Halloween: Take 2

James and I spent a quiet Halloween Day at home, getting things ready for our church's big annual Pig Pickin' coming up this weekend.  I'm currently the Community Team leader for our church, so it's my job to plan and prepare fellowship events, and make sure they run smoothly.  It's a lot of fun, but a lot of work.  So, I spend a lot of time working on things at home, with the help of James.

Through out the day, we wore parts of our costumes to get in the spirit of things.  We carved jack-o-lanterns and drank apple cider (well, James played in the garage floor while I carved, and he drank milk while I had cider).  We also snacked on some pumpkin muffins I made (egg-free).  They turned out great, replacing chia seeds for eggs.  So, James has been able to enjoy his first baked good (no worries - 100% whole grain, no refined sugar, organic, etc. for those that care).

We stopped by the park for some swing action as a break from all the Pig Pickin' work:

Checking out the jack-o-lanterns on the front porch:

This next series of pictures melts my heart (it also contains my new all-time favorite photo of James):

(Favorite below!):

 Once it got dark, we had lots of trick-or-treaters, and that was fun.  We took a little trip over to Emily and Jon Davidson's to trick-or-treat and say hello (Emily is one of Stuart's co-residents who lives one street over in our neighborhood).  Then, Chris & Jill Merrick stopped by for some Halloween cider and candy-handing-out.  All in all, a very nice Halloween if I don't say so.

Halloween:Take 1

Monday night, our Community Group had a Halloween party where costumes were required attire.  So, I spent several weeks prior making a costume for James after he told me how much he wanted to be Max from Where the Wild Things Are.  He loves that book!

He especially loved pointing at the wild things in the book, so I thought Stuart and I could be wild things.  Our costumes were a bit last minute compared to James' Max costume. Good thing, too, because James was absolutely terrified of our wild things wigs and masks.  So, we didn't wear them most of the night.

He didn't seem to mind his costume, once he got used to it.  As evidenced below, he was unhappy at first, but to his credit, we also had him up quite a bit past his bedtime, so that could explain some of the fussiness.  I wish I had taken photos of everyone there (I know photos were taken, we just didn't get many!).  We had a great time, including James.  I think he loved hanging out with all of his friends :) 

Tonight is real Halloween, so we'll dress up again to handout candy to trick-or-treaters.  We'll see how round 2 goes!

James in a bucket

Because it was funny...

James: 10 months (discipline!)

I feel like this month flew by!  James is growing and changing and learning so quickly these days, it blows me away.

Language

He is doing several signs to communicate with me, and that is so fun.  I love to watch him sitting and practicing with his hands, trying to move his hands and fingers so intently.  Then, he will look up at me and do the sign, and he is so proud of himself.  So stinking cute.  He regularly uses the signs for more, all done, milk (although this seems to be more general - like hungry or thirsty), sometimes please.  We're working on please, thank you and water.  He waves hello, goodbye and night night, claps for "yay" and pat-a-cake, and points at anything that he wants or thinks is interesting (including strangers in the store).

He also verbally says a few words!  His first word happened this month: "dad!"  He actually says "da," but it is definitely what he calls Stuart (and not anything else).  It first happened a few weeks ago.  I was showing him pictures of Stuart while he was gone at work, and I asked James, "Who is this?" And he answered, "Da!"  It is really sweet.

About a week ago, he started saying "ma" or "mama," associated mostly with when I walk out of a room, or I'm in another room and he wants me to come to him.  So, for "dad," it's an exciting declaration of affection, and for "mama," it's a whine of needing something.  Typical!

Also this past week, a few times instead of signing "milk," he actually says something that sounds like "milk," maybe "mik" or just "mi."

Mobility

He is moving all around, still "swimming" across the floor mostly, but he has been using his head less (he used to use it for leverage against the floor - pretty silly).  Now it's more like an exaggerated army crawl.  He also pulls up onto his knees, but only at the dishwasher.  He doesn't pull up to stand, but if I stand him next to something, he'll grab and hold on (sometimes with only one hand) and can stand for a minute or two.  I randomly started singing "Stand up, Stand up for Jesus" (the old hymn) when we first did standing practice, so now it's stuck as his standing song.



Discipline!

He has started having interest in a few things around the house that he is not allowed to play with, particularly any and all power cords (i.e. lamp cord, power cord to the computer, phone charger, etc.) and the water filter that screws into the bottom of the fridge.  He wants to yank on the power cords and chew on them.  For obvious reasons, this is against the rules and one of the few times that we tell him "no" and redirect him.  Then there is the fridge filter...

I don't know why he loves it, but he does.  He has figured out how to unscrew it and pop it out, and if he's quick enough, he sucks on it before I get it away from him.  And that's just gross, so it's the other time that we consistently use the word "no."  I don't expect him to remember from day to day (or even hour to hour) that he is not supposed to play with the filter.  But when he starts heading that way across the kitchen floor, I always say "James, no" and he stops, looks at me, looks at the filter and pats his little hands on the floor as if he is contemplating his next move.  Sometimes he will turn away and play with something else.  I always praise him when he does this, saying "Thank you for obeying mama."  Other times, he moves forward toward the filter.  Again, I'll say "James, no," and we do this until he actually gets to the filter and touches it.  The first time he touches it, I swoop him up and look him in the eyes and say "No, you have to obey mama," and redirect him to play with something else.  If he heads back toward the filter, he never pauses to contemplate, only dashes toward it as I continue saying "James, no."  When he touches it the second time, I swoop him up, pop his little hand and again say "No, you have to obey mama."  Sometimes he cries, but not because he is hurt, more like he is sad because I'm unhappy with him.  I then snuggle him and tell him I love him, then redirect him to play with something else (Is this not just like our relationship with the Lord??).  Usually he does not go back to the filter after that (at least for a little while...).



Teeth & Food

James has six teeth (4 on top, 2 on bottom), with a few buds but nothing imminent to pop through.  He likes to use them to crunch his food.  Speaking of food, he's tried several new things recently:
pumpkin
plain yogurt
oranges
ground beef
chicken
spinach
cumin

He's also drinking water from a sippy cup.  We tried the traditional cup with a little spout, and he mostly just chewed on it.  We tried it with and without the valve (so that maybe he could see that if he just sucked on it right, he would get water), but he doesn't consistently drink out of it.  I tried a cup with a straw recently, and he is much better at that.  I'm hoping to invest in a good one soon that doesn't leak (hard to find, I hear, because the straws tend to leak more readily).



Daily routine at 10 months

6:30-7am wake (a bit earlier recently - some mornings even as early as 5am... could be due to some trips we've been on recently)

7am bottle (8 oz organic low lactose dairy formula), followed by breakfast (oats, fruit, O's)  no egg!

Playtime until 1st nap: reading books, sitting outside, playing with the tupperware in the kitchen (and/or the fridge filter as described above), blocks

8:30 or 9am goes down for 1st nap, usually sleeps 1-1.5 hours

9:30-10:30am wake from 1st nap and go for a jog/stroller ride or library storytime

11am 2nd bottle (6-8 oz)

12noon lunch (protein like beans, lentils or meat and a veggie and fruit)

1pm second nap, usually 1-2 hours

2:30-3pm wake from 2nd nap

3pm 3rd bottle (6-8 oz)

Our day really varies after 3pm:  Sometimes we stay home and just play around the house or go for a walk, and some days we'll go out for errands or see friends.

5-5:30pm dinner (another protein, often avocado if we have it, or some other veggie)

6:30pm head upstairs for bedtime routine

7pm lay down in crib for bedtime, usually he falls right asleep



Sleep routine

This has changed a little bit from what we started at 4 months when we did some sleep training.  Back then, he got a bath at bedtime every night, followed by an intense rub down with lotion and medicated ointment.  Since getting him off the soy formula, his eczema has much improved.  So now, our routine before naps and bedtime are pretty similar:

Diaper change (we always lay him down in a dry diaper, otherwise he tends to leak)
Read a book (or two) - we cannot skip this step, or else he will let us know!
Turn off the light and turn on the white noise
Snuggle/rock/sing for a minute or two
Lay him in the crib, walk out and close the door

At bedtime, he still gets lotion put on after his diaper change, and a bottle in the rocking chair (other bottles during the day are given downstairs on the couch typically).

This routine has worked awesome for us, and he definitely knows it means it's time to sleep!



Trips

We spent a long weekend in West Virginia after my Pappa Parsons had shoulder surgery, so James got to see everyone up there and spend some time with Aunt Katie before she moved across the country to Seattle (sad face!).

We spent another weekend at the beach with our loveliest friends, the Reagans and the Merricks.  Such a good time.

We also had one of our favorite family members from Arkansas come visit: Jenna!  Her trip was full of shopping and lounging and eating!  We also went to the NC Museum of Art (the above photo with the lilly pads was taken there).

James goes to the ocean

Stuart rarely has a weekend off, but in September he ended up on call on a Thursday night, followed by a golden weekend.  So, he was "off" (post-call) all day Friday, then off all weekend until Monday morning!  We were able to go on a mini-vacation to Emerald Isle, where some good friends have a house that we could use.  And those good friends came along, which made our time away all the more sweet.

On the way to Wake Med to pick up dad after his 24 hour call.  Stuart was such a good sport to just hop in the car and try to nap on the way to the beach (post-call, he usually crashes as soon as he gets home and sleeps for 6-8 hours).

First order of business upon arrival: nap time!

Second order of business: see the ocean!

Casey (with baby pea pod Reagan in her belly!), Wen, Stuart with Baby James, Chris & Jill all the way down there on the end.  I wish we would have thought to get a group photo!

Sand-buried for the first time (by his dad, of course).

Aaaaaand tasting sand for the first time.

Sweetest beach baby had a great time.  He was not entirely sure about the waves, though we did play right at the edge of the sea and let James sit as the waves came up.  He obviously didn't mind the sand (as evidenced above).  But he mostly enjoyed getting attention from some of his very favorite people all weekend.  We were so grateful for this weekend away with OUR favorite people, and came home feeling refreshed.

Baby's first (and second) Benadryl

I started writing this post a few weeks ago after James had an encounter with a dog that belongs to one of my dear friends.  Toward the end of our visit at her house, I wanted him to play with her dog, mostly because he LOVES dogs, and also because the most recent research suggests that earlier exposure to common allergens reduces baby's risk of developing allergies.  So, I let him rub the dog's fur all over and let the dog get into James' face a good bit.  After leaving her house, we stopped by the library to turn in some books.  On the way there, James was pretty fussy in the back seat.  I figured he was just getting sleepy.  Once we arrived and I went around to get James out of his car seat, I found this:

The photos don't really do it justice - his face was bright red and his little eyes were almost swollen shut.  He also had some hives around his eyes.  He was not having any trouble breathing, so I called his pediatrician (from the library parking lot!).  They told me to go ahead and give him a baby dose of Benadryl.  They had to calculate based on his weight over the phone with me - mg/kg - because he is less than 1 year old.  The bottle actually says to not give to any children less than 4 years old.  No wonder Dr. Z wanted us to wait to try peanuts...

This photo was taken at home, about 10 minutes after taking the Benadryl.  Eyes wide open!  The funny thing is that the Benadryl didn't seem to make James sleepy at all.  He only took a 1 hour nap after this (which is shorter than his normal, non-Benadryl naps).  I'm still baffled as to why he had this reaction.  He has been around lots of different dogs, lots of different times, and never had any problem. The only thing different is this time, I let the dog lick James in the face.  I suppose it could be an allergy to the saliva (which is what Stuart has, so it makes sense).  We'll just need to be careful around dogs from here on out!

Fast forward a few weeks to this morning - I finally got my hands on some good quality, organic eggs, and James was getting tired of oatmeal every morning for breakfast, so we decided today was the day to try something new!  I scrambled him a little egg and put it on his tray.  He took a few bites, then started fussing.  I figured he just didn't like it, so I added some fruit and O's so he would have something for breakfast.  A few minutes later, I noticed some redness around his little mouth:

When I looked closer, I noticed his hands were red, swollen and covered in hives!  Poor baby!  I waited a few minutes to see what would happen.  He was breathing fine, and wasn't fussy, happily eating the other food I gave him for breakfast (I did clean off his tray and wash his hands and face right away, though).

A few minutes later, James started crying and crying and wouldn't stop.  He was scratching himself all over and was acting quite miserable.  I went ahead and gave him a dose of Benadryl (thankfully we knew the dose from the dog encounter a few weeks ago, and that it was recent enough that his weight likely hasn't changed that much).  I should have given it to him earlier, like as soon as I noticed the hives, because he was miserable for the next 20 minutes while we waited for the Benadryl to kick in!  It's interesting, because this time the Benadryl made him very drowsy, and so I rocked him to sleep (which we never do!) and now he's upstairs snoozing.  I keep checking to make sure he is breathing and has no wheezing.  So far, he's fine :)

I was thinking about why he had a reaction like this the first time that he had egg - usually you don't see a reaction until the 2nd or 3rd exposure to an allergen.  I realized that he got the first dose of his flu shot a few weeks ago, which has some egg protein in it from the way the vaccine is manufactured.  It's important to us that James gets vaccinated, so I ended up calling and talking to a nurse at the pediatrician's office about all of this (I realize I should have called them anyways, because she mentioned that Dr. Zimmerman wants to do some allergy testing since he's had two too many reactions now in her opinion, and for my peace of mind).  We go back in a week or so to get the 2nd round of the flu vaccine, and we will have to wait 30 minutes after he gets the shot to make sure he doesn't have an allergic reaction.

I have done some reading about the increase in food allergies in the past few decades, and it is really scary stuff.  So far, I have tried to do everything to give James a fighting chance against food allergies.  He only eats organic (and mostly local), has exposure to lots of new foods with the appropriate amount of time in between introducing new foods. Though, breast feeding is the one thing that we just couldn't do - this is still the one thing that plagues me, because using infant formula, particularly soy-based, vastly increases a child's risk for developing food allergies.  But in the end, I just have to accept that there is likely a genetic predisposition involved, considering Stuart's allergies and other family members that have allergies as well.

Eating food and exploring the world shouldn't be a fearful thing, but it seems to become that when it seems that at any new exposure, my baby boy could break out in hives or later develop an anaphylactic reaction!  Praying that I don't become an overly protective mama because of these things.

Photo bomb

Lots of cuteness lately...