Our Week in St. Louis

During the summer we try to spend some extended time in St. Louis, because once football starts it's really hard to get back for the weekends. This year we went the week leading up to the 4th of July and it was extra fun because A. Henry was old enough to do a lot of the fun things for kids around town and B. My best friend, Stephanie, and her family were in town so we go to spend some kid and adult time with them. 

On our first day in town we went out to my Aunt and Uncle's and had a great time fishing and swimming. I was unsuccessful at catching anything but Nick caught a few blue gill and Henry liked seeing and touching the fish. At first he was not really into the fishing thing but after awhile out there he liked it better. 

Henry fishing with my Uncle Fritz

Henry and Nick with their fish.

After fishing we spent some time on the Polaris and then ate lunch and swam. It was a great day and Henry was so tired after it all. I definitely think that we will find a place to fish back here in Louisville. It was a really fun day.

Monday in St. Louis was a typical summer day in the midwest, 95 and humid, and we knew that we needed to have an inside day. So we decided to head over The Magic House and we had a wonderful time. Henry is just over 2 years old and this is about the youngest that I think I would take a kid to here. For a few reasons. One being that it's probably the beginning of when they can interact with a lot of the exhibits. With that being said, obviously there are still a lot of things that are too old for him, mostly in the older part of the museum, but that's great because when we go back it'll be new to him. Secondly, with the play dynamic of the areas he is still young enough that he was getting pushed out of the way by some of the older kids and even though he'd quietly wait his turn, other kids would jump ahead and he didn't know how to vocalize this yet. Part of this is his nature, he is a quiet and observant child in these settings and other places that are new to him. I'm sure there are other two-year old that would've pushed their way in too. 

There was a new Sid the Science Kid exhibit that he really enjoyed. Mainly because of the playground and it was kid more kids right around his age he could interact with. 

This was in the Sid exhibit. It was one of his favorite parts. It was a sandbox filled with little beads as opposed to sand. 

They have a whole area that is devoted to construction. He loved wearing the hat and looking at all the stuff and playing with all the tools. 

                              

                                              

 

This is the highlight for anyone going to the Magic House. I assure you that most people that graduated Kirkwood High School have a picture (probably on a button) that looks like this. This made me so happy to do with Henry. It was awesome to do something with him that I had done as a child in Kirkwood. 

Tuesday was significantly cooler and we were able to make it over to Grant's Farm with my parents and Stephanie and her family. It was a lot of fun and so inexpensive! We had a coupon for $5 of parking, so it was $7 to park and then my dad bought each family a $5 fun pass that got us a ride on the carousal, a son-cone and two bottles to feed the goats. It was a lot of fun and the perfect things for the little kids because the size of the park is small and you can really do it all in a morning. We also made a point to be there right as the park opened so we didn't have to wait at all to get in. This is something I would definitely recommend because the lines were huge when we left just a few hours later. 

Wednesday we just hung out and were able to go to the Muny with Stephanie and Tim and see Tarzan. I hadn't been to the Muny in years and it was a great night for it. It was super cool, almost cold at times when the wind blew, and the production was really good. It was great to be able to get out and have an adult night with good friends that we don't get to see all that often.

Thursday was a quieter day. Nick and the family were playing golf in the afternoon so we just went up too Kirkwood park in the morning and let Henry run around on the playground. It was fun to see him playing where I spent so many summers with Camp Kirkwood. I was impressed by how great the park was looking and I even saw Camp Kirkwood hanging around! 

Friday was the 4th of July and we went over to a home of a good family friend and watched the Webster Groves parade from their front lawn. Henry LOVED it. His favorite were the fire trucks and the marching band. When the parade was over he cried for more. I was hoping for this reaction and not that he would be scared. It was great. I, once again, remember going and even being in the parade as a child and so it was fun to do it with him. We didn't get great pictures from the morning but he had a wonderful time. 

Finally, Nick and I got to spend the evening at the Cardinals game. For my 30th birthday my parent's gave me gift certificates to use at a Cardinal's game. We decided to go all out and use them for an all-inclusive night. We sat in the Champion's Club and had a great time. Great service and great food. It is worth the money to do it. It was the perfect way to celebrate the 4th. They even had some fireworks after the game. 

It was a great week in St. Louis and we are so glad that we had the time to do it. I look forward to doing it, hopefully, every year and even having Henry (and hopefully future kids) go visit on their own.

I Have Food Allergies

Yes. You read the title of this correctly. And if you know me you probably didn't know this because I didn't know that I did until I was 30. But since I've put a few things about it on Facebook recently I thought that I'd share my story for 2 reasons: maybe it will help you and maybe you can help me. 

I'd always thought of food allergies as the typical anaphylatic type reaction. Eat peanut butter and your throat closes up. It turns out, that is not always the case. My reactions started quite differently and I was having reactions and attributing it to other things. 

About a year ago I started having episodes where I was feeling like my food was getting stuck in my throat. I would take a bite of something, usually a sandwich, and after swallowing it felt like it was getting stuck in my esophagus somewhere around my sternum. It was painful but after a minute or so the food would pass and I would feel fine. I could breathe and talk usually during it and hid it pretty well if I was around people. I thought that I just needed to slow down. It tended to happen when I was at work trying to wolf down a sandwich at halftime of a game. I told myself "take smaller bites, chew more and you'll be fine." Well it continues to happen and would happen more frequently. It got to the point where, at least twice, I felt the food was so stuck (and this is gross sorry,) I thought I was going to have to vomit it back up. I knew it was getting worse and kept telling myself, you need to get this looked at. It wasn't until I came home from a jog and sat down to eat some leftover macaroni and cheese, that I knew there was a real problem. With every bite there was pain. It hurt all the way down my esophagus and it didn't matter how small of bites I took and how much I chewed. This was my a-ha! moment. I knew it wasn't my eating speed or size of bites, there was something else going that was out of my control. I immediately called a GI doctor and after an office visit with him an EGD (esophagogastroduodenoscopy) or upper GI scope was scheduled. 

During this scope they found two things: 

1. My esophagus was inflamed and they took biopsies to try to determine why. 

2. Because of the inflammation I had developed a stricture, a ring of scar tissue, in my esophagus, and they stretched it out. 

The biopsies came back with the results that I have eosinophilic esophagitis, basically a localized allergic reaction in my esophagus. This is something that is usually caused by food allergies. But I don't have any food allergies I thought. I was wrong. 

The next step was food allergy testing and anyone that has been allergy tested, food or seasonal, knows how uncomfortable this is. The prick your back with small amounts of the allergens and see what causes welts. After they do it you sit there for 15 minutes unable to scratch these welts. It's a grand old time. So as I sat there, I could feel welts forming. What was I going to be allergic to? One thing? Something trendy like gluten? Something hard to avoid like dairy? I knew there was something, and probably multiple things because I was itching like crazy.

So the doctor came in and talked to me with my report sitting on the table just out of eye shot. I could see several things highlighted and knew my life was about to change. He kept talking. I kept eyeballing the sheet trying to non-obviously squint to read what items he had highlighted. 

Then he told me. Nuts. ALL NUTS. Shellfish, fish, peanuts and strawberries. 

Wut. 

I was more than a little stunned to tell you the truth. I'm allergic to peanuts? But my throat doesn't close up. I'm allergic to seafood? My face doesn't swell like Will Smith in Hitch. But I am allergic. My mind started racing. What couldn't I eat anymore? sushi. SUSHI. SUSHI! Crap. I like sushi. I also like peanut butter, reese's peanut butter cups, snickers, crab cakes, crab rangoon, almonds, pistachios and the list goes on. This sucked. But, of course, the allergist, who I should note I like very much and have seen many times for treatment of my seasonal allergies, thought it was a good thing because we had answers. I tried to agree but I was crushed. I'm 30. How am I just finding out about this now? The doctor explained that I probably developed these over time, yes that happens, or the reactions have just gotten worse. 

I tried to look at the positives. I could be someone with a serious anaphylactic reaction that can't go to baseball games because someone three sections away is eating peanuts. I can still eat food made on the same machine as my allergens. I just can't eat them. Ever again. Ever. 

So what does this mean? I want you, just for fun, to start reading the labels on food. They are required to list allergens bold and at the bottom. Try to find a granola bar without tree nuts or peanuts in it. Oh, and as I found out yesterday, coconut is a tree nut. It's hard and usually peanut free stuff is more expensive. Now this doesn't mean I didn't find any, but it was harder. 

So, I stopped eating tree nuts, peanuts, fish, shellfish and strawberries. You know what happened? I felt better. My daily headaches were gone. The headaches that I thought for so long were caffeine related were actually a reaction to one of those foods. I haven't had a headache since I started eating this way, unless I know I ate something with nuts. This was how I found out coconut was a tree nut. I ate a granola bar with coconut and within 15 minutes had a headache. I googled tree nuts (maybe should've done this sooner, whoops) and there it was plain as day. I ate some hot fudge on my ice cream last night. Headache within 15 minutes. Coconut oil in hot fudge. It's everywhere. Nuts are everywhere. 

I don't want to write this so you feel badly for me. I could be much worse. I will be fine and I feel better so that is a good thing. It has taken some adjusting to for my and Nick even. I just want to know if you have these allergies what alternatives have you found to be good? Where have you found peanuts, fish, or tree nuts hiding? What have you done when you go out to eat to make it easier on yourself? 

I never thought I'd turn 30 and this is what I would discover. But I did.

Henry Turns TWO.

Wow. I haven't been blogging for awhile. But we've been boring. And busy. 

But Henry turned two. So that requires a post. 

The doctor's appointment went very well and he is growing like a weed. We've been blessed with a great eater and sleeper. I think this is because he is such a big kid. The pediatrician mentioned that growing happens mostly during sleep and therefore lots of growing means lots of sleeping. When we went to the doctor Henry wasn't very keen on standing on the "adult" scale so the measurements for him were more of an estimate. But he's still off the charts on height and in the 85% for weight.

He's learning everyday and it's amazing. He knows his colors, his letters, and has really started putting together sentences. Which also means that he is repeating a lot of what we say and we have  to be more careful. 

HENRY JOSEPH MEYER

2 Years Old

38 Inches

31.5lbs

We started the day with breakfast on the back porch. Henry absolutely LOVES eating outside. He'd eat outside in the winter in his coat if he could. So I made him cinnamon roll waffles and strawberries and enjoyed the beautiful weather with him. 

Henry then went to the sitter's and had a wonderful day there. I thought about keeping him home and spending the day with him at the zoo or playing but I know that he has so much fun there that it would've been selfish. 

When Nick got off work we went and picked him up and brought him home he got to play with the new water table that we got for him. 

First he came into this:

Then he went out on the back deck and we played with this for awhile.

He loved it. He loves playing in the sink and taking baths. So we thought this would be a great gift and so far he's loved every minute of it.

After we drug him away from it we went over to Mellow Mushroom for pizza because it's probably his favorite food after fruit. 

Overall it was a great day and we had even more fun celebrating him over the weekend with family. 

Happy Birthday little man.