Peanut Allergy

Remember when Lucas had this reaction on the way home from Denver when he was one years old?

Well, since our little discovery of Lucas' allergy to peanuts, we have been avoiding them at all costs. It has been a source of annoyance, but overall it's been fine. Over the years, he has been exposed to peanuts once or twice that I know of. I stopped being super careful of avoiding products that say "processed in a facility that has peanuts" quite some time ago. So, knowing that 1 in 5 kids grow out of the allergy, we decided to see what it would take to find out!

I called an allergist and set up an appointment and we started the three step process.

The first thing that we needed to do was complete the skin test again with negative results. Check.

The second thing that we needed to do was draw blood for titers. Check.

Side note: the blood work was an insanely traumatic experience for Lucas. I was physically restraining him while he was sitting in my lap... all the while him screaming at the top of his lungs. It was not the best day. Heaven help me if he ever gets admitted to PCMC for something serious.

The third thing was a peanut challenge. Check.

We were instructed to bring our own peanut butter and something to eat it with.

We were also instructed that it would last 4 hours. Yup. FOUR HOURS!

He would eat small amounts of peanut butter over 4 hours and they would monitor him.

I brought books, movies, and his e-reader. It was so, so, so long.

Even worse than that, it was complete torture for Lucas and for me to get him to eat that much peanut butter. I brought bread and honey for him to choke it down with. We ended up there for almost 5 hours because he struggled so much with getting that huge glob of it down.  

lucas during the looonnnnngggg peanut challenge appointment.

At the end of it all, he grew out of his allergy. Yipppppeeee!

The bad news though.... he hates peanut butter. We have tried everything. Candy, cookies, milkshakes, sandwiches. Hates it all. The good news is however that going into the public school system in the fall we don't have to deal with the allergy issue for snacks and lunchtime.

Kindergarten Orientation

lucas was so excited for kindergarten orientation. he is ready. more than ready. i am excited for him to be able to go to school every day. i am excited for him to make some new friends and to learn new things.

lucas has grown up so much in the last year at his preschool. i am so glad that we decided to hold him back a year from kindergarten. now he will be the very oldest instead of the youngest. he will be ahead of the learning curve when he starts kindergarten instead of behind. yeah!

lucas' favorite part of the orientation was sitting by his friend Josh from preschool and taking the tour around the school. especially the computer lab and the actual kindergarten classrooms!

lucas was easily the tallest kid there.

even millie was as tall as some of the kids starting kindergarten.

yowsa.

Siblings

The past couple months Lucas and Millie have been playing together a little better. 

Millie is getting older and so it's easier for them to have meaningful playtime.

However, with this improvement has also come excessive teasing and fighting. 

SIBLINGS!

When I saw this picture on Aunt Ange's blog I smiled and thought to myself...

"See! They do get along!"

Ange took the kids to the park while I slept after a night shift. She told me that this picture was not prompted at all. They were just walking hand in hand. Adorable.

Day-to-day

being a mom day to day is hard. oftentimes i feel like all i do is make meals, clean up the kitchen, clean up the toys, ask the kids to stop hitting and teasing... the list goes on. then you have moments (and they really are just moments) when all is happy and good.

lucas using his white board to draw the family. he was so proud. so was i.

millie dressing up like cinderella.

she insisted that we use her headband as a crown.

the kids playing baby in the basement.

getting along. having fun. yes.

St. George: Hike

We headed to St. George between Christmas and New Years. 

It was fun... but cold! 

Lucas has loved hiking and exploring recently. He especially loved this indian writtings hike we did that weekend. I have to admit, it was pretty cool.

Christmas Day

Christmas Day was pretty great!

The kids got spoiled as usual...

We spent early Christmas morning at home opening presents with the kids.

Lucas was thrilled to get his new MAGFORMERS from Santa and Millie loved her Princess castle.

Scott has passed along his love for Legos to Lucas... and here he opened a huge box!

Millie excited for BRAVE!

Two Favorite Presents!

MAGS | Trip to Disneyland!!!

After Christmas morning at our house, we went for breakfast and presents at Grammy and Grandpas!

Sourdough pancakes, bacon, eggs, orange juice. Yum.

Millie opening her Minnie Mouse stuff from Grammy and Grandpa.

My mom somehow always gets Scott his most FAVORITE present of Christmas every year. 

She did it again. Topped last year even...

See the pictures for his pure excitement and joy that Legos bring...

Scott has wanted this VW van lego for 3 years. He saw it at a LEGO store in Florida while I was pregnant with Millie and hasn't stopped talking about it since. 

To say he was excited, is an understatement for sure.

It took him a week to put it together... working on it night after night. Not too fast, not too slow. 

He had to prolong the fun!

Grammy opening the annual Christmas Calendar.

After Grammy and Grandpas we were off to home for naps. 

At Nana and Papa's Lucas got more MAGS!!! He was so excited because this set had wheels!

After we opened presents... we played our matching game! The kids even got their own game this year!

Scott and I didn't totally work everyone like last year... but we still did good! Scoring gift card to Five Guys and Cafe Rio among other awesome things!

Super fun tradition Chris started a few years back!!!

REALLY REALLY excited for our trip to DISNEYLAND at the end of January! 

Pictures to come!

Christmas: Random

The kids saw Santa this year...

LOOK! Lucas is actually standing close to Santa for the first time ever!

Lucas asked for Magformers.

Millie asked for a baby.

Church and breakfast with Grandpa and Grammy while Mom slept | Lucas making sugar cookies

Millie and Lucas playing nice (!) | Breakfast Millie and Grammy

 Traditional Gingerbread Houses at the Neidigs!

Millie and Alan are now friends | Scotty with the kids.

I wasn't there this night but apparently Millie worked with Alan on the houses 

and even gave him a hug goodbye! It only took 2.5 years for this to happen! 

Lucas and I made sugar cookies for his guests at his Preschool Christmas Program.

Lucas was very excited for this night.... we had been waiting for weeks!

He participated with the other kids (huge milestone here!) and actually had a good time!

However, when Santa arrived at the end... he was more than ready to get outta there!

Fall Soccer

This fall Lucas played soccer. 

With most things he was cautious at first,

but really grew to look forward to practice and games! 

Lucas' team was called The Chameleons. The games were 3 on 3 with no goalies.

Lucas isn't assertive when he plays sports. A little timid in fact. 

We think it's because he is so much bigger and he doesn't want to hurt the other kids.

He became more and more assertive as the season went along... which was great to see!

His coach was great with the team and really encouraged Lucas to get out there and play!

Towards the end of the season his coach was trying to get the other kids to pass the ball to Lucas so he could score a goal. He came soooo close many many times! 

It was cute to see his coach rooting for him every game!

One of the last games, Lucas took the ball all the way down the field and then passed it to his teammate just in time for him to score a goal. Lucas was very proud of his assist!

I think we will definitely do soccer again. It was a great experience for Lucas. 

Thank you family for supporting Lucas by coming to his games! He loved having you there!

Blurry... but look at the determination on his face!

soccer season via instagram:

end of game cheer! | lucas pre game

lucas & millie cheering on the team | first practice

Fall: Halloween Costumes

This year for Halloween Lucas was an army guy and Millie was Minnie Mouse!

They had a great time dressing up and participating in all the events of Halloween...

We went to all of the following:

Pre-school Parade

Friends Halloween Party

Family Halloween Party

Trick or Treating

On the actual night of Halloween I took very few pictures... so the day after I had the kids dress up for one final time to take some pictures in the back yard.