Sugarbush today!

We spent a nice Saturday morning/lunch at Kortright sugarbush. We met up with Ben and Caitlin's uncle Robin (Nic's brother), aunt Beth, and cousins Alex and Jon.

Ben was quite interested in the old-fashioned method of tree tapping and liked checking all the buckets for sap. The highlight, of course, was the maple syrup tasting and the maple sucker he got after our pancake lunch (which he also thoroughly enjoyed!).

Caitlin did great being carried in the Bjorn; she even napped in it. Ben wasn't a big fan of the carrier when he was a baby, so I'm pleased that Caitlin is comfortable in it simply because it's much handier this time around with Ben being on the go. And not a single complaint out of Caitlin the entire time; as usual she was just going with the flow.

Nic took a few pictures, but we didn't get nearly as many as we would have liked because our batteries were dying. Robin took a tonne, so hopefully we'll get some copies. And you'll notice Nic is absent from the photos... he was taking the pics. I was in charge of the camcorder, so I'm missing from the video footage.

Mystery hives

The day before yesterday Caitlin broke out in hives on the side/back of her left calf. She'd woken from her nap (she was napping bare legged) not particularly happy. Very unusual for her. It seemed as though she was complaining of gas pain. Ben was napping so we hurried down stairs so I could troubleshoot her gas problem. I layed her on the couch and pumped her legs a bit. I'm pretty sure I would have noticed the hives at that time if they were present.

After working on the gas problem for a bit (and she did pass more) I thought perhaps she might be unusually hungry. Since she didn't want to sit I put her in her exersaucer briefly while I washed my hands and mixed a bottle. After taking her out of the exersaucer I noticed her leg looked red. I layed her on the couch to take a closer look and saw she had a bunch of hives.

I wracked my brain trying to figure out what caused them. She hadn't left the house at all. There was nothing new to be exposed to.

So first I thought perhaps there was something on the exersaucer, and washed the cover, but it seemed like a long shot.

And last night it occured to me. It was probably something on my hands that she came in contact with when I was pumping her legs. I had been eating cheese, crackers, and salami prior to her waking up and hadn't wash my hands (it's not my normal practice, only before making bottles). Maybe she was contact allergic to something I had been eating. My first thought was dairy. Since she's been on Good Start formula, which is whey-based and fairly hydrolyzed, it would be possible for an infant with a dairy allergy to consume it (Ben did, although his allergy to milk was mild) without any sign of reaction. (I did a lot of reading last night.) I had a huge knot in my stomach.

However, this morning I did a skin contact test with milk on her leg and nothing. No hives, no redness. Nothing. So it doesn't seem to be dairy. (Thank god. I was SO worried that was it. I really, really feel for parents of children with severe milk allergies. Milk products are so messy... milk spills, yogurt splatters, etc. Dairy is so prevolant in all children's snacks, right down to the ever-popular Goldfish crackers.) The crackers I was eating had sesame and soy (as well as dairy) ingredients, so that will be my next test tomorrow. The lunch meat, I think, is pretty benign (there are no unlisted spices), but you never know - nitrates/nitrites, maybe?

So I'm still stumped.

She has a cold, and sometimes viruses cause hives, but I do believe hives are on and off for the duration of the virus, not an isolated incidence.

Man, I HATE allergies. HATE. THEM.

Necessity is the mother of invention

Or in my case, the motivational kick in the butt to get something done.

As we all know, Ben's allergic to peanuts. And while a food allergy isn't something anyone wishes for, it's completely and totally managable with a little effort. And fortunately, in Canada where there is peanut allergy awareness in daycares, preschools, and public schools we have a rapidly growing abundance of peanut-free food products.

Sometimes, however, there aren't a lot of options. Bakeries, for example, are definitely out of the question. As a result I've had to take up baking (especially when Ben had an egg allergy too), and I've becomed an improved baker. Not great, but better.

And today I made pesto. Sure, it's simple, but it's something I probably would never have bothered to make if all premade store-bought pestos were free of trace peanuts. And since I couldn't find pinenuts that were free of trace peanut I toasted some Blue Diamond natural almonds as a substitute. (It turned out very well, if I may say!)

Chocolates are another. Boxed chocolates free of peanuts and/or trace peanuts are near impossible to find, and so I made our own two Christmases ago.

Overall, I think Ben's peanut allergy has forced our family to eat more healthfully, and so I suppose we could see that as a silver lining.

Day-to-day I don't think much about Ben's allergy and we've accepted that his allergy is likely a lifelong thing, and we don't dwell on it because dwelling on it leads to pity and pity is never a good thing. We've always been matter-of-fact about Ben's peanut allergy with him, so hopefully he won't grow up feeling sorry for himself, but rather accept his allergy for what it is.

Ben's next allergy test is the end of April. Nothing can stop the small glimmer of hope I hold every time annual testing approaches. I'll be sure update with the results.

The 'perfect' photo eludes me.

Try as I might I still haven't perfected taking a photo of two children.

But adorable subjects make up for my poor photography skills.

The exersaucer: revived!

Caitlin has such strong little legs and has been getting bored of laying and sitting around, so I broke out the exersaucer, cleaned it up, and got her in it today. She really seemed to enjoy herself. And it was great, until she pooped. I'd forgotten how the exersaucer and jumper both helped to get things moving, and worse, I'd forgotten about the mess it resulted in. Right up the back! Ugh. But after a flurry of baby wipes and a clothing change she was good as new again. Needless to say, tonight was a bath night.

Here are a few pre-poop pics of our girl enjoying the saucer.

It's not a fluke!

Caitlin rolled front to back three times today. Yay Caitlin!!!

I'll have to try to get some video this weekend.

Lovin' this beautiful southern Ontario weather!

It's been so lovely out this past week with temperatures of 10C+ daily. Ben's been outside every day and loving it. It's especially great because he's at an age that he can really busy himself for a good half hour with his cars in the sand. It's so cute listening to him play in his make-believe world. The mind of a three year old is quite something. He's currently into avalanches, so you can imagine what happens when you factor sand into the equation.

Caitlin rolled front to back this evening!

Though I'm not sure if it was a fluke or not, so we'll have to try some more tomorrow. It was right before bedtime, so she wasn't up for a whole lot of tummy time. Anyway, it's an exciting development! She rolled over like a pro. My big girl. :)

Update on Caitlin's sleep

Well, I guess it was too good to last. Caitlin is back to waking up once, sometimes twice per night. Saturday she woke at midnight and 1.30am, then up to eat at 5.30am. Every night since she's woken up once per night, but has settled with her soother, so she doesn't seem to be hungry. All in all though, she's doing quite well for her age. It's just that Ben spoiled us by sleeping through starting at 3 months, and I'm pretty sure that's an anomaly among typical infant sleep patterns.

Physiotherapist booked!

We went with the private therapist. Our first appointment is next Tuesday while Ben's in school. The first appointment is $90 and subsequent appointments are $85. I'm willing to pay $13/visit for convenience of having a therapist come to the house (our private coverage will pay the rest), besides, if we had to go to the hospital I'd have to pay for parking which would come to as much anyway.

Anyway, I look forward to seeing what she thinks and what kind of exercises she'll recommend. (Apparently I'll need to buy an exercise ball.) I'm so glad our GP referred us to see a paediatrician because this may have overlooked otherwise because even though I noticed and encouraged her to turn her head left more often (and she has), it wouldn't have occurred to me that it was physio-worthy. Fortunately though it's mild, so I don't think Caitlin will require too much in the way of treatment.

'Caitlin, Caitlin. Look at you go!'

This is Ben's song for Caitlin. He sings it to her all the time:

Caitlin, Caitlin. Look at you go!
Caitlin, Caitlin. Look at you go!
Caitlin, Caitlin. Look at you go!
Caitlin, Caitlin. Look at you go!
etc.

Then finally...

Caitlin, Caitlin. Look at yoooooou gooooooo!

First, I love that it's always sung to the exact same tune. Second, I love that it's a song about Caitlin 'going', when she really doesn't actually go anywhere yet, and third, I especially love that he ends the song by using a deeper voice and dragging out the last words. SO cute!

My sweet boy

I had asked Ben last night if he would like to give Caitlin some of his old baby books that he doesn't look at anymore. He was firmly in the 'no' camp at the time. This morning, however, he'd changed his mind, so we went through his books and he selected a generous amount to pass on to Caitlin (he had three bins of books and in the end passed a bin's worth on to Caitlin). For being so generous I offered to buy him a few new books today while we were shopping for new rubber boots, but he spotted a 'Diesel 10' die cast from the Thomas and Friends show, and he had lost all interest in books, so Diesel 10 it was. (And can I just say how totally impressed I was when he looked at an entire wall of Thomas character die casts and asked specifically for Diesel 10...!)

Mild torticollis

A while back I got a referral to a paediatrician for Caitlin because I was worried about a rash (with Ben's history of food allergies). By the time the appointment rolled around (last week) the rash was gone. Good moisturizing seems to have done the trick.

The paediatrician noticed that Caitlin favours turning her head to the right. I'd noticed this a while back too (if you look at all her early infancy photos her head is always turned right), but hadn't thought much of it since it's improved a lot in the past month (I find her sleeping with her head turned left). Still, the paeditrician asked if I might be interested in a few physiotherapy sessions, and I am, so we're looking into that. I'm going to check into the cost of private physio because the therapist would come to the house, which will be much easier than bringing Ben along to her appointments, if it's too expensive (our private coverage will cover 85% per appointment up to a total of $500), otherwise I'll bring her into the hospital's clinic.

The good sleep continues! (and other stuff)

Oh thank you, Caitlin, for suddenly sleeping so well at night. The monitor has been back on for the past couple of nights (because I feared that maybe Nic and I were missing something) and I haven't heard so much as a peep. Oh please let this continue. I'm begging the sleep gods.

You'd think with the extra sleep I'd be feeling so much more refreshed in the morning, but I'm actually feeling really tired. I think my body has flung itself full force into recovery mode. I think if the good sleep continues for another week I'll be on top of my game again. The extra sleep, however, has really improved my mood and I'm much better equipped to deal with daily tantrums of a three-year-old.

Swaddle weaning continues to go well. She's still swaddled with one arm out. I really think this girl is going to be all about her thumb, when she finds it. She hasn't yet figured out how to stick it out, so she sucks on her fist. She tries to self-soothe, but it doesn't please her as much as the soother does. She's not overly enthusiastic about the soother except at nap and bedtime, so that's a good thing. Her fist seems to do the trick when she's awake, and she'll actually push the soother out of her mouth in favour of her fist during the day.

She's also firmly planted in the drooly stage, which I believe also started at 3 months with Ben. So now bibs are just part of the outfit these days otherwise her shirt ends up soaked.

Caitlin's still pretty easy going during her awake time. The only time she gets cries is when she's hungry or tired, but when she's over-hungry or over-tired, or when the two come to a head - look out! A complete meltdown. And getting her to settle enough to take her bottle at that point is a real chore which involves walking and rocking while trying her with her bottle. Fortunately this doesn't happen too often as I can usually anticipate when she'll be ready to eat again, so the bottle is usually at the ready. Otherwise she's just happy to hang out and take it all in. I've also started propping up the back of her swing seat now that she has the neck control to handle it, and she loves being able to sit upright.

Caitlin is 3 months old today! (And I'm gobsmacked.)

Yes, our wee little girl is now three months old. It's amazing how much they change and grow in these first three months. I saw a one month old yesterday and I could hardly believe Caitlin was so tiny and squishy.

Caitlin is so much more responsive. She loves to chat and smile, and her eyes light right up when she smiles. Even when I'm having the worst day ever, which with my lack of sleep seems to be more often that usual these days, she helps to turn it around with a big gummy smile.

She's also starting to reach for things in close range and is able to hold her rattle for short periods of time. It won't be long before she and Ben are playing together. I would have expected him to get a bit bored with Caitlin by now, but he's just as excited about her new developments as we all are.

And now for the gobsmacked bit. Caitlin slept through the night last night! From 7.30pm through to 6am. I don't know what had been going on this past week, a growth spurt, maybe. But she was all over the map and waking a couple of times per night. I partially wonder if I was shooting myself in the foot by going to her so quickly in the night for fear that her night cooing might turn into a full-on cry and wake Ben. Anyway, I don't know that we can expect this to stick, but it shows some promise that one day I will actually sleep again myself!

I've also started weaning Caitlin off the swaddle, so maybe that helped some last night too. I swaddle her with one arm out. She really likes to suck on her fist, and so she would bust both arms out through the night, completely loosening her swaddle which may have disturbed her sleep. Last night was her first night with an arm free.

Unfortunately I'm unable to take some photos today because I forgot my camera at a friend's house, so here are some from the past week.

Caitlin missed the memo.

Y'know, the one about how as babies get older they're supposed to wake less? Yeah. That one.

She's gone from waking once per night to eat to twice. Last night it was 11.30pm and again at 4am. (Ben, of course, was up for the day at 6.15am and unwilling to oblige Mama and watch Treehouse in my bed while I snoozed a little more. The boy loves his cereal.) Caitlin's saving grace, besides being cute as a button, is that she always goes back down without a fuss. I just swaddle her back up and put her back down. Eyes opened, usually. Of course that'll probably go out the window now that I've typed it up.

Stock tip: Tim Horton's

(Oh, and a side gripe: why do they always write "Tim Horton's" as "Tim Hortons"? The name is "Tim Horton", and it should be written as a possesive. Give the man his apostrophe back!)