I am only days away from his 11 month milestone so we can wrap two months into one again. I can not believe I will only have a "baby for another 5 weeks"- let the tears begin. It is soooo bitter sweet.
-Thomas is very independent, and I probably give him much more freedom than I gave the others. He crawls quickly, goes from room to room exploring, and loves the change of scenery.
- He is starting to pull himself up on his knees, but no interest in standing or walking as of right now.
-Big news is as of this week, we FINALLY put the rock n play away. He started sleeping in his crib over night consistently at about the 9 month mark, and this week I finally got in him the crib for naps too!! There are some tears at nap time as he tries to work it out and get settled, but its normally not bad and he settles to sleep.
-Overnight is still pretty rocky. Last night he was up at 10:30 again at 2:30 and then up for the day by 5am. But we have had a few positive nights with longer stretches and just 1 wake up. I feel like we are very slowly making progress.
-In other big news, he did sleep through the night 1 night! It finally happened! After 10 months 5 days, we had our first full night of sleep. It was our first in Disney World and he was super tired from traveling. I was afraid it would have the opposite effect, but on this occasion it was great. He went to be at about 8:30pm and stayed asleep til 6am! Whoooo Hooooo! So exciting. It only happened that one night, it went back to normal the next night, but it was refreshing to know it can happen.
-Perfect time to talk about Thomas's first big vacation! We went to Disney World this month, and it was pretty awesome! Thomas was a good sport. He went along with all of our daily activities, napped in the stroller, nursed around the parks, and slept in the pack n play all just fine. His big brothers had an amazing time!
-Thomas has become quite the momma's boy. He wants me, and only me, all of the time. If I walk in the room and don't pay him attention, he gets angry, really angry. He wants mommy to hold him, snuggle with him, play with him at all times. Apparently when I am out of site, he is totally different, but when I walk in the door he needs to cling. I will take it, because I know its not long before Dad's become the super cool center of attention for the boys as they get older.
-To my amazement, he is still nursing and very frequently. I am finally going to reach my goal of nursing my baby on his 1st birthday!
-He has gotten much better with solid foods. We are doing the Baby Led Weaning and give him mainly soft solids. He prefers to feed himself and does not like to be fed by spoon, so we are going with his lead. Sweet potato fries, avacados, broccoli, scrambled eggs, puffs, and yogurt are some favorites. He also loves those baby food pouches that he can hold up and drink himself. I am glad to see him eating more.
Some of his favorite things are - baths, dancing, clapping, anything with music, playing catch (aka rolling the ball back and forth).
Some dislikes- bumping his head on furniture as he crawls around, not being with mommy, and going to sleep on his own.
Thats about it for right now. We all LOVE LOVE LOVE him so much. He makes off of us smile and laugh all day every day! I can't wait to celebrate his 1st birthday next month and I'll post all the details!
The Taynors
Showing posts with label parenting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label parenting. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 22, 2018
Tuesday, October 18, 2016
Navigating Life with a Food Allergy Kid
We found out Ryan (now 5 yrs old) had food allergies on his first birthday. He had a terrible reaction to his first birthday cake that landed us in the ER. See that Post Here. So we have spent the past 4 years navigating the world with food allergies.
Currently, Ryan is severely allergic to peanuts and eggs, mildly allergic to tree nuts, and has a sensitivity to gluten. When he was a baby this was really hard because I didn't know anything about food allergies. I didn't know much about reading ingredients and substituting items and making special orders at restaurants. But I learned quickly, the research junkie in me got on the internet and bought a ton of books and we figured out our new normal.
Well here we are 4 years later and I am hitting a new milestone- imagining his future as a big kid, teenager, even an adult, dealing with these very restrictive allergies. And it is completely freaking me out. Up until this time I have been completely in control. Every where we go, I pack his food. Lunch, snacks, desserts... whatever he needs I would bring a handy dandy lunch box and make sure he is safe. But now that he is getting older, it is getting harder and harder to do that. He is in more big kid situations, independent situations, that make food planning more difficult.
My brother in laws wedding two weeks ago was a perfect example. We were going to Pennsylvania for the weekend, staying in a standard hotel room (no kitchen or anything like that) and had commitments to be at a rehearsal dinner, the wedding reception, and a breakfast with the bridal party the last day. The boys were in the wedding, so they needed to be with us the whole weekend. Well meal planning was hard, like really really hard.
First we got there for the rehearsal and the dinner after. We did have a special chicken meal ordered for him (egg free, nut free, gluten free). So we knew he had a complete dinner, but he had a hard time not being able to participate with the rest of the people. He couldn't have any of the appetizers or anything at the buffet, or the dessert that was ordered. He just ate his chicken and the special cookies I brought for him. Ryan is use to this, so it wasn't a huge deal, but I could see his frustration in being "different".
The next morning was hard, we didn't have much time and needed a quick breakfast before the wedding activities. I brought a huge snack bag, but that didn't help with getting him a substantial meal. The restaurant at the hotel was super basic, eggs and baked goods (Ryan can't eat either), so we scrambled to a WaWa to get him Yogurt and fruit so he could at least have something. The day continued like this, just trying to scramble to get him any food that was safe and fill his growing belly (he eats like a teenage boy). At home I would have made him all these meals from scratch, or have good options, but those things don't travel well.
But the actual wedding was even harder, for Ryan and for me. He couldn't eat a single thing at the cocktail hour. Mini slider burgers, cocktail appetizers, macaroni and cheese station... nothing. First of all most things I was sure were either gluten or egg based, but even if I thought it might be safe, I didn't have anyone to confirm it with. The wait staff was very nice, but they had not idea the ingredients in each individual appetizer (or if it was cross contaminated with egg or nut). Ryan was hungry, and cranky, and just wanted to eat the things everyone else was eating.
For dinner, he had his "safe" meal- same thing as the night before. Plain chicken breast with vegetables (poor kid, so boring). But that was the only thing these places could offer him that was confirmed safe. Then dessert came around, and again he couldn't eat a thing. Most was baked with eggs, and again no way to confirm ingredients of each item, lots of desserts with nuts. So he had a cookie I brought for him as a treat.
And then to top it all off, breakfast the next morning. The bridal party picked this diner in Philly known for its specialty eggs. I assumed we would be able to get at least fruit or something so that Ryan could go and hang out with the group. Well I was wrong. They had not fruit or yogurt or oatmeal, or anything at all he could eat. Not a single thing. The owner of the restaurant was very helpful, he closed down one of the griddles and cleaned it completely so Ryan could have some bacon that was cooked separate from the eggs, but that was it. It was heartbreaking for me to see how much he couldn't fit in with the gang. Mike ran out to WaWa again to get him some yogurt so he could at least have breakfast.
Bottom line, it sucked for him. He was at a big giant party weekend with such great food, and he couldn't participate at all. That lead me to the "what about the rest of his life" thoughts. Will he never eat anything at a cocktail party? Will he ever get to go out to the diner for breakfast with his college friends to talk about the night before? Will he ever get to try new and unique foods at the new hot restaurant in town? Or eat a wedding cake? What about college dorm food? Of the girl he wants to kiss for the first time? Is he going to have to stop in the moment before leaning in for a first kiss to say "hey what did you eat for lunch today"? How is his life going to be majorly impacted by having food allergies to such a common food like eggs?
The doctor does not think he is going to outgrow the allergies. His levels were still so high at age 5 that he doesn't have much hope. And I won't be able to pack all of his meals, where ever he goes forever. This is a tough pill to swallow. Food allergies in a baby/toddler is do-able, the rest of their lives is the hard part. Luckily my BFF talked me off the ledge a little bit, we have no idea what world our kids will live in by time they are adults. Maybe there will be better options, or new allergy treatments to offer a cure, who knows. I sure hope there is some kind of change because based on the the number of children that have food allergies, our future needs some options. I won't even get into my rant about why children have so many food allergies these days, that is a conversation for another day!
Currently, Ryan is severely allergic to peanuts and eggs, mildly allergic to tree nuts, and has a sensitivity to gluten. When he was a baby this was really hard because I didn't know anything about food allergies. I didn't know much about reading ingredients and substituting items and making special orders at restaurants. But I learned quickly, the research junkie in me got on the internet and bought a ton of books and we figured out our new normal.
Well here we are 4 years later and I am hitting a new milestone- imagining his future as a big kid, teenager, even an adult, dealing with these very restrictive allergies. And it is completely freaking me out. Up until this time I have been completely in control. Every where we go, I pack his food. Lunch, snacks, desserts... whatever he needs I would bring a handy dandy lunch box and make sure he is safe. But now that he is getting older, it is getting harder and harder to do that. He is in more big kid situations, independent situations, that make food planning more difficult.
My brother in laws wedding two weeks ago was a perfect example. We were going to Pennsylvania for the weekend, staying in a standard hotel room (no kitchen or anything like that) and had commitments to be at a rehearsal dinner, the wedding reception, and a breakfast with the bridal party the last day. The boys were in the wedding, so they needed to be with us the whole weekend. Well meal planning was hard, like really really hard.
First we got there for the rehearsal and the dinner after. We did have a special chicken meal ordered for him (egg free, nut free, gluten free). So we knew he had a complete dinner, but he had a hard time not being able to participate with the rest of the people. He couldn't have any of the appetizers or anything at the buffet, or the dessert that was ordered. He just ate his chicken and the special cookies I brought for him. Ryan is use to this, so it wasn't a huge deal, but I could see his frustration in being "different".
The next morning was hard, we didn't have much time and needed a quick breakfast before the wedding activities. I brought a huge snack bag, but that didn't help with getting him a substantial meal. The restaurant at the hotel was super basic, eggs and baked goods (Ryan can't eat either), so we scrambled to a WaWa to get him Yogurt and fruit so he could at least have something. The day continued like this, just trying to scramble to get him any food that was safe and fill his growing belly (he eats like a teenage boy). At home I would have made him all these meals from scratch, or have good options, but those things don't travel well.
But the actual wedding was even harder, for Ryan and for me. He couldn't eat a single thing at the cocktail hour. Mini slider burgers, cocktail appetizers, macaroni and cheese station... nothing. First of all most things I was sure were either gluten or egg based, but even if I thought it might be safe, I didn't have anyone to confirm it with. The wait staff was very nice, but they had not idea the ingredients in each individual appetizer (or if it was cross contaminated with egg or nut). Ryan was hungry, and cranky, and just wanted to eat the things everyone else was eating.
For dinner, he had his "safe" meal- same thing as the night before. Plain chicken breast with vegetables (poor kid, so boring). But that was the only thing these places could offer him that was confirmed safe. Then dessert came around, and again he couldn't eat a thing. Most was baked with eggs, and again no way to confirm ingredients of each item, lots of desserts with nuts. So he had a cookie I brought for him as a treat.
And then to top it all off, breakfast the next morning. The bridal party picked this diner in Philly known for its specialty eggs. I assumed we would be able to get at least fruit or something so that Ryan could go and hang out with the group. Well I was wrong. They had not fruit or yogurt or oatmeal, or anything at all he could eat. Not a single thing. The owner of the restaurant was very helpful, he closed down one of the griddles and cleaned it completely so Ryan could have some bacon that was cooked separate from the eggs, but that was it. It was heartbreaking for me to see how much he couldn't fit in with the gang. Mike ran out to WaWa again to get him some yogurt so he could at least have breakfast.
Bottom line, it sucked for him. He was at a big giant party weekend with such great food, and he couldn't participate at all. That lead me to the "what about the rest of his life" thoughts. Will he never eat anything at a cocktail party? Will he ever get to go out to the diner for breakfast with his college friends to talk about the night before? Will he ever get to try new and unique foods at the new hot restaurant in town? Or eat a wedding cake? What about college dorm food? Of the girl he wants to kiss for the first time? Is he going to have to stop in the moment before leaning in for a first kiss to say "hey what did you eat for lunch today"? How is his life going to be majorly impacted by having food allergies to such a common food like eggs?
The doctor does not think he is going to outgrow the allergies. His levels were still so high at age 5 that he doesn't have much hope. And I won't be able to pack all of his meals, where ever he goes forever. This is a tough pill to swallow. Food allergies in a baby/toddler is do-able, the rest of their lives is the hard part. Luckily my BFF talked me off the ledge a little bit, we have no idea what world our kids will live in by time they are adults. Maybe there will be better options, or new allergy treatments to offer a cure, who knows. I sure hope there is some kind of change because based on the the number of children that have food allergies, our future needs some options. I won't even get into my rant about why children have so many food allergies these days, that is a conversation for another day!
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