Julia and the allergist: round 2

The results of the blood work are in. Julia is allergic to fish.

The doctor and I had picked 7 different kind of fish to test her blood against.

tilapia
codfish
catfish
salmon
orange roughy
perch (I think)
tuna

The test showed her reacting to everything but the tuna. The nurse I spoke to quickly followed that information with, "But don't feed her tuna until after we do a prick test." She then began to describe how a prick test would be administered.

Ummm... How about we just keep her off fish?

Tuna is by no means a mainstay in our house. We will defer a second round of tests for when she is older and can better understand what is going on, and whether is it worth it.

So the bad news is
- she can't have any fish
- it makes her swell up, which could become life threatening
- she probably won't outgrow this allergy
- no trips to Long John Silvers
- she probably shouldn't emigrate to Japan unless she develops an affinity for some of the weird stuff they drag up off the ocean floor and sell in their fish markets.


The good news is
- she apparently can eat shellfish (she eats shrimp with impunity)
- fish allergies are less likely to be fatal than shellfish or nut allergies
- fish is less likely to be hidden in other foods (so far Worcestershire, which is made with anchovies, has not troubled her)
- in the US, enough people simply do not like fish that there is little chance of going to a place where fish is your only food option
- if she does go to a fish restaurant, she has the perfect excuse to eat the high end stuff "I'm sorry, I can't eat cod. I'm allergic. I'll just have to order the lobster tail."

Petra's first solid food

These pictures are a little dated. In addition to rice, she has now had homemade sweet potato and applesauce. She approves heartily of all of them.



Paul and Julia were so funny when I brought home the first box of rice cereal. They saw it on the table and started dancing around, and singing, "You got baby mooosh! You got baby mooosh!"
And yes, when they said it, it sounded like there were at least 3 o's in the word mush. They both wanted to help feed the baby. I managed to finagle doing the first feeding solo, but they got to help out with later feedings.

Winter Coats

I had thought that perhaps I had put our heavy winter coats away for the season. Wrong!

Middle of the Night Poetry

You, who framed the North Star
With the plan
To guide sailors out
And home again,
And slaves northward
Unto freedom,
Did no less when You framed me
And redeemed me
to Your Kingdom

Your own dear Son
Lit up our day.
Our cross, His night,
Points us the way.
That cross, our North Star
Compass true,
Guides sinners home
And back to You,
And slaves heavenward
Unto freedom.

Pictures

I gave Julia yogurt and craisins. She artfully placed each craisin on top of the yogurt.


Paul artfully put yogurt on his chin.



Petra got baptized February 14th.



I asked Paul to dress up a little, and he decided to wear his complete ring barer suit.


Julia got her first haircut a few weeks ago. The children's salon had an indoor slide to play on while she waited. Then she got to sit in a toy airplane while her hair was cut. I let Julia choose to only have a few inches removed.

Trying to teach sound doctrine

In school, Paul has been learning about living things. What are living things? Trees, people, animals. What are non living things? Telephones, snowmen, rivers. He has also been studying what living things need. Water, food, oxygen, a home.

After our breakfast prayer this morning with "Give us, Lord, our daily bread," I tried to explain that Jesus is the living bread, and that we need him to live. Somehow this moved into a discussion about heaven and what heaven is like.

I said, "In heaven we will become like Jesus, because we will see him as he really is."

Paul answered, " I think Jesus has blue and white stripes on his face."

I mentally pictured Mel Gibson playing William Wallace.
There goes another teachable moment.

Brand sensitivity training

Julia got an impressive little activity book from the allergist's office. It was about how Ally the Elephant was suffering from seasonal allergies, until he started taking Allegra.

Nice.

She and Paul have had fun coloring in the activity book, and I read some of it to them this morning. Later, I found them on the north porch, chanting, "Ant-I-histamine! Ant-I-histamine."

Nice.

Paul starts sci-fi

Paul's big excitement from last weekend, was that Steve deemed him old enough to watch Star Wars. Paul heard about Luke Skywalker from other kids at school, and had been eager to watch Skywalker himself. Sunday afternoon, Steve and Paul had some Father-Son time, and watched the original Star Wars Episode 4. Steve talked him through the scary parts, and explained what what going on here and there.

Paul was moved by the scene where Luke finds his aunt and uncle have been killed. When Leia said, "Will somebody get this walking carpet out of my way," Paul laughed out loud. After the movie was over, Paul ran around shouting, "Stay on target! Stay on target!"

At bedtime I asked him what his favorite part was, and he told me he liked it when Luke Skywalker made the Deathstar blow up.

And his least favorite part? "When Dark Laser got Obi Wan."

Julia and the allergist: round 1

The last two July's Julia had an allergic reaction to something. In July '09 she had a really disturbing amount of swelling, especially around her mouth. I took photos of her at the worst of her reaction. We were able to treat her with benedryl, and the reaction didn't affect her breathing.

Both times, I made an extensive list of everything she had eaten and anything topical she might have been exposed to. I was reluctant to believe it was a food allergy, because we don't have a family history of food allergies like that. I have a bee sting allergy. I thought it must have been a bug bite. I also recorded the timing and every detail about her reaction that I could.

I cross referenced my lists. Two items showed up on both lists: tilapia and crab apples.

Rats.

We know she eats crab apple jelly all the time. So in January, according to my doctor's advice, we tested her on a single bite of tilapia, which we had purchased from a different source. She had a reaction.

Rats.

Yesterday, I took Julia to see an allergist.
She was charming and interactive with the nurse.
She was chatty with the young lady student doctor.
She hid under the chair for the regular doctor, a fellow in his 50s with a foreign accent.
Oh well.

She almost didn't need to be there at all. Most of the time was spent talking to me. They were pleased with the lists I had made, and kept a copy for Julia's file. They were also pleased to see the pictures I had taken, because it gave them a very clear idea of how sever the reaction had been. They kept one of the photos for their file as well.

It was agreed that tilapia was almost certainly the culprit. The question remains, is she allergic to all fish? all white fish? Just tilapia?
We know she has eaten shrimp and scallops without trouble. We think she has had salmon and tuna. But we're not sure.

So we were given a script to have blood drawn. The lab can test the blood against different substances (such as different types of fish), to see if there is a reaction.

As we were waiting for the nurse to write the script, the doctor popped back in to borrow the photograph of Julia. He said the people in the next room were reporting having had a reaction with swollen lips, and may he show them this picture to help them gauge the severity?

Congratulations, Julia. You are now the textbook standard on lip swollen-ness.

We swung through the grocery store for a snack on the way to the lab (so that neither of us would pass out when the blood was drawn), and bought a Lindt chocolate (to save as a reward for Julia).

At the lab, Julia was so brave! She fussed for just a moment, but then held still and didn't cry, even though the phlebotomist had to keep wiggling the needle around.
That's my big girl!

Petra's 4 month

Petra had her 4 month check-up yesterday. She weighed in at just under 17 lbs and measured 27 inches long. That is 3 inches longer than she was in January! Wow they get big fast.

She loves standing in her Jeep walker, and sometimes grabs the steering wheel. She has been pushing herself backwards in it without really meaning to.

She has started grabbing things and pulling them up to her mouth, especially cloth items. The other night she grabbed her bib and managed to use it to wipe the sweet potato off her chin. Then she started to remove the bib. Bibs are not her thing.

The other night she was in her walker in the living room, and Paul started to show off for her. He was dancing around and being silly. I could hear her shrieks of laughter from the bathroom.

Protecting the baby from us

Paul and Julia really do like their Petra, the following comments not withstanding.

Mommy says:

Paul, do not Vend-A-Face your baby sister!



Julia, do not hit on your sister's head, even if there is a cow between the two of you.

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Lord, thank you that mysterious screaming and crying from the baby in the middle of the night is the exception rather than the rule. Please give me patience today as we pull ourselves together.

sleep talkin' kiddos

A week or so ago we had a weird sleep night.

At one point Julia was laughing in her sleep.

Later Paul started talking in his sleep, a rarity for him. It’s hard to tell how long it had gone on before I attained consciousness, but I caught him saying something like, “It’s okay, you can take it downstairs for me.” I spent a couple of minutes fighting sleep and anxiously listening to make sure he hadn’t started sleepwalking to follow the nice dream people down the stairs.

Last night I heard Julia talking and went to investigate.

Me: Are you okay, honey?
Julia: Yeah, I’m okay.
Me: Time to go to sleep.
Julia: Okay. Mommy, will you please… will you please move my number, W?
Me: umm… Okay Julia. Night night.

And then in the morning as I was getting up, Julia cried out angrily, “Mommy! Paul took my friend!” She was really hot about it.

I handed her Keiki Nai’a and asked her to go back to sleep. She did.

Visiting Family: guinea pigs and target practice

We traveled to my folks house this weekend to celebrate my grandfather’s 89th birthday. It was good to see my grandparents again and to finally screw up the courage to start asking questions about grandpa’s childhood and his faith.

I want to write a faith legacy for my children. I was inspired by Jan Karon’s “Home to Holly Springs.” In it, the main character fondly remembers reciting some of the family’s history and stories with his grandfather. It was their way of telling the next generation what the Lord has done for them. I would like to collect stories about times when God was undeniably working in our lives for my children.

Steve deserves a gold star for driving us to my parent's house Friday night. Snow made the roads treacherous. The snow started in the midst of rush hour traffic. While Steve can often get us to my parents’ house in 2.5 hours (provided the children don’t need too many pit stops), Friday night it took 5 hours. We spent most of the time following the ruts of the cars ahead of us. Sometimes, going around a curve, those ruts seemed to vanish into the snow. Nevertheless Steve got us there safe and sound.

The next morning Aunt Carrie and Uncle Scott came with their dog, Kujo. I mean Koda. He is an 8 month old, sixty-something pound german shepherd/labrador retriever mix. He is a big friendly tidal wave. Carrie wanted to see how Koda behaved with small children, because they have a little one on the way. My children were the guinea pigs. The good news is that neither the puppy nor the children freaked out. Well, Julia may have freaked out a little bit at first because Koda ran into her face the first time he saw her, but they reconciled. Petra got a couple of good full face doggy kisses, and Steve enjoyed wrestling around with a big dog.

We played outdoors in the snow Saturday afternoon. It was amazing packing snow. You didn’t have to stop to pack the snowballs together at all. You could just reach down, grab a fist full of snow, and it was ready to fling at your opponent.

Let me rephrase for accuracy.

Steve could just reach down, grab a fist full of snow, and it was ready to fling at ME.

My attempts at defense were pretty pathetic. And while Steve was pelting me, Paul would grab a snowball and start giggling, then run up behind me and toss it at my back.

This summer I will be working on aim and distance.

Julia played with us for a little bit too, and Mom, Carrie and Scott made cameo appearances in our little snow war.

At one point during the day, I was putting Julia’s toy dolphin, keiki nai’a, away in her room. On a whim, I stuffed the toy into her footy pajamas so that its head was sticking out. She discovered it some time later and was completely charmed. She carried it downstairs laughing and shouting, “Keiki nai’a is wearing my pajamas! Keiki nai’a is wearing my pajamas!”

It was a fun time.