Stevenson Family Blog

Friday, September 4, 2009

Catching Up

I wrote a nice long post, then decided it was more appropriate for my musings blog. Anyway, just checking in 'cause it's been a while. I have been SOOO busy, but I can't say for sure with what because I have no idea. All I know is I hardly catch a break and still have a million things on my "to do" list.

Asher finally got some tests done at the Allergist's. According to the scratch test he is allergic to: Dogs, cats, peanuts, and cashews. He is NOT allergic to: milk (hmmm. That shakes things up a bit), almonds, wheat or eggs. Also, the allergist said that he would not have been allergic to the amoxicillin because you can't be allergic to it the first time you have it (which it was).

The likely cause of his continual eczema is the peanuts/peanutbutter. Because the reaction is mild, we are supposed to CONTINUE feeding him peanutbutter. Apparently, if we stop and then reintroduce it later, it could be really dangerous. The reaction that led to the hospital visit last month was likely from the cashews, and progressed that evening, rather than being affected by the amoxicillin as mentioned. So, we're supposed to avoid tree nuts with him, EVEN THOUGH he did not react to almonds which are a tree nut.

When I asked about his eczema that appeared in his first weeks of life and cleared up substantially after switching to soy formula, it was explained to me that many kids are allergic to dairy for the first year or two and then outgrow it. That is what the allergist suspects in Asher's case.

I also asked about the possibility of hypoallergenic breeds of dogs (for maybe down the road), but the allergist just shook is head. Due to the severity of Asher's reaction for his age, it would not be a good idea to have any dog in the home. He did say that maybe, maybe several years from now we could try a little dog like a chiwawa and bathe it twice a week or so. He could outgrow it to an extent, but we should not try anything for a while at least.

So, that's Asher. Oh, and he's allergic to camping. Or the redwoods or something. About 18 hours into our family camping trip Asher developed asthma that lasted until the car ride home. It was kinda scary. (*he wasn't dying or anything, just had weezy/strained breathing). I'll explain more in a later post, but basically I learned that I must keep our nebulizer and albuterol handy on trips now, and Brian and I are wondering if camping is now out the question for us. I've told Asher I'm trying really hard to keep him alive. I'll give it my best for the first 19 years, then it's the Lord's problem, and eventually his wife's.

Saturday, August 22, 2009

A Child's Prayer

"Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this day. Thank you that I love my Mommy, in the day time, and in the night time. And when I'm sleeping. And going potty. And brushing my teeth... I just always love her.... Amen."

Brennan, August 22, 2009

Tour of Corvallis Historic Homes

The Willamette Valley Mommies group had an event last Saturday. It was to ride the free trolley on the tour of historic homes in Corvallis. I kind of thought there would be more kids, but actually about 90% of the riders were over the age of, like, 80. The Van Tress's had their two kids, and Brennan made 3. 3 kids. It was definitely geared towards an older audience, so I'm glad I ended up leaving Asher home. He would have been a beast once he'd reached his "this is old news" sentiment a few minutes into it.

Anyway, Brennan enjoyed it, and only showed boredom for the last few minutes. He enjoyed looking at the houses and the people outside, but mostly, he enjoyed playing photographer. He took shots of anything and everything. I gotta admit, his shots are at least as good as mine. (I don't know if it's just my monitor, or if there's something wrong with the camera, but all our pictures these last several posts look REALLY grainy. Take my word for it though, the pictures are rather nice in actuality.)