Easter School Party

Peek-a-boo!  How cute are these little boys peeking from behind the pew?!

 Each child brought one flower to make a Living Cross.  Taffe had picked out his red tulip a few days ago in the garden... he loved it! So when it came time to give it up, his eyes welled up with tears and he said, "I want to get outta here!" Crisis adverted since I cut an extra white tulip.

The Living Cross

 After chapel, it was an Easter Egg Hunt!  Wow, this is a fun year!  He is way faster than last year!

Charlie's RED party!

Happy 3rd birthday to our nephew Charlie!  What a party he planned!  Charlie wanted everything red and even requested specific red things like watermelon and strawberries to be served. Everyone wore red, and enjoyed red themed food and toys.

 Kingston was in absolute heaven.  Red balls, and Grandma to play ball with?  Perfect!

Cherry Blossoms

Friends in Low Places

Quite literally... Britta is not afraid to get down and low on the floor with Kingston!  Since Kingston continues to be an All-Star Scooter, we had to call in the big guns.  Britta is not only a great friend, but a fantastic Physical Therapist.  Yes, you may be extremely jealous that I have a PT who makes house calls.  She makes Kingston work longer and harder than I ever seem to, and we always see big progress after her sessions.  

(And yes... Kingston is wearing his work-out gear: JETS, JETS JETS!)

Toes

I can chew my own toes!

thankful

Kingston and his Food Donations

Our boys have always asked for donations instead of birthday gifts, as we are just so grateful for all that we have.  One of my friends asked me, "The boys (Taffe) are okay with this?"  Well, yes!  Mostly because the aunties, cousins, and grandparents do enough spoiling...and they don't know any different.

This year, Kingston donated to Food For Others, which is an extremely impressive food bank in Fairfax County.  I took both boys with me, as I really wanted Taffe to understand.  I told Taffe how some people have no money, and they can't buy food.  Response, "We should give them some money."  Yes, true Taffe... how about some food too. :)

Goldilocks and My Little Piggy

Oh boy. Food is just an issue over here.  I finally got Taffe to start eating real food this fall... it was awesome! Fish, chicken, broccoli, carrots... he was finally a normal person!

 Maybe because I have been distracted with Kingston lately, Taffe has become Goldilocks. 

"It's too hot!"

3 minutes later.

"It's too cold!"

or... "It's too crunchy!!" when usually, I hear, "I don't like it!  It's too chewy!"

And wouldn't you know, Kingston will eat ANYTHING, but can't. My little piggy loves food, and is so limited right now, as we sort out all of these food allergies.

One meal both boys LOVE is fish!  I fry it up, and they both love tilapia.  Until last night, when Kingston had an allergic reaction. It was a mild, but unusual reaction, as he developed some blisters on spots he normally gets eczema.

Of course, after conferring with the doc last night, no fish for K until further testing. 

This morning, I looked at my canola oil : Processed in the same facility as peanut oil.  

Lesson learned. 

Taffe is very concerned about his brother.  When Kingston was having his reaction, Taffe said "I think he wants avocado." Taffe understands "that makes Kingston itchy. And when he gets itchy we take Kingston to the doctor sometimes." It's nice that Kingston has a big bro who can look out for him.  I need that second pair of eyes!

Looking out for lil brother

We just purchased some books about food allergies, including, Allie the Allergic Elephant to help Taffe better understand Kingston's food allergies. We all have a lot to learn!

Happy 1st Kingston!

Our baby is 1 year old!  He shocked us at birth with his wight of 7lbs 15 oz, and has provided us with so much joy in the past year.  He loves his brother, and instantly smiles when he hears Daddy come home... but he is a mama's boy (finally, one boy for me!)

 Kingston is one of the happiest, sweetest babies, with a super mellow personality.  He is a skilled ball player who can kick, bounce, catch and chase balls. So for our baller, we had a ball-themed birthday with some close friends and family. 

I am one years old!

Ball Pit!
Instantly turned our house into Chuck E. Cheese.

Brothers!

Kingston's 1st year timeline

Check out my cool birthday hat!

What is this delciousness???

Yummy, but I don't like the sticky feeling!!!

 Kingston received a few sets of wheels for his birthday...a kid can never have too many!

  Here is his new car buggy from G & G!

Happy Birthday to our Kingston. We love you!

(This picture will definitely be enlarged and framed.
It totally depicts how life is around here!)

Kingston's New Challenge

I thought K's biggest challenge was going to be how his low-key, relaxed demeanor has caused him to be a little slower on the movement.  Scooting, not crawling, that is his style and is perfectly happy! However receiving some PT from dear friend Britta makes him move better every day!

Our big challenge is his food allergies.  We have known about his egg allergy since he had an acute reaction at 8 months. It was awful, and I think we were praying he would grow out of it, and that would be it.

Not the case. Turns out, all of our "issues" are interconnected: excezma, itchiness, sleeplessness at night... all related to his multiple allergies.  Yep, multiple.  I became so frustrated with the latest sleepless nights (we are talking hours of being awake for weeks at a time), and it just didn't seem like "just teething" was the answer, so off we went to the doctor.  I insisted we do the blood test, and anxiously waited for the results over the last weekend.  The initial testing show a LOT of allergies and I went into a panic and bought everything possible at Whole Foods that was wheat-egg-dairy-soy-beef-nut-peanut free.   I came home with things like "oat milk" and "rice flour."  Who knows, what I would do with these items, but I sure bought them.

After what seemed like forever, we had our pediatric allergist appointment today which was just a lot to take in.  We were able to narrow down some specifics through a case history and a 12 prick skin test.  Kingston, was amazing during the initial blood test and the pricks.  It actually made me sad how unfazed he was by it all, as it shows just how uncomfortable and itchy he constantly feels.

What we learned: Kingston has allergies to peanuts, tree nuts, eggs and beef (yes, even the doc said beef was way random!)

Nut and peanut allergies tend to be lifelong. Epi-pen will be carried at all times.

Beans, peas, and lentils are legumes, like peanuts. Right.  So a kid with a peanut allergy is likely to have allergies to other legumes.  Legumes are a staple and daily occurrence in K's diet. Sigh, his favorite foods may be the biggest offenders.

Our household is going to go through a change as we all learn how to make our house a safe and worry free one for Kingston. Wouldn't you know, he fell in love with the nurse at the office, which makes me think he knew we were finally somewhere that could make him feel better!