anniecoleman.com

Life is busy, life is good.

Annie — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 15:48:17 +0000

We welcomed Marin Elizabeth on December 12th.

She is a sweet and easy baby, just like her big sister was. She happily models hand knits from head to toe.

Hat, sweater, and pants all on Ravelry. Lila was angry with me for a while but she is smitten with "Baby."

Life is good. We are sleep deprived but happy.

Marin nurses like a pro and Lila is still nursing so sometimes it feels like that is all I do but I love it. I love the connection and that intense eye-lock of love.

Marin is a happy little bunny.

She recently discovered her hands.

We are enjoying her so much and the time is flying by already.

It's hard to believe Lila is already two.

Her language is just starting to take off and it is so fun to hear her chatter away.

Stephen and I treated ourselves to new iPhones for the holidays. We were due for upgrades and I was itching for the better camera and Stephen was itching for other features like FaceTime. I love having the high quality camera on my phone because it is always with me and I take pictures really regularly now. I also got turned on to the Instagram app which has some cool filtering tools and is a sort of Twitter-ish social networking via pictures thing. A lot of the images in this post were taken on my iPhone and edited in Instagram and I'm really enjoying it. If you are using Instagram, my username is anniecr912 so feel free to follow along. If you aren't on Instagram, you can view my images on Webstagram: http://web.stagram.com/n/anniecr912/

I feel stretched thin these days. There's a lot to do and not much time to myself. We've just enrolled Lila in a Parents' Day Out program two mornings a week and it's hard to choose what to devote that precious time to sometimes. Knitting? Cleaning? Napping? Errands? Working? Reading? Blogging? I'd like to get back to blogging a bit more regularly and I have some ideas for how to work that into my day so we'll see how it goes.

Through All Things, I Knit

Annie — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 21:40:12 +0000

Has it really been 2.5 years since I blogged about knitting?!? Well, the knitting hasn't stopped. Today is wonderfully cool, breezy, and sunny and I sat out back while Lila napped. Wrapped up in my Kauni Eleanor Stole, with an afternoon home-made caramel mocha in my favorite giant mug, my current knitting project, and an audiobook of Graceling by Kristin Cashore, I snapped this shot on my iPhone. I'm typically frustrated with phone photos but I love how the colors and light turned out in this one.

My Kauni Eleanor Stole has turned out to be one of my most worn and beloved knitting projects. If you are new to my blog, you can read about its genesis and creation in these posts: Bad Blogger, Anne and Some Stole Pics, and Some Winter Pictures. Last year during Hanukkah, Stephen took this photo of Lila and me with my stole and it is one of my favorites.

I love my stole. I still have another gigantic cake of rainbow Kauni yarn that has yet to find its destiny. It's waiting patiently until I find the perfect project to inspire me.

Through all things in my life, knitting is there. I'll go in bits and spurts or in mad jags. Sometimes when it's hot and I want to be in the garden instead of inside with wool on my lap, I won't knit for days or even weeks. But, man, when the weather cools off like it has, my fingers itch for the needles and my mind overflows with project ideas.

Here is a mini gallery of some of my favorite finished projects through the last couple of years. You can click on an image to visit the Ravelry page for my project and see more details.

That last delicious baby is my niece Molly. Now that I have another girl on the way, I'm dreaming up matching hats and sweaters in sets of 3 for all of these sweet girls to wear this winter.

Summer to Autumn

Annie — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 21:02:35 +0000

All of a sudden, it is autumn. Last week was hot. As in, record setting high temperatures HOT. On Wednesday, a brief playtime in the back yard with Tasha had us all sweaty curls and mosquito bites.

On a side note, the walnuts are falling fast and Lila, convinced they are tennis balls, gathers them and tries to entice Tasha to chase. Tasha is not so interested in the walnuts but she will always oblige with a bit of a chase. (Excuse the overgrown weeds and dead grass, we can't keep up with our lower yard.)

Then, along with Labor Day weekend, which somehow feels like the beginning of autumn, the temperatures dropped. On Saturday Lila helped Daddy transfer some newly brewed beer to the secondary carboy. First they had to sterilize everything.

Helping to hold the siphon is serious business.

It's sort of magical to watch her become this independently willed person who knows what she wants to do. Lately, she wants to be involved in everything we do. So long as she can do that, she's a happy little bear.

I love that she now needs a barrette to keep her hair off her face. I also love how she wants to pick out the color and holds very still so I can put it in for her. So sweet.

We were inspired by the autumnal weather to do autumnal things so we made a batch of apple butter. Yum.

And for tonight, chicken squash chili is underway.

Speaking of squash, the good news is that my vines are finally flowering.

The bad news is that squash bugs have arrived. I found three feasting on my one little baby squash and when I flicked them off, the poor little damaged squash fell off as well. There is another female flower bud on that vine now so there is still a chance for harvest. I actually pruned off a side vine and some of the male flower buds in hopes of getting the female flower to bloom quicker and survive. I have no idea if that was smart or not but I figure the way things are going, I'm not getting much if any squash anyway so it's a little garden experiment. I'll also be out there squashing bugs as necessary and checking leaves for eggs.

I'm torn between loving this cooler weather and wanting summer to last a bit longer for my garden. I missed a big chunk of this summer and my garden's late start is evident. I find myself already dreaming of next year in the garden and what I will do differently. More tomatoes and squash and both in the ground asap, a new trellis for lots of green beans, a whole patch full of just sunflowers ... But for now, this gorgeous day and chicken squash chili in the slow cooker.

Late Summer Garden

Annie — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 19:24:55 +0000

I was just out watering and this little beauty stopped in to visit:

So lovely. The garden is doing okay despite its neglect over the summer.

On the first trellis are squash and cucumber. I planted just one cucumber plant since I'm the only one who eats them and it is producing beautifully. I planted two squash plants and they are growing well but the flowers have yet to open. One vine has produced two female flowers and one rotted off and died before it ever opened. The other vine has had no female flowers at all yet. I'm hoping they are just slow to produce since I was slow to plant them. Here is my one lonely female flower which I'm hoping will open up and get pollinated.

This variety is called Greek Sweet Red and is supposed to be a lot like a butternut. Last winter I combined a couple of different recipes to create a chicken butternut squash chili that was a real hit so I'm hoping to be able to have a nice crop stored away for this winter! One of the earliest male flowers on that same vine looks like it is just about ready to burst open so I'm keeping the hope alive.

On a side note, growing squash up the trellis has been working fine. Every week or so I go out and weave the end through the trellis once again and it carries on. However, the one vine has climbed up six feet and is halfway back down again and will no doubt keep on going. Luckily for this summer, I have one bed I never finished filling and planting so I'm planning to let the vines keep growing that way and onto the patio if need be. So far I've had no problems with squash bugs which took their toll on my pumpkin vines last summer. I'm not sure if that is from getting them up off the ground or not.

By the way, that nylon netting I originally built my trellises with which is supposed to be indestructible? One crop of peas and it fell apart. I've now got wire fencing lashed to my PVC frame and that is working well so far. The second trellis is all tomatoes and the poor things just needed an earlier start than they got. However, it looks like I may get some tomatoes yet.

That is if I can beat the squirrels to them of course. I also planted four Roma-type tomato plants in front of the first trellis on the left side and they are doing pretty well and should produce a good crop. The remainder of that first bed is green beans. I'm realizing that I probably need to plant more than four square feet of bush green beans to have a really decent crop all at once. Well, lesson learned for next year. The second bed that looks bare in front has just been replanted with broccoli, carrot, and spinach seeds and I'm trying to keep it moist and keep the squirrels and birds out until they all germinate. I'm not sure if it's too late for carrots now or not but I figured it's worth a shot. Here is today's harvest:

In another week I think I'll have enough green beans to make a three bean salad for us!

This Summer

Annie — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 19:25:47 +0000

Gardening got put on the back burner. I've been busy growing something else:

As with Lila, I was sick as a dog except this time it started sooner and lasted longer. I had a PICC line in my arm for 12 weeks delivering a constant stream of fluids and Zofran. Thank goodness the worst is over and now I can enjoy feeling Little Sister kicking around inside of me. She will be here in December.

So, all the summer seeds I started got set outside and those that survived the neglect and drought in their little pots finally went into the ground in early July. Which means I'm just now getting little baby tomatoes and squash but I'm still hopeful to have a good harvest before we have a freeze. Some seeds I'd put in the ground before I got sick just went nuts on their own so it has been nice to have some cucumbers and sunflowers.

I do love my veggies but that sunflower is easily the most spectacular thing I've ever grown from a seed! Lila is doing well and continues to love to be outside. She is my sweet garden helper.

Spring is Here

Annie — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 20:43:04 +0000

What a difference a day makes! These pink flowering cherry trees looked like this yesterday:

The flowers were just starting to open up. Today they are in full bloom and the white weeping cherry tree is beginning to bloom.

So lovely. When I walked up to these trees today, each tree sounded like the entire thing was buzzing and I realized it was honeybees, wild and drunk on the nectar. I didn't bother them, they didn't bother me.

Also happening in the yard and garden, hydrangea shoots:

Does anyone know what this plant is?

It's getting ready to blossom:

Hostas are showing up.

Daisies in the wildflower patch:

I need to do something with the wildflower patch. It was out of control last year. The daisies reseed like crazy so I have all these little baby daisies popping up.

I never knew what this pretty plant was called until Farmgirl Susan posted about it on her garden blog this week. Meet "Autumn Sedum Joy."

It will produce long flower stalks later in the summer but I think the little green rose-like foliage is the prettiest part of the plant. I have about five bunches of this plant along the side of the back part of our yard. A couple of years ago I happened to be outside when our next door neighbors were thinning their perennials. Martha, who is primarily a Spanish speaker, kept handing me plants over the fence, saying simply, "here." She gave me one clump and told me to divide it up so I split it into five and it has done beautifully with absolutely zero attention from me. That same year, Martha handed me a little sprig with a root and said, "herb." This oregano is tough stuff.

I found an odd little spot for it and it has thrived and come back every year with no winter protection. Because I've never been much of a cook, I've never been really sure what to do with herbs. Now that I'm learning a bit more about cooking, I plan on actually using the oregano this year and drying some as well.

The lilac bushes are starting to show leaves and buds.

Dayliles are going to town.

In the veggie patch, all kinds of things are thriving.

Okay, so maybe you have to get really close to see them, but they're there!

Spinach:

Garlic:

Peas continue to unfurl:

Four little peas in a row:

Now if you'll excuse me, I think I'll go sit on my porch and soak in this view:

Happy Spring everyone.

Evidence of Spring

Annie — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 01:54:37 +0000

We've had the strangest week of weather with an inch or two of slushy messy snow on Monday and then yesterday (Thursday) it was in the 70s. Despite the snow, spring is nearly here! Evidence of spring; exhibit #1: The cherry trees are getting ready to blossom.

We've built two covers to keep the critters out of the garden beds.

More are in the works. Evidence of spring, exhibit #2: Seeds planted directly outside have sprouted. Behold, spinach:

Garlic:

And peas:

This little pea sprout is just about to unfurl:

All of the seeds started indoors are doing well and the cool weather plants will go outside this weekend. I also plan on directly planting carrots and more lettuce outside this weekend. Lettuce plants:

Onions:

Tomatoes:

Bachelor's Buttons:

Broccoli:

Peppers:

Evidence of spring; exhibit #3: Trading cozy winter hats for light bonnets.

It may not be official for a couple of days more but the proof is all around, spring is here.

Garden, Garden, Snake, Garden, Lila

Annie — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 15:31:40 +0000

This past weekend I decided it didn't make sense to have a trellis in the strawberry bed and I'd rather have it one of the other beds so I pulled it out and it has a new home alongside its newly built twin.

As you can see, I also filled one box and marked the squares with old blinds. This box is now planted with sugar snap peas, Bronze d'Amposta onions, Bloomsdale long standing spinach, and garlic. I started tomato seeds and another batch of lettuce seeds inside. Lettuce needs light to germinate so you just press the seeds into the soil and can actually see the seed sprout. Magic.

The replanted strawberries survived a surprise layer of ice that wasn't predicted. We had a serious storm this past weekend with hail but that was predicted so I covered them for that. They've started pushing up some new growth! I love the bright, electric yellow-green of the brand new leaves.

(Dad - you might want to skip this next part.) After spotting what I thought was the longest worm I'd ever seen, I looked closer and realized it was a teeny baby snake. It saw me and hid its head in a hurry so I just got one shot as it slithered away.

Over the winter I protected my strawberries with dead corn and bean stalks from last summer's garden.

When I was removing this I found some little immature, dried up corn cobs with kernels. Any gardeners out there know if it's worth trying to remove the kernels to plant this year?

A sure sign that spring is near: tulips pushing up in our front yard.

Lila supervised the gardening work once again this past weekend.

She even dug a bit in the dirt.

Watching Lila explore the world is like exploring it all for the first time again myself.

And how do we know dirt doesn't taste good unless we try it?!

No Mistakes In It Yet

Annie — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 01:30:44 +0000

"Marilla, isn't it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?"
~ Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery

I thought of this passage in one of my all time favorite books as I did some serious garden reconfiguration this past week. We spent some money and a whole lot of time but these are one time costs and labors and I think it will pay off in years to come. Behold, my new layout with raised beds and no mistakes in it yet.

And by mistakes, I mean weeds, rocks, and thick clay-ey soil.

We bought our house in July of 2008. There was this odd little patch of grass to the side of the house, framed in by big rectangular stones. Between the stones and fence there were boxwood bushes and daylilies and one side was shaded by a rickety shed on a concrete slab just off our patio. I can't find any good pictures of the shed or any of the grass since I dug it out pretty soon after we moved into the house. I divided and planted a tomato plant that had been given to me and grown from seed by Stephen's Uncle Ed from Atlanta. I had zero gardening experience and was excited to have a huge yard and the opportunity to learn so I also went to a local garden store and asked what seeds it wasn't too late to plant. They gave me some suggestions and I so I stuck some seeds in the ground. Below you can see the original configuration of the bed after I'd torn up the grass and planted a few things. There were three smaller beds with areas to walk between them and you can see the daylilies all around and the shed in the back.

The next year I had big dreams and plans and started a bunch of stuff from seed indoors. We had a very windy storm at some point in the winter that blew the shed halfway over so we tore it down the rest of the way which eliminated the shade on the plot. Here you can see where the shed used to be.

I had done some research on gardening and vegetable gardening by then and had decided to try the Square Foot method. I installed some little wooden edgings to delineate my three beds, dug out one section of daylilies by the concrete slab to make it easier to access the beds, and put up a plastic fence around the whole shebang to keep the dog out.

I used twine to mark off my squares. I liked being able to reach things a bit better but the wooden edgings and twine didn't stay put. I built a pea trellis with some stakes and string I already had and we got some PVC pipe to build a sturdier trellis for the tomatoes and cucumbers.

The pea trellis tipped over and the PVC trellis actually snapped under the weight of the tomato vines before the season was over. I was also constantly battling weeds.

Last year I moved the remaining daylilies and boxwoods and put down mulch so I'd have easy better access. I abandoned the little wooden edgings and put in some aisles using pieces of wood we had. These had been an edging around our walnut tree but the tree had pushed them out and Stephen replaced them with stones.

So, the wood for aisles seemed like a good idea since it was what we had and would stay put but they were slippery when they were wet and not wide enough. The plants quickly grew over the aisles so it was difficult to walk on them and reach all the plants from the aisles.

I used some of the PVC pipes from the previous year and some unfolded tomato cages to build a trellis for the cucumbers and melons.

This held up well but wasn't tall enough when everything was really flourishing.

We built a new tomato trellis with thicker PVC pipe and made it 6 feet tall.

It did beautifully under the tremendous weight of our crazy tomatoes.

We also added two new beds on the other side of the fence.This was what I told Stephen I wanted for Mother's Day. He helped me do the digging and we bought some soil and mulch. I don't really have a good picture of the two beds but you can see them in the back of this shot.

So my goals for structuring the garden this year are: clearly defined raised beds with good access, another PVC trellis, weed barrier cloth and fresh soil, a cold frame, and chicken wire covers to keep the critters out. The first step was prying out the old wood aisles and on a whim I reassembled the original box shape on the slab that used to house the shed.

Building a cold frame using that old window pane is going to be the most challenging aspect of the whole thing, I think. You can also see in the background of that picture a couple of the giant stone slabs that edged in the garden plot. I hated the way that space was laid out. It was a funky shape with one end much wider than the other. The spaces between the plot and the fences were too small. So I sucked it up, dug out the stone slabs (which each weigh approximately 2 million pounds), and made a nice rectangular area with wider aisles and no unnecessary space between the plot and the shed slab.

Having more room on the sides makes it no longer necessary to have aisles within the plot. Just three 4 by 4 beds with easy access around the whole 4 by 12 thing. Once the area was framed out with the stone slabs, I worked on leveling the dirt so the boxes would sit nicely. Lila supervised.

Weed cloth went down in each box and two more boxes were cut down to 4 by 3 feet and assembled on the other side of the fence. I moved the tall trellis to one of those boxes.

We got one load of fresh soil and I replanted the strawberry patch in the first filled box.

When it gets warmer some of the summer vining veggies will grow on that trellis. So the remaining work is to buy more fresh soil, build the cold frame, build the chicken wire covers, and build another trellis. We are lucky to have had some gorgeous weather last week that made it so nice to be outside working on this. Lila loved being outside with me and exploring the backyard! I love her dirty behind in this picture.

I'm so excited for this gardening season in my pretty and clearly defined new beds! The organizational squareness of it all warms this catalog librarian's heart. And it will be so nice to work with fresh soil and be able to reach everything easily! Of course weed seeds will blow in and certainly new problems will crop up and I'll make mistakes. But not yet.

"Marilla, isn't it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?"

"I'll warrant you'll make plenty in it," said Marilla. "I never saw your beat for making mistakes, Anne."

"Yes, and well I know it," admitted Anne mournfully. "But have you ever noticed one encouraging thing about me, Marilla? I never make the same mistake twice."

~ Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery

A Delicate Flower

Annie — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 03:57:45 +0000

When Lila was 2.5 months old she developed eczema from head to toe. It wasn't awful, no cracking or seeping, but little red bumps all over and poor little birdie was always trying to scratch her head. This wasn't really a surprise since her dad and I both have eczema and luckily some Hydrocortisone ointment and Eucerin Aquaphor got it under control. She also had some mysteriously swollen lymph nodes on the back of her head and our pediatrician said the eczema and swollen nodes combined could be a sign of allergies. She suggested we go slowly with introducing foods to Lila when the time came.

When Lila was 6 months old, we gave her some rice cereal mixed with my milk. She was pretty sure we were trying to poison her.

She had similar reactions to pretty much everything we tried to give her. Finally she started to warm up to some purees and Cheerios. One night we gave her a cracker and she seemed to like it. She didn't want another one, though, and suddenly seemed tired and snuggly. About a half hour after eating the cracker, she vomited for the first time ever. At the time we thought this was a bit odd but sort of figured that she wasn't used to solid foods and maybe her tummy wasn't ready for it. The next time I offered her a cracker (different brand than the pukey one), she made it clear that she was NOT interested.

Eventually she warmed up to some more foods. Her favorites seemed to be peas, peaches, bananas, sweet potatoes, and Cheerios. She was still very loathe to try any new finger foods other than her beloved Cheerios. Sweet thing loves her pureed peas and began to want to feed herself.

We began to notice that many times after she ate, her skin would break out wherever the food had touched.

Not really hives but little red areas with whiter raised bumps.

I'd wipe her down after she ate and put some lotion on her and she'd be fine. She also would get these irritated spots when the dog licked her. Just being around the dog didn't seem to be a problem but when Tasha gave Lila kisses, then the rash would appear. I have a pretty bad cat allergy and was pretty sure Lila did too. She's never touched or even been in the same room with a cat but my in-laws have a cat. Poor Zach is old and sick and hides from everyone and my mother in law does marathon cleaning before we arrive but dander and stray hairs are difficult to get rid of entirely. When we visit there, Lila gets a runny nose and occasionally swollen and watery eyes, just like her mama.

Just after Christmas I had lunch with an old friend and Lila was grabbing for my root beer float. I gave her some tastes and she seemed to like it. I was so excited that she was willing to try something new! About a half hour later, we were home and Stephen was holding her when she became fussy and broke out in hives. Stephen had been in the attic and was covered in dust so we had no idea if she was reacting to dust or the milk in the float. I thought it was more likely the dust since I have a dust allergy and the hives appeared right when she was exposed to that. We did the usual wipe down and lotion routine and it cleared up. (This next picture was during the hives and is a crummy iPhone shot but you can sort of see one of the welts.)

A couple of weeks later we were out to eat with my parents and Lila had a taste of Daddy's milkshake. She had the tiniest taste and went into her whole cracker refusal routine, except even more adamant if possible. Then almost immediately she broke out in hives all over her face. We wiped her off and did lotion and they cleared up within an hour. When we got home and were putting her to bed, we found more hives on her torso. Up to this point, I'd been thinking and hoping that the rashes were due to food touching her sensitive skin. But once she'd had the hives and in places where the food never touched, I knew we were dealing with an allergy.

At Lila's 12 month check up I discussed this with her doctor and she referred us to an allergist and said not to feed her any milk, eggs, soy, wheat, nuts, or fish until we'd had her tested since these are the most common and dangerous allergens. This wasn't really an issue since Lila refused most of those things in the first place. There was wheat in her Cheerios but she'd been eating those a while without any problems so we let her have them.

Last week we saw the allergist and brought in a very detailed questionnaire about all her symptoms. I mentioned the rashes when she eats and the doctor asked what foods she reacts to. For whatever reason, I thought of her three favorites and told her that she eats a lot of bananas, peaches, and peas, and it seemed like she almost always broke out. The doctor decided to do a skin scratch test for the most common food allergens plus those three foods, dust, dogs, and cats. She said there was no reason to test for any other environmental allergies because she hasn't had enough exposure yet to develop a reaction.

The nurse came in and instructed us that we had to hold Lila so neither she nor we could touch her back. This meant holding her arms and not being able to really snuggle the poor little bit when she was upset. And she was upset. Can you blame her?

As if the initial scratches themselves weren't bad enough, sweet thing broke out in hives pretty fast. We couldn't wipe off the serum they'd applied until 15 minutes had passed or put Hydrocortisone on it until the nurse had read the reactions after 20 minutes had passed. She really did pretty well, all things considered. I put some of her favorite music on my iPhone and let her hold it which helped distract her a bit. The skin test reactions are ranked on a scale of 0-4. Here's how Lila scored:

0: Fish mix, banana, negative control
1+: Soy, peach, dog, dust
2+: Pea
3+: Positive control (this means we got good, accurate results)
4+: Milk, egg, wheat, peanut, cat

I pretty much knew going in that Lila was going to have a milk allergy. I wasn't terribly worried because we are still nursing and we'd just do soy milk and no cheese. I wasn't counting on four severe food allergies. Before we'd even seen the doctor again, the nurse (who did the testing and read the results) came in with a trainer epi pen to show us how to use it. I really wish the doctor would have come back in first to talk to us before the nurse instructed us on the epi pen.

In any case, then the doctor came back in and looked up from the results and said, "Oh boy," with a big exhale. That's when it started to sink in how serious this was. She told us we had to strictly avoid the four severe food allergies, not only Lila but me as well because we are nursing. She wanted to do a blood test to check on the pea and peach reaction. She said soy was okay since it was a mild reaction. I still don't get why she wanted to double check peach but not soy since they had the same reaction. We went to a building next door and had the blood drawn. Thank goodness for the lab tech who was kind, quick, and accurate with little bit's tiny veins. Thank goodness also that Stephen took a couple hours off work that day to be with us for all of this. If he hadn't been there, I'm pretty sure I would have missed half the information and ended up crying at some point. As things were, I made it to the parking lot before I cried.

In the last week we've adjusted. Stephen has been amazing. He loves a challenge and a project so this weekend he emptied our cupboards and sorted everything into safe and not safe foods. Because her allergies are dangerous, we've decided pretty much to have an allergen-free home and I love Stephen so much for embracing this. I find myself with so many questions that I know may never be answered. Why has she been fine eating Cheerios up until now? Is it my fault she's had eczema and swollen lymph nodes most of her life because of what I have eaten? The fact that she's never had a really bad reaction makes it harder to believe. The doctor instructed us that if we know she has accidentally eaten one of her severe allergens and begins to show sign of a reaction, even if it is just hives, to administer the epi pen and call 911. She said many parents make the mistake of giving Benadryl and waiting to see how the child does which gives the reaction time to escalate. But I have a hard time picturing myself giving her the epi pen for hives. So the question is, how cautious do we need to be? How scared?

Lila's eczema has flared up in the past week and after not hearing from the doctor for a week, I called yesterday to find out about the blood test. She tested positive for allergies to peanut, egg, wheat, milk, pea, and peach. Peanut, egg and wheat were "sky high." Milk was "in the gray zone" which was a surprise. Pea was positive but I don't recall if she said how bad it was. Peach was positive but "very low zone." She said eliminate them all. I asked her if I should be worried about soy since she had a mild reaction and her eczema seemed worse in the last week when I'd switched to soy milk. She seemed unconcerned and said something to the effect of, "six food allergies are enough." I'm not sure what she meant by that. Enough for us to cope with? Sure, it's a lot, but I'd rather know if there are more allergies we need to worry about than find out when she has a reaction! However, she did point out that I'd told her that Lila's eczema flares with weather changes and it has gone from frigidly cold to 60-70 degree temperatures in the last week. She also has a cold which can cause a flare up. She suggested we try eliminating these six foods and see how things go for a while.

So that's our plan. We left the doctor's office with a few handouts and instructions to come back in a year for Lila to be retested. I wasn't entirely happy with the doctor. She was very professional and knowledgeable but not terribly warm. She didn't really make any attempt to interact with Lila besides a quick examination and I know it's not her job to administer the test and check the results but she never even looked at Lila's back. I already have a few recommendations for other allergists to look into so I'm thinking about that.

So, I'm focusing on the good things. It's a very good thing that Lila was so resistant to new foods because it likely prevented her having a bad reaction to something. It's a good thing that most children outgrow food allergies. I was allergic to milk and eggs as a baby and outgrew both allergies. It's a good thing that Lila is with my mom or Stephen while I'm working and so I don't have to worry about other environments she may be in or training other people to use the epi pen. It's a good thing that Stephen is embracing the diet at home. It's a good thing that I'm eating healthier and have already lost a couple of pounds. It's a good thing that Lila isn't allergic to dogs. She's a noisy, neurotic, nervous thing but the entire household is rather fond of Tasha.

And goodness knows she isn't one of those non-shedding, hypoallergenic dogs. I brushed her last week and this was the result:

It's a good thing that there are so many products made these days for people with food allergies. It's also a good thing that there are so many cookbooks for people with food allergies because those products are not cheap. It's a good thing that Lila is suddenly willing to try new foods!

It's a good thing that she has decided she DOES like green beans and tortilla chips and freeze dried bananas and rice crackers since I was a little heartbroken on her behalf over the ban on peaches and peas. And perhaps most important of all, it is a very good thing that Trader Joe's O's do not contain wheat.

(How cute are those teeth?!)