Ryan's First Haircut... Well Just the Bangs

In my opinion, Ryan has beautiful curly hair that I LOVE!  But I have gotten sooooooo tired of people asking, "When are you going to finally cut his hair?!"  If he was a girl this would be easy, a little clip or pony tail, or a little head band and it would be great.  But that is not socially acceptable for boys (nor would I ever do that to him), so it has just been curly hair that hangs all wild.  I think its a great surfer dude look.  The back and sides are not the problem, its the bangs.  They really have gotten a little bit too long and they are always hanging in his eyes.  I can tell he was starting to get annoyed by them and I had to finally come to terms with the idea of cutting his hair.  The compromise was that I would cut his bangs, but I am not ready for the full hair cut just yet.

Reasons I don't want to cut his hair:
1.  I can't cut away the curls
2.  I am afraid that if I cut the curls off, they will never come back (I guess I was traumatized as a kid because that is what happened to my brothers curls and I can remember my mom always telling the story about cutting off his curls)
3.  Ryan does not sit still for 3 seconds, never mind the few minutes it would take to cut his hair.  Seriously, there is not a single thing that I can do to get him to sit still (taking 10 seconds to cut his bangs was hard enough).  I have done several other toddlers first hair cuts and they have been fine... but Ryan is not a normal kid and I think giving him a full hair cut would be mission impossible
4.  He likes to play with his hair when he is tired and as he falls asleep at night... I can't take that away from him!  It is seriously one of the cutest things ... pictures to follow.

Anyway, I totally see the irony in the hair dressers child being the one that desperately needs a haircut.

Tonight was the night.  Mike held him on his lap, my mom took the picture, and I made the cut.  It was seriously 1 actual cut and then a quick blending of the bangs and the side, the whole thing probably took 30 seconds.  But it was traumatizing none the less. 

Currently I do not like it at all, I think he looks like a giant dork (but my cute, lovable dork).  It is probably going to take me a few days to get use to it... or maybe a few weeks for them to grow back.  We will see how it goes.  Here are some pictures to document the event.

 

This is what his hair looked like before the bang cut...

 

Now here is the action shots... not the best pictures but you get the idea (side note... we choose to do this at 6:30pm.  I must have been going a bit crazy because this is normally witching hour at our house, not the best time for a first hair cut).

(please excuse the droolly, itchy mess that is my son by the end of the day... and they aren't really that short, the are just brushed to the side)

 

After bath time I tried to get a few more shots...

The problem I have now is that the bangs are short and the rest of the hair is long... but without cutting the rest of his hair, there is not much I can do about it.  Here are some pictures of the back of his hair.  Remember it's wet, so the back will be much shorter after it dries completely.

 

 

I know what you are thinking, a bit mulletish.  Oh well, he will have to deal with it because I am the crazy mom that will not cut off the curls yet.

 

He is about done with the pictures for the night...

 

 

And finally, the super cute, playing with my curls before bed time pictures...

 

 

 

Regardless of his long bangs or short bangs or whether he now has cute curls or a mullet...I love him more each day and he is my handsome little man!

 

 

 

 

 

So much on my mind...

I have so many things running through my head!  I find myself thinking "Oh I can't wait to sit down and finally write a blog post!" just so that I can get all of these thoughts off my chest.  Yes I am definitely one of those people that feels better/less stressed after writing out my thoughts.  I even considered making my blog private so that I could use it more as a journal than a public site... but for now I am not going to do that.  Since I don't have time to write about everything I want (seriously I have a list of topics I want to discuss), I'll just write brief ramblings about all of the different topics.

1.  Ryan update-  I have been really bad on updating about Ryan.  He is currently 19 months, he is exactly 50% on all of his size charts.  I don't have the records around me but I believe he is 26 lbs and 34 inches.  He is all boy these days!  He plays like a boy and acts like a boy... I love it!  He is really into Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Elmo, Thomas the Train, megablocks, balls (any kind... basketballs, baseballs, soccer balls, golf).  Ryan loves to put his Yankee hat on every time we go outside, he is obsessed with sitting in the front seat of the car and pretending he is driving the car, he is always cooking using his pots and pans set, he enjoys watching baseball and football, and he is always eating!  Two of my currents concerns are that he is still very slow in his talking skills and he still drools EXCESSIVELY! I personally think the two issues are connected... and I think it goes back to his birth (he had a really hard time nursing).  I believe that he has a week muscle in his jaw, or something like that, which is causing the drool and the speech delays.  Currently we are working on it.  We are practicing words, I have him repeat what I am saying, he is always blowing bubbles and sticking out his tongue (to work on the muscles).  I am going to hold off a little bit longer before calling the early intervention people.  I know everyone has an opinion on when to call and how many words are expected at each month... but for now I am going to hold off until he is closer to 2 before making the call.  Just in the past 2 weeks or so I have noticed a huge difference.  When he hit 18 months I think he had maybe 3 -5 words... but he is already up to around 20 since mid September.  I guess we will see how things play out over the next few months and go from there. 

PS last note on Ryan... I still have not cut his hair.  It is soooooo long (down to the middle of his back when its wet) but I just love the curls!  He seriously has the cutest, tight little spiral curls and I am afraid they will be gone forever if I cut them.  So even though his bangs are in his eye and everyone around me keeps saying "when are you going to cut his hair?!", I am not ready to do it yet.  So my surfer dude continues for a little bit longer.

2.  Work-  Quick vent... Mike and I have been working our butts off and I am tired and I miss my hubby.  He works all day and some nights and most weekends and then I work some days and some nights and some weekends... so bottom line, we never see each other!  The schedule works because we both get to spend time with Ryan and we don't need full time day care... but life is hectic.  The schedule is making time just fly by and we are definitely missing out on some of our favorite things (like football Sundays... can you believe I haven't had the chance to relax and enjoy a football Sunday yet?!?!  I miss the Sundays where I had dinner in the crockpot and we spent the day in our comfy clothes watching football with our friends).  This is not going to change any time soon... we have a few goals we need to meet before either of us get to lighten up on our work schedules.  This leads me right to my next topic........

3.  We want to move!  This has already been such a stress and we have just started the process.  We love our house but hate our street and property.  We are also very quickly outgrowing the space here.  Our house is very much "what you see is what you get".  We have a nice size living area, and the bedroom size is fine... but we are seriously lacking on closed space and extra rooms.  We do not have a basement, or office area, or play area, or laundry room, or storage space, or a garage, or a yard to play in, etc.  It is working right now because I have come to terms with the fact that my living room is also a playroom and there is nothing I can do about that.  We could technically have a second child here... but things would really be tight.  The baby would move into our guest room/office and we would have to move the office into our bedroom and then all 4 of us would be sharing the same bathroom.   I am already feeling a bit claustrophobic.

This summer we were very close to putting an offer on a house and putting our house on the market.  But things got very complicated because it was a house under construction and there were issues with a mortgage.  I guess spending the time planning for that new house really made us anxious to move.  So we have officially started our search.  The Prima's (the builders I use to work for) are currently building a new development that I am in love it!  Its in the North Dover section of Toms River, its going to be an actual neighborhood with quiet streets, and the homes are exactly what we are looking for as far as floor plans and size.  Unfortunately they are still just a little bit above our price range.  As of right now we have decided that it is just too expensive and we are not willing to be house poor.  They are building the neighborhood in stages, so there is still a small chance that we will be able to buy a home with them in a few years.

Here is my frustration.... now is a great time to buy because the prices are so low, BUT even with the prices being so low, the type of house we want is still out of our price range.  So we can stay in our current home longer and save more money ... in hopes that we can buy a home that we really want in a few years or we can buy a home in our price range that needs a decent amount of work but at least we are in the bigger home.  Its also hard to decide because there are some many variables... are home prices going to go up or down, are interest rates going back up, can we sell our house, are we willing to move further south and away from our family and friends to find a house we can afford, what school system do we want to raise our kids in????  Soooooo much to think about!  At this point, I feel like no matter what we decide we have to make a huge compromise.    I get frustrated because I feel like we are doing everything right... we work hard, make decent money, save a lot, don't over spend... but we still feel stuck! 

I am just anxious to know where we are going to be living and where we are going to be raising our family.  This had been the biggest stress between Mike and I over the past 3 months and I think we are both ready to just know what we are going to do so that we can start moving in that direction.

4.  Running-  I have been on my official half marathon training programs for about a month so far.  I am moving along but its been a slow start.  My goal is to run 4 times a week, and its different mileage each time.  Megan created the program for me... its 25 weeks and has me starting off slow since before this month I still couldn't run a mile without stopping.  At this point, I am up to running about 12 miles a week and I add on a mile or 2 each week.  Its still far from easy and I still don't "enjoy" running but I can see that I am making progress.  Last Sunday, Heather, Jessie, Kim, my Mom, and I all ran in a 5k Raise for a Cure and I was very proud of how I did (I was proud of how all of us did... considering none of us are really runners).  Anyway, I ran the whole three miles without stopping and I finished in 33 minutes.  I felt really good... it was just what I needed to keep me motivated.

So my ultimate goal is a half marathon, 13.1 miles and the race is February 24.  With colder weather coming up, I definitely need to do a few things to get me prepared for running outside.  Today I bought my first pair of official running sneakers and a ear band so that my ears don't hurt from the cold.  I also need some long sleeve running shirts and cold weather clothes.  Plus last week I signed up at Retro Fitness so that I have a place to go running on the treadmill if its super cold out (plus they have childcare for Ryan which will need when I have to go up to running 5 times a week). 

That is my status... who thought running this half marathon was going to be a good idea?!

5.  Things We are Looking Forward To- 
-Vegas with my very best friends in 30 days!!  We have been talking about going on a vacation to celebrate our 30th birthdays for several years now and I am excited its finally happening.  It will be so nice to relax with the girls, go shopping, spend the day in the spa,  sleep in, eat at cool restaurant, see a show, and just enjoy each other's company!  Yay for a girls trip!
-My 30th birthday and party!  I am actually very excited about turning 30 and can't wait for my 80's themed party.  Mike is throwing the party, with the help of my girl friends I am sure... and it will be great to have an old school party with my best buds.  Can't wait!
-Fall activities... Apple picking, pumpkin picking, trick-or-treating with the kiddies, friends thanksgiving, and before we know it, the holidays will be here!
-Ryan's first trip to Disney World!  And of course the Disney Princess half marathon!  Our trip is booked, the whole family is coming, plus the friends that we are doing the race with.... it should be a great trip. 



I could keep going, but this is enough for one blog post. 

Summer is almost over... What?!

Holy molly, what a summer it has been.  I can not believe that it is almost over... and I am not even a teacher anymore!  In June I made a list of all the wonderful, fun things were were going to do this summer... and I can say we have only done about half of them, time just got away from us.  We have had so many adventures this summer that I have wanted to talk about, but no time to tell me stories.  So here is a recap of our craziness.

*Summer started with our awesome trip to Key West. 

*When we returned from vacation, I had two really busy weeks at work trying to make up for taking the week off.  I worked 4 jobs and Mike worked 2 this summer... so anytime we had time off the following weeks were a little extra busy.

*July 21 and 22 we went to Annapolis to visit my college roommate for her son's first birthday party.  I was off from work the following week, so I thought it was a great start to a week I was going to spend doing fun things with Ryan. It was a great visit, but ended with a twist.

*On the way home from Annapolis I started getting a weird pain in my back.  By time we got into New Jersey the pain wrapped from my back, around under my ribs, to my stomach.  We were still an hour away from home and I felt like I was going to die!  My whole body was in spasm, I was having awful contraction like pains, and I couldn't breath.  I really felt like it was a heart attack.  I knew I couldn't make it home, so we typed Emergency Room into the GPS.  To make a long story short, I ended up being admitted into the hospital and stayed there for 6 days.  I took them from Sunday-Wednesday to figure out what was wrong.  I had ultra sounds, MRI's, x-rays, blood test, a hida scan (worst experience of my entire life... by far worse than labor!), and an endoscope.  They tested pretty much every organ in my stomach area, back, lungs, etc.  The problem was, the pain continued but none of the tests showed anything wrong.  By Wednesday, after several consults with different Docs and Surgeons, we finally decided that based on my symptoms it was my gallbladder.  Thursday I had the surgery and was finally discharged on Friday.  Luckily the doctors was right and when they took out my gallbladder it was inflamed and filled with a crystal substance that was causing problems.  It was such a hard week being so sick, far away from home, and away from my baby.  Luckily my mother in law was able to take care of him for the week  and Mike and my mom came to spend most afternoons and nights with me at the hospital.  It was pretty nuts. 

*The following week I spent recovering from surgery.  I still had to watch what I ate, was super weak and fatigued, I couldn't lift/push/pull anything, no driving, and lots of rest.  Well all of those rules are pretty hard to follow when you have a toddler.  Basically I was not able to be home alone with Ryan at all.  Since Mike already took time off when I was in the hospital, I needed to find other people to help me all week.  Thank God for friends and family who all took time helping me with Ryan and helping me recover.  The light at the end of the tunnel was that we were leaving for another vacation that following weekend.

*The first week of August we went to the OBX with the Arzonicos and the Eberhardts.  It was the perfect week, lots of sun, beach, pool, and relaxation.  The kids loved having play buddies all week, the adults loved not having anything to do... it was awesome.  We have decided to make this family vacation an annual trip and we are already looking forward to next year.  I'll probably post something else about the trip so I can add pictures.

*When we returned from vacation, I was determined to make the most of the summer.  Up until this point we did not have a single normal week.  I can't complain because we did go on two great vacations, but in the hecticness of our lives we really had not enjoyed summer.  We had 3 weeks and they needed to be great.

*Of course it was not that simple.  On Monday night after vacation, I came home from work to a very sick Ryan.  He had a 104 fever and was super cranky.  The fever stayed high all night and he woke up the next morning even worse.  He was so lethargic, and just whining and crying,  and he wouldn't eat anything.  I did end up taking him to the doctor.  He definitely had a virus, and the Dr. believes it was Coxsacky.  That afternoon was so sad, he literally layed on my chest in and out of sleep for hours.  This boy never sits still for a full minute, never mind hours.  He had such a sad, pitiful look on his face and he was just plain miserable.  By Wednesday the fever was a little bit lower and he was coming back to life a little bit.  But then on Thursday, he woke up covered in a rash all over his body.  He still wasn't eating really, but was starting to seem better.  I would say by Saturday he was back to normal.  Bottom line, I am glad he is feeling better but disappointed that we missed another week of summer.

*So pretty much that brings us up to the last week or so.  I have been packing in activities.  We went to the beach, Blue Claws game, the park, Popcorn Park Zoo, story time at the library, swam in the pool, and we are planning a BBQ for Saturday afternoon.  In addition, I have been working my butt off... the last few weeks of summer are the busiest of the year with all the back to school hair cuts! 

That was our summer in a nutshell.  Lots of unexpected events, but overall we made the most of it.  I am actually looking forward to September, still have some warm weather so hopefully we can do a few more things from our summer fun list.  Plus its time to start planning my favorite fall activities... apple picking, pumpkin carving, my 30th birthday, friends Thanksgiving...bring it on!

Vacation #3- Key West

Mike and I just had the opportunity to go to Key West for a friends wedding (congrats Nick and Heather). I  had never been to Key West before and didn't really have any expectations either way.  It was not on my list of must go places, but I was excited to get to go on an adult vacation with Mike and our friends.  Well I must say, I LOVED Key West.  We had an awesome vacation.

We stayed at The Southernmost Hotel on the Beach and that was a great choice.  The hotel was beautiful, people were great, location was perfect, and it was right next door for the wedding reception.  If we went back I would definitely stay there again.

Our week was full of touristy things and wedding events.  It all started on Wednesday by renting a convertible to drive from Fort Lauderdale down to Key West, then when we arrived we pretty much got checked in and ready for the Bachelor and Bachelorette party.  I experienced my very first drag queen show... very interesting to say the least.  All the girls had a great time.  Unfortunately since we were up since 3am, I bailed on the party after the drag show...but the girls continued on with the bachelorette party.  Then Thursday we spent most of the day by the beach and pool (well Mike spent most of the day recovering from his bachelor party) and then we went onto Duval Street at night for dinner and to meet the whole gang for drinks at Irish Kevins.  Friday was our total tourist day.  We went to see the Southernmost Point, we rented bicycles to tour around the island, and we did a jet ski tour around the island.  Then we ended the perfect day with the rehearsal dinner.  The dinner was held on a sunset dinner cruise which was really beautiful.  I have lots of great pictures to post soon.  At that point, I probably should have gone home... but we all thought bar hopping was the better option.  I had TONS of fun...but definitely drank to much.  We stopped at Rum Runners, Irish Kevins, and a dueling piano bar.  Because Friday was a long day with LOTS of drinking, Saturday morning was spent in bed while the guys went on a fishing trip. Luckily it did not take me long to feel better, because I did a few of the girls hair and makeup for the wedding.  I was excited to get to spend the day with the girls and be a big part of the wedding prep.  Everyone looked beautiful, I had a fun day, and I made some money to help pay our vacation expenses!!

Saturday night was the wedding which of course was great.  Nick and Heather got married at The Reach Resort, on a Pier over the ocean.  The cocktail hour was up on the balcony overlooking the water and the reception was in a ballroom.  It was a great set up for a destination wedding.  We danced (and sweat) the night away.  I think Heather really loved every minute.  Sunday was our last day so we did a little bit more time at the pool and ended the afternoon/night with more bar hopping.  That night we went to Willie T's, Blue Heaven, and Better Than Sex for dessert.    Perfect end to a great vacation.

I feel very lucky to have been able to take this vacation with Mike (we reallllllly needed it) and to spend some quality time with a lot of our friends.  We decided we should go back and do it again in 2 years... I hope that actually happens! 

We need a Ryan update

It has been to long since I wrote about my baby boy. He is now 16.5 months old and wonderful. I love watching his personality develop each day. Here is a list of notable, Ryan things....

1. He is an average size baby, 50% across the board.... But he has the chunkiest thighs ( which we call his chunkers) and big fat feet ( currently in a size 6 shoe)!

2. He currently has long, curly blond hair. I just can't cut it, the curls are too cute!

3. Things he loves:  Books, shape sorters, climbing, swimming, playing with water (water table, sprinkler, the hose, watering can, baths, etc), going to the beach, "dusting" things around the house, playing hide and seek with objects, "helping" me put clothes away/do the laundry, Thomas the Train, Mickey Mouse, Jake and the Neverland Pirates, the Yankees (he cheers when the fans on TV cheer and knows the "Lets Go Yankees" chant), singing and dancing, his binky and monkey at bedtime, being outside, cats and dogs,

4.  He is still taking 2 naps a day...and doesn't seem to have much interest in dropping the 2nd nap yet.

5.  He eats better than anyone I know!  Here is an example of a typical days menu...Breakfast is all natural turkey sausage, piece of cheese, blueberries and bananas.  Lunch is a protein (plain chicken breast, or black beans, or gluten free/preservative free turkey breast), a green vegetable, and a yogurt.  Dinner is a different type of protein and a different type of vegetable and a fruit as dessert.  He still has never had a cookie or cake (with the exception of his birthday incident), chips, crackers, ice cream, chocolate, hot dogs, anything but water and milk to drink, anything with food dyes, cereal, and so many more foods that are normal for toddlers.  He really only eats fruits, vegetables, lean/plain proteins, and some organic dairy.  Lets hope all of these changes make a difference for his over all health.

6.  He understands soo much more recently.  He knows a little bit of sign language, but has pretty much created his own way of telling me what he wants.  It always amazes me how much he can understand and respond when I am talking to him. 

7.  He throws CRAZY temper tantrums.  Stops breathing, throws his body on the floor, is so strong I can't physically control him, and screams!  I can't wait to see what our future toddler years are like if we are already experiencing this.  But truthfully, it doesn't upset me. I can normally stay calm, waiting for it to end, and then talk to him until he calms down.  I have a feeling I was probably like that as a kid haha.

8.  He is a bit slower on the talking front.  At this point he really doesn't have many words... ma, dad, hi, bye, uh-oh, more, mine, and ca (cat).  But I am not super concerned at this point.  I know he is taking it all in and attempting to say things.  We will re-evaluate in a few months.

9.  He has mastered  a few animal sounds for cat, dog, cow, and chicken.  He even makes a low deep voice for a dog bark and a high soft voice for a cat meow. 

10.  He is super social and definitely a flirt.  At the Blue Claws baseball game last week he was walking around blowing kisses to all the teenage girls that came near him. 

11.  He HATES diaper changes.  It is a all-out battle most of the time.... one of us always ends up sweating and in tears :)

12.  His skin is still a mess, real bad eczema spots, rashes, irritated spots... we are working on finding the problem.  Poor baby.

I am sure there is sooooo much more I can write about, but that's what comes to mind today.  I'll come back and update if something great pops in my mind.  I am loving these super crazy, hectic, non-stop toddler days. 

What a Weekend

I was very much so looking forward to this weekend.  Months ago, I made plans with my college roommates (Amanda and Stephanie) to go to Atlantic City for a little get away.  We had a great time... shopped the outlets, drinks at the beach bar, dinner at Budakan, drinks at Caesars, and facials the next morning at Blue Mercury.  All in all it was a great girls day/night.  But of course the weekend couldn't go perfect...something had to make things more interesting.

First of all, while packing my bags for the overnight, my cat Same was playing with my clothes as I put them into the bag.  Finally he was getting on my nerves so I smacked him a bit to get him out of my way.  I guess he thought that I was now playing back, so he came back at me and  nipped my hand.  Unfortunately though, it was not just a nip and he really bit me thumb, going deep enough to really cut me and draw blood.  After smacking him with my shoe and yelling at him, I put a band aid on my finer and went about my business.  Within a few hours (while we were doing some serious outlet shopping) my thumb swelled up to twice its size.  The best way to describe it was that it looked like an over stuffed sausage.  It didn't hurt at this point, so I continued to ignore it.  By Saturday morning, I couldn't move it at all, and by the afternoon it REALLY hut.  So now its 3pm on Saturday and I obviously have a bad infection and need to see a Dr. ASAP....unfortunately there are no doctors open at that time, so it was off to the emergency room I went.  I felt so stupid going to the ER for a stupid cat bite.  But the swelling, redness, and pain was getting worse and traveling down my hand to my arm.  I knew I would end up really sick if I didn't get help soon.  So after soaking in antiseptic, an updated tetanus shot, and 2 prescriptions, I was free to go home.  The end result of that adventure is that the swelling has started to go down and it doesn't look to infected, but my thumb still hurts (and so does my stomach now because of taking antibiotics).

Of course my adventures don't end there.  On Sunday morning I was looking forward to finally spending some time with my family.  Mike and I have been working like crazy, so I was excited for us to be going with my parents to Monmouth Park Race Track.  As we are getting ready to go, Mike finds out that he has to go meet a guy for work, but only for like 45 minutes.  So the plan is for me to take Ryan to the track and have Mike meet us there after his Open House meeting.  About 5 minutes into my drive (with Ryan in the back seat) I get slammed in the back of my car by another SUV.  My body goes flying forward and Ryan is immediately hysterically crying.  Luckily I was okay and I jump out of the car to go make sure the Ryan is okay too (and thank God he was).  The girl that hit me, comes up to us hysterically crying saying that her flip flop got stuck under her gas pedal and she couldn't step on the gas.  So while I was stopped at the red light, she didn't slow down at all and hit me pretty hard.  My brand new 2012 Explorer didn't look so bad, but hear we are, 3 crying people on the side of Rt. 37.  The cops came and did an accident report and stated that my car was drive able and sent us on our way.  The end result of this accident is that my car will be in the shop for about a week, $3000 worth of damage, a scared baby boy, and a very sore momma.  Today, my neck and back are killing me.  Luckily I know a good chiropractor.

Lastly, I decided to go up to the racetrack with everyone anyway because the day couldn't get much worse.  By time we got there, it was super crowded and hot.  Ryan was cranky, and worst of all, Mike called to say he had to stay all day at the Open House and he wasn't coming to join us.  The relaxing day with my family was officially not going to happen.

This Monday morning, after what was suppose to be a nice fun relaxing weekend, I woke up with a hurt thumb, sore shoulder from the shot, upset stomach from the meds, and back and neck pain from the accident.  Lets hope for a better upcoming weekend :)

Dealing with Allergies

Quick background just to get up to speed.  If you read my 1st birthday post (or you were at RJ's first birthday party) you are already aware that we have discovered that Ryan has food allergies.  After much debate, we took him to a recommended pediatric allergist to identify what made him break into hives.  I also wondered if what he was allergic to had anything to do with his awful eczema and cranky behavior. 

After doing a skin test of just a few common allergies, we found out right away that he is highly allergic to eggs.  So at that time we eliminated eggs from his diet, even if it is just an ingredient in a bigger recipe.  I didn't notice any change in his behavior or eczema, but he didn't have any further breakouts for a while.  We also sent him to get a more detailed round of blood work to test for a whole list of common allergies.  A couple of weeks later (before getting the blood test results), after eating baked ziti and meatballs, he had another pretty serious reaction.  We pumped him with benadryl and washed out his mouth, face and hands, and he seemed to recover pretty quickly.  A few days later, Mike got the call with his allergy results.  It came back saying that he is allergic to egg, wheat, peanuts, almonds (tree nuts), cats, and dogs (in that order of severity).  These results were a punch to the gut. The nurse advised that we remove all egg and wheat products from his diet completely, continue to avoid peanuts and tree nuts, and try to keep the cats and Ryan in separate parts of the house.  Ugh!

So we have done what the doctor ordered and have been watching his diet super carefully.  We have also on our own decided to go completely gluten free and to remove corn based products (one day after eating a corn puff type snack, he broke out in hives all over his face and then had bad eczema for a few days).  That means no wheat, oats, barely, or corn.  At this point its easier to just say what he CAN eat instead of what he can't.  His diet includes fresh fruit and vegetables (nothing canned or processes because that normally means they have been mixed with gluten products), milk, cheese, and plain proteins (chicken, ground beef, ground turkey, natural sausage).

This change has been hard on sooo many levels.  One night, Mike and I were talking about some of the things we needed to start doing, and Mike looked at me and said "Wow, this is really going to change our whole life huh" and that is 100% true.  I'ts hard to find enough things that Ryan can eat, it's hard to prepare meals, it's hard to grocery shop, it's way more expensive, it's hard to go visit with other friends or other homes because we have to bring all of our own food, it's hard to pack him for daycare, and it's hard to come to terms with the fact that something is making your child sick and you don't have any understanding as to why (more about the why later).  And we haven't even gotten to the point yet where he understands whats going on... I am not looking forward to that.  Mike and I have not gone totally gluten free, egg free at this point, mainly because its so hard and expensive to meal plan, but if we are eating at the same time as Ryan, I do try to eat whatever he is eating.  Right now if he sees someone else eating, he wants it too... so I want to avoid the temptation for him.  I have been paying more attention to what other toddlers eat, trying to get some new ideas...but I feel like whether its the wheat or the egg... he can't have anything!

Have I seen any changes?  This is a hard question.  I would say his overall eczema has improved.   His cheeks aren't as raw and the spots all over his back and neck are better.  His mood seems a little bit better too, he is just a normal toddler now.  BUT even with all of the drastic diet changes, things have not gotten completely better.  There are still days he wakes up with screaming red cheeks, he still has bad eczema on his ankles, behind his knees, and on his hands.  He is still always scratching his face and legs and has a clear runny nose (all signs of allergies).  Bottom line is that I am still confused.  I am not sure what exactly he is having reactions too, are things better without the wheat or did it now make a difference?  I would feel better about this whole process if the change was more clear and I had a better understanding about what is going on.  We are due to go back to the allergist in a few weeks, and I may go to a second doctor too, just to get another opinion. 

Here is my biggest question, why?  Why do all of these kids have food allergies?  Why does every elementary classroom have 3 kids with epi pens?  Why do we have to have peanut free tables at lunch?  When I was growing up, there was maybe 1 or 2 kids in the entire school with food allergies... so what are we doing differently (wrong) that has lead to this food allergy epidemic (and asthma and autism epidemics but that's a whole other discussion)?  I am not buying the idea that just more children are diagnosed, because young kids today have allergies severe enough that they wouldn't have gone unnoticed back 20 years ago.  Something is seriously wrong, I just wish I knew what it was so that I could make the changes needed to keep my family and any future children healthy.  I am starting to lean in the direction that it is the vaccines that are making our kids so sick, but I have a lot more research to do before stating any opinions.

Thoughts, ideas, opinions, research are all welcome!!  I am looking for any answers people have for me.