Better Day

Ick. What a downer post before. I actually wrote it last night after everybody went to bed. I'm just so used to blogging at night and scheduling my blog posts for the following morning, I did the same thing. Last night I was just feeling down and needed to get it out. I woke up in a much better mood and ready to deal with this food allergy crap.

I can either get all "oh woe-is-me" and let it control me or I can control the food allergy situation. I can't just sit around and be depressed about this, waiting for it to change. Plus, what does it teach my girls? I need to teach them to take charge of a situation if it is something they don't like to try to change it or adapt to it. I am going to take a few nights of research online to find some new recipes for the whole family. This two or three separate entrees for one meal has to stop.

Thanks to those who sent me emails or comments with words of encouragement. It truly means a lot to know people care. If anyone has any recipes they want to share, please feel free.

Disappointed

Yesterday in the amount of time it took for me to throw wash into the dryer, Josie and Violet were able to grab Charlotte's snack off of the counter and eat some of it. This particular snack was cheese and crackers. I think they each had about 2-4 small bites of cheddar cheese. It's hard to know for sure. When I finished putting the laundry in the dryer, I saw Josie with her hand covered in bits of cheese and Violet with little cheese chunks on her shirt.

In the past, when they have orally ingested dairy or soy, their reaction has taken anywhere from an hour to 3 hours to appear. The only time they reacted immediately was their most recent exposure, a few months ago to an unknown allergen in a processed turkey stew I gave them. They broke out in hives.

About five minutes after I realized they had eaten cheese, I heard the first wretches come from Josie. TMI alert, so skip it if you want.... She threw up all the cheese (a small amount) and all of her lunch from earlier in the afternoon. Hives came next. Even wheezing this time. Thank goodness that benadryl got her symptoms under control.

I am guessing that Violet must have had a smaller amount, because she eventually got sick, but nowhere near like Josie. They are both fine now.

Meanwhile, I am disappointed. That isn't even the right word. My heart is heavy. I had a feeling that when we went for their repeat allergy testing this month, it would show they were still allergic. I have been trying for months to not get my hopes up, but I did. They are still going for the allergy testing later this month. I am not sure what the allergist will recommend in regard to their formula. Will we keep them on Alimentum for another six months?

I guess I need to start thinking in the long term. I have been letting myself have a secret hope that Josie and Violet will outgrow these allergies. I need to start planning as if these allergies are sticking around. I need to find different things to feed them.

I realize I am rambling, but I am pretty upset about this.

Snowpocalypse 2010

Seriously, who came up with this name? Anyway here are our pictures from the big snow event of 2010.
Is that a crazy lunatic shoveling my driveway? No, it is just my sweet John. We really need to invest in a snow blower. Charlotte has declared that daddy should throw out this mask "puz it cared me" (translation: because it scared me). I agree.
Josie and Violet watched from the comfort and warmth of the indoors. Saturday was the first day in two weeks they seemed like their old selves and did not require a breathing treatment, so I was not going to risk sending them out into the cold.


Can you tell Violet was feeling better?

Charlotte's favorite snow activity? Eating it, of course.
Charlotte and John trekking through the 18 inches of snow in the backyard.


Look at those rosy cheeks after an afternoon of fun.

It was a fun weekend and the snow looked beautiful falling. Now, please bring on Spring!

Precious Moments

The nice thing about being confined to a few baby proofed rooms during these cold winter months is that you have what you need within arms reach. So when I hear squeals of laughter I can quickly grab my camera to capture these precious moments.

It all started with Josie giggling while attempting to put on my slipper.

That led to Charlotte wanting to get in on the action.
It ended with a lot of hugging, tickling, and belly laughing.

Life with Toddlers

As I was cleaning up after lunch yesterday, there was a knock at our door. I thought maybe it was a neighbor coming over to introduce themselves or my father stopping in for a surprise visit. No such luck. It was a lady selling meat out of her car. Really? I wanted to ask her how successful she is at selling pieces of meat to people out of her car, but thought it might come across as rude. This whole meat out of the car thing could be it's own blog post.

Anyway, I didn't even really need to come up with an excuse to get rid of her. She heard the screams of my girls behind me, and peered into the house. This is what she saw.That's right. All of our kitchen chairs lined up in the hallway. She quickly said "I won't keep you, I can see you are mopping the floors." Now that is the rational explanation for what she saw. However, if you live with toddlers, you know the true reason these chairs are lined up in the hall, on the other side of the baby gates. Because my climbers have decided to sit at the kitchen table. Or on the kitchen table.

There are many climbing battles I have lost. The couch, the toybox, chairs, their sisters. But the kitchen chairs and table are not up for debate. The floor is too hard.

So if my foyer looks like that, what does my kitchen look like? A kitchen table with only one chair. Since it has Charlotte's booster seat in it, Josie and Violet can't figure out how to climb up that high. Yet.

Now I must run. I have a dinner date with Elmo tonight.

Style Watch

Violet couldn't be bothered with looking at the camera. They were too busy watching TV (gasp!). Violet and Josie are the next E! duo to critique what stars wear to award shows.

Violet: "Can you believe she wore that?"
Josie: "Ick. I can't even look."

Violet attempting to break out of the baby area. Apparently, someone must have spilled something on this end table at one point that was quite tasty. Either that or she was doing a Lady Gaga impersonation.

Behind My Back

For all of the bribing and begging I do, I still can't convince the three girls to sit together for a picture. So imagine my surprise when I walked into the playroom the other day to find this.

That's right. Josie, Charlotte and Violet actually sitting together. Is this what they do behind my back?

If you are curious, Charlotte is wearing one of my dresses. It's her new favorite thing to do. Forget her princess dresses, she would rather wear my clothing these days.