be queen. The cheese queen, and everyone would throw fake cheese at me. (Giggles)

Potty training adventures with Stella:
Sitting on the potty holding her special bunny
Stella: if I pee on him, we have to wash him, that's the rule.

Wearing her Dora pull up:
Stella: I pooped but not on Dora, inside it.

Stella: but my toes aren't ready to go potty, so I don't want to.

Here is poor Stella, missing the holiday breakfast, she told me she needed to take a nap, so I had her take her puke pail with her and she fell asleep like this.

Leila went with Grandma & Grandpa to the Graafschap Fire Department's Summer Celebration, when she got back she told me about how she went on a Buffalo Swing.
me: what is a buffalo swing?
Leila: you know, it is round and has three chains (describes a tire swing)
me: why is it called a buffalo swing?
Leila: (points to her mouth, full of banana...makes me wait)
me: *thinking this is totally going to be worth it*
Leila: Because sometimes it hits people, like a Real Buffalo would. It hit grandma while she was pushing me. So it's a buffalo swing. (said in a voice that makes it clear that this should have been obvious)

Henry turned 18 months!  I can hardly believe it.  He is starting to talk more and more which is really a blessing when it comes to food.  I can ask him if he wants meatloaf or hot dogs and he will say something like, "oof" and I know what to get for him.  It doesn't really count as a word because I would have no idea out of context, but I am happy with the improvement in communication.  While he was sick it was hard to get him to eat, and he managed to throw enough fits and only relent to eat at the table in a booster, so I gave in. We moved him up earlier that I would have liked, but he seems to enjoy being at the table with everyone else so much that I couldn't say no.

He was so cute, I was planning to have him in the white and maroon booster and Stella in the blue, green, and white booster, but he kept switching their bibs, staking his claim.  Stella will soon be graduating to no booster as well, she was promised as soon as she is potty trained, one more incentive can't hurt!

Henry's 18 month words (24):
Bob (as in Bob the Builder), book, bowl, buckus, dada, doggy, done, duck, go, hi, me, mom, mommy, more, mouth, nana, ny-ny (nuh-night), no, papa, this, uh huh, uh uh, up, waffle
Sounds: baa, moo, quack, roar, car/train