Random update from our end of the world

I hate that I have allowed myself to drop off the edge of the blog world. I feel lost when I try to type out a post so I decided to not think about it as much this time around and I'll just type...who knows what you are going to end up with. :)

Life is going well for us...I truly do love being a stay-at-home mom...is the house as clean as I thought it would be? not even close! (there is a stove-top waiting to be cleaned as I type and bottles need to be washed) Is the laundry done every week before the weekend comes around? HA! I wish :) Grocery shopping? that is getting better now that M sits in the shopping cart. He LOVES the shopping carts. He is such a people watcher...definitely gets that from my side of the family.

We are dealing with M's skin issues still...they all started around 2 months. Seems hard to believe that 6 months later we are finally getting some answers. After two pediatricians, one dermatologist and one allergist we have found out that he has some major food allergies and is allergic to the dogs. We were heart-broken when we learned about the dogs. The allergist called us with the test results and was not overly empathetic or compassionate when relaying the news. If we had listened to him the dogs would have been gone within the hour. They are not...instead we are distancing M from the dogs physically...no more licking from the dogs, no more petting the dogs for M and the dogs are no longer allowed in the bedrooms. We are also attacking the dog hair in the house...we've been doing a lot of vacuuming. (Love my Dy.son!!) (Just getting back to this almost a week later) It is amazing what a difference these small changes have made. M's face is looking so much better! He has not needed the antihistamine daily since these changes were made, which has made me very happy.

We met with our pedi yesterday...she is so great. Even though she could not do anything for us, she sat with us and went over the results and gave us names of other allergists in the area. She said M is definitely going to need one in  his life. We also discussed which foods we could try next. Poor M has the most boring diet right now. Turns out he's allergic to wheat, soy, corn, milk, egg, bananas and oatmeal.  Starting M on solids has been a challenge to say the very least. We knew oatmeal was a problem early on, without testing, but were clueless on the others. M was on soy formula for a month and had been eating bananas since early on.  Those are both gone from his diet now. We tried summer squash and that went over well.

We are traveling home to MA at the end of this week. It will be M's first trip there...some of the family was not too happy when he went to Belize first. Oops :) the airfare was a better deal, so we had to do it. ;) I wish I was looking more forward to the visit than I am...I am anxious about J's mom and how she is going to be. The drama with my family is still going on, so that is not helping me at all. I am really looking forward to seeing friends and introducing them to M. So there is definitely a positive in there.

Well, I've babbled enough for y'all...just wanted to let you know we are still kicking around down here.

I'll leave you with some pics of the boy :)

Out to breakfast in Belize

LOVED swimming in the pool in Belize :)

Mommy and M day at Sea World...selfie in front of the ducks

Out to breakfast for Father's Day

Sun.Breeze Baby

We took M on his first vacation to Belize :) J's mom was not too happy that his first trip was to Belize, not MA...oops! ;) At some point I am going to find time to tell y'all about it but for now I leave you with a picture that shows you what a hit he was. They nicknamed him the "Sun.Breeze Baby" (the name of the hotel is the Sun.Breeze hotel). He has lots of Belizean aunties and uncles that love him to pieces.

Unsolicited Advice

I am racing the clock with this post...M is down for a nap and I have no idea how much longer he'll sleep. His morning nap is usually 30 minutes on the dot and afternoon naps are all over the place.

This past weekend J and I went shopping...I should say I dragged J to Car.ters and Babies R Us...thanks to coupons! When we were in Car.ters, the woman behind us was commenting on the bib I was picking out and all the choices out there for baby clothes today. She then told us how beautiful M was and asked if he was our only child. (It always surprises me when people ask if he's our first or our only...I think sometimes I prefer "only".) She then went on to tell us that she only had one as well and that we should learn from what she did and make sure we have another child. We both kind of chuckled...J used his usual line of "We got it right the first time so it's one and done." She told us how she's now in her 50s and her son is off to college. She said the best advice she could give us was to go home and - brace yourselves! - get knocked up. We both laughed and I said "If only it was that easy." We left the store wishing her a good day...she wished us a good day and a wonderful life. When walking to Babies R Us we said only in TX could someone actually tell you to go home and get knocked up. We laughed about and quickly moved onto another subject.

We did our shopping in Babies R Us and were meandering through the store as M napped. We  were checking out the car seats when we noticed a couple looking at the B.ob stroller. He happened to have on a Red Sox hat...they were chatting with a rep from the store about the strollers. I said to J we should let them know how much we love our B.ob. When the opportunity presented itself we let them know what a great stroller it is. We got a polite "thanks" from the husband and the wife and her mother listened for a bit longer. The wife got called away by her husband and after another minute grandma thanked us and said "we are all set".

When we were walking back to the car I said to J that I still could not believe the woman in Car.ters told us to get pregnant. J said that we know to expect advice from strangers when we are out shopping and to not worry about it. At the same time we looked at each other and realized we had done the exact same thing about the stroller. No one asked our opinion but we felt we should add our two cents to the decision making process for this couple. We had a good laugh over it. We decided that this couple had not lived in TX long enough yet to know that strangers are going to talk to you when you are out shopping. We then commented on how we were decked out in New England attire...J had on a Red Sox shirt and Bruins hat and I had on my Cape Cod sweatshirt...so the husband should have realized that we were "one of them". We wondered if the husband was just wearing a Sox hat and maybe he wasn't really a fan.

It made us realize that San Antonio is definitely becoming a part of who we are - especially when we are out shopping!

Woohoo! Wrote this post and the boy is still sleeping. :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Wishing all of you a Happy Saint Paddy's Day!!

Our little man - lots of pictures

Thanks to the time change M is already down for his nap so I thought I'd try to get a post up.
This is going to be picture heavy...

My Mom came to visit in February...M loved having her here with us. It was great to see the two of them together again. I love this picture of my Mom reading to him.

 

We went to the rodeo while my Mom was in town...so much fun. M did great! It was loud and he did not get upset by it. He stayed awake for the entire show. J is convinced that when he's old enough M will participate in Mutton Bustin'...I am not as convinced. :)

M is really starting to interact with the dogs now...it's so much fun to watch them together. Garnett is super gentle with him and loves it when M "pets" him.

 

M is the king of tummy-time...rolling over, not so much. Still waiting for that to happen...due to his size I am not overly concerned that it hasn't happened yet.

We've booked our trip to Belize!! We are going for 2 1/2 weeks in May. I cannot wait to get there and to have him meet everyone. We are planning to do a family photo shoot while we are there. So excited to get back "home".

We bought season passes to Sea World...M loves the dolphins!

My walking buddy...trying to get out walking at least 3x a week. Dr. H was not happy with my weight at my last appointment so I am doing my best to get healthier.

Loving my "kisses" from my little man. :)

One happy family

The sweater that M is wearing was knit by my Nana for one of my brothers. It means so much to me that my Mom saved it for me. I love seeing M in it. It makes me feel like my Nana is right here with us.

M is loving his books.

Crazy hair day!

M and his puppies :)

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

Another chilly morning here in San Antonio...a great day for cuddling on the couch. :)

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

I am guessing quite a few of you are dealing with cold and snowy weather right now so I thought I'd post some Belize pics for you. :) Believe it or not, we have a chance of frozen precipitation here in San Antonio later this week...