Good Bye Peanut Allergy!!!

Keira passed her oral peanut butter challenge today with flying colors. No signs of any problems whatsoever. When I first rubbed some peanut butter on the inside on her lower lip she said " hmmmm I like peanut butter. Can I have a teeny tiny peanut???" And then "Can I have more peanut butter??" No more reading labels to check for "made in a facility that produces peanuts" or toting the Epi Pen around. Hmmm peanut butter bars and peanut butter granola bars sound so good right now!!!
Her asthma is not doing as great though. Keira has pretty much been coughing non stop since the fall and she does not have a cold. She coughs every time she goes from inside to outside and outside to inside, every time she has increased activity ( aka running around, jumping on the bed etc) Her cough is a deep, hacking cough and turns heads whenever we go anywhere. We are going to increase her inhaled steroid that she takes twice a day and see if that helps.
Israel so far has done great. After 3 colds with wheezing last winter so far he has had 2 colds and no wheezing so Im hoping that he shows no further signs of asthma.

Bits and Pieces

Our blog has been boring lately... for a reason. Monday we spent the day in Boston at the Children's Museum with the kids. We had a blast. I love that place. I could say that over and over again. Its just such a fun and cool place. Israel, being a walker now had so much fun. Last time we went it was on a weekend and it was busy busy. This time being a Monday it wasn't crowded at all. Anyways between watching the kids like hawks as they run, walk and check everything out we had the double stroller ( for the walk back and forth from the parking garage), lunch, the diaper bag, the camera, jackets... you get the idea. We got home and realized we were missing the camera. Luckily after a few calls to the museum we were able to track it down! Thank you St Anthony!!! We are going back down on Wednesday to retrieve the camera.

On Wednesday we are also taking Keira for her oral peanut butter challenge and will find out if we still need to tote an Epi- Pen everywhere with us. Hopefully the answer is no! Both the kids have asthma follow ups as well.
We had showing number 15 ( on the house) last Monday as well. We were disappointed yet again when the feedback was "buyers didn't like the layout" Major letdown. We are preparing to take the house off the market next week and I'll admit we are both extremely disappointed that we can't seem to sell our house. We have done everything we possibly can to make it sell. Clean out stuff, store stuff off site, keep clutter non existent, lower the price, lower the price again- and yet again. The "important" rooms (bathrooms, kitchen) are all updated ( heck the whole house is updated). We really wanted to get this thing sold before baby number 3 arrives as the house is only going to get more crowded as we add another crib and dresser and baby gear into the house. Not to mention that all our Christmas decorations are being stored at Mikes brothers house. We aren't sure what the plan is at this point. Re list after the holidays, re list after the baby arrives or stay put until the housing market improves. Why does God's plan never make sense as you are trying to live it?
I still can't believe the baby is a girl!! So excited that Keira will have a sister. Even though they will be 4 years apart I hope they get along! I'm trying to come up with some names but Mike's veto power is ridiculous and like trying to name Israel it seems next to impossible to come up with a name we both like, that's unique, and that goes with our last name. I have no idea why naming a child is so difficult for us. So many people have names for their kids before they are even conceived!

Baby is a

GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes I am psyched!

Baby news

The big gender reveal/ ultrasound is Tuesday.... Boy or girl???? That's the big question!!!!!!!!

I was also about the celebrate the fact that I haven't thrown up in a full week - but in rushing this am to get to church on time I made the mistake of brushing my teeth right after waking up ( a major no no when super nauseous) and ruined the no throw up record. But over all I am feeling a bit better. I'm cooking dinner ( and eating it!) again for the most part. And we are almost half way through the pregnancy. Yay!!!

Halloween 2010

Keira as Belle..... and on a sugar high of course !

Israel didn't actually make it trick or treating. I took him on an errand with me and he fell asleep in the car.... and by the time he woke up Keira was almost done trick or treating it was way to cold out anyways. He didn't care. He ransacked Keira's bag of goodies for the chips and the raisins.

Israel and the Ipad

He is obsessed with it. He even knows how to touch the screen to make things move. If anyone is using it he begs and whines until he gets it. I think he inherited the obsession of all things electronic from his dad.

Puddle jumping in 70 degrees in Oct!!

Keira at school

Doing the hand motions to a praise and worship song. The kids are so cute singing and doing the hand motions!

Listening to a story...

Today was a "Harvest" Party at Keira's school today. All the parents were invited to come to chapel, do a craft, go on a scavenger hunt and have a potluck lunch. The kids were all so excited to see the parents at school. Big thanks to Alli for babysitting Israel so I could spend some special time with Keira.

Oktoberfest Allegro Style / Bouncy House fear conquered!

One of Mikes co workers had an "Oktoberfest" at his house today. Lots of yummy warm food, good fun and of course a bouncy house. Keira has long been afraid of bouncy houses. Several of our friends have them and they are usually up at BBQ's and birthday parties. She normally doesn't even like to look at them. Recently one of our neighbors rented a huge castle bouncy house for a birthday party. Keira spent a good amount of time staring out the window at the bouncy house ( from our safe distance across the street) and she declared that she wanted to go in that bouncy house because it was a castle one. We don't actually know these neighbors so she didn't get to go in it. Fast forward to today she finally worked up the courage to go in the bouncy house. She was bouncing away having a grand ole time... Mike and went in the house for a min to warm up and a fuse blew ( too many crock pots and heaters plugged into the same circuit I guess...) well the bouncy house started to deflate of course and scared Keira half to death. Luckily One of Mikes co workers was in there and got K out right away. Thanks Kelly!! She then declared that she was never going in a bouncy house again..... an hour or too later though Mike convinced her to go in with him. Yay! Bounce house victory!

ohhh and sorry about the blurry photo's.. I didn't realize the auto focus on the camera was turned off. Oops.

Pre Halloween party

Sarah the bumble bee, Keira the bride (with a cape- don't ask!), Maddie the ladybug, and Israel the spider. Yes I know. Not great photos. Someone is always looking the wrong way and as you can see Israel is way past nap time!

Mikes new ride

A 1998 Volvo s70. And yeah its red. Every car Mike has ever owned except the minivan has been red! But honestly he didn't even know the color before being 90% sure we were going to buy it. We are hoping it will be a reliable car and not a lemon.

Leaves

He walks!

Israel's 1 year stats

This is our online baby book of sorts...
Birth- 7 lbs 9 oz (19.5 inches)
12 days - 8 lbs 3 oz
6 weeks- 10 lbs 5 oz
2 months- 11 lbs
4 months 13 lbs 9 oz
5 months 13 lbs 14 oz
5 months + 3 weeks- 14 lbs 11 oz
6 months + 6 days 15 lbs 2 oz (26 inches)
12 months- 17 lbs 8 oz ( 28 inches)
That's 1 % for weight, 5% for height and 69% for head. So he is a short, tiny little man with a big head and lots of brains!! He is 1 inch shorter and 1 lb lighter than Keira was at a year. Mike and I apparently make tiny little munchkins!
And...... he is walking!!!!!!!!!! :o) Not full time yet.. he is doing mix of walking and crawling but he can walk across a room and take like 15 steps! Go Israel!!!

Birthday Celebration #2

No thanks.... giving his cake to Mama.

Fun with Illeana