Double celebrations

Woke up at my parents’ house on Friday and went for a run while Kyle hung with the kiddos, then we swapped and he got his workout in.  After a quick shower P and I hit the road to Fremont for his second oral immunotherapy appt.  All allergy posts are here FYI (in case you missed one and don’t know what I’m talking about with this OIT business).

We left later this time but still left room for a quick run in to sbux.  In the heat of the previous day’s packing chaos, I completely forgot the bag of all P’s activities (including his meds that I need if he has a reaction when we aren’t at the clinic!). SUCH A FAIL.  Ugh.  Luckily my parents’ house is packed with kids’ stuff and I found both of the Where’s Waldo books I had from my childhood…in addition to an I Spy book and some felt boards. I printed out a few more letter activities from the measured mom website and I was back in action.  I still felt horrible for forgetting his meds…and the Connect Four game he got from the pediatrician after being so brave during his shots.  But I explained to him that I made a mistake and that I’d remember it next time for sure.

The truth of the matter is, he spent the first two hours on my lap searching through the pages of Where’s Waldo with the only breaks for dosing and vitals.

Champ.

This special berry flavored apple sauce was a fun change up for him – made even more enjoyable by adding almonds, cheerios, and raisins from the trail mix I made him one by one in to it. Whatever works to pass the time!  In this case, his s u p e r s l o w eating works to my favor.  No joke, between books that require searching for hidden objects and eating, it pretty much fills up all the time we are there.  Not that it flies by or anything.

New snack alert!

I bought these bare banana “chips” for P, but I like them too.  I like surprising him with some kind of special snack or new activity (or both!) for OIT days to keep him excited about it.  I’ve heard of the bare brand before but hadn’t tried anything.  Nugget Market carries a bunch of their products and the coconut chips looked good too.  Maybe next time…

Per pacman, the one with the most hair in the photo is V!?!

P had another very successful day of OIT, which ended on a more concentrated ratio of water to milk.  However an hour after his last dose (right before we were about to be cleared to go) he started complaining of itching on his inner elbow.  They kept him over an hour after that, giving him anti-histamines too, and monitoring his vitals and the progress of the symptoms just to be overly cautious.  Also, one of his cheeks and ears turned red and puffed up, so obviously they waited for that inflammation to go away too.  In the end, it stopped before it advanced further, but I was definitely on high alert for the whole drive home (especially since I left my meds in Davis!).

P didn’t nap on the way back to my parents house, and when I got home, they told me V refused to nap too.  So we all went for a walk around the reservoir.

My sister was off work by then, so she joined us.  It was fun until a chopper started circling overheard.  Came to find out there was a mountain lion up in the brush (very much within view). EEEEEKKKK!  No thank you.  Kept the kids in the stroller after that and buddied up with another walker who had a big dog. Nobody else seemed phased, but I was pretty glad that we only had a mile left until we were back to the car.

Dinner!  The birthday boy (Kyle) got to pick the meal, which was burgers.  My dad grilled and my sis made fries, and I anxiously hovered trying to help get the kids down early…until I was given a glass of Roscato and told to go watch basketball.  Done.

He chose my mom’s chocolate pecan pie for dessert, OBVIOUSLY.  It’s everyone’s favorite, so we were all very happy about his choice.  😉

We spent that night there, and then got out the door as soon as the kids finished breakfast the next morning.  I was up before the rest of the house with P, so I worked out in the living room while he hung out with me and did more Where’s Waldo and felt boards.  I totally killed myself!  I have been majorly sore ever since that workout!!  Anyway, we were trying to get on the road asap, because we scheduled V’s 2nd birthday party at 9:30 that morning.  Back in Davis.

V had a shared party just like last year with her birthday buddy.  His mom and I are known as “the Elises” when together, but have to go by our last names amongst our friends since it’s too confusing otherwise. It’s funny that I went my whole life not knowing anyone else with my name, and now I have a best friend also named Elise.  Spelled the same way, even!

Despite being due a day apart, our two cuties were born a week apart.  We were the first crazy moms of our group to have second kids, so it has been nice to have her to share in the chaos of two young things so close in age.

Anyway, we divided and conquered for the party…we did a craft first, thanks to Elise’s pinterest-ing (while Kyle ran home to get the muffins I left in the fridge).

I made two pans of these apple honey vanilla muffins (“cupcakes”) which were a huge hit.  I think every kid had a second, and several had three.

The wind was a little too much, so I just held out the candle for them to pretend blow out….but they looked at me like I was crazy.

My loves.

By noon everyone had dispersed so we went home for lunch and naps.  Just one of those was for me.

Oh hiiiii.  Lunch of my dreams.

After P woke up I took him shopping with me.  First we had to go get V a birthday present.  Even though we did no presents with her, I’m letting him pick something out to gift her just like I did with her for his birthday (because I like promoting giving and encouraging generosity). My sweet boy was so thoughtful…brainstorming bunny things for her because he knows how much she loves bunnies.  After that we went grocery shopping and came home to join the other half of the family with some backyard playing until dinner.

I had a beast of a salad for lunch and wasn’t totally in the mood for another salad (weird, I know), but Kyle wanted a Caesar, and he is basically picking all the meals this week in honor of his birthday.  So I jazzed up the traditional Caesar by adding in shaved brussels.  Heaps of nooch for moi.

And then chocolate pecan pie for dessert for us both.  Glad my mom let me bring some home because it’s SO GOOD!!

P gave Kyle a fantastic birthday present by waking at 5 am and then having a meltdown when I tried to convince him it was too early to get up.  He’s going through something with his sleep at night right now and it’s been a doozy to deal with.  Over the past week I haven’t slept through the night once – usually there are 2-3 wake ups involved with irrational issues at the root of it all.  For a child who has slept 12-15 hours a day for his entire life, this is definitely a new thing to deal with. We have tried a few tweaks that haven’t worked but last night (Monday) was the first successful one thus far, so we will see if it continues.  Kids go through phases so I just have to keep reminding myself that they are growing and changing and to be patient and supportive (even though I want to sleep!).

Workouts followed by pancakes for breakie helped everyone.

After breakfast, Kyle opened his presents and then P and I went to church.

As long as they were napping we were watching March Madness.  This time of year always brings back memories of watching with Kyle while laboring with V.

I baked a cake too.

He requested a super decadent chocolate cake, so I made this entire thing just for him.

He also requested tacos for dinner.  Just like his son did!

Taco lovers in this house.

It only took a few taco nights for V to get the shell situation.  My work here is done people.

Teenager Valley is going to hate me for posting these, but I don’t think it’s searchable, so that’s good.

The boys both had THREE TACOS each, and here V is on her second…

Having the refried beans to act as glue in the bottom of the taco was the way to go.  Also, I did it for my own personal benefit because I’ve been in a refried beans kind of mood lately.

Here’s Kyle’s plate.

Look at all that yummy stuff!

I deconstructed mine because the organic chips are SO SALTY and irresistible. I gave V daiya cheese with me and P, so Kyle was the lone cow milk eater.

Before we put the kids down, we all sang for the birthday boy.

The Bruins gave Kyle a WIN for his birthday!  And then the work week arrived like a freight train.  Sigh. I guess the birthday partying had to come to an end eventually…