UPDATES!!!!

It is about time!

I finally feel like I'm at a place now where I have some breathing room and can actually think through things and put them down here. The last couple of months have been the craziest of my life. Honestly.

Since my last post was about Brooke, I will update on her first.
Brooke has done a lot better since her visit with the gastroenterologist. We switched her formula and she seemed to be feeling better, and her facial rash went away! That was until the end of June when I made a TON of strawberry jam.....Whole body rash. seriously. Head to toe. I took her to her doctor, who told me that Brooke was allergic to strawberries and to not even allow Brooke to get near one with out being within two miles of a hospital. She also told me to give Brooke an oral steroid and to keep slathering her in lotion. So I did. I slathered her in Aveeno. (This part of the story is key).
Well as Brooke was aproaching 6 mos and the age of tackling solids, I was a nervous wreck. What is I fed her something that she would react to!? SO I pushed for an apointment with an allergist. We had the RAST test done to check for Milk, Soy, Egg, and Strawberry allergies and to my surprise and delight everything came back negetive! I was given the ok to start Brooke on basic fruits and veggies and to bring her back to allergist in a couple weeks for follow up skin testing. The basic baby foods were a very tasty success. Until I tried peas. After a couple bites, Brookes face started to get really red, and she broke out in little bumps around her mouth. AHHH!!! it was my nightmare coming true! Thankfully a little benedryl took care of it, and her apointment with the allergist was only a couple days away. So at Brookes allergist apointment I mentioned the reaction to the peas, and the very wise doctor told me that it was very unlikely that Brooke was allergic to the peas, but consented to test her for it anyways. They tested for Milk, Soy, Eggs, and peas this time.
Guess what?
She's allergic to SOY and PEAS! It all makes sense now....The reaction to the soy formula, the rash that didn't get better even after drowning the poor baby in lotion. Ugh, insert the mom guilt right here >GUILT< The Aveeno has SOY in it, and I had no idea. I was actually making my poor baby sick!
So we are now the proud owners of Epi-pens and we carry them and Benedryl with us at ALL times. Sadly there is also a very high chance that Brooke is allergic to Peanuts since she is already allergic to two lesser legumes. On the upside, if we avoid ALL Soy, peas, peanuts, tree nuts, fish and shellfish until she's 3 she might outgrow her allergies!! The only downside is that Soy in one shape or form is in just about everything. Bread? Soy flour. Crisco? Soy. Veggie oil? Soy oil. Anything commercially prepared or processed? Soy oil, Soy lecithin, Soy flour, soy protein, SOY! But that's OK.....it just means that I do a lot more baking and cooking, and that we will all hopefully be eating better.

As you can see Brooke and her needs have pretty much consumed us over the last couple of months. But on to the rest of us!
Matt is almost done with school! can you tell I'm excited? Ugh, it seems like forever ago that he had a job and was making actual, what's it called? Oh that's right....$MONEY$. But who needs that right? All joking aside, I am SO thankful for these last two years. They have been the hardest, most frustrating, eye opening, blessed years of my life. I can see the Lords hand in every decision and step, and I am truly thankful for his love and watchful care. Matt has been applying for Law enforcement jobs and we have yet to hear anything back, but even if these opportunities fall through, I just keep reminding myself that something bigger and better will come along.

On a lighter note. I started my own business! Since Brooke was born I needed a hobby, something to do to keep my mind off of things. So I started making hair bows for infants and girls. One thing led to another, and I started getting orders for them! I just set up a blog and face book fan page for my bows. It's called PeachFuzz Decor. I put a link on the side of this page. It's still a work in progress but check it out and let me know what you think!

I think that's it for us. I always say that I'll post more regularly, but we know how well that's turned out in the past!