2 Year Stats

Blake had his 2 year well baby exam and here are his latest stats:

Weight: 31 lbs 10 oz/80%

Height: 37.25 inches/95+%

Head: 20.25 inches/95+%

No wonder it's hard for me to carry him....he's a big boy!!!

Recently there has been an outbreak of measles in our area....awesome! So, the doctor recommended that Blake to get his second MMR vaccine (first dose given at 1 year). This second dose isn't supposed to be given until age 5, so although she said the spacing is fine, I'm not too crazy about it. However, I'm even less crazy about the thought of him getting measles. We are putting off his Hep A and Chicken Pox vaccines for a couple months though. Not that I have any scientific backing, it just makes me feel better when he's not given so many at the same time, and the doctor said it's very unlikely he'd be exposed to those illness for now so it's ok to wait.

Now I have to bring in Campbell for that shot...that's going to be interesting. 

Food Update

It's been about 1 year since we found out about Blake's food allergies. I was so overwhelmed before with what he couldn't eat and now I feel like I have a good handle on what he can eat, how to make meals the whole family can enjoy, how to grocery shop, what food to pack for him for snacks while we're out and about, and we've even got brave and ordered food from restaurants for him.

We've decided that we're going to slowly start giving him foods that he's allergic to and see if he reacts. He's had 2 eggs mixed in pancakes and also banana bread and he is fine with that. He had some cookies that had some chocolate chips that contained soy. I feel like he's old enough now that I would be able to tell/he could tell me if something was bothering him, plus it just seems like he's bigger and stronger boy who would be able to handle a reaction if he were to have one (versus the 10 month old baby who couldn't stop vomiting, was grey an lethargic and ended up in the ER)

I don't have an exact plan right now, other than start with eggs baked in things, then maybe move to straight up scrambled eggs? Then try milk baked in things? Just taking it slow. 

A couple months ago, Blake started getting very frustrated and jealous of the yogurt that Campbell got to eat. I was super excited to find rice yogurt and it even has probiotics in it - woohoo! Blake loves his "yo-yo."

Blake has a bad case of pizza love or "itza luve" as he says. It occurred to me (don't know why it took so long, it seems so obvious now) that he can have pizza, just without the cheese. Pizza Luce, so conveniently and dangerously located within walking distance, has a crust and sauce made from simple ingredients, all of which he can eat. He didn't have any interest in the first one I ordered for him that just had veggies on it. But the next time, I ordered him one with just chicken on it & he devoured it. A couple times now when drive into the garage on our way home from somewhere, he says (yells), "No home! Itza!" As in, I don't want to go home, let's go get some pizza!)

I realized I was using 'milk' to refer to both cow's milk and rice milk and thought it was good for him to learn, so we've started correctly identifying cow's milk versus rice milk. Now Blake points to Campbell's milk & says "cow's milk" and to his and says "rice milk."

Easter

We had a nice Easter weekend catching up with family and friends.

Campbell said when it was time to get dressed for my family's Easter dinner on Saturday: "I want my hair in a ponytail in the back with a headband. That's my best Easter look." Where does she get this stuff from!?!?

Nana made an adorable Bunny cake....gluten, soy, egg, peanut & dairy free nonetheless so everyone could enjoy it. It was a carrot cake and super delicious!

Had trouble getting the boys out of the boat the entire weekend. It's being stored in my parent's garage until the lake opens up.

Dying eggs. Blake kept counting to 10 while waiting for the egg to turn darker color. He's doing so good counting, he just skips 7.

Egg hunt Sunday morning.

This picture captures Blake's goofy personality - I mean, just look at the hair. He goes full throttle most of the day.

The kids loved meeting Uncle Garet's new puppy (looks like a bear cub) Obi.

This morning (Monday after Easter) when I went to get Blake out of his crib. the first thing he said was "ENunny?" Like, did the Easter Bunny come today? And when I explained that he only comes on Easter, Blake kept saying "Why? Why?"

Good Friday at the Zoo

Since Gabe had Good Friday off, we decided to head to the Zoo before we went Up North. It was our first Zoo trip as a family, and even though the weather was not ideal (to say it nicely....it was in the 40's and raining), we had a great time. The Zoo was still quite busy, so I can only imagine how packed it would've been on a nice day. We did the inside Tropics Trail loop first and Blake basically ran and yelled excitedly the entire way (although he did stop once and have a squawk off with a tropical super-loud bird), with Gabe close behind. Campbell and I took our time and looked at all the animals. We then took a break for lunch and then headed on the hike to see the farm babies. Did I mention we didn't bring the stroller? It was nice for Blake to be free to explore, but that walk got quite long trying to corral him in the right direction. Blake's favorite part was the tractor ride & he yelled "No! No!" when it was time to get off and everyone around us thought it was funny. We got a season's pass, so I'm looking forward to bringing the kids there this summer.

Blake loved the construction at the entrance and called the big and small backhoes "Daddy & baby".

There was a huge crowd gathered to see the scuba diver who was answering questions from kids in the audience. Blake rolled in, pushed his way through about 4 rows packed of people to get right up to the glass and then waved and said "HI!" super loud to Scuba Steve, then ran on to the next thing to see.

The looks on the kids' faces is just priceless. So much for a nice picture at lunch.

Although they redeemed themselves here. I didn't even ask them to pose this time and they went ahead and did it all by themselves. Go figure!

Long walk to see the farm babies. This boy is SO HEAVY.

What if you give this Moose A Muffin?

We made it to the farm!

1 day old piglets snuggled up to their humongous mama.

Blake is 2!

Happy birthday Mr. Blake! Not a baby anymore, but a full fledged boy - full throttle, full speed ahead, passionate and brave little man. For example:

I run upstairs for a minute & hear a beeping noise....I come down to find this.

Blake is quite the character. I think he may end up being a funny guy like his dad. He is very strong (his little skinny legs are rock hard muscle) and coordinated. I'm amazed at what he can do (easily scales ladders, hangs, sprints, jumps...I have to be on my toes to keep up with him at park). He loves his Mama, and still has a hard time when we separate. He only wants me to put him to bed and roars in this super deep voice, "NO MAMA!" if Gabe tries to bring him to bed. After getting ready for bed and just before I put him to bed he lays his head on my shoulder and I rock him for a while. He is so peaceful and cuddly before I set him in his crib. If I don't do it, he asks me "rock?" He adores his sister, and asks for "Da-dow" first thing every morning.

Blake is so amazingly special and we are so very lucky to have him in our lives.

Now onto the party....Gabe left for his 5 day annual trader's meeting on Friday, so he had to miss Blake's birthday. Again, boo for work things over the weekend! On the bright side, my parent's came down for the weekend to help with the kids.

Gabe made pancakes for the kids before he left. The kids go crazy for Daddy's pancakes!

Campbell got all dolled up and put on a show for Nana & Papa when they arrived. She looks so grown up in this picture.

Campbell & I working on decorating Blake's Diego bike present. My free hand Diego drawing actually turned out! Campbell spent a lot of time adding more color and shapes to it over the weekend.

When does the party start?

Diego cake made only with ingredients Blake can have.  I was nervous because Gabe is the one who is the artistic one, but it actually turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself! Gabe & I practiced the hair before he left, so I think that helped. And a big thank you to Deb who did a ba-zillion dishes while I was playing Cake Boss.

Pre-party family picture. We missed Daddy!

Campbell is crazy for her Nana.

Blake got his own large pizza. He ate over 1/3 of it at the party and then polished it off over the next 2 days.

Birthday boy enjoying his pizza.

Birthday boy at the Egg Hunt. It ended up being a nice sunny day to be outside. I was a bit nervous when it had just snowed a couple days ago.

Baby M's whooping it up at his first birthday party.

Birthday boy taking whacks at the pinata.

Campbell taking a turn. Can you see her eyes closed and her tongue sticking out?

We let the little kids go twice and then the big kids got their turn. Cousin Luke took one smack and there goes Diego's head. Do you see it flying?

Now Diego cake has a body!

Blake did great blowing out his candles by himself. There was quite a bit of spit flying, which may have helped.

Blake with his buddy M, enjoying their cake.

Birthday boy still enjoying his cake long after the other kids had gone off to play.

So happy that Uncle Garet & Cousins Luke & Caleb happened to be in town so they could come to the party. Campbell still talks about how Luke hit the head off of Diego, she thinks it's hilarious.

Saying good-bye to Papa & Nana. A huge thank you for all the help with the kids and party preparation. I didn't even have any clean up after the party.

E Nunny!

We had some unexpected fun at the mall tonight. We went there to buy a new washing machine - not fun because ours suddenly broke. It would be $450 to replace it and that doesn't even include $250 worth of parts that were under warranty. Yikes! We can get our same washing machine that will still work with our dryer that needs to be stacked on top for $450, so we just thought it'd be better to get a new one. Did I mention we just paid $300 to fix our refrigerator that stopped working, $100 for our garage door opener spring that broke &the other day when Gabe took the grill out for the first time of the season the wind blew it over & the top broke off, which will be $120 for a replacement lid. Very off topic, but what is going on!?!?

Back to the story. At the mall, we stumbled upon Ben & Jerry's free ice cream cone day. Bonus, they even had a sorbet that Blake could eat! Woohoo! While we are sitting there eating our treat, we noticed the Easter Bunny strolling by. The kids kept giving him high fives & thought it was so awesome to see the Easter Bunny, or "E Nunny!" as Blake kept yelling excitedly.

After we got cleaned up from the ice cream cones, we headed over to get the kids' picture taken with him. Campbell ran right up to him, but Blake was not happy and didn't want to go. So the picture taker said for all of us to get in there. Well....I am wearing my best capri sweats, so why not!?! This picture is second only to the hilarious one Gabe & I got with Santa at Walmart (the location just made it more special) many years ago pre-kids.

Blake talked about this big event for days afterward. He would say: "ENummy five, Dadow five. Daddy with." Meaning, He & Campbell gave the Easter Bunny five and Daddy was with.

Growth Spurts

Campbell must have grown a couple inches overnight. Some of her pants are now capris, which is convenient for Spring! For several weeks all she wanted to do was eat, eat, eat. She probably ate about 50 pounds of apples and pear as snacks. Blake looks older to me lately too. Maybe it's because he's able to talk more that makes him seem older. I'm buying Blake 3T clothes for the summer, kind of bypassing the 2T size. He'd probably fit in 2T now, but not for long. Campbell was just in 3T this fall....now she's in 5T. She's almost out of the baby sizes. WHAT?!?!

So proud of her super tall Lego tower. Cautious and rule abiding, she was hesitant about standing up the table to make it.

Blake's hair always cracks me up. It's so curly, especially right after a bath. It's getting to be quite out of control, but I just can't stand to cut it because I don't think it will be curly afterward. Crazy curls shown in this picture. Also pictured, Blake on the bar stool on his knees - the only way he wants to sit now....oh man! He is getting so good at getting most of the food he eats in his mouth. It's great - very little clean up required, even with his yogurt.

And some random pictures I had to get in somewhere...

Good little travelers.

Love this picture that my mom took of my kiddos.

Puke-O-Rama

Or maybe I should title this one Puke Fest. My kids have an uncanny ability to get sick when we are out of town, especially at Nana & Papa's house. This one takes the cake....

Gabe was out of town for work for 7 days (UG for work trips over weekends!), so I took the kids Up North. The kids were very excited about all the Nana & Papa time, and I had scheduled a bunch of play dates with friends and their kids. At the end of the visit, I had planned a weekend up the North Shore with our family & Nana, Papa, Ginia-mom, Papa Stan, Grant & GG.  The day we got to town, the puking began. 

Not that you need to know the puk-ey details, but I'm writing it anyway. Blake got sick and puked twice on Saturday, seemed tired, but better on Sunday. Puked again twice on Monday. I was getting nervous that this was something food allergy related even though I've been careful as always with his food. Campbell pukes twice on Tuesday, huge bummer that she's sick, but at least I'm relieved that it's not food allergy for Blake. One of my proudest parenting moments to date, was how Campbell puked in a bucket (mostly) both of the times she was sick.  

Both kids are better on Wednesday, although Blake is still very tired, until Wednesday evening/night Blake pukes 7 times. I should clarify, he puked ALL OVER THE PLACE and ALL OVER ME many times.

I felt horrible that my kids kept puking all over my parent's meticulously kept house. I am, however, so extremely grateful of ALL the cleaning up that my dad did, showing up immediately with a bucket full of soapy water, rags and gloves immediately after each incident. The washer was going straight for days on end. I would find stacks of neatly folded puke-free bedding and clothes. If I was at home by myself, I don't think I could have survived. Blake was miserable and only wanted me, which would have been next to impossible to get anything cleaned up. 

I kept calling our Nurse Line throughout the week, but they said I didn't need to bring him in because he was well hydrated (actually starving and super thirsty on his non-puking days) and kept seeming to get better.

Blake was super tired on Thursday, laying on the floor with his blanket most of the day, but Friday seemed to be getting back to normal. So, we figured we should proceed with our trip up the shore. 

Gabe took a shuttle from the Minneapolis airport Friday night to Duluth and about one hour after we got back to the resort from picking him up BOTH kids puked. Let me clarify, not a moment after we got Blake cleaned up, it was Campbell's turn. I couldn't believe it. I think Campbell's was from swallowing too much pool water, but Blake seemed to be still sick. We packed up first thing in the morning & headed back home. I was so sad that our vacation got ruined, and Gabe was so bummed he came all that way and didn't even get to swim. Blake puked in the car - of course. That's when we headed directly for Urgent Care...Blake was covered in puke, but I didn't care. It might help get seen sooner. 

The doctor was very rude with horrible bed side manner, but made a great catch by ordering an x-ray and discovering that Blake had a lung infection and we were on our way with a prescription for antibiotics. We didn't even have to wait for a urinalysis, but it was torture for poor Blake getting that sticky bag taken off him. OUCH!!!

No puking the rest of the day Saturday or Sunday, but then puked AGAIN TWICE on Monday. I made an appointment for the next day with the pediatrician. Come to find out, he was on an antibiotic that makes your stomach super upset and often CAUSES vomiting. Thanks Urgent Care doctor for that! He got put on a different antibiotic and an anti-nausea medicine. The pediatrician said that the radiologist from Urgent Care put in the notes that Blake had pneumonia. She also said that he might have gotten that stomach bug a couple times (it could have been that I was carrying it even though I wasn't sick), where Campbell only had it once. And the the infection in his lungs caused or added to his nausea. So weird that he didn't have any of the usual symptoms of a cough or fever. All I know is that was quite the week and thank goodness we've been puke free for several days now. 

Just in case you really wanted to know, the grand puke total: Blake = 15. Campbell = 2. Papa Stan = 1, as soon as he got home from the North Shore...I feel horrible that he got sick....just horrible!