Food Allergies suck......how else do I put it?

I don't know a better way to phrase it. Madelyn looks at me with pitiful eyes signing and saying "more" as she sees me sneaking Logan some good snack food. All good snack food seems to have soy in it and I'm trying my best not to give it to Madelyn. It's not easy.

Our goal is to get Madelyn snot free. I'm working with a dietician now through CDSA. Madelyn is already in their infant/toddler program so why not get these services free while I can. It stops when she turns three. Our first step since medicines are not working to clear her up is to eliminate all the food allergies she tested at a 4 which are soy, tomato, fish, and peanuts. Eliminating fish and tomato is pretty easy. I can get around the peanut part too but the soy is not easy to avoid. Soy is in everything in our pantry and fridge. Just a moment ago, I tried my best to be sneaky and give Logan some fig bars. She saw them. It's really sad and she probably thinks I'm one big meany but I've got to find out if it's the soy causing her food allergies.

If we are successful with eliminating the 4's in the food allergies and she clears up, we will introduce them back one at a time to find out if she has a reaction. If we are not successful eliminating the 4's, the 3's will go next. Our goal is to clear her up. Unfortunately we don't know if the environmental factors are the cause either. We've done what we can inside our house. That's why now it's up to the food allergies but at the same time we don't know if when she goes out to play after eating if it's the foods or pollen, mold, or whatever that causes her to react. We may not know until she's able to tell us.

The dietician was given permission to contact our allergist. She's suppose to get back with me once she speaks to them about Madelyn. We may also be paying out of pocket for the delayed food reactions blood test as well. I've joined a yahoo group for parents with kids with food allergies and also joined the www.foodb.com allergy food database. I really need more ideas for meals and snacks for Madelyn. I've got breakfast now I think - grits, cream of wheat regular or maple and brown sugar, kix, rice chex, cheerios, just to name a few. I need to find snack food all will eat.

Did I miss something?

Is today Drive Your Mommy Insane Day? or Take What Your Sibling Has and Make Him/Her Scream Day? or Pester Someone Else in the House Day? Did I miss the calendar date for this?

Since these kids got out of their cribs, it's been one big battle over whoever can pester each other first, take what their sister/brother has, push someone off the couch, hit, scream and throw tantrums and more. Once I even asked Madelyn "Are you going to cry and scream all day long?" and she answered "Yeah". At least she was honest. Nate has been a bully all morning long from taking away toys, pushing, taking food away from Andrew and Madelyn, and even swiped the remote for the satellite away from Logan (home sick today) and changed the channel in the process making Logan cry. Andrew is throwing himself down on the hard floor when he doesn't get his way. Right now I'm watching Nate run over Madelyn with the doll stroller. She doesn't fight back except for biting which btw we have almost got the biting under control. It's still 1 1/2 hours away from nap time. Oh me, oh my....some days I wish I worked again.

Tip of the Day

GARLIC POWDER DOES NOT VACUUM UP WELL OFF BERBER CARPET.

These little stinkers reached over the kitchen gate (and yes Tony, it was gated) and pulled off the garlic powder I had left sitting out on the counter from last night. I admit that was my fault leaving it out. I didn't catch them in the action so not sure who really picked it up but Andrew picked the empty container up off the floor and gave it to me. Nate was taking a towel trying to wipe it up. I think he got that idea from me yesterday when Madelyn's lid popped off her sippy and spilled milk on the carpet and I was trying to soak it up with a towel. All three trouble makers were surrounding the scene so I have a feeling they were all involved in the shaking of the container to get it all empty. It was about half full and now completely empty. My carpet needs another good cleaning anyway but I need to plan it when the kids will not be walking on it for a while so it can dry completely.

Teeter Totter

I wanted to get these three one of these for their birthdays but I couldn't find them in stores around here and I didn't want to pay shipping prices, but today I found one at a local children's consignment sale. I had planned on it being a toy all three would enjoy and have fun on but in the end it turned into lots of screaming, fighting over a certain seat, and even Tony told me to take it back. Nate made claim to the middle section and Madelyn wanted to sit in the middle. He screamed and fought back for that seat. Andrew wanted to rock and the other two didn't want to rock like him. Madelyn wanted up, then down, then up, then down. Nate got mad and pushed it over making Andrew scream and cry. Oh boy, it might not make it 24 hours in our yard.

Want some?

How to Eat Cupcakes

According to Madelyn, this is how to eat cupcakes...
1. Put your hands on top of the cupcake and get as much icing on your hands as possible.
2. Take those icing covered hands and place them on the windows to make beautiful handprints
3. Go back to cupcake and bend over towards the plate and bite into cupcake.
4. Put your hands on your clothes so the icing doesn't get on anything else.
5. After you've had enough let your brother eat the rest.



According to Andrew...
1. Grab cupcake
2. Stuff all of it into your mouth at the same time
3. When done, take sister's cupcake and repeat.



According to Nate...
1. Take little licks of icing
2. Stick fingers into top of icing and rub it all over your arms
3. Pick up cupcake and take small bites until done.

Happy 2nd Birthday Princess Madelyn

We've been celebrating all week it feels like but today is Madelyn's birthday. We had two other Mom's of twins over for a playdate today to celebrate - B/G twins a little bit older (2 1/2) and B/B baby twins. Madelyn LOVED the babies. She wanted to hold them, poke their eyes out, hug and kiss and I'm sure that mom loved Madelyn's snot getting on her boys. The photo is me holding a cupcake, trying to keep the boys out of the candles while trying to get a photo of Madelyn blowing out the candles without touching them. This is called talent!!! The first time Andrew blew out the candles so I had to light them again b/c Madelyn was very upset. She eventually got each one blown out.

This evening Madelyn and I got to go on a mother/daughter shopping spree for her birthday. I heard about some good sales at The Children's Place outlet so off we went. I love that store. Where else can you buy new clothes that are stylish for youngster's for a couple bucks each PLUS get 20% for the birthday month? Most items were $2 and $3 each. I got all four kids some clothes, 2 bags full, for about $60. Madelyn and I had lunch in the food court and watched the Merry-Go-Round. She didn't act like she wanted to ride (and I'm not starting with rides yet b/c each time we go I'll get whines about riding if I don't let them ride everytime we go) but she loved watching the horses go up and down. We walked around the mall, in and out a few stores, and back to The Children's Place b/c I just love that store. We met a family that looked like ours (except they are African American) - 7 yo son, 3 yo twin sons, and a 2 yo daughter. The girls played together while we waited in line at the register. Those were the only twins I saw but I saw three other mom's of twins I know in that store shopping that were shopping alone. For anyone that has many kids, that's the place to go to rack up on inexpensive clothing.

Madelyn and I really had a good time. She is sooooooooo easy to shop with. It's so much easier to push a single stroller through isles than double or triple. She likes to shop and look at people and doesn't whine and scream unless she's with her brothers. Is it a girl thing? Is she always gonna like shopping? If so, this could mean trouble later on in the teen years. When we would leave a store, she would say "bye-bye" to the workers and blow them a kiss. She's such a show-off. I look forward to more shopping days with her.

Birthday's are finally over for the year except mine and Tony's but we don't count. Four birthday's in two months is a lot of presents, cake, cupcakes, ice cream, and lots to clean-up in a short period of time. I do feel like our babies are definitely toddlers now. They have lost all the baby look to them. I'm going to miss those baby years but I have lots to look forward to in the future.

Grumpy Birthday Girl...

got a package today from her cousins in the mail. She was in such a bad mood she didn't want to wear the necklaces or any of the dress-up clothes or toys. She wanted them off and just wanted the paper. I'm starting to notice when she has bad snot days, she has an attitude with me. She tells me "no" all day and starts beating on things when I tell her "no". She did enjoy the paper - it had to be ripped, or so she thought until I took it away.

Happy Early Birthday Madelyn

Some extended family and a few friends joined us for a three-day early birthday celebration today at our house. We kept it a small party for our soon-to-be TWO year old daughter. Madelyn was definitely excited to open presents today. She loved ripping up the paper and digging into bags. The boys also received a few late presents as well from their recent birthday's. We had cupcakes, cookies, ice cream and fruit salad after presents and then headed out the door for some more bubble playtime.

I uploaded a large number of photos to our shutterfly album to share instead of loading them all into blogger (and I've ran out of space in Picasa Albums).

Madelyn received a Mulan doll, Cinderella doll, Cinderella dress-up costume, red/black tutu (Andrew is modeling it in the photos), pink toy motorcycle, baby doll, pj's, a few outfits, money for her savings account, Dora shoes, swim suit and I'm probably forgetting what else.

ps. The bird is my mom's. She brought it over for a playdate. It was not a present.

Posting out of order

Not sure what happened but this posted out of order.

Lovin Dolls Now

During our paperwork phase three years ago, I had an obsession of buying dolls for Madelyn. Those dolls have sat in boxes all this time. This week I started the process of opening them. This morning I opened the 2nd one which was the Baby Mulan doll. She LOVES this baby. I couldn't get it out of the box fast enough. She has brushed her hair and fed her the bottle it came with several times now. It's absolutely precious watching her. The boys seems to like it too. They all want to brush the dolls hair. Madelyn has also tried to put her shoes on the dolls feet. This is the phase I've been waiting for. I'm so ready now to play with dolls and Barbies after all the trains and cars the past six years.

Tumble Bumble

Too Adorable

Every Kid Needs a Bubble Blower (and I don't mean the parent)

This is awesome....and it really does make a gazillion bubbles. I bought it today at Wal-Mart, but in my first trip there and back, I discovered it wasn't in my bags, so I loaded all three toddlers back up and went back to Wal-Mart to claim what I paid for. It was suppose to be a joint birthday present since Madelyn got presents on Nate and Andrew's birthday, they needed something on hers, BUT I pulled it out early. This toy spread bubbles all over my yard and a few of our neighbor's yards. We used up the entire bubble bottle it came with. There was so much laughter and squeeling (good ones) that it was worth the two trips to Wal-Mart. I snapped 84 photos while watching them run and play and try to eat the bubbles. Here are some of my favorites...

Two Daughters

Tony surprised me after work Friday with a manila folder in his hands and inside was a sheet of paper he had printed of a poem he wrote this week. Tony had the chance to visit our daughter Reagan's grave Wednesday and removed the old flowers and replaced with some new ones. I have not had the chance to make that trip up so I was definitely happy that he was able to stop by when he was out of town for work that day. When I first read this, I had tears in my eyes and had to stop and cry for a little bit. Now that I've read it several times over, I am sad that I didn't take more time to grieve over the anniversary of Reagan's death this year. Instead I've learned how to cope and go on with life, something I didn't think would happen three years ago. Life has changed so much in the past three years. Here's the poem Tony wrote...

Just Me

I heard news today I was hoping not to hear but knew this was the news I'd get anyway. The only cure to my foot pain is probably surgery. I've had trouble with my feet forever. I'm flat footed and since I've been married I've lost count of how many times I've received cortisone injections in my feet for pain associated with heal spurs.

My pain has gotten worse in my left foot. The more I think about it, the really, really bad excrutiating pain has been since our trip to China. When we were in Guangzhou, our travel group took a ride down the Pearl River. This was the day Tony was getting over whatever made him so sick (and the night I started getting sick) so he doesn't remember much about what happened. When we loaded the boat, we walked across the main floor and headed upstairs to our seats. Before the steps to go up, there was a step I did not see and I stepped wrong and I remember feeling so much pain in my left foot and even saying "It feels like something just ripped."

I've had so much pain in my feet before I never put it all together until recently. I've been diagnosed with a ruptured tendon in the same foot I hurt on that boat in Guangzhou. Back in December I was given a brace to wear and was warned about possibilities of surgery. I went back today, same practice but different doctor, and he also said he was sure it was a ruptured tendon but the only way to know for sure was to do an MRI and if I wasn't planning on the surgery then they wouldn't order it. He said the surgery would put me down for 2-3 months - no weight on that foot at all.

I knew this was what he was going to say but when he said it today, tears filled in my eyes. That's impossible for me right now with the age my kids are at. He said until I got to that point that I could have the surgery, then to keep wearing the brace. I expressed to him that my concerns for coming back today was b/c I had been thinking about the warmer weather coming up and how hard it would be to walk outside barefoot or to take my kids to the pool without shoes on. He flat out said I'd have to wear the brace to stay out of pain. He's right. The brace does make it easier to walk but it doesn't solve my problem when I'm barefoot. I can't always have shoes on.

I do sometimes walk inside my house without the brace. I do pay for it later. If I wear a sandal with more cushioning on the bottom of the shoe or if there's some arch support, it's not so bad for a little while. The worst pain is when I get up from the bed and attempt to walk. I don't know how many times I've told Tony I was going to take a chainsaw and cut off my left foot b/c I think that would feel better than walking on it.

Maybe a new surgical procedure will develop in the next few years. Maybe a new non-surgical solution will be available. Otherwise, I will deal with the pain and keep on with my daily activities as much as I can.

Popsicle Smiles

Morning Waffle Fight

On a typical school day morning, after the babies (yes, we still call them babies even though they are two and almost two) get up and diapers are changed, they go into the playroom until Logan is done getting ready and off to school. During that time I will take waffles or pancakes or maybe something else to them for breakfast in the playroom. This gives me freedom to run around the house making sure Logan is ready (except for yesterday when I forgot he was still here and we missed the bus) and I don't trip over someone and don't have to listen to them whine.

Today they didn't get their waffles until Logan was off on the school bus. I took waffles to them upstairs soon after. I went into Logan's room, which is a danger zone, to do some tidy work and closed the door. We never leave Logan's room open b/c it's far from being toddler proof. I overheard some whining, screaming, arguing outside his door. When I opened the door Nate was pushing Madelyn holding her waffle and trying to get Madelyn to take his waffle. She wanted her waffle back. She had barely taken two bites out of it and Nate's was halfway gone. I did the switch over, told Nate to leave her waffle alone and went back into Logan's room and closed the door. Nate threw one of his big tantrums screaming and kicking and knocking on the door. Next thing I know there's screaming from Madelyn again and Nate letting out his high pitch squeel. When I opened the door back, waffle crumbs were everywhere. Nate had her waffle in his hands smooshed all up. Madelyn was digging for her crumbs on the floor.

In the end, I don't think Nate and Madelyn got very much except for what Nate ate on his original waffle. I found the leftover half of Nate's laying on the train table later and Andrew was asking "waffle, waffle?" so I picked up Nate's and gave it to him. So I guess you could say Andrew was the winner in all this. He got his waffle plus half of Nate's.
***And yes, Madelyn has on boy pj's again. Last night I was talking on the phone and got distracted while changing diapers and dressing them into pj's. I had three diapers and three sets of pj's in a pile on the floor. I dressed Andrew first. Madelyn was 2nd and I didn't realize I had put blue/boy pj's on her until I had her zipped up and Nate saw her and was pulling on her clothes and pointing to himself. I then realized I had dressed her wrong. I didn't bother redressing but wasn't going to put pink on Nate so I had to get up and get more for him. ***

Why I need a housekeeper....

If I hadn't been cleaning this morning I wouldn't have lost track of time and forgot Logan was in his room this morning playing legos while the school bus had come and gone.

I missed it by probably by five minutes. I had been cleaning one of the bathrooms upstairs and paused to put clothes on the kids but all I got was a shirt on the boys and slid a dress over Madelyn's head. I was about to go back to cleaning when I realized the time. I had to rush down the stairs, scurry up the bare-legged kids, find Logan's bookbag, binder, yell at Logan to get his shoes on and stop talking, and get them all loaded into my car in carseats. I'm waiting on the rumors to start in our neighborhood that I don't dress my kids appropriately for the weather (at least they did have a shirt on).

And yes, I could have taken my time to get them all dressed, but that would have made us later and I probably would have ended up having to walk Logan into the school for being tardy which would have meant I would have had to get all three toddlers out of the car and walk them in and out which really is not fun.

We've been kidding around that all summer long to keep Logan happy and quiet we would buy lots of lego sets b/c he stays entertained in his room and out of trouble when building Star Wars legos and other creations. Unfortunately it made me forget he wasn't at school yet this morning.

A little progress with the Snot

Our little "snot" princess is having less snot in the mornings now. For the past few mornings she has gotten up with no snot smeared all over her face and hair. At the most a few dried boogies hanging out but that's it. What a relief this is to us and what even bigger relief to her. She hasn't been waking during the night anymore either. I don't know whether to contribute this to the air purifier in her room, taking out things that collected more dust like most of the stuffed animals and now the twin bed that was in her room, change in some foods, or all of this. Unfortunately after she's up a bit her nose runs again and remains this way throughout the day.

We're set up to see a dietician/nutritionist on the 25th. So far I'm trying to eliminate milk and soy but that's harded than it sounds. She's still getting some food with these until I figure out a new daily meal plan for her. I'm still so confused over all of this and definitely need more help figuring this all out.

Where a Kid can be a Kid

 
 
 
 
Logan wanted his 6th birthday party at Chuck E Cheese this year and he only wanted BOYS. He made that clear that it was boys only. This was not that easy to do. The schools do not allow us to send invitations to kids in classes. I had a partial phone list of kids in his class and I started to call but then either didn't get an answer or line disconnected. I then waited on call backs and got none. So, I did an address hunt looking by phone numbers in the white pages online. No addresses came up for cell numbers and I didn't have kids last names either to know if I had the right addresses. I ended up collecting 6 addresses total. I got worried Logan wasn't going to have any kids but I had 5 reserved spots yesterday and today called two others and ended up with 7 kids. Two ended up not showing up tonight but Logan plus five was a good number for a party.

This was the easiest party ever. Someone cooked, someone cleaned up, someone even cut the cake and served it. Total it cost me was around $90 - probably the cheapest birthday party I've ever had for Logan. We did buy a cake separate but that's it. A friend kept the tots at our house so we didn't have to chase three toddlers around there. It also wasn't that crowded for a Friday night. I couldn't have picked a better night. Logan really enjoyed his party and the company of his friends.

Two mom's didn't sit with us b/c their daughters were with them. Since Logan said "all boy" they didn't want to disturb his party. I found out later one of the daughters fell off a sledding game and her mom rushed her to the ER. She has a broken collar bone. Poor thing. I haven't spoke to them yet to find out more details. Another mom called to tell me.

Logan got more legos, two star wars light sabers (red and blue), $30, and a speed racer. He's very happy!!!

Our First Born's Birthday

 
 
Logan turned 6 years old at 12:03am this morning. We told him the story of how he should have had a birthday on April 9th but he was so stubborn he waited until right after midnight to come out. Now he wants to know how he came out of my belly...will tell that one later.

He had a wonderful day. It started with chocolate lucky charms for breakfast (his choice), one present before he got on the school bus (which was a lego set that he had to start building immediately), got his entire family plus his Ma-maw Pat to have lunch with him at school, I took him chocolate chip cookies just for him and he had cupcakes to share with the entire class, his Daddy stayed at school to volunteer, he got to come home open more presents (more legos), ate out for dinner and the restuarant staff sang to him and brought out cake, and then probably the best part was he earned his first stripe (yellow) on his white belt at Tae Kwon Do (so Daddy bought him a Tae Kwon Do t-shirt to celebrate).

I can't believe my baby is six years old. <<>>

Whatcha get when you mix...

two two-year old boys, bubbles, and a bag of potting soil.
 
 
 

Our Little Dare Devil