Golden Birthday or 31 days until 31!

Werty refers to the birthday that corresponds to the day of the month you were born as your "Golden Birthday." Since I was born on the 31st, that makes this year my Golden Birthday. To celebrate the 31 days until I turn 31, I am going to blog each day.

Also, I am going to have a contest. One of my favorite games is identifying lines from movies, so we are going to play it here. Each day I will have a movie line and it is up to you guys to identify the movie correctly and post it. Now, some of my friends have amazing talents, like Valinda the costume seamstress, but I am most known for my mad cookie making skills. So, at the end of the month someone will win a package of homemade treats.

My random thought for the day: Sometimes we have to be patient and wait for God's timing, but the blessing is always worth the wait. I am grateful for my Werty and my son BooBear, both blessings that were worth waiting for.

Happy 6 month mark to BooBear! He was a hit as usual at the monthly extended family FHE tonight. We used the stroller for the first time since FHE was being held only a few blocks away at Werty's sister's apartment. BooBear seemed to like it just fine, even though it was a bit chilly.

"I know that I promised Lord, never again. But I also know that you know what a weak willed person I am."

A Laugh a Day

This is the first full 5 day week without early dismissals or assemblies this month, so students were stir crazy. The weather alternating between sun and snow all week didn't help either. I was dreading behavior students in my SpEd section as we began the last class of the day. A few seconds later, I recognized one of my favorite students from last year sitting serenely in my class. I gave a yell of surprise and delight that scared my co-teacher. On the other side of the room, another one of my favorite students from last year sitting in the middle of my class waiting to see how long it would take for me to notice him. I definitely had my good laugh for the day. Those two always cheer me up. :D

Playing Games

This was taken a couple of weeks ago. Werty walked in the room to find this sight. Boo had put the blankie on his face.


While trying to keep Boo awake so that he will fall asleep earlier, I introduced him to some new toys - his penguin bopper from Aunt Klari and the jingle ball. He was waaay excited. Especially when I gave him the ball when he started to get frustrated that he couldn't get the balls out of the penguin bopper. Here he is playing with the ball.

Here is is from earlier today. Playing some classic Mario World with his daddy.

Rolling Around

Boo has been rolling over for a little while, though some days he is more successful than others. His arm still catches him up. But he is very pleased with himself at his new sense of movement. Yesterday he managed to get himself from sitting up in the corner of the couch to laying down on the couch without getting stuck and needing help, and he was thrilled. Earlier this week we tried to catch him rolling over on the camcorder, but instead we got great footage of him scootching on his tummy. When the surface is on an incline, he has been able to roll 2-3 rotations at a time. So, we have to take more precautions when putting him on our bed so he can't roll off. Rolling and scooting, but not yet crawling. That's where he is at.

Regarding solid foods, I have given that up for now. He does a great job with the spoon and has started to try to put his hand in my food when I am eating, so I know he wants food. But maybe if we wait a little, his body won't overreact as bad. I made rice cereal/paste from scratch, and his skin broke out all over his face and neck where the rice touched. He had a half circle rash on his neck from where the bib seam was. After eliminating the rice, we are back to giving him formula without any problems. We just make sure to give him formula that's mixed with breast milk or alternate formula with milk so that he doesn't have too much in his system at once, in case he really does have soy sensitivity. Oh, and our doctor's office just said, "I'm sure there's got to be a formula without soy in it, but I don't know of any..." Yeah, that's helpful. He has a few random tiny patches of red on his arms, legs and back that persist, but the big patches of hives are fading.

This week I read him "Snuggle Puppy" by Sandra Boynton for the first time (Thanks for the book Lisa!) and he loved it! Another song to add to our repertoire. Now it' s stuck in our heads also. :P

And the Culprit Is...

The rice cereal! I waited a week and the rash was down to near invisible. He kept looking at me like, "Where's mine?" whenever I ate something with a spoon. So last night I gave him some rice cereal. He didn't eat very much of it before he decided he wanted some milk from mom instead. Maybe about 10 spoonfuls or so. Within an hour, he was itching his nose constantly and half of his face was red and swollen with hives. I know there are other brands of rice cereal out there, and have had some recommended to me, but I when I went to the store today I discovered that my store only carries one brand of rice cereal - Gerber - which is what he is reacting to. Looking at the ingredients, they add soy to the rice. It never occurred to Werty or anyone else in his family to mention that Werty was ALLERGIC to soy when he was a child. So, Werty looks at the ingredients and tells me this fact for the first time last night AFTER my child is already all swollen. So, I am going to start making my own rice cereal with my mini food processor. That way I will KNOW what is in the cereal I am feeding my baby.

Here is my biggest concern. There are small amounts of soy in the formula we have always given him. If his reactions are getting worse with each experience with the rice cereal, what if the reason his rash wasn't completely gone was because he has become more sensitive to the soy in the formula? He usually has at least one formula bottle a day, often at night when mommy is asleep and he is still awake at 3am with daddy. It's nice having the option - like on Friday when we had to feed him at a restaurant - to give him formula.

This Valentine's Day it was good that it was a Sunday because we were too sick with this nasty sinus cold to do much. I made Werty choco chip oatmeal cookies. We went out to eat last Wednesday at our favorite chinese restaurant, since we knew we had the semi-annual grandchildren dinner on Friday with my grandparents. Sunday I put BooBear down for his mid-morning nap and went to sacrament meeting while Werty, too sick to go, stayed home. Really exciting life we lead, I know. But we have a wonderful BooBear, and being parents is the best thing we can ever have.

Rash, Rash, Go Away

This week I started feeling not so hot with a sinus headache, and by the end of the workday on Friday I knew I was sick. Both of the other ESL teachers are sick as well, one of them even took a day off this week to rest and get better. Friday and Saturday I took an @irb0rne supplement. Friday I also took come zic@m. Well, Friday evening I noticed a rash on BooBear's back. I thought it was a diaper rash, since it hit where the top band of the diaper is. Then Saturday evening I gave him his bath and found that the rash had spread all over from head to toe. My poor little guy must be allergic to something I ate. I racked my brain all evening until I remembered the @irb0rne I took. I am guessing that's what it was. Stupid, stupid me. My mom can't take it because she is allergic to ragweed and all it's cousins, including echinacea. It could be the echinacea, or it could be one of the other strange herbs in it. So now I have to toss out the bottle I pumped on Friday that's in the freezer for Monday. And I put the rice cereal on hold until his rash clears up, just in case. And of course, we didn't get to the store yesterday because Werty was working in SLC with the car, so we are almost out of formula. Grrr. So, I am hoping that my milk will be safe today. I am also worried that with me sick, and Werty getting sick, that BooBear might get this cold on top of the rash.

Mikey, He Really Likes It!

If you are a child of the 80s, you will understand the title. Yesterday BooBear got his first rice cereal flavored with a little breast milk. Tonight I gave him about twice as much as yesterday since he did so well with it. We don't actually own a high chair yet, so I fed him on my lap last night and in his swing tonight. His sleep schedule is still from 3am to 10am. :P