More Anna Orthodontia

After we were told Anna needed jaw surgery, we paused for a bit and then met with the oral surgeon. After that visit, we did more research. I really wish I had done more research immediately after jaw surgery was suggested, but I believed the orthodontist that there were no other options (other than removing teeth). I thought about getting a second opinion, but procrastinated. Ugh, a full six months wasted!  Of course, we also didn't realize how much time was of the essence. Anyway, after meeting with the surgeon, I finally began to look for options to avoid surgery and learned about the MEAW technique. It seemed like it was mostly for kids with an underbite, while Anna has an overbite. But, I thought it might be worth having a consultation, particularly since it is marketed as a way to avoid jaw surgery. The closest practitioner was in South Florida, 189 miles away; we were able to get an appointment over Christmas break. In short, he felt like it was excessive to tell a 13-year old she needs jaw surgery. He didn't believe the MEAW technique would work for her, but suggested we try another type of device called the Forsus. He stated that he believed she would have success and would be surprised if it didn't work for her.

That device is much more common than the MEAW technique, so he told us there was no need to drive to him if we could find someone closer. After researching orthodontists in our area, we found one who seemed promising (offers devices, close by, excellent reviews). We had that appointment today. He was very nice and straight-forward. He believes the likelihood of success is essentially a coin-flip. And, rather than the Forsus, he suggested a Herbst, which is a similar device. She would have her current braces taken off, wear the Herbst device for 12-15 months and then braces again. So, she would be around 16 before all was said and done (probably closer to 18 if the device doesn't work and we have to add in a surgery before round two of braces). And, since she got her braces at the age of 11, and before that wore a retainer, it kind of stinks. Well, not kind of, it really stinks. 

The doctor said, without saying or, maybe I am projecting, that her overbite is really severe (that he did directly say, the next part is where I may be projecting) and that this should have been done in the first place. Now that I know more about orthodontia than any non-health professional should, I definitely agree. It is easy to play Monday morning quarterback, but I really don't know why we didn't do this in the first place, either in Maryland or here? Obviously, I am not an orthodontist, so I accept there is likely something I don't know. But, I wish we had started with someone who had offered some alternatives or discussed the severity of the overbite and what it meant for her future treatment. Because she has likely stopped growing, her options for success are much lower now than they would have been at age 9, 10, 11 or 12. And, she had her first orthodontist visit at the age of 7! So much wasted time (and money)!

But, here we are. It is going to cost us around $6000, because we have exhausted our insurance, to try this route. And, there is only a 50/50 chance of success. So, why not just do the surgery, which has a 80%+ chance of success? I don't know, it just doesn't seem right. Surgery carries major risk and it seems very extreme at her age. I don't have a lot of confidence that the Herbst will make much of a difference, but at least we will know that we tried the least invasive method first. And, we had decided to wait until she was older for the surgery, so we might as well fill the time by trying something less drastic. Maybe it will at least save her from having to get the premolars removed.

We go on Monday to get her braces removed. Then, she will have a few weeks to enjoy the feeling of no braces before we get the Herbst put on. Anna is in for a long road ahead. Hopefully, there is a beautiful smile at the end of it!

2020: A Year in Review

I can almost look back with nostalgia at 2020. January through early March was really great. Then, things got crazy. Our work conference was cancelled, as was our Spring Break trip to South Carolina. Work and School were put into a "temporary" virtual/telework status. I am not sure how I would have felt if I  had known that temporary status was going to last the entire year (well, except for Luke). I can recall being overwhelmed by the unknowns and I think it was almost helpful to believe that everything could return to normal in a reasonable amount of time. Although, even then, I never really understood how that would be possible without a vaccine or some amazing treatments. Now, we have the vaccine, but getting the doses and having it administered is another unknown. But, I feel like there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I am still really scared of getting Covid. I try and be rationale, but I am still scared. 

But, there has been a lot of good in 2020. Jack and Anna became teenagers! We spent a ton of time together. We played games, went on bike rides, did puzzles and many outdoor activities. I am hoping that Thomas and I will get to telework much more often, even after everyone is vaccinated. Some of the kids may want to switch to full time virtual school, an option that Florida offers. It would be great to continue what was good and learn from what was difficult.

What we are most looking forward to in 2021:

Thomas: getting the world back to normal

Kori: taking a vacation

Anna: things going back to normal with the vaccine and a new President

Jack: having a new President

Kara: WandaVision and all the Marvel movies

Luke: spending time with my family

And, as tradition dictates, the annual summary of the kids:

Anna has really matured this year. She loved playing basketball and showed a lot of improvement. She also enjoys bike rides and goes on multiple rides every day. Her grades suffered when we went to virtual learning, but we are hoping she will do better when she returns this semester. She is smart and kind and has a great sense of humor. She is able to laugh at herself and is not easily offended. She enjoys creating hairstyles and playing Minecraft. My three words for Anna are nice, positive, and thoughtful. Thomas said: nice, maturing, and caring. When she grows up she wants to work for the government.

Kara has done well in school. Change is often difficult for her, so 2020 was an exercise in patience. She was helpful in watching Luke this summer and is a responsible babysitter. She has discovered a love of different types of music and knows all about what is on the radio. She enjoys watching YouTube and has favorite YouTubers. She also enjoys super hero (Marvel) movies. She constantly wears a hooded sweatshirt, with the hood up, no small feat in hot, humid, Florida. In September, she started ballet and acrobatics, which so far she enjoys. My three words for Kara are smart, moody and determined. Thomas said defiant, motivated, and stubborn. She wants to be an anesthesiologist when she grows up.

Jack has also matured this year. He is 5'9, much taller than me. He grew about 7 inches this year!  He still loves reading and discovered a new author--Brandon Sanderson, who writes epic fantasy. Jack still enjoys Lord of the Rings, video games, and history. He also likes flying kites and is super excited to try out his new kayak. He has done okay in school, and is really smart, but is not super motivated. He is a sweet kid who is easy to parent and I am thankful for his (generally) calm presence. My three words for Jack are sweet, respectful, and interesting. Thomas chose inquisitive, conscientious, and introverted. Jack would like to be a professor.

Luke is thriving in first grade. He is very smart and scored in the 99th percentile on his latest round of standardized tests. He reads on a 4th grade level, but doesn't love reading yet. He got a new series, The Bad Guys, for Christmas which he is enjoying. He loves to play outside and is very social. He enjoyed playing soccer and is looking forward to trying flag football. He loves playing board games, current favorites are Love Letters, Throw Throw Burrito, and Minions Life. Unfortunately, he gets frustrated easily (at himself). He also still enjoys video games. My three words for Luke are: loving, athletic, and sensitive. Thomas said sweet, whiny and smart. Luke wants to be a lawyer when he grows up.

I have big hopes for 2021. But, most of all, as I say every year, my biggest wish is that on January 1, 2022, we are all together, happy, and healthy.

2020 "Newsletter"

A month-by-month recap of 2020:

January: One of our favorite families was with us to start 2020! The Wills and Wilsons went to SeaWorld, Gatorland, and the beach and had a great visit. Jack competed in a spelling bee. The girls and I committed to volunteering once a month for the entire year. And, I ended the month with a fun Harry Potter filled girls’ weekend with some Maryland friends. What a great start to what is sure to be an awesome year! There is some weird virus in Asia. But, whatever.

February: Kara turned 11. We went to St Augustine, Disney World, Busch Gardens, and a couple of Tigers baseball games. Another great month in the books. I sure love this year! That weird virus is spreading a bit, but we here in the US are fine. I signed up the older kids for their first ever sleep away camp. They can’t wait for August! Party on 2020!

 March: Another birthday month. Luke turned 6! We had an awesome Spring Break trip planned to South Carolina, where we were going to surprise the kids by meeting up with some Maryland friends (I didn’t realize how many friends we had in the Old Line State). But, we are going into “lockdown.” That virus made its way to the US. Thomas and I have started working from home and the kids are not returning to school for now. All the theme parks have shut down and the place we volunteered is closed. We have been enjoying swimming, bike rides and board games. We are starting to run a bit low on toilet paper and I used my last Clorox wipe yesterday, but I am sure the stores will have that back in stock soon. Everything still looks fine(ish). We can handle this lockdown for a few weeks.

April: Okay, things are a bit weird. There does not appear to be an end to this lockdown. Online school is kind of awful, I have not seen my family in a while (our main purpose in moving to Florida) and our house feels really small. On the plus side, Thomas and I like working from home. Surely, this will all be over by summer?

May: I miss restaurants and malls. We have spent hours entertaining ourselves building Jenga sculptures and making slow motion videos of bowling them down. There have been Lego challenges, more swimming and bike rides.  On the plus side, we have started ordering takeout. We even took our first out of town day trip and finally saw the Tilleys. We went to an amazing Gulf coast beach and kept our distance from everyone there. Kara had a drive-through, socially distanced graduation from elementary school. And, we had a visit with Kim’s family! Sea World is reopening. It seems as though things are getting back to normal. Just need to hold out for a few more weeks. I was able to find toilet paper, but those Clorox wipes continue to elude me.

June: Things are continuing to look a bit brighter. We are visiting with select people like my sister and her family but keeping our circle small. It looks like the kids are probably going to be home for the month of June. They cancelled the sleepover camp. The kids are disappointed, but I am so glad we are almost done with this virus. Disney is reopening! Surely by Fall everyone will be back in school and life will return to normal.

July: Okay, things took a turn for the worse. Cases in Florida have multiplied every day for weeks. Hospitals are full. We are taking our family back into lockdown mode. We are paying the older kids to babysit Luke, which is working out fairly well. Have I mentioned how small our house is? As to the future, even the Magic 8 ball is coming up blank. Oh, Thomas and I had birthdays. We got older. Yippee.

 August: School is back in session. We got to choose online or in person. The county encouraged all those who could, to choose the online option. We are keeping the older kids home, but Luke has got to go. He is very happy to be back in school and his teacher is amazing. We are venturing out again. We wear our masks without complaint and I finally found some Clorox wipes!

September: Another month. Whatever. We are hearing some weird noises in our soffits and occasionally the attic. Not sure what that is all about.  Oh, we bought passes to Universal Studios. I guess it is not all bad. We are still enjoying doing stuff outside.

October: Jack and Anna are now teenagers. Jack grew 7 inches this year and is taller than I am! We are going out a little more, but still not to restaurants, malls or movie theaters. We like visiting the quieter theme parks and are fans of the forced spacing. It is nice not to have strangers bumping into us in lines. Halloween looked a little different, but we still trick-or-treated, we just didn’t ring any doorbells. Jack’s baby costume was a huge hit and the neighborhood decorations were amazing.

 November: Biden won! Remember those strange noises we heard? Squirrels infiltrated our attics and roof. The surprisingly clever animals established nests in multiple areas and sought to drive us out with their scratching and running noises. After paying $1500 in eviction fees, we were able to reclaim our home. We celebrated Thanksgiving with a smaller group than in years’ past. Kara started a ballet and acrobatics class. Anna decided to try basketball and Luke has loved learning soccer. We enjoyed our first (outdoor, socially distanced) visit with my Dad and Maggie since March. The vaccines are looking promising. I think this time, there really is an end in sight. Our new normal feels pretty normal.  Is that sad? I can’t tell anymore.

 December: The year is coming to a close. It has been a roller coaster of emotions. We managed to have some good times and somehow stayed healthy. We have played a lot of games, gone on countless bike rides, annoyed each other with karaoke and tried to find positives wherever we can. We miss our weekend adventures, but being isolated in Orlando is not so bad (at least for 5/6 of us).  We still got to spend lots of time with people we love. We have a lot to be thankful for!  We wish all our friends and family a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We hope to see many of you in 2021!

 

Love,

Thomas, Kori, Anna, Jack, Kara, and Luke

Week After Christmas

The weekend after Christmas was fun. Marta, Frank, Elizabeth and Travis (Elizabeth's fiancé) visited us on the 26th. We had Chinese food for dinner and played one of our new games--Guesstures. 

Elizabeth helped Luke get set up.

On the 27th, we went to Night of a Million Lights at the Give Kids the World Village. It was the place where we were supposed to volunteer once a month in 2020. It was pretty pricey for our family (around $150), but I knew the money went to a good cause and it was nice to show the boys around the village. The lights were beautifully done and we spent about 2.5 hours walking around. Normally, they would have families staying there, so it is only in the rarest of circumstances that they can open to the public. They had to postpone 6000 visits during their closure! They plan on reopening on January 17th to a very small number of families. I hope it goes well and more kids can have their wishes granted.

There were lots of fun photo opportunities

The rest of week passed in an uneventful manner. Thomas worked all week, including New Year's Eve. We had our traditional cheese fondue for dinner, which everyone likes. Although, Luke doesn't eat the cheese, he just makes a plate of the dipping items. 

We talked about our favorite parts of the year and our hopes for 2021. Luke's favorite part of the year was Christmas. Thomas enjoyed all the telework. Anna said playing basketball. Jack said staying home. For Kara it was Thanksgiving. I was thinking more specifically about a favorite memory and I chose our day at Busch Gardens. 

We did not intend to stay up until midnight. Thomas has done it in the past with kids who were interested, but it was generally a low key affair, where the kids still went upstairs and read or hung out in their rooms until 10 or 11. Well, I think that is what they did, I can't remember the last time I stayed up on New Year's Eve. But, this year, all the kids were interested and we decided to just do it. We weren't prepared, we had no special snacks, party poppers, decorations, etc. But, it turned out to be a really fun night. 

We watched the Fox special with Joel McHale and Ken Jeong. Or, at least part of it. We would mute it and periodically play games. We played Throw Throw Burrito, which is Luke's new favorite. We also played "Just One", which was really fun. It is a collaborative game, so there is no winning or losing. A player puts up a card, but can't see the word on it. The other players have to write a single word as clues. But, if two players write the same word, then they are cancelled out. For example, one word was "mask". I wrote face, Luke wrote disguise and Thomas, Kara, and Jack all wrote Covid. So, Anna had to try and guess with just the hints of face and disguise. Unfortunately, she missed it. You play with 13 cards and see how many you can get. We ended up with 6. Not bad for our first time. Luke was able to guess "forest" based on oxygen, fire, Deku, camping and Voldemort. Everyone enjoyed the game. Our last game was Guesstures, which is a charades type game. We did girls against boys. Anna and Kara were amazing! They are good guessers and clue givers. Everyone did well and it was close, but thanks to Anna and Kara, the girls were victorious. We had a great time with all the games.

I was too busy playing to take pictures, but then Jack was just so funny. This is relax.

This is pucker.

Time went by quickly. At midnight, we counted down and then ran outside to see some of the fireworks people were setting off. There were some pretty big ones that were close by and it felt festive. I would even be willing to do it again.

Christmas Week

It has been a busy week. On Monday, I took Anna to a far-away orthodontist for a second opinion. I will write about that another day, since it doesn't fit my Christmas theme. But, it was a lot of driving, about 5.5 hours total in the car (totally worth it). On Tuesday, we went to Winter Haven to have another socially distanced family visit. Poor Thomas had to work. As in, actually go into the office. So, it was me and the kids. We left around 9:15 and went straight to the park. We packed a picnic lunch and had a good visit with my Dad, Kim, Kevin and Maggie. JD came a little later, much to Luke's delight. My kids definitely love their cousins! Amanda wasn't feeling well, so we didn't get to see her this visit. We left the park around 1:30 and met up with Marta and Elizabeth to get Pelicans (our favorite Hawaiian ice place). The girls went home with Marta for the night. 

The next day, I left in the morning again and dropped the boys off at Marta's to work on cookies. They built a gingerbread manger scene. It is a tradition Marta has done with her kids for years. And, this was the second year that she did it with my kids as well. They worked on the ingredients on Tuesday and put it together on Wednesday. While they did that, I went and had lunch with Kim. We went to Tropical Smoothie and ate at the park in downtown Winter Haven and had a good visit. Thomas was still working.

It was nice to spend so much time with family, but I was really sick of driving. The trip to Winter Haven is just over an hour each way, but traffic was heavy and it felt like a lot. Probably about 10 hours over the three days. However, I am thankful to be close to family. It is a large part of why we moved here and I love when it all pays off. The girls had a great time with Marta and Elizabeth. 

On Tuesday night, we did a neighborhood Christmas lights scavenger hunt. Someone in our neighborhood gave us a treat bag, including the clues for the scavenger hunt. Our house was a clue for our countdown decoration. We really enjoyed walking through the neighborhood and checking things off. It was a good ending to a busy few days! We also took turns reading the Charlie Brown Christmas book and then watched the cartoon to spot the differences. I am generally not a huge fan of Charlie Brown (too depressing), but I love the message of a Charlie Brown Christmas.

Christmas Eve was nice. We have two neighbors with girls in Luke's class, he has been playing with them quite a bit lately and they played for a while outside and came into our house for a bit as well. We had our big dinner (both ham and turkey--so many leftovers!!!) and watched Home Alone. The day went by quickly. We read The Night Before Christmas, opened our jammies, and took the kids' annual picture in front of the Christmas countdown. We had reindeer food to spread, put out cookies for Santa and called it a night. 

The kids wanted to get up between 6:30 and 7. We settled on 6:45. I got up a little early and started our traditional breakfast casserole. By 6:45, the kids were all up, ready and, of course, really excited. We went through our stockings and then began opening presents. We took a break at 8 and had our breakfast. Luke took another break after opening his cd player. He ran upstairs with that and some new cds and told us to keep going without him. I think he was overwhelmed by the number of gifts. The kids got each other, and Thomas and I, thoughtful gifts. For example, Anna is really into doing hair right now and Kara got her a hairstyling head to practice with and Jack got her a braiding book. She was very happy. They used their own money for gifts. It was nice to see them put some thought into their presents. I did miss Kara's tradition of making everyone a gift. Hopefully, she will do that again sometime in the future. Jack kept joking with Anna that he was getting her a Barbie Doll. And, he got her one of those too. And, she bought him one as well. I hope they regift them next year and it becomes a nice inside joke for the two of them. 

We all got some great gifts and spent time playing/using them. Jack got an inflatable kayak that he blew up and tested in the pool. He also worked on building a new Lego set. Luke got a Flashrider 360 that he spent a lot of time riding. Kara got a unicycle that she practiced. And, Anna went on a bike ride on her new bike and has been doing hair all afternoon. I got a Diamond painting that I started and Thomas opened up all his baseball cards. The older kids, Thomas, and I played a new game called "The Five Second Rule," it was quick and fun. We still have lots of other games to play--we got tons of new ones.  The house is a mess, but everyone is feeling happy and loved. I am not sure we could ask for more!

Favorite gifts: Thomas says it is really hard to choose, but settled on a newspaper from 1862. It's hard for me to choose as well, I got some amazing gifts! But, I will go with my new headband earphones. Anna chose the hair doll and her bike. She is also really excited that we got a basketball hoop. Jack said he thinks the kayak, but he hasn't used it for real yet, so Morgoth's Ring (a book). Kara said the Don't Talk to Me sweatshirt (from the Masked singer) and a bulletin board. Luke said the stuff in his stocking and his Flashrider 360.

Everyone but Jack got a Squishmallow (he didn't want one). They are kind of my new obsession. The girls first spotted them SeaWorld and they are so soft and squishy. I got one for family, friends, even myself. Then, I asked for a smaller one to hold and squish while working and Kara got me an adorable elephant (my favorite animal). They are just fun. I have been holding off on posting this until I get a picture with them, but I keep forgetting. So, if I think of it later, I will add it in.

Sports Wrap Up

Luke's soccer team won last week. The score was 3-0. Luke scored all 3 goals. He is really great at getting in the thick of things and staying with the ball. And, he can run like crazy. It is amazing to see, he is fast and just jets up and down the field. He obviously has a lot to learn skill-wise, but he absolutely loves it. We had his last practice on Thursday and they did a kids versus adults scrimmage. I played and it was fun. Luke wasn't the least bit intimidated by the adults. He would run right up to them and try and steal the ball. There was a teenager and a couple of adults who obviously knew what they were doing. It is amazing to see how a skilled player can manipulate the ball. The scrimmage was only 30 minutes and Luke started to cry when it was over. He wanted a full practice. He still wants to play baseball the most. But, I am glad he has enjoyed soccer so much. He is going to do flag football starting in January. We really like the convenience of the YMCA. We can walk there from our house, so it is just easy.

We signed Jack and Anna up for basketball beginning in January. But, after reading the COVID predictions for early 2021, we told them they couldn't play. They don't enforce masks and it is indoors. I think Anna is frustrated because we are letting Luke play flag football, but we feel a lot better about outdoor activities. We have explained it to her, but I still think she feels like we are favoring Luke. Both Thomas and I, and sometimes the older kids, go to his games. Only one parent goes to Anna's (Kara has gone to all of them too). But, honestly, it is not as fun and it doesn't feel as safe. We can space out on the field as opposed to the cramped gym. But, I understand how she feels. Today is the last day for both sports and I am planning on going to both games.

The rest of the week was okay. Remember when I thought I was going to be swamped over Christmas break? Well, I am not. But, Thomas got a protest. It is so disappointing. All year, we look forward to these weeks at work. Most people take time off, so there isn't a lot coming in. So, it is fun to take a break and not worry about all the work that is filling your inbox. I feel bad for him and I hope he is able to enjoy at least some of the break. 

We have been baking on Saturdays. I made the pretzel "candy" for neighbor gifts. But, I accidentally bought butter pretzels and the tops kept sliding off. So, we ate them. We have also done peppermint cupcakes and peppermint meltaways. This weekend we are doing a chocolate peppermint cake.

Finally, Marta and Elizabeth came up today (Saturday) to see Luke's soccer and Anna's basketball games. Luke's team won, although he didn't score either of the goals. They only lost one game this season. And, in fact, only allowed that single team to even score against them. It was a fun season!

End of year medals.

Anna's last basketball game was good! Anna scored her first basket and got several rebounds. They only had 5 kids, so she had to play without breaks, but she hustled up and down the court. It was definitely her best game and she had a lot of fun. They still got slaughtered (59-11), but her team had a good attitude and it was fun to watch. I have always appreciated that Anna is a really good sport.

It is hard (for me at least) to get a good action shot.

Love these ladies!

A few more pictures from the week:

Of course we went to SeaWorld.

Luke wanted to look festive for his school party.

Our delivery driver "thank you box."

Luke's Bad Morning, Allergy Tests, and Jaw Surgery Update

On Wednesday, I was walking Luke to school when he turned to me and said, "I wish it was Friday, so that we could start our long break." I told him that the long break was still more than a week away. He stopped walking, looked at me and asked if I was sure. I responded I was and then he said in frustration, "well, did they change it???" He was convinced I told him this was the last week before break and was quite annoyed. Then, he asked me to give him some math problems. I asked him what 70x2 is. He responded 1400, I told him that was 700x2 and that 70x2 was 140. He said, "well, at least I got 700x2 right." Of course, being a realist, I told him that wasn't the right problem, so he did not get the question right. He was further annoyed. Finally, he is grounded from electronics and chose that moment to ask me if the ban was for a calendar week or through the end of the week. I told him that because Dad imposed the punishment, we would have to ask him to clarify. That wasn't the answer he wanted and the trifecta was complete. It was a bad morning.

Anna had her oral surgeon appointment. The doctor said that she needs to get her 4 wisdom teeth removed plus 4 pre-molars. Then, six months after that, to allow time for healing, she could get the surgery. The surgery would involve breaking both the upper and lower jaws to align the teeth. Apparently, they are also slightly off center. After that, she would continue to wear the braces for another 6 months or so. So, it is a long process. The appointment was 1.5 hours, and it was a lot of information. We told Anna she needed to be 100% sure and we needed to talk about it. Thomas thinks we should wait. There is no real urgency and he thinks it is too big of a decision for a 13-year old. I agree with Thomas' concerns, but I am more on team "let's just get it over with." The timing right now is perfect, she could have the teeth removed over Christmas break and then have the surgery over the summer. If we postpone it, she will either be in braces for a very long time, or more likely, we will get the braces removed and then will have to get them put on again. I am fine with waiting, but I do want to ensure we time it so that she isn't missing school. Anna wants to do it. She doesn't like biting into the roof of her mouth and the doctor noted a popping noise that she hadn't previously noticed, but now bugs her. And, she really hates the idea of wearing the braces longer than necessary.

Jack had his peanut allergy test on Thursday. He failed. We had to be at the Children's hospital at 7:40, but it is only 15 minutes from our house (so much better than when we had to drive almost 2 hours to Baltimore!). They divided the peanut butter into 11 increasing doses. The first was so small, he could barely taste it. They were about 15 minutes apart, so it took a long time. We got up to the eighth dose and then he sneezed. Then, his nose began running slightly, his throat felt itchy, and his face turned a bit red. That was the end. The last time, I think he was 7, he had to have Benadryl plus two doses of epinephrine and I was glad it didn't go that far this time. It all started with a sneeze on both occasions. So, he is still allergic to peanuts. Based on his blood tests, there was a 95% chance that he would pass, but based on his history, we figured it was unlikely. Once he was up to the 8th dose though, I started to feel pretty hopeful. So, it was disappointing. He was looking forward to broadening his diet. But, even if he passed, he'd still have the tree nut and shellfish allergies, so no matter what he was looking at a lifetime with Epipens, but a peanut butter cookie on occasion would have been nice.

The nurse was shocked we had actual books to read. She said she hasn't seen anyone with books in a very long time.

The last three peanut samples. And, the emergency kit--Benadryl and epi pens.

Kara had her level 2 dance class and said it went well and wasn't too different from level 1--just more technique focused. Marta was in Orlando on Wednesday, so she came over for a little while. Luke was thrilled, that is the early day for school and it is hard for him to fill his time while Thomas and I are still working. They played board games and he was so excited. Then, she came with me to drop off Kara. I had to take a work call, so she drove and once the call ended, we got dinner at Pollo Tropical. The dining room was closed, so we ate in her car. It was really nice to catch up.

It was a good week. Thomas had an amazing interaction with some sandhill cranes. It sounded insane. Apparently, they were playing with a leaf, tossing it in the air and catching it. Then, they came right up to him! He thought he was getting it on video, but it turns out he didn't. I was so disappointed! 

I got most of our Christmas cards mailed, and even wrote a little newsletter. Maybe I will post it here after Christmas. I don't want to ruin the surprise of receiving it in the mail for my few readers :) We made a treat box for the delivery drivers, and are pretty much done with our Christmas shopping. Friday night, we went to SeaWorld, but didn't stay too long. We got dinner, fed the sea lions. got some treats from the food booths, watched the synchronized lights, and came home to watch The Great Christmas Light Fight.

They are very vocal about wanting fish.

There was a really cute Rudolph area. Luke isn't mad, that was his picture face (masks just came off for the picture, there was no else around)