The Lighting of the Riverwoods

Amidst all the health issues and extra hours at work and full time schooling, we decided to take a little break and go out on a little family activity. Sometimes its nice when you are overly stressed and tired with bills and homework and other cares of the world to just drop everything and have fun for a little while. So we bundled up nice and warm and headed over to the Riverwoods to see them turn on all the lights. It was super cold, and we got there around 5 only to find out that they wouldn't turn the lights on until 6:30, so we wandered through the stores and even found a beautiful nativity picture that I fell in love with and Jon bought it for me for super cheap! The artist was even there and signed it for us. How lucky is that?!? Then we stood in the massive crowds and watched the lights turn on and all three of us really enjoyed it! Here are a few pictures and a cute video from our evening:

Ice Sculptures

Kind of hard to see in this one, but it says NOEL.

Waiting for the lights to turn on.

Health Updates

As many of you know, Crew was super colicky as an infant. After lots of calls and visits to the doctors office, it was determined that he most likely had a dairy allergy, and possibly other food allergies. I was nursing so I went off all dairy (and for those of you who have never done that, dairy is in EVERYTHING) and tried to avoid wheat and soy as well. It was really hard to find things without dairy! And when it came time to start feeding Crew solids, there really wasn't much I could give him as a result. But the doctor assured us that dairy allergies are almost always gone by the time a child turns 1 so we looked forward to November with great anticipation and excitement. It was a very long, hard year, but we made it! At the beginning of October I started giving Crew soy yogurt. He LOVED it! And there didn't seem to be any reactions as far as allergies went, so the next step was to try dairy. The reason I started in October was because I really wanted to give him a cake for his birthday! A nice, big, moist, sugary, frosting coated cake! I wanted him to smash it and eat it and love it like all little one year olds should! So I wanted to make sure everything was a-okay in the allergy department before I did that. So I started giving him dairy yogurt. The first couple of days were fine, but then he got sick. He was vomiting all day for like 2 days! At first I thought, oh no, it's the dairy allergy! But then I got sick and Jon wasn't feeling all that great either so we were sure it was just a stomach bug. We waited until everyone felt better, and then I tried giving him dairy yogurt again. Well, he got sick again. For like a week. And even after that he was super cranky and lethargic for another week. It was miserable for everyone. I was so disappointed! This allergy was supposed to be gone!!!!!!

So at Crew's one year doctors appointment I explained in detail everything we had tried and the results to the doctor. He said it was probably still the allergies. He said occasionally they don't go away by one year but should for sure go away within the next year or two. ANOTHER YEAR OR TWO?!?!?! People, we are going to die. I'm STILL feeling overwhelmed and annoyed by it all and most of all I am at a complete loss as to what to feed my baby! The doctor wanted to make sure though, so he sent me with Crew to the hospital to get a blood test for food allergies so we knew exactly what we were dealing with. 2 days later, the doctor called back with the results. Are you ready for this, everyone?

Crew is allergic to the following:

Eggs
Milk
Peanuts
Corn
Rice
Oats
Wheat
Tomatoes
Soy
and Carrots

WHAT. THE. HECK.

 Not only do we have no idea what to feed him, but since October he has pretty much refused to eat anything except ramen noodles and peas and ground beef. Well, and candy. But I REFUSE to let him have candy until he can start eating other things that are healthy for him so that doesn't count.
Jon and are are completely at a loss, and overwhelmed, and so tired of these dang allergies! We are doing lots of research and trying to find more things for Crew and I to eat but most things involve us spending a LOT of money at a health store like Good Earth. Money that we do not have. Not that Crew would eat anything different anyway. So that is my current update with Crew's health. Right now we are asking for lots and lots of prayers that Crew will get over these allergies soon and start eating again. And if you are still reading this, thank you for putting up with my ranting.

Birthday and Party

I wanted Crew's first birthday to be perfect, but of course, things didn't go as planned. Crew had been sick pretty much the entire month of October (more on that in the next post...) and was still feeling sick on his birthday so he wasn't very happy at all that day. When we went to get his pictures taken, he threw up all over his outfit and then Jon thought he had packed the birthday onsie that I had made for his photo shoot but accidentally forgot it so we didn't get any pictures of him at the studio with that one on which I was super bummed about. Then we only got one pic of him with his balloons in the studio because he ripped the tape off of the ground and the balloons all floated up to the really high ceiling and started popping up there. Plus, it turns out Crew is still allergic to dairy so I had to make an allergy free cake for him which he didn't care too much for. It just wasn't my most favorite day. But at least he got to open presents which he seemed to like. He got a cute little train toy from Grandma and Grandpa and he got his first pair of shoes from Mamie and Papa. Then Jon and I got him a lot of books and 2 toys: a toy xylophone, and a cute little ball popping machine. I paid for all of his gifts with gift cards I had earned from Swagbucks so I was pretty proud of the fact that I didn't have to use any of Jon's hard earned money. Anyway, on the evening of Crew's birthday we went over to Mamie and Papa's house because they wanted to give him his gift and he had his cake there too. I tried to take a few pictures with the special birthday onsie I had made him, but they didn't turn out very well because he was all pictured out. Oh well.

When we took him to the kitchen to sing to him and give him his cake he got super confused and didn't understand what was going on so he started crying. 

He had a bite or two of cake but he really wasn't interested. Since I am still nursing though, I am also on the allergy free diet an I think that that cake was the greatest thing I had tasted in over a year! So Happy Birthday to me too! Ha ha.

12 Months!

As of Novemeber 2, it has been ONE WHOLE YEAR since this cutie entered our lives!! I still can't believe how fast a year has flown by! It has felt so slow and so fast at the same time. He has gotten so big and has the cutest little personality and we are so in love with him! 

At one year, Crew still loves reading, playing outside (especially with the neighborhood children and on the swing set), being silly with Daddy, snuggling with Momma, eating Ramen noodles, peas, and ground beef, and exploring the world around him! It almost seems hard to remember what life was like before Crew was born. We love him so much! He is the brightest and best part of our lives and we adore him every second of every day. Happy First Birthday, Crew Bear!

On his birthday, we took him to go get some pictures taken. Here are a few favorites: