ahhh Memories....

We bought Seattle Motocross tickets back in January and I realized the race was the day after my Birthday. I thought well heck,why not make a weekend of it and we'll have some fun! So I booked the hotel for a couple of nights,made plans to go out to dinner on my birthday,plans to go to the Zoo,Aquarium,Museum of Flight.. all kinds of fun for the whole fam.

All that fun started going downhill quickly. Less than one month later we found out Olivia had allergies = no restaurant outings. So I found a different hotel with a full kitchen and close to downtown so we could eat at 'home' and then head back out to the fun! no biggie.. minor speed bump.

Jonah's baseball season started at the end of April. We were given his baseball schedule and saw he had a game the next week on none other than Friday- my Birthday aka the day we were supposed to leave to Seattle and Saturday. Oh boy. Obviously he was going to miss the Saturday game because of the races,but the Friday one too?? oh my.. Then right after getting handed the schedule we get handed the team pictures envelope and were told that pictures were Saturday morning at 9:30am. Jeez Louis!!!!

Needless to say we drastically chopped up into tiny pieces revamped our weekend plans,changed hotels yet again since we didn't need the kitchen because I packed a gazillion things for Olivia I made the day before, and we left for Seattle straight from pictures.





The motocross was fun but the kids were really fidgety and bored which made for a long day. On the way to our awesome hotel after the race I prayed for there to be a Starbucks close. We all but pulled into the parking lot at the hotel and I hadn't spotted a Starbucks yet..but wait..could it be? directly across the street behind the hotel? Taa daaa... Starbucks! Thank you Lord!!!!! It was actually what we saw when we looked out our hotel bedroom window-hahaha. God loves me :)

We went to bed at 1:00am..and I woke up wide awake at 7am. One kid got up after me so I woke the other two up and we headed downstairs to eat breakfast while dad slept.

We ate,snuck back into the room to change into our swimsuits then headed back downstairs to the pool. We were alone in the pool for maybe 10 minutes before it got overloaded with kids.

We stayed for an hour & a half then called it a morning and headed back to our room. We took a middle elevator up and I pointed 'that way' and we headed down to our room on the 5th floor down in the corner. We walked up to our door,wrapped in towels and holding wet life jackets, and I notice the door was cracked open-the dead bolt flip lock was blocking the door from closing all the way. Hmmm that does NOT sound like my husband. I pushed the door open and to my surprise there were 4 grown men sitting on the couch & chairs!! I gasped "oh dear Lord" and one of the guys said "well hellooo...". I Gasp again while I quickly said "sorry I have the wrong room" and bolted down the hall and out of sight as fast as I could. Ok the hotel is 5 stories and big and beautiful,but how did I get so confused???

Let see..2 elevators on that end.... (2 more elevators on opposite corners also)

a big walkway across the middle....

each corner looked like this...

From the middle looking down to the right....

From the middle looking down to the left...

I guess I shouldn't have gotten up at 7am after all huh? YIKES! We changed and headed straight over to Starbucks..Mama needed her coffee..bad.

We loaded up and headed down to the Fremont District.

I purchased a cookbook back in February called "The Flying Apron" which happened to be created from an actual bakery in Seattle. So cool! This book has been a life saver to me for making goodies for Olivia,so it was a must that we stop in and grab a baked delight before we left. I had emailed them a month prior asking about certain ingredients and wondering what things Olivia could and couldn't have,the sweet guy wrote me back with answers and told me he was leaving a $5 voucher behind the counter with my name on it. Wow that was nice of him! While I was ordering,Laini took some pictures of the artwork hanging in the bakery.

It's a small bakery and on the way to the bathroom there are quite a few old shabby-chic doors with glass in the middle as the 'wall' separating the hallway from the kitchen. It was fun to watch them prepare everything. We ate our goodies and walked up the street to see the "Troll" under the bridge.

My kids are hard core. They don't do things leisurely and to enjoy the moment. They get way too excited over things and I'm constantly telling them to slow down,we're not in a hurry,relax and enjoy. When they're busy bodied I just know they're going to get hurt.

...And wouldn't you know it, leave it to a public place to show their hard core-ness. Out of excitement Jonah,my monkey,climbs the Troll's left shoulder to the top.


And falls off right back off the left shoulder to where he started (in the above pic). Tumbling. He scraped his arm and was covered head to toe in dirt. More like some sort of dust/dirt which didn't come off with the brush of a hand. Jeez Louis!! We figured we'd call it a day and headed home.

What happened to my fun Birthday weekend full of Zoo's,Aquariums and galore? huh? I want it back!

Family & Mariner's Game

Last May we took a drive down to California to attend the wedding of Craig's cousin Erin. One year later Erin & her hubby Jason flew up to see us. They live in cali,but Jason is a huge Seattle Seahawks fan. We new we loved him for a reason!! :) They spent a night in Seattle and had some fun,then drove 3 hours to spend a couple nights with us. It was so good to see them again and I can't believe it's been a year already,sure feels like yesterday.

Then they drove 3 hours back to Seattle and we followed in our own car so we could all attend a Mariner's baseball game before they had to catch their plane. Fitting it would be the Mariner's vs LA Angels :)

and we won!! :)

I QUIT!

my job that is :) Back in December I entered the 'real' workforce for the first time in 11 years! I got the job from another home school mom who also teaches at the kids co-op. It was working for a phone book company doing data entry-entering business names into the computer from newspapers so other people could contact them to renew/or create a new contract with the phonebook. I picked my own days and hours. It was heavenly kinda nice to have a few hours during the week by myself with silence surrounding me. But,once I found out about Olivia's allergies in February and had to form a game plan that second, my whopping 2-3 nights a week plummeted quickly and cooking,bathing every night,putting 2 creams on Olivia 2x a day,researching foods & recipes,Dr. appointments,more Dr. appointments... I was exhausted. Heck..I'm still exhausted but I think I'm getting the hang of being exhausted and functioning.

Craig was fine with whatever I wanted to do. I was a little worried about money,since I got the job to give us a little extra on the side. But when I quit last Sunday and turned in my key,I didn't care about the money (and boy it felt good to know I had one less thing to go do or worry about). My heart was at home so it didn't matter how much I made I knew where I needed to be. My friend who hired me was really awesome and backed me 100% for quitting. Love her!

Then the next day I was talking to my friend,who's little boy I babysit 2x a week and have for years now and she told me next year he'll be in all day preschool so she won't need me. God had been equally preparing me to not watch him next year so it was a relief to both of us :) THEN get this- I have been watching my 2 little nieces (5 & 2.5) pretty much all of May, 2 days after quitting my job at work and deciding not to watch the little boy next year, my sister in law asked me if I wanted to babysit my nieces full time throughout the summer,Mon-Thurs,and then just the 2.5 yr old full time starting in Sept while the 5 yr old goes to all day Kinder. I have wanted to babysit them since the 5 yr old was born,but with babysitting other kids at the time it just didn't work out. Things have come up on her end and apparently on my end also,so I'm free to watch them. So I get to stay home with my kids and get to make some money on top of it and Auntie gets to love on the girls all day and Olivia and her 5 yr old cousin are BFF's :) God is good!

I have been having a hard time staying asleep at night,but these last 2 weeks-after a day with 6 busy kids,once my head hits the pillow I'm out like a light! It's going to be one crazy busy summer but I wouldn't have it any other way because I don't have to be anywhere else but here at home.

Ahhhhh :)

It's Groundhog Day!

Have you ever seen that movie? Anyway..

The last few months have been a total blur to me. Each day seems just like the one before,and the one before that. Alot of it has to do with dealing Olivia's allergies.

Praise God there has been some distractions to snap me out of my Groundhog Day days.

Jonah started his first year in baseball aka coach pitch. He's taken after his daddy-O in the baseball department and is quite good at it and he loves it. I LOVE sitting on the sidelines cheering him on. Not to mention how adorable these little kids are!! We get some good laughs in. We love the coach for his hard work and that he's actually teaching these kids HOW to play,square up to the plate,hold the bat,line the feet up. If the kid isn't 100% on he walks up and positions him so that the kid can get a feel for the right stance etc. He even said Jonah has a great form when up to bat. tha'd a boy!

When Jonah's out in the field..well..that's a different story. At the first game,Jonah thought no matter what position you played you could run to get the ball. So he'd run as a 3rd baseman out to right field to get the ball. After the 5th time of running across the field Coach set him straight.

or like 2 weeks ago we were watching him stand in right field pretending to catch the ball. I looked down for a couple seconds and looked up when I heard Craig say Jonah's name. I looked at my adorable boy,smiled and gave him a thumbs up. Craig said "don't give him a thumbs up for doing 2 cartwheels in the middle of the play!" The boy doesn't like down time,he wants 100% action...even if he has to create his own ;)

Craig and I were talking one night after baseball started and both had that feeling of change. We don't have any young toddler kids anymore and our kids are getting into extra curricular activities that are keeping us busy,eating dinners on the run, week nights/weekends booked up. It's totally awesome. And there is nothing sexier than seeing your husband bond with his child ;)

Laini just got done with a pottery class through our city's parks & rec. She had alot of fun and made some cool things out of clay. She's artsy anyway so I knew she's have a great time and enjoy herself. Liv's and Jonah even got to make a few thing too. Pretty cool teacher! And last but not least, Olivia just started a summer of gymnastics ;)

I love my family~

Cold urticaria

During the winter when Olivia would come in from playing outside she would have little tiny red bumps everywhere. I kind of freaked out a little,took a few pictures and gave her a warm bath and they went away. I chalked it up to her just being cold.

April 24th we went to the Seattle for a night and went to the Motocross. While sitting in the stadium we got kind of chilly and I noticed her hands and face had red bumps. Her hands and face were the only 2 things exposed to the cold. We went to the bathroom and I ran them under warm water and they went away. Hmm..

2 weeks ago we ran some errand and it was an unusually warm day so I told the kids they could cool down in the sprinkler. Within 5 minutes Olivia came in head to toe in hives. I gave her a warm shower and they went away. I googled "I know this is crazy but could my kid be allergic to the cold" and sure enough found out there is such a thing!

deeeeep breath in....2,3,4..and out.....2,3,4.

A Mayo Clinic website says this:

"As strange as it sounds, it's possible to have an allergy to cold temperatures. Doctors refer to this as cold urticaria (ur-tih-KAR-ee-uh). It's also sometimes called cold allergy or cold hives. With cold urticaria, exposure to cold temperatures causes redness, itching, swelling and hives on your skin. As much as possible, people with cold urticaria should avoid exposure to cold air as well as cold water. For example, swimming in cold water is the most common cause of a severe, whole-body reaction — leading to fainting, shock and even death.

If you think you have cold urticaria, consult your doctor. Treatment for cold urticaria may include antihistamines taken before cold exposure.

Cold urticaria symptoms begin soon after the skin is exposed to a sudden drop in air temperature or to cold water. Although symptoms may begin during the cold exposure, symptoms of cold urticaria are often worse during rewarming of the exposed skin. The majority of cold urticaria reactions occur when skin is exposed to temperatures lower than 40 F (4.4 C), but some people can have reactions to warmer temperatures. Damp and windy conditions may make cold urticaria more likely.

Cold urticaria signs and symptoms may include:

Reddish, itchy hives (wheals) on the area of skin that was exposed to cold. Wheals generally last for about half an hour.
Swelling of hands when holding cold objects.
Swelling of lips when eating cold foods.
In rare cases, severe swelling of the tongue and throat that can block breathing (pharyngeal edema). In some people, reactions affect the whole body. This is known as a systemic reaction. Signs and symptoms of a severe reaction include:

Fainting
Chills
Fast heartbeat
Swelling of limbs or trunk
Severe reactions

For people who have cold urticaria, exposure to cold can be dangerous. The worst reactions generally occur with full skin exposure, such as swimming in cold water. A massive release of histamine and other immune system chemicals causes a sudden drop in blood pressure that can lead to fainting, shock and, in rare cases, death. In the case of cold-water swimming, drowning can be caused by loss of consciousness.

The severity of cold urticaria symptoms vary widely. Some people have minor reactions to cold, while others have severe reactions. It's also impossible to say whether it will get better over time. In some cases cold urticaria goes away on its own after several months. In other cases it lasts many years before it improves. "

I also read that there is a skin 'ice test' they perform to check for this cold allergy where they hold a piece of ice on the arm for 3-4 minutes. I decided to try it out but on a very mild scale,by rubbing a piece of ice on the top of her arm in a small area, but only across it about 10 times. Then we watched. 10 minutes later she got hives where the ice had been.

Summertime=no swimming? no sprinklers? no river swimming when we go camping? no water parks? no sprinkler parks? no water slides? no slip-n-slides?

and deep breath in... 5,6,7....52,53,54...89,90,91..

I'm just going to hold my breath until this whole thing is over.

Olivia's allergies

In February we found out Olivia (my 5 yrs old) is allergic to milk,wheat,corn/corn syrup/corn starch,pork,barely,banana,eggs,oats, tomato,rye. And a very low allergy to strawberries, rice,potato,peanuts & oranges. In October,the day of my neck surgery,she ended up getting some red rash spots on the insides of her thighs and her girly part. The Dr.s and I thought it was a yeast infection so we treated it but it didn't so much as heal one spot. I started to think it was allergies because she had started to get random bouts of hives,but the Dr.s assured me it wasn't. We tried a couple more creams giving each of them time to do their job. Meanwhile she was getting worse and I began documenting food intakes and taking pictures of the hives she'd get afterwards. We were referred to a Dermatologist who I was praying would tell me Olivia had allergies,not that I wanted her to have them but to finally get some answers. Olivia was having one of her worse days yet,having a head to toe in an itchy sand paper rash and the second the Derma Dr. came in she said "WOW this kid has allergies"! I cried. My poor baby was miserable and we were finally closer to helping her. She gave her some cream to heal the rash but we needed to see an allergy Dr. asap. I was already 3 steps ahead of her and had called and made the appointment myself a week prior. The allergy Dr. ended up being a total quack and I'll sum it up with he sent her for an MRI thinking her nasal passage was packed (head allergies),put her on Zyrtec,told me she didn't have food allergies and refused to do any allergy testing for it,but did test her for pollens etc. I demanded he at least test for milk and showed him the pictures. He huffed,among his horrible attitude,and tested her for milk. Turns out she was allergic to milk,yet he still wouldn't test for more foods. I left the office crying and drove to the first Dr.'s office,the one who referred us to the Derma Dr, just as they were closing and asked her to please order the simple stinking blood test to test for allergies for my poor little girl. This was a Friday afternoon. She did. Saturday afternoon I was driving on the freeway and got a call from this Dr. saying she just happened to be in the office and Olivia's allergy test came back already and she wanted to meet me in person. So we met 5 minutes later. The Dr. apologized for not listening to me an then admitted Olivia needed to be seen by another Dr. who can better care for her. I cried. But was already 3 steps ahead of her too and had 2 Dr. appointments lined up with a Naturopathic Dr. and another highly recommended Family Dr. Both of whom I now LOVE dearly!

It's been very challenging for all of us and I live day to day. I will admit I mourned for a couple months over the fact that I couldn't fix my daughter, That's a rough feeling as a mama to not be able to help your crying child who's hurting. When I first took her into the Naturopath Olivia looked like death. She was pale,had been pale for some time and I told the Dr. I was minutes away from taking her into the ER. She said she would have too,but that Olivia was fine but very sick and that I needed to stick to the strict food chart and she'd get feeling better. About 2 weeks later I brought her back in for a check up and the Dr. was amazed. She said she wasn't the same sick little girl who was in there 2 weeks prior. The foods she was eating were just attacking every cell in her body.

I wish she were allergic to just one thing..say..just Milk. Oh how easy that would be. The hard part in ALL of this is even with her food eliminations she's still having skin "outbreaks". They vary in conditions,shapes,sizes. Sometimes it's hundreds of pin point dots on the insides of her arms,chest & tailbone,sometimes it's raw spots on her thighs,or blotching all over her body from scalp to toe. Her Naturopathic Dr. has her on different vitamins and such to help her body & gut heal quicker. Olivia had her 2 month check up a few weeks ago with the Naturopath and I expressed my concerns with her outbreaks. She explained that although we've done a great job at eliminating the foods and that Olivia is doing SO much better,that the allergy food nutrients and such have been stored in her fat,linings etc.. so those will take some time to go away and I needed to remember it's only been 2 months. Olivia's always been on the chubby-ish side and has lost 3lbs already and she said if she loses a little more weight that it will help more.

So I guess we sit and wait. The rashes really bother me though,and it's not like we can put steroid creams on her everyday. The good news is that she had blood work done at the 2 month check up and her overall IgE (Immunoglobulin E) allergy level went from 3,324 at day one,down to 2,700. Normal is 393 or below,so it came down 624 points. Of course I did some instant math and if she continued at this rate we're looking at October for her counts could be back to normal range and by then I hope her rashes are GONE!!

Madness I Say!

I checked my old new blog I created back in September I think . Remember "In Good Condition"? I remember it vaguely also, but can't remember the password for it. At about the 10th time trying,it diverted me to the 'dashboard' to create a new post. Ah ha! I found it.

Nope.

For some reason it's showing me my old new blog but when I want to create a new post it's bringing up my even older blog from the time before that. I can't even remember why I created the old new blog anyway.

Can you see what the last 5 months has been like for me?

...and where this is going?

Tada! Welcome to my new new new blog. If your totally over it I completely understand however I'm still starting a new new new blog and I plan on keeping it updated because I'm very much missing my typing outlet and I have some serious emotions to let loose from my buzzing head,and I really want to document Olivia's allergy issues and it's way lazier easier to type them out than write it all down in a notebook.

So there you have it :)