Super Annoyed

So the two days following Jaiden’s doctor appointment, the hives continued to multiply and it was apparent that Jaiden felt like crap. He would be sitting snuggled up in my lap murmuring a constant groan. It broke my heart. I finally called the doctor again on Thursday as his face appeared to be swelling too. They had said originally that if this was a viral infection it would definitely start to get better within a day or two. But it was getting worse, much worse. She told me to start children’s Benadryl immediately, and if I noticed any swelling of the mouth, tongue, or throat to get him to the ER within minutes. Yikes! As I’m making Jaiden’s morning cereal I have one of those “ah-ha” moments. I switched from rice cereal to oatmeal cereal about a week ago... and my Grandma Horan had a severe allergy to oatmeal. I call the doctor back again and make sure that oatmeal was on their list of things to test, or added to it.

Fast forwarding now to 4 days later, I called the doctor’s office this morning to get his results. She said his paperwork just came through and that through his blood work it was apparent that there was some sort of an allergic reaction. Awesome, finally some answers. Nope—think again. She said that everything they tested for had come back negative. I made a comment somewhere along the lines of that’s weird; I thought it was for sure the oatmeal. She was silent for a little bit, then said, “hmm, looks like we didn’t check for oatmeal.” Ugh! Are you serious?! She said she was going to call the lab and see if there was anything she could do at this point, and then call me back. She also mentioned that they may have to order more blood work... which I really won’t be happy about. Needless to say, I have no answers yet, although I’m almost certain that the little guy is allergic to oats. He's completely 100% back to normal now, but keep your fingers crossed that we get some answers soon!

Rough Day for the JaiderBug... & Mommy :/

This is going to be a short update because I am absolutely beat. When Jaiden woke up this morning he was covered in pink bumps and felt extremely warm. I called his pediatrician and they wanted to see him first thing. To make a long story short, he is pretty much miserable. His temp has ranged from 99.9 – 101.6 today, his throat was super red so they did a strep test (which turned out negative), she wants me to bring him back in if he starts pulling on his ears, and the pink little bumps are definitely hives. She said being that it was a fever and a rash combination her initial reaction is that it’s a viral infection— but she really did not like the fact that he has tons of hives around his mouth. The Doctor was a little nervous about an allergic reaction so after our appointment she wanted us to head over to the lab to get blood work done. I thought watching Jaiden get his shots were bad.... today made that seem easy. Try having to pin your baby down as they draw three tubes of blood. It was absolute torture. As if the little man hadn’t been through enough already today. Of course, him being the charmer that he is, as soon as the needle was out, he looked up at the 2 nurses and gave them the biggest smile as if to say... it’s alright, I forgive you :) He’s such a trooper. Within minutes he had completely forgotten about all the trauma and was laughing at the new squeaky frog that they gave him. He was such a brave little guy today. He had his first little Popsicle when we got home and he was thrilled to say the least. We should be getting the results within the next couple days, so we’ll keep you all up to date.


He now weighs 20 lbs 12 ozs just in case anyone was curious :)

8 Months Old!

Over the last few weeks there have been so many changes and new developments with monkey that I have no idea where to even start. He continues to surprise us on a daily basis. He is definitely at the beginning of the big transformation... good-bye baby, hello little boy. Even his baby appearance is fading. Each time I look at him I see a beautiful little toddler emerging- I know, I know, cheesy, but so true. I’m sure it’s the combination of now having 4 teeth, partially standing on his own, eating “real” food, and his ability to shout out tons of new things. Dada is still constant along with the new Gaga and Yaya. No Mama yet- ugh! Anytime now little guy!!! I’ve sooo been patient. He can stand completely on his own for a good 20 seconds and will stand indefinitely if he’s holding onto something. He still shows little, to no interest in crawling, but he could definitely surprise us. He’s just recently starting creeping— pushing himself around on his belly, so crawling could be just around the corner. I’m going to enjoy every last second of him being stationary because I know firsthand that it’s a whole new world once they’re moving around.

Baby food is almost behind us as he eats 90% real food now... shredded cheese, avocado, macaroni & cheese, mixed veggies, pears, peaches, blueberries, bananas, shredded chicken, mashed potatoes, scrambled eggs, yogurt, cottage cheese, and the list goes on. He still loves his rice/oatmeal cereal in the morning, so we’ll be sticking with that for awhile.

Along with giving kisses, he has figured out to give high fives which he has a lot of fun with. He absolutely loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and will drop everything he’s doing (including eating) if he hears the “Hot Dog” song. It’s super cute. I can’t wait until he figures out how to start dancing around to it!

We’ve been working on waving to Daddy when he leaves in the mornings and clapping our hands. He likes to bang two toys together, so if we could just ditch the toys and do the same motion, he’d have it down pat! Kevin and I are still planning on going out this weekend for a little photo shoot so I’ll be posting more pictures soon. In the meantime check out the ones I took around the house the other morning. My little baby is growing up...

A BIG smooch for Mommy!! :)


Kisses for Daddy... (more like Jaiden slapping Daddy in the face)

Too Much Information...?!?! Too Bad :)

Funny story. For the previous three nights Jaiden has started a nightly ritual that we are not at all fond off... the dreaded pooping in the bathtub. Are you serious?! You couldn’t have gone five minutes ago, or waited 15 minutes from now? Anyone who has been through this knows that this is a two person job. One holds the baby (keep in mind that he is now covered in poo, and Jaid is quite the thumb sucker so this person is usually trying to hold both his hands down while juggling a soaking wet slippery baby) and the other person cleans out the tub... gross. The only warning we get is the solid 3 minutes of passing gas. Tonight as the tooting started to decrease, I wondered if there was a better solution than just letting him poop in the tub, or all over the floor and towel for that matter. Not knowing if I timed it right, or if he was going to poop at all-- I decided what the heck... I’ll throw him on the toilet. Needless to say, we’ve officially had the first poop in the potty. Jaiden had quite the laugh, not only because he pooped in a new place, but because momma somehow forgot about his boy parts momentarily, and as I was sitting facing him holding him on the potty... he peed all over my face. My expression must have been priceless because his belly laugh somehow made me forget that I was covered in my son’s urine.

Three Years Down... Many More To Come :)

What an amazing weekend we had! Kevin and I just celebrated our 3 year anniversary and decided we would get away, just the TWO of us, for the night and have Grammie watch Jaiden. I had so much anxiety on the days prior to leaving... I totally knew that everything was going to go just fine and that he was in good hands—but I just think a little worrying is in my nature as a momma. I should have trusted my gut because in the end all the worrying was completely pointless because he did absolutely perfectly. Jaiden’s new thing is giving people kisses (it’s ridiculously cute, but might scare non-family members as its completely open mouthed and super slobbery) but before my Mom left in the morning she got at least 5 giant kisses from Jaiden on the nose. Needless to say, I know he loved the time with his Grammie and Aunt Alisha. And, I have to admit it was fabulous to be able to just have some one on one time with Kevin. We both missed him like crazy, but definitely felt rejuvenated when we got home.

As you can see from pictures, meal time is still a complete success with the little guy :) There is only one thing that we’ve found that he absolutely HATES and will spit out at you if you try to sneak it in... applesauce. I’m thinking it has to be a texture thing because he loves tiny pieces of cut up apple and loves his apples baby food, but for some reason he will not eat applesauce. He is thoroughly enjoying any finger food that he can get his hands on. We went to my parents for dinner and he had a complete “real food” dinner... meatloaf, pasta, mixed veggies and his Grammies homemade ice cream for dessert. I sat back in my seat in the middle of dinner and just watched him. It’s absolutely amazing to be able to see all the growth, development, and progress he’s made in such a short time. He continues to amaze me each and every day.


For my anniversary gift Kevin splurged and got me a set of new actions for editing pictures... and I'm obssessed. I dont know how I've gone this long without it. They are amazing. Jaiden and I ventured outside the other afternoon to take some pictures so I could play with the new editing tools during his nap and I'm pretty pleased with how the pictures turned out. After graduating with a degree in photographpy, I have confidence in the pictures I'm taking, but have been fearful of the editing process. I think the new actions are just the motivation I need to really start taking pictures on a professional level. First things first... I need to build a portfolio to start a website. Anyone out there need pictures of their little ones?! Get ahold of me if you're interested :) Kevin and I are taking Jaiden downtown to scout out a couple cool spots so I should have more pictures of the little monkey within a couple weeks. I can't wait.. I just bought him the cutest converse shoes. They're bright yellow with big white polka dots. I think they'll be adorable in pictures!