Ethan LOVES the bowling game on our Wii. And he's actually REALLY good at it; he often beats Adam and I. So we took him to a real bowling alley a couple weeks ago. He had so much fun, but I think it was a sad reality for him to face that real bowling balls are heavy, and not so easy to throw like the Wii bowling ball.
Every year Adam's Grandma and Grandpa make gingerbread houses for ALL their grand kids and their spouses and great grand kids (probably around 50 houses that they make from scratch). Everyone brings decorations and go crazy. It's such a fun tradition and his grandparents are so nice to do it for so many people.
And here we are picking out our Christmas tree a couple weeks ago. Adam always begs to buy a fake tree, but I grew up always having a real tree, so I end up winning that discussion every year. I love the way real trees smell and look.
We bought a hot tub a couple months ago, and have loved it so far. We get in several nights a week (so if anyone ever wants to join us, let us know!)
A big stress we've been dealing with lately is Ethan's peanut and almond allergies. We've known he was allergic to peanuts since he was 1 and had a pretty severe reaction (hives, wheezing, trouble breathing). But I didn't ever take him to be tested because his pediatrician blew it off and said he'd probably outgrow it so just wait a year and try again (by the way, that's the worst advice ever). Last year, his preschool teacher gave him Reece's Pieces for several days in a row even though I told her he was allergic. He came home every day screaming and crying in pain and would throw up and diarrhea and be so out of it. I thought he was just sick, but then finally realized what was happening. So I took him to an allergist early this year and they did a blood RAST test, but somehow the lab FORGOT to test for peanuts. So we found out he was also allergic to eggs and almonds, but didn't know HOW allergic to peanuts he was. I found a new and MUCH better allergist last month and had him re-tested, and they also did a skin prick test. On the blood test, it starts at 0 and the highest possible score is 100 plus. For peanuts, if you score above 14, that means you will have a reaction 100% of the time. But even with a lower score of say 3 or 4 you could go into anaphylactic shock if you had even a trace amount of peanuts. Well, Ethan scored 100 plus!! His almond score was around 7 and luckily he's pretty much outgrown his egg allergy. But ever since I found out how severe his peanut allergy is, it has really hit me how dangerous ANY exposure to any amount of peanuts or almonds is. Doctors say that each time someone with a peanut allergy is exposed to peanuts, the reaction usually gets worse every time. And peanut allergies are the most deadly of food allergies for some reason. I never realized before how peanuts are everywhere and in the most random products. Even things that aren't la bled to have a trace of peanuts can still have them. Sorry for the LLLOOONNNGG post, but to make a long story short, we carry his epi-pen everywhere now, just in case.
Another stress in my family is that my older brother Eric had a seizure a few nights ago and had to be rushed by ambulance to the emergency room. He doesn't have a history of seizures and the doctor could find nothing wrong with him besides dehydration. He is doing great now and we are all praying that he continues to do so. Love you Eric!
1 comment:
Holy excitement at the Winn house! The allergies sound terrible. I'm glad you wrote about them though, now I know if you are ever at my house to be really careful about it. Poor kid! You should get a second epi-pen and leave it with his teacher or the school nurse just in case. Stupid teacher. Reese's? Really? I remember you telling me about that one. I thought teachers were supposed to be smart.
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