A long Story... Short. ish.

You remember my Anna?

Well, a couple of months ago, around the time school started, she began complaining about stomach aches.
Now, I think I need to tell you that Anna can be a bit dramatic. And so, I assumed that she was mostly just tugging on my sympathy chains. Which wasn't working. I largely ignored her complaints. I did mention them to the pediatrician when we saw her in November. The pediatrician agreed that she was probably just being a girl. So when she complained I told her to go use the bathroom, or lie down...

Right before Christmas her stomach aches began increasing in intensity and frequency. We also noticed that her belly began to look big... as in bloated. After a brief conversation with my husband we decided to have her avoid dairy and we'd see where that led us. (You can see her big belly in the picture below).

So, we did have her avoid dairy... sorta. When it was too difficult to worry about, we told her just to eat it anyway. Terrible parents, I know, but we didn't see any improvement when she wasn't eating dairy anyway.
When we got home from our trip over the holidays, we made an appointment for Anna. But since it was a consult appointment instead of a sick visit, they didn't have any available spots for almost two weeks. We finally got in to see the pediatrician who took one look at her big belly and referred us to a pediatric gastroenterologist, and encouraged us to LAY OFF THE DAIRY.

So, we did. We removed all the major sources of dairy (cheese, milk, yogurt, butter, etc) and again we didn't really notice a difference. Last Monday (the 17th), we went to IKEA as a family. We always eat there, and especially because they were running a deal where whatever you spent on food would be deducted from your furniture purchase (score!). Matt went through the line and ordered four identical kids meals and food for the grown ups. We ate and went on our merry way. About two hours later, Anna started complaining that her belly was REALLY hurting her. I took a look and it was the biggest I had ever seen her belly bloat to.  Bad.

I racked my brain but couldn't come up with what she might have eaten to cause that!  She'd had a bagel with peanut butter and oranges for breakfast.  She'd had meatballs and fries for lunch.  There could have been traces of milk in the meatballs, but I didn't think they could have caused this much of a problem for her.

On the way home, I called a friend. I was talking about Anna's problem and suddenly it came to me: HOLY FREAKING CRAP.  Matt had purchased four identical kid's meals. With a CHOCOLATE MILK.  Which Anna didn't even blink about.  Suddenly, I ran my brain through the last week... she hadn't once complained about a stomach ache.

We saw the gastroenterologist last Thursday and Anna's scheduled for a Lactose Intolerance test this Thursday, as well as blood testing for other food intolerances/allergies.

Here's to some answers. If you have a moment, and could say a quick prayer in her behalf and in the behalf of the doctors that we'll be able to figure out what's ailing her quickly, that would be great. Thank you!

Getting this done, all at once.

I could drag out posts about Christmas for the next two months, but instead, I'll just do this one time. Enjoy.

 Just before Christmas, the love of my life celebrated his 33rd birthday. To honor him I knit this gloves. He has a mild obsession with Totoro so it was fitting. He also received a shovel. No, not just any shovel. This bad boy. If your husband likes to be manly, you should buy him one. I wish I could say that I get some kickback from having you buy it, but alas, all I get is the satisfaction of knowing your man got a man-toy.

This child shall certainly be the death of me. Matt took work off from the 17th of December until January 4th. He now fully understands why Lucas is so infuriating. He'll be three soon and we're REALLY hoping it does something nice for him.

 Anna has been taking gymnastics for the last month or two. She loves it. And is adorable. But most of all...

 She's pretty good!

 And so, not to be outdone, Abbie proved that she could do it too! (And also, me too! But no picture of that.)

 Isn't my precious baby girl so cute? Can you believe she's 10 months now? Can you believe that we neglected her in her high chair so long that she finally gave up and fell asleep? We're awesome.

 This is our tree on Christmas Eve after Santa arrived. Notice the two obvious spots where the lights are out? No way on earth was I going to fix that. On the list for next year: new lights.

 So, just after Christmas we left the relative warmth of Florida (I say relative, because I'm cold... right now.) and drove to Virginia to visit with the husband's sister and her beautiful family. Also, because they had snow. And in the perfect amount... about three inches.

 My kids were FINALLY able to see snow. We asked them what they thought snow "felt" like.  Answer: Fluffy Cotton Balls or Clouds.  What does it taste like? Ice cream. So, in true fashion we dashed all their hopes regarding the white evil.  Kidding. I miss the snow. Sorta.

 So, we brought every single piece of "winter wear" we owned. Including quite a few pieces I knit just for the trip. (Hint: not the hat Anna is wearing, Audrey knit that). We took the kids sledding, which, oh my word, I'd forgotten how fun that is!!!

 And my kids LOVED it! All of them... well, not Libby since she still has no idea what snow is. But the rest. With the possible exception of Miles who only lasted about 15 minutes. Abbie and Anna stayed out for hours. Lucas would have too, if I hadn't demanded he go in due to his purple lips.

 And disgusting nose.

 But Matt even came out (I knitted that yellow hat!) Good times!

 But the best part of the trip was getting to hang out with family. Here in Florida, we have none, so it's always great to get to hang with cousins (Hi Hannah!).

 And since my parents were just a 5ish hour drive away, they came down to visit us in Virginia for a couple of days. Yay! Libby and my mom were fast friends.

 

 And Lucas and my dad (Jumpa!) are the very best of friends. In fact, after they left every time Lucas would get in trouble he'd start crying "I want my Jumpa!"  I want to say I found it annoying, but I'm really glad that Lucas has a friend. And I'm glad it's my daddy.

 Um... Miles was there too. He's been flying under the radar a lot lately. Which is why while we were on vacation, I gave him a bath and realized (in AWESOME MOM form) that it was very likely the first bath he'd had in at least three weeks. As I said, Awesome Mom!

 This ... This cowl was my Christmas Gift from Audrey. She gets me.

 When we went to Virginia, I took my spinning wheel.  Both so that Audrey and my mom could watch me spin. As I'm the only person I know who takes part in this terribly antiquated and equally awesome hobby, I'd love to get someone else hooked. I spun this yarn while I was there and left it with Audrey. Hopefully she'll knit something out if it and send me a picture.

 Glamour shots by Deb. Or me. Just playing with some lovely window light.

 I can't get over how grown up my girls are getting.

 P.S. This is Audrey. She's amazing. I could write an entire book about it. But she's a fabulous cook, wonderful crafter, amazing gardener, patient mother, and gracious hostess. She also knits like the wind. Double puffy heart that my husband has such an awesome sister.

And now, for the final thing. We got a pet. Two actually. Guinea pigs. Why? I'm not sure. I got seriously railroaded into them by the husband. So this is Hershey (with Lucas) and Blaster (with Miles). They're okay. I guess. (Okay, who am I kidding, I want to cuddle them.)