Holy Hives!

**Remember how I said to remember the whole strep throat/amoxicillin deal from the previous post... here's the rest of the story***

After spending 10 days with the Thomson side in IL we headed to Washington to spend 2 weeks with the DeBoer side for Andrea's wedding. We haven't spent much time in Lynden since getting married (like 10 days, total, in 6 years) so we were looking forward to being back in Matt's hometown, relaxing with family and helping with the wedding preparations.

At some point during the flight from Chicago to Seattle we noticed that Luke appeared to have a lot of red dots all over his arms and legs. He had been playing outside at my parent's house the night before so I just chalked it up to mosquito bites. As time went on, however, we realized that these were no mosquito bites but hives, clearly an allergic reaction to something. We were racking our brains trying to think of what he may have ingested or been exposed to that may have caused this. I called his pediatrician while waiting for our bags at baggage claim and was told to give him Benadryl. So we stopped at a pharmacy and gave Luke a dose of Benadryl on the road... and another dose after dinner... and another dose before bed... it wasn't working. In fact, things seemed to be getting worse. He was noticeably uncomfortable and itchy and his lips and hands were swollen. So, I called the doctor again. He told me to up the dose and if things continued to get worse and his mouth kept swelling we'd have to take him in to be seen.

'mosquito-bite' hives - first night in at Grammie's house

Uncomfortable but putting on a happy face

The next morning thing were worse so we took Luke into see a doctor at Lynden Family Medicine. I must say, the doctor we saw was awesome. He was so nice and understanding, actually taking the time to sit and talk with us and really listen to all our concerns, etc. Since we weren't home and able to see our normal pediatrician, it was such a comfort to have a caring, understanding doctor see Luke.

We told this doctor that Luke had recently been diagnosed with strep and was on his 8th day of amoxicillin and that I am allergic to amoxicillin, so that could possibly be contributing to his hives. He told us that 'old-school doctors' used to have trouble diagnosing strep vs. mono. They would prescribe amoxicillin or some other antibiotic and if the patient didn't break out in hives, it was strep. If they did break out in hives (even after several days on the meds), it was mono. So he ordered a blood test. Ding, ding, ding... Luke had mono! How and where a 2-year-old got mono is beyond me but the next few days were absolutely miserable. We, obviously, stopped the amoxicillin and continued giving him Benadryl, alternating Motrin and Tylenol and pretty much just laid on the couch watching movies and resting.

Poor Baby!

After 2 days, Luke's hives were still horrible and he appeared to be in such discomfort that I called the doctor again. I'm talking, the kid, who is normally extremely active and doesn't want to be held/cuddled for long, would not move any body part except his eyes. He would wince and cry when we moved him at all. It broke my heart! The doctor (again, I have to sing his praises) agreed to prescribe him prednosone, a steroid, to help with the swelling and itching of the hives. Thank the Lord, this worked. By the time Luke had the steroid in his system for 24 hours, the hives were going down and he was getting back to his active, happy self.

I hated the fact that he was sick and so uncomfortable but on the upside, I got lots of quality cuddle time.

Still puffy (part from the hives, part probably from the steroid) but getting better! Ready to play ball, hives or no hives, that's the Luke we know and love :)

Proof that he made a full recovery ~ just 3 days after starting the steroid Luke was splashing in the creek, playing at the park, and wearing us out. :)

Jim and Julie's Wedding Week

We made it to Chicago without a single hiccup... easy flight, little traffic, no problems whatsoever. We got to my parents house and then things started unraveling. Luke wasn't feeling well and was running a fever that wouldn't go down with tylenol, Matt caught a nasty stomach bug (I'll spare you the details but trust me when I was it wasn't pretty), I caught the stomach bug a bit later. Needless to say we were all run down and feeling lousy for the first few days. I ended up taking Luke to the health clinic after two days of his fever and just not acting like himself. The doctor did a strep culture. The 10 minute culture came back negative but the doctor was sure that the 24 hour one would be positive since he had all the symptoms so he prescribed amoxicillin anyway. That seemed to do the trick and Luke seemed to be back to his normal self shortly. ***Remember this for an upcoming blog post***

Luke had a great time playing with cousin Micah aka "Mac" as Luke likes to call him. They played together great for the most part. Luke is in the delightful stage referred to as "The Terrible Two's" where everything is 'mine', sharing is from the devil and hitting is an acceptable reaction to whenever something doesn't go my way. That said, we had some challenging moments, but overall they had a lot of fun together and were so much fun to see interacting.

Luke thought rides on Pops' tractor were every bit as much fun as anything at Disneyland

Uncle Aaron took him on his first bike ride, which he LOVED! I'm thinking we may have to invest in some bikes and a baby buggy... we'll see.

With everyone in the DeBoer clan feeling under the weather for the first few days and the overall busyness of getting ready for the wedding and family coming to town, we did a lot of watching Buzz (Toy Story 1, 2, and 3), Cars, Elmo, and Thomas.

Elin seemed to think the little chairs that Pops and Nee Nee had were pretty sweet too.

But she was much more comfortable and content to be laying out on the blanket with her cousin Caleb

...when he wasn't punching her in the face, that is.

As I'm typing this I am realizing that I this is the first time I have mentioned Caleb, our new nephew! Introducing Caleb Wilson Klingenmaier - born June 2! Healthy baby boy (he was as big at birth as Elin was at 1 month - ounce for ounce, inch for inch.) We are so thrilled to have him as an incredible addition to our crazy family! Welcome Caleb! We love you!!

Speaking of incredible additions to our family ~ Jim and Julie are married!!! It was an absolutely gorgeous wedding. We were honored to be able to participate in it. I wasn't able to take as many pictures as I would have liked - a combination of being in the wedding party, trying to keep an eye on the little ones and my camera is on its death bed (seriously, I have to shake, smack and squeeze it to get the screen to show up. I need a new one in the worst way!) So, you'll have to forgive my lack of pictures from such a special occasion and take my word for it that it was beyond beautiful. We couldn't be happier to have a new sister-in-law! Welcome Julie!!

The newlyweds shaking their stuff on the dance floor

Luke and Micah were the studly little ring-bearers - looking smashing in their tuxes

Mmmm, wedding cake.

To think that someday Matt will be walking Elin down the isle... makes me a little teary just thinking about it.

Elin was awesome all day. There was no shortage of people willing to snuggle her at the wedding so she got passed around quite a bit. I'm sure on some level she loved all the attention.

The day after the wedding was a party at my parent's house, as the tradition goes. We Thomsons have to stretch everything out as long as possible, especially when it comes to partying, so this was no exception! It was so great to be able to spend more time with family and friends that we don't get to see very often.

Luke and Matt were a little worn out from the previous day's events and took nice long naps.

We went to a parade the morning of the Fourth of July. Luke was pumped about seeing all the trucks and horses and even Buzz Lightyear made an appearance!

Elin wasn't quite as excited about it.

(this is quite possibly the worst picture we have of her, but I couldn't help posting it!

Check out the chub!!)

Again, we partied on the 4th with a BBQ at my parent's house. Dad T smoked some ribs, we played yard games, the boys swam in the pool... it was your typical, all-American way to celebrate the 4th.

Chillin' with Katy

Pops takes a break from Grill-Masterhood to hold his grand-daughter. Good trade.

We had a great time in IL overall. Matt and I even got out one evening for a date! (which we pathetically spent going to dinner then Target, so romantic.) As always, the time went by far too fast and before we knew it, it was time to say goodbye. It was easier knowing that we'll see Pops and Nee Nee in September for Elin's baptism and the Klingenmaier clan for Thanksgiving. (Jim and Julie, you guys need to plan a trip west sometime soon!)

Thanks for everything Mom and Dad T! We love you!

Catching Up

To be honest, I would really rather be laying on the couch, watching some ridiculous show on tv, wasting both my time and my braincells. I'm worn out and feeling way too scatterbrained to try and put two thoughts together let alone try and update our blog on the happenings of the DeBoer life for the past 2 months. But, alas, I know that if I don't force myself to get back in the habit of blogging I will regret it. I am already hearing Elin's future comments about my lack of blogging (my version of a baby book) for her. So here I am trying to figure out where to begin...

To say that the past two months have been insane would be putting it lightly. Since my last post we moved, again. This time we moved into our new house in Redlands, CA! The move went about as well as could be expected. We leaned heavily on the support of our amazing friends who were willing to help us move for the second time in 3 weeks ~ a lot to ask of friends who also have jobs, families and lives to get on with. We continue to be EXTREMELY grateful for all the help! We spent our first night on Wednesday, June 22 and had 4 crazy days of unpacking and attempting to get somewhat settled in.

Bye-Bye Beaumont. Thank you for the memories!

First dinner in our new house = a picnic consisting of McDonald's dollar menu items eaten off napkins on the unwashed kitchen floor. We're classy like that.

Unpacking, hopefully for the last time in a long time!

Thank goodness for the Baby K'tan! I'm not sure I would have gotten much done without it.

Thank goodness for Disney DVDs! I'm not sure I would have gotten much done without them!

(judge all you want... Luke watched hours and hours of Disney and Pixar movies while we cleaned and unpacked and packed up for our trips. It's how we stayed semi sane.)

I can't remember all of what I have already posted about our new house...have I mentioned it's a "fixer-upper"? Yeah, this house was in dire need of some love and attention (not to mention time, money and blood, sweat, and tears) We got right to work fixing/replacing the things we could, especially the things that needed to be done before we took off for 3+ weeks. Changing the locks was at the top of the list.

Matt is quickly becoming more and more of a Mr. Fix-it. I guess the 'do-it-yourself or pay to have someone else do it' mindset is good motivation... at least when the budget only stretches so far :)

Luke follows Daddy's lead and gets right to work on all the other doorknobs throughout the house.

And there's Elin also hard at work. Growing so quickly is hard work!

Knowing that our trips on the wedding circuit would be hectic we decided to see how Elin would do with a bottle before leaving CA. She was a total champ, chugging down a good 5 oz our first attempt, with me in the room to boot! I must say, I was relieved that she took the bottle so well. I do enjoy nursing, for the most part, but it is so nice that Matt can get in on the feeding action now and then. :)

The 4 days in our new house blew by and June 26th was here before we knew it. Thus, we headed to Chicago for part one of the wedding extravaganza! I was more than a little anxious about how both kids would do while traveling but they exceeded my expectations in a big way! Elin slept in the Baby K'tan pretty much the entire time we were in the airport (Again, major props to the baby K'tan ~ not sure what I would have done without it). Luke was also a total stud. It definitely helped that my mom had thought ahead and mailed us some traveling gifts for Luke to unwrap at various points during our trip. (Major props to Nee-Nee and the dollar store!)

DeBoer family of four Chicago bound!

Luke was so excited to ride on a big airplane! He sat in his seat like such a big boy, looking around, taking it all in. By the time the pilot turned off the Fasten Seat Belts light, Luke simply put his head down on Matt's lap and went right to sleep! He slept for more than half the flight. To say that was awesome would be a bit of an understatement.

Elin was as happy as can be after getting some good sleep in the K'tan. She and I had a grand ol' time making faces at each other. She's all smiles lately!

Her little smile, especially when you can see her dimples, just makes me melt!

There's plenty more to come, believe me! But I'm calling it a night. Stay Tuned.

Yikes

Wow. It has been far too long since I've posted on our blog. Sorry. And I'm going to apologize in advance for my future lack of posting in the next few weeks.... we're a little busy. In the past month we've had a baby, sold a house, bought a house, moved into a rental, completed another school year, said goodbye to our exchange student, and kept up with a very active 2 year old on top of the normal day to day-ness of life. Now we're packing up again and moving into our new house only to pack up again - suitcases this time - to leave for about 3 1/2 weeks. To say it has been a whirlwind is putting it lightly. We're tired, to say the least, but we have been extremely blessed. Everything has gone very smoothly in terms of all the moving and house selling/buying. Elin is such a good baby, which also makes things easier. I'm sure I'd be even more frazzled if she was fussy and kept me up all night!

I still have hopes of updating our blog eventually with tales from these past few weeks... Elin's birth, transitioning to a family of 4, family being in town, the move(s), etc. but don't hold your breath. It may be awhile ( a long while). I will try to post pictures more frequently... like bait to keep you coming back and checking in on the (crazy) life of the DeBoers!

For Starters....

Attempt at a family photo

Elin being swarmed by Matt's students

First bath

No, I'm not trying to suffocate my baby. I'm trying to clean under her double chin where the spit up likes to hide and start to stink.

Girl time - watching The Bachelorette. LOVE it!

Jung's graduation

Entertaining Luke through movies on the internet while we unpack/pack/tend to a new baby

Grammie DeBoer with Elin

Snuggle time with Auntie Andrea

Dimples!

So, I hope this was enough to satisfy for now. As I said, we'll be moving (again) this week then leave next week for nearly a month as we head to Chicago for my brother's wedding then up to Lynden for Matt's sister's wedding! So, if I don't keep up with the blog for awhile I hope you extend me a little grace. I'll be back, I promise.