A life without... DAIRY???

Summer has had cradle cap basically her whole life.  I really never thought much of it when she was a baby, because it just seemed like one of those things you go through with babies.  And let's face it... there were two of those sweet little babies, not just one.  We were dealing with making 16 bottles a day, changing 20 or more diapers a day, a little cradle cap wasn't going to get us down.  It took my baby girl quite some time to get big girl hair.  When it was still short and baby fine I was able to use baby oil to help the cradle cap, but it never entirely went away.  As she's gotten older, it has gotten completely out of control.  She has also suffered from chronic sinusitis and ear infections, resulting in surgery to insert tubes in her ears and to remove her adenoids.  The ear infections stopped, but the sinus infections did not.  Another strange happening in her life, sporadic exorcist style vomits.  I had asked the doctor several times about this, but because it was one time here and one time there... they thought nothing of it.
Last year, everyone that I came into contact with  told me that she was constantly sick because they has just begun daycare and that this winter would be much better.  Well September hit and guess what she was sick again and the antibiotics weren't taking away the disgusting ooze streaming constantly from her nose. In November we entered the world of allergies and asthma and began to get answers to the problems that were plaguing both Summer and Cole since they were babies.  Summer was diagnosed with allergies and Cole with allergies and asthma.  I was hoping that we would learn what their specific allergies were, but our allergist explained to me that at their age there are many false negatives and he preferred not to put them through the testing so young. One day I was reading an article in my Parents magazine about dealing with and understanding food allergies.  The article spoke to me when it said that a lot of food allergies are initially dismissed by parents and doctors as common ailments and one of the examples was CRADLE CAP!  Well for anyone who knows my obsession with google... I went GOOGLE CRAZY.  Trying to find any information that I could to connect Summer's symptoms with a food allergy.  The most common one that kept reappearing in my research was DAIRY. 
At our next allergist appointment after discussing how much better the kids were now doing with our daily medication cycle, I raised my concern about a possible allergy to dairy for Summer.  The doctor examined her scalp and said oh that's just cradle cap... and I imploded. I tried to rebuttal with the fact that I had tried every suggestion for cradle cap and had not been able to make any sort of headway, but it was no use.  He continued with his stance that even if there was an outside chance that she did have a food allergy that she was too young to be subjected to allergy tested.  He wrote her a prescription for a stronger shampoo and said that should do the trick and sent us on our merry way. 
A good friend encouraged me to just stop the milk anyway, but I decided that I would try the shampoo for 1 month.  Plus it was almost Christmas and the thought of attempting to go through the holiday festivities reading every label and telling a 3 year old that she couldn't eat her favorite things (having no idea how she'd react to this) made me cringe. 
Guess what? The shampoo didn't work!!!!!!!
On January 23rd, Summer went dairy free.  I had a talk with her that she wasn't going to be able to eat anything with milk, butter or cheese in it.  I wasn't quite sure if she got it until the next morning I heard her screaming at Jim as he was making her eggs for breakfast as he attempted to let me sleep in.  "But. Mommy. Said. I. Can't. Have. BUTTER!!!!!" she bellowed!  Um... yup... I'd say she got it.  I told myself we'd do this hardcore for 2 weeks to see if there was an improvement.  Nothing with even the hint of milk in it if possible. 
And Guess what???? It's WORKING!!!!!
After just one week on her new diet there was a dramatic improvement with her scalp.  Now after 3 weeks, she told me that it doesn't itch anymore!!!! (I almost cried like a baby when she said that to me).  It is still taking time to heal completely and scrub all of those stubborn flakes off of there, but I can't even tell you how much better it is getting every day.  I've start pulling back on her oral and nasal allergy medications as well, but not sure if she can handle giving those up yet completely.  We are almost due for a recheck with the allergist in a few weeks.  After taking to another mother who takes her kids to the same practice, I have rescheduled my appointment with the other doctor.  I've been told his philosophies are different, so we will give him a try. 
I'm now giving this my all to find Summer alternative foods to enjoy.  I've had some great finds from another mom that does dairy free.  Even a shredded "cheese" to make pizza and mac n' cheese with.  While it is challenging to find things that don't have any milk... I am so proud of my little girl.  She doesn't cry or get upset if I tell  her she can't have something that she wants.  She knows that she can't have anything with milk and if I tell her something contains it, she doesn't want to eat it anymore. 

February Goals

I truly can't believe that it is February already.  I didn't make out so well with my January goals, but I am hanging in there and trying again!

1) Create and stick to a weekly laundry schedule.  Laundry is beyond out of control and I find myself completely overwhelmed with how to make a dent in it.  I can't just try to catch up on the weekends and the occassional after work load, especially when we are always running here and there on the weekends. 
2) Organize, sort & tag for my March consignment sale.  I need to see if anything from last year will still fit the kids and work on getting the rest ready for the sale. 
3) Try some fun new menu options for me & Summer.  Summer is currently on a dairy free diet (more on reasons for that later) and I am working on a very low fat diet due to my recent gallstone diagnosis. 

There they are... short sweet and I am optimistic that they will get accomplished this month!  Wish me luck!

First month is over

Well January is nearing completion and unfortunately I did not do so great with my goals.  I think I set my sights a little bit too high for my first month and then had a few road blocks thrown my way.  First off my flooring installation was delayed until the firs week of February due to some of the trim being out of stock.  Then my oven broke and since it is over 20 years old, we decided to buy a new one which will be delivered the first week of February as my husband already has off for the flooring to be installed.  I then decided to do a 2 week dairy elimination diet with my 3 year old daughter because of ongoing issues that I had begun to believe were food allergy related, even though her allergist did not see eye to eye with me on this one.  This has meant packing her lunch every day because the majority of the daycare served lunches contain MILK!  And since the school is also PEANUT free, selecting a lunch that is both MILK & PEANUT free has been no easy feat.  The good news here is that after 1 week dairy free, I am seeing an improvement.   At the beginning of the month, I had not anticipated any of these things occuring, but the most shocking road block was an ER visit for me this Thursday.  I had been feeling strange for a few days and then late Wednesday night started having a pain in my right side.  Thursday morning it was still present... so off to the ER I went fearing appendicitis.  Thankfully I was wrong and immediate surgery wasn't on the agenda for me that day, however I do have a rather large gallstone.  FABULOUS!  The ER doctors determined that I did not need immediate surgery, but need to meet with a general surgeon to decide upon a plan of action. 

1) Pack up the Living Room & Dining Room and purge/organize as I un-pack them.  - Well the packing was started and then halted since this project was delayed. 

2) Exercise 2-3 times per week (at least!).  - Well this did not happen either :(

3) Start prepping for my mothers of multiples' spring consignment sale. - I did begin this, but did not get too much completed yet.  I'm hoping to pull out my bins and start entering as much as possible into our new electronic tagging system.  I plan to carry this goal into February as well and to hopefully be mostly completed well in advance of our March sale. 

My plan is to make slightly more realistic goals in February and I already have a few in mind!  I'm not giving up just because my first month was not successful...

3 in 30 update

What was I thinking is kind of crossing my mind right now!  2 weeks have gone by and not really much accomplished!  I think I bit off slightly more then I could chew and was much too ambitious for not only my first month of the challenge, but by far my busiest month of the year at work.  The need for re-vamping is here:
1) Pack up the Living Room & Dining Room and purge/organize as I un-pack them.  The flooring project has been delayed to the beginning of February, due to backordered items.  The rooms are getting closer to being emptied, so the new goal is to complete this by the end of the month.  However the purging and organizing will need to be placed on hold until February when the flooring is completed. 

2) Exercise 2-3 times per week (at least!).  Haha!  This has not happened at all, although I have decided where in my schedule this should be able to fit.  My thinking is that once I get home from work with the kids and get them settled with dinner, they can play in the basement playroom while I use the treadmill (once setup in that room).  My goal for this week is to dig out the treadmill and set it up and hopefully walk on it at least once this week.  I have a few nights with plans already, so if I get that done I'll be quite happy. 

3) Start prepping for my mothers of multiples' spring consignment sale.   Although I have not done much in this department either, I have started entering a few things into our new electronic consignment tagging system and plan to pull my bins out this week to start organizing and tagging items.  This will be my major focus for the next 2 weeks. 

I'm hoping to be able to buckle down a bit more now that things are not quite as crazy at work and my husband has gotten over being sick and get much more accomplished in the next 2 weeks then I did in the last 2 weeks... wish me luck!

Same Name...

Inevitably we all have this situation arise. We know 2 people (or more) with the same name. It gets confusing when referring to them or sometimes even addressing them when they are together. I remember when we were planning our wedding and Jim was looking at the seating chart and asked why I had myself seated at a different table then him. I had to gently remind him that I also had a cousin named Jackie Reilly! Wonder why Cole's name isn't Jimmy Jr?? Oh well that's because my husband is already Jimmy Jr, oh and my uncle is also Jimmie Jr and add Jim's dad and my Pop-pop, both Jim Sr and my cousin James on the other side of my family.... and 5 Jim, Jimmy or James in the family already! How to explain all these different people with the same names to 2 very curious three year olds. Little did I know, they would figure out their own explanation! And I have to say that I just LOVE it. Here goes!

The kids have an Aunt Kate (my cousin) and an Aunt Katie (my best friend). When I came back from being away in the fall, I asked Cole where he got a certain toy. He told me it was from "New Katie". When I asked who "New Katie" was. He said "with Sabanah" (my friend Katie's dog is Savannah). He now always refers to my cousin Kate as "Old Katie" (which I must say she's not to fond off, in that she is actually younger) and my friend Katie is "New Katie". Anytime I say we are going to see Aunt Katie, he always asks "New Katie or Old Katie"??

One day Cole decided this needed further clarification. We were heading to a demonstration that my friends Chrissy & Katie were having. He told me that it was not Mom-mom's Chris (Jim's bro) and not Nonna's Kate (my cousin).

Cole's new teacher's name is Miss Michele, not to be confused with who Cole refers to as "Mom-mom's Chele" (Jim's sis, Aunt Chele).

Recently we had dinner with our twin friends, Bella & Joseph and joining us were another set of twins, Bella & Trey. Summer later told me while wearing her Rapunzel tiara that she wanted a light up one. When asked where she saw one she told me that "Other Bella" had one.

So there you have .... same name clarification... 3 year old style!

Joining 3-in-30

Each year since I met Jim, I have watched on January 1st as he writes out his list of about 20 or so goals for the year.  Some are small goals and some large and at the end of the year he evaluates to see how successful his year was.  I have joined him for the past few years in this task as well, however it is hard to remember and attain these goals randomly throughout the year.  Last year, I saw my friend Aurie at Our Good Life accomplish goal after goal while participating in the 3 in 30 challenge and I have been inspired to join her this year.  What is the 3 in 30 challenge you may ask?  Well instead of making my goals for the entire year, I will pick 3 to focus on each month (30 days) and hopefully complete many more of them then in previous years.  And since there are other people in this challenge, I will have them to cheer me on and inspire me!

I'm not sure yet if I'll be able to keep up with weekly updates, but will try to at least touch base.  So here goes nothing with my January goals... wish me luck... as I will surely need it.

1) Pack up the Living Room & Dining Room and purge/organize as I un-pack them.  We are having new floors put in next week so everything in these rooms needs to be packed up and moved out.  However, I would like to go through and purge the unneeded items and organize the rest of the items into appropriate homes once the floors are completed. 

2) Exercise 2-3 times per week (at least!).  Yes this has been a goal of mine in years past and I may start out with good intentions, but that all goes by the wayside before long.  I'm going to leave this a bit vague at the moment as to what type of exercise it will encompase, but will probably be walking on my treadmill at first and then maybe using my Wii or some other exercise video.  My biggest obstacle for meeting this goal is to figure out where in my daily schedule this best fits. Do I get up early before work to do this (yikes)? Do I do this after work while letting the kids play in the playroom with me? Or after they go to bed while waiting for Jim to come home? Etc.

3) Start prepping for my mothers of multiples' spring consignment sale.  Getting ready for this sale is a huge undertaking and I need to start sorting through the tubs of clothing and toys and separating, what will still fit this year, what is in good enough shape to sell, and what needs to be donated or trashed.  I don't have a lot of extra storage space and would really love to get rid of a lot of the extra clutter in my house this year. 

There they are... they are out in the open.  Hopefully the 3 in 30 challenge is just what I need to get myself going towards my goals.  Wish me luck!  Check back and I hope to update here and there as to my progress. 

O Christmas Day...

At 7:15 on Christmas morning, Summer bounded into our bedroom.  She jumped in our bed to watch TV until Cole joined us at 7:45, which is when we called Mom-mom & Pop-pop to head over for Santa's presents.  We headed down as soon as they arrived and sure enough Santa didn't miss our house.  He ate up all the cookies, drank the milk and took the carrots for his reindeer.  He also remembered to take our elf, Pepper Minstix back to the North Pole to start making toys for next year! 

Santa arrived!

And what to our wondering eyes should appear under the tree, but presents from Santa for Summer & Cole! 

Cole got a Toy Story 3 Landfill

Summer got an Abby Cadabby doll

Cole got some new trains

Summer got new clothes for her baby doll

Dr. Cole reporting for duty

A pink doctor kit for Dr. Summie Lou

Cole was very disappointed that
Mickey Spaceship didn't fly by itself!

Princess dress-up dresses & crowns

Miss Summer wanted a Leappad as her #1 gift that she told Santa each time we saw him.  He cleverly hid this gift behind the tree so that it would be the very last thing that she opened.  I'm sure he never anticipated that as she tore through each of the other packages that she would quietly whimper, "this is not a leappad". 

The Leappads!

The kids played with their new toys for the rest of the morning.  We watched the Disney Christmas Parade together and then had some visitors.  It was Nonna, Aunt Juli, Aunt Kate (my cousin, referred to by Cole as old Katie, because he refers to my best friend Katie as new Katie) and Jay!  Next came, Aunt Chele & Uncle Chris (Jim's sister & brother). Then later, my sister Kim, her husband Dave and my nephew & niece, Noah & Hannah came for a visit.  They had tons of fun playing with the twins' toys until Summer & Cole got up from their nap.  And then all the kids played nicely together for a bit. 

Jim's whole family came over later in the afternoon and we enjoyed a great dinner.  I was so excited this year because I decided to a little something different and set up dinner in our finished basement so that we could all sit at one table, instead of a table in my dining room and another in the living room.  It worked out perfectly!  It was a busy day, but actually surprisingly relaxing at times and just AWESOME!  We are so lucky to have so many wonderful people in our lives to share these holidays with. 

Playing with the leappads in their sleds

Thank you to everyone for a great Christmas!