Hive free and happy

We've had a great week here in the Inman house (it still feels weird to say we are in a house). Cash got over his hives by the time I returned from my work trip. We're still not sure exactly what the cause was but he seemed to clear up when we tried switching him to soy formula so, milk allergy? We don't know but we'll hopefully find out for sure when we take him to the allergist on Feb. 15th. On Thursday, my company was closed due to snow in NJ but it was sunny and beautiful here so I kept Cash home from day care and we spent the day hanging out and taking a long walk downtown to discover some more about our new city. This weekend, we spent some time with Ross's family - Ross went to his uncle's cabin to do some target shooting and I hung out here at home with Cash and Ross's cousin Mary-Kate. Finally, yesterday we had what I think was our best day yet here in Wilmington. The sun was shining, it was a beautiful 65 degrees out, and we finally went and checked out Wrightsville Beach for an early dinner and afternoon stroll. The beach makes me feel so happy and relaxed and Cash seemed fascinated with his first glimpse of the ocean and feel of sand between his toes. We ended the day back at home with Ross doing some yard work (which oddly enough makes him infinitely happy) while Cash and I sat out on a blanket and played with the grass (which seems to make Cash infinitely happy). Here's a video of Cash this weekend - he's been babbling up a storm lately but whenever we get the camera out he clams up. So just enjoy his Superman onsie and his smiles!

HIVES!

My poor little man. It's been quite a month health-wise for Cash. After a terrible stomach bug finally seemed to be on its way out last week, we woke up on Friday morning to a raging case of hives. It started with a little swollen hand and a couple of bumps on his stomach. At the time, it looked like he had just been bitten by something so off to daycare he went but we asked them to keep an eye on him. Well, an hour later, I got a call that his entire body was covered in welts. So we went to urgent care and were told that this was just the "last legs" of his stomach virus and it could go on and off for a week so just give him some Children's Benedryl and he will be fine.

That night, his whole face, eyes, everything became swollen. Ross and I cancelled our plans to go out with friends and tried to put Cash to bed. By 3am, he was just one big welt. Since we were supposed to be leaving that morning for Winston-Salem for my dad's birthday, we decided our best course of action was to go to the ER and see if there was anything stronger we could give him.

After a 3 hour visit to the ER, we left with a strong steroid to give him and the assurance that this was in fact NOT the "last legs" of a virus but a definite allergic reaction to something. We just have no idea what. The only new thing Cash had tried food-wise in the recent days was potatoes which don't seem like a highly allergic food to me. So we hoped that the steroid and Benedryl combo would give him some relief and the hives would abate as whatever he was allergic to leaves his system.

Well it's now Tuesday, I'm sitting in the Hilton in Daytona Beach, FL (I had to leave on a short work trip on Sunday night) and as of last night, still raging hives. The daycare seems to think that the hives seemed to "come out" after he ate his bottle so we are switching him to soy formula for the time-being. Would a milk allergy all of a sudden present itself after 3 months drinking formula in some fashion? I have no idea but we are grasping at straws until Cash's appointment with the allergist on February 15th. Hopefully we can get these hives away soon!

7 months old

Cash's seven month birthday was quite eventful - a trip to urgent care after a night of projectile vomiting. Oh the joys of day care. Poor little guy caught a stomach bug after one, count that, ONE full day in his new day care. He's still trying to get his appetite back but he's coming around. Teething has become a daily test of our fussiness endurance. Cash will go from happy, smiling bouncing baby to Senor Fussface at a moment's notice. He has one tooth on the bottom that has come through the gum and is apparently staying put just to torture the little guy. However the cute faces he makes poking his tongue out of his mouth while he feels it are way adorable.

Some of the things Cash is doing at seven months include:
-Sitting completely on his own. We still put pillows behind him but the amount of times he will fall off balance is getting fewer and far between.
-Lunging forward on his knees get to a toy.
-So close to crawling he can taste it. Literally I mean. Usually he will fall forward after a lunge and face plant with his tongue out of his mouth because of the teething and all.
-Eating stage two pureed foods (when he wants to actually eat - another instance of teething-related food refusal recently).
-Quickly pulling up to standing when holding on to mommy or daddy's hands.
-Babbling up a storm and saying "Da da da da" a lot which makes Ross infinitely happy.
-Loves playing peekaboo.
-Sleeping through the night on occasion! In general he now only wakes up once a night, if at all. It's a pretty amazing feeling to go to bed and really believe that you won't be waking up until morning (even if morning is 6am).
-Up to a little over 16 lbs, at least before his illness. After a lot of waxing and waning (and some crying and back and forth on mommy's part) Cash became a full-time formula baby due to the stress of the move and an increase in mommy's work travel in the month of January causing my milk supply to pretty much crash and burn. He transitioned pretty well and I think that once he gets back to his normal eating schedule he will probably gain some more weight because of it. It was pretty sad and disappointing to have to quit before seven months though.
-Taking a real interest in certain toys, particularly ones with cars or vehicles of any sort.
-Growing more hair in the bald spot in the back, however also developing a nasty case of cradle cap this month.
-Smiling, laughing and all in all, being a happy and adorable little baby boy.

Our new home

Here are a few pics of our rental house here in NC. We've decorated the best we could - trying to fill up a space that was triple the size of our apartment with the limited furniture supply we moved down has been challenging at best (I point to our sad, small card table in the large dining room area as exhibit A) but it has been fun finding some new stuff and pretty much starting from scratch.

Cash meets his cousins

On our way to Wilmington, we had a chance to spend a few days in Winston-Salem with my parents and Cash finally met his cousins Dylan, Rees and Jack. We can't wait to spend more time with all of them now that we live in NC.


Cash with Dylan and Rees


A surprise visit from Jack made for a great Xmas present

Last days in NYC

Happy baby bundled up for the NYC cold


Our old street




Ross and Cash walking around one last time


Our apartment right before the move. Ross said he was starting to feel like the Viet Cong

We're back....

and now from North Carolina. Sorry for the temporary hiatus but moving is a lot more hectic than I thought. But we are all doing well and are loving our new home. I'll post pictures soon - our personal Mac had a bit of wear and tear happen during the move, specifically, the monitor is now completely jacked up and we are using it solely as a means to hook up to our television to watch new shows as we are now cable-less.

Just a quick update on our move - we all made it safe and sound and pretty much got out of NYC about a half a day before snowmageddon. Seriously, if we had left on the day we had originally planned, Monday the 27th, we may still be in LaGuardia. Cash and I took an early flight on Sunday the 26th and my parents braved the snowfall in NC to drive to Raleigh to pick us up. Ross and his cousin Sam loaded up the budget truck that same day and after a snowy detour down the east coast, quickly made their way west and finally showed up in Winston-Salem after 16 long hours on the road. The next day, after loading up some furniture and Ross and I buying a car, they headed to Wilmington where Cash and I followed a few days later after visiting with the family for a bit.

So we are now in our 3 bedroom house, enjoying a spaciousness we have not known in ten years, driving around town in our new Honda CRV, using a dishwasher to wash dishes and washing clothes in our own washer and dryer. Luxury, folks. I never realized how much I missed some of these things.

Cash now has his own room and is doing great with it. His sleeping has never been better and we have already had two full nights where he sleeps from 7-6. It's been amazing. Our house is pretty much set up with the furniture we have and some of the stuff we've procured since coming down here. We are still waiting for the desk for my home office but it should be here this week.

We've been having a great time discovering all Wilmington has to offer - walking downtown to go to lunch, checking out houses for sale in the neighborhood, and getting a membership to Costco (Ross is thrilled!). I've already found a great place to take dance class and Ross has started running again, but now he'll be running outside instead of in the gym all the time. We still need to get to the beach but it's been too cold so far.

Tomorrow, we both start back to work - Ross for his new company and me, telecommuting for my company back home full time. Cash is going to a great daycare about a 10 minute drive away. For the first time in a long time, we are looking forward to our (more comfortable) daily routine.

Cash at Christmas