Fun Friday!

We spent the morning at the zoo today. We brought along Dave's sister, Ami, and William's friend, Lilly. We even ran into friends while we were there, which is always fun!!

Perfect!

The last 10 days have been a little crazy around here...with allergies, sickness, and Dave working LONG hours. Yesterday, Dave managed to sneak out of work at noon, so we got to have a fun afternoon. It was the perfect day for it too, because the weather was ideal. We headed out to the Fort Worth Mini Train, and as always, it did not disappoint.

Crew had so much fun on his first train adventure:

This picture pretty much summarizes these guys' personalities

William and Hudson said "We look like the Once-ler!" (if you haven't read The Lorax, read it!)

At the half way point, we got off the train so that the boys could play on the playground. It was a super fun playground, and they got to explore for about 45 minutes until the next train came around.

Even I played a little! This thing was super cool, you push off with your foot and the thing spins around
super fast. If you know me, you know I love any ride that spins me until I'm nearly sick!

It was a perfect afternoon of fun outside and in the sun! It was also great because Hudson didn't' have a terrible reaction to being outside. He got a little itchy and marginally rashy, but nothing a little Zyrtec and Benedryl can't handle. (And on that note, he starts allergy drops Monday!)

Happy Spring!!

Monsters

My aunt Ruth bought the boys these monster drawing books when Crew was born. I like to keep these sorts of things tucked away for a "rainy day"...and Spring Break was just the ticket.

They LOVED them.

Pathetic

So, I've decided that I have a love/hate relationship with Spring. I LOVE the signs of new life, the warmer weather, FLIP FLOPS, playing outside with the kids, etc. But, I HATE what it does to Hudson.

Wednesday evening, after playing outside, Hudson looked like this (a little puffy, but not terrible):

So, Dave told me to take him to his allergist the next day. (Side note: We had him tested last November to see what he was allergic to. Having had met our annual deductible for the year, we figured we should take advantage and get him tested. Out of the 55 things they tested him for, he was allergic to about 30, and highly allergic to probably 15-17. Thankfully, no foods. But all sorts of trees, grasses, mold, dust, cats, etc). He saw the Nurse Practitioner on Thursday, looking like the above, and she just told me MORE Zyrtec, add Benedryl, lots of lotion, etc. So, we leave (feeling a bit defeated because none of that was currently working, obviously), go to my parents' house where Trent and Paige were watching Crew, let the boys play outside for a few minutes before we head home, and I turn around and see Hudson looking like this:

this is after we got home, but you get the idea...

 The good news was that he was feeling pretty good (besides the itching). After some cold compresses, shower, more Zyrtec, he looked like this (please pardon the dinner on his face):

We had him sleep in our room that night since we knew that allergic reactions can get bad fast, so we wanted to make sure he was breathing ok. He awoke happy, but looking like this:

sorry for the poor quality iPhone pic...he was moving around too fast, and I was holding Crew

 That sealed the deal. I was taking him back to see the allergist. I called and pretty much demanded to see his dr. They told me to get there as fast as I could since they closed at noon. I managed to get all the kids dressed, drop William at a friends, Crew with Trent and Paige, and get to the dr within 45 minutes. Pretty impressive, if I may say so myself! They got us in pretty quickly as soon as they saw him:

waiting to see Dr. Mayse...playing a little Angry Birds while we wait

 I knew it was as bad as I imagined when Dr Mayse nearly fell over when he walked into the room. He gave Hudson the "worst case of seasonal allergies...ever" award...not an award I ever envisioned for one of my kids! He gave him an immediate dose of steroid and enough samples for the next 4 days so that we wouldn't have to wait around at a pharmacy (what a great doctor!!!). The worst (well, maybe not the worst) part is that he's not allowed to play outside until all of the swelling is gone. That's not easy for an outdoorsy 4 year old! 

We went back to my parents house to collect Crew...had some lunch, and you can already see the medicine is starting to work:

This morning, he's still pretty swollen, but so much better! What you can't see all that well in these pics is that his entire face, neck and upper back/chest are SOLID rash.

After much consideration and talking to our doctor, we have decided to go with allergy drop treatment. Basically, it's that or shots. The nice thing about the drops is that we can do it at home, and we will just put drops under his tongue every day. He will have to be on it for about 3-4 years, but after that, (Lord willing), NO MORE allergies! I really wanted to avoid heading down this path, but this is SO much worse than last year, and so often things get worse each year, not better. I can't watch my little guy suffer like this every spring!!! I'm so grateful we were able to see the Dr and now we can move forward to making this stuff go away!

Sitting

Crew has been sitting unassisted for a few weeks now. The longest he's gone is about a minute. Unfortunately for the 3rd child, we're always on the go. It's hard to sit down and "practice" with him for a long period of time! Good thing he's a super happy, easy going baby.

He's started grabbing my fingers and chewing on it!
I guess that means teeth might be coming!

Growing up...

Well, we've had another HUGE milestone at the Dennison household. William "lost" his first tooth. He was super excited, and he let me do the honors of pulling his very first tooth. He has been working this particular tooth over for the past few weeks, and every day or so he asks me if I'll pull it. It just wasn't ready, until Friday. He asked, and I told him that I'd try, but it might not come out or it might hurt.

He was so brave, as you can see in the below video.

this is before. you can see the tooth is kind of hanging down a little bit.

"and now I have a nickel and a hole in my head. SEE?" (although, the tooth fairy has
significantly increased the price of teeth since I was a kid.)

PS. In case you're wondering about the construction behind William, we extended our patio this weekend.

FIVE months already?

Today Crew is FIVE whole months old! What a little joy this little man brings to our whole family. He is full of happiness, and he is definitely not lacking attention from his big brothers and mommy and daddy.

I think this is such a funny picture. It looks like William and Crew are scheming something!

A few tidbits about what Crew's been up to:
- I have no idea how much he weighs, as he doesn't go to the dr again until his 6 month checkup. I'm guessing around 15lbs.
- Sleeps 11-13 hours at night, just like last month.
- Takes 2 2-3 hour naps a day and a 30-45 minute catnap in the evening
- He has rolled over both ways, but he doesn't spend a ton of time laying down awake because he loves to be upright.
- His favorite "activity" is probably his walker. He's learned how to move it around, and while he hasn't mastered going forward (by himself), he can still get around. William and Hudson think it's great fun to wheel him around the house.
- He hasn't started any solids yet (still doesn't seem interested, and he sleeps great.). If it ain't broke, don't fix it, right?
- He is VERY ticklish on his ribs. I'm fairly certain William and Hudson get a drug high every time they hear Crew laugh. It's fantastic.
- He is very social, probably the most at this age of all 3 of my boys. He LOVES to get attention from people. It's so fun to see him give a HUGE smile to someone who comes up to say hi. He does this new thing that when he's being held, if someone he's "boo" to him or "hi", he'll burrow his head into the chest of whoever is holding him.
- Crew is still a very very good baby. Of course, like all babies, he has his moments. But, for the most part, he only cries when he wants out of his bed or time to eat.

This picture perfectly depicts these boys. William and Hudson LOVE
to give Crew kisses. This wasn't even a planned pic. I just happened to snap
it just at the right time.