Why can't food allergies be black and white?

Okay so most of you who know me know that I like things black and white. Gray is bad. I like plans and lists and organization. God knows I like these things and has been teaching me patience over the last few years. Okay God- I get it. Peyton has a heart problem- when to treat it is a gray area but overall either your heart beats normal or it doesn't- black and white. Peyton's ability to reason is a little gray but overall she is my little rule follower- she likes things black and white. Then I got my little wild child who has no idea what rules are and neither does her body.

I have been waiting for her allergy test results and finally got them Monday. I spoke to the nurse and she said that all of her numbers had come down dramatically but to keep avoiding milk, egg, and peanut for the next year. Confusing since her milk reactions have gotten worse but okay we'll go with it. I go and pick up a copy of the results since I need to fax them to Arkansas Childrens for the research study and I like black and white so I want to see the numbers. I pick them up and the numbers look odd to me and then I notice that she is showing up positive to other foods- but not very high. What? the nurse didn't say anything to me about that. So a panicked call to Dr. Aunt Melanie followed. I then left a message for the coordinator at Childrens and then called the doctor here. Let's just say that she was no help and the little bit of nagging distrust I had for her grew to a lot. I then found Landree's test results from last year and got even more confused.

Basically when they do RAST testing they are testing the blood for antibodies built up to certain foods and that number is called IgE. Theoretically the higher the IgE number, the more allergic you are to that food. They then have a scale that they use to convert the IgE # to Classes. Classes run from 0 to 6. Zero being a negative score and 6 being a very high allergy. When I compared the two sets of IgE numbers the latest numbers had gone down a lot; however the Class numbers had gone up over last years class numbers. Huh? When I looked at the scales that determined the class level they were very different on the two reports. Melanie and I decided they must be using two different tests. Well I posted all of the info on my message board for food allergy moms last night. This morning I had several posts and sure enough there are two different tests and the allergist didn't pay attention. So her allergies to milk, egg, and peanut have actually grown- which is to be expected until she's about 3 or 4 years old. She is Class 2 to milk, Class 3 to Peanut, and Class 4 to egg. So the theory would be that since she is having such bad contact reactions to milk then she would be even worse to peanut and egg. But food allergies aren't black and white. There are children that test very low to foods and are anaphylactic and others that test very high to foods and have no reaction and are able to eat them. So we don't know how she would react to peanut and egg since she has not eaten them before.

She also tested Class 1 to Wheat, Oat, Soybean, Pork, and Lamb. She tested Class 2 to Beef. Okay all of these things with the exception of Lamb are foods that she eats on a regular basis and does not seem to have reaction to them. So that makes me think that she is having false positive results. But she does get red eyes and a runny nose a lot that we have always assumed are related to environmental allergies. So now we don't know which is which. She did have a reaction one day after eating a hamburger patty, tomato and drinking orange juice. We assumed it was the orange juice since Papaw reacts to oranges. Well she tested negative to oranges so maybe it was the beef but at this point who knows. I have left a message with the coordinator at Childrens and hope to hear from her soon. I am definately finding a new allergist here. I was so spoiled with the allergists we had in Little Rock and now I am dealing with what most parents of children with food allergies deal with. Did I say I don't like gray?

I finished our Christmas cards and sent them to be printed so be looking for them next week. If I don't post tomorrow, it will be next week before I post again since we will be leaving for Mawmaws Thursday.

My Cute Husband

For those of you who don't know- Brian, Haley, and I have been going to Weight Watchers this fall and working out. Brian is getting up at 5 o'clock almost every morning and working out at one of the gyms at USAA. He has lost 37 pounds and almost 9 inches off his waist in less than 4 months. He has gone down 3 pant sizes so far. I made him stand in front of the Christmas tree before his work party so I could get a picture of him- mainly for my mother-in-law but I thought I would share it with everyone. He doesn't like it and it doesn't do his handsome self any justice but here it is:

I made him stand at an angle so that you could see his disappearing tummy but then that made his face be at an angle. It is kind of shocking how skinny his face has gotten. He has worked so hard and I am so proud of him.

Friday night Brian went to play poker at Marcus and Haley's neighbors so the girls and I went to Haleys. Haley is the queen of all scrapbooking. She was so great at regular scrapbooking that she used to teach classes on it. Then she started digital scrapbooking and I have fallen in love with it. So I ordered the new Photoshop Elements and Friday, Haley helped me learn the basics. Landree got to be a pain to the older girls so she came down with me and Haley. Haley put on Shrek the Halls and Landree actually sat to watch it. I thought Haley and I were going to fall out when Landree started hollering, "Haaeey, haaeey," and pointing at the TV everytime a commercial came on and she wanted it fast forwarded. She has been learning from her sister.

Haley and I had the best time Friday night. I sure do miss Jessica but it was nice to realize that I was sitting with my feet curled up on someone else's couch and I felt completely comfortable. The girls and I left at 11- yes you read right- and Brian wasn't ready to leave yet. I came home and got the girls in bed and started working on my Christmas card that Haley had started for me. At 2 o'clock I realized that the digital scrapbooking obsession has gotten ahold of me. Brian came in about 3 in the morning.

Well back to the Christmas party.

Here is Haley and Marcus

Here is Leigh and Sam

Jim and Debra wouldn't take a picture and if you notice there is not one of me. My dress and I didn't photograph well and it's my blog and I choose the pictures. Brian James if you want that picture on there- get your own blog. Can you tell that has been discussed at my house this weekend? We left 7 children in the care of Linsdey, Jim and Debra's daughter who is a senior. 2- 14 year old boys, 1- 10 year old girl, 1- 9 year old girl, 1-6 year old girl, Peyton and Landree. The party was in the convention center and of course the San Antonio convention center is much larger than any I have been in and traffic downtown was a little shocking. There are 16,000 people who work for USAA and they also invite all retirees. We guess there are about 20,000 people there. We ate appetizers and dessert because we refused to stand in line for dinner. We listened to Chicago play because we couldn't even see the stage it was in another room and was so far away. We were horrible people and talked about all the fashions of other people. They ranged from blue jeans to floor length formals. We saw lots of tatas and a few girls who if they took a deep breath would have showed us their fancys and even a man in a kilt. Next year we are going to put all the kids at our house again and then go to Haleys, put Chicago on in the background and play dominoes. The party itself was boring but we had a great time just sitting and talking- did I mention that I was without children and had adult companionship for 5 hours. We got home at 11:30 and Landree and the 9 and 10 year olds were asleep but Peyton and Abby were going strong watching TV. The house was in one piece and Lindsey looked like she had survived.

We're going to Mawmaws on Thursday so I'll spend the next few days cleaning, packing and getting ready for Christmas. Oh by the way did I mention that we are less than 3 weeks from Christmas and it was 84 degrees here yesterday? I think all those cute Christmas sweaters the girls have are a thing of the past. Welcome to San Antonio.

It's all about Poooo- Part 2

Okay so a few weeks ago I told you that most of my mommy adventures centered around the bowel movements of my children. Today I get them all settled in at the table to eat lunch. WARNING- Too Much Information coming- So I then had to go to the restroom myself. Peyton hollered out that Landree was standing in her chair so I hollered back for Landree to sit. The town caller told me that she wasn't sitting so I quickly finished and went to the kitchen. I am not a man who needs reading material so we are talking less than 3 or 4 minutes here. What Peyton failed to tell me was that not only had Landree gotten out of her chair but that she had crawled across the table and was sitting on Peyton's side playing in her milk cup. Of course a few hives and some Benadryl later this situation was under control. I really do need to work on getting Peyton to soy milk- maybe I'll have the energy after Christmas.

Here are the girl's school pictures. Peyton took hers earlier in the year but wasn't looking at the camera so I signed her up for retakes. The photographers were there when I dropped her off so I got to make sure she looked this time. They then grabbed Landree up for pictures too. I would have never dressed her like she was for pictures but she sure does look cute and of course the ladies knew what they were doing because they sold two more sets of pictures.

Children's Christmas Party

USAA had their children's Christmas party and we took the girls. There was a comedy group that did a Christmas themed show and both girls really liked it. They had a special section up front for the kids and the girls sat in their seats without us. They then got goodie bags (note to USAA- even though I know she can't have them could you put the ingredients list on the prepackaged cookies) and got to meet Santa. Landree was happy to meet him and said hi to him. The happiness lasted until he reached to pick her up to sit on his lap. Tears and cries for Mommy started. So they had Santa go behind a screen and Landree sat in the chair and Santa popped back in for the picture. You'll notice that the girls are without tights. That is because it is still HOT here. 80 plus degrees does not get one in the holiday spirit.

Christmas shopping on the other hand does work its magic on the spirit. After the party we took Brian to get a new sports coat for next weeks adult Christmas party. Two kids, lunchtime, and Macys men's department 3 weeks before Christmas may not have been the best idea. Brian got to shop in the regular men's department- not the Big and Tall section. You know how supposedly women are so expensive to clothe- I got my dress for $58 dollars and bought a pair of shoes. Brian ended up with a coat, a pair of pants, a shirt, and a tie (we didn't get the purple one Peyton voted for). Luckily Haley showed up and helped get Brian and the kids out of the store. She and I then proceeded to shop. Besides the Friday after Thanksgiving, this is the only other day I have done any Christmas shopping. Brian can't decide if I have an internet shopping obsession or something for the UPS man. Last week I stayed ticked off because normally UPS just leaves everything on the front step and then I started getting notes that I had to sign for my packages. This week my normal guy is back and he is leaving them on the back deck for me. Brian says he doesn't want to know how I am getting that special service. I guess I have done about 95% of my shopping online this year. Would you want to take my two ragamuffins in the store shopping if you could sit on your fat butt in a leather chair and do it. Back to shopping. Haley and I are officially middle-age because our heels came from Easy Spirit. We have decided that shopping is great for your diet, we were so busy we forgot to eat lunch.

Drs. Appointments

The girls had their doctors appointments.

Peyton- The cardiologist spent an entire hour with us- I don't think my ob even spent that much time with me during my two c-sections. Basically she is stable in her instability. Her heart is instable but it hasn't gotten better or worse. Her heart normally beats one or two extra beats at a time. She did have a run of 3 beats this time and he said that is probably when she complains about there being a butterfly in her chest. He told me that she is so used to the extra 1 and 2 beats that if they put a normal heart in her chest she would think that was odd. Everyone has told us that this is a very common problem. Dr. Bloom agreed however he said that most people have several hundred of these a day while Peyton is having thousands upon thousands a day and they make up 10% of all of her heart beats. That is why hers are concerning. He does want us to continue to come every six months for the next few years because of the frequency of the beats. That is fine with me because I don't like going a whole year without it being checked on. He will continue to do the holter monitor, ekg, and the echo to make sure her heart is still functioning properly. As of right now no need for treatment. If she has this into adulthood or it gets worse- then we would look at treating it. Pray that band in her heart stays the same or gets better.

Landree saw the allergist- no big news there. We are waiting for her bloodwork now to check the levels of the allergens. My big girl did not even cry while they took two tubes of blood from her. Her big sister on the other hand freaked out and kept saying she couldn't look- I kept telling her to turn around then. Of course nosiness got the better of her and she had to look. The allergist did confirm our suspicions that if she is reacting to contact with milk as badly as she is then she would probably go into anaphylactic shock if she drank some. After Christmas I am going to try getting Peyton on soy just to reduce my stress level.

Landree talking

Today has been a big talking day for Landree. Her new favorite thing is to say is come on. Of course her version is a little different, now you here, "Mawn, Peypey, Mawn Mama, Mawn Buddy," everytime we go from room to room. This morning she was on the phone with Nana and she asked Landree how she was doing and Landree actually said, "Good." It was very exciting. If you call her name she now responds with, "Huh." Of course my immediate response is Mam because I am so used to correcting Peyton and Landree just gives me a blank look.
If you ask Landree where her shoe is she will go get a shoe but she has been calling all shoes- foots for many months now. Yesterday she started calling them feets. Today I picked her up and her shoe fell off and she said, "Oh, my feets, oh my feets." I laughed so hard. It was very cute and her first 3 word combo.

The girls are still in Landree's bed together at night. I think it is really bonding them. Yesterday morning and this morning I have spent 10 minutes listening to them through the monitor talking and playing together before I have gone in there. I have heard Peyton telling Landree that she is the best baby sister in the world and yesterday she was telling her, "Your my baby sister, mine, mine, mine, no one elses, just mine." Anytime Peyton is crying for any reason Landree immediately goes to her and hugs her and pats her back. Today Peyton was sitting in my chair next to me and I was reading her a story. Landree crawls up and sits in Peyton's lap, sticks her thumb in her mouth and listens to the rest of the story. Very precious and I knew I couldn't get a picture of it.
I was really looking forward to staying home to spend time with the girls. I never thought about how much closer they were going to be as sisters. It is so neat because I feel like I am getting to watch Melon and I grow up all over again. The only difference is my rule follower is the oldest and my Wild Child is the youngest.

You know life is a little different when you spend a car ride discussing EKG's and heart ultrasounds with a 4 year old. Of course Peyton's version is, "Mama when I go to the doctor tomorrow am I going to get a shot?" No, Peyton, "Are they going to make me lay down and put the sticker wires on my chest (EKG) and are they going to put that wand with that blue stuff on it and take video of my heart (ultrasound)?" I don't know Peyton. "If they take video you should put it on your webpage so my grandparents can see my heart like my turkey tango." We'll see Peyton. "Oooh Mama, suddenly I just saw Landree's pink shoes we were looking for in the back of the car. They have been hiding there from us all day." It's never a dull moment around here. I'll update tomorrow on how her cardiology appointment goes.

Thanksgiving Weekend Wrapup

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We went to church and Brian was baptized. It was really nice and we all went up to the font together. Landree started hollering for a snack about half way through and kept losing a shoe. Pastor Barz let Peyton hold the lit baptismal candle which of course Landree wanted. After the baptism, Pastor Barz announced that he was including a song about Baptism that was not normally part of the service but that our daughter Peyton sings this song at Preschool and he thought she would enjoy it. So he played guitar while we sang the song. Peyton was beaming and sang every word. Afterwards we took pictures (I forgot our camera so Mr. Fitz who works at the church took pictures for us and I'll post them as soon as he gets them to me). We went to our friends, The McDonalds who are from Little Rock and ate lunch with their family. We were lazy all day and had a great time. Landree passed out before we even got out of their neighborhood and we put her to bed as soon as we got home.
Brian stayed home with the girls while I went shopping. I started at Target and made it to Office Max, Walgreens, Best Buy, and the post office and was home at 8:30. It was so not the same without my sister or mother in law. Brian was getting Landree out of her bed when I got there. She was very upset and shaking. We think she may have been dehydrated, she drank 2 cups of water the first 15 minutes she was awake. She stayed in Brian's lap most of the day and even took a nap on him. You know that so hurt his feelings. We suffered through the LSU game and Brian was cranky the rest of the day. We cleaned some on Saturday and caught up on some of our DVR shows.
Today we went to early church and came home and finished our cleaning and worked on laundry. It is amazing how messy a house can get when you don't clean for 3-4 days. We then started working on our Christmas decorations. Peyton helped me with the ornaments. Landree helped herself to the ones she liked and keeps taking them off the tree. I'm wondering if she is doing it just to annoy her sister. I put out my Little People Christmas sets. One is the nativity scene and I have two Christmas villages. The girls love them and it was very exciting when Peyton saw baby Jesus in isolation and immediately knew who it was. Landree has been walking around carrying baby Jesus and Joseph and kissing them. I am so glad I got them on clearance last year. Yes Grandma, we put together the Advent tree and Peyton is anxiously waiting for the first to get here.
Peyton is excited that it is her snack week at school. She is supposed to have a cardiology appointment this week depending on whether they have her holter monitor results. Landree has an allergist appointment this week also. I am anxious to get her new testing results. I think we are going to get Landree's first haircut on Saturday. Her hair is so scraggly. Peyton oh so spoiled me with her head full of hair. We are supposed to go to the USAA kid's Christmas Party and the ladies and I are going to go shopping for clothes for the adult Christmas party for the next weekend. I can't seem to get a good picture for my Christmas card. Oh the holiday whirlwind has started.

It's all about the Pooo

Why do most of my craziest days as a mom seem to be about pooo. So Landree woke up from her nap with diarrhea, okay this can be a reaction to the mm or it could be a bug. No problems for the rest of the night so no big deal- until 3:00AM. She woke up screaming and of course the smell hit me as soon I opened the door. I tried to change her and she was covered in diarrhea. She was screaming because it hurt and she wouldn't let me clean her up. So at 3:00 in the morning she was getting a bath and at 3:30 she was ready to play. She finally got sleepy at about 6 that morning. Luckily Peyton slept until about 8 so we got some sleep. No rest for the weary, I had to start my Thanksgiving cooking. Peyton and Landree were running around like banshees and then I heard, "Mama, Landree pulled her diaper off." Next thing I heard, "Mama, Landree pooped on the floor," and yes there was a big spot of diarrhea on the carpet behind my chair. She had hidden to go so she knew what she was doing was wrong. I then chased Landree down, I hadn't used my nice Mommy voice so both girls were crying. When I caught Landree I noticed she had red spots all over her bottom and back where the diaper was touching her. So she is allergic to the Huggies Pullups I bought at Target probably while she was eating the mm. Then the alarm starts beeping like a door has opened so of course my naked daughter goes running to the front door hollering for her Daddy. The alarm keeps beeping so then Buddy goes beserk and Landree starts crying for Brian and then my timer for the oven and for the stove top both go off at the same time. Calgon take me away. It seems like most mini-disasters revolve around one of my daughters pooo.

Landree's latest food allergy escapade

On Tuesday I ran by Target to get a few things before Thanksgiving and we found shoes that Landree and Peyton loved but they only had Landree's size. So on the way home we ran into another Target (I have 4 within 10 miles of us) to see if they had her size- they didn't. Of course we found a few other things we needed and went to check out and then I saw red on Landree's face. She had a peanut M-M in her mouth but hadn't gotten through the shell yet. Of all the kids to find a loose one- it would be my Wild Child and unlike her sister she would never think to ask before she put it in her mouth. I got her to the car and dosed her up with benadryl. I do love those new perfect measure dosers. We got home and I let Peyton sleep with her to watch her for me. Who knew trying to buy a pair of shoes would end so crazy.

Bed Partners

Landree has a new bed partner. Peyton wanted Landree to sleep with her so we tried it- it didn't work. Peyton asked if she could sleep with Landree. Okay no school the next day so we will try it. Shockingly it worked. Here is the proof. Notice the sleep mask, she doesn't think she can sleep without it.
Could they get any cuter?


A week later and Peyton is still in the crib with Landree. It was this time 2 years ago we evicted her and now she's back in it. They tried to sleep together at nap time but they just played and giggled. We haven't decided how long this will go on but we'll just have to see. This was another night and they cracked me up by switching ends.

Did you know a Turkey can Tango?

At Peyton's Thanksgiving Feast I learned that a Turkey can Tango. Peyton's class did the Turkey Tango and the Turkey Pokey, You put your left wing in and shake it all about, you do the Turkey Pokey and you turn yourself around that's what its all about- Gobble, Gobble. Both of these songs are now permanently stuck in my head.

This is a little clip of her performance. Their main teacher was out of town and I think they were a little nervous. Their teacher's assistant had to step in and help them. The ending is my favorite.

Here is my little Pilgrim.

After their performance they had their Thanksgiving Feast. This is Peyton and her friend Jaden.

Their centerpieces were Apple Turkeys they made and their teacher made turkeys out of Oreos and candy.

She is a two fisted eater.

She had a great time and then they played outside.

Surely no one expected her to pose normal did they?

She kept losing her sunglasses and would holler for her friend Lily to bring them to her. Lily would stop what she was doing and run over to give her glasses to her. Her teenage years will be interesting.

No More Fussing

Okay, okay I have heard the fussing about not seeing any Disney World Pics. I am waiting to get my CD from Disney of the pics we took while we were there. I will start my day to day blog of our trip when I get it in.

!!!!!!Yeah Announcement!!!!!! Our Weight Watchers Buddy, Haley received her 10% loss award Tuesday night!!!!!!. Brian is very close to his, he has lost 28 pounds so I joke with him that he has lost a Landree. I have lost a little over 15 so it's going slow and steady. Whooohooo Haley!

Mystery Hives solved- Last week Landree got a round of mysterday hives. Despite the frantic little call to Melon I stayed calm and prayed that she had just found something she was allergic to and ate it when I didn't notice instead of the alternative that she was allergic to something new. The next day another round of mystery hives. I tried to make a few calls to talk to a family member but of course they were all busy at work and couldn't answer- how dare them. I then figured them out. Peyton had a dried milk mustache and had kissed Landree's cheek when we were doing Landree Kissing Sandwiches. So now I have to wipe Peyton's face off after she drinks milk.

Yesterday was a busy day for us. Peyton needed to go to the cardiology office to get her Holter Monitor. We are seeing a great pediatric cardiologist here in San Antonio. Everyone knows I was worried to leave Children's because they are known worldwide for their cardiology department and it certainly didn't help when the first week I was here there was a news report of a child being sent there for treatment. Well God blessed me when we received several recommendations for Dr. Bloom. We have seen 3 other pediatric cardiologists and he is the first one to actually explain what is happening in her heart complete with drawing pictures and he is just wonderful. He told us to come back in 12 months but then he called with the results of the holter, yes you read right, he called himself, and told us to come back in 6 months because they were happening a little more often then he liked. A little bit of a downer because it means she a little worse than we thought but still good because she's still okay enough to not be seen for 6 months. His office is in the medical center which is about 25 minutes from here and a butt load of congestion when you get there. On Wednesdays he is in an office over on our end of town. Peyton was supposed to get her holter there yesterday and then two weeks from now go for her appointment. They called and asked if we could come down to the Medical center or reschedule so off to the medical center we go. Two turn arounds and 1 phone call later I finally found it. Peyton was such a big girl. I think this was her 7th or 8th holter to wear and in the beginning she cried when she got them, then she started being okay just a little nervous and whiny. Yesterday she was even laughing saying the alcohol tickled. $475 later (thank goodness for insurance) we were leaving. I kept a surprise from Peyton and finally told her that we were going to eat with Daddy at work, it's only about 5 minutes from the doctor's office. At first she was very excited but then got nervous about going there with her monitor on. She got over it and we went and had a great lunch with Brian and some friends. Thank goodness for the Subway there, a non drama lunch out for Landree. We left there with just enough time to get to Peyton's school if I hadn't had to stop for gas, $84.75 later, (trading in for a mini-van is sounding even more appealing) we made it to school about 5 minutes late. Gave the rundown on her holter with her teachers, luckily one of them had worn one before, and found out the 15 apples I needed to buy for their thanksgiving feast were going to be for centerpieces.

Landree and I ran to the store and of course I then had to sit there and pick out perfect apples. I didn't want a kid to have a bruised centerpiece to take home. Landree is hollering because she wants an apple and I am having to pick out 18 perfect ones- a few extra for mistakes. We did find that they now carry snack packs of Strawberry, plain, and chocolate marshmallows that Landree can eat, pure sugar but hey a quick snack that is safe for her is worth a little sugar. We got home for an hour and 15 minute nap for Landree and then headed back out.

We went and picked up Kacy and Abby at daycare- I so love those kids. We went and got Peyton and then went to change for gymnastics. Peyton decided she was too worried about her holter so she chose not to do gymnastics. So Peyton, Landree, and I got to watch Kacy and Abby. It was very neat to watch Kacy go all the way to the top of the rope without knots. I then audibly gasped when she was jumping off a bouncer onto an elevated mat while doing a flip and she didn't use her hands and her head was coming off the mat- I know I didn't paint a good visual but let's just say she scared the crap out of me and her coach. Later she was doing crunches and it was hillarious to watch those skinny little legs flying around when she was trying to get up. Abby is always great to watch. Perfection she is not but pure determination and all out she is.

I then took all four girls to Alamo Cafe to meet up with the families and Louise and Ann who used to work for Brian and who are here on business. Alamo Cafe has the best tortillas ever and they are safe for Landree so we love going there. Brian's last basketball game of the season was supposed to be at 8 and he wanted us to come. So we loaded up and went to USAA for the second time yesterday. Over the evening the temperature had started dropping and we really weren't dressed for the dramatic change in weather because I didn't know Brian wanted us to come to the game. I had Landree's jacket in the car and Peyton used Brian's dress shirt. Gerald's wife Kentonia came and my girls love her. So we sat together huddled up in Brian's shirt, the wind was unbelievable. The previous game ran into overtime so Brian's didn't start until late. Landree started fussing and I decided it was probably time for us to go and of course Peyton was begging to stay. I looked at Kent and told her that my mother in law would die if she knew I had her grandchildren out at that time of night without proper clothes on. Landree ended up finding my phone and was happy as a clam the rest of the night. Brian's team lost by 2 points and we called it a night. We made it home at 9:40 last night and got the girls in bed. I had been holding onto some sleeper pajamas for Peyton that I had gotten on clearance earlier this year. They worked out great because they completely covered up her wires and the monitor was able to fit underneath them. I also knew that for the 3-4 hours she would have to wear it this morning I would let her stay in her pajamas so Landree wouldn't see it and mess with her. So we are having pajama day.

Peyton woke up cranky this morning from getting to bed so late and she was tired of the monitor. Here is a picture of her before I took it off of her. Tomorrow she has her Thanksgiving feast at school so look forward to pictures of that. Landree is currently walking around in footed pajamas and snow white dress up shoes. One day when she is on Oprah or in People magazine I am going to say it all started here with this picture (the crazy hair was from wearing pigtails the day before). She absolutely loves my high heel shoes, she only picks out high heels out of my closet. Here are her and Peyton on the pillows that Grandma made them. They stay in the playroom but they drag them into the family room to watch TV. We do get tickled at Landree because when she wears her shoes or Peyton's shoes she puts them on the wrong foot every single time. If she was just doing it by chance statistically she would get them right at some point but for some reason she likes them wrong better. I am refusing to leave the house today so hopefully I can get caught up on my laundry- yuck!

We're still alive

Okay so I know it has been awhile since I have updated. I was busy the week before Disney World so I didn't update then and of course I didn't even think about it during our wonderful week there and then I was so busy unpacking this week that I didn't even worry about it. For those of you who know me you might not believe it but I didn't even turn my computer on until Thursday.

We had a wonderful time in Disney and I think I will try to do a day by day blog on our trip so look forward to that. We got back Monday night and we were glad to be home. Tuesday I woke up on a mission. By the time Brian got home I had all six of our suitcases unpacked and half of my laundry done. We went to Weight Watchers to see how much we enjoyed our trip. I wasn't bad and had gained a pound and a half. Brian was a little worse but I think that it was more from lack of water because it is falling off of him this week. Wednesday morning I finished up the laundry and got the girls ready and took "Violet Incredible" to school. Landree and I came home and she took a short nap. I took her to KidsKare and went to Peyton's Costume party at school. She had a great time. They started off with ice cream and worm dirt.

The meeting of the superheroes.

They played musical tombstones and Peyton gets mad at me every time I say that and keeps telling me that it was musical chairs.

Class picture outside. I get tickled when I look at her room because it is very multicultural. When they were released from the party she went straight to the playhouse with Lily and Garrett. I think they have done this before.

Not much here but her picking up gravel but I love the look on her face.

We went and picked up Kacy and Abby and went to gymnastics where the girls got very personal attention because half the people weren't there. We left there and picked up Landree and made it home to change for Halloween. Here is Baby Loulou.

She wasn't in the best of humor for some reason. Here is Mr. Incredible showing his great strength. We had the girls ready a little after six and realized that we hadn't seen any other trick or treaters yet. Being new to the area we really didn't know what time they would all come out. Peyton was very impatient and kept look out, Landree was looking too. Who knows what she was looking for.

We finally saw another neighbor and the girls were off with Brian.

I stayed home and gave out candy to about 40 trick or treaters. Brian ended up meeting up with Trey and Scott who live in the two houses on the right of us. They were assigned to take their kids out too while their wives were handing out candy. Brian said that Landree trick or treated a few houses and then was happy to sit in the wagon with a sucker and let Peyton do all the work. We finally got the girls home and in bed. I went through and made three piles of candy: Candy Landree could have, could not have, and what I wasn't sure about. There was actually a really good pile of candy she could have so I was excited. Brian and I then ate out of the chocolate and peanut filled stack of candy she couldn't have and then cleaned up.

On the way to school Friday my transmission made a horrible noise and I lost the top gears in my suburban. I limped it to school and lucky ran into Pastor Barz who gave me the name of a mechanic. I got it to the shop and found out that the transmission needed to be rebuilt. When I get it back on Monday I am going to put a big red bow on it because it is mine and Brian's Christmas gift.

Saturday, Pastor Barz came to our house to make up our bible study we missed. We discovered that Landree loves red beans and rice. I had beans and sausage in the crockpot all day. She ate two bowls. We then agonized over the LSU game. We went to early church today. No one was in the nursery so Landree came to church with us. Needless to say it was hard work to keep her occupied during the service. Luckily I had lots of snacks with us and stickers in my purse. We made it through and had a lazy afternoon at home.

SUPERSTAR

We have a superstar in the house. Peyton is the superstar for her class this week. We had to make a poster to take to put up in the classroom. I struggled with trying to figure out how much I should do and how much she should do. I think we came up with a happy medium. She wrote her name and I typed out all of the information she wanted and put pictures on them so that when she presented her poster she wouldn't need anyone to read it for her. She cut out her squares and then we glued them to the colored paper and then to the posterboard. She is very proud of it. Nothing on the poster surprised us except that when she grows up she wants to be a nurse and a weather girl. Huh?

Every Tuesday night Brian, Haley and I go to Weight Watchers and Marcus watches all four girls. I stop by and pick up kid's meals somewhere for the kids. Last night we went to Jack in the Box and they put the meals in buckets. We are so excited. Every school day, Landree gets upset that Peyton has a bucket and she doesn't. Problem solved, she had a bucket to take to school today.

Now surely no one expected Landree to only carry it.

We have our Halloween costumes ready. When we are at Disney World we will be going to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. Peyton is going to be Violet from the Incredibles and Brian and I are going to wear Incredible T-shirts. For actual Halloween Landree will be Baby JackJack from the Incredibles but we are calling her Baby LouLou. We tried the costume on her and she loved it. She then decided to help me make the pizzas for dinner. As you can see she has discovered all the great uses for stools in the house.

Dr. Nana and Nurse Peyton

I know it has been a week since I have updated my blog. It was a busy week. Brian has worked 16-18 hour days this week and even had to go in after church today. The girls went to the dentist and I was really impressed with her. Only in Texas would you go to the dentist and sit on a saddle to have your blood pressure taken. Moma has a meeting in Austin tomorrow so she has spent the weekend with us. We had 3 couples over last night for an LSU-Florida watch party. Brian had the family room decorated with everything in the house that had LSU on it. One of the couples graduated from Florida so needless to say it was a nail-biter.


While I was mopping the floor on Friday, I stepped on something. I looked and couldn't find anything so I went back to mopping and forgot about it. This morning my foot started hurting. By lunch time it was really hurting so I asked Moma to take a look. After digging around, she couldn't find anything but she did have a great helper.

Peyton was worried that Nana was going to hurt me and she would hold the light and then close her eyes and look away. Her nosiness would get the best of her and she would have to look again. I am walking around on the outside of my foot and if it is not better tomorrow I guess I will have to go to the doctor because 2 weeks from today we will be in Disney World and I am not having a bad foot at Disney World.

NEWS ALERT- Landree finally said please, well it was fee- close enough and I'll take it.

I got a wild hair to make Peyton some Disney clothes and didn't know how I was going to get it done. It was perfect then that Nana was coming. Here is a shirt we made, I cut and wonder undered everything to the shirt and she sewed them.

Nana's Birthday is on Tuesday so we surprised her with a cake. The Happy Birthday letters are candles (didn't think to take a picture before we lit them) and Peyton wrote Nana.


Tomorrow, Kacy and Abby are coming to spend the day with us and Peyton is so excited. I hope that will help her when Nana leaves. Last time she was distraught when Nana left.

Weekend

We were supposed to have a nice quiet weekend at home this week. Our friends were going out of town so we offered to watch their dogs. Sophie came over Thursday night, no problems. Landree loves her and calls her Fifi. On Friday, we got Tucker the 8 week old Lab puppy. I have now renamed him Tucker the Terrible. This dog beats all I have ever seen. He was here almost 6 hours before he fell asleep. What 8 week puppy stays up this much. He pees like nobodys business. He was confined to the kitchen for an hour and peed three times and pooed once. Are you serious! Well it was going to be okay because between Brian and I we should be able to handle it.

Then Brian got a call to go dove hunting Saturday morning with Jim. Okay, so now I have 2 kids and 3 dogs by myself Saturday morning. I cheated and gave the girls bags of Cheerios and cups of milk for breakfast and let them watch TV. That was all fine and good until Tucker stole Landree's bag of Cheerios- twice. Here are the little darlings cleaning it up. I then put Tucker in the kitchen and put up the baby gate. Next thing you know, I hear Landree screaming. She stuck her hand through the baby gate and couldn't get it out and Tucker was chewing on it with those sharp little baby teeth. Crisis was solved and everyone was happy until Tucker got her baby doll. The girls do like loving on him when he cooperates.

Brian finally got home a little after 11:30 and we all ate lunch. Work then called at 2:30 and he stayed on the phone until about 5:30 when he came down and said he was off the call and I thought wonderful, it's your turn to manage the zoo. Next thing he says, "I have to go in to work." Well great! He didn't get home until 3:30 this morning so of course now he has to sleep late so I get the zoo again. This time I put everybody at the table for breakfast so Tucker can't get it. Well now he likes chewing on Peyton and Landree's feet. I throw him outside and I'm sure my neighbors loved listening to him howl like a banshee. Buddy is so stinkin' tired he is sometimes going upstairs and getting in his kennel. Brian was afraid the girls would want a puppy after all of this- over my cold dead body.

Here are the three angels:

Peyton's Field Trip

Don't know why this didn't post on Friday. It was in my list of drafts but never posted for some reason.


Today Peyton had her first field trip of the year. A city bus is coming to school and Peyton's class is going to get on the bus, watch a video, and then take a drive around the neighborhood. Parents and siblings were welcome. Peyton quickly informed me she didn't want me to go. She told me she was a big girl and that she didn't need me. I told her that Landree might want to ride and Peyton said that was fine, she could sit next to her and hold her hand. I told her that Landree couldn't ride without me and she told me that she guessed Landree wasn't riding. I decided to let her have control today, it really isn't that big of a field trip. However, she was informed that I would be going on the rest of her field trips and she agreed. If this is four, what will fourteen be like. Needless to say she had a great time and was a little upset that they didn't wear seatbelts

We pulled out the aquadoodle today and the girls loved it but there was a space issue. Landree only wanted to draw on the same space Peyton was drawing on or had already drawn on. Peyton informed me that I needed to put an aquadoodle on Landree's christmas list because she needed her own. This is probably the only time that played well together on it.

Landree's First ER Trip

We had a really great weekend. My mom came in on Friday night and we let Peyton stay up to see her. We were all happy when Landree remembered Nana and called her by name Saturday morning. We did some shopping on Saturday and Brian fixed ribs. Sunday, Mom and I went shopping and I decided I don't need to go to Nordstroms again once I saw a little black dress for $1145.00. We went to a meeting at the Church we are thinking about joining and the girls stayed with Nana. Mom and Peyton made Baked Alaska. I know, she's only 4 but they saw it on Paula's Party and Nana thought she would love it. She was right and she did but then she said she didn't like the coverup they put on it (meringue). Mom and I talked about how different Peyton and Landree were and that we saw Landree having lots of accidents in her future. Well we shouldn't have said it.

This morning Landree wanted on our bed and Peyton decided to help her up. I was in the bathroom and heard a huge bonk and did what all parents do, pause and wait for the sound and it came, the scream. Before I could get to her I hear Peyton say, I'm so sorry Mama, there's blood on her face. Landree had a cut on her eyebrow and had blood streaming down her face. I tried to clean her up but couldn't get the blood to stop. I tried to take a picture with my camera phone to get Dr. Aunt Melanie's opinion. I even measured it with a ruler. The pediatrician's office recommended she come in but then didn't have any openings and told me to go to the ER. So I called Peyton's school and they told me that I could bring her early for lunch bunch. I got everyone dressed and into the car, ran by McDonalds, got Peyton to school and made it to the ER. I was surprised when we got there and they had a separate ER waiting room and section for children. We got back after about 15 minutes. The nurse cleaned her up and the doctor came in and decided that glue would work best since we would have to sedate her for stitches. They irrigated it with betadine and saline- she wasn't impressed at all. The nurse put fingers on either side and stretched it until it was closed and the doctor put the glue on it and held it for 45 seconds and we were done. They had us wait five minutes and then said we could go. I put Landree down so I could get our things and she headed straight for the door and didn't want me to pick her up. She grabbed her bunny and away we went. She held her bunny with one hand and my hand with the other and we walked all the way to the parking garage. What a big girl. We were in and out of there in 1 hour 15 minutes. I was shocked how quickly it went and was really impressed with the setup they had. It was definately a better experience than when Peyton had stitches at about the same age. Landree acts like it doesn't bother her much and played this evening. When she sucks her thumb, she uses the other fingers to pick at it some. Here are some pictures of her. Bless her heart, Peyton keeps telling me how sorry she is.

Gymnastics

Well the much awaited second gymnastics class was today. Peyton told me she was a little bit nervous and she wanted to take Coach Vlady something. We agreed on an apple and she was ready when I picked her up from school. She ran in the gym and Coach Vlady immediately said, "Hi, Peyton." I thought oh crap he remembers her. She gave him the apple and he made a huge deal about it. I walked up to the observation deck and got Landree and I settled. And people, you would never known there was a problem. She did everything she was supposed to do. Oh thank goodness. I was able to sit with the other moms and chat and it was wonderful. She came out of that gym in a sweat. By the way, that gym smells like a big ol' dirty dog ooohhweeeh it stinks. So we have had a successful day!

Brian

Well, Brian had his long awaited appointment for his sleep study yesterday. He ended up leaving the office with a machine before he ever did the sleep study. You know when you look in someone's throat you can normally see that little hangy thing in the back (uvula something like that)? Well you can't see Brians because his airway is so small. So the doctor said he didn't even need the sleep study results, he knew that Brian needed one now. So we'll see which is easier for me, being lulled to sleep by snoring or the hum of a machine. He even has a chin strap for it. For the right incentive, I could even be persuaded to take a picture.

The three of us went to Weight Watchers last night. Instead of AA, fat people have to go to WW, maybe we'll get someone to take our picture on the way out so we can be like celebrities being chased down by the papparazzi. So far we've all lost, of course Brian being the most. We tried a different leader last night. Oh my goodness, that had to have been the loudest woman I have ever met in my life. I think Haley developed a tick. We did like her after we got a little acclimated and she meets the requirements of being a former fat ass but Haley and I decided we would need valium before we went in every week. I'm sure her people loose weight or you would be too scared to go back in there.

So Brian had to wake up on his birthday at the sleep clinic. Peyton was ticked. She threw open my door this morning and immediately was upset over her daddy not being there because she wanted to wish him Happy Birthday. I couldn't believe she woke up remembering. We went to lunch with Brian and people from work. Jeff set it up at Rudys BBQ known for having the worst BBQ in Texas- I'm not kidding thats their motto. It was good but still not BareBones and the girls had a great time getting lots of attention. We gave him his present of pictures of the girls. Last week, I took the girls and got their pictures taken- that is 2 1/2 hours I will never get back. No more picture surprises because that is a two-person job. Peyton and I baked him cupcakes this afternoon with Scooby Doo heads on them (Peyton picked of course). News Bulletin- Landree can have Duncan Hines Devils Food Cake mixed with a diet soda and their frosting- Whoohooo! It's Brian's birthday but I know my audience and I'm pretty sure they would want to see pictures of one of the girls. So here is Landree eating her first chocolate cupcake.

As you can tell she needed a bath after the cupcake.

For those of you that have been following the saga- hopefully I will have good news after gymnastics tomorrow afternoon. Please pray for Peyton to have the strength to get over her stubbornness and for me not to beat her if she doesn't.