Edit at bottom

Come over here and tell me again in my good ear.  I lost my hearing on my left side.

Yeah, so I took Caleb in for allergy testing this morning.  Actually, let me back up.  On several past occasions, he has had a reaction to eggs.  Now all three times, they were in totally different forms.  Once was just regular scrambled eggs when he was a little over a year I think.  Immediately came back up along with whatever he ate before it.  Once was French toast, and once was whipped egg whites on top of banana pudding.  Red splotchiness around his mouth and it always came right back up.  So at Caleb’s three (and a half, so I’m a little late) year check up, the pediatrician assumed (without even asking) that I wanted the flu shot that we’ve never gotten before.  Not to stick my nose in the air, but it was September 2008 at his appointment, and it was our first time being there since March 2007 (for his 2yr well checkup).  So for the third year running, I planned on declining the flu shot (as I have with several other vax - way different post for another day).  I just let it go, and listened to the pediatrician as she rambled on about going to see an allergist.  Why not, I thought, then we’d know for sure if it was a reaction or his sensitive gag reflex with different textures. Forgot to add, the flu vaccine has trace amounts of egg in it - I guess the two sounded completely unrelated without that knowledge.

So the pediatrician called me a few hours later -in the super loud children’s museum of course- to let me know that she had so graciously called and made us an appointment.  Gee thanks for letting me check my schedule, asking what time of day…  Whatever.  Luckily, there happened to be an allergist not only in our town, but so close that we could have actually walked faster than we drove.  Literally.

We went in this morning, to get tested for egg allergy.  She asked me a bazillion questions totally unrelated to eggs/food.  She then said, he was going to be just as mad about us doing one verses ten, so maybe we could do a few others while we were there.  She rattled off maybe four things.  So, since four plus one is five…this would naturally lead you to assume five or six things, right?

So in the come with THIRTY THREE little prickly tests.  Milk?  You want to test him for milk?  He drinks two gallons a week.  Seriously, I think Scott helps a little, but I would bet Caleb’s intake accounts for 75%+ of that consumption.  She had a counter reason for every one I suggested marking out.  I got fed up and said lets just get it done.  The nurse asked if I had a problem with them holding him down.  I asked to hold him instead.  Like I said, this is when I lost my hearing on the left side.  I closed my eyes and prayed for them to hurry up so I didn’t cry.  Having my child looking at me with tears streaming, screaming “Stop dat hurwts” is not how I planned on spending my morning.  His back now looks like he got in a fight with a cat because it is impossible to hold a child still when you’re doing something like that.  So several of them scraped across his back.  Blah.

He couldn’t even breathe when they were done, and almost deposited his breakfast on me.  It really helped that the nurse absolutely sucked with children.  She asked me if he had some horrible experience with a doctor in the past.  Um hello, kids don’t like people they don’t know touching them.  I don’t think that is unusual.

I, personally, think it was a lot of drama for not so much information.  Out of the 31 they did, they came up with positive ones on a few of the molds and dusts, and so they say, dog.  If you go huff dust, do you sneeze?  Me too.  She was saying he shouldn’t be playing in the grass because that made him stuffy.  “I’m sure you notice that when you come inside, right?”  Um, that’s another no.  And he would live outside if I let him.  They gave him a prescription for Claritin and some nose spray.   Cause kids love nose spray.  It is still, in my non medical mom intuition opinion, overkill.  Oh and they want me to get a dust cover for his pillow and mattress.

So anyway, it sucked.  Yay.

Edited to add: Ah yes, Andrea reminded me, in being so flustered I forgot to add, no egg allergy showed up.  I believe that he had an allergy that was outgrown (egg is a common food allergy for children that is outgrown by 3-5)

4 Comments

I have this obsession with big comfy hooded sweatshirts.  Shhhh.  Don’t tell Clinton and Stacy.  Actually on second though, maybe you should.  Anyway, I laughed out loud when I saw this shirt, I absolutely love it!

I love it too, where can I get it?
Proceed with caution, I have spent the better part of my day reading all the archived cartoons!  But no worries, because I’ve saved my favorites, and I’ll probably be posting several of them.

1 Comment

Rewind.

Saturday, April 2, 2005 - We are all packed up to leave the hospital.  Three bouquets of flowers, one stuffed dog, one balloon and a partridge and a pear tree.  Oh yeah, and a new baby.  We came as two, we left as three.  It is one of the most surreal moments of your life.  We introduced Caleb to his new carseat, and he expressed, very loudly I might add, that he was not pleased.  My best friend was standing there holding two flower vases and the nurse asked the question.  “Do you want a pacifier?”

Since I knew everything already, because I had read What to Expect When Expecting and the first several chapters of What to Expect the First Year, I declined the paci, citing my reasons straight out of my readings like a preprogrammed response.  “No thanks, I don’t want to cause any confusion with breastfeeding, I’m sure he’ll use his fingers to suck on if he needs something.”

My friend piped up, I can still hear her say it.  “MIGHT I suggest the paci?!  Because you can take it away.”  Whereas a thumb you cannot take away.

“Good point,” I said, and with that, it began.  The nurse handed me this big goofy looking clear, one piece rubbery pacifier.  We plugged it in and our ears thanked us.  Off we went to start our life as parents.

Exhibit A - 4.18.2005 1:09pm
(Note: Gotta say it, chest clip should be at his armpits, as it is a precrash positioning device for the harness straps and is designed to break open in a crash.  In other words, MRS. SPEARS, it will not hold your child in his seat!!!)

Exhibit B - 4.18.05 1:10pm

Fastforward.

Sunday, September 28, 2008 - Caleb’s lips have been extremely chapped the last couple weeks.  I don’t know if it is the weather flip-flopping around.  I thought it was the new toothpaste I had bought, so I bought something else, but it didn’t seem to solve the problem.  I’ve been careful to limit things that might have salt on them (like some crackers or chips that have salty dust on them) because it seems to irritate his lips even more.  The Burt’s Bees chapstick works, but he doesn’t like it anymore because it feels tingly and stings a little bit if you lips are very chapped.  So I’ve been using regular old Chapstick, which I’m not a fan of.  Bad grammar, anyway.  I noticed his paci seemed to escalate the problem also, as some nights I think he hangs on to it all night long.  He has depended on it to go to sleep every night of his life between April 2, 2005 and now.  I asked him if he was ready to be a big boy and throw away his pacis.  He was very adverse to throwing them away.  Want to know why?  Because someone else could use them!  There might be a baby somewhere that didn’t have one, and he wanted to give his old ones to the baby.  (He cited baby Levi several times, the newest July addition to our family that we met last month.)  That is going to be a blessed baby.

So for the first time in three and a half years, we are officially no longer using a paci.  To me, it seems almost more significant that potty training.  It was basically the one last tie to babyhood.  And I didn’t mind it.  He has only used it at naptime and night time for over a year and a half now.  I keep feeling like I’m forgetting something when I go to put him down.  I am proud to say, he has done excellent with the transition, given the history.  Just last week, he had a breakdown one morning because he couldn’t find it in his bed and we weren’t getting there to help fast enough.  I had to fight him down for a nap on Sunday, but he eventually went to sleep after an hour.  Sunday night, I layed in bed with him.  At naptime yesterday, there was no mention of it.  And last night, he only asked one time.  Now he has no excuse left not to talk my ear off though.  At night, even more so than during the day, believe it or not, he turns into what I like to call “Chatty Caleb.”

“Mommy?”

“Huh?”

“Can I tell you just one more thing?”

“You already told me one more thing.”

“Oh.  <pause> Well can I tell you just one more thing?  Again.”

“What is it Caleb?”

<insert completely random out of the blue fact here, usually something related to cars or monster trucks>

“Oookay bud, it is time to lay down and be very still and very quiet and close your eyes okay?”

*thump on pillow* Siiiiiigh.

37 seconds pass…

“Moooom?”

3 Comments

I left a hint by selectively cropping these pictures as to where he is sitting.  Can’t be showin’ baby buns on the world wide web!

4 Comments

Okay, let me preface this with a little explaination.  We are not a big sports family.  I have never really been into sports, and Scott could flat out care less.  Football, basketball, baseball.  None of it.  The only thing remotely close that we enjoy is Monster Jam!  So, I was really bummed when Caleb grew out of his 18mo clothes and I discovered that it is very hard to find cute clothes for little boys!  Why is that?  Girls get all the cute designs and boys get sports and sports.  Sometimes you can find some vehicle stuff, which obviously in this case, is appropriate.  But since I’m anal, it has to be cute vehicle stuff.  Bottom line, I’m picky.  I usually stick to cutesy stuff or just stripes and such.  But I loooove things with animals on them, I have always been drawn to Carters things, so it should come as no surprise to me that the pajamas I found today is the Carter’s line, Child of Mine sold at Walmart.

Look how cute though!

“D is for Digger” & “Good night sleep tight” (footed pajamas)

They have several others that were pretty cute too, I just picked four favorites.  They had some cute blue and chocolate (love the chocolate color!) racoon ones but I couldn’t find his size.  I’m so excited!  If only I got this excited about my clothes…

5 Comments

Yesterday I got up at 7:00am (early for me) so I could get showered, lunch packed, Caleb up and dressed and out the door to the pediatrician.  I forgot to move my alarm up an hour last night, so it went off at 7:00 again this morning.  I snoozed it and then thought “Ooo goodie, a bonus hour!”  But I needed to reset my alarm so that we didn’t all oversleep and Caleb didn’t wake up wet.  I looked at my clock, pressed down the button, saw that it now said 8:00, and was satisfied that I had done it correctly and turned the alarm back on.  I woke up at 7:45 (luckily) and realized that not only had I turned the alarm off, but it still read 7:00 and the clock read 8:45.  I need this alarm clock:

2 Comments

Any guesses what I’m packin’ in my stylish new bag?  If you’ve seen it already no, please keep quiet for a bit and let’s see if anyone else can guess what I’ve stowed away.

I’ll update this post after a few guesses.

—–

Amber had the closest guess.  That’s right, I’m packin’ a toilet!

I ordered a toilet in a bag from Walmart.com and had it shipped site to store. What? Don’t laugh. I think it’s quite the fashionable toilet, as far as purse potties go.

So back story, we were in Walmart a few weeks ago and Caleb did the grab-the-crotch-I-gotta-go signal.  (That’s normal with boys right?  Yeah, sure, of course.  Hmmm.)  So we headed into the bathroom and it was taking forever to…get things goin’.   Apparently the toilet got impatient and the damn automatic flusher flushed on the kid. I’m sure you can imagine the sheer terror on his face. To make matters worse, he was sitting backwards on the pot, so he was looking right down into the jaws of life as it tried to suck him in. Needless to say, he’s terrified of the automatic flushers now and he vowed to cross his legs through the rest of the store and the whole way home that day.  Now I have a solution, hopefully this will last until the fear has subsided.  I’m pretty impressed though.  It just uses 4 gallon trash bags with an absorbant pad in the bottom.

8 Comments

Okay I think I’m pretty convinced now. Julie over at A Celebration of Our Journey has written about the full moon and new moon having an effect on her son, and we had discussed it some through email. We have Windows Vista, so I found a moon phase widget to put in my sidebar on my desktop. I was even able to enter the exact longitude and latitude of our location. It changes throughout the day and I can click on it to find out the illuminated fraction. I have really enjoyed having it there. The dates of the next two new moons and full moons are listed. Today is a new moon.

The moon is the darkened circle next to the info

Last night when I put Caleb to bed, he was very restless. I spoke to him several times before just starting his CD of music over and leaving the room. He started crying after a few minutes. I put him in our bed and laid down with him. All in all, it took me an hour and a half to get him to sleep. I mentioned to Scott before bed that it was probably going to be a bad night. And sure enough, he kept me up until 3:30am tossing and turning. I carried him back to his bed because I was so tired and frustrated. He was back at 6:00, wanting to get up for the day. I felt like I had just laid down. We did sleep until 8. I didn’t want to get up then, but 8 seems to be the time by which we need to be up and potty-ed to make sure he’s dry. Much later and I’m washing sheets.

When I’m not completely exhausted, the moon thing is just fascinating to me. He drove me nuts on Friday too. Obstinate would be a good word for it. He’s honestly a really good kid overall. But we all have our days.

While I’m rambling I’ll just go ahead and tell you, I have now nicknamed him Chatty Caleb. If you will listen, he will talk. Nevermind your shopping. You can do that later. Complete strangers. He talks their ear off! Most giggle and humor him but we actually had one guy run from him in Lowes the other night. And don’t even try to ignore him. He will put you in your place.

A little girl, probably about 5, and her mom were on the paint aisle in Lowes. Caleb walked up to the little girl and said, “Hey!”

She smiled.

“You have Dora on your shirt!” he says, just busting all up in her personal space and poking at her. She had already back up against the shelf as far as she could.

She still didn’t say anything.

“Seek (speak) to me! Mommy why won’t she seek to me?!”

We all began chatting about our chalkboard paint and her daughter’s room. She asked several questions about brush and roller types. Meanwhile Caleb continued to chip away at the little girl’s shy shell. Finally he just got a paint brush and started painting her. That got her giggling and with Caleb stirring the pot, they both turned into little trouble making wild indians! Climbing all over stuff and painting all us parents with brushes and rollers. As we were about to part ways, I said “Come on monkey.” The mom said “Monkey. I call her monkey sometimes too. Well a friend of mine does.”

Little children are always quick to correct, “Not a friiiend, your boooyfriend,” she exclaimed.

Her mom told me it hadn’t been long, she still just wasn’t used to saying that yet. We chuckled together at the honesty of a child.

At the playground a few weeks ago, Caleb was flagging down every passerby to talk to him. As he chatted up one lady, she asked how old he was. “I’m free years old, how old are YOU?” No secret is safe, no question shall go unasked by an inquisitive three year old.

4 Comments

It makes me feel like I can do anything!

I’m talking about baking soda people.  Jeez, where is your mind today?

Seriously, the uses for regular old baking soda never cease to amaze me!  I’ve been on a cleaning spree here lately, and the badly neglected microwave fell victim today.  I poured a small clump of baking soda in a bowl with a little bit of warm water.  Microwave for a minute, let some steam build up in there, and stuff was just wiping right off.  Amazing.

Until I looked at the neighboring toaster oven.  Can I just say, “Ew.”  It is so bad that food doesn’t even taste right coming out of there.  You open the door and the smell of ‘burnt’ just hits you in the face.  Burned what, I don’t know.  Just burned.  I scrubbed and wiped everything down, trying to avoid using chemicals.  I put everything back, but it just still wreaked.  I couldn’t see anything else in there, it looked clean.  It just didn’t smell clean. Now if you’re like me, you have that cute little box of baking soda in the back of the fridge.  It has been there for over a year (hey, did you know you’re supposed to change it every month?).  “They” say it helps absorb odors, but you have no idea whether it actually works.  Maybe you just remember your mom doing it.

So I was a bit skeptical that my microwave application might have the same wondrous effect in the toaster oven.  After all, the microwave didn’t smell this bad.  But I decided to give it a try.  I covered the tray in foil (I always do this anyway, so I don’t have to scrub all the baked on stuff) and dumped some baking soda and water on there and popped it in to bake.  I turned the oven up to 450 for 5-10 minutes.  When I returned, it had created a big ball of gas that erupted into flames and the paint was melting off the walls!

Nah, just kiddin :)  I balled up a hot cloth (so as not to crack the glass!) and wiped off the door, which now looks significantly better.  But I was amazed to find, the smell was gone.  No hint, no remnants, nothing.  Once I replaced the foil cover, I was all done!

So there’s my cleaning tip for the week.  I see you over there shaking your head.  Yep, you’re toaster is gross too isn’t it?  What’s that?  Don’t even look inside the microwave?  Your secret’s safe with me.

5 Comments

Okay, I totally am, but anyway. I’ve now been cutting Caleb’s hair for a year myself. It takes me a while, and makes me nervous, but I feel like I’ve gotten reasonably decent at it. Haircuts were such an embarrassing nightmare, so one day last year I said, “Do you want to go somewhere for a haircut, or do you want Mommy to do it?” I ask him every time, and every time he picks me. He sits still better (although still not great) if I ask him first. I give him a the choice already knowing his answer. Saved a few bucks too, which certainly doesn’t hurt my feelings!

Plus no hairdresser seems to comprehend when you say “leave it a little shaggy”  Apparently it must go against some oath they take.

4 Comments

Next Page »