Happy Anniversary!

Yesterday, Thomas and I celebrated eight years of marriage.  In honor of this momentous occassion, this post will consist of a stroll down memory lane dedicated to my husband.

August 2001, the first days of law school.  Two sets of eyes meet across a crowded room.  The world around them freezes, an instant connection forged.  They know they are looking at the person they are meant to spend the rest of their life with. 

Okay, maybe it wasn't quite like that, but it was actually relatively close.  We were in the same small section and became instant friends.  Almost immediately, we were inseparable--enjoying long walks along Woods Creek, studying together, hiking, and making frequent late night trips to WalMart (there weren't many options in Lexington).  Regarding the reality of our first meeting, Thomas came up to me and asked if I was from California.  He was looking for a friend who was from the West, since most of our classmates, myself included, were Easterns.  He had me confused with another girl in the class.  I told him I was from Florida, but that I had gone to school in Utah.  That was close enough for him.  Thomas has since told me that he knew I wasn't  from California and that he just wanted to talk to me (not much of a pick-up line).  But, I don't believe him.  I like to say that once he found out my real hometown, the relationship was cemented: Thomas is a huge baseball fan, and my family lives 30 minutes away from where his favorite team has their Spring Training.  So, it was probably for the best that I wasn't who he thought I was.

Our first date was to the Smithsonian in DC.  I had to take a friend to the airport and asked if anyone wanted to come along.  Thomas was anxious to see the city and agreed to keep me company. We visited the National Museums of Art and American History.  I vividly remember thinking how amazing it was that we got along so well, as if we had known each other forever.  We spent a very long day together and after that I knew there was something truly unique about our relationship.  As a sidenote, it has to be mentioned that both of us had recently been dumped; neither one of us thought we were ready to get involved with someone new.  But, as cliche as it sounds, it really was just meant to be. 

We started spending almost all our time together.  On the weekends, we would drive to Roanoke to walk around the mall or see a movie.  We tried out Cracker Barrel, which instantly became, and still is, "our restaurant".  During our second year school, our class had a party to celebrate being "over the hump," meaning we were halfway done with law school.  The class gave everyone a label (i.e. most likely to advertise on the side of a bus or most likely to be sanctioned by his state bar for cavorting with a client).  Thomas and I had to share a title, "most likely to always be within 5 feet of each other."  That pretty much sums up the three years of school.

Onto the wedding:  We got engaged in our second year.  Thomas proposed on a wooden bridge in Buchanan, Virginia, and we were married 6 months later, over Thanksgiving Break.  Initially, we planned on getting married after graduation.  However, at that point we knew were joining the Navy and I wanted to put all my paperwork in my married name.  Also, Thomas' grandparents had married in late November and their marriage was a great example to Thomas.  So, we cancelled all of the carefully planned arrangements and decided to get married outside in my parents' neighborhood.  It was a low-budget, low-key wedding.  We drove to Florida after classes the weekend before the wedding.  We got married on the Friday morning after Thanksgiving.  After a luncheon, with about 30 friends and family, we drove to Orlando and had dinner at  Colorado Fondue (which lead to a nice tradition of celebrating anniversaries and good date nights with fondue). The next day, we went to the Mall of Millenium and then headed back to school to wrap up the semester.  After finals, we went on our honeymoon to Couples Resort in Ocho Rios Jamaica. 

We have shared many, many wonderful times since.  A fantastic trip to Vermont for our first anniversary.  A fabulous vacation to Detroit, where we enjoyed the All Star Game hosted by the team that I like to say helped seal the deal on our relationship.   A really fun trip to Utah and Las Vegas to show each other around our college towns.  Mini vacations to Savannah, Atlanta, and Charlottesville.  We have lived together in six different states, and seen the birth of our three wonderful children.  Thomas has been beside me during the most difficult moments of my life and the ones that have brought the greatest joy.  He is an equal partner in every way.  He is a wonderful man and I thank God often that he mistook for the girl who really was from California.

11-28-2003



The bridge where Thomas proposed



Law school graduation: 2004



First anniversary, enjoying the leaves and covered bridges in Vermont



Detriot Trip, 2005

Hoover Dam, 2006

Jack's Food Challenge

As I have written before, Jack has food allergies.  Specifically, eggs, peanuts, and shellfish.  We discovered the egg and peanut allergies around the time he turned 1 and we introduced the foods.  With eggs, he got a very bright, red, hive-like rash around his mouth (up to his nose, down to his chin).  With peanuts, he got hives over his entire body.  We never introduced shellfish, they randomly tested him for it, along with the other common food allergens and we got a positive. We were told he would most likely outgrow the egg allergy, but probably not the peanut.  I started researching food allergies and learned that, contrary to the old school of thought, not every child outgrew egg and some children (around 15%) did outgrow peanut.  He was diagnosed 3 years ago, so we've been wondering what course his body would take ever since.

His pediatrician in Virginia made the diagnosis, based on our reports (and one ER trip after the peanut exposure--when I say covered in hives, I mean covered in hives).  We first saw a pediatric allergist when he turned 2, at the time we were living in Tennessee and used the University of Memphis medical system.  They performed the skin tests to determine if he was actually allergic.  He was.  His wheel for peanuts was huge, they cleaned it off well before the time was up.  For those who are curious, they draw a grid on the back, test for all the things that you might be allergic to (Jack had about 12, including some non-food like dogs (unfortunately, yes) and cats (nope)).  They inject a tiny amount of the allergen under the skin and wait to see if you get a reaction.  Jack had reactions for peanuts, shellfish, dust and dogs.   They didn't test for egg, since he had had multiple exposures to both baked egg (i.e. egg as an ingredient in a muffin) and straight egg and didn't feel like they needed a baseline for that one, plus they said it was better to limit his exposure (he had recently had a reaction after taking a sip of my water after I had eaten some egg).

Enough history.  When we moved to Maryland, I was excited to take him to Johns Hopkins allergy clinic.  They are leaders in the pediatric allergy arena.  They were surprised no RAST had been done.  A low enough RAST score would mean he qualified for a food challenge.  Unfortunately, I lost the paper where I wrote down his RAST scores.  I believe that less than 5 or 6 meant he could take the challenge.  His shellfish was highest at (I think) 4.7.  Egg and peanut were around 2.7 and 2.4 (can't remember which was which, I'll ask next time we go).  According to Wikipedia the 0.70 - 3.49 range translates to "moderate level of allergen specific IgE".  However, it can exceed 100 (in extreme cases, of course).  We were told he qualified for a food challenge for all 3 allergens.  I was super excited.  One of the scariest things about food allergies is you don't know what to expect, every reaction can be different and even though he never had an anaphylactic reaction in the past, didn't mean he wouldn't in the future. 

Jack recently had his baked egg challenge and passed with flying colors.  It took place in a regular exam room.  There were 3 other kids doing challenges at the same time (tree nuts, baked milk, and ?).  Everyone was in a different room.  Jack was all geared-up and anxious to eat his cupcake.  He was MAD when they brought in the first piece, about 1/5th of a cupcake (or about 1/32 of a baked egg).  He was expecting an entire cupcake and at first refused to eat what they gave him, insisting his mom had made him big cupcakes.  Every 15 minutes they brought in another, progressively larger, piece.  His final dose was 1/2 cupcake (1/16th of a baked egg).  Over the course of the challenge he ate 3 cupcakes with no reaction.  That means we can now introduce baked eggs into his diet. There are 4 phases.  Right now, he can have up to 1/4th of a baked egg a day in well-baked form (cookies, muffins, cake).  In 2-3 months, he can have egg in less baked form (pancakes, brownies, casseroles).  If that goes well, 2-3 months later he can have higher egg concentrated items like egg noodles and french toast.

Finally, 2-3 months after that we can try and introduce straight egg.  In 8-12 months Jack could be eating a scrambled egg! 

His peanut and shellfish challenges are scheduled for Feb and March (scheduled in March, so almost a year wait).  We are on the cancellation list for peanut (not allowed for shellfish), so I am hoping we will get in sooner (egg was originally also for February). 

Today is Thanksgiving and among the many things I am thankful for this year is that Jack will be able to enjoy a dessert that has egg as a (minor) ingredient (I am planning a Thanksgiving post at some point).

Sweet and Adorable? NOT!

Most of the things I tend to memorialize are good: cute sayings, fun outings and other happy memories.  But, and this may come as a shock, not everything that happens in our house is fun.  Some days things are just bad.  We had one of those days recently and I thought, just like Fox News, I owe it to my reader (hey Thomas!) to be Fair and Balanced.  Well, maybe not exactly like Fox News...

Here are some highlights from that day (in bullet form for quick reading):

*The girls were up at 6:15, about 90 minutes before their normal wake-up time (thanks time change)
*Jack found the breaker box and proceeded to trip all the switches in the house
* Anna went to timeout approximately 5 times (before nap) for offenses ranging from spitting at me, to hitting, to nonstop whining
*Jack and Anna discovered some eggs in the basement refrigerator.  They proceeded to break all those eggs in the cabinets and refrigerator
*I caught Anna playing with my jewelry box.  I thought I had headed off disaster, but later I noticed my favorite earrings were missing.  Thomas found one (in the basement), the other is still missing.  When I asked her where said earring was she replied, "someplace you'll never find it."  She is right, I still haven't found it (and, she has no idea where it is).
*Kara insisted on wearing underwear, but neglected to use the potty
*Anna raided the pantry and locked herself in the dining room with a bag of cheetos

Uncommonly bad attitudes and overall dissonance just radiated throughout the home for the entire day. There was double the amount of normal whining and crying (and our "normal" amount is far more than what most would probably consider reasonable). It was just difficult.  Some of these things, like the egg incident, could have been prevented with better supervision.  But, in my defense, sometimes you have to make to lunch, or clean soiled clothes, or you just want to sit and read a book with one kid and assume the other two aren't flipping breakers or smashing eggs.  I was seriously ready to call all of my professional contacts to beg for a job.  But, we made it through and the next day was better.  Significantly better in fact.

So, there you have it, the good, the bad, and the ugly.  I'll let you decide who's who.  Just kidding.  I do believe my kids are generally good, or at least I don't think they are bad.  They all have their moments, but who doesn't?  Usually, we get one kid who's having a rough time.  On this particular day, the rough day of one just happened to coincide with that of two and three.  Let's just hope it remains a rare occurrence.