4th of July, on the 20th

Yes, I'm just now getting 4th of July pics posted! I guess I've fallen behind on my blogging. Work has been really crazy lately and I get home and play with Isabella and then crash! We're going to the beach in 2 weeks and I an excited to see how Isabella likes the sand and water. She definately likes the pool so hopefully she'll like the ocean too. She continues to say "dada" very clearly and when I say "Mama" she just grins and goes on saying "dada, dada". Traitor! She still won't crawl. She prefers to lay on the ground and roll to where she wants to go. I guess being ambulatory is all that count's! When we get back from the beach I'll post some more pics! Until then, enjoy!!

Mothers day

What a wonderful Mothers Day! We started the day with Isabella's dedication at church and ended it at Jim N Nicks. Can it get any better? Dedication got off without any problems. I think every Mama in there was wondering if their child would be the one who would act out in front of the entire church. Isabella sat in my arms and kicked her feet like a little River Dancer and only fussed once for about a second. This was the best Mothers Day I could have ever asked for!

Cereal!!

After yesterdays ordeal we needed some fun. Since we knew Isabella wasn't allergic to rice we decided to give her some cereal. She ate the whole bowl but seemed to like the spoon the most!!

It's a gluten free life

Today Isabella went to the allergy doctor. The actual tests themselves weren't as bad as I thought they would be. She was so into watching what was going on around her (mostly SpongeBob on the TV) that she didn't even flinch! After 13 different scrapes my worst fears were confirmed. She is allergic to milk, eggs, wheat and peanuts. He told us that hopefully she will grow out of the milk and egg allergy by the time she is 5 but the peanut allergy is probably for life. He gave us some other prescriptions for her skin to help with her esczema and one for an epi pen. The though of actually having to use the epi pen has me terrified! The questions keep replaying in my head...Where did this come from? How could I have prevented this? Why does my baby have to go thru this?

Fortunately we have some answers and hopefully won't have any suprises when it come to her diet. She'll have continued visits over the next few years to monitor for any new allergies. One of the things we have to keep an eye out for now are signs of asthma. Apparently children with food allergies are more likely to develop asthma.

Knowledge is power and now we know what was causing her problems. We will continue to pray that God will heal her of these allergies and keep researching so that she can have a normal life gluten free.

We have a tooth!!

We have a tooth!!! Actually now a second one has broken skin. The first one started breaking the skin last week and is almost completely in! They're both on the bottom. Isabella has been relentless on her fingers and today while she was chewing on them she cried like she bit too hard and it hurt. Now she has little sharp things instead of nice soft gums.

On a skin note: Thank you Jesus for hearing our prayers!! It has been one week since our trip to the doctor and her skin has never looked better!! She is only taking her formula now and we recieved a prescription for some cream that has worked wonders. It is now smooth and soft and rash free. Yea!! She still has an appointment to see the allergist on May 4th before we can start her on any foods. My continuous prayer is that this will be her only allergy and it will be something she will out grow.

1 step forward, 10 steps back

Ok, so I'm thinking of changing this blog to the daily trials of allergies. Yesterday we had to take Isabella to her doctor as an emergency. I tried a new formula that was lactose free. Unfortunately that doesn't mean milk free. She started getting red around her mouth and for the 1st time ever she broke out in hives. I had my mom put her in a cool oatmeal bath (which has helped before with rashes) and I put a call into the doctors office. Thinking it was like every other rash she's had before, I went to the store to get her other formula that didn't give her problems, and when I got back my mom was holding her in a towel. She thought Isabella was having trouble breathing. Fortunately her breathing was fine. She was so miserable she was holding her breath but her ears had begun to swell. We loaded her up in the car and I sped to the doctors office. After taking one look at her they were able to get her right in. They gave her a dose of benadryl and her symptoms quickly went away. They kept us for an hour to make sure she got better. I'm normally pretty calm about things, but this freaked me out!! How horrible I felt for her!

I've always been taught to look for the blessings in life and the blessing that came out of this is that we now know that she has a true milk allergy, not a sensitivity. The reason the lactose free formula didn't help was that lactose intolerant people are sensitive to milk sugar. Isabella is allergic to the protein in milk. She has an appointment to see a pediatric allergy specialist on May 4th. Before, her doctor wanted to wait until she was over a year old but given the severity of her reaction he wants her tested before she starts foods. My prayer is that she will only have an allergy to milk and not other foods and that it will be something she will grow out of.

Oh, and if she didn't have enough going on, she started cutting a tooth the same day!!! I swear, I knew from the day she was born (remember c-section) that this child would not do things the easy way!

Isabella's 1st Easter

What a wonderful day!! This morning we all got up on time and were ready for church! Isabella loved her new beautiful dress so much she kept trying to eat it (ok maybe it has a little to do with the fact that she puts everything in her mouth). Her new sandals would have completed the outfit but she kept kicking them off. Today we were broken into nursery duty with the 3 year olds. Poor Brian had no idea what I was getting him into! We had 12 precious sugar loaded children. I can't wait for the day when Isabella knows what Easter is really about and asks Jesus to come into her heart.