Happy 2nd Birthday to Colin!

Who can believe that the 'chunk o child' on the above left photo is COLIN?!?!?! He was 2 weeks old in the above picture, he was quite the brute. The right photo is Colin ON his birthday, happily enjoying the trampoline with Ava!

Of course, we had our traditional "waking up on your birthday" photos....only Colin's bedhead isn't as fun to look at--he's just 1 big fluff ball of hair! If you notice the bottom right photo, you'll see his special breakfast, a HUGE bowl of one of his favorites....blueberries!
The cake.....was a Cookie Monster Cookie Cake....and it was sure yummy. That Cake Fairy does some neat creations! ;) Colin was not so sure of the candles.....and remained very serious until he had a piece of sugary yum in his mouth!
The day before Colin's birthday, Andy's Mom and siblings came up just for the day--it was a very fun visit. It was nice to see Uncle Ben on the last day before he moved to Denver and we did celebrate Colin's birthday with the Glynn family. As you can see....there were lots of hugs...and Colin received many "non princess" toys....I like to think of the upper right photo here as if he's saying "FINALLY.....some boy toys!" (Elmo "legos"!) This time, Colin really bonded with everyone, he had a lot of fun...and stayed up REALLY late (830pm!).
Colin opening gifts: (as you can see, he has learned well from the girls--you sit on the "king" (or queen!) chair and enjoy your gifts....he was REALLY into the opening of presents this year.
And then on his actual birthday, he opened the rest of his gifts--Andy captured his emotion so well on the collage below....Colin really loved every minute of his day. In fact, after all the gifts were opened, Colin sat back down on his throne and started doing the baby sign for "more". Precious.
We love our little Colin Max....he is such a joy to us! Happy Birthday big boy! And stay tuned for more Colin updates: this afternoon, I caught Ava teaching him how to try to climb out of his crib! Looks like the crib will be down before we know it!

Ellie drank 5 oz of COW milk!

Who would have thought? COW milk?
2 months ago, Ellie told me she REALLY wants to have hot lunch. I knew with her allergies, with the 2 little babes still at home most of the day (preventing me from working in the cafeteria at school)...it just wasn't an option yet. I bought myself some time saying "Let's get you tested first...."

6 days ago, Ellie had 3 pricks on her arm--histamine, control, and milk. She started crying when she saw a reaction forming where the milk was. BUT...it did not grow big like it had in years past. After 15 minutes, it was the size of 5x6 mm and if you are under 5x5, you are considered "not allergic". We were given the option of testing milk out at home (Which I preferred knowing it was a 3ish hr appointment and the thought of needing to bring the other children to that appointment made me want do crawl in a hole!). Andy didn't feel comfortable at home though, and since it was raining last Saturday, we all sat in the parking lot of Theda Clark for 2.5 hours! There was much movie watching going on that day, in our van!

Ellie's never had cow milk. She had a taste of lasagna at 5 mo of age(1st noted allergic reaction), she reacted to milk based formula mixed with cereal at 6 mo of age, and she's had various accidental contacts with milk over the years. She did not like the taste of it....yuk, she said she'd NEVER take a drop of it again! The above picture is Ellie holding the water bottle full of milk we brought with us and then drinking out of a plastic cup saying "Cheers" to me just prior to drinking the 4 tsp dose.

All was going pretty well....so well that during the waiting period after the 4 tsp dose, we actually went to that place of "I can't believe this is happening.....her whole life, we've worried about her allergies...can this be true? How amazing...." and then I heard "MOM!" from a scared little girl behind me...
and her lip was swollen. BUMMER. BUT, we decided to continue and just see what would happen. After all, had been 45 minutes with no issue and she did have chapped lips, what if it wasn't a reaction (it was though)?!

We proceeded and the lip stayed big, and Ellie became very pale. She got angry and frustrated when the dose became a 1/4 cup and then a 1/2 cup dose--she didn't like the taste and we didn't want to quit because then we didn't have ANY answers. Andy took his turn out on the grass trying to get her to drink that last 1/2 cup....and did not succeed. I then got out of the van to talk to Ellie....and this is a sequence that Andy captured from inside our van:
Me reasoning with her (Please, Ellie, just this last dose!!!), Ellie struggling to do it, Ellie noticing Andy snapping picture (MOM! He's taking PICTURES of me!), Ellie laughing when I was telling her just "drink and then throw your cup down...just not on me!" and finally, her last attempt. She did drink most of that last attempt before saying "I WILL NEVER DO THAT AGAIN!"

We then noticed how she was as white as a ghost and how sick she looked. We started home, stopped at Walgreens to use their bathroom and then experienced her throwing up all that milk as we entered our driveway. Andy took her upstairs, gave her some Benadryl and we thought it was all over.....
until Ellie came back downstairs 5 minutes later saying "When do I get my 3 Musketeers candy bar that you promised me if I succeeded in drinking the milk?!" She did eat 1/3 of the candy bar, loved it....and looks forward to the day when she can freely eat one.

Since Saturday, we've tried some other milk things and the joy on her face has been a memory I'll never forget. However, yesterday, she tried 10 M&Ms and her tongue started getting itchy. She was very scared and asked for Benadryl. It was then that I realized it's not over yet, our life is not ready to be "free". Today, we went to see the allergist and he had a long talk with Ellie. She's moving fast down the "free of allergies" path; but to get there the fastest, she needs to strictly avoid all dairy. If someone touches her, she'll most likely be ok, there might not even be such a need for an epi pen around our house anymore (but we feel better with one on hand!). The suggestion was return in 1 year and try the test again...when the reaction is 4x4 or less, she'll do a challenge in the dr's office....and the best part? She doesn't have to drink COW MILK! The allergist told her that he will allow her to eat chocolate ice cream next time!

We're ok with this, much more "ok" than we've ever been in years past when our hopes were high. We're going to make changes at school for next year to give Ellie more allergy freedom, and she has her eye on that day when she can not worry about an itchy throat or a puffy lip when she enjoys different foods. Someday....someday....we KNOW it's coming soon!

The rest of April....

Nice picture of a rainbow of Crocs, huh?!
Most years, we go to Door County around my birthday.....because I have a small addiction to Sweetie Pies Pie...and to the Lang Store in Sturgeon Bay. We just do a day trip and the kids actually look forward to going on this trip every year. They know that a stop at the candy store in Fish Creek is also on the agenda! ;)

Usually, they get new Crocs when we stop in the Lang store too...because they usually have the most amazing selection of Crocs at great prices. Weird huh? Anyway, this year, we knew we had only 1 day in April that we could go to Door County. 50 degrees was supposed to be the high...and of course, we didn't remember that 50 degrees would feel FRIGID in DC. BRRRR....it was freezing cold with a biting wind!

But back to the story: as we entered DC, Andy made sure the girls knew "We are NOT getting Crocs this year...do you understand? We are N-O-T getting them; that is not why we came here today...." They understood. We walked into the Lang Store and wouldn't you know, a huge selection of Crocs...all 40% off! Guess what? The girls ALL got new Crocs! ☺

Of course, our next stop was Sweetie Pies in Fish Creek....yum yum. Ava is also a pie lover, and as you can see, she is VERY serious about her cherry pie:
Yum.
And while we were feasting on pie, Ellie figured out how to set the timer on her camera (yes, she IS her Daddy's daughter!)....and we got a great family picture in the yard of Sweetie Pies!

Of course, we had to bring some pies home for various people...
And then we hit a few stores that WERE open during the off season. It was really quite enjoyable; the stores that were open had deep discounts on things and the crowds weren't there, so we had a great (yet cold!) day!

We have tried everytime to get a good picture of all 4 kiddos....and now, Colin cooperates! ☺
The night we arrived home from Door County, Andy's parents and Rebekah arrived for a short visit! We had an enjoyable Sunday with them, filling our driveway with chalk, letting Ava be the make up artist of the day, jumping on the trampoline, and letting Andy's Dad have a go at Andy's new bush trimmer! Yes, Andy's new name is Edward Scissorhands....
Right after Andy's family left, Ava (and 1/3 of her preschool) got VERY sick--for an entire week. During that week, the big girls had the Fine Arts Festival at school and it was wonderful! Both girls participated by playing piano in the preservice music, they sang in the musical and then they toured us around the school looking at all the art they've created in art class throughout the year. It was a fun night...and once again, we had a babysitter that saved the day since Ava was so sick.
(To hear the girls play their songs, click HERE and HERE.)

Ava did get better...she got better JUST in time to attend "Circus Dad Night" at school...just dads and their kids! They had so much fun together, Ava was just beaming when they arrived home. The finale was a juggler entertainer and he took Ava's shoe to juggle. I asked her "Was that funny?" and her response was "Mom, I was really embarrassed!" That's Ava for you!


We also squeezed in a wedding; one of our favorite babysitters got married to our other favorite babysitter's brother! What fun we had; it was beautiful AND the girls had such a great time on the dance floor! :)

And finally....we ended the month with MY birthday. Andy took the girls out shopping and they chose such dear gifts...and all 4 kiddos made me a green card; it was precious. Ava got me a bracelet that has green bling (of course), Jayna got me a green K keychain and Ellie got me this dear plaque that says "I will always love you". The girls also were in love with a mother daughter figurine, and they were so excited to give it to me! Colin was so proud of his card that he colored and in his card were photos of the house flags that didn't arrive in time. It was a wonderful day. In case you are wondering, the cake fairy did not come for me...I'm not really a cake person anyway. But, Andy did make the most fabulous raspberry bars that worked just fine with candles....delicious!
And as quick as we blinked, April was over and we are onto a new birthday month in the Glynn house! Stay tuned for that fun....

Spring Break...was that this year?!

Our April was absolutely nuts!!! It feels like Spring Break was about a year ago, but really, it was 1 month ago!

The day after Ava's birthday, we left early in the morning for a short road trip to Chicago. Remember how we have that amazing museum pass that gets our family into museums around the USA? There are a very large number of museums we could get into without paying even a dime around the Chicago area. And....we do love that area...Andy (and I!) have favorite restaurants that we miss now that his family doesn't live in the suburbs, we love going to Ikea, and this time, we drove past some of Andy's childhood memories--it was fun to tell the girls stories of the years past.

The above picture is of the girls after we ate at PF Changs. Funny story: we went out on a limb this trip and decided to find restaurants that were allergy friendly for Ellie. We found that PF Changs has TONS of dairy free selections....and you know, she didn't like any of the items we ordered! It was fun though, to just order for her and not bring her separate food in. PF Changs was hooked onto the Woodfield Mall and we had given the girls each some money to spend on whatever they wanted. Oh the choices! They each blew almost all their money at the Disney store and then the rest at a candy store! We looked for a book store, but there wasn't one in the mall. We decided that for US, we prefer the Mall of America when we are mall shopping with the children, but we had fun nonetheless.
The next morning, we went to The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum. 2 years ago, we also went there over spring break--it's one of our favorite places to go with the kids! They all had fun with the different exhibits, and if you click on the above collage, you can see just how much fun Colin had on the slide!
It was time to leave the museum, don't you think? Colin and I stayed OUT of the butterfly exhibit as he is afraid of them. However, when I released him from the stroller, he promptly climbed under a bench and would not move! Hmmmm....low on sleep on day 2? Not a good sign.
After lunch (Portillos, downtown...yum yum), we went to the Museum of Science and Industry...again...our pass got us right in! Amazing. We saw fun exhibits about weather, trains, planes, the human body, chicks being born...it was really fun....and really busy. (Was it spring break nationally?!?!?!) It will be fun to return when the kids are a little older and have more of an attention span. As you can see, we did manage to get Colin to take a short nap. And the middle photo in the above collage is the girls riding the escalator. They LOVED escalators on our Chicago trip. In fact, Ava was a little afraid of them at first. But when she got the hang of it, she said "Mom, I don't need your help...I *am* 5 now you know!"
Colin spent a lot of time riding in on and around carts and strollers. We did let him escape periodically and he loved every minute of our museum adventures. His time in Ikea was a bit rough, but that was day 3 and he was past exhausted.
On our way home, we stopped at the Jelly Belly Factory. Fun fun....little train tour and then free samples of Jelly Bellies! We even discovered new favorite flavors like chocolate pudding!
We got home late Friday afternoon and still had the entire beautiful weekend left of spring break. It was perfect timing for the big girls to enjoy their new scooters, for Colin to bathe himself in sidewalk chalk and for Ava to enjoy her new jeep.

It was a fun week off of school, and we had wonderful family time...something much needed after all the traveling Andy has been doing!