Henry Three Year Post

In the midst of being 8+ months pregnant, I had a two year old becoming a three year old. I was desperate to potty train him and he couldn't have cared less. He showed flickers of interest but it would be another two months before he was truly potty trained. I learned, and hope to remember, that potty training is absolutely something you cannot teach a child. They have to be ready and part of that is physical and part is mental. We bribed and pleaded and begged. He didn't care. Finally, we went to my parents' house for a couple weeks and it clicked. Well, sort of, he got number one down VERY quickly, number two would take another couple months to truly achieve. But he was out of pull-ups at night quickly as well. 

Meanwhile, we were, unknowingly, barreling head first for the Threenager year. 

But for now we had a fairly sweet boy. He still was a great sleeper, rarely sick, and a good eater. He's hardly met a food he didn't like. He takes after Nick in body type and is tall and skinny. This as turned out to be a challenge because people think he is older than he is and expect him to act older. My mom dealt with this with my brother and I'm sure there is much more of this in my future with Henry and Scheffler (who is even bigger.)

We had his 3rd birthday party a few weeks early, since I was due only two weeks after his birthday. It was a train theme and Nick's dad made him a beautiful train table for his Brio set. He's obsessed with it to this day. Many hours have been spent playing on it and I don't see that changing anytime soon. 

A few pictures from his party and his three year old stats are below. 

It's posts like this that are really making me wish I had blogged better over the past two year but empowering me to keep up with it now. 

Singing Happy Birthday

The amazing train table made by his Grandpa (Nick's Dad). 

Scheffler's One Month Post

At this point we were all adjusting to having a family of four. But Scheffler was being just the best baby he could be. He was nursing like a champ and sleeping as well as a baby that was a month old could. He was in 3-6 month clothing and working on tummy time (but hating it.)

During this time Henry was still going to the sitter, for multiple reasons, but mainly for him. Yes, seriously. Here's the thing. Scheffler was nursing every two hours during the day for 30ish minutes at a time and 3-year-olds are not great at entertaining themselves. So what was he doing while I nursed? Too much screen time. I'll admit it. It was a crutch. It was my babysitter for him at home. But nursing is hard and I needed peace to do it. So we became slaves to YouTube and Netflix. But he was happy, Scheffler was eating and therefore I was happy. But I knew that I couldn't do that all day with him. So he went to Ms. Stephanie's and had a great time with his friends. He ran around outside, got to go swimming and be three. Because here's something no one tells you about having a baby right before summer, it's hard because it's hot. I couldn't swim because I'd just given birth and it was just so hot to have Scheffler outside for very long. Sitting on the deck was one thing but long outdoor adventures were tough. Also, I'd have to nurse if we were out for too long and this was hard for a few reasons. One, Henry would possibly have to sit with me wherever I chose to do it, probably not gonna happen.  Two, it is hot undercover for a baby when nursing. Three, although more comfortable then I was with Henry, I never got totally comfortable nursing in public. I could care less if you do but it just isn't really for me. Side note: it tuned out not to really by for Scheffler either. He HATED eating under a blanket but who could blame him. 

Scheffler was growing like a weed and we couldn't have been happier. 

SCHEFFLER JAMES MEYER

ONE MONTH

10LBS 12OZ

23.5IN

Scheffler's Birth Story

During the last couple months of my pregnancy my blood pressure had been running high. My doctor was keeping a close eye on it and thankfully I never need drugs or bedrest. At my 38 week appointment (May 6th, 2015) my blood pressure was again high and since the baby was measuring large they wanted to send me to triage. I was upset, I didn't want this baby to have the same birthday as Henry. I knew they were going to have very close birthdays already but I wanted them each to have their own days. Henry was already often sharing his birthday with Derby and in Louisville, that kind of sucks as a young kid. I knew it was silly but I was really upset. They sent me to triage to monitor my BP over a little time but they knew my wishes and were very respectful of that. If I'd wanted to stay and be induced they would've but since my BP went down, they let me go home. I was done with work for the time being and would be induced at 39 weeks if I hadn't had the baby by then. 

So for the next week I prepared myself as best you can for a second baby. We celebrated Henry's birthday and he spent the weekend with Nick's parents in case I went into labor and we tried to relax. 

The weekend came and went and no baby.

Our instructions were to call the hospital the morning of the 13th, at like 5:00am, and find out when to come in. If they were busy, which they were, we would call back later and see of they were free. About 9:00am they called us and said "Come on!" It was a weird drive to the hospital. When we were heading in with Henry, we didn't know if we'd be staying, but this time we did. On top of that we didn't know which gender baby we are having. Best. Decision. Ever. So were extremely excited to find out what we were having. 

Instead of going to triage, we were put right into L&D. My mom dropped Henry off at his sitters and came to spend the day at the hospital with us. So went through all the typical steps of being induced, pitocin, water breakage, epidural and soon it was after 5:00. I was not all that surprised that it was taking that long, Henry took awhile too. But around 5:30 I started really feeling my contractions, like REALLY feeling them. The anesthesiologist came in and tried to up my dose, it helped a little but not a ton. Things started progressing pretty quickly and I was in considerable pain and ready to go but the doctor wanted me to hold on just a bit longer. I did and then it was time to push! All I remember clearly is watching Jeopardy! While I was in active labor and trying to focus on the questions. Then at 7:45 I remember looking at the clock and thinking "this baby will be out by 7:00!" and sure enough Scheffler was here at 8:03! 

Now, we didn't know what we were having, but I was CONVINCED we were having a girl. I had dreams that we were having a girl. I had all these feelings. But then the night before I was to be induced, I dreamt we were having a boy. So I was doubting myself all day. When Scheffler came out the doctor said "Okay, Mom and Dad look!" and held him up right between us and Nick and I looked right at each other and said "It's a boy!" And the next thing I said was an apology to my son. I had been calling him her and she for awhile now. They put him on my chest and everything seemed right in the world. I had two boys. 

With Henry I didn't have that "angels coming down from the clouds and sunshine and rainbows and harps playing" moment that mothers describe. I knew I loved him but I was tired and now had to start on an adventure without a map. With Scheffler it was different, I was attached very quickly. Maybe it was because I'd counted every day of that pregnancy and prayed so hard for him. But he was here and he was perfect. 

SCHEFFLER JAMES MEYER

5-13-15

8:03

9lbs

21.5in

 

Two Years.

It's been TWO years since I posted.

I have a reason.

It was two years ago I found out I was pregnant but not with Scheffler, with the baby before him.

It was two years ago that we lost that baby.

I didn't want to talk about it. I certainly didn't want to see the words in front of me that I'd lost a baby. So I stopped writing. Because that was my life for a couple months. And then we quickly became pregnant with Scheffler and I was overwhelmed counting the days of that pregnancy. I had another scare but days became weeks and weeks became months and soon enough Scheffler was here.

Life became busy and I stopped blogging. But then I realized recently that I missed it. I clicked through the old posts and realized, this was Henry's baby book. I never filled out one for him. I recorded his weights, height, changes, trips, etc, all right here.

So, I'm starting again today. But first I catch up. I'm going to go back and write out some monthly updates for Scheffler. I want this to be his baby book too. I want both of the boys to look back at this and see out family trips and silly weekends. So, my resolution is to get better at this.

So, together, let's look back at this last year.

Kate

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.