April Showers??

April has been pretty nice in New England this year so far! We have gone to the zoo so many times I have already lost count. Eli loves the barnyard this year. Here he is with a new friend:



We have also hit the playground a lot. Eli and Daddy love to run around and have fun chasing each other.

"Can't catch me, Dad!"



Eli and Daddy find Mommy so beautiful, they can't look directly at me. That, or the sun was directly behind me...



I found Eli!



Eli amazes me with his words every day. He really loves animals and he knows their names. He calls the Markhor by their correct name, not goats and those gibbons are not monkeys. He did call the yak a zebak, a combination of the zebu and the yak, but he caught himself! They are right next to each other, so I think he was just being efficient in telling me what was coming up. He is my little zoo guide!

Fridays at Grampy's

We have been eating dinner at Grampy's house most Friday nights. Eli loves it - I told him we were going to Grampy's house one day at the playground and he took off to the car - thankfully, we go to a gated playground!

Auntie Heather, Uncle Joe, and Jacob and Jillian all come, too. It is so much fun and the kids have a blast.

I wanted to get a picture of all the guys. It took about 4 tries as Eli kept jumping off the couch and saying, "Can I see me?" Then, when I got home, I realized I never got Dave in the picture!

Spring!!!

It was 70 degrees on Thursday and it snowed today...ahhh, New England weather!

But, we took advantage of the nice weather at the end of last week and went to the zoo and the pond twice!

Eli is out of the stroller and on the move! Now, at the zoo, he is fascinated by the "delivery truck" and won't get out.



We started out in the stroller at the pond, but Eli wanted out. Now, like the delivery truck at the zoo, he has to spend time with the lion at the pond...



And like the zoo, he cries when we leave the lion. It is truly heart-breaking. He isn't throwing a tantrum, but he walks with his head down, just crying as he goes. He makes me feel so guilty! Luckily, asking him to help Daddy walk Reggie seemed to help. It should - Reggie is practically the size of a lion!

Visiting Les and Gen

We brought Eli to visit Les and Gen, one of the kindest couples we know. They live with their daughter and her husband, Diane and Jim, who are also just as sweet as they are! I have known them all my life as they were friends of my grandparents. They are my "unofficial grandparents" and they had never met Eli!

They LOVED him! He chased Les in a wheelchair and just kept playing with everything in the house. I wish I had gotten pictures of the wheelchair races - it was too funny!



He also played the organ with them. He looked like he was really playing, sitting so well on the bench and going to town on the keys.





We had a BLAST! We will come visit again soon! And when we do, get ready, Les...the wheelchair race will be on!

At the end of Round One, the score is...

Eli - 0

Peanuts - 1



Eli is allergic to peanuts, tree nuts, and sesame seeds! We found out by letting him try peanut butter, which resulted in intense vomiting and facial swelling! Mama was scared to death and almost went to the ER, but Auntie Heather and Uncle Joe talked her into some Benadryl.

After further testing, it turns out Eli has a fairly severe allergy to peanuts and tree nuts. A blood test revealed some startling numbers. A result greater than 0.35 indicates a potential allergy. Eli's peanut number was 62.7, followed closely by pistachios at 56.1 and cashews at 53.9. The results literally say strongly positive.

The other nuts were fairly low numbers, but because nuts are frequently processed together and his body may react to anything it sees as close to a peanut, pistachio, or cashew, he cannot eat any nuts or even anything processed in a plant where nuts are used in other products.

Also, the first reaction is usually the mildest and subsequent reactions tend to increase in severity. Coupled with the bloodwork and his first reaction, there is every reason to believe his next reaction will be anaphylactic. Epipens are everywhere now!

It was very scary and overwhelming at first, but we are getting used to label reading and being very aware of anything he eats. And Mama has used the practice Epipen so many times now, she is a professional!

"No more curly mullet..."

It was time...Mama had to cave. Eli needed his first haircut. He was practically asking for it!

Mama didn't cry, but Eli sure did. I believe Eli's hysterics played a huge role in keeping my tears at bay.

It started off so promising. Eli was running around Snip-Its and seemed to love it.



Then, once he was in the chair, he got suspicious.



By the end, after the clippers, total meltdown...couldn't even pose for a nice picture with Mama. Maybe he was just scared by my crazy eyes...



He is such a big boy now. He looks even older!

Snowed in...again!

That's right..another blizzard, two weeks after the first storm. We got close to two feet this time. To prevent cabin fever, we finally blew up Eli's ball pit. He was electrified with excitement.



I brought some snow in because Eli wanted to build a Frosty. It was so nice and we made a cute little one...



...which Eli bashed into pieces in about two seconds. My sweet little boy killed that snowman with delight in his eyes! Another snowman's head looked on in horror at the sheer snowlust Eli was demonstrating as he coldheartedly took his Frosty down.