Another great allergy update!

Annabelle can now have milk!! I started giving her whole milk almost 2 weeks ago. We started with 1 ounce and slowly worked our way up to 4 ounces in a day. She's a very messy drinker with a straw, spitting it out about every other time she drinks. So it took a while to make sure she got enough swallowed to count it as a full trial. She didn't have any reactions! I've given her cheese and yogurt, and still no reaction! I'm so excited!! She has really enjoyed every time I introduce a new food. I think she just gets tired of the few foods she can eat, so a new taste is fun for her. I'm glad there are so many flavors of cheese! I think she'll enjoy all of those too. I'll work on eggs later this week. If she passes eggs, I see homemade ice cream in her future!!!

Roses from Susie

When I lived in Bellville, every time Susie got flowers, she'd give me some. She often received roses from friends for her birthday and for mother's day. (Despite not having any biological children, she was still honored as a mom by many of her friends!) She always said that she just needed a few to enjoy and wanted me to enjoy the rest of them. She'd split up her dozen roses and give me several.

At her funeral, the casket flower display was roses. After the graveside service, her nephew began pulling roses out to pass out to the women. I was handed several (one for each of the girls in my family). I took a picture (and just transferred the pictures to my computer). Here are my last roses from Susie. As usual, I was able to brighten up my house for over a week because of roses from her.

Catch up post

Life has been crazy and stressful lately. Texas is undergoing severe budget cuts in the education department, and it is affecting the local schools. Our district cut hundreds of jobs, mainly probationary contracts. John is under a probationary contract for his first 3 years, so we were really scared that he would be let go. We heard rumors of other coaches being laid off, so we didn't have any security at all. Luckily, his job was safe due to other teachers in his department voluntarily resigning. Other people weren't so lucky, but we are thankful for John's job for at least another year. I hope Texas gets its act together so we don't have to face this stress next year!

Annabelle has passed her chicken trial! It is so nice to have a good protein she can eat! So now she can eat pears, peas, bananas and chicken! We started a milk trial last Wednesday. So far, she's up to about 3 ounces a day. She's been extra fussy lately, but I don't know if it is because of the milk or if she is teething. I'll keep increasing the amount until we get to a full serving or until she has a reaction.

I've really been missing Susie lately. She passed away almost 4 weeks ago, and it is so hard. The school stress was when I really felt her absence. Last year, when I was so stressed about where John would get a job, she was a calming presence in my life. I really missed having her wisdom as we waited to hear if John would have a job again. And when I found out John would have his job still, I missed picking up the phone to rejoice with her. Grace found the program from the funeral, and I saw her hugging it. We sat down and talked about missing Susie. She said, "You miss Susie and I miss Susie, but Annabelle doesn't miss her." I guess she's heard me say before that Annabelle won't remember her. (I don't know how much Grace will remember her in a few years, but I know for the next few at least, she'll remember her.) Grace does seem to understand everything that happened, so I'm glad it hasn't been difficult for her.

Update on Annabelle's Allergies

We've been steadily moving along with Annabelle's food allergies. She's currently able to eat pears, peas, and bananas!! It has been fun adding the new foods. She was sick a few months ago and couldn't seem to get over it, so our food trials slowed down. She started refusing purees, so I started giving her chunks. She LOVED that! No more purees for her now! She feeds herself, and she's so proud of herself!

The allergist gave us the go-ahead to try a meat, so we're trying chicken, starting Monday!! I'm more nervous about that one than any of the fruits or veggies, but I'm hoping it'll all go well.

This week is her birthday, so we're having a family party on Wednesday to celebrate. I just finished making her cake, and I'm bummed she can't eat any of it. Hopefully by her 2nd birthday, she'll have enough safe foods that will allow me to make a cake out of it. This year, she'll have to settle for bananas in a cup, with a candle.