Badream!

Bostyn had her first bad dream the other day. She woke up from her nap screaming (which is very rare). I went in to her room to find her hair soaking wet and her saying "I hold you mommy, itsa spider...is gets me!!" I told her it was just a bad dream and to think of the things that make her happy and she calmed down quick, but she still needed to talk to gramma and tell her all about it to feel better. Needless to say she was still talking about her "badream" when daddy got home 5 hours later! I guess it was pretty traumatic! She's been sleeping fine since tho...phew!

Ugghhh...potty training!!!

Ok, so potty training is NO FUN! She was doing so great for a while and now we are on a downhill slide and have been for quite some time. She's over big girl panties preferring to be naked, which means I find myself constantly following her around making sure she's not peeing in her tent or behind the chair! I'm not sure where she got her oversized bladder (not from me or Donald) but she can hold her pee from the time she wakes up until I put a diaper on her for a nap....unless I'm missing something??? Stickers are not nearly as enticing as they once were and today she walked around with a tiny turd hanging from her butt for a little too long (it took me a while to notice it and she was in no hurry to tell me about it). hhhhhuuuuhhhh...hopefully it won't be long before it all clicks but wow....this is exhausting! Kudos to everyone who has potty trained a kid because I'm on the verge of giving up...which would actually probably make Donald happy because then she'll never have a boyfriend!!!

Grandma's visit!

Gramma Gina came to visit and Bostyn had a blast! Although her plane was delayed coming in, she finally arrived safe and sound. We got a quick dinner and brought her back to our house so Bostyn could get her settled. The weather was pretty cold, so we spent most of the days around the house playing hide and go seek, numbers and with Bubbles that gramma got her on one of her multiple trips to wal-mart (actually she did very will this time only going 2-3 times i think!). We had a "Bostyn Tea Party" on Saturday and invited friends and family over for live entertainment (Bostyn showing off her dance moves and ball skills). Of course we couldn't end the month without a trip to the Doctor, so on Monday (the day Gina was leaving) Bostyn ended up with a dog hair in her eye that made it swell almost shut. We took her to the doc to get it flushed and make sure it didn't leave a scratch and got gramma to the airport just in time for her flight! All in all it was a great extended weekend and we all had so much fun (we always do when Gina comes to visit...Thanks Gina!) !!

While we are on the subject...

While we are on the subject of what Bostyn does I thought I'd share with you her weekly schedule! I'm racking my brain to keep you all up to date!!!! Ok, so on Mondays we hang out at the house. Most of the day is spent feeding her and playing. She takes a nap everyday from about 2:00 to 4:30. Then she has dinner and Grandpa and/or Aunt Heather come over to play while I go teach yoga. She loves that! On Tuesdays we get the day started early getting daddy out the door and then ourselves for the bank and Dance Class. She looks forward to Dance Class all week, then gets a little shy when we finally get there. She opens up by the end and then can't stop talking about it until the next week! We go to the market (the health food store) after that where she gets to drink a juice milk in the cart while we shop. We come home for lunch then head to Nonni's for a nap because I leave to teach yoga while she is asleep. We usually have dinner with my parents. Wed and Thurs we spend lounging around, playing outside, going to the pet store to look at the fish, or going to run errands with Daddy. Daddy and Bostyn get lots of one on one time while I go teach yoga and spend a little time out of the house! French Toast Friday is just like Tues except for no dance class or market. Sat we have a spa day and do our nails after a bath and play all day and Sundays are just like wed and thurs! She is just like mommy and likes a very scheduled week! lol. Again, hope this helps you all feel closer!

Bostyn's Hobbies

Hi Everyone! I just wanted to give you a brief overview of some of the cute things Bostyn is up to and in to these days!

What she loves: sausage, bacon, sugar boogers (her name for hamburger patties lol) bananas, bunny snacks (organic fruit snacks) oatmeal, broccoli, natural potato chips, apples and carrots...and it's a good thing she loves these because it's pretty much her diet! She loves to be outside, go to the park and to go see Ms. Jules at dance class. Going to Nonni's, performing magic tricks, being a princess and calling people your majesty, drinking out of a big girl cup, drawing circles and making pictures for daddy while he is at work. Snuggling and kissing mommy and rough housing with daddy. Playing hide and go seek (she is ALWAYS the hider and ALWAYS hides in the same spot...her princess tent). Grandma coming to town and seeing grandma and grandpa on tv (the computer). Making daddy's lunch with mommy. Going to erins (which really means running errands). Going to the market, drinking "juice milk" (her rice milk in a little tiny box, like a juice box). Organizing her jewelrey boxes. Watching buggabugs (that's what she calls cartoons) Helping mommy sweep with her very own broom. The list goes on and on. She is doing something new and funny everyday and is usually in a great mood and full of energy!!

What she "can't like": If she doesn't like something she tells us she "can't like it": She usually does great with naps but about once a week she can't like em. Bath time (she used to love it, but it's quite a battle now), potty training, getting in trouble for scratching her legs and hands. Taking her zinc supplement and whatever other medicine she's on at the time (she loves her vitamins tho). Leaving Nonni's house or the park. When Marley lays on her blankets. Most things she can't like are just based on her mood (like most of us ;))

Hopes this helps keep everyone in the loop! love you!

More tests! More Results!

Bostyn had some follow up tests done today. They ran a total of 8 tests which all needed blood, so they had to take lots! She did great....she was in a wonderful mood until they put the band around her upper arm and then she looked up at me and politely said "mommy? I go home now." She wimpered a tiny bit when they stuck her and didn't make another peep unitl they put the band-aid on that she didn't want. She was great!! She is so tough!! The results that came back today were pretty good, but the doctor is still worried about her growth and wants to refer us to a pediatric endocrinologist. It takes about 3-4 months to get in so it will be a while before I have much more info on that. She is still waiting on the results from two other tests and will call us when they are in. Just wanted to keep you all posted. xoxoxo

Daddy the Zesty Italian!

Sorry I haven't been keeping up with Bostyn's blog...she is keeping me so busy these days! Promise to be better! Here's a little taste of how funny she is....

Bostyn and I were making Donald's lunch yesterday (she loves to help me cook...and yes making sandwiches is my idea of cooking lol) She's in a phase right now where she has to know what everything is so I would put mustard on the sandwich and she would say "was that mommy?" and I would say "that's mustard" and she would say "oooh, mustard, I see." then I would put the mayo on and she would say "was that mommy?" and I would say "that's the mayo." and she would say "oooh, mayo." Then I put some Italian Dressing on (my secret ingredient) and she said "was that mommy?" and I said "that's Zesty Italian." and she said "oooh Zesty Italian...just like Daddy!" Hahahaha ....I don't know where she comes up with this stuff but it's the greatest!

weight check...and then some!

Bostyn had a follow up doctor appt today with our regular pediatrician. The good news is that she has gained 2 pounds! She's up to 20.4 lbs. I think that's due to the sausage!! woohoo! The bad news is that it was time for her hepatitis A vaccination and I was really hoping she wouldn't have to get poked with a needle again. About 45 min after we left the office she started scratching like crazy and developing hives. I gave her benadryl and called the doc. Of course they were out to lunch and the answering service asked if they could just take a message. When I impatiently asked if there was a doctor on call I could talk to about the ingredients of the hep A vaccination she asked me if this was "some kind of dyer emergency." When I said "Yes, actually, it is a matter of life or death if there was something my child is deathly allergic to in it" she patched me thru to my pediatrician. She assured me there is no egg in the vaccination. But I'm still wondering what else may have been in it. To make a long story short, since she didn't have any breathing issues, she's on benadryl for the next 24 hours and a nurse has been calling to check on her. This will also be noted in her file and she won't be getting the last of the hep. A vaccination. Her hives are still there, but she doesn't seem to be bothered by them. Hopefully she'll be all clear tomorrow :/.

xoxo

Allergy Results

I spent nearly an hour at Walmart and another hour at the health food store searching for a food that had only wheat (and other foods we already know she isn't allergic to) to do an oral challenge this week with her because I just knew in my heart that the test results were going to show that she could have corn and wheat introduced back in to her diet (that's what the dr. had hoped for!)...I came up with only one option from walmart (organic saltines) and one from Akins (graham cracker sticks), so when her results came back that she was still highly allergic to them I didn't feel nearly as frusterated as I thought I would! She isn't missing out on much with those two. We got the results back on Tuesday and they are all a 3 or higher which means we can't administer a challenge at home. Peanuts and Cows milk were at a 6 (the highest number there is)..she will probably never out grow these. Eggs were at a 5, soy was at a 4 and corn and wheat were both at a 3. He forgot to test for tomatoes again, but since she has reacted so bad to them before then she is still probably highly allergic to those too. The doctor said we can try an oral challenge under hospital supervision on the corn and wheat in about six months if we want. The tests also revealed that her IgE levels are thru the roof which basically just says the test results are correct (there can be a lot of false positives with allergy tests). In addition, she has a ton of environmental allergies and her zinc levels are low. He put her on a zinc supplement which should help with her eczema and clear her skin up. He also gave us a website that sells lotion for people with very sensitive skin. She has been using it and looks great! Thanks again for all of your thoughts and prayers!

xoxoxo

Children's hospital visit

We just returned from the Children's hospital in KC today and things went good! We might get to add corn and wheat slowly back in to her diet but we will have to wait for her blood work to come back next week to know for sure and for a lot of the info we were hoping to get We did learn some helpful tips on how to manage her eczema and what to expect in the future with her allergies. The doctor also told us that we could put sausage back in her diet! I was so excited about that one, but I wasn't sure how Bostyn would do with it since she's such a texture person and it's been so long since she's had it! We were there for about 3 hours, then went to buy her some sausage and didn't get back to my aunt's house until well past her dinner time. I made her one piece to see how she would like it and had to cut her off after she gulped down 4 links! Then she ate the rest of the package (another 4 pieces) for breakfast! So for the first time in a looooong time I think the child is finally full! I'll keep the blog updated as to what her blood test results reveal!

Princess Castle!

Being that Bostyn is the ONLY grandchild to my mom and jay, gina and perry, greg and my dad...and being that she has every single one of them wrapped around her tiny (and Loooong) fingers...TOYS are taking over our house! So, to get them out of our living room but keep them easily accessible to her I took the closet doors off of her closet and hung curtains on a half moon shower curtain rod over the closet. All of her toys fit and it's super cute! But what's even cuter is how much she loves it! She came running in after we finished and gasped... "ooooh my princess toy castle stage!" She now goes in, plays for a few minutes, then whips open the curtain and says "taaa waaa!!!" then repats for hours a day. Don't worry I'll have pics up of Princess Bostyn performing her magic tricks in her princess toy castle stage as soon as I get them!

Bostyn's Health

As most of you know, Bostyn has severe food allergies that include corn, wheat, soy, tomato, cow's milk, goat's milk, melon, eggs and peanuts...that we know of! This has obviously been quite and experience and now that she's two it seems these are really catching up to her! I took her in to her new doctor for a well child visit on December 22nd and we learned that she was down from 24 lbs (in the lower 10th percentile) to only 20 lbs (making her a failure to thrive baby). She developed a deep cough about a week ago, so I took her to the doctor again on Jan. 23rd (one month later) and she was down another 2 lbs! The doctor took immediate action and got her in for some testing yesterday (tuesday, jan 27th). She had several tests run including a sweat test for cystic fibrosis, blood work and a chest xray. She was such a little trooper! We were there for over two hours while she got poked, proded and had electric currents shot thru her arms and she only cried once! It was at the very end when they poked her with a needle and she started saying through the tears "I wanna go outta town"...I didn't blame her, she deserves a vacation lol! We got mostly negative results back (thank goodness), which I firmly believe is due in large part to all of the amazing friends and family who had been praying for her (thank you!!!!)! We did find that she is anemic, has high liver enzymes and white blood cells (which the dr. thinks is most likely due to her allegies) and is nutritionally deficient (something we already knew). Since turning two her nutritional needs have changed from needing more fat in her diet to needing more protein and since animals eat corn, wheat and soy (food Bostyn is allergic to) meats are out of the question and of course eggs, nuts and soy products are ruled out as well. So the adventure has just begun as we head to KC next weekend to visit the children's hospital there. We will be seeing a dr who specialized in pediatric allergies and we are hoping to get many of our questions answered as to how to get our little angel the nutrients she needs!

hello!

Hi everyone! With friends and family scattered all over the US we decided this would be the easiest way for everyone to keep up with Bostyn! I'm going to do my best to keep up with this but anyone who really knows me knows that I will probably get more than a little behind ;). Hope this helps to keep you close! xoxoxo

~The Adkins House