Hooray for a new cousin!

Jen's sister Stacie and her family - Mark, Erik & Aidan - welcomed baby girl Isabelle Jane on April 7th.

She's so cute and we can't wait to go visit and squeeze and hold and love her in person. Elizabeth loves babies...it was her second real word (other than mamma & dad), right after puppy.

We got all these adorable pics from Jen's mom, who got to spend 10 days with the Oliverson family. Grandpa Porter was able to go spend a weekend too.

We're so glad you're here Isabelle!!!

Check out Mark & Stacie's blog for more adorable pictures.

Happy Birthday Daddy Zach!

Lunch with the Alands the day before Zach's actual birthday.

Poor Elizabeth touched something on her highchair and had a reaction that ended in a rash and hives all over her little mouth and cheeks.

Patrice gave Zach an awesome gift basket with lots of goodies, the book Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde, and the movie Sherlock Holmes. Thanks Patrice!

Elizabeth and Jen gave Zach a chair-top back massager, the new Hugh Nibley book "One Eternal Round," and the new Truman G. Madsen dvd "In the Holy Land: The Eternal Christ."

And Elizabeth gave her daddy lots of smiles, kisses, and high fives!

She kept putting her crown on her head this way and it looked like a bonnet! How can that face not make you smile?!

Happy Birthday!!! We love you more than most!

Checking out Crane Field Golf Course construction

Get In My Belly!

We've started to let Elizabeth eat whole fruits. She loves it!

We did cut the skins off half the apple because she kept choking on it, but she did all the rest of the work herself.

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