Work & Play Weekend

This was a fantastic weekend at home.  BoomMa and BoomPa came to visit -- which made Ledger VERY happy.  As is typical, we had a few small home projects for BoomPa to help us with, and he came equipped with cool tools!

Our first project was to use the air compressor to "blow out" the sprinkler system.  We have this home-made sprinkler system that the previous owner cobbled together, and the system can be a little difficult to decipher.  Our first attempts were unsuccessful.

BoomPa with the sprinkler.

The next project was to put trim around the door in the garage (you can see the door in the picture above).  This was a much more successful project and with a little "rigging" we made it work.  BoomPa's pneumatic nail gun really helped this project fly by.

While we were hard at work in the garage, Ledger and BoomMa were hard at work in the front yard, raking up leaves.  Kinda.

After watching the KSU v. OU football game on television, we headed out to enjoy The Scheme pizza.  YUM!!

On Sunday, we got back to work on projects.  Chris and BoomPa worked on trimming out our electric fuse box downstairs.  Chris loves using the pneumatic nail gun too!  The trim work turned out very good.  All we need is a little stain and it will look like it was built that way.

While the boys were working hard downstairs, BoomMa, Ledger, and I were in the kitchen making up caramel apples for fall treats.  Ledger decided he didn't want any caramel and didn't want to put the stick in the top of his apple... only in the side.  :)  He's so funny.

After lunch, Ledger took a (much needed) nap and we finished two more projects -- fixing the garage door and (finally) flushing out the sprinkler system.  All-in-all, it was a fantastic weekend.  We were all exhausted. Ledger napped from 1:30 to nearly 6 p.m. on Sunday!  Now we have to prepare for Halloween!!

Allergy Testing -- Take 2

As most of you know, we have been living with Ledger's food allergies since he was first diagnosed in March of 2010.  He is allergic to soy, corn, egg, and dairy.  And cockroach mix (not a food!).  At that time, the doctor recommended that we should get retested when he is 2 and 1/2 or 3 years old.  For the first year, we were VERY good at avoiding the foods that Ledger is allergic to -- reading labels and keeping him on weird diet of protien, carbs, and applesauce.  lol.  Over the last 6 months, we have been much more lax about food avoidance.  He eats (and LOVES) string cheese, cheese dip, corn chips, and a whole bunch of other things that are on the no-go list.  But we haven't seen a single problem or reaction to the foods.  He still doesn't get real milk -- he drinks rice milk pretty well.  He's never had a scrambled egg.  But mostly, we just let him live his life and keep his "allergy" foods in moderation.

Chris was especially anxious for this round of testing because we really felt like he would no longer show allergies to some of the foods -- especially dairy.  I was especially anxious about the testing because I knew it would be painful and that I would have to "hold" him down through most of the torture.

The allergy testing was indeed a type of torture.  They poked his back with 20-30 little needles.  He squirmed and cried and made me feel terrible.  But as soon as the pricks were over, Chris went to work distracting him and he quickly forgot the pain and was laughing and playing and chasing bubbles in the exam room.  We waited about 15 minutes until the results were read and then waited another 15 minutes for the doctor.  She had good news and bad news.  Good news: Ledger is no longer allergic to corn.  Bad news: He is still quite allergic to dairy and egg.  He also had mild reactions to soy and peanut, but she wanted to double check these results with some blood allergy testing.  She OK'd Ledger to get a flu shot as long as he was carefully monitored for allergic reaction, so we moved to the next room where a nurse gave him the flu shot in his thigh.  We impatiently waited the 30 minutes and didn't get any sort of vaccination reaction.  Yay!  For the last step, we went to another building and had a bunch of blood drawn for the remaining tests.  This was probably the most difficult one to hold him for -- he cried and said "it hurts Mommy!".  We were in the clinic for more than 3 hours!  It was a stressful morning for everyone.

Allergy testing pricks.

Just a few minutes after the skin prick test -- he's smiling and playing with Daddy.

So, overall, there are going to be no big changes in our lives.  We will continue on rice milk and keep those other foods -- eggs and dairy -- in moderation.  We will find out about nuts and soy in a few weeks and assimilate that into our current plan.  Ledger is still healthy and happy.  We are very proud of how tough he was through this testing and are thankful that we won't have to do this again for a while!

Ahhh... October

The end of October is quickly approaching and we are preparing for Halloween.  It's not my favorite holiday, but this year I think I'm going to bite the bullet and dress up with my family.  Since Chris is already planning on dressing up as Darth Vadar, we decided that Ledger would go as Luke Skywalker.  (Ya know... "Luke, I am your father...")  We bought a pre-made Jedi costume for Ledger, but that just wasn't detailed enough to stand up to Chris' awesome costume.  So tonight I MADE a jedi robe to go over the top of it.  That's right.

So I knocked that out so quickly that I decided to go ahead and make an adult-sized Jedi robe for Mommy to wear or just in case Daddy doesn't want to wear his heavy Darth Vadar costume while trick-or-treating.  And now I'm feeling so ambitious that I may, very well end up making additional costume pieces.  We'll see.

So... what else is going on?  

• We went to KC for Emily's baby shower.  I was pretty proud of the blanket I made for baby Kinley, but I didn't take any pictures!  
• We had our first fight with "the sickies". We had one sleepless night and Ledger had to stay home from child care one day -- but he recovered quickly.  
• We've been spending our Friday nights out at Salina stadium cheering for the South High Cougars and our cousin Ethan Mitchell.  Ledger really enjoys football and watching the band march.
• Ledger is scheduled to have his allergies retested this week in Hutchinson.  We're anxious to find out if he's grown out of some of his food allergies.  Keep your fingers crossed!
• The pregnancy is progressing normally.  I'm 17 and 1/2 weeks pregnant now.  Still having some nausea and GI issues.  We'll have our big sonogram done next week and find out if it's a girl or a boy this time.

I guess that's it for now.  This should (at least) make Emily happy.  Since we have a few busy weeks coming up, I will try to remember to take lots of pictures and blog to share them with all of you!

KC Weekend #1

This weekend, we traveled to Kansas City to watch the 0-3 KC Chiefs play the 0-3 Minnesota Vikings.  The Chiefs aren't having a very good season thus far -- they were even announced as the #1 Worst Team in the NFL on ESPN two weeks ago.  That is not a good sign.  However, we were hopeful that our presence in the stands would help turn things around for the Chiefs.  Other than last year's play-off game loss, the Michels have been a good luck charm for the Chiefs.

This game was a little different because Emily is 7 months pregnant and I'm almost 4 months pregnant and dragging around a very busy 2-year-old.  Our seats for the game last year were 1 row from the top and we knew there was no way we'd be able to make that long trek up those stairs -- plus we needed to be a lot closer to the bathrooms.  Luckily, we found tickets in the upper deck corner, row 10 with the sun behind us -- perfect seats! :)  We were surprised how full the stadium was, given the lackluster team performance this year.  Chiefs fans are pretty loyal (and optimistic)!  Ledger quickly learned to say "That's good for a Kansas City Chiefs.... FIRST DOWN!" and do the first down signal with it too.  Emily has a video, but she will have to post it on her own blog.

Once we settled into our seats, Ledger took quick notice of the cotton candy salesman roaming our section. He was too far away to buy anything which left Ledger pathetically whining "cotton candy..." through the entire first quarter.  During the second quarter, Emily, Ledger and I went on a quest for food.  We had to go UP a section to find popcorn and pretzels but none of the concession stands sold cotton candy!  Luckily, Emily spotted a roving salesman headed into the stands, so she took off RUNNING on a 50-yard dash through the concourse carrying Ledger and a very pregnant belly.  She got a lot of funny looks.  BUT, she managed to track down some cotton candy ($7!!!) for her nephew.

During the third quarter, Ledger started getting very sleepy and by the fourth quarter, he passed out asleep on our laps.  The 4th quarter was very exciting since the game was close right up to the end, but Ledger slept through the whole thing. :)  We stayed until the end of the game -- a 22-17 CHIEFS VICTORY!!

Michels and Perkins'

Still not quite sure about all of the game-time action.

3rd Quarter:  Getting tired and sharing his beads with Mommy.

And... he's out.

15 Weeks Pregnant

Well, I'm now two weeks into the second trimester with this pregnancy.  Unfortunately, all of my not-so-great 1st trimester symptoms are still hanging in there.  I keep hoping that I will wake up and the nausea and dizziness and GI issues will all be gone.  But that has not happened yet.  I also wish that I had kept a diary of my pregnancy last time so that I could compare my continuing symptoms.  Chris seems to think that this pregnancy has brought significantly worse symptoms, but my Mom and Emily think that it has been comparable to what I went through with Ledger.

I have a doctor's appointment today and hope that all is continuing to progress normally.  I will update this post after the appointment. :)

PS -- I promised myself that I would post more pictures of myself pregnant this time around.  It is not easy for me, as I am not very happy with my current body shape.  As a matter of fact, if I were a skinnier build, you would probably be able to SEE a baby bump on me now.  I can feel the change in my abdomen shape and feel, but other people can't really see any changes yet.  I will post pictures as soon as there is something new to see.