The Brown Brick Road

Capturing our adventures one photo at a time...

Allergies

Ever since Spencer was a baby, his allergies have given him issues. Evidence here and here. His eyes get super red and itchy but, the worst part, is that he can’t breathe. He has allergy induced asthma and he’s been on Singular for over a year to manage it. We also started a daily inhaler recently. Dr. Walley said that, at this point, we should get him allergy tested and check into the possibility of weekly shots to try and reduce his symptoms and get him off of some of these meds.

Last week we went up for the testing. We stopped off for a cake pop on the way…I thought he deserved a treat before we even got started!

cake pop

The allergy doctor has a good waiting room which entertained Spencer plenty…

allergy

then we got into the cool dinosaur room and waited…

allergy

and waited and waited and waited.

allergy

A full hour and 15 minutes after our appointment time, the doctor finally came in. They tested Spencer for a variety of trees, grasses, dogs and cats. He really was so brave and did so well for all of it.

allergy

But, when those allergens started to react – poor, poor buddy. He just wanted to scratch them all so bad!! I spent the next 20 minutes trying to distract him and blowing on his back.

allergy

The nurse finally came in and recorded the “scores”. He got a +4 (the highest level!) on all the trees and grasses. Whoa. The allergy doctor – who has been doing this for years and seen has 1000s of patients – was even a little shocked at how inflamed they were and the fact that he was only 3 years old! He definitely recommended starting the allergy shots asap. The idea is that the shots will hopefully help him wean off of the daily meds he’s having to take now and hopefully eliminate the issues with asthma.

We went back up this week on Wednesday for the first round of shots. Spencer was incredibly well-behaved and did SO well during the shots. Here he is showing me his 3 bandaids….

allergy

and saying, “Momma, I was re-wee brave!!”

allergy

Yes, he was really brave. I hate he’s having to do this but am just hopeful it will help. One round of shots down…only 3 to 5 years to go!

Have a great weekend!

15 month checkup

Samantha went in for her 15 month checkup yesterday and she looks great! Fun in the waiting room…

checkup

and then not as much fun after having to get weighed and measured. She didn’t like being handed over to Nurse Shelly!

15 month checkup

She looks fantastic overall. She’s a big girl – 26 lbs, 5 oz and 31 1/4 inches tall! That’s 75th-95th% on both and Dr. Walley said she’s really at about 90th% on weight! wow! She’s a strong, healthy baby girl!! She’s grown 2 inches and 4 lbs since her 12 month appointment. I think that’s because she’s such a good eater!  🙂

For comparison, at 15 months, Spencer was 25 lbs, 11 oz (90th %) and 32 inches tall (95th-98th %).

Maxwell was 23 lbs, 31 inches tall at 15 months.

A few pounds difference between them all but very close and all within an inch of each other. We’ll see where they all end up as they grow.

Samantha is meeting all her milestones in terms of talking, walking and other motor skills. Phew! She was nice to Dr. Walley and let him check her out. She did have to get 2 shots though which she felt like this about it…death stare.

15 months

Poor baby. All the fun wore her out and she fell asleep on the ride home…

15 month

My sweet, big, growing, healthy and happy baby girl. Always thankful for good doctor reports!

Doctor doctor

Happy Monday! We are just getting back from a SUPER fun vacation to Disney and Naples! I have lots of pics from there to share but need to get caught up! Today – doctor report! I took Samantha up for her 1 year doctor checkup last week. Unfortunately, we had a longer than usual wait in the waiting room which left us both feeling like this…

doctor

Luckily we had this little comedian to entertain us!

doctor

Spencer was dealing with some terrible wheezing and a cold so I took him with us to get checked out as well. We finally got back to the room and someone wasn’t too happy to get weighed (not to mention she was missing her morning nap!)…

doctor

but then she perked up and was my happy camper.

doctor

doctor

She got a great report and is looking healthy and happy! She’s 29 1/4 inches tall (75th%) and 22.1 lbs (50-75th%). Her head circumference is 18.5 (75th %). She’s definitely gained on the length since her last checkup and slowed down a bit on the weight.

doctor

For comparison, here are the stats of the boys at 1 year:

Maxwell at one year: 30 inches tall and 21 lbs, 11.5 oz with head circumference of 19.25.

Spencer at one year: 31.5 inches tall (whoa!) and 23 lbs, 12 oz (whoa!) with head circumference of 18.

So, Samantha is .75 inches shorter than Maxwell was but really about the same weight. Spencer beat them both by plenty!  🙂  Maxwell’s still winning on head circumference – those brains have always been big!

Always thankful for good doctor reports!

doctor

Dentist, playdates, and NYE

Lots of fun stuff happened over the past week or so and I’m just going to go in order to get through it all. First up? The ever so exciting and fun dentist visit! ha!

dentist

On the 21st, the boys had their teeth all checked out and did great…even if Spencer didn’t love getting his teeth cleaned!

dentist

teeth dentist

dentist

Great reports from the dentist are always welcome!

densit

On the 23rd, Maxwell got to have a little Christmas playdate and Max, James, and Lila came over to play and have lunch. They all had a great time…and especially loved it when Susan popped up some Jiffy Pop for them!

play date

playdate

They were quite the crew all piled up together on the couch.

playdate

We even got to have our very favorite visitor over for the playdate!

gj

gj

It was a great kick-off to Christmas week! Lots of Christmas pictures to come but I hope you all have a wonderful and safe New Year’s Eve tonight! See you next year!!

KO

That’s what it’s been around here – a total knock-out! The virus that Spencer had last week hit me, Robert and Samantha hard and has knocked us out. Mine started Tuesday afternoon with fever, aches, night sweats, sore throat, and the worst case of double pink eye you’ve ever seen. Robert followed on Friday with fever, aches, terrible congestion and sore throat. Thankfully he’s been spared the pink eye. We went to the doctor on Friday and she gave us some meds but they aren’t helping much. It’s a virus and just has to work it’s way out of our systems. The pink eye must be viral too because, like Spencer’s, the drops aren’t helping. I’m on day 5 and my eyes still hurt so bad and look like they’re ready for Christmas – green eyes surrounded by a lovely shade of red! I’ll spare you the photo! Wouldn’t want to scare you off!

Samantha has pink eye in one eye and tons of congestion. She thankfully doesn’t seem to have the fever and aches nearly as bad as Robert and I do. Still, she’s been pretty pitiful and needy.

pink eye

samantha

The only worse thing than being sick? Being sick and having to take care of your sick baby! #sympathyplease

Just when we thought things couldn’t get worse, Samantha slipped in the bath Saturday night and gave herself a nice shiner. The knock-outs continued!

shiner

She luckily didn’t break the skin but, considering that was the eye that already had the pink eye in it, she was beyond pitiful. It was pretty swollen when she got up Sunday.

pink eye

Despite it all, we still managed to get some good smiles and laughs out of this awesome baby. She’s a tough cookie!

smile

By Sunday night, I felt like I started to turn the corner and baby Mantha seemed pretty happy too.

samantha

Robert on the other hand….still not so good.

So far Maxwell has been the only one to escape this vicious virus. Considering we’ve got his Christmas concert and a trip to see Santa planned this week, I hope he stays healthy and we all get better asap!

Now, go wash your hands and have a great day!