Kindergarten Open House

Before school started this year we took Roo to Kindergarten open house to meet his teacher and drop off his load of school supplies. Roo enjoyed meeting his teacher and was excited to find out that some of his very close friends are in his class this year. We had a nice time meeting his teacher, seeing his classroom and learning our way around his school. We're excited for Roo to have a great school year!

Ocean City With Friends

We went to OC for a weekend with the kids best friends. We stayed at my friend Barb's condo and met up with our friends throughout the weekend. It was a lot of fun. Friday night we met up at a restaurant that had a huge pirate ship to play on and we sat at a table looking right at it so we ended up having a very relaxing dinner! After work we went to the boardwalk and the kids had fun going on rides and playing on the beach.

The kids had a good time playing on the beach all day Saturday and we had dinner Saturday at our friends condo. Sunday morning we played putt putt and the kids loved it. We had let Bug try a tiny bite of a donut and sure enough two hours later he was coughing up a storm. We went back to the condo and gave him some benadryl and a nebulizer and he got better but was worn out from the experience. We left a little later that day after saying goodbye to our friends. It was a great weekend and we'll do it again next year!

A Great Birthday Party

Roo's 6th Birthday party was Saturday. We had originally scheduled it for a local swimming pool that has a slide with the help of his best friends parents. However, the forecast was calling for rain and we were able to schedule the old elementary school gymnasium at the last minute. Roo had a blast and it was fun that he could have a party with all his friends. The cake turned out great, even with a last minute cake emergency. Still can't believe he's 6! Happy Birthday to our Roo!

Roo is 6

Happy 6th Birthday to our awesome 6 year old! Can't believe he's 6 and starting Kindergarten in a few weeks! Time flys! You will always be our baby Roo and Roo Roo bear!

Milk is Still Evil

Bug had a second food challenge for the year at the end of July. I made him cake that had baked milk and baked dried milk powder in it. He was so excited to eat the cake he didn't even ask for icing. He had eaten a good amount and I was pretty sure it was about time for him to react to the milk. We think he ate about 1/4 of a cup of baked milk. Sure enough after eating a little more than the prescribed portion the coughing started. It is amazing what happens at the food allergy clinic at Hopkins when they hear a cough. He got immediate attention and they kept an eye on him continuously to see if the cough was going to develop into anything worse or if the cough would get worse. After a short period, they gave him a dose of Benadryl. They still weren't happy with the cough, which was luckily all upper airway and not at all in his lungs or chest, and they gave him the nebulizer with Albuterol. There was one point when the nebulizer was going and the Bendaryl had kicked in where he looked like he was going to fall asleep on the table. The Albuterol kicked in pretty quickly and his coughing subsided. They declared his challenge a success since he didn't have an anaphylactic reaction and said he could have 1/16th of a cup of baked milk once a day to help get his body used to the proteins. They gave us specific instructions for how to introduce baked milk over a period of time and it was great to leave with a starting dose that will hopefully be safe for him. Unlike the peanut challenge where he was one of the first to leave, he was the last to leave so they could make sure he was better and safe for the ride home. He fell asleep in the car while we were still in Baltimore, and even slept through an hour delay for an accident we witnessed, and slept almost the entire way home. We'll see how introducing baked milk goes, hopefully well. In the meantime we have a safe starting dose and know if he consumes regular milk that it will be an anaphylactic reaction. For such a long day, he was super!

Happy 4th!

We took the kids to see fireworks on the 4th. We lucked out and Roo's best friends family saw us and parked next to us so the kids could all play and watch the fireworks together. The kids were great and loved the fireworks! Happy Birthday America!

Vacation Pictures, We Love Maine

The Tale of the Skunk

The boys fought constantly about Roo's Ultimate Optimus Prime toy on the car ride to Maine and the first two days we were here. Monday morning tragedy struck while they were at the beach. A skunk ran through the beach house, in one door and out the other, and took Optimus. It's a shame, it's been peaceful ever since. Maybe one day I'll have the heart to tell them what really happened. But for now, they were both satisfied with our recollection of this event and why we couldn't chase the skunk.

Having Fun Playing With The New Camera

Here are some landscape pictures from our Maine vacation. We stayed in Owls Head, Maine and stopped at Old Orchard Beach and the Portland Head Lighthouse on our way there. We took a day trip Acadia National Park again this year. We had a wonderful vacation and got to see an amazing rainbow too!