Happy Halloween!

Love,

The Graffs

Transformer Bumblebee

Our little Dragon

Blake's Halloween Party

Blake had his Halloween party at FBC today. I got to meet all his friends and hear his class sing their October song. I heard this song quite often at home this month, so much Billy and I were singing along towards the end.

This is Blake patiently waiting his turn to wash his hands.
All of Blake's friends. It's nice putting a face with the names I hear about so often.

This is his all time best friend, Caden.

They made costumes and his class were owls.

Eating Snack!

McGovern Allergy and Asthma Clinic

It is not anything new how stressed I have been about Chase's food allergies. The poor kid has been restricted to apple and pear sauce for breakfast and beef/vegetable, chicken/vegetable, turkey/sweet potatoes baby foods for the last couple months. The poor kid is slowly turning a tint of orange.

So, a couple weeks ago I got an email from my cousin, Tiffany, about McGovern Allergy Clinic. I quickly researched McGovern and found out they have an infant allergy specialist. I also learned that our insurance would not cover the cost. I called McGovern and was informed that paying out of pocket for allergy testing would not put us back an arm and leg, just an arm. We felt Chase could do w/out an arm and scheduled the testing. Just kidding! We let him keep his arm and Billy volunteered his! The main reason we wanted to send him to McGovern was because they would test for numerous items.

So Monday and Tuesday we made our way down south. On the first day his history was reviewed and round one of testing, which consisted of 4 pads of 12 items. Of course, Chase was upset, but mainly he did not like being held down. Instantly, Chase's back flared up and I knew that it was not good.

The next day he had a couple more pads placed on his back. Then we had a long wait of 2 hours for the final report.

Walking into Dr. Thorne's office I felt the wealth of knowledge from his 15+ degrees (or whatever they were) mounted on his wall. He looked at us and said, "You want an exchange?" Dr. Thorne reviewed his long list of foods he has an allergy to, which are:

oat, rye, strawberry, lemon & lime (natural flavors), beef, cabbage, raw apples, orange, raw carrots, chocolate & colors, flax seed oil, pineapple, coconut & oil, sunflower & oil, white potato, turkey, haddock, sweet potato, watermelon, olives & oil, and cinnamon. Of course dairy, egg, peanut, bananas avocados are still an allergy.

I guess you would like to know what he can eat: white flour, wheat, rice, corn, barley, chicken, pork, cooked apples, pears, cooked carrots, broccoli, lamb, beans, peas, spinach, grapes, celery, and soy bean.

I knew going to McGovern that they could not provide a shot or meds that would make all this go away. Only thing that can be done is food avoidance. So, it's time for me to get creative!

My questions that were answered:

Is there anything I did during pregnancy that caused this? No, it's all wrapped up in his DNA. Billy has pretty bad environmental allergies that could have contributed to him having food allergies. Apparently 1 in 4 babies are born with food allergies.

If I would have breastfed could this have been prevented? There is no scientific proof that this is true. It is a big controversial issue at this time.

Can he be anywhere around cats, since our cat was moved to my mother-in-laws? He can not be in a enclosed area with a cat. His allergy is so high that it could cause him to go into anaphylaxis. The cats outside are okay, as long as he does not touch them.

Was his RSV and pneumonia (5 weeks) caused by his allergy to milk because he was on a dairy base formula at the time? No they are both viral and food allergies do not cause viral infections.

Can he receive the Measles, Mumps & Rubella vaccinations? According to the medical book (Red Book) he can receive the shot, since it has very little traces of eggs.

Can he receive the flu shot? Absolutely NOT!

Since his latex allergy came back negative why does he develop sores when he wears a latex diaper? Dr. Thorne did not use these words, but he pretty much has a latex sensitivity. Since he is allergic to bananas and avocados, which are related to latex he will be treated like he has an allergy to latex.

When will he grow out of these allergies? Within this next year I will introduce some of these foods to him...when I get brave. By the time he is 2 yr old he will out grow majority of them. Hopefully by the age of 5 all will be gone, but peanut. If you are a chosen one to have a peanut allergy before the age of 3 you most likely will not out grow the allergy. CHASE DID OUT GROW HIS WHEAT ALLERGY!!!

How come he has an epi-pen he seems to small? Well, he is to small. To receive a jr. epi-pen he really needs to be 33 pounds. My little Chase is only 20 pounds. So I have to find a place that will sell ephedrine, so I can administer through a syringe.

What are his chances of developing asthma? Very high! He is to take an antihistamines (Zyrtec) for the next two years. There have been studies done and kids with major allergies who take antihistamines are 30% less likely to develop asthma.

So, to answer Dr. Thorne's question, "Do you want an exchange?" My answer, "NO, ABSOLUTELY NOT, NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!" Food allergies or not I will take him either way! He is just perfect in my eyes!

I have been asked numerous times how do I get through this: "Chase only has food allergies. Something that will eventually go away. He will go on to live a normal, happy life. We are not battling a terminal illness. One day we will look back and laugh." That is how I see it.

To all our family and friends who have prayed, advocated and supported my little family, "Thank you so much!" I do not know what I would have done without you.

My sweet Chase you are absolutely WONDERFUL!

Homeade Baby Cage

Everytime Blake comes across some sort of baby gate or enclosed baby area he is always sure to tell me what a great baby cage it would be for Chase.

Well I think he finally got tired of asking and decided to make his own. I walked into the living room to find my sweet little Chase in a homeade"baby cage." As I was grabbing my camera Blake was telling me, "Look how great mommy I made a cage for Chase."

Pumpkin Carving

For a while, well two days, Blake has been wanting to carve a pumpkin. So, like a nice mommy during my Sunday grocery shopping I picked out a nice round pumpkin for Blake and I to carve. As you can tell by my face and with Blake trying to carve the carton that I did it pretty much alone. Once he saw what was in the pumpkin the whole carving came to an end for him.

What is up with my boys not wanting to help their mommy?

Blake pretending to help me just for the picture.

The final product. THERE...I carved my pumpkin for the year!

Oil Ranch

Today we brought the boys to the Oil Ranch in Hockley. They both had a great time with all the different activities. Here are a few things we did:

Pump Water

Sit in the pumpkin patch


Play on the playground

Run like a mad man from mommy

Pet a cow - since we do this everyday it was no big deal to Blake

Look at the rabbits

Feed the animals

Play in the barn

Ride on a train

Play on the Tyke playground

Swing

Climb the haystack

Feed more animals

Pick out a pumpkin

To bring home

And play in the tepee!

What happen to my baby?

Well a year has just about passed! This time next month we will be celebrating Chase's first birthday. So, we are teaching him to hold up his pointer finger and say, "One." Blake and I keep reminding him of all the cool things he can do with #1 finger. Such as: point, pick your nose (he's a boy it's going to happen), scratch your ear, eat the left over cake batter (non-allergenic of course), if he hold up his thumb for #1 he is giving the official Gig'em, follow along in a book as someone reads...to name a few. He still has not got it down, but we have a month! I think we can do it!

So, enjoy some pictures of my little monster. His infant pictures are coming to an end as we move into the toddler years.

Sunday is laundry day at the Graff household. For some reason Blake thought it would be a great idea to help and I'm not one to object when help is being offered.

So here is Blake folding his first shirt....

progressing slowly, but surely....

very intense moment.....

and the final product!
Hmmmmm! Looks like it did back in step one!


He did do a pretty good job folding Chase's towels!

Look what happens when I turn my back for a few seconds!! I'm back to square one!

Little stinker!! He knew exactly what he was doing!

A Rainy Day! A Sick Baby! An Active 4 Year old...and a Homecoming Mum!

Well, if I have not spoken to you lately then you don't know my sweet baby, Chase, has been sick. Tuesday evening he was very fussy and just did not feel well. Thursday I stayed home from work and brought him into the doctor and after x-rays (to rule out pneumonia) they told me he had the flu. Since, nobody would give us a straight answer if tamiflu contains wheat Billy and I chose not to give it to him.

It seemed like he was doing better Friday, then his fever spiked back to 104 early Saturday morning. Back to Scott & White all 3 of us went. After another x-ray and a loooonnngg visit he now has pneumonia.

It's amazing how a couple doses of medicine can make a world of difference. He is slowly becoming my crazy little man again.

Chase on Thursday...just now feeling to well!

We can't forget about The Blakester! Blake definitely is not sick. On a rainy day like today it's very hard to entertain an extremely active four year old. We have watched several movies and played with about every toy we own.

I have to say it was a great day for me to complete Kolby's homecoming mum for his girlfriend, and it turned out quite well. I will share some pictures with you after their homecoming this Saturday.

As I was pulling in my drive-way this afternoon I looked over to my left and saw this single flower that sprouted up next to my front door! I thought it was quite strange that this little flower came out of nowhere. Maybe somebody is trying to tell me something? Hopefully that my sweet baby, Chase, is going to be just fine!

Dear Lord...please no more close calls!!!