Day by day by day

I was just sitting in my rocker tonight, nursing Waylon, and thinking how quickly life is flying by and how I'm not blogging about any of it here. I know I'll regret that one day so I need to play catch up ASAP by just jotting down things as they happen and as I remember them.

If you've seen me on Twitter recently you may have seen my tweet about Waylon and an ambulance. It was about three weeks ago that I gave him some baby yogurt. I hoped he didn't have the same allergy to dairy that Delaney had for the first two years of her life. I figured that even if he did, how bad could a few hives around his mouth be? That was the harmless reaction Delaney had when she ate or came into contact with dairy products (although it didn't seem so harmless at the time!). I was very wrong. Within minutes of ingesting about 1 1/2 teaspoons of yogurt, Waylon's face began to swell. He broke out in hives around his eyes. He couldn't stop scratching his eyes and ears. Then he started sneezing uncontrollably and snot poured out of his nose. He was breathing but things were happening so quickly that I was worried. It was just after 5pm so his pediatrician's office didn't answer. I had no Children's Benedryl around so, as things escalated, I did the only thing left: I called 911. The ambulance arrived about 10-12 minutes after I called which, I thought at the time, would have been too damn late if he actually had been having real breathing problems (I can't even bring myself to go there.). Luckily, by the time the EMTs arrived the symptoms had slowed a bit. But they wanted us to ride with them to the hospital just in case Way's symptoms increased or he started having breathing problems so Way, Delaney and I all piled into the ambulance with our new neighbors staring raptly on.

Delaney was a champ. I worked hard to stay calm, assuming that would keep her calm and it worked. They strapped her tiny self into a huge, adult seat with a harness of some sort. She thought the ride was spectacular. Once at the ER Way was immediately evaluated and everyone in the room (three doctors and four others...some nurses, others techs I think) agreed that Way should steer clear of dairy. He wasn't wheezing but the reaction he'd had was so quick and aggressive that they gave him some steroids and Benedryl and sent us home with a prescription for an epi pen.

I took him to see Delaney's pediatric allergist who gave him a skin test for several foods and a RAST for milk and eggs. He showed up positive on the RAST for milk and he had a few minor reactions on the skin test (oat, rice and carrot, all of which he eats with no problem and peanuts which freaked me out something fierce for a few hours--the doctor reassured me that peanut tends to give a lot of false positives and that we should just keep him away from them now and retest him in a year to be sure).

He is now 10 1/2 months old and he's changing daily. He understands a lot of what we say. He giggles at the dinner table to get our attention. Whenever he sees my Blackberry, he holds a hand up to his ear and pretends to chat ("Aaaarrrrrrrghh Ragggghhhh!"). He can tell you what a bear says (he holds up his hands like claws and growls menacingly!). He can point to his toes, his fingers, his daddy, Delaney, nearby lights, and our dog when asked. He's only holding on with one hand when he stands and sometimes he even lets go. He shuns baby food, preferring instead to eat little chunks he can pick up and feed himself (something I didn't let Delaney do until she was months older than he is now...I was a freak about potential choking hazards...ah, the second child enjoys a much freer existence!). He loves carrots, broccoli, sweet potato, lentils, banana, Gerber puffs, and Cheerios. He has a great new babysitter (found through Sittercity.com) who comes 1-2 times a week when Delaney is in school so I can work.

He's also finally sleeping better after a wicked 4-6 week stretch of not sleeping well at all. He had a cold that turned into an ear infection in September and that messed everything up. But we've finally broken his (my?) dependency on The Swaddle and I'm cutting my caffeine intake, both of which seem to have helped increase his sleep from stretches of 2-3 hours of sleep at a time to 9-11 hours straight. Hallelujah!

Thanks to her benevolent grandparents, Delaney takes a Spanish class once each week during preschool. It's awesome when your kid can speak to you in another language and you have no idea what she's saying. I swear the kid'll be smarter at age 5 than I am now. She loves school and her friends and teachers. She's growing flowers in our backyard. We call her our little nature girl because she's always bringing us leaves or plants or rocks or sticks. She plays outside on her playscape even when I'm in the kitchen and can't be out there with her. A few days ago she had an imaginary friend named Julie who got her into all sorts of trouble out there. She's constantly drawing and her pictures have evolved from colorful scribbles into portraits of people with distinct traits (the important stuff like belly buttons and panties and teeth). And, while she has her occasional three-year-old tantrums, she really seems so grown up most of the time that Roger and I have to remind ourselves and each other that she's only three. The bad part about that? She's overheard us saying that to each other and now when she gets into any trouble she rolls her eyes and says, "But, Mom, I'm ONLY THREE!"

Roger and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary last month by going on our second date since Way was born. We had a lovely, albeit early, evening at Wildfish on their patio. Now that we have a new babysitter we're looking forward to making date night a regular happening instead of a twice-yearly event.

As for me? This has been one of the most difficult years of my life. People, friends--heck, Roger!--always told me that having two kids was more than double the work. That having two kids was harder than they ever imagined. That the first year of having two kids could be a marriage killer. I didn't want to believe them. I thought it would be different for me. It wasn't. I'm often overspent, undersexed, underslept, harried, confused, bedraggled and at a loss for time such that I can't even shave my legs. But I'm happy. I'm so very happy with my husband and my children and my work and my life and my hairy legs. And I'm finally getting a handle on all of this. It's taken me a long time but, while I'm far from done learning how to be a mother to two, a wife to one and a friend to myself, I'm getting there day by day by day.

Comments

[mamasutra]

Yay for updating on kidlet progress! I've really been falling behind on that myself. But, oh my, how scary with the allergies. I've worried with my girls as there are some significant allergies in our family background, but so far we've been really fortunate. So much more to worry about once you become a mama!!

[karen]

OMG how scary that yogurt thing must have been! I'm glad Delaney got a kick out of the ambulance ride instead of being scared...but hope she never has cause to take another one.

[Don Mills Diva]

Good for you!

I can't imagine how scary that incident with the yogurt must have been - that is the kinda stuff that no one can prepare you for...

[Lisa]

First off, I'm soooo glad that Waylon is OK and nothing truly serious happened! Whew!

Secondly, it was so much fun to read such a detailed update on the little ones!! When I was reading the beginning about Way's yogurt incident, I keep thinking, "Oh how scary for such a tiny little baby!" Then when I saw he was 10 1/2 months I was like, "NO way!!!" I was still thinking he was like 5 or 6 months. What an idiot I am!

Oh, and, yeah. Sorry I didn't warn you on that one kid to two thing. It was awful!! The good news? Two to three is a PIECE OF CAKE! I know, that makes absolutely no sense, but it's so true in my experience.

Not that I think you're going for #3 but just saying . . . :)

[Kelly O]

Oh jeez, that gave me anxiety just reading about it. Glad your little boy is fine.

[Pat]

I,too, really enjoyed your update. Have been feeling out of the loop lately and hate that. Also, am so glad you've found a good babysitter (yeah, SOOO jealous!) When I return from my Thanksgiving sojourn am definitely going to see you and the kids. Think about you guys all the time!