Allergy Tests

This is a busy week for us. Yesterday Gabe had allergy testing done. Let me back up...

Gabe hasn't had dairy (or soy, actually) since he was a baby and it upset his stomach and caused him to break out in patches of ezcema. He would also get a bad diaper rash. Dairy baked into foods has never seemed to bother him, but plain milk certainly did. He drinks almond milk now but he does occasionally have yogurt.

As he started trying more fruits and vegetables, we noticed his cheeks and the area around his mouth would become red. It wasn't concerning enough to schedule a doctor appointment for and he never seemed too bothered by it. He had no trouble breathing, no swelling, etc. so I figured it was just a surface reaction. My mom has a lot of food sensitivities that cause her face to turn red and get hot/itchy so I assumed Gabe probably had the same thing.

Fast forward to the last few weeks and we noticed his sensitivity to tomato sauces seemed to drastically increase. He had spaghetti on base one day and his entire mouth turned red, his lips swelled, eczema patches immediately formed on his arms and hands, and he was in a lot of pain on his mouth (he kept asking for an ice pack.) We gave him Benadryl and it seemed to clear up some. Not thinking about it, I ordered pizza for the babysitter a few days later. She texted me to let me know Gabe's mouth was incredibly red again, he had a rash, and he kept putting his lips on the freezer door in between bites. I came home to find him a mess and he got more Benadryl.

part of his second reaction to pizza...
the area above his lip is still cracked and painful today

After these two experiences, we decided to call the doctor. She recommended he be tested by an allergist. Well, we did that yesterday and none of his results (including tomato) were severe or even moderate. He had very mild positives to a ton of things- milk, egg yolk, egg white, apple, orange, peach, white potato, tomato, onion, squash, pea, oat, rice, strawberry, and dust mites. The allergist said his reactions were all so mild that he would recommend cutting everything out of his diet, then adding one thing in at a time for 3 days to see if he reacts. If he does, keep it out. If he doesn't, he's fine to eat it.

allergy test in progress

The frustrating thing is we still don't know why he had such a big reaction to tomato or if it was something else in the sauce- oregano, for example. We are going to give him another week to heal from the last incident then try to get him to eat a semi-plain tomato product (like ketchup) and see what happens. His poor lip is still cracked and his eczema hasn't yet cleared from the last exposure. Hopefully we can figure out what is causing him the reaction and subsequent pain!

Gabe's Favorites at 3

*Um, yeah, I know I haven't even blogged about CHRISTMAS DAY yet... or the day Gabe cut Claire's hair... or so many other things... but I'll get caught up one day. Maybe.

I thought it'd be fun to document some of Gabe's favorites at age 3. He is so funny right now and cracks me up every day. I should write down some of his sayings before I forget all of them. When he's angry, he will fold his arms across his chest and say "I'm ain-gry mommy!" It kills me everytime. 

He is currently really big into giving me driving advice. I think he has PTSD from all of our wrecks- ha. He will frequently tell me to speed up, slow down, don't pull out, call the police, don't get in a wreck, etc. He also can give me directions to certain places that we go.

I am loving this age with him. So far it is MUCH better than 2. He has his moments but overall, we're moving in the right direction!

Gabe at 3-

Favorite Color: Green
Favorite Number: 3
Favorite TV Show: Go, Diego, Go! and Caillou
Favorite Movie: Cars 2 and Toy Story 3
Favorite Toy: big blocks and firetrucks
Favorite Food: Pizza
Favorite Snack: Granola Bars and Popcorn
Favorite Song: Dinosaur song
Favorite Game: Monkey Preschool on the iPad, Connect 4, & the Matching Game
Favorite Book: Llama Llama books
Favorite Holiday: Christmas
Favorite Animal: Dinosaurs
Favorite Stuffed Animal: Cat Cat
What do you like to do?: Play
What do you want to be when you grow up?: A fireman
What is something you like about Mom?: I like your hair. (??)
What is something you like about Dad?: He runs and jumps!
What is something you like about Claire?: She runs with me. 

Gabe at 3

Gabriel,

You recently turned three years old which breaks this mama's heart. As happy as I am that you are growing up, and as much as I love what each new age brings, I hate knowing that it won't be long before you refuse to cuddle with me on the couch, or hold my hand in public, or get excited every time you see me. You are growing up too fast.

This year brought a huge change in your speech and also your mood. I can understand you about 99% of the time and others can understand you probably 2/3 of the time. You are so much happier when you are able to communicate your thoughts with others (I would be, too!) Your voice is still extremely hoarse/raspy but we're hoping this improves with treating your reflux, voice therapy, and seeing the ENT regularly.

Your best friend is your cousin Jackson. You only see him once a year but you two act like brothers. I love that you are so close with him and hope that you remain that way! Your favorite color is green (you want EVERYTHING to be green- green sippy cup, green medicine, green candy, etc.) Your favorite toys are still your trucks but you also like dinosaurs, coloring, and playing with play doh. Recently you' ve become more interested in playing pretend and you like to "cook" and run a grocery store.

You are too technology saavy already and can run my iPhone and your Leapster with minimal problems. You only get to play with them when we are running errands, but they keep you content and happy.

We try to go to the park everyday or do something physical. Overall, your behavior has improved a lot over the past six months, but we still have some rough days. You do better when you get physical activity or when daddy is here to roughhouse with you. We need to work on developing more patience and sitting still (I know, good luck, right?)

You are a good big brother to Claire, but it bugs you when she wants to play with your toys. You don't always want to share with her and sometimes get more rough than she can handle. If Claire gets hurt or is upset, though, you are the first person to her side and always let me know. You will grab her blanket and paci or a diaper, or whatever you think she needs to help her feel better. I hope that as you grow, you continue to look out for her and protect her.

One of my favorite times with you, Gabe, is reading books before bed. You love this alone time and would let me read all night. Your favorite books are from the Llama Llama series and anything from Dr. Seuss. You get so excited to have mommy read to you and laugh at all the silly stories. You have an infections laugh and it makes me so happy to hear. I am going to start introducing sight words to you so that you can 'read' with me.

I am proud of you Gabe and I hope you know how much joy you bring to our family. We may have our strong-willed battles and days that I get frustrated with you, but I wouldn't trade any of it. Your most frustrating and hard to discipline qualities are the same qualities that will allow you to be a leader and stand up for what is right when you get older... if we survive the toddler years, that is ;) I love you little man!

Mama

GI & ENT Appointments

(Again, I wrote this in late October but posted it to the day it happened.)

Two days after his birthday, Gabriel had an upper endoscopy w/biopsy, largynoscopy, airway scope, and twenty-four hour pH impedence test at Vanderbilt.

Pre-op with papaw

Gabe in recovery 

He did MUCH better with the anesthesia than we expected. After he got tubes last summer, he had a terrible reaction and was screaming, crying, kicking, hitting, etc. He had what is called "emergence delirium." We talked extensively with the doctors and anesthesiologist before he went back. They said in kids who are extremely busy and/or strong-willed (Gabe is BOTH!) it isn't uncommon because the kids are fighting not being in control of themselves while they wake up and are still groggy/confused/etc. Anyway, they used a different anesthetic and let Gabe sleep for an extra hour. It made a WORLD of difference and he did much better, thankfully! 

The first few hours at home

While the anesthetic wore off, Gabe's face turned bright red and hot. 

We took him out to ice cream later in the evening when he was feeling much better.

We thought if he had to have the tape on his face, we might as well make it fun. Gabe loved being a "MAN!" for a few hours.

He surprised us all with how well he did with the tube in for 24 hours. We thought he would try and pull it out but he didn't. I think he was so afraid of the "no-no" arm covers going back on that he would do whatever we told him. 

While he had the tube in, I watched his box closely and saw that he was failing the test miserably. It seemed that his pH levels stayed around 2.5-3 for HOURS at a time and would dip as low as .5. His doctor called us about a week later and said he had 96 reflux events, 84 of which was acidic, and that he took way too long to clear the reflux (and was actually having subsequent reflux episodes before he recovered from the first.) He started him back on medicine at a higher dose and it has helped so much. Gabe is EATING food (not just drinking calories), not grunting, and SLEEPING!! Amen.

The ENT also saw that Gabe had vocal nodules and something with his vocal chords (I think it is called sulcus? Maybe?) Anyway, the vocal nodules will go away once the reflux is treated and he can learn not to scream, make loud car noises, etc. but the other problem is more serious. The ENT said he hardly sees it in kids. All of this explains Gabe's extremely hoarse voice. 

He will see the GI doctor on November 13th and have his first appointment at the speech clinic on the 16th. We will learn more about the scope results and his throat concerns then! 

Gabe's birthday

Clearly this blog got pushed to the back with Aaron being gone. I guess that is how it should be though. (I wrote this in late October but posted it back to Gabe's birthday.)

Back in September, Gabriel celebrated his third (seriously, 3rd!?!?) birthday! We had a few friends over and my parents were here to make his day special. We kept it casual with pizza and a fun dinosaur cake that mom and I made.

Gabe LOVED the cake and thought it was the coolest thing ever. He is obsessed with green right now and loves dinos, so it was the perfect combination. Thank you Theresa for the idea! 

Eating the cake like a dinosaur... :) 

Beautiful Ezmi and Aracely!

Danielle

Bath time for the birthday boy!

We had planned on Aaron Skyping us while we sang 'Happy Birthday' to Gabe, but his computer wasn't working at the time. He wound up getting on about an hour after we finished. Gabe was happy though because he got to have another few bites of cake.

For his birthday, he got a red plasma car that he (and Claire) love to drive around the house. I won't lie, I've taken it for a couple of spins too and it's pretty neat. I got it from Zulily for a great deal.

Happy Birthday, Gabriel!

recent Gabe-isms

His new favorite toy: squish. To most adults "squish" is known as play-doh. Hey, it DOES squish! :)

First two word phrase (FINALLY!): baby night night... told to mom when Claire fell asleep in her carseat.

While watching Sunday football, he saw the former Dallas head coach advertised in a Survivor commercial. His reaction: "my bapa! my bapa!" My dad was honored.

Posts to come: pumpkin patch, Florida (really?! I still haven't done it!?), and more :)

Tubes

Gabe's ENT appointment was yesterday. The doctor sent him for a hearing test, which showed us he has lost hearing since his last test in April, and has "stiff eardrums." Apparently he has a lot of fluid in his ears (um... hello doc... what I've been saying for MONTHS!) that distorts what he hears. Ever had someone talk to you while you're under water? Welcome to Gabe's world.

Tomorrow at 10 am he gets ear tubes. His hearing, and hopefully speech, should improve immediately.

I'm hoping it helps with the tantrums, too... I miss my sweet boy.

Pray for him, will you? It will be his first time (and hopefully last for quite a while) under anesthesia.

Neither Aaron nor my parents can be there,  meaning I have to swing the whole ordeal by myself. I'm not sure how to handle an almost two-year-old who is nearly stronger than I am and will probably be very cranky coming out of sedation and a four-month-old who acts like her leg is being ripped off if I'm not holding her/nursing her.

On second thought, maybe you should pray for me too.