Gold Star

Gold Star

Tough day at the Wildlife Park

Overheard on caseys trip
But BEES CAN'T TALK
Don't talk to strange wolves
Hey that lady is holding up the wolf...why are those people back there???
Oh, so the woodsman is gonna make that wolf throw up? ( complete with
throw up sounds)

She can eat rice with a spoon

Home working with Daddy

Soccer made someone very tired

Soccer started

Peekaboo

First Strike

Playing Wii bowling

Not good to hear...

No. NO. NOOOOO!! IN THE TOILET! Not on the FLOOR.

Something that is not good to hear when your child is going to the bathroom.

Casey had a Valentine's Day party today. He was very excited about it, and picked out a special shirt to wear...provided it was sports themed. Kids in his class gave out Valentines and candy, so it was our first event requiring sorting of candy for nut contamination. It also took 20 minutes in the store to find donuts Casey could eat at the party. No more Hostess for us.

I think we need to move these bags...

Nuts

Anaphylaxis landed us here.

Casey ate a pistachio nut Thursday night. He immediately said his tummy hurt. Then his mouth started to itch. His lip started getting puffy and itchy. His throat started itching and he started trying to clear it. I gave him some Benadryl, called Dr. Sue's cell phone and headed to the ER. Upon arrival at the ER, Casey threw up on the only rug in the ER waiting room (and on me). They gave him prednisone and an ice pop, monitored him for a few hours, and sent us on our way with a prescription for prednisone and a recommendation to see an allergist. Dr Sue called us that night to check on him and call in a prescription for an EpiPen. I made an appointment with our favorite allergist for Monday morning.

After some testing at the allergist on Monday, we now know that Casey is highly allergic to tree nuts. This means no: pistachios, cashews, walnuts, almonds, Brazil nuts, chestnuts, filbert/hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, pecans, pine nuts (pignolia nut); items with these nuts in them; items with nut oils; items processed with nuts; baked goods from a mix or bakery. Aside from tossing food he can't eat, we will have an EpiPen with us all the time and Casey needs to wear a Medical Alert item.

Not sure if you can see the fork, but apparently Claire can feed herself

Monday we paid a visit to Dr. Sue. Casey needed his ears checked & Claire got hers checked, too. While we waited, Casey played with the trucks in the waiting room, and with his Big Lightning McQueen (it's really a diecast car from the Disney Store). He was very well behaved and warily eyed a boy who was staring longingly at Lightning. Then Casey had to use the bathroom, which is always SUCH a treat. He talks alot while using the facilities, and he's 3, so he's loud. By the time he was finished, the whole waiting room was privy to what he was doing while in there. Then upon leaving the restroom he announced to the waiting room exactly what he had been doing, and then assured them all that he washed his hands with the duck soap.

We've been busy. Aunt Jessica & her friend Tom came for dinner a few Saturdays ago. They played paper airplanes (or hairplanes if Casey's saying it) for 3 hours. Aunt Jess was preparing for a trip to Israel. Casey asked every day until she left if she was in Israel yet. And he asked if she was going to eat food. He may think that was her sole purpose in going...to try the food.
2 weeks ago Casey awoke & told me his stomach hurt. I thought it was merely his usual "my stomach hurts, I think I should stay home and play". I thought wrong. After 2 days of lethargy & vomit, we were left with just lethargy. We paid a visit to Dr. Sue, our favorite pediatrician, on Friday and narrowly averted a trip to the hospital for fluids. Since then, Casey has been eating like a horse.
We attended baby Sierra's first birthday party on Saturday (Jan 29). We all enjoyed ourselves, and Casey has a new favorite book from the goodie bag provided. He also ate his weight in candy at the party. And had chicken parmesan & vodka penne even though he ate lunch before we left the house. I really mean it when I say he's been eating a lot since the whole stomach virus ordeal.
Claire has more teeth. They're JUST peeking through her gums. She can stand on her own, but seems to prefer to crawl because it's faster. She went for her 9 month checkup earlier in the month & is doing fabulously. She didn't even cry when she got her shot. Casey was shocked and impressed.
We are tired of the snow. I love snow, but I've had enough.
This morning, Casey informed me that he liked the song on the radio. It was Aerosmith & he danced in his carseat until the song ended.

Snow day again today. Casey was thrilled with the snow & we enjoyed some crashing cars, hiding in the fort we made in the living room, dancing, coloring, and book reading. We also watched a little Monster Trucks. Apparently Casey's favorite is Grave Digger, and each time he sees it there's an excited yell "Look, that's GRAVE DIGGER!!!"
Claire didn't care about the snow. She gnawed on anything available and drooled all over us. Teething, anyone?

Please note the overalls, worn by Casey, orignally worn by Caroline.

We had "big snow" on Dec 27th. Casey LOVED it. Work & prison were closed Monday & Tuesday, so we were home enjoying the snow & some unexpected family time. We headed to work on Wednesday and then it took us 4 hours to get home due to the lack of proper plowing. The kids were excellent during our ridiculously long car trip. We stopped to feed Claire a couple hours in & while I was outside the car returning Claire to her seat so we could continue sitting in traffic Matt shot windshield washer fluid at me. He claims it was an accident. We stopped a bit later to feed Casey & let him use the restroom. Then he listened to some Phish music. I hope never to have it take 4 hours to get from Tinton Falls to Toms River EVER AGAIN.

Claire has 2 teeth (front bottom). She's working on more, but teeth are assholes and cause pain, no sleep, and take forever to come in. Favorite foods this week include Cheerios, Kix, puffs, broccoli, green beans, mashed potatos, and bananas. She's not so thrilled with the baby food anymore, although she will eat mangos or applesauce. She's been standing on her own for a couple seconds at a time and holding onto things to get around while standing. Casey does not like this. He also is not liking that she tries to play with his toys.
Hit Christmas present for Claire...a box from a toy Casey got.

Casey got a haircut over the weekend. He informed me he needed a hair cut because Claire could pull his hair again. And they give him a lollipop there. He enjoyed playing in the big snow, was SUPER excited for Christmas. He's been singing Jingle Bells and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer since the beginning of December. He's started quoting movies and announcing that he likes certain songs.
Current musical favorites include: Life is a Highway (or as Casey calls it Laughin on the Highway/the Cars song), Single Ladies (it's in the Chipmunk Squeakquel), Just the Way You Are by Bruno Mars (aka the Amazing song), and Phish music.
Hit Christmas presents: pickup truck that plays Life is a Highway...and this car apparently cannot drive without the song being sung loudly by Casey or having the song played; working tow truck; Hess truck.