Tonsils

I couldn't take it anymore. I finally took Mason into an ENT for his big tonsil.  We were 99% sure it was fine, but I couldn't take that 1% any longer so into a specialist we went. Rob works with Dr. Deb Goebel, and she is super sweet and nice. She talked me through everything and eased my concerns. Mason will just have to grow into his big tonsil because ideally it should stop growing at this point in time as he grows. If anyone can pull off a big tonsil, I am sure Mason can!

Ellery 4 Year Check-up

Height: 39.1 (35%)

Weight: 32lb 2 oz (25%)

BP: 90/58
Ellery wasn't near as excited to go to the Dr. We opted for her to get all of her shots so when she comes back for her 5 year check-up/kindergarten physical she won't have to get any. She wasn't prepared and wasn't scared to show her feelings. She did however enjoy the stickers and bubbles she got for being so brave. She remains our tiny below average kid in height and weight, but her personality is big and mighty and makes up for it! If she doesn't start putting on the weight she is going to go to kindergarten in her 5 point harness. I am not sure she will gain 8 pounds in the next two years??

Bryson 18 month check up

Height: 33.25 inches (65%)

Weight: 24 lb 13 oz (29%)

Head Circumference: 19.09 inches (64%)
Everything checked out for Bryson. We are concerned about his lack of speaking or talking, but he has a lot of people who do the talking for him. We also reward him for his tapping and crying. We have no doubt he is absorbing it all in, he just doesn't have the desire to show us verbally. 

Bryson 15 Month Check Up

Height: 31.5 inches (62%)

Weight: 23lb 5.5oz (32%)

Head Circumference: 48cm (73%)

Allergy Testing

We had our yearly allergy appointments last week with Dr. Nelson. Dr. Nelson is fantastic, I didn't even ask him to hold Bryson, he just scooped him up when he came into the room. Then when he came back Bryson went over to him and put his arms up to be picked up!

Mason's peanut numbers remain in the 7's, we still have a chance to outgrow the peanut allergy, but the outlook isn't looking so good! He will be sitting at the peanut free table at school. On the plus side Bryson's milk numbers came back in the norm, but the highest normal possible. We went ahead and did a skin test and that came back normal as well, so then we scheduled an appointment for tolerance testing. We came back a week later for some tolerance testing of real milk and passed with flying colors. We now have the green light to start giving him milk if nothing drastic happens within the next 24 hours! Yeah, he will be able to have pizza, yogurt, cheese, and casserole dishes with milk and cheese now! Wish us luck!

Mason's 5 year Check-Up

Mason had his 5 year check up and kindergarten physical today. Other than having one large tonsil he checked out great! In theory it should be at it's max growth and we shouldn't need to have them removed. He did have to get three shots and a lab draw for his peanut numbers for the allergist next week. He was very curious on getting blood drawn and wanted to watch, a few tears were shed, but it was nothing a bandaid couldn't cure!

Weight: 47lbs

Height: 46.75 inches

Blood Pressure 98/51

HR: 86

Eyes 20/30

Bryson's 1 Year Check-Up

Bryson is following Ellery in the lower curve of weight. Which is funny because when Kim and Ben were visiting last week they kept referring to Bryson as a "big" boy and "chunk". Compared to Amelia, I guess he is big but according to the curves he isn't big at all!

Weight: 20lbs 10oz (16%)

Height: 30 inches (54%)

Head Circumference: 46cm

We are on another quest for a pediatrician. I am not impressed with Village Point Pediatrics. Our pediatrician moved to a different location and I wasn't willing to put the effort into driving the extra miles so we went to VP Pediatrics. I have nothing nice to say about the office. Bryson got his shots and lab work sent in for peanut and milk allergy testing. We head to the allergist next week!

Ouch

Well, having consecutive date nights has its pros and cons. A con is not you aren't bathing your children every night and inspecting them. We usually don't have our sitters give the kids baths, but since we have had consecutive nights out we let the sitter help Mason and Ellery shower. We just let Bryson be the stinky kid. We noticed his finger was red the morning before, but since we went out we didn't check it that evening and really didn't think about it the following morning. We were having a lazy morning together as a family when we noticed this ouchie on Mason's finger. Rob diagnosed him with a paronychia. Mason was a champ while Rob had to drain the pus from the finger not once, but twice. We ended up taking the safe route and putting him on oral antibiotics. This one might be a strike against me in my running for parent of the year. This might make the top 10 list of what not to do on consecutive date nights!

Bryson 9 Months Check Up

Weight: 18lbs 11oz (18%)

Height: 28.25 (45%)

Head Circumference: 45.5 (53%)

I need to pull out Mason's stats and do a baby compare. I know you aren't supposed to, but I just can't help it!

Everything checked out fine at the 9 month check-up. We won't do any more allergy testing until the 1 year check up.

Ellery 3 Year Check-Up

We went to Ellery's three year check-up and she is growing and developing appropriately.
My tiny peanut stats come in as:

Weight: 29lbs 6 oz (33%)

Height: 36.5 inches (33%)

I did have some questions about her speech, so we followed up with a speech therapist. Her articulation isn't as clear as we would like and she struggles with the f, s, and t sounds that we have noticed. We had her screened and she is doing some backing with words and stopping. She really struggles with her s's although she can do a snake sound without any problem. She doesn't qualify for speech therapy at this point, but if she continues to articulate and her speech patterns don't improve, she will qualify at 3.5 years. So we are working with her at home and will take her in for another evaluation when the time comes. They did ask for us to have her hearing checked, but I am certain she hears fine when she wants to!

I forgot to mention in her 3 year post how much she loves puzzles. We do puzzles everyday. She

can put together a 25 piece puzzle all by herself without any help. She will start the 55 piece puzzle, but she requests assistance to finish it. I think she has my patience, which is none, so she wants the help and puzzle company. She likes to do them on the hearth and leave them together to show Mason and daddy!

A Trip to the ER and Fish Cupcakes

Oh the joys of parenthood. I should be thankful that we haven't ever needed a trip to the ER officially until now. Unofficially, we took Mason in to have a cut looked at for a second opinion. Rob's opinion was correct so he wasn't admitted or treated. This time we had to get treated in the ER. Ellery is my frequent flyer in making night time appearances. As I reached out to greet her in the dark, I accidentally poked her in the eye. She was crying already and was consolable so I took her back to bed. She wasn't consolable when she woke up in the morning. She wouldn't open her eye for me at all and cried a lot. I felt so bad, I knew I poked her the night

before, but didn't think it was that bad. I woke up Rob and he went ahead and took her to the ER at Children's. After all of my eye stuff, I never want to mess around with eyes so off they went. She had a tiny little scratch so she got some numbing drops along with goopy antibiotics in the eye for 24 hours. So 2 days before her birthday I traumatize her with an eye injury. I have memories from when I was 3 so I am hoping this one is forgotten. We had planned to make cupcakes for school in the am, but had to switch our plans to the afternoon. You can see her eye was still a bit puffy and red, but she really enjoyed helping make fish cupcakes. I think they turned out darling!

Allergy Visit

If anyone is looking for a wonderful allergy clinic, I would refer you to Midwest Allergy and go see Dr. Nelson. We were seeing Dr. Hopp and he was ok, but Nelson is great!

I learned so much and won't bore you with all the details. We are still allergic to milk and will get retested at 1 year. We were concerned about giving him soy for multiple reasons so the Dr. tested him for a soy allergy and it was negative! Big Yahooo on that one. So Bryson and I are staying away from milk these days and I still carry an epi pen, but now it is for either Mason or Bryson! We have a pretty good chance of outgrowing the milk allergy and still a slight window on the peanuts, so keep us in your prayers!

PS. I'm not crying over spilled milk, I'm crying over throwing out all my frozen breast milk.

Allergies

It is official, Bryson is allergic to Milk. Rats.
I challenge you to go read labels in your house, milk is in EVERYTHING!!!
I am very disappointed in my Dr's office in answering my questions. A normal range for not having a milk allergy is 0-0.34 and Bryson came back at 0.38, a very low number. I had a bucket full of questions that my Dr's office didn't, wouldn't, or couldn't answer. Basically I was told to stay away from "big" milk products myself because I am breast feeding since it hasn't seemed to bother him this far and we would recheck his level at his 9 month check up. Well, that wasn't good enough for me so we are off to the allergist next week! On a positive note, a lot of kids out grow milk allergies. Also, FYI lactose intolerant is not the same as a milk allergy.

Bryson 6 Month Check-up

Height: 28 inches (93%)
Weight: 15lbs 10 oz (17%)
Head Circumference: 43.5 cm (43%)
Bryson had his 6 month check up and he checked out good except we had to get tested for a milk allergy. Plus he has really bad dry skin so we got a topical steroid to help get it under control. The reason we think he has a milk allergy is that he has been taking solids for a some time and we have been mixing the cereal with breast milk. We also have only given him cereal. I was lazy the other day, well I actually forgot to thaw out some breast milk, but let's not mention that I forgot something to Rob. He would be thrilled to know I forgot, but since I forgot to put some out I thought I'll just mix in some formula that we had on hand. He didn't react which is classic for a first time exposure, he reacted the next night. I was out with some friends and once again forgot to thaw out some milk, so I told Rob just use the formula that I used the night before. I had a wonderful night out with some friends, only to return and find out Bryson had some hives. Rob ask me about hives and rashes the first night and I told him I didn't notice any. Yikes! Thank goodness we have benedryl on hand. So we are waiting for the results! Which I can already guess the results, but I can live in denial until I get the actual result!

Oh Nuts

Well, I am sad to report that Mason's peanut allergy number did not stay at a 1, but jumped to a 7. So that means no tolerance testing for us. The question remains that he is still making antibodies and being exposed to nuts. Sooooo we are moving into extreme peanut lock down. I am going to get rid of my peanut butter while Rob is going to give up his Honey Nut cream cheese. Oh and how I love peanut butter. We were originally told that if a label read that it had been processed with nuts that we could keep giving it to him if he had 1. Had it before and 2. not reacted to it. So good by M&M's and other wonderful treats and hello Skittles and Smarties as a special treat! Still have never had to use the epi pen or even give benedryl because of an exposure, but we really really really want to increase his chances of outgrowing it!

Bryson 4 Month Check Up

Bryson's Stats:

Height: 26.75 inches (94%)

Weight: 13lbs 14 0z (25%)

Head Circumference: 41.5 cm (26%)

Well, Bryson is a long and lean, something his mother used to be. He is checking out great and his growth curve is right on track for him, with a wee bit of a jump in height. The nurse came back and measured him twice to make sure she didn't make an error. I really wish I wouldn't get these percentages, because now I will obsess over the numbers. I would rather have either all average or above average. This all over the spectrum stresses me out for reasons I can't explain. He does have the Chaplin skin, dry, dry, and even dryer. We just need to keep him lubricated up, we can't skip a lotion dousing or his skin will show it. Bryson is a great baby, he is mostly happy and doesn't cry a lot unless he needs a diaper change, hungry, or tired.

I did finally capture a pout. Sometimes when he cries he doesn't know if he should cry or let out a pout. So Precious!

Whoopie Cushion

A text I hope to never send again. Rob was at work and too busy to answer his phone so I decided to text him: "Hope you are having a good day. Call me, Mason has a lose front tooth. Whoopie cushion accident."
He of course was too busy to read my text, but did however call when things slowed and this is the earful he got.....
The dentist gives out toys rather than candy after their visit. Since Mason had his check up and a procedure he told him he could have two toys. I let Mason pick out one toy and I picked up a whoppie cushion. Mason told me no, but I assured him this toy would bring hours of fun. It did bring hours of fun until they decided to start diving on it with their heads to make the whoopie cushion deflate. I was feeding Bryson and listening/watching them have a good time playing in the adjacent room. Oops, wasn't watching close enough. Mason went down for the kill and missed the cushion, but did connect hard with the carpeted floor. He came running to me crying and I was comforting him, but not comforting good enough. He opened his mouth for another whale of a cry and that is when I see the blood oozing from his front tooth. Ouch, I touched it and it moved. A little too much wiggle for my taste along with swelling and bleeding. A call to the dentist followed. We are holding off on another round of x-rays and hope it firms back up on it's own while we enjoy a soft diet. Only time will tell. A good lesson in what not to do with a whoopie cushion. On a funnier note, when we were playing with it the first time the kids were leery and scared. I sat on it the first time and then the fun began. I even caught Mason attempting to pull down his pants to sit on it with his bare bottom. I stopped that use, if only I could have caught the face planting use sooner.

Dentist

Mason had the idea to wear his fang teeth today to the dentist to "tease" him. I am not sure where he learned teasing, but he is really into teasing people right now. He currently wants to tease a police officer about traffic lights and tell him that you go on red and stop on green. He keeps asking me what I think the police officer will say to that tease.
He also got his first round of x-rays. He did really good, but clearly wasn't over the moon about the process. He did perk up when she showed him his teeth x-rays. We also had a teeny tiny cavity. Dr. Bryan didn't want to call it a cavity because it wasn't caused by him not brushing well or correctly. He kept repeating it is just the anatomy of the tooth. Made me feel better about getting a cavity report.

Ellery was a champ and quite frankly I am a bit unsettled by it. She was more interested in admiring her new princess toothbrush that she opened up and let the hygienist do her business. I literally have to hold her arms down and fight her every night to brush her front teeth. It usually leads to tears and a time out for both her and me over the ordeal. Maybe she will turn over a new leaf after this visit, it doesn't hurt to be hopeful!

Ralph Continues his visit

I finally had to take Ellery to the Dr. today. She spent all night Thursday, most of Friday day and night tossing her cookies. She also refused to eat or drink. I am ok with her not eating, but she can't not drink. We hit the pediatricians office Saturday morning. They took some blood to the lab and we learned she had a bicarb of 13. A low number for kid not drinking so if Ellery didn't start drinking more we would land ourselves for another visit to get IV fluids. I really didn't want to do that to her, so I chased her with a syringe full of pedialyte or gatorade every 30 min to get fluids in her. It wasn't a pleasant experience for anyone, but kept her out of the hospital. She was very impressed by her "big" bandaid. They put a piece of gauze under the bandaid and she wouldn't let me take it off all until the end of the day. Oh, it was a stressful day!

Bryson 2 Month Check Up

Height 23.5 inches (72%)

Weight 12lbs 8oz (70%)

Head 39 Cm (27%)

After nursing 12lbs 11oz and I thought it was a terrible feed and didn't think he ate well.
He is checking up nicely and staying on his curve. I think this just confirms I am pumping cream for this child. He got his shots, and one would think it would get easier, but it breaks my heart every time when they scream like that.