A few weeks ago after giving Isadora cottage cheese, she threw up.  And I don't mean just a little spit up.  We tried yogurt twice and both times, Isadora got a rash.  After talking to Kirk, I called the pediatrician's office and they recommended soy, but they also felt she should see an allergist.

Kirk and I thought this was ridiculous.  No lie.  I had initially called the pediatrician's office just to see if it was ok to give Isa soy until she was a year at which point I figured we'd try dairy again.  I cannot tell you how many times Kirk and I both commented on how we were certain we Isadora did not have a dairy allergy and how crazy it was we were headed to the allergist's office with our 9 month old.  I think Kirk even threatened to cancel the appointment.

So glad we didn't cancel the appointment since it turns out Isadora does, in fact, have a dairy allergy.

Sad, sad day.

Thankfully, they did not have to give her shots.  I had been apologizing to the poor girl for weeks fearing the shots she may receive.  They gave her a scratch test.  Side A on her back was the control side (Kirk said he was thinking it was probably sugar water) and Side B was the allergy test side.In addition to milk, Isadora was tested for eggs, beef, chicken, wheat, nuts, cats, and dust mites.  She didn't even flinch when they put the things on her back to test her.  We could tell they started itching her after a little bit because she kept looking back and moving her arms trying to reach her back.

It was pretty obvious right away the milk spot was turning into a giant welt.  Thankfully, Isadora isn't allergic to anything else, but the allergist did recommend we avoid eggs, also, even though she didn't have a reaction.

This is Isa's back after about 20 minutes.

I feel so bad for Isadora.  I know this is an allergy she may outgrow, but all I can think about is her future without dairy.  No milk in her cereal, no cream cheese for her bagel.  No parmasean cheese for her pasta, no fettucini alfredo.  No chip dip.  No ricotta.  No ice cream.  No milk chocolate.  No whipped cream.  A lifetime of bringing her own dairy free ice cream to birthday parties.  Forever explaining to people she has a dairy allergy and she isn't lactose intolerant.

I know it is entirely possible she  may grow out of this, but I'm so worried about her future.  The thought of her never trying real ice cream brought tears to my eyes.  No, I'm not kidding.  Yes, I love ice cream that much.

With Isadora in mind, I headed to the grocery store tonight to take a look at the dairy free products.  I found dairy free ice cream, cream cheese, chocolate chips and almond milk.

I tried the dairy free ice cream and both kinds were pretty good.  The cream cheese was disgusting and I haven't tired the chocolate chips or the almond milk yet.  I did see some other dairy free items.  I wanted to get some sort of cheese but the shredded cheese looked like it was plastic shaved off a wiffle bat.  I was reading the ingredients and even though a lot of things didn't say they had milk in them, I'm so worried one of the ingredients is milk masquerading under another name.

We go for a blood test in 6  months and a follow up appointment in about 8 or 9 months.  They will retest Isadora at that time to see if she is still allergic to dairy products.  Until then, we will be sure she doesn't eat or drink anything dairy and have our Epipen Jr. near us at all times.

So, this is the news in our life.  It could be so, so much worse; we know this.  I think it will force us all to eat better and watch what we're eating and read labels.  If this is our new life, we'll adjust and maybe, just maybe, I'll start a new dairy free cooking blog or something fun like that.  :)

Balloonfest 2012

We love Balloonfest.  It's our nerdy side coming out sitting out on our deck waiting for the balloons to fly overhead.  Or walking to the main street near us and sitting on the sidewalk waiting on the balloons to fly in. My brother-in-law pegged me as a balloonologist because I was seriously giving everyone updates last night and telling them when/if the balloons were going to go up.

Lincoln and I were up bright and early checking out the balloons.  We took a short walk and were able to see all of the balloons flying in.  I've never seen so many balloons flying in!  It was awesome!

All those little dots are the balloons flying in.

We were also able to see parachuters flying overhead and B25s from our backyard.  Lincoln loved seeing them "in the clouds"!

Joelee and Jason brought the kids over yesterday for a fun day at the Balloonfest.  We ate and rode a ride or two.  Isadora enjoyed the day from the comfort of the stroller.

A lady stopped Joelee and Jason on their way to see the unicyclists and went on and on and on about how she had never seen triplets in person and then took their picture!  After Joelee told her no three times, the lady wouldn't take no for an answer and snapped a photo!  Jo and Ja tell us this is normal for them, but it still is crazy to me.  By the looks and people talking, you'd think they were the Gosselins.

After spending a few hours at the fest, we headed home.  The kids played outside until the balloons flew out for the night.  The balloons were great last night!  We watched the balloons from picnic tables at the church near us.  The kids, as tired as they were, were so good and loved it.  Except Ellery, who I'm pretty sure has the motto "if you've seen one, you've seen them all".  Little cutie.

The weather doesn't look like it will allow for anymore balloons to go up today.  Boo!  We had a great weekend and enjoyed it so much!  Looking forward to next year!

New Chapter

Yes, YES!  It's been ages since I've written.  I know, I know.  It's actually the balloon festival this weekend. Awesome!  I'll try to post some pictures after this weekend.

So, I apologize it's been so long.  I can't believe it's been almost 2 months!  That's a long time, especially in baby months!  Isadora is growing like a weed.  She's definitely an eater and loves food.  She's on the verge of crawling...so close!  This week, she's started rolling all over the place and getting up on all fours and rocking.  We're waiting!  I made a bet with Kirk she'd be crawling by the time she was 9 months.  Looks like I lost that bet because she's 9 months today and not crawling yet.  YES...9 months!  She has her 2 bottom teeth and her 2 i-teeth are coming in; it looks like she has fangs.

Lincoln is, well, Lincoln.  :)  Same old Lincy.  He's a wild one and full of so much energy.  It's so strange now that we are actually having conversations with him.  And he tells us things are beautiful and he answers our questions with a full sentence.  It is amazing to me!  Now if I could only get him to use the potty all the time I'd be a happy mom!

Kirk and I recently made the decision for me to quit my job and become a stay at home mom.  I gave my work about 6 weeks notice.  It was hard - I won't lie about that.  Becoming a stay at home mom wasn't ever something I saw in my future before having kids.  Something happened, though, after I had Isadora: I felt like I wasn't giving anyone 100%.  Work was getting half of me and the kids were getting the other 50%.  I was making my poor husband miserable because I wasn't sleeping; I constantly was thinking about work.  My job, whether or not I liked it, had always been a part of who I was and the thought of quitting made me feel like I was losing a piece of myself.  Nonetheless, I was making everyone in my life miserable (including myself).

Yay!  So, here I am: a stay at home mom.  Exciting!

This was my first week not working.  I think it will take a little while to acclimated to this whole not working thing.  We were able to fit in a family day, a trip to the zoo and a play date with Sarah and her girls.  We made sure to pack as much into the first week as we could!

I am really, really looking forward to all of the changes.  I cannot wait to spend more time together as a family and with the kids.  Hopefully we get to see more of everyone AND maybe I'll even have more time to update the blog!  :)

Our Favorite Time of Year...

Hot air balloon time!

This balloon was so close to us we could almost touch it!  I didn't even have to zoom in when I took the picture...it was that close.

Lincoln was in heaven.  Can't wait for Balloon Festival this year!

Solids

We waited more than 6 months before we started Isadora on solids.  I really wanted to nurse the full 6 months and when 6 months did sneak up on us, we found we had just fallen into this routine of me nursing and getting out of that routine was difficult.  When we finally did start solids at about 6.5 months, we gave her rice cereal, skipped oatmeal and jumped to barley.  After only about a week of cereal, we started avocado.  Can't you see the love all over her face?

Since avocado, we've move onto bananas, sweet potatoes, pears, applesauce, and carrots.  She seems to be a pretty big fan of food.  She makes a disgusted face, but opens up her mouth for another bite.

I love making baby food.  I loved making Lincoln's food and I am so happy to be able to make Isadora's, too. I am looking forward to her eating new foods and creating new recipes.

Hopefully Isa enjoys eating in the future as much as she does now!

Isa = 6 Months

Crazy, right?  It's so hard to believe that Isadora is 6 months old!  Actually, she's almost 6.5 months now, but who is counting?

We brought her to the doctor this week for her check up and shots.  I always drag Kirk along with me because I cannot stand to see my baby's poor little skin getting poked. 

Her stats are:
Height: 25.5 inches (28th percentile)
Weight: 17 pounds 2 ounces (62nd percentile)
Head: 42.7 cm (28th percentile)

She checked out fine!  No problems, no issues.  She even did fine with her shots.  She cried during the shots, but she was fine afterwards. 

We don't have to go back until July!  Yay!

A Month in Review

I'm slacking on my updates!  It's getting so hard to keep up to date on the blog.  I think about it, but finding time to blog is getting so hard.  Must be the full time job, keeping up with everything around the house and, oh yeah, the two small kiddos.

We've been busy doing nothing and yet, I feel like we have reached so many milestones since I last wrote.

Isadora is now doing one of my favorite things of all time: playing with her feet.  I love it!  I seriously cannot get enough of the way babies fold them selves in half and play with their feet.  Adorable!  The ladies at day care said they leave her in her diaper so she can just play with her feet.  She loves it!

She also is on the verge of sitting up all on her own.  We had her sitting in the Boppy today.  She's so close to sitting up all on her own!

We're also happy to say, Isadora is now rolling over.  Adorable.  She's great at rolling from her back onto her tummy, but rolling from her tummy to her back is still hard for her.  Which seems weird since when I was trying to take pictures of her for Christmas cards, she wouldn't quit rolling over.

I had forgotten how exciting it is when babies reach a milestone!
We're working on potty-training with Lincoln. It's a work in progress...

This past weekend, I took the kids to an Easter egg hunt at their day care while Kirk was working.  Isa hung out with her day care teachers while Lincoln and I went on an Easter egg hunt.  Lincoln had so much fun looking for eggs, rather, picking them up off the playground.

Lincoln also got his face painted and, as a special treat, even got a cookie in the cookie walk.  Lucky kid.

He was mad at me because I wouldn't let him go in the 2 big bounce houses and made him stay in the small one.  You can tell by the look on his face how mad at me he was!

We're so excited the weather is warming up and we can get outside and play.being.  Lincoln keeps telling us he likes the beach.  Poor kid is as ready for summer as we are!