Allergies...child # 2 round # 1 :(

Last night we gave Bennett eggs for the first time.  Immediately after the first bite, he began to rub his mouth and eyes.  I continued giving him a few more bites but then his face starting getting red.  Even though he was rubbing his eyes viciously, I had a feeling that wasn't the reason for the redness.  I stopped feeding him, completely wiped his hands and face down and waited...within MINUTES he had small rash-like bumps all over his face (mostly around his mouth and forehead) and his eyes began to swell.  I took him upstairs and gave him a bath.  We gave him some Benadryl.  He was breathing and acting normally, thank God!  He went to sleep and woke up a couple times which isn't much more than normal.  Of course, Nick and I both went in a couple times to check on him throughout the night. 

This morning he woke up with his eyes even more swollen but the redness and rash were gone.  While changing him I noticed he had the same rash on his stomach and legs.  I consulted with Dr. Dad who asked an attending he worked with and we gave him more Benadryl.  He seems to be improving so we'll just wait and see.

We'll wait some time but next we have to try simple things that contain egg like pancakes.  I'm really hoping and praying his allergy isn't severe and is only to eggs and doesn't include anything made with eggs.  Here are some pictures of what he looked like last night and this morning, poor little Benny Bear :(

Bennett is 9 months old!

SO much has changed in our little Benny's life in the last month!  He is still the same as far as his demeanor, pretty quiet (big change from months ago when he talked ALL THE TIME!) and so so happy.  He's meeting his milestones especially stranger anxiety!  He's quite the Mama's boy and if I'm being honest, I can't say that I mind.  He now has 4 teeth, the two on the bottom and now two on the top and boy can he use them!  He bit Nick and left a mark the other night on his shoulder but Nick won't be getting much sympathy from me (or any other nursing mom for that matter!).  He puts his arms up and reaches for you when he wants to be picked up, especially out of the car seat or high chair, it's super cute.

And the biggest/latest change is that he is now officially crawling!  He's been on all fours for quite some time and he has been scooting backwards for over a month.  On Saturday, just one day shy of 9 months, he finally got it!  It was pretty funny to watch.  He would get up on all fours, stick one leg straight out behind him, hold it there for a couple seconds and then lunge it forward.  He's still moving kind of slow but definitely has it figured out.  He has also started to reach up with one arm and try to grab hold of anything higher up whether it is his crib rail, my pant leg, ANYTHING!  Time to bring out the baby gates and probably getting close to lowering the crib too! 

Bennett has been eating everything when it comes to fruits and vegetables but everything so far has been pureed.  Last night we gave him pieces of avocado and banana.  He did really well.  It's crazy to see how much gums can do without teeth!  We'll probably give him some pasta and rice soon and then some meat.  I'm still nervous about him choking even though we've been though all of this before with Jackson.  And of course, I'm worried that he might be allergic to something so I'm definitely making sure we try certain foods with Dr. Daddy is home!  We're planning on giving him eggs soon but waiting on peanut butter and shellfish at least until he's one.

Here are his monthly pics...definitely a challenge getting him to sit still, all he wanted to do was move and put the stuffed animals in his mouth!

Jacksonisms

It's been ages since I've posted one of these but there have been a couple lately that I have to get down so I don't forget.  The other night during dinner, Jackson was drinking out of a cup with his name on it.
J: "I want a cup with my full name on it, Jackson David Kelly." (I love how he had to tell us his full name as if we didn't know, ha!)
pause
J: "Hey!  Baby David and I have the same middle name!!!"
Nick: "What do you think his first name is?"
J: "Baby.  You know...Baby.David."

We had to explain that his first name was actually David and why they called him Baby David since his dad's name was also David and it could get confusing, etc.  It was the cutest thing ever!

On Monday, we had Bennett's 9 month well visit and since it was President's Day, Jackson didn't have school so he was with us.  Dr. Shrouds told Jackson he was going to ask him some questions about Bennett, i.e. does he sleep in a crib or Mommy's bed, which way does his car seat face, etc.  Then he asked if anyone in the house smoked, here's how the rest of the conversation went...
J: "Yes."
Me: silently shocked!
Dr.: "Really?  Who?"
Me: still shocked!
J: "Daddy."
Me: still shocked but relieved he didn't say me, ha!
Dr. : "Really?" (more asking me now)
Me: "Jackson, what are you talking about?"
J: "You know, when he's outside on the grill, he smokes food, pork and stuff."

Love my little man!

Laughing it up at Mommy's expense

Last night I made Mexican pizzas for dinner (here's the recipe in case anyone is interested; http://allrecipes.com/recipe/jimmys-mexican-pizza/detail.aspx) and Nick added some Chipotle hot sauce to his personal pizza.  He said it smelled so good and gave the bottle to Jackson and then me to smell.  I quickly grabbed the bottle and smelled it but accidentally got too close to it and got a bit of sauce on my nose.  Nick started teasing me about how I smelled things by putting my nose in them and decided to "smell" the sour cream on his plate by dunking his nose in it.  As you can imagine that sent Jackson into quite a laughing fit which only increased after he dunked his own nose in sour cream.  And although they were teasing me, it was worth it to hear all those giggles during dinner, which is the only time we spend together on a weekday.  I had to stop laughing long enough to snap a quick shot of my silly boys...

 

Benny Bear is sick :(

Last week Bennett got a cold that got to be an awful cold pretty quickly.  On Friday morning, I could hear what sounded like wheezing.  I couldn't tell if it was actual wheezing in his chest or just from all the congestion.  Of course Dr. Daddy was already at work for the long day and was on call all weekend so I decided that it was best to go ahead and take him to the doctor.  I thought I was going overboard since most likely it was just a cold but with our history of Jackson wheezing, I didn't want to chance it.  I'm so glad I took him because it turned out the poor thing had a DOUBLE ear infection!  I felt so bad for my little guy, not only was he dealing with his first ever ear infection, he had to get two at once.  He's been quite the trooper though, just a low grade fever the first day, and not much of an appetite for actual food but he's still nursing and sleeping well.  I do hear him moaning a bit through the night and it just breaks my heart, wish I could take away any pain or discomfort he is feeling but I know it will pass.  In the meantime, I'm enjoying the extra cuddles and am thankful it's nothing more serious.

Year in Review

I'm stealing this idea (like most of my blog ideas) from my sister who found it on Pinterest...which I introduced her to so maybe that makes it partly my idea???

 

The Kelly Family
2011 – A Year in Review

home Columbia, SC 3.5 years	wedded bliss 7.75 years		Big year for Nick …finished residency …started 4th year Chief Resident position …passed Pediatric Board Certification exam with flying colors!
big brother 4.5 years	little brother 7 months
Awesome things that happened in 2011 #1 Bennett was born  #2 Jackson started Pre-K at St. John Neumann Catholic School #3 Jackson started to R-E-A-D  #4 We had our first family themed Halloween [with Star Wars costumes] #5 We SOLD our townhouse in Atlanta #6 Jackson played on a soccer team for the first time and scored a GOAL #7 Bennett rode on a plane for the first time
Nick’s Work Palmetto Health Children’s Hospital 3.5 years		Nour’s Work Hampstead Lighting 6 years

Bennett is 8 months old! What?!?!?

I can't believe our sweet baby boy is 8 months old.  He truly is such a joy in our lives.  Bennett is so happy all the time.  If you even just look at him, he shoots you the cutest smile showing off his two bottom teeth.  And of course with that smile comes a fountain of drool out of his mouth.  We go through 2 or 3 bibs a day and that doesn't even include the ones he wears when he's eating!  Luckily these days it's just drool.  His reflux seems to be much better.  At his 6 months appointment, Dr. Shrouds said we should keep him on the medicine but we wouldn't increase his dose with hopes that with him growing, he would have weaned himself off the small dose of medicine by the time he was 9 months old.  It seems to be working so fingers crossed that when we stop the medicine next month, he won't need to go back on it.

We aren't sure where he gets this from but Bennett LOVES to eat!  I'm kidding of course since Nick, Jackson and I all have a love for all things edible.  We've gone through most of the fruits and vegetables and in the next week or so, I'll be introducing pasta, rice and yogurt.  The last couple days, his appetite seems to have increased exponentially or maybe he's just getting better at asking for more food.  Luckily, with the extra food, he's been sleeping much better.  I'm hoping not to jinx it with this post but for the last few days, he's only woken up once in the middle of the night around 3:30am to eat and then he's back asleep until 7am.  I really hope this is the beginning of Bennett sleeping through the night...the entire night!  He is definitely a stomach sleeper.  I keep waiting for his little booty to stick up in the air but he is completely flat with his arms straight down by his sides (very odd in my opinion but must be genetic because it's just like his daddy).

He definitely mastered sitting and can get on all fours and hang out for long periods of time.  He also started pushing himself backwards but no sign of forward movement.  Bennett started this a few weeks ago so I thought crawling was coming soon but I was wrong.  And although I have all the gates ready to be installed, I (selfishly) like having a non mobile baby.  When he gets tired of being on all fours he plops down on his belly and kicks his legs.  Nick is pretty sure he's going to be a great swimmer because he has the kicks down already.

Bennett is definitely a Mama's boy right now although he doesn't have any stranger anxiety.  He can be completely content playing on the floor alone or with Jackson or Nick but if he hears my voice or sees me walk by, he starts whining.  It's super cute and makes this Mama's heart smile.  The other morning, we were rushing around getting ready for school and each time I turned my back to walk away he would start whining but as soon as I just turned to face him, he would give me the biggest smile ever!  The good news is he's totally fine with "strangers" and has a blast playing with anyone.  His favorite person to play with is Jackson and vice versa.  Jackson is constantly telling us that even though he loves us, he loves Bennett the most, gee thanks kid.  I'm definitely not complaining though, and I take advantage of Bennett being intrigued by all things Jackson.  We pick Jackson up from school around 3 and head straight home so I can finish up work.  I put Bennett in the exersaucer and pull it in Jackson's playroom and he just watches Jackson play for an hour or so.  It's the perfect way for me to get my work done and they both enjoy it.

Bennett loves his bunny blankie.  I don't know how soothing it is but he loves playing with it and most of all chewing on it!  Blankie in Arabic is batania so we've named his bunny-nia since it's a bunny.  And now Jackson wants to call his buddy-nia since he named his Buddy a long time ago since he couldn't say blankie.  A couple months ago we thought we'd have another thumb sucker but he stopped last month and hasn't started back up again.  We'll see if that changes.  Here are his pics...I love the look on his face in the first one, my little stinker!

* We had to go to the doctor on the 20th so his 8 month weight is 17 lbs 12 oz! *