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?