Family Camping Trip

A few weeks ago we went camping at Hocking Hills with some friends. It was our first experience camping with kids and in Ohio. We went once when I was pregnant with Madison but we have never attempted it with the two and it actually went really well! I imagined I would be up all night with sad little girls but they slept great! Madison slept in the pack and play and we spread some blankets out next to me where Emerie slept. Madison loved looked at the stars at night and watching the campfire glow. She also spent a lot of time digging in the dirt and playing with all the kids. The other day she asked if we could go camping again. Of course!
The next morning Jake cooked some pancakes with his make shift cardboard spatula and then we went hiking at some nearby caves. It was a really cool place. It actually feels like you are in the mountains even though it's Ohio:)

Peanut Allergy Confirmed

Poor little Madison is officially allergic to peanuts. This post is meant to inform family and any friends that may watch Madison so they know what to avoid and how to handle any situation if she accidentally eats anything that may cause a reaction.

She has had about four incidents where she reacted after eating something with peanut butter that led to us getting her in to see an allergist. We think the first time she had a severe reaction was back in Feb. after a party with some friends at our house when I let her eat some scotchoroos. She woke up not to long after going to bed and was struggling to breath. Jake, who is usually the calm one actually called 911 because of how scary the situation was. Madison started to calm down not too long after the firetruck arrived and she seemed to be fine the next day. We thought she had just woke up with croup, looking back it was probably the peanut butter but we hadn't made any connections then. The second reaction was at church after I had let her eat the crusts of my peanut butter sandwich. We were sitting down at the meeting and noticed she had hives all over her face and hands. The only thing we could link it to was the p.b. After the second incident she had a blood test and it came out negative. We thought we were in the clear and so while traveling home from our D.C. trip I let her have a little pretzel that had p.b in the middle. She immediately started crying and developed the hives again. So we decided to avoid peanuts until we could get it figured out. She had one more accidental situation which caused her to cry and scream for little while and by the time I got to her it looked like she had been scratching her throat, her face was a bit swollen and she had developed a few hives. Last week we were finally able to get her in to see an allergist (they book six months in advance, luckily Jake was able to use his doctor power to get us in early) and they were able to confirm that she has a peanut and almond allergy.
The allergist said that there is a 20% chance she could grow out of it, so cross your fingers, but in the meantime we are to avoid all peanuts and tree nuts. The more she is exposed to peanut products the more likely it is her reactions will continue to intensify. This is because her immune system will continue to build up more antibodies causing a more severe reaction. We will always carry the EpiPen with us for an emergency. The allergist said there is no way to know if she eats (blank) amount... she will have (blank) type of reaction.

For those interested here is a list of foods that we need to avoid. Some are obvious however there are some things you don't quite think of.
Artificial nuts, Beer nuts, peanut oil or Aarchis oil, ground nuts, mixed nuts, Goobers, Mandelonas, Monkey nuts, Flavored nuts, peanut butter, peanut flour.
These foods may contain peanut protein: African, Chinese, Indonesian, Mexican, Thai, and Vietnamese dishes, Baked goods, some chocolate candy, chili and sauces, egg rolls, enchilada sauce, almond flavoring, marzipan, nougat, pesto, sunflower seeds, all tree nuts since often they are manufactured on the same equipment, Bakeries and ice cream parlors because of cross contamination.

I have been reading labels more carefully and find that it is pretty common for food to be manufactured on equipment that processes peanuts. We have still made visits to the ice cream shop, we just ask the server to wash the scooper with hot water and soap before scooping Madison's ice cream and I don't imagine us never letting her eat another donut again:) She was fine at Wixey:) We will just be careful and hope she will outgrow it. We will test her about once a year to see how things are going. About 1% of the population has a peanut allergy and there continues to be research done on the causes. They may even develop a vaccine sometime in the future. Here is a great document for family and friends about peanut allergies http://www-tc.pbskids.org/arthur/parentsteachers/lesson/health/pdf/Binky_Peanut_Allergy_QA.pdf . Also here is a website with information http://www.foodallergy.org/

We love to dance!

Jake downloaded a new i-tunes song from the Oceans soundtrack and thought he would let the girls test it out! Check out their moves!

Baby doll abuse

Madison loves her baby dolls! In this video she drops her baby doll on the floor several times just so she can comfort her baby and kiss her on the head. It is really quite funny. Good thing her doll has a hard head:) Madison has become quite motherly and loves to burp her babies, rock them, and does basically everything she sees mommy do (except I don't drop Emmie on the floor). Madison loves to take her baby dolls on walks when we go out in the stroller. It is so funny to see me pushing Emerie in the double stroller while Madison follows along with her stroller. She is growing up so fast and has been in the do it myself stage. She loves to buckle her seat belt in her high chair. One day when I forgot to let her do it, instead of yelling at me and saying Madison do it, she said, "Yeah mommy, you did it, good job, mommy, good job!" She makes us laugh and is saying and doing silly new things everyday!

Fun at the fair!

A few weeks ago we went to a small town fair in Columbus. Madison had her first horse ride and she loved it. She smiled the whole time and waived to everyone walking by. She also had a lot of fun going down a giant slide with her dad and petting all of the animals at the zoo. The goat was a little scary and she loved the silly sheep with the bucket on its head. We ate some greasy carnival food (which might have explained why I threw up that night) and Jake went on a fun ride with his brother Bryan who was in town for a visit. We had a great time but I must say there are always some interesting crowds at the carnivals! Is that bad to think you are the normal ones?

Fun Videos

Here are a bunch of fun videos I have been meaning to post. You can pause the music on our blog so you can hear the videos. The first is of Emerie's bath time. I can't remember a time when she has ever cried in the tub. She just smiles, moves her arms, and kicks her legs. The second video is of Madison making Emerie laugh. Don't worry, Emerie survived the high swinging from Madison. Oh, and take note of Madison's shoes high heel princess shoes. She found those high heels in Grandma Tanner's dress up box and puts them on at least once a day. I am amazed she can even walk in them, she has even figured out how to run in them. What a funny girl! The last video is just a cute video of Emerie talking. She is such a sweetheart. She got her first shots today and didn't even cry until shot #3 and then it was only for a few seconds. What a good baby!

Columbus Zoo, Flight home, Sister Visit!

After our trip to Utah I was lucky to have my sisters Jaimie and Becky fly back with me to Columbus. I never could have survived the flight alone. The girls however were really great! Madison loved looking out the window of the airplane and watching Little Einstiens Videos on Jaimie's ipod, as you can see in the pictures. She was so excited to see her dad and just kept staring at him when he came to pick us up at the airport. It had been about three weeks since she had seen him! As we were getting in the car she looked at Jake and said "Daddy is soooo cute!" I agree, what a sweet little girl:)

We spent lots of time trying to unpack our many boxes but we did get a chance to visit the Columbus Zoo. The Zoo is actually ranked #1 in America. Here is the link, I had to look it up just to see http://www.wrsol.com/usatravelguide/2009/02/top10zoosinamerica/. It is a really great zoo but I think I am still a little bit partial to the Toledo Zoo. It's hard to beat the 10 minute walk to the zoo and Toledo's polar bear exhibit. I did get my picture taken with the famous Jack Hanna in the background filming a shoot about the koalas (click on the collage so you can see the enlarged version). The Columbus zoo is known as his zoo. Madison loved feeding the birds and the manatee exhibit was really great. We have a family pass with two free visitors, so if anyone wants to come visit us, we will take you there!

More Utah Summer Catch Up!

We headed to Utah a day and a half after moving to Columbus for my sister Heather's wedding. (I still need to get copies of those pictures) She married Brian Bowman and now we have Bowens and Bowmans in the family. What fun! Jake was only able to stay a few days before he headed back to start his first job as a doctor. The girls and I spent lots of time running around SLC visiting friends and family. We were lucky to head up to the cabin with the Bowens and enjoy the beautiful mountains. Madison and the girls loved watching the chipmunks eat moths. Who knew that was one of their favorite treats. Kensie learned to put up with the "one year olds" (Tanner and Madison) getting in to everything. Madison loved all three of there pet cats and loved to go to Grandma and Grandpa Cummings house to chase Poco their dog and swim in their pool. We went to the splash parks out in Herriman a few times and also went to Swim lessons at Shinsels. I used to teach lessons there as a teenager so it was fun to be back with kids of my own:)

One afternoon Madison and her cousin Makayla drenched themselves in Grandma Poco's water fountain. They loved dipping their heads in, splashing each other and laughing themselves silly.

We were also able to spend some time with the Snows. Madison loved squirting Grandma and Grandpa Snow with the hose in a big fourth of July water fight we had. She loved listening to her cousin Victoria play the guitar and playing with Becca Iasac and Jonny. Madison was also lucky to attend Grandma Snow's nursury on Sunday.
There are more pictures and memories to come. I still need to get copies of pictures taken by family. I wasn't always able to manage a camera and my too girls:)

Emerie turns 4 months old!

Happy four month old b-day Emmie! She is such a cute happy baby. She loves to laugh at Madison and is very forgiving of her "love bops" on the head. She has learned to roll around on the floor and from her tummy to her back. She is a snugly baby and makes very cute cooing noises. Emerie also loves bath time. She kicks her arms and legs like crazy and smiles the entire time. We love you Emmie!

Happy 63rd Anniversary!

Grandpa and Grandpa! What a classy picture! You look like movie stars! We hope you have a fun anniversary! We wish we were there to celebrate it with you. This video is video #4 or 5 of my attempt to get a happy anniversary out of Madison this morning. She was a busy girl. I'll have to send you the ones that didn't make the cut, they are pretty funny!

Funny Book #1

Last week I took the girls to check out our new library. I got a new card and let Madison read books for a little while in the kids section. Emerie was starting to get restless and was about to have a crying explosion of I'm hungry. I wanted to feed her at home, not at the library so I bribed Madison to get in the stroller and grabbed a few books of the shelf to take home. I just looked at the titles and checked them out thinking they would be great books. They are good books but fit Madison's life a little bit too closely:) That night Jake and I were going to read Madison stories together and she got our the Hippo book. The story as you can see ends up being about a Hippo who senses something is wrong in his life. His dad is never home, always working, and he waits and waits for him to come home and play but he never does. Finally the hippo traps his dad in a hole and is able to spend some quality time with him. In the end it all works out but not the greatest book for a little girl who's dad is in his intern. year of residency. I look over at Jake, laugh, and assure him I didn't pick this book out on purpose. Jake, you are home much more than Mr. Hippo is:)

Funny book #2

This second book I grabbed of the library shelf looked like it would be about a little baby and how her sister adjusted. That does pretty much sum it up however the sister's adjustments were really quite scary. She scares the baby, tries to make her disappear, and ignores him. She gets sent to time out quite a bit (which Madison can relate to whenever she bops Emerie on the head). She has terrible nightmares about the baby and expresses her true hateful feelings for the baby as she uses her stuffed animal as a baby voodoo doll. We didn't make it through the whole book, I thought I had better sensor it for Madison so she didn't get any ideas. I am sure in the end the develop a wonderful relationship! I should probably look at the contents of the books before checking them out:)

Wonderful Husband!

Jake cooked up a wonderful meal this last Sunday dinner! He is quite the chef! We decided that any Sunday he is home he will take on the responsibility of Sunday dinner. It's been so great! He has made some awesome meals, and it's a nice break for me. You may also notice some new songs on our blog. One in particular (Life is Beautiful) was played for me by Jake when I was having a "mental breakdown". I was stressing over a messy house that still isn't close to being unpacked, the fact that I feel like I can't get anything done in longer than 10 minute increments, and I think that both girls had been very, very needy the last few days, not to mention I was sleep deprived, we were speaking in church on Sunday and Jake had invited two families over for dinner the next day (which turned out just fine). I was also feeling the effects of not having exercised in a long time. I am sure there were many other stresses that I added to the list and looking back it's not a big deal and all kind of silly but at the time I had reached my limit and was in a really bad mood. I used to be such a nice person. So anyhow, Jake just smiled while I was having my moment, turned on this song, and forced me to dance until I gave him a real smile. Then he took both girls to the store so I could get stuff done around the house and have a break. Thanks Jake for being so wonderful! I feel much better now:)

Oh how they have grown!

A few weeks ago we were lucky to have our friends the Ralls come and visit. We shared a duplex in Toledo and it has been so much fun to keep in touch and watch our girls grow up. In addition to Annie and Madison we now have Kate and Emerie. It was quite the challenge trying to get all four kids in one picture. Here are our attempts! Thanks for the fun visit!