Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Allergies

I found this email from July that John had written when we were in the midst of finding all of Dylan's allergies.  He had also attached a picture that shows the extent of the rash that forms on Dylan's face when he is in contact with an allergen.  I'm glad that I wasn't around when his lips and ears were swollen.  John likened it to Will Smith in Hitch, although a lot less comedic and a lot more scary.



Dylan had another allergic reaction last night. I say another because he had one on Tuesday night too. On Tuesday, I snapped the attached photograph to document the reaction. In addition to the visible rash, he was constantly rubbing his eyes and scratching at his throat. Last night’s reaction was different: a very swollen lower lip and ears and a lot of drool. There was slight redness behind his ears, but no full facial rash. In both cases, I gave him Benadryl. Last night, our neighbor was around and took a quick look at Dylan. Besides the swelling, his breathing was fine and he didn’t seem to be itching or too irritated with anything else.

In both Tuesday and Wednesday night’s reaction, we gave his familiar foods – for the most part. Tuesday’s meal included hamburger and bun – of which he only really ate two bites. That was the most exotic part of that meal. He also had some raspberries and a few other fruits that we thought were familiar. Last night, I gave him watermelon, pineapple, Kix, coconut milk and hot dog. He has had all of these things before. The ingredients in the hot dog did not include any of his known allergens (no milk, no egg, no soy). We have an appointment scheduled with an allergist for Tuesday afternoon. Unfortunately, however, the list of allergies seems to be increasing.



Sunday, July 4, 2010

Fourth of July 2010

This was a post that I started a LONG time ago, so here it is.  I'm going to adjust all the dates later to that everything is in sequence.


Our own private Fourth of July parade led by Reagan.  She loves flags!  John drew a greeting on the driveway for all to see.


Dylan sporting his holiday shirt!  We love the Paul Frank monkeys at our house.


Waving her flag (and wearing her bike helmet, of course!)

Me and my little man a year after bringing him home from the hospital.  Here we are last year waving the same flag.  What a fast year that was!

We didn't go see any fireworks since the kids are so tired by 7:30, but we did wake Reagan up to see the fireworks out the window around 10:00.  She loved to watch them! For a while, everytime it was dark she thought the fireworks would come out!

Friday, July 2, 2010

Dylan - 1 Year Old!

Our little man is 1!! It's hard to believe! Babies come so far in the first year that it's already hard to remember what he was like a year ago (although Baby Henry Wallenfelt is helping us remember a little bit!)
We spent Dylan's birthday at his 1 year check up, playing in the little pool and sprinkler at Nana and Papa's house, napping and finally celebrating Dylan's birthday with the Wallenfelts!
Happy Birthday to our smiley, snuggly little boy!



First Birthday Cake #1 (Lucky boy had a total of 3 birthday cakes!)
He was only given a small slice. He mushed it around in his fingers for a good 5 minutes before actually taking a bite!


Now we're talking!


We didn't get around to opening presents until the next morning.



"I'll take this one over here so my sister can't open it."



"I like my new chair! I feel like such a big boy!"
At 1 year old, Dylan:
  • Weighed 20 lbs 2.5 oz and was 28 inches tall.
  • Can walk and gets faster every day
  • LOVES Balloons!! He won't let go of them. One day he started holding a balloon after nap, all through dinner and then though bathtime!
  • Says a few words: Boom, Bonk, Crash, Ball, Woof Woof and Boon (Balloon). Can you tell he's a boy?
  • Loves to go up the stairs and then "scoot" back down with Mommy's help.
  • Loves to snuggle up right after he wakes up.
  • Loves his snack cup. He gets a really good grip on it and it's very difficult to pry it out of his hands, even if you are going to fill it back up for him!
  • Likes to push and pull things. He likes to pull his wooden puppy around the kitchen and likes to push his lawn mower, shopping cart and tricycle when we're outside.
  • Likes to "help" vacuum. He gets really excited when the vacuum comes out from downstairs.
  • Likes to smile at everyone he meets. He is definitely a little flirt with the ladies. Every once in a while he'll still reach out for someone (usually women), let them hold him for a few seconds and then comes right back to mom.

Right now, our biggest Dylan issue is figuring out food allergies. I started to notice that there was a slight redness around his mouth after he would eat mac and cheese. He was tested for a dairy allergy at his one year appointment and that came back with a low level allergy for dairy. So the good news is, he will most likely grow out of it, but we don't know when that will happen. However, even after cutting out dairy, he was still having reactions. So more testing is to follow and hopefully we'll know soon what he is all allergic too.