Falling Behind

I said we wouldn't be posting as much, and I guess I was right! Still no pics of Layla's bday, not to mention Thanksgiving. Until we find time to sort pics, here's a video of Layla and cousin Sarah during Layla's birthday "party".

Say Cheese!

Josh spent the last two weeks hanging out with Mimi and Bumpa. He must have had a great time because he's so full of smiles these days!

Celebration!

Layla has been asking to sit on the potty with more and more frequency lately. Tonight she finally went pee-pee in the potty! She seemed really surprised and confused about what was happening and didn't quite understand why Mimi, Bumpa, and Mommy were making such a big deal of it. She's still young to officially train, but it seems that this may be the beginning. My goal has been to have her trained during next summer, when I'm home from school and can spend more time with her on it. Perhaps we'll get there before then!

Tummy Time!

We haven't been doing enough of this, but here is Josh actually enjoying some tummy time. Josh tends to always look to his left, so in order to loosen some of the muscles in his neck, we need to make an effort to have him look to the right. Tummy time is a good opportunity for that. His head is starting to get just the slightest bit flat on one side, so we want to correct this before it gets worse!

In other news, Josh had his 2 month appointment the other day, at 9 weeks. He weighed in a 13lbs, 15.5oz.....92nd percentile :).

Oh Nuts!

A month or two ago Layla developed some red blotches on her face after eating a small amount of cashews. We immediately thought that she might be having an allergic reaction, but we were hopeful that it was due to the seasoning instead. Last week she had blood work (specifically, a RAST test) done to take a preliminary look at her allergies. The RAST measures the presence of antibodies to allergens.

According to the chart below, Layla scored a 0 for all nuts (including peanuts) except for pistachios and cashews (moderate level) and chestnut (low level). The test can produce false positives so we are being referred to an allergist for more complete testing. Until then, we are to avoid all nuts (even peanuts) and to keep Benadryl and an epi-pen on hand always.

Asthma, eczema (Layla has a pretty bad case), and food allergies often present together, so we should have seen this coming! Stay tuned until we learn more...

RAST rating	IgE level (KU/L)	comment
0	<>	ABSENT OR UNDETECTABLE ALLERGEN SPECIFIC IgE
1	0.35 - 0.69	LOW LEVEL OF ALLERGEN SPECIFIC IgE
2	0.70 - 3.49	MODERATE LEVEL OF ALLERGEN SPECIFIC IgE
3	3.50 - 17.49	HIGH LEVEL OF ALLERGEN SPECIFIC IgE
4	17.50 - 49.99	VERY HIGH LEVEL OF ALLERGEN SPECIFIC IgE
5	50.0 - 100.00	VERY HIGH LEVEL OF ALLERGEN SPECIFIC IgE
6	> 100.00	EXTREMELY HIGH LEVEL OF ALLERGEN SPECIFIC IgE

Back to a New Reality

This is my last weekend before I return to work on Monday. In some ways I'm looking forward to the return, but I also know that things are going to get even crazier around here (is that possible?!).

Mimi and Bumpa are coming to take care of Josh for two weeks, so it will be great to have them here for the transition.

After that, Grandmommy and Granddaddy come for a week and Thanksgiving.

Somewhere in there, Layla will turn 2.

Expect fewer posts until we figure out how this is all going to work!

More Josh

Happy Josh

Serious Monkey

Halloweekend

With Halloween on a Sunday, the whole thing really lasted 3 days. Poor Layla....every few hours we were telling her "It's time to be a pumpkin again!" What a busy, fun weekend it was, though.

Friday's Highlights
Layla dressed as a pumpkin for the party at daycare.
At night, Chris took her to the pumpkin carving party at church. She dressed up again. Not a ton for her to do there, but certainly lots to see.

Saturday's Highlights
8:30 Halloween parade in Lex Center...complete with a visit from Elmo. Layla didn't dare get too close!

9:30 Music class (still dressed as a pumpkin)

10:30 Halloween craft at the library (STILL a pumpkin)
3:00 Birthday/halloween party for a neighborhood 5 year old....highlight was the donut eating contest. Layla ripped her donut right off the string and had it half eaten before the contest started.

Off to the party:

The bday girl paints Layla's face:

Sunday's Highlights
Church - NOT dressed as a pumpkin
Trick or treating. Chris took Layla around in the wagon while Josh and I manned the door. Layla was just adorable when she came home and we were able to sneak her candy away from her after just a few pieces. Surprisingly, she seems to already have forgotten about it!

On their way!

Mommy steals Layla's candy when her back is turned!