It's A...

Boy!!!

We are so excited!

Now if only I had an excuse to go buy more cute baby clothes... too bad I have enough boy stuff to outfit septuplets through the age of four.

Released!

I was released from Nursery yesterday!.. After a whole year! I pretty much feel like I haven't been to church in that long. Yesterday, I went to Sunday School and Relief Society for the first time since we moved here. So that's what the Spirit feels like. Just kidding. Hehe.

I have to say... and this will probably come back to bite me... I hope that I don't get that calling again until my kids are out of the house. Does that make me a selfish, toddler-hating human? Cuz I really do love my own toddler.

Darndest Things

Cute things Jay's been saying:

We were in the car and Joe was explaining how to make a Ford truck more fuel efficient by putting a computer chip in it.
Me: "Is that illegal?"
Jay (in a high pitched voice): "A bagel?"

Yesterday, I was falling asleep on the recliner and I hear Jay and Joe playing in the other room.
Jay: "Daddy, you are my best friend."

Love this kid.

Updates

#1) We ended up taking Jay to a new doctor in Draper last week. Awesome experience. They did a new scratch test and ordered a blood test which we are still waiting for the results of. It looks as though Jay is definitely allergic to beef, lamb and pork but NOT peanuts. It's a long story but the first jerky doctor lied to us because he thought that feeding a child with food allergies peanuts is a bad idea. So instead of just telling us to avoid them, he made up a reaction to the scratch test (actually recorded the size of this "reaction") and told us that he was in fact allergic to peanuts. I felt really weird about that. Now I know why.

#2) In better news, my ward did a reenactment of the first Relief Society meeting two weeks ago and they asked me to play Emma. (I'm on the right end.) It was a super cool experience. It's one thing to hear stories about Emma in church. It's an entirely different thing to hear stories about Emma when you are pretending to be her. And the best part is that I found out Emma actually was 5'9", with dark hair and olive skin. Hello... that is so me.

#3) Jay is growing and eating better. Oh and he needs a new jacket...

He goes through phases of food he likes. Right now it's sliced turkey and aliens (frozen peas).

Those are pretty much the highlights. Exciting right? I do, however, get to go to Boise for TWO WEEKS at the beginning of April! I get to see my nieces, my sister's family, my brother Eric, my parents, and hopefully some friends. (Oh and Joe's family of course!) As much as I love St. George, I am always thrilled to go home for a visit.

How I Feel Today

For those of you who missed my last post (or stopped reading because it was much too long) here's a quick intro: My son Jay is deathly allergic to milk... as in he could literally die if he goes untreated after ingesting any part of milk in any form. Last week, Jay's whole body broke out in hives and a rash and we had no idea why. (Now you're caught up.)

So today we took him to the only Allergist in town and despite all the negative things I had heard about him, I decided I would go in with a completely open mind. It started out okay. He was loud and slightly abrasive but nothing I couldn't handle. Well, they ended up doing a scratch test on Jay... AKA razor blades dipped in allergens stabbing your child repeatedly in the back. Lovely. Poor Jay screamed his guts out but the stabbing part only lasted a minute. Then my dear sweet boy stopped crying and actually said "Thank you" to the nurse who had done the test. After that, we just had to wait to see if he would break out. All was going well until about halfway through when the nurse came back in and acted confused as to what allergens she had put in which places! Seriously?! Then the doctor came in a little later and he looked confused as well! He finally gave us a list of things that Jay had reacted to but how on earth do I trust that?

Now I don't really know what to do. There is one other Allergist that travels to St. George from Salt Lake one day a month and I will for sure be going to see him as soon as possible. My biggest question is, do I trust the results of this test or do I put Jay through another test to make sure?

According to this test, Jay is not only allergic to Milk but also PEANUTS (!), Beef, Lamb, and Pork! I just want to cry. And the doctor said that because Jay has allergies the chances of this baby having them are pretty good! Sigh.

Okay, end of pity party. Thanks for coming.

I'm A Big Kid Now... Sort Of

Well, it has been an interesting week here at the Brady house.... fun and scary.

On Monday, we had a "Big Kid" party for Jay with a few of his cousins. This was to get him excited for a few changes that we want to take place before the baby comes. We took the railing down on his crib to make it a big boy bed. We took the gate down in the kitchen... because of his allergies he has not been allowed in there other than meal times and very special occasions. And we took away his sippy cups, hoping that would help his appetite and make him eat more.

The results?

The first two nights he slept in his bed just fine without getting out once! BUT his naps on the other hand have been a nightmare. He has been so cranky and then he conks out at about 4:00 p.m. in the middle of whatever he's doing. Like eating...

It's hilarious but his attitude has been awful... he might not be ready for this change. We'll see.

Letting him in the kitchen has been stressful but fun. He's pretty good in there and we moved the trash can in another room. We bought him some magnets for the fridge and he's loving this change. This one will stay.

Taking away his sippy cup, however, has not stayed. For the first few days it worked great. He was eating more often... not necessarily more food though. Well, I was excited to see if he would progress but then two days ago he woke up from a "nap" (falling asleep in the living room) and he was covered almost head to toe with a horrible rash and hives. This was the same type of rash he had the first time he touched milk. It was a bit scary. He wasn't throwing up but we took him to the ER just to be safe. They sent us up to the Pediatrics Unit where they have a late night pediatrician's office. Long story short... Jay might be allergic to something else in addition to milk! Great. And to make it worse, we have no idea what it is. I'm scared to feed him anything until we take him to the Allergist next week. Based on his milk experience, if this is something other than milk and he is exposed to it again he'll be in the ER next time. The doctor said that allergies can develop at any point in someone's life, meaning that it could be some random thing that he hasn't been exposed to until this week or it could be something that he's been eating all along.

It's frustrating but we can handle it. Even if Jay has to have a mostly liquid diet until Kindergarten! At least he's safe. I'll keep you all posted.

It's Official

Yes my smart friends... we are expecting number two! I'm due September 15th and we are very excited. I should find out in just over a month what we are having.

The downside to all of this is that I have been sick as a dog! Which makes going to school a little tricky. The upside is that I have felt great for the past 5 days and I'm hoping that morning sickness is over. Now if I could just stop having migraines I wouldn't even feel pregnant other than my growing tummy.

Now I do have to add that amid all the excitement, there is a small part of me that is so sad to take any attention away from Jay. I know that sounds naive but we have had so much fun as the three of us. He'll be three when the baby is born and he knows something big is happening. He's so sweet. The whole time I was sick he would bring me blankets and turn off the lights if I had a headache. One day, he told me he was sad because Mommy couldn't play with him anymore! How do people do this more than once?!