Nanny Manawhanui

We found out a few months ago that Kyle's 83 year old Nanny (term in New Zealand for grandmother) would be making a trip to the US to visit her whanau (Maori name for extended family).  We prayed every day that she would be able to make the trip with good health.  Well the time finally came for her to come, so Kyle took a week off of work and we went to Vancouver for 8 days.  The entire trip was wonderful.  We had a Pacific Northwest miracle, and had amazing weather the entire 8 days.  Not one drop of rain!!!  Nanny Mana is the sweetest lady and I could sit and listen to her tell stories for days with her thick New Zealand accent.  Kyle's Uncle Sam also made the treck from Washington DC where he lives to see his mum and spend time with his whanau.  The boys played outside all day everyday with their cousins, and had the greatest time.  There are 7 boy cousins born all in a row ages 6 and under so things got a little wild!  There will soon be 9 boy cousins 6 and under when Bryce and Alysia have their twin boys. The highlight of the trip for all the boys was going to the zoo together.  It was a reduced price day at the zoo, so it was packed and crazy.  We had one scare where we lost Preston for 5 minutes while we were eating lunch.  There were hundreds and hundreds of people around and we couldn't find him.  I was getting very nervous.  Luckily some guy found him in some bushes and stayed with him until we came looking for him.     

As I said, Nanny is awesome.  I will have to get a video up of her sometime on here telling one of her stories.  The highlight of the trip for her was when we all went to the temple together and did a session.  The first time I met Nanny was in the Portland temple after I received my Endowment, so it was wonderful to go there again with her.  A week after Kyle and I got married Nanny came to stay with us in our apartment for a whole week.  We LOVED it, and tried to talk her into coming to extend her trip and stay with us again, but unfortunately there were too many logistics to figure out.  We are hoping it's not another 6 years before we see her again!  

I love this first picture.  Nanny was on the phone and Preston wanted to kick back just like her.  Some of the picture were taken at the cemetary where Kyle's dad is buried as well as our nephew.  

We went to the cemetery to visit Kyle's dad's grave and our nephew's.  

 All of these were taken with my phone at the zoo.  We'll definitely be going back!

 Knocked out after a LONG day at the zoo.   

The weather was so nice and we all went to the park to play on the playground and some soccer.  

We love the beautiful Portland Temple.  Married there 6 years ago!

Everyone was in town except for Kyle's younger brother Bryce.  

These next pictures crack me up.  Nanny knew that Brooks' couldn't eat anything because of his allergies, so when someone gave her a piece of cake she explained to Brooks' in the cutest accent voice that he couldn't have any cake.  It was hilarious!

Slip 'n slide withe the cousins.  

The boys with their Grammy.

These two spell TROUBLE.

Kyle's two grandmothers.

Nanny teasing Kyle, so cute.

Brooks' was short on naps this week.  

Mother's Day photo shoots.  Love this picture of my boys laughing with their great Nanny.  

The boy cousins did a skit.  They thought it was pretty funny.  

10 plus years with no practice and they still got it :)

Moments of Weakness

Eating on an allergen free diet is hard.  It's especially hard when I don't plan ahead and I'm hungry and dying for something to eat.  I cannot mess up otherwise I pay for it with Brooks' symptoms.  Last night I hadn't eaten anything substantial for dinner (I'd fed the rest of the family something that I couldn't eat because it was easy), and I decided to make some wild grain rice.  Something told me I shouldn't do it, but I was starving and just felt like eating something warm, nutty, and filling.  I knew Brooks' was allergic to white rice, but I'd eaten wild grain rice before and hadn't noticed it was causing any additional problems.  I haven't had any rice in over a month, so I knew if he had a reaction then I would know he's allergic to ALL rice.  Sure enough just now when I nursed him he threw up all over me and my clean sheets.  Twice.

Ugh.

Here's my list of his allergies so far:
Milk
Soy
Rice
Corn
Eggs
Peanuts (still not 100% sure of this)
Wheat

Last week after feeding Brooks' baby food he broke out in hives on his face 3 different times.  So I'm tempted to believe he also is allergic to a fruit.  Could it be a fluke, I don't know?

The hardest one is probably corn because corn syrup and corn starch are in everything, and not necessarily listed on all ingredient lists as an allergen, so I have to read carefully.  Good thing I love my baby, huh?

I also found out that Elecare the specialty formula that I have tried on Brooks' has corn syrup listed as the #1 ingredient (57% per serving).  No wonder he won't drink it!!!  I looked into the other brands and they also have corn syrup as the number one ingredient.  DISGUSTING.  Maybe I'll have to nurse him until he's 18 months old.

We also think that Preston has developed a corn allergy.  About 6 months ago we noticed that Preston was scratching his backside, bottom and groin to the point where he was bleeding.  We thought he had dry skin or eczema so we were treating it with lotion and steroid creams.  It would not get better and at night when he was sleeping was when he would scratch the most.  Once I realized the Brooks' was allergic to corn I took corn out of my family's diet.  It was pretty much the only allergen that Preston wasn't eating anymore.  We noticed that his skin cleared up completely and I mentioned to Kyle that maybe it was a corn allergy.  When we went to Vancouver a couple of weeks ago though the itching and scabs came back and he also had a huge red ring on his bum called an allergy ring (sorry to be graphic but I know this might help others).  He was eating lots of treats with corn syrup, corn chips, and many other corn items.  His backside looks terrible.  A few nights ago he woke up crying and Kyle found that he had scratched so hard he was bleeding.  So sad. It's going to be very difficult to manage a corn allergy on Preston if that's what he has because the kid is obsessed with candy and chips.

In other news, we have to get Brooks' tongue clipped because he's tongue tied and is unable to eat his baby food with a spoon because he can't get his tongue back there to swallow.  He gags if the food is not very thin because he can't use his tongue.  We are feeding him with a medicine syringe, but we will get it clipped soon by our dentist.  We had to clip Preston's tongue when he was 2, but his was because of speech.

30

 Turned the big 30 on April 27th.  Got to share the day with my miracle niece Clara, and Kyle took me out on the town in our friend's car.  It was a great day.  Luckily I've forgotten since then that I'm 30.  That just sounds weird!  I have a feeling that my 30th year just might be a crazy one!