Baker Man

With Gannon's combination of allergies it's VERY hard to find a bread that doesn't taste like cardboard and feel like a brick! I was at Gluten Free, a new store in Turlock when I discovered an App on my trusty iphone - Cook It Allergy Free!

We now have a muffin recipe and a great raisin bread recipe for Gannon to enjoy!  He loves them both and more than eating them, he LOVES cooking them.  Every couple of days he will come in the kitchen and need to COOK!  We make muffins about 2 times a week and bread once a week.  I figure by the time he is three he will be making his own!  The funniest is when he wanted to add the "juice", I guess oil looks a little like to juice.  Thank goodness he doesn't drink "juice" or we could have a problem! 

His allergies are quite under control now and its amazing to see the difference in his skin.  And he absolutely doesn't mind his new diet.  (see next post)

More Birthday!

Grandpa and Grandma came down for an afternoon and dinner to celebrate with Garrett for his birthday.  He was SO happy to see them and to see that he got a few new cars and a truck to add to his collection.  Our gift to Grandpa and Grandma for Christmas was a smoker so they even brought us a special treat for dinner - smoked tri tip.  We make tri tip sandwiches and they were awesome. 

A little cooking session with Gannon!

Happy Birthday Garrett!

I can't believe Garrett is already 4!  Garrett has been waiting for his birthday to come since September, starting with my birthday.  I explained to him the order of birthdays and knew he would have a hard time understanding that Gannon's birthday would come first.  By November he knew his birthday was in February and it was on the 28th so every time someone had a birthday I had to ask him when his was.  He always remember.  Boy was he excited when it was finally February. 

We didn't do parties this year, but we did take treats and a goody bag to all his friends at school.  His teachers are always great to make the kids hats on their birthday and boy did he wear it proud!  As soon as I picked him up from school he telling me all about his birthday and how he was going to be 5 soon.  Oh, man lets get through this year first buddy.  He wore his hat all the way to the dentist on his birthday! I know such a mean Mom, but hey I like clean straight teeth! 

The night of his birthday Grandma and Papa joined us for pizza, cake, and ice cream.  I didn't order a cake for his birthday, so when we went to pick one out the night before at Baskin Robbins we looked through their pre-made selection and tried to find one that was a flavor we would like and a color that worked - see below for our choice.  Garrett was in heaven - pink and purple cake!

This leads me to Garrett's favorites - purple and pink are still his favorite colors, he is still our TV junkie and could watch TV 24/7 if we would let him.  His favorite shows/movies remain, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Cars, Handy Manny, and  Diego.  In defense to his TV time - he really does learn things from these shows.  He comes up with some pretty crazy things.  He also has watched the same ones over and over to the point of learning the lines.  We often will hear him in his room setting up the scenes and reciting the lines.  This reminds me SO much of Taylor (my sister) when she was little! 

Garrett also things that are my greatest childhood memories, weekend breakfast and games!   My Mom always made us pancakes or waffles on the weekends for breakfast and Garrett loves both.  Another fond childhood memory is playing games as a family at night.  Garrett waits for Gannon to go to bed and as soon as his door closes he wants to play a game.  His favorites are the match game (with all 60+ cards), Mickey Mouse Yahtzee, Candy Land, and Go Fish. 

And, oh my gosh he still loves sweats!

We love you Garrett!

Happy 4th Birthday!

A walk in time -  

February 28, 2007

1st Birthday

2nd Birthday

3rd Birthday

Our new addition

When we had to get rid of the cats we told the boys they could get a fish!  Garrett was so excited and for two days all he talked about was going to the pet store.  Garrett had a little bug last week so we didn't want to venture to the store with a child that could vomit at the store or worse in our car so we waited until he was all better.  Gannon had a follow up appointment with the allergist so Daddy and Garrett went on a pet store adventure.  Garrett was so excited to pick out a fish, the colored rocks, a beach scene figurine (or whatever there called) for his new fish.  Dave asked Garrett what he wanted to name the fish and he rattle off some boomish name - Dave responded Bluegrass?  Garrett was all over that. 

 Our new addition is Bluegrass the beta fish!

Every night when Garrett goes to sleep the fish tank light is on and we turn it off on our way to bed.  Garrett and Gannon both love to help feed the fish. 

Hold the ......

Gannon continues to deal with eczema and a constant runny nose so after his hands got infected again from his skin being broken Dr. Asadi made a referral for him to see an allergy specialist in Fresno.  We had some blood work done last year, but Dr. Asadi didn't think any of the allergies were at a level that we needed to cut them.  Except peanuts, which he has never had anyway!  We were off the the doctor in the morning and they performed a skin test to see what allergies would show up.  Poor little guys back looked horrible, but he did great.  Never tried to scratch at it and didn't cry one bit. 

Results - wheat, soy, egg whites, peanuts, oranges, bananas, cats, dogs, and dust mites.  Wow - cut all that out of your diet!  We are moving forward with a 30 day elimination diet to clear his system of all these items and will do "food challenges" to re-introduce them one by one to see which ones affect him.  Chances of him out growing most of these are good by the age of 10, but NOT the peanuts.  Only 20% of patients allergic to peanuts outgrow this one.  So we are now stocked with an Epi-Pen in case of emergency and he is eating a strict diet.  Thank goodness the world is now labeled with a lot of gluten free products making my life easier.   I thank God that we never had to find out about a severe allergy with a horrible reaction and can deal with finding foods the little guy can eat.  I am also very thankful that dairy was not on the list - leaving lots of food options open.  I discovered a pancake mix that is wheat free making my life easier on the weekends and less heart breaking for him.  It is hard to tell him no when his brother is eating different stuff that he can't.  Garrett is well aware of the food that make Gannon "sick" and knows not to share.  I love to try new things so now I have lots of cooking to do for him to satisfy this urge!

Since cats were on the list and we had two cats in the family that we tried to find homes for last year we had no choice, but to take them to the shelter.  I know this totally sucked for our family since Dave and I got Bud and Heidi right after we got married, but Gannon's health had suffered long enough with them in the house.  I have to report that after a week and a half of the new food diet and no cats he is doing much better. Prior, his skin was always broken out and we needed to buy stock in Kleenex to keep up with his runny nose.  He now NEVER has a runny nose and his skin has improved. 

We love the allergist in Fresno and will hope for the best pin pointing Gannon's triggers!  Until then, cardboard bread and rice pasta for him!

Fire Station Visit and Slumber Party

After our Disney on Ice adventure Gannon and I stayed in Fresno with Robin, Jaxon, and Camren.  Gannon had a doctors appointment (see next post) so we decided to have a slumber party instead of driving right back the next morning.

Jaxon and Camren's Daddy is a fire fighter for FFD and was on shift for our visit.  This worked out perfect - I got Robin all to myselft and we got to visit the fire station.  Gannon is a HUGE fire truck fan so he loved every minute of this visit.  We need to work on our terminology, but for now the fire trucks he loves.  We'll tell him later that it is really and engine.  Our visit ended with the station getting a call so we waved at all the guys as they drove off. 

Going for a ride - check out our driver - Jaxon!

Gannon was telling me to shut the door!

To finish off the night we ordered pizza (true slumber party food) and the boys relaxed watching some cartoon.  I can't wait for the boys to get old enough to really trade off sleepovers! 

Disney on Ice

Instead of birthday parties this year we decided to take the boys to see Disney on Ice.  They both love Disney and since Toy Story was featured we knew they would love it!  Grandma, Papa, Taylor and Justin joined us.  It was a fun afternoon.  They boys were spoiled with popcorn and light sparklers! Gannon was in awe as soon as the show started.