Updates...

Andrew said I couldn't leave you all hanging so here's an update.

We saw the allergist today. He basically said for about a month we need to be super strict with making sure he gets absolutely no dairy, eggs or peanuts. The wheat and soy we can work with a little since it's lower on the spectrum. If we didn't have that little leeway we would have given up grocery shopping tonight. It was rough. Before we went to the grocery store, we threw away all the foods we couldn't eat anymore (if Tommy can't eat it, none of us will. It's a family Wolf Pack!) So this is what our pantry looked like after we did that.




Let's see... Pretzels and baby food. That's all we have left. Turns out, you should really read the labels on your food. I had no idea how many things have peanuts, milk products and eggs.
And everything else has wheat and soy!! You gotta be kidding me!!

So then we made our way to the grocery store. Cool hand Tommy wanted to look cool riding in the cart.




Sorry it's a little blurry.





He cracked us up when he took them off. You could just see his face reacting when his eyes adjusted to the light. It was like he was on drugs! "Whoa, man! Groovy!" Haha!!





So we shopped till we dropped. It took a lot of reading but we bought food for us to eat.

Our allergist said that 90% grow out of their milk and egg allergies by age 6 or so. He said kids rarely grow out of the peanut allergy though. He's seen about 5 out of maybe 200.



But hey, Tommy's one of a kind. I can definitely imagine him doing such a thing so we'll just hope for the best.

He also had us start giving Tommy a small amount of Zyrtec twice a day. He said that he had read about studies in Europe that the children were given medications like Zyrtec for extended periods of time and it ended up decreasing the their chance of getting asthma. Something like that. So it's worth a try I guess. If it helps with the eczema and allergies, we will be super excited.

Tommy took the tiny dose and this is how he was sleeping when I checked on him a couple hours later.




That boy was tired!!

After a month on the Zyrtec we can reevaluate a little.

It's going to be an interesting month. Wish us luck!

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The Results are in... Dog Dander, Milk, Eggs, Peanuts, Soy, Wheat

So what do the above items have in common? They are all things that came back positive on Tommy's allergy test.



Oh boy.  But it does explain a whole heck of a lot.  It explains the scary vomiting episodes, the over abundance of mucous/constant colds, and that wretched awful eczema.  It's very nice to finally have some answers.  There are definitely worse things in the world.  We are lucky that it's only food allergies and that he will hopefully grow out of them soon.  It will be difficult to deal with at first but we will figure it out.  Turns out, there are lots of people who have kids with these same allergies.  I have lots of people I can contact, commiserate with, get recipes from, etc etc.  Talking to them is very encouraging.

Tomorrow we have a doctor's appointment with an allergist so we will learn more.  What we know now is that egg whites and milk are the highest intensity.  Then dog dander and and peanuts are on the same harshness class.  Then soy and wheat are lower but still considered moderate to high class levels.  Yikes.

So I guess it's a plus that I'm still nursing him because after cow's milk and soy milk, we're not really sure what to feed the poor boy to make sure he gets all the nutrients he needs.  That's why we're seeing an allergist.

But that also means that I have to change my diet too.  It's possible I may be going on that super fad Caveman diet until Tommy weans.  Meat, fruits and veggies and that's about it.  Hoo doggie. That's brutal.  No cheese, no breads, no pre-packaged foods, no candy????  I doubt I will do that.  I will resort to making my own damn bread out of alternative flour and crap before I give that up.

So stay tuned for more allergenic updates after tomorrow.  I'm sure we'll have plenty.

For now, enjoy some pictures of a fairly rash-free Tommy.  Here he is in all his glory, free from the photoshop attacking I usually have to do to the rash on his face.

He's SO HAPPY at the doctor's office!!! 

Taking most of the dairy out of my diet has really really helped. But he broke out on his back on Friday night after I ate eggs at Cracker Barrel for breakfast that day.

Now we know!

Thanksgiving Numero Deux

On Saturday, we had my side of the family over for Thanksgiving.  I didn't take as many pictures this time. 

 Tommy enjoyed his time with my side of the family too.

 I have some random photos from that day that I took after dinner.  Notice he dressed up in his Thanksgiving best again.  :-)

 This picture cracks me up.  He's giving kisses!! Wet slobbery face smacks. :)

 Flash problems! I think someone else was taking a picture at the same time.

We played a couple different games that night.  We played the game of Things, I think it's called.  We laughed a lot.  One category our responses were big boobs, big butts, big trees, and Facebook.  You probably had to be there.  We thought it was funny. 

Tommy sat patiently with his Kix and enjoyed the company.  He laughed and screamed a lot too.

 We used the Mustache Me app on my niece.

 Looking good, Isabel!

 Beardy McFacial Hair

We also played Fish Bowl.  You each write four names on a piece of paper and then you have 3 rounds to guess the names.  The first round you can say anything but sounds like or rhymes with.  The second round you can only say one word per clue.  The third round you act out the names.  It is a LOT of fun.  We were laughing so hard by the end of it.

We also used the Zombie Booth app on ourselves that we learned about from Andrew's uncle Andy.  Man that thing is cool.  Check out our results.

 Zombie Andrew!

 Zombie Pumpkin-style Andrew!!

 Zombie Morgdorg! Scary!!

 Zombie Mummy-style Tommy.  Luckily it doesn't even look like him so it won't give us nightmares, hopefully.

Zombie Dad!

This app is so cool.  The zombie is ALIVE in the app.  It will eat your finger if you touch the screen.  That's where the blood came from in Andrew's pumpkin zombie picture.  Very very cool.  You better try it.

Oh yeah, what was this post about again?? Family, giving thanks and togetherness? AND ZOMBIES???

Anyway, Thanksgiving #2 was also a huge success.  We had a wonderful time.  The food was amazing yet again.

Happy Thanksgiving once again!!

Thanksgiving Numero Uno

Tommy had his first Thanksgiving celebration on Thursday.  We had visitors from Chicago, Syracuse (IN), and Columbus (OH).  Andrew's uncle from Columbus brought Tommy a hockey jersey from the Columbus Blue Jackets hockey team.  

 It's a little big still but he's only going to get bigger!

 Tommy wore his Thanksgiving best for the occasion.

Look at him go!!

 Of course he drooled right dow the front of it as soon as he put it on.

 Tommy had a great time playing with his family.

 He loved his cousin, (second cousin? 1st cousin once removed? I don't know) David. I promise he did, even though he looks like he's choking him here.

 He also gave him lots of high fives.

 I snapped a picture of the kitchen right before Thanksgiving dinner was served.  We have something like 50 feet of countertop and we still don't have enough room. :)

 Tommy enjoyed his first taste of real (not pureed) Thanksgiving turkey.

 He also ate some Thanksgiving bananas... because that's such a thing when you have an almost one year old.

 Uh oh! That tryptophan must be kicking in!

Tommy got to open a Christmas and birthday gift while we gave thanks.

 He got a book, a puzzle and a super cute outfit plus some hand-me-downs worn by his cousin David.

 Did I mention that he loved his cuz?? :-)

 Aww, dada and Tommy giving thanks for so many things.

 Like cute turkey butts.

 And fun rocking chairs.

The next morning we went to brunch at Cracker Barrel.

Try not to eat that crayon, Tommy T!

 Look at that fancy rocking chair!!!! We were definitely blessed with beautiful weather for our Thanksgiving weekend.

 Andrew's aunt and uncle also brought us this sweet baby carrier.

 Happy boys!

Look at  that face! What a goof!!

Our first Thanksgiving at our new house and also Tommy's first Thanksgiving was a huge success! So much to be thankful for this year.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Baby's Here! Yay!! (EDITED: She has a name!!)

****They picked a name! Harper Marie Neal****

The title to this post is the exclamation of Wyatt at 8:33 am yesterday morning when Wyatt's baby sister was born two weeks early.

 This is how I found out.  (I knew before Andrew! Nana nana boo boo!) Travis had just joined twitter. I happened to be checking Twitter Saturday morning and I saw the picture above posted saying "It's a girl!"
I said, "OMG! They had their baby!" Andrew checked his phone and he had a message from Travis.  Baby Girl Neal is here!

 Isn't she just the cutest thing?? Look at all that dark thick hair! Awww!!
Let's do a quick compare shot with Wyatt as an infant...

I see definite similarities!!

 She still doesn't have a name as of yet.  Don't worry, we didn't bother them about it at all. ;)

 We came bearing gifts of myrrh. Just kidding.  But we did bring a Big Brother book for Wyatt, and a few things for Katie and Baby Girl Neal.

I didn't get a picture but these are the little boots we got for Baby Girl Neal from Target.  Too funny.

And then there was this! Now THIS is too-too (Get it? TUTU!?!?!) CUTE!!! :-) I wanted to get something over the top frilly but I had to tone it down a little.  (Yes this is toned down. At least it's not pink!)

Here are some other pictures of Baby Girl.  She was 7 lbs 15 oz and 20 inches.  Look at how tiny she is!

 Here's a picture of the LADIES!! Finally, it's not such a boys club anymore. :-)

 Right before we left, she took a huge dump on me.  HA! But lucky for me she kept it all in her diaper.  She also woke up and opened her eyes! What a sweetie!

Awww a family picture!

Congrats Neals!! You have a beautiful ever-expanding family!