Allergy Update

I have the most fantastic news ever. Ashton had his 2.5 year old allergy appointment yesterday at Childrens Hospital and, very much like what they did at his 1 year, they pricked his back with a bunch of different allergens and waited to see if there was a hive-like reaction that would indicate a positive result. It was a little difficult to keep him still for the 15 minutes the test required (because his back was itchy), but we had come ready with a paci and the iPad:

Final results!

You'll see quite clearly that sesame is still the monster. But the long and the short of it is, his egg and peanut allergies have gone down significantly! YAAAY!!  Only 1 in 5 kids outgrows a peanut allergy and the doctor said that while at his 1 year appointment the egg allergy was a 12, it is now a 4. I think he meant size-wise, in millimeters. Because what happens now is that due to the egg and peanut hives being small enough, if his bloodwork comes back consistent with these results, he is eligible to do oral food challenges for both. This is done at the hospital, in a controlled environment, where he is given increasing amounts of the food to see how he reacts. This is one of the last steps in greenlighting these foods!

A little bit of background here for those who don't know. Ashton had awful eczema as an infant and it was suggested that he might be allergic to something in my diet that was coming through my breastmilk. I cut out dairy, wheat, soy, nuts, eggs, everything - a complete elimination diet with the hopes of gradually introducing the foods back in one at a time to see what might be the culprit. Except his eczema never entirely cleared, so they did a RAST test, which is a blood test used to determine what substances someone might be allergic to. And lo and behold, the sesame allergy was the standout. Although I cut out a lot from my diet, I was still eating hummus...which is made with tahini...otherwise known as ground sesame seeds. When I found out, I cried for a really long time. I obviously had no idea that that was what was causing it and felt beyond awful I had caused my baby so much discomfort and pain. I stopped eating it immediately (I found that Trader Joe's makes a good tahini-free hummus, actually) and Ashton's skin was clear for the first time in almost his whole life. All the prescriptions, wet-wraps, and dry, itchy cracks were a thing of the past. He literally glowed. But so began the story of his food allergies. We carry an Epi-Pen but thankfully have never had to use it, so I'm not sure what would happen if he ingested any sesame. I don't want to find out. His skin does remain very sensitive and we smear Hydrolatum on him nightly after bathtime, which I swear is thicker than glue. He'll randomly get some breakouts from time to time or have scratches from itching (he gets dry patches behind his knees and on his ankles, for example) but we treat those with a steroid cream and overall, we manage it quite well.

Interestingly enough, when the allergist looked at those RAST results about two years ago, he said he thought it was a good possibility that Ashton would eventually grow out of everything but the sesame allergy. It's looking like that's the track he's headed down, fingers crossed! We should get the bloodwork back in a couple of weeks and see if we can go ahead with the food challenges.

All in all, I know it's a funny way to feel, but I was so proud yesterday. Yay Ashton! He has turned into such a big boy and the thought of doing something as simple as giving him a PB&J or scrambling up some eggs makes me beyond happy. Who needs sesame anyway :)

Oh p.s. for my records - at almost 2 years 7 months, he is 34 pounds and 3 feet, 3 inches tall.

UPDATE: Bloodwork from this appointment.

02/26/2014 11:03
    IgE                                      185 units/mL        H     0 - 30       
    Allergen, Aspergillus                    <0.35 kU/L          NA                 
    Allergen, Alternaria                     <0.35 kU/L          NA                 
    Allergen, Pen Mold                       <0.35 kU/L          NA     
    Allergen, Birch                          <0.35 kU/L          NA                 
    Allergen, Mite                           <0.35 kU/L          NA                 
    Allergen, Cat                            <0.35 kU/L          NA                 
    Allergen, Dog                            1.94 kU/L           NA                 
             
    Allergen, Almond                         1.15 kU/L           NA                 
    Allergen, Brazilnut                      0.70 kU/L           NA                 
    Allergen, Cashew                         0.68 kU/L           NA                 
    Allergen, Hazelnut                       0.95 kU/L           NA                 
    Allergen, Pecan                          <0.35 kU/L          NA                 
    Allergen, Pistachio                      1.11 kU/L           NA                 
    Allergen, Pine Nut                       0.48 kU/L           NA                 
    Allergen, Walnut                         <0.35 kU/L          NA                 
    Allergen, Egg White                      5.08 kU/L           NA                 
    Allergen, Ovomucoid                      <0.35 kU/L          NA                 
    Allergen, Peanut                         1.91 kU/L           NA                 
    Allergen, Sesame Seed                    46.30 kU/L          NA     

Before and After: Master Closet

The time has come for me to stop yapping about this and just show you the goods! So this post is all about, you guessed it, our new master closet.

Let's begin at the beginning. Our house was built in 1920 and is blessed with those closets that are so old that people used to hang their clothes on rails then went front to back, vs. side to side. If you can even picture that. Most people can't. Anyway, Jason filled that closet up pretty quick and my clothes went on two racks in the office, awaiting a more long term solution. When we found out we were expecting another baby, I knew I wanted to make the office into a nursery and my clothes and other stuff needed to come out.

The far wall on our bedroom has a pesky radiator and one window. Following the same process as the living room built-ins, I took to the skies (er, internet) for an inspiration picture as to what I saw working for a built in closet there, wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling, complete with a window seat that doubled as storage or a hamper:

And proceeded to get some quotes from various carpenters. They averaged $10,000-$18,000. Laugh with me: Ha ha ha ha ha! Undefeated, Jason did some more research and found a few different DIY bloggers that had posted about using the shells and inserts from Ikea to fashion themselves their own built-in closets. Their Komplement system is very comprehensive and while labor-intensive, produced a similar result to custom cabinetry at a fraction of the cost.

We'll get to the nitty gritty but I have no patience and have been dying to post this!!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

And the money shot:

Jason's side on the left, mine on the right :) It's probably easier to picture now why the radiator needed to be moved back. The left-most closet door still doesn't open all the way (which meant Jason could not have the big wide drawers like I do because they wouldn't be able to slide out) but, typical Jason, he made it work and used two dividers to be able to still get drawers in there.

One of my favorite parts is the lights on sensors on the top of each shell, so when you open the door, your clothes are bathed in a warm glow. Ahhhh. This is particularly pretty on my side behind the mirrored door because of the glass shelves:

I am running pretty lean on clothes these days because there isn't much that fits me. Once I'm out of maternity clothes and can move all my regular stuff back in, those shelves will fill riiiight up.

Another favorite part is the window seat, for which I still need to get a cushion made.

It opens on a hinge to hide all our dirty laundry.

I have super wide drawers:

And both Jason and I have accessory racks that slide out for belts, scarves, etc. 

In general, there is just so much wonderfulness about this closet, I am beyond obsessed and could not have asked for a better finished product. The best part? We spent $1,250 vs. $10,000.

Now I'm not going to pretend that I know anything about how Jason (and his brother Chris, who helped with the infrastructure during a visit a couple weeks ago) built this. But here are some construction pictures to give you an idea of what went into this little project:

Beginning of insert install:

 

And it went on from there. Drawers, shelves, dividers, wire baskets...the works.

Obviously, Ashton (and his pacis) helped.

Next, I really want to get a new bed, rug, and in general upgrade the other furnishings like nightstands and wall art, but that's another project (and other money!) for another day. If there's one thing I've learned, home decoration takes a long time and it's expensive! I guess that's technically two things. But everything is such a process!

To close, I'll leave you with the panorama of our beautiful bedroom as of this morning. Another amazing dream-turned-reality by my amazing husband (is that enough praise for you honey? :) You are the best!!)

Ikea closets: so easy, a toddler could do it.

A-ha Moment

Don't you love those moments where you learn something that you've never really wondered about, but now that you know, it makes perfect sense?

My sister was visiting last weekend and at one point I commented that her shirt was cute. She goes, "Oh, thanks, but look...it has these tiny holes in it." And pulled near the bottom of the hem to show me:

(Note: this is not her actual shirt but the result of my google image search to show likeness.)

I said, "Oh yeah, look at that. I've had shirts with those teeny holes too!" and before I could speculate on their origin, she goes, "Ben thinks they are moths."

Now JUST HOLD ON HERE. I've never seen a moth in my closet. Why would they hang out there and eat clothes? Those cotton fibers must be yummy? But then, my thoughts kept marinating: "Well, people do have cedar closets, and why else would moth balls exist??"

Mind = blown.

It made perfect sense. I just kept repeating, "Huh, well what do you know" to myself as I processed all this. It was one of those mysteries that I never considered a mystery because I thought I could say where the holes came from if asked. Like from those security tags in the store or something.

Why am I blogging about this. Because this morning, I opened my (new!) closet to get dressed, put on my black sweater, and saw this on my sleeve:

That is ONE BIG MOTH. In fact, that couldn't be a moth, so the only logical explanation - a mouse?? In my closet, flitting amongst my hangers? (I don't think I've properly documented my extreme uneasiness/downright hatred for mice on this blog, but I have a professional come out to make sure there are none, anywhere, EVER, in my house - let's just say that.) 

I shrieked for Jason. I showed him the hole. I said, "What could this be? I know it wasn't there the last time I wore this. It's like, bigger than the size of a quarter! No way it was a moth. Is there a mouse in my closet? A mouse couldn't do that, could it? What about a squirrel??" and on and on and finally he stopped me with a sheepish look on his face. "Oh, I've been meaning to tell you. When I was building the closet, my first pass with the drill went through and it caught on something...um, it was your sweater."

Oh.

Well, I'm not even mad. I hate this sweater anyway. In fact, I'm so ready to be out of maternity clothes that I was just grateful it was not a giant moth or a mouse or a squirrel. A drill hole is fine with me. I rolled the cuff over so you can't see it. On with my day.

Did anyone else know about those teeny holes being caused by moths or am I the last to know? Hopefully someone somewhere is having the same a-ha moment I did. That's really the point of this post :)

37 Weeks

It seems like a split second ago I posted about being 32 weeks pregnant and now here I am at 37 (well, one day shy). Eeeeeek! I had an OB appointment this morning and when I checked in, she said, "Ok, at this point in the pregnancy I am going to need you to sign this..." and handed me a sheet that said "FINAL INSURANCE INFORMATION" in all caps. And then when I was getting my weight (+33) and blood pressure checked, I got THIS scary piece of paper.

You can't tell but it's a nice shade of pink. Is that supposed to make it less sinister??

The check-up went fine, I've definitely noticed some changes in pressure the last week or so and was not surprised to hear that I'm already roughly 2 cm dilated (I was with Ashton at 37 weeks as well). There's other info that reveals this baby does plan to come out soon but I won't overshare :-D

My actual OB is on vacation this week but is typically in the office Mondays and Thursdays. When the NP wrapped up this morning she said, "Ok, see you in one week," I replied, "Should I come Monday or Thursday next week then - for Dr. Konig?" and she said, with zero hesitation, "MONDAY."

So that's where we're at. I'm hoping that I still have a couple weeks left - for some reason I keep thinking March 5 will be when this all goes down. Fingers crossed it's not before that because people we are in a SCRAMBLE. We are trying to acquire all the bits of things we know we'll need to bring the baby home and to that end, we took a trip to Babies R Us yesterday. What a difference 2.5 years makes:

Babies R Us while pregnant with Ashton:
Total trips: 5+, including one 3 hour one to create baby registry
"Look how cool this is! We should get it."
"They've really thought of everything!"
"Look how tiny the clothes are! Awww!"
"Do you think we'll need this one, this one or this one? Let's get all three."
"What if the baby likes this? We should get it."
"Would this be a waste of money though? We should wait."
"What if we wait but need it right away? Let's get it actually."
"I think I want this, too."
"I read great reviews for this. We should get it."
"Which color is cutest?"
"I heard this is a must-have. We're getting it."
"I like the one in the other aisle more. Let's go back."
"I wonder which one is better, this one or this one..."
"Gosh, what IS this? Look it up."
"Do you think it would be easiest with velcro, snaps or zippers?"
"I don't know... let's just get it."

Babies R Us while pregnant this time:
Total trips: 1.
"Yes."
"No."
"No, that thing is useless."
"No."
"Yes. That one is amazing and I need another."
"Yes."
"No."
"No."
"I can get a better price on Amazon."
"Ok all done. We're out of here."

Much more efficient the second time around.

I know I owe you a final closet post and a nursery post complete with the before and after pictures that I love so much. We are wrapping all of that up as fast as possible. I'll also be sharing the latest on names, thoughts on being a mom again, and everything in between...all by March 5 of course, perhaps March 1 to be safe ;)

Happy Valentines Day!

Earlier this week I had one of those days with an impossibly long to-do list, both for work and for home. My list was divided between me and Jason, times of day and who was going to what. That's just how I roll when I need to get things accomplished. On Jason's list, when he was at CVS, was to "Get Valentines." Ashton's daycare was doing an exchange and I had meant all weekend to do something cute and homemade from Pinterest. Alas, I had not. So I told him, "Just get some paper Mickey ones or whatever."

He got these.

That's a cat. AND a hologram. The whole pack was like psychedelic pets. No, no, no, no, no. Sigh. I thanked Jason for his efforts (he swore that they were "all they had"), crossed my fingers and went digging in the basement. I have so much stuff down there, stickers, cotton balls, pipe cleaners, paper...surely I could come up with something that was valentine-worthy. 

Luckily enough, I found a set of 10 pink and red cards, cut some hearts, glued some rhinestones - and ta-da! 

They were all decorated slightly differently and had varying messages: "I like playing with you!" "You're a great friend!" etc etc. Now, I'm not going to win any awards with these. But at least there won't be a bunch of tripped-out toddlers wandering around like there would have been if I had sent Jason's. 

I admit that assembling all these at 10 pm the night before they were "due" made me flash forward to all the science fair projects, math homework, and english papers I will likely be helping out on in the future. Combined with the fact that we got Ashton's preschool acceptance letter in the mail yesterday...like whoa! What is happening?? Time flies.

Anyway, this post is dedicated to my amazing, wonderful, does-it-all husband Jason. He takes care of whatever projects I ask him to, cooks me dinner, and remains in good spirits when I knock his efforts (like the valentines) or tease him on this blog (I don't think he reads it). I even told him last night that I wasn't getting him anything for Valentines Day. Aren't I the best? Love you honey :) xoxo

Before and After: Basement sorting and a radiator move

We have finally started to get things moving at our house in preparation for, you know, having another baby. We still have a lot to do, but a couple weekends ago we finally went down to the basement to organize Ashton's clothes. Even though we don't know if we are having a girl or a boy, and the last time we had a newborn we were in the exact opposite season (August), I wanted to see what we had for stuff. We dumped out all the bins we had been haphazardly shoving things into as Ashton grew and the pile looked like this.

We wrote out some labels and started sorting. Most of the things we picked out to wash and put away for this baby were, not surprisingly, plain white.

I do admit the extreme littleness of these onesies (and daydreaming about when Ashton wore them) slowed me down considerably as I "awwww"-ed and "oooo"-ed and "oh honey remember this one??"-ed. Ahhh memory lane. So much better looking back on it than traveling it, at least when it comes to newborns ;)

We made pretty short work of the pile and in no time, ta-da!

Of course if we have a girl this whole exercise will have been a bit pointless. But for now, it was a major thing to get checked off the list and should at least serve some hand-me-down purposes :) There's a ton of gear down in the basement as well and we took stock of where the carseat was, what needed to be washed, etc etc.

Next! Upstairs. We have three bedrooms and an office on our second floor. We decided, since babies are so little, to keep the guest room and turn the office into the nursery. Since we moved in a year ago, the office has been home to our computer desk (imagine! a computer in an office) and two racks for my clothes since the closet space in our bedroom is grotesquely minimal. So, in order to make a nursery, my clothes needed to come out. And in order for my clothes to come out, they needed a closet to go into. And in order to have a closet to go into, Jason needed to build one. And in order to build one, we needed our bedroom radiator moved. There are a few poor people that have listened to me drone on and on about this damn radiator for months. Let me introduce you:

This radiator is sitting in the corner of our bedroom. In order for me to get the closet of my dreams, it needed to be moved roughly 18 inches to the left because the closet was going to run the entire length of the wall (where the dresser currently is). Without boring you with the details as to what took so long and why, finally (FINALLY!!) it was moved last Friday, leaving behind this lovely scene.

Up close, there were a couple different wallpapers under there and the condition of the wall in general was bad enough that Jason murmured a few expletives. We're talking almost 100 years of heat against that spot though so it's not surprising. But it's a better scenario than we expected; we thought they were going to swing the radiator around 180 degrees vs. just moving the whole thing over. This would have been extra ugly because the back side is definitely not painted. At least that was something we didn't have to deal with. So Jason went and got a patch kit:

And then painted over the patch and in no time, we had a nice wall again.

This took us to this past Saturday morning. Jason's brother Chris had come up to visit for the weekend and the two of them worked tirelessly for three days. My job was to keep Ashton away from the tools and out of the house (um, no small feat). Anyway, the closet is not 100% done but I should be able to post the full before and after in the next few days - THAT will be one you don't want to miss!! For the time being, I'll leave you with a little sneak preview of what that same corner looks like now... :)