Happy Halloween!!

This was really the first year that Ledger understood some of what is going on around him and is ready to dress up and "trick-or-treat".  OK, he's not really ready to trick-or-treat yet, but we're taking him anyway!  This year, he dressed like a LION.  The costume is really adorable, but he wasn't crazy about the hood/mane.  :)

On Friday, downtown Salina has a trick-or-treating event.  It has been pretty popular in the past, so we were looking forward to it.  It was packed with kids!  Ledger was a little overwhelmed, but interested in the costumes and all of the people.  Aunt Jaime went with us too!

And after all of that trick-or-treating, we decided Ledger deserved a treat...

He LOVED the sucker -- as you can tell from his blue lips and the empty sucker stick.  This is really one of the first pieces of candy he's ever had!

Well, it wouldn't be Halloween if I didn't share some pictures of my other child -- CHRIS! :)  As most of you know, he LOVES dressing up for Halloween.  In order to maintain my relative sanity, we have made a deal that if he does an elaborate costume one year, he has to do a less-expensive costume the next year.  Since he definitely went elaborate last year, this year he chose a more low-key costume.  He and his friend Damon dressed as Mario and Luigi.  He even managed to talk other teachers at his school into dressing up as Super Mario Bros. characters -- there was a princess, toad, and even a few "question mark" boxes. :)

You're Just Going to Have to Wait...

Dear friends and family,
My laptop has been temporarily taken out of commission by a faulty power cord.  Until I get it replaced, I probably will not be blogging too much. Hopefully I will be back online next week and I will post all of our fun Halloween pictures.  Until then....

Hello from Sick Bay

This week, Ledger got sick on Tuesday night and was up all night throwing up mucus.  It was a pretty long night, but the kid is a trooper.  He never ran a fever, so we suspect that he was swallowing all of his recent sinus drainage and that's what was coming up.  He was tired and a little lethargic all day Wednesday, but generally in OK spirits.  I had to leave work in the afternoon because I started feeling nauseous too.  Poor Daddy had to stay home from work to take care of TWO sickies.  Ledger ate pretty well Wednesday night and we thought we were in the clear, until he threw it all up about an hour later.  So we took a late evening trip to Stat Care.  The doctor was not worried about Ledger -- said he was hydrated and we'd just have to let things run their course.  So Chris and Ledger stayed home again on Thursday.  I went back to work, but still felt "blah" all day long.  By Friday, we were all back at work and child care.  Today (Saturday) we are all doing fine.  My appetite has finally returned and Ledger is back to being a crazy ornery little boy.

So please excuse our absence from the blogosphere.  We even have a note from the doctor...

I WIN???

That's right.  I won a blog drawing for allergy-free cookies.  There were 19 entries!  Wow!  I never win anything.

http://yummyallergenfree.blogspot.com/2010/10/and-winner-is.html

KC Weekend

This weekend we had an awesome weekend in Kansas City.  On Saturday morning, we took the new Arrowhead stadium tour.  Chris has been waiting 20 years to be able to set foot on Arrowhead field!  We also got an awesome behind-the-scenes look at the Club suites, the Penthouse club, and even the locker rooms!  I'll let the pictures speak for themselves...

Chris vs. Willie Roaf

Hallowed ground.  Making sure the groundskeeper doesn't see that toe on the turf.

Kiss the ground

 

In the locker rooms.

Chris in Jamaal Charles' locker.

Chris all alone in the Chiefs locker room.

 

Chris just soaks it all in from the Penthouse suite.

 

Chris, BoomPa, and Ledger in the press box.

We met the rest of the family at Mi Ranchito for lunch. Our afternoon plans were to go to the KC Pumpkin Patch.  I was really disappointed that they charged a FULL admission price for any child older than 1 year old.  Isn't that ridiculous?!?  It was a really big area of playground equipment with a few "rides" that were appropriate for Ledger to play on.

This is a "jumping pillow" (like an air-filled trampoline).  Ledger couldn't really "jump" but he thought it was funny.

We let Ledger ride this little tractor-pulled "train" all by himself.  There were no seatbelts, so I was very nervous that he might try to stand up or get out of the barrel.  The tractor driver promised to watch him closely...

...but he did GREAT.  He sat down, held on with both hands, and rode around very calmly.

Quite the crew, eh?  I especially like the goat wearing sunglasses.

Ledger loves slides.

We really had a fun weekend.  We had the most fun just hanging out at home with Emily, Josh, BoomMa and BoomPa.  It's so nice to get together as a family.

Big Shoes to Fill

Whenever our shoes are laying around, our son manages to find them and put them on.  It's particularly funny when he's wearing Mommy's sparkly flip flops. :)

Allergy Update

Today, our son is 17 months old.  Wow.  Time flies.  :)

What a difference a year makes.

It's been a while since I've written a post about Ledger's food allergies... so I figure it's time for an update.  When Ledger was diagnosed with allergies in March, we thought it was the end of our regular routine.  But we managed to adapt and figure out foods that worked within our specific requirements -- no dairy, egg, soy, or corn.  As time has gone on, we have been a little more lax about a stringent diet.  Ledger is now allowed to eat a little bit of corn (like corn chips at a Mexican restaurant) and we don't concern ourselves with soybean oil anymore either.  Chris feels really strongly that EGG is the primary allergy culprit.  I feel very strongly that DAIRY is the bad guy.  So we've agreed to still try to avoid those bad guys.

Ledger is still drinking a very expensive hypoallergenic formula -- Similac Alimentum.  We have started buying the formula online from ebay and find that we can get it for 30% less than at the store, but that's still roughly $20 a week for milk.  Yuck.  We have previously tried to switch him to almond or rice milk, but he has flat refused them both.  But we haven't given up.  This week we started mixing rice milk in with his formula, and he's doing surprisingly well with that change.  Right now he's getting between 1/3 to 1/2 rice milk with the formula.  Every little bit saves us money and simplifies our life.  So that is definitely a positive change.

A Slow Weekend...

This weekend we had some great "down time" as a family.  We stayed close to home and just spent time together.  No major activities -- just togetherness. :)  I don't have any new pictures to post, so I'll just post a few pics of us hanging out. :)  The weather turned cool this week, so we have lots of pictures of Ledger in his footie pajamas (SO CUTE), jeans and long sleeves, and even a track suit. :)

Thanks to all of you who prayed for Pam during her knee replacement surgery.  She is doing AWESOME and is nearly a week ahead of where she was with her previous knee surgery.  We hope that she will continue to progress in her therapy, her comfort level, and her energy level.

Please keep praying for Jaime. She is traveling overseas in Asia and Malaysia (I think? I actually don't know her entire itinerary) recruiting students for her job with Pittsburgh State.  We know she arrived safely and can't wait to hear all about the awesome time she's having.  Let's hope that she manages to find some time to do some sight-seeing!