Friday, October 28, 2011

They taught her how to pick her nose

At dinner tonight, Lorelai made the sign for food and then touched the side of her nose. I only know a couple of signs, so I asked Aidan if he knew whether the finger on the nose was a sign for anything. His suggestion? Bugger. The boys thought that was funny, so they started sticking their fingers up their noses (boys will be boys). Lorelai copied, and hilarity ensued.

nose picking


Logan showed me how!
"Logan made me do it!"

It's been a looooooong busy week at work and I'm so ready for a relaxing weekend. I dodged a bullet and don't have to do any work this weekend like I originally thought, so TGIF!

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Adventures in peanut allergies?

So it looks like Lorelai might have a peanut allergy. I'm not going to lie, I'm freaking out. Not only over what kind of potential changes this mean to us/her and her lifestyle from now on, but I can't help but think about my sweet baby going into anaphylactic shock and winding up in the hospital...or worse. PB allergies are no joke :(

This weekend while I was making Logan a PB&J, I decided I would go ahead and make a small one for Lorelai as her first experience with peanut butter. Since she has no other known allergies and no family history of allergies, we got the go-ahead from her pediatrician at 12 months to give her pretty much anything as long as it wasn't a choking hazard. (The AAP recently changed their recommendation on waiting till after 2 years to introduce peanut butter.)

I spreaded it thin with applesauce so it would be easier to eat and let her have at it. She ate a few bites and that was it—clearly not a fan. It wasn't until I noticed the red spots on the corners of her mouth when she got done with her goldfish crackers that I started to suspect anything. I washed her face really well and then we went to the pumpkin patch and Aidan's soccer game. By the time we got home from Aidan's soccer game several hours later, she had developed a rash on the back of her neck and some spots on her belly. I immediately suspected it was the peanut butter, but she wasn't having any trouble breathing, no swelling, or any other alarming symptoms, so I didn't think to give her any allergy meds for it (stupid, stupid).

We put her to bed (and checked on her a few times throughout the night for difficulty breathing) and all seemed fine until the morning when her rash had gotten way worse. It was all over her trunk, neck, scalp, and face. She had a few spots on her arms and legs, too. And she was itching like crazy.

It was Sunday, so I had to wait for a call back from the doctor. Amongst all the talk of which ER to go to if she started swelling or having breathing problems (freaking me out, of course!) they recommended 1tsp of Benedryl every six hours as needed. We were given instructions to bring her in on Monday if her rash didn't get any better, or started to get worse.

Fortunately, it did start to respond to the Benedryl, but it took until Tuesday for the redness to disappear from her face. Right now it's still kind of bumpy, but no rash anywhere else, other than a MEAN diaper rash on Tuesday and Wednesday. I guess we were fortunate to avoid any serious symptoms this time, but that doesn't mean that any future exposures won't be worse. Such a scary thought.

So...I guess we'll find out what to do next during her 15 month well visit on Nov. 1. I'm hoping for a referral to an allergist so we can find out for sure whether she's allergic, and if so, how severe it is.

In the meantime, I'm still holding on to a sliver of hope that it's just a coincidence and the rash was a random one-time thing. Fingers, toes and eyes crossed! I'll be sure to keep everyone posted.


Her world has been turned upside down. No peanut butter? Crazytown!
Her world has been turned upside down. No peanut butter? Crazytown!


Thursday, October 6, 2011

Date night

On Monday I took the boys to Chick-fil-a for their "Mother-Son Date Knight" event. We had a great time, despite their initial confusion over what in the heck a date night was, and why they "had" to go to it. After explaining that it was a privilege to go out to eat with their mother (and there would be a Chick-fil-a happy meal involved), they were excited.

I'd never been to one of these events before, but they had a table reserved for us (I signed up online a few weeks ago), complete with a tablecloth and cloth napkins. They brought us menus and took our order at the table.

They boys chowed down, got their faces painted, got balloon pirate swords, and saw a magic show complete with a real bunny and parrot. Aidan and I enjoyed some vanilla ice cream, which Logan vehemently turned down because apparently "vanilla ice cream tastes like poop, I only like chocolate." Well then, good to know.

date night at Chick-fil-a
 
It's also worth noting that Logan was very upset about the fact that Lorelai wasn't coming with us. Adam stayed home with her, and right as it was time for us to go, Logan broke down into tears clinging onto Lorelai saying he didn't want to leave her and wouldn't go without her. Very touching, for sure. And I'd say oddly over-dramatic, but this is Logan we're talking about. Luckily I was able to calm him down and he did end up having a good time (despite the ice cream hissy fit).

Thank you, Chick-fil-a, for a lovely date night with my sweet boys. Next up, Daddy-daughter date night when Lorelai is old enough :)

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

10K, done!

I did it and I'm so freakin' proud of myself!!

Post-race. Congrats to my running buddies Adrianne, CC and Adam!


Apparently, all my worrying was for nothing. I did so much better than I ever thought I could, and didn't even have to walk at all!! I finished the 10K in 1:02:47 (393rd out of 538). That's a whole 4 minutes better than my previous (only other) time. Woohoo! I'm attributing my success to race day adrenaline—I was definitely feeling the nerves beforehand—so I'm not sure I could pull off that time again, but that's ok.

I actually felt really good while I was running. In fact, probably better than I've ever felt during a run. Not overly tired and my quad didn't bother me at all. Plus, the hills weren't as bad as I had thought (although there were a couple of doozies). I was definitely sore on Sunday and Monday, but nothing too terrible.

I'm also really impressed with Adam. He kept up with me for the first mile, then fell a little behind so I was worried about him. He hung in there though, and kept at it with a combination of sprinting, jogging and walking. He finished at 1:12:24 in 503rd place. (Not last like he thought he might be!)

I'm definitely not planning any marathons or half marathons in the future, but I could totally see myself signing up for another 10K, as well as some 5Ks.

Speaking of 5Ks, I actually ran one the weekend before the 10K! It was kind of impromptu, but I figured it would be a good way to prepare me for the 10K. I think it ended up being a good first race (despite the rainy start). I finished in 31:09 (132nd out of 199).

Fitness World Fall 5K
The home stretch; waving to my fans; sprinting (or floating?) to the finish; T.I.R.E.D

running buddies
My running buddies


The best part was that Adam and the kids were at the finish line cheering me on. When I told them I was running in a race, they asked me if I was going to win. I said I definitely wasn't going to come in first (it blows my mind that someone can run it in 15:54!!) but winning to me meant that I finished and did the best I could. Of course, Logan just had to tell me that a little girl beat me (it's true, several 11-year-olds kicked my butt), but I had to let him know that I did actually finish before the 7-year-old girl who he thought beat me. Ha, I'm so petty.

The boys cheered me on

So the couch to 5K program was clearly a success. I don't know if I'm going to be able to keep up with running over the winter because of the dark evenings and cold weather (ouch, my lungs!) but I don't want to fall too out of shape because I don't want to have to start from scratch with training again. I guess we'll see. Plus, I want to get Aidan to run with me. If that 7-year-old can do it, so can he!