Happy Friday!!

What only 2 days since my last post not two years?!? I thought I'd try to do this a bit more often when I can find the time.

We took M in yesterday to his allergist for an in-office food challenge for peanut butter. It was a fail...not because he reacted to the peanut butter but because he would not taste it. I love our allergist...after about 45 minutes of waiting for M to taste the peanut butter she said that it was not worth it. She did not want him traumatized over the experience. He was in tears, red, puffy eyes and a runny nose...had he eaten the food his tears/runny nose could have masked any symptoms. So we've decided to wait a bit until we try again. We'll see her again in 6 months to go over how things are going. I am thinking of looking for a therapist for M. His experience in Belize really shook him and I would love to find someone that he could work through those feelings with.

A bit more about what happened when M had his reaction...
After M had his reaction we took him back tot he restaurant where it happened so that he could feel safe going back - it was just for a visit the first time, not to eat and to let the staff see him. They were extremely upset when they heard he had gotten sick. I think it was really good for M to do that because he had a lot of big feelings about what happened. When one of the staff was chatting with us M said under his breath "I'm mad that you made me sick!" I was happy he could state his feelings but also happy the server didn't hear him. She would have felt horrible.

Almost forgot! the best part of going to see the allergist yesterday was when I relayed the story of the reaction in Belize and said "we made a mistake and did not use the epinephrine"...the doctor looked at me and said it was not a mistake it was an oversight. She let us know that she too, as an allergist, has made mistakes with her own kids. She said it's a really hard role to be in and to forgive myself and to stop beating myself up over it. I think I am finally beginning to do that!

Today is M's last day at Pre-K...he's a bit anxious about going to a new school but we had the open house/orientation the other night and was able to meet his teacher and classmates. Are you ready for this?? He's going from a class of 30 to a class of 3!! He's a bit puzzled about it but I think it will be good for him. As J said he'll basically be homeschooled at a school. :)
We have not loved his current school and with hindsight being 20/20 I wish we had found a different school. He did grow socially and only had a few close calls with his allergies, so that was good, but J and I are definitely ready for a new school!

I leave you with a pic of M from this morning :)

2 years and 2 months

I can't believe it's been that long since I've posted anything!! Wow...wonder if anyone remembers me?
Well, I thought I'd randomly pop in and say hello. :) I guess it will be easier to post some bullets about our life from the last two years rather than a proper post at this time...maybe, just maybe I can try to keep up with this for awhile.

• I'm a working Mommy now! I don't love it, but I do love the people I work with. I could not have asked for better supervisors/co-workers. I am an admin. asst. for a company that owns medical office buildings. The company is based out of Nashville and has an office here in San Antonio. I went back to work last November. I miss being at home but M seems to be doing well with having both of us working.
• J has another new job...he lost his job last June of 2017 and was out of work until January of 2018. He works from home most of the week, but does have quite a bit of travel with this position. The office is just north of Austin so he is up there 1-2x a week and then up to Dallas a couple of times a month. We do not love all the travel but it does give me some M and Mommy time while Daddy is away.
• M is starting kindergarten at the end of the month!! He misses the cut-off date for public kindergarten but while searching for new preschools we found a school that offers accredited private kindergarten with a cut-off date of November 1st. Both J and I were very happy with this development. J really wanted to consider having M tested to enter public kindergarten but I was dead-set against it. So this was a great compromise!
• We are still dealing with all of M's food allergies. We are going in on Thursday this week for an in-office food challenge for peanuts. His numbers are so low for peanut that his allergist thinks it's not a true allergy. We had him tested for peanut a couple of years ago and when it came back positive his allergist at the time told us to avoid peanuts/peanut butter. I am anxious but also quite excited at the possibility of taking a food off of the allergy list!
• We had our first anaphylactic reaction while we were on vacation in Belize this past April. It was scary and I am still dealing with some PTSD/guilt from it. We did not use our epi-pen when it happened and M made it through just fine but I still get upset with myself for not using it. We have talked with M about it and explained that we made a mistake by not using it and how he would have felt better sooner if we had used the medicine. I think he understands but it still afraid of how the pen would actually feel.
• The other downfall of this past trip to Belize was that we left with Maddox still recovering from strep throat. I think the allergic reaction made it difficult for him to recover from the strep because his system was working overtime. :( Not our best trip to Belize. Fingers crossed we go back in November for my birthday!
• The dogs are both doing well...Garnett is almost year seizure-free...last seizure was Aug. 24, 2017. Knock on wood he stays seizure free even longer!

I've attached a few pictures for you...until next time. :)

M loves to bake! This was a day he wanted to do it himself like he was on a kids cooking show.

M also loves any arts & crafts projects right now. He loves to say "You didn't know I was such an artist, did you?"

We finally made it to the TX coast a couple of weeks ago...don't know how M grew up so fast!

After a much needed haircut!

In Belize on one of the days M was feeling healthy!

Building with dominoes at breakfast.

Building with one of his favorite people at the SunBreeze.