It is still in the same location - however, due to getting several emails in this week regarding the use of Evelyn’s photo for fake profiles online, and use in a manner which just isn’t something we want if you try to save a photo from the Flickr/photo page anymore and are not logged in (if you have a yahoo email account you can login and make yourself our conact or email me and I can get you a login we had created before) you will get a ‘dummy image’ instead of the image you see when you view the page.

Sorry for this inconvenience. I will try to send photos more regularly. I know some family are frequent lookers and printers.

James has gained back the weight he lost when he had his endoscopy and was on barley & rye only. He’s now at 33 1/2 lbs and 36 3/4 inches.

Evelyn is our slow grower, which I find odd since she eats more than James, but she does eat better also - as in more rounded. She’s at 28 lbs and 36.5 inches.

We weren’t supposed to have shots, but there was as shortage of one that they needed to be caught up for. And, a new version of one came out, that they are advising to give to those who got the older version.

Well, of course, nothing is simple and Evelyn had a reaction. She couldn’t/wouldn’t walk the morning after it. If she tried, she cried and stood there helpless. Now, Friday (got shots on Wednesday) she’s got a swirling cascading rash on the area of the shot that made her unable to walk and a different one on her neck. And a random black eye she woke up with which apparently is a possible reaction.

Her rash spread slightly overnight, and a few new splotches have arrived. Overall, it seems that they are going to look to see if it’s cellulitis and then tell us to give her Benadryl - which we are. I took photos of the splotches, the red eye and will show our DR the next time we see him or I’ll mail them to him - as we aren’t frequently at the Pediatricians.

James, we are having a bit of an issue with again. If you remember he was found to no longer be allergic to wheat or milk at his last allergist appointment in April. He however is likely forever allergic to peanuts - very severe - and is now allergic to walnuts and almonds also.

Anyhow, at that time we weaned him off rice milk and onto cows milk. That took about a month. Then we cold turkey stopped gluten free. That’s been a month. Personally these (prick test) are not always accurate. And here we are, how things started before with his behavior, itching/rashes, sleeping issues and of course the lovely diaper issues, bloating belly, ect.

In talking with his Dr, and indicating we are having troubles again - he said we are really the best ones to know how it affects him and he supports if we’d chose to put him on gluten free until he can further tell us (James I mean) what is happening to him, he doesn’t have the capacity at the moment (or care-not sure) to tell us - he just stares at us blankly.

So we are debating. We’ve said we are a few times, but then aren’t sure if we are just being too sensitive for him and the expense of the food is very difficult to swallow. One of the main things the Drs keep saying is he is getting nutrients since he’s gaining weight properly, but in all my reading - that doesn’t mean anything. He eats less food than Evelyn, and runs around more than her- but weighs more and given in the last 2 months he gained 5 lbs - makes me scratch my head.

Who knows!

James is gearing up for Airventure which is keeping him busy. The kids miss him, but we are getting by OK. Looking forward to heading out to see things a day or two during it.

You should be getting 3 year old photos in the mail this week-next week!
They are growing SO Fast. I hate it, but love it all in the same. Not knowing if these are our last kids or not _ verdict is still out on that one. It’s hard to not feel like they are at times, and really want to hold onto that stage. But tonight, I had a full on conversation with Evelyn. Crazy! And James as I told him how big of a boy he was being proclaimed back to me “yeah mom!” as if it was just common nature. lol. Evelyn has started proclaiming her like of things, I like this. I like ice cream. I like chicken. I like Kitty.

The kids got their first Smores this week.

James is rocking potty training - for this week at least - getting his first “Car” for his #2 and candies for #1. He’s half interested, and I’m not caring to push him and not concerned about it. Encouraging him when he is wanting it, but forcing to try. He’ll get there.

Father’s Day

Choo Choo on Father’s

At a Kite Festival at James’ work

James with his $7 kite which crashed and ripped and was no longer flyable after about 10 minutes

Evelyn with her kite, which lasted maybe 10 minutes past James’. It was a very windy day and we were letting them fly on their own

Evelyn got photographed, well we all did, by one photographer and then Evelyn got photographed another by photographer, both for EAA - you can see her here - http://www.eaa.org/apps/galleries/gallery.aspx?ID=334 - she is photo #8 with her Daddy

I am hoping if the weather holds off, to see Toy Story 3 with the kids this weekend at the drive-in. James was on Call on Father’s Day so we couldn’t go and he is again this weekend- but we should be able to leave the house this weekend where we couldn’t last.

OR I should say they did some strawberry stealing from what I picked. Evelyn actually was quite helpful - if only she knew the difference between a good strawberry and a bad one. James was too, but he really liked playing with the flag to mark where we ended, and waving to anyone on the tractors.

I tried to take some 3 year photos of the kids, but this is what i got;

PErhaps I can snatch some tomorrow.

We tried at 2 different parks and at home! Evelyn was willing at the 2nd park.

and they were both a bit grumpy at the first park

Tomorrow, we are going to the Kite Festival at James’ work. Should be fun!

At EAA!!!!!

EAA: The Spirit of Aviation - Experimental Aircraft Association as their lead developer!

This will be a great change for James, challenging him in new ways and heading him in an upward direction. I am super stoked to take the kids there -and the awesome views and things that James will experience being there everyday.

James’ work schedule will be a bit different, from what his team said when he interviewed with them, July allows no time off and the week of Airventure is 60+ hours a week. However that the work isn’t like work -work-work, more just being there if needed.

Even more good news from our other James, is that he seems to have adjusted to his 2% milk over rice milk nicely. This is HUGE news for us because rice milk cost around $80-$90 a month! 2% milk is
more like $18-22 a month! That’s HUGE HUGE HUGE!

We’ve implemented some wheat also, and aside from a few small things it is going well so far as well. Neither of us can figure it out. He literally was sick a week prior to seeing the allergist from a saltine! But we won’t complain and just be pleased as punch if we weren’t spending $250 a month on his special foods!

We did however give him chicken nuggets with wheat the other day just to see what would happen and still no dice! He was covered in an itchy raw scratched rash the next morning and the usual diaper issue did arrive eventually.

Evelyn continues to remain potty trained except for at night. She was so quick to learn. First time going potty on the potty and she did it everytime there after for a week. Then came figuring out poo poo on the potty and she had some setbacks for 2 days with potty in that frame and she’s been doing both on the potty since.

James is starting to pickup pace in learning also and had his first #2 on the potty last night. Woot, woot! He’s a bit more inclined to mess around though whilst he is on the potty - and sees it as fun time.

Our bill came in for J’s endoscopy and of course, it was more than we had anticipated. For now, we are content with feeding him the gluten free foods - especially given our recent attempt to reintroduce (allergist suggestion) since he is no longer ‘allergic’ to wheat. Again though, this fares better/more likely on the celiac situation.

We have a lot going on here, and have a lot more yet to face so I wanted to thank all the friends and family who have put us in their thoughts, prayers and minds simply by seeing our facebook posts. While some things already positive have happened, our road is not quite over yet and continued thoughts ans prayers are greatly appreciated.

We got a cute party planning/plates and things magazine in the mail the other day, I presume they know about J&E’s up coming birthday. The kids had so much fun looking thru it and proclaiming that certain ones were theirs. It prompted my asking what J&E wanted for their birthdays. James declared he wanted Thomas (there was Thomas plates/decor that J wouldn;t stop looking at). E said she wanted Cake, and I asked them if that was all. E said, Puppy! Hehe. Kids.

The next 3 weeks are quite busy for us, but that’s OK. Then we have a little break before J&E turn 3. I can’t believe they are going to be three! We were watching TV last night and the girl on the show was wearing a very low cut top, off the shoulder and her bra was showing. I kidding asked James if he wasn’t going to help with the laundry anymore when Evelyn gets old enough to wear bras. He said “nope”… I can’t nor can he imagine them that old yet… or even three.

Then things will pickup pace again for a bit.
I think my lovely husband will be sharing some exciting news on here soon./

They tested him for;
almonds, peanuts, brazil nuts, cashews, walnuts (two kinds)
peanuts, eggs, milk, wheat, soy and shellfish (the same he had at his last visit)
oats, rye, barley, rice, wheat, soybeans, corn

He is still allergic the same +5 to peanuts. She felt that given it hadn’t gone down, it’s likely he will always be allergic to them. Continue with no peanuts, oils, or processed in around or ect having to do with peanuts. He will need an epi pen when he’s out of our care primarily.

He also showed 3+ to almonds and walnuts. These should be avoided.

He had no other reactions. If you remember he showed a 3+ to milk & wheat at his last appointment, which prompted the change to soymilk which resulted in sludge in his diapers and the $70/month rice milk change.

We are transitioning him back to 2% milk, very slowly. 1/2 and 1/2 for a week and then 3/4 and 1/4 for a week and then he can go full on back to it. She said to expect some digestion issues while he transitions.

His wheat allergy is what spun into the thought of Celiac. Though as I’ve mentioned before no one had heard of someone having celiac and a wheat allergy. Celiac being an autoimmune thing and the allergy being a exterior hives/swelling, itching thing.

We are confused! As recent as 2 weeks ago he had an issue after eating a saltine cracker!
While we are hopeful, we are taking baby steps. This is a kick to us, after seeing our portion of the bill for J’s endoscopy - $700 and are wondering what the heck is his troubles, and wishing someone could tell us. He’s not the same child on wheat, and we are frustrated with people not getting that.

But, having spent around $400 on gluten free special foods in the last year, being;
$5 loaves of 10 slices of bread half the size of a normal loaf? $6 for 10 gluten free chicken nuggets? $12 for xanthan gum to make him baked things, not to mention the $5 rice flour, $4 tapioca flour and $6 potato starch to blend together to make his ‘gluten free flour’. Then the $6 fruit bars and $3 crackers that feed him 2x and on and on
we’d happily have that stop too, this last month has added about $150 to our grocery bill for his special foods (plus the $70 rice milk!)

It is just a mystery.

Boy has wheat, boy get sick, boy has wheat no more, boy doesn’t get sick anymore. That has to mean something.

Obviously James feeling better is most important but it’s very frustrating to know your child isn’t well and to think you finally have an answer, then that’s not it, but it might still be it tomorrow, be on a path that makes him feel better and then a new Dr says, wait he’s not allergic to this anymore.. why are you on this diet?

Well, his GI tract is happier.

Now I’ve read that these scratch/prick tests are subjective to the person that day and from day to day. That you can be nothing today and 5+ tomorrow.
She also said though, his ears aren’t really that clear. Could this all have been just chronic ear infections?!?! blech, blech, blech! I’m just blech!

There is a potentially good thing to come of this, which with the way the last few weeks have been going and the news we’ve had from other areas of our life… we could really, really, really use something good to happen in the next few weeks also… when we hopefully get good news.

It resulted in a rash, scratching raw, behavioral issues, and the diaper fiasco that happened before. Thankfully this was a small amount and not a lengthy time frame.

Evelyn is rocking the potty training.
I’d say she’s 97% trained now. She woke up from nap and started going on the potty - we had tried training before J’s endoscopy but they both got sick and we backed off. Not fun training when they aren’t well let alone having water diapers.

That was the 25th of March, she did everything but #2 for a full week, then started having accidents not making it in time for that following weekend. By Tuesday, she was back to going and her first #2 - in public at that! She’s gone since both on the potty, so in 2 weeks she is trained, with very few accidents. She stays dry at naptime, and has gotten drier and drier at bedtime. . Yeye.

Really lucky to have such a great life and kids!

This means, at this time he does not test positive for Celiac. That however doesn’t mean he tests negative. There are many cases where people are never fully diagnosed, and always get negatives.

For Mom & Dad, the proof is in the pudding - that being after a week and a half on gluten free diet, James is a different child. Almost all his intestinal issues have resolved. He’s taking a 1/4 of the Miralax he used to.

The belly distention is gone.
His moods are improved ten fold. He’s listening better and more alert/talkative and responsive to us talking to him.
He isn’t as itchy.
He hasn’t said his tummy hurts since.
Like I said, no more water bowels, and we just introduced Miralax back due some borderline hard bowels but 1/4 of his old dose is working.
He’s so loving! not that he wasn’t before per say.

It’s really hard to explain.
He just was always distracted or a zombie.

While this is good news, no damage… it’s not really an ‘answer’…. if we start seeing any issues we were told to see the allergist again to try that.

Like I said, for now.
Mom & Dad are pleased a punch…. to have our boy happy.