The Grandma's (on Jen's side)

We had a fun afternoon hanging out with Grandma Trena and Great-Grandma Elda a few weeks ago.

Fun Random Moments

First ride in the big girl car seat!

Chillin' in her favorite TV spot.

A fun new jungle-gym.

Good times with the Lego giraffe.

Everyone snuggles their blankie when sleeping, right?

Allergy Update

We decided not to go in for the "oral challenge" with rice milk, because we feel it's best to keep her off the things she's allergic to as much as possible so she'll hopefully outgrow them.

I'd met with a nutritionist to figure out what to give her in place of milk. We came up with Minute Maid's "Kids" Orange juice. It's got lots of calcium and a lot of extra vitamins. Then we just needed to add in protein. Elizabeth quite likes the orange juice, but it gives her horrible diaper rash...to the point of little sores. So, we have decided that isn't going to work as her main milk replacement.

Zach did a bunch of research and found Hemp Milk. It has the "Omega 3 and 6 essential fatty acids" and tastes a lot like rice milk. We had to carefully read the labels though, because some of them have brown rice syrup to make them sweet. The one we found doesn't have rice in it and actually tastes ok.

Elizabeth seems to like it, especially when I mix it half & half with the orange juice. Sounds gross, but actually is tasty, like an orange creamie as my friend described mixing regular milk & orange juice.

She's doing awesome with her new eating restrictions (of course, what can she do about it?!). And, since so may people ask "What CAN she eat?" - I'll tell you:

For breakfast she still gets a thing of pureed fruit babyfood or some applesauce and then a chopped fruit cup (I like the fruit cups because the pears and peaches are soft enough for her since she doesn't have molars). A treat in between breakfast and lunch is either grapes, strawberries or pieces of a banana (any fruit she likes, and we're trying to introduce more).

Lunch is typically a veggie mix of carrots, green beans, peas, and potatoes and a side portion of pinto or black beans. Again, a fruit treat before dinner of fruit if she's acting hungry.

Then, dinner is either the same as lunch or whatever Zach and I are having if it doesn't have things she can't have. She totally gobbled the veggie soup I made the other day with zucchini, carrots, cabbage, and tomatoes. I have to be extra careful with the bouillon/soup base I use because the one I was using had milk in it (yeah, who knew!).

And, just yesterday, I gave her marshmallows. She didn't have a visible reaction, so let's hope she can enjoy that little extra treat for a while. I like it because it doesn't require me to wash & cut anything for church!

Elizabeth's Handy Work

Rather, this should be titled "Elizabeth's Teethie Work." Isn't she so proud? And she's done this on both sides of her crib; not the front because it slants out, so she couldn't get her teeth on it. Oh, she tried, but failed.

And here's the new toy shelves in her room. We're hoping it'll encourage her to play in there so the front room doesn't have to be the playroom much longer.

Allergy Test Results

We finally had Elizabeth tested to see exactly what she's allergic to. They put dots on her back with black marker to show where each item is. Then they put a drop of fluid per item next to the dot. Then, they do a little scratch over each fluid and then we just watch to see what happens.

Here's a picture of her back about 5 minutes after scratching.

She reacted to everything they tested her for: eggs, milk, all nuts (even coconut!), soy, wheat, rice, cats and dogs. Here's her back about 15 minutes after.

The biggest welt on her upper back is eggs. The other big one in the middle is cashews. I can't remember all the rest.

They couldn't tell how severe the wheat & rice were so we had to have her blood drawn that same day. We got the results from the blood test and the wheat is pretty severe and the rice is questionable. We're supposed to go in for a "oral test" next month to see how she reacts to rice milk as we give it to her over a couple hours.

Poor little baby can't even have her favorite puffs and crackers anymore. Hopefully she'll outgrow all of this like I've heard some kids do.

Hiatus to Vegas 2010

The house.

The strip.

The dam.

The 3 of us.

The kids (Elizabeth & Londyn.)

The preserve.

The gang.

The show.

The end.

I like snacks

Elizabeth's 1 Year Check Up

We had Elizabeth's 1 year check-up a few weeks ago. Other than being told not to change her eating routine AT ALL because of the reactions she's been having, it went great.

Social update:

• She still prefers crawling to walking, but she will walk behind the little walker we've borrowed.
• She has 7 teeth and LOVES to use them on everything (sad news for the once beautiful crib).
• She eats everything she can get her hands on, so we're trying to be sure it's nothing with dairy, nuts, or eggs (hopefully we can get her tested in a few weeks to verify our assumptions about allergies). Her new favorite is strawberries. 
• She still says Mamma and Dadda and we're pretty sure she knows it's us. She definitely looks at Zach when we ask where Daddy is. And she has babble conversations with herself all the time. It usually involves lots of sticking her tongue out. 
• She's also started saying "Pup" the last couple weeks whenever we saw Zach's parents dog BG. She loves that dog and I'm sure they'd be BFFs if we'd let them get close.
• She loves giving kisses and she's started giving unexpected hugs. Those are the best...little arm squeezes.

Physical update:

• Age: 1 yr.   Length: 29.25 in (54%) Weight: 18.44 lbs (10%) Head: 17 in (20%)
• Age: 9 mo. Length: 28 in (60%) Weight: 17 lbs 6 oz (20%) Head: 16.9 in (18%)
• Age: 6 mo. Length: 27 in (87%) Weight: 16 lbs. (47%) 
  Head: 16.7 in (48%)
• Age: 4 mo. Length: 26 in (94%) Weight: 13 lbs 9 oz (50%) Head: 16.1 in (44%)
• Age: 2 mo. Length: 22 in (75%) Weight: 10 lbs 10 oz (75%) Head: 30%
• Age: Birth Length: 20 in Weight: 6 lbs 15 oz Head: ?

Happy Birthday Grandpa Dwight!

(Sad that this is the only pic we have of my dad with Elizabeth since our hard drive crashed and took our pics with it and I've done a bad job of taking pics at family things with everyone.)

Elizabeth is 1 YEAR OLD!

Elizabeth turned 1 on Sunday, January 10th. Here she is at her "1" moments so far:
1 hour old

1 day old

1 week old

1 month old

1 year old

We sure love you doodlebug!

Elizabeth's "Tinked" Out Birthday Party

Elizabeth's 1st birthday party had a Tinker Bell theme. It turned out pretty cute!