Firsts!

We've had lots going on here lately and I'm happy to report it's been with minimal crying which means much less anxiety on my part.

Things have definitely improved as Katie has gotten older. There is also a noticeable difference if I watch my diet very very closely which means not even a smidgen of dairy. Katie's diet needs to be closely monitored also. She mostly eats one ingredient fruit and veggies that way when she has a reaction we're not trying to guess what caused it. Gerber puffs don't seem to cause any problems, but all other crackers have. We're doing okay with oatmeal cereal also. Coconut milk yogurt is another treat I've found that both Katie and I enjoy. While I am able to substitute milk products in my diet with soy/tofu products, I am not doing so for Katie since it's pretty highly allergenic.

Now for our firsts!

Katie was 9mo old on Saturday, which meant a trip to Portrait Innovations for pictures! She wore her first pair of stripey tights. She, of course, was adorable and I bought more than I planned.







On Sunday I was cleaning the little lady up after dinner and noticed our first tooth has finally started to break through the gums! I'm a little nervous as she has a bad clamping habit when she's nursing, but we'll just see what happens. Sorry, no pictures. It was all I could do to snag a little peak myself.

Monday we visited our pediatrician for Katie's 9mo check up. She weighed in at 17lbs 9oz and measured 26 inches. Yep, she's a shorty, which doesn't surprise me since she barely wears 3-6mo shoes! Of course, we must look cute at all times when leaving the house, so ta da...our first piggy tails!



I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving. Please take a moment to pause and reflect on everything your're thankful for. It's really something we should all do more often.

Hurry up and wait

We saw the pediatric gastroenterologist today. Can't say that it was worth our while.

Since Katie isn't skinny, she's obviously getting enough nutrition, so they won't do a scope or upper GI at this point. The allergy testing (which came back negative) was basically pointless because she's too young for accurate results.

Supposedly most babies outgrow reflux and food allergies by 1 year. That's encouraging right? Yes, except I've been being told from the beginning that things should be better at 4mo..6mo..9mo, only they're not.

So our plan is to wait, continue being very careful to avoid milk and anything else we can figure out that bothers her, and continue the prevacid with the option of upping the dose yet again.

So there you have it. Apparently the answers we've been searching for all this time don't even exist. So forget praying for answers, I guess at this point we just need to pray that she does indeed outgrow this and sooner than later.

Thank you!

Thank you to all the veterans who served selflessly and bravely, so we are able to enjoy that great freedoms that come from living in the United States. Thank you to those who gave their lives, thank you to their mothers and fathers, husbands and wives, sisters, brothers and children. Thank you to those who continue such a dedicated service to our country. May God bless and protect you all.

Thank you to my husband, a man of strength and faith, a man I am proud to stand beside and raise my children with....he's not bad looking either. :)

So I'm only a week late

Thank God I'm not talking about my period.
It's Halloween pictures!!

My whole family and a couple friends came over for trick or treating. I couldn't resist the matchy matchy skeleton jammies.


We had ourselves a mini Kyle Busch.
And a little ladybug.
















Katie saw her ped and the chiro on Tue. We're doing more allergy testing and we have an appt to see a pediatric gastroenterologist. I'm really hoping we're on the right track to getting her tummy figured out.

On Wed we saw a ped eye dr for her constant yucky eyes from plugged tear ducts. He didn't feel it was severe enough to warrant the tear duct surgery and that it should get better as she grows. Good news!

We've been transitioning Katie from sleeping in her swing back into her crib. (She hasn't slept in it since July.) We bought the rainforest mobile since she likes her rainforest swing so much. Eric has been a champ, rocking her a lot since she thinks she needs to nurse everytime I go into her room. We did treat ourselves to a new glider about a month ago. Until then we'd only had a creaky wooden rocker that was hell on the back. The padded arms were a must. Definitely has become one of our favorite buys. I can't believe we waited so long to get it.

There's still time

If you haven't voted yet, you totally should. Kelton and I are going after I get off work. Daddy stayed home with Katie today and they voted this morning.

Maybe Later

I simply don't have the energy for a blog about our trick or treating.

Katie is spitting up again in the total absence of dairy and I have no idea why. She's also screaming a lot and naturally not sleeping at all either.

I'm so full of anxiety over it all. I would give anything, anything at all in the entire world to have this get better. I want her to be able to eat normally. I want to be able to eat normally. I want life to be normal again.

Eric is staying home tomorrow. He's going to try to get her into her ped and the chiro.