Peanut Butter bad...very bad

At Colin's 2 year well-baby check he had a blood draw to check for lead and also to test for peanut allergy. We heard back from Dr. Tyler today that he is in fact allergic to peanuts...very allergic. Apparently an IgE level of 17ish is considered highly allergic and Colin's level is 46ish. The test doesn't predict the severity of the reaction so it doesn't necessarily mean that he'll have a serious reaction if he eats peanuts again, but we're definitely going to avoid peanuts, peanut butter, or anything that has peanuts in it. I'm kind of sad in a way but I think he'll be fine since he'll never remember what it was like to have peanut butter and he won't know what he's missing.

RIP PB&Js.

Hiding from fireworks?

Each night before I go to bed I stop in the kids' rooms to check on them. Last night when I went into Colin's room I found something I'd never imagined. He wasn't in his bed and he wasn't on the floor where he sometimes falls asleep. I started to get kind of scared until I saw his feet sticking out from under the end of the bed. It was straight out of The Wizard of Oz except this was a bed instead of a house--and while Colin can be naughty he's not a wicked witch.

I'm not sure if he was trying to get away from the noise of the fireworks that were going off until about 10:30 or maybe he wanted to try sleeping under the bed instead of on top of it. Either way, I pulled him out very carefully and got him to sleep in the bed. But not before snapping a couple of pictures of course.

Colin's doctor appointment

Colin had his 2 year check up today. He is 37 inches tall and weighs 36.6 pounds. According to the growth charts he is way overweight but Dr. Tyler said that she can tell by looking at him that he's just fine. His BMI is actually 18.8 so he's within normal ranges. He's obviously a lot bigger than most other 2 year olds but he's just a big kid.

I was a little worried that he would flip out when he had to get his shot and blood drawn. I was totally wrong. He sat totally still and only flinched a little for his shot and then again when they put the needle in for the blood draw. Then he laughed at the 2 lab techs who were trying to find his vein. I know I have never laughed at someone while they were trying to draw my blood but apparently Colin thought it was funny. I was starting to get a little woozy watching them do it so I had to look away. He was a real trooper though and never shed a single tear.

New pictures, et al.

I finally posted pictures from May and June to the kids' Shutterfly account. If you want to see them, remember you need the password--email me if you've forgotten it.

The pictures cover a wide range of events and topics. Of particular note are several pictures of Colin naked. He really likes running around naked and funny enough I always happen to have a camera handy whenever he does it. I'm sure that at some point in the future, like 10-15 years from now, he'll do something so horrible that the only possible punishment will be me showing these kinds of pictures to his friends. Or creating a collage of them and putting them on a billboard. We'll see if takes after his mom or his dad...

Also, Matt wins the Daddy of the Year award for his wholehearted participation in the Pretty, Pretty Princess game. The goal is to get all of the jewelry(earrings, necklace, bracelet, and ring) that matches your game piece and lastly the princess crown before some one else does. Somehow Gabby is always the winner of this game.

We've torn 4 rings off the Daddy Counter Downers and we're doing well so far. Since the weather has been so hot we've been stuck in the house except the mornings so the kids have started to get a little wild in the evenings. We might try to hit a kids' playground/pool one of these days to see if we can burn off some energy.