Big changes are on the horizon

Good morning! I have decided to restart the blog. First, a quick run-down on where we are now. Tomorrow will be our 14th wedding anniversary. Crazy, huh? Last May we moved from our "permanent home on Olive, to our new house on Delta Ave. I will have to write a long-winded post about the reasons for that later. The kids have started attending school at Johnson Elementary, which is 1 street over from the new house.

Daniel (almost 11) is in 5th grade with Mrs. Lynn Samuels and resource for his Dyslexia  and ADHD with Michelle Noe. The change in schools was to get him working with her. So far we are quite pleased.

Heidi will be 9 soon, and is attending 3rd grade in Jaqueline Lowell's class, and also GT (gifted and talented) with Jenny Goode on Fridays. There was another gal subbing for Ms. Jenny up until n I w, but I can't remember her name.

Isaac (age 6) is in 1st grade with Ms. Tracy Wagner. He seems to like it there, and is doing very well. She says he is such a sweetheart.

Shiloh is 3, and still at home with me. I will be looking into a little preschool for her next year, depending on how other things go.

We are all settled in to our new house, and finishing up a major project down staurs. The new house is a slitp-level home. Something I never thought I would choose a  split-level hone, but it's working out great for us. Heavenly Father brought us here, and things are turning our just great.

This week we made plans for Kerami to come over with Baby Thomas (another update post, I suppose) and watch our 4 kids while Daryl and I attend an orientation to get us started as Foster parents. It's hard to explain all of the little steps and spiritual inspiration it took to get to this point, but I am excited to begin. The new house is big, with plenty of room for us and room to spare for foster children. 6 bedroom and 4 bathrooms.
There are 3 bedrooms and 2 baths on each floor, with split stairs between, that lead to the front door and to the garage. Upstairs we have our master bedroom, the office (where Daryl works from home) and Shiloh's room. The second bathroom is in the hall.

Downstairs we have the guest master bedroom, which is where Heidi was sleeping while we worked on the "girls room" down the hall. Besides those there is a room for the boys as well, which is almost twice as big as the girls' new room. The guestroom is now vacant, and I am hoping to sell the boys' twin-over-full bunks, so we can use the money to buy twin beds to use for foster kids or guests, depending on how we configure them.

As soon as I can figure out how to get Shiloh to stay dry over night and during naps, we will move her to the girls room, and free up the room upstairs for young foster kids. This will give us 4 empty beds, counting the toddler bed that we just bought for Shiloh's current room, and a crib/toddler bed that we will put in there with it later.

I will try and update more often, about how things are going and what we are up to.
Until then, have a great day!
Bethany

Happy Birthday Isaac!

Isaac turned 3 on June 8th. He has been specifically asking for this "digger" since we bought one for Marily's son, Miles a month ago. He hand-picked it for him, for his second birthday. He was so happy when he got one of his own.

It's crazy to think that our baby from the last post is now my 3 year old. So much has changed since then. I have learned so much since then. Happy birthday my big boy. I love you.

Lost and Found (well, almost)

Wow has it really been 2 months since my last post about Isaac's birth? Is he really 10 weeks old already?!Many people told me that having a third child was the most challenging transition for a family, and a mom. Of course I believed them, but I'm really feeling that our transition has been even more than most. And I have to say that we're still not out of the woods yet. Allow me to explain...(this may take a while.)

Most people know that Daniel and Heidi are slowly outgrowing an allergy to dairy. The onset for each child began at about 6 weeks of age. Then, when Isaac was about TWO weeks old, I started noticing signs of an allergic reaction. I went off of dairy. His rashy cheek seemed to get better, but the symptoms still showed up off and on. (super gassy, upset stomach, lack of sleep, inability to nurse all he wanted in one feeding, etc.) In addition to not eating milk products, I gave up gluten foods too. (wheat, rye, barley, and oat products). Also in the middle of all of this I noticed a mild case of hives all over his body one morning. I took him to the doctor. He ran two separate blood test for allergies, which both came back normal. (I'm told it's pretty rare to detect any kind of allergies in babies this young.) The mysterious rash was gone after 2 days, and hasn't returned since.

Isaac's other symptoms reduced, but still acted up off and on for the next few weeks. Then, while talking with my sister, she pointed out that any food that is breaded is also made with wheat, something that hadn't even crossed my mind before. By this time we had lots of family in town for his baby blessing, and things got even crazier. I decided to let him try formula, just so I had a little time to figure things out without hurting his poor body anymore than was necessary. I sent some of my siblings to the store to get him some soy formula. He seemed to take to it really well. (I was also pumping and dumping my "contaminated" breast milk as well, hoping to get rid of any allergens.)

Then, 2 days into this, and nursing a little, I noticed his rashy cheeks were starting to flair up again. I couldn't figure out what I had possibly eaten that would have cause such a dramatic reaction again. I was about ready to just put him on formula and be done with all of the madness.  At that point I stopped caring what I was eating and ordered little cheeseburgers and onion strings with ranch at the restaurant we went to that night.

The next day, a thought came to me that I should nurse him instead if giving him another bottle. That would mean that he would get the full effect of everything I had eaten the night before. After some debate with myself over this, I complied. To my amazement, the red on his cheeks got lighter and lighter. The following day, I gave him soy formula at the grocery store. The rash returned full force. That's when it hit me. He's allergic to soy!?! If I hadn't followed the inspired thought to nurse him that day I would have never understood the problem.

It just so happened that his 2 month check up was scheduled for that afternoon. The doctor gave us a stack of trial cans of hypo-allergenic formula to try, and recommended putting hydrocortizone cream on his face. His rash cleared up completely after a couple of days.

So now he's allergic to SOY. Wow. This big discovery is definitely an answer to prayers and I am so grateful for that. For me though, it also opens the door to a whole set of new discoveries... and questions. The night before Isaac got the rash on his body, we ate stir fry or dinner, with plenty of soy sauce. I started rummaging through my kitchen. All of the baked goods I could find in our house are made with wheat and soy. Cream of mushroom and cream of chicken are made with milk, and soy. I had no idea how common soy actually is in food. 

So now I'm left wondering... Is he allergic to gluten or wheat like I thought, or was it just the soy in our bread that was bothering him? Is he allergic to milk like I thought, or were the rashy cheeks only relate to the soy allergy. When I went off of dairy was I also eating less soy as well? Stay tuned for answers to these. We're still in the testing phases. The first test? Cheese. **crossing my fingers**

In the mean time, I'll do my best at trying to catch up on the other undocumented parts of our life thus far. (like my new haircut, Daryl's motorcycle, Heidi's antics, Isaac's baby blessing, and Daniel's first day of school, to name a few.)

He's Here!

Isaac Wayne Lamoreaux was born on Wednesday, June 8th at 9:13 am. He weighed 7 lbs 3oz and was 20.5 in. long. We're both doing great, and arrived home from the hospital yesterday afternoon.



Cheryl and Robert brought Daniel and Heidi to see their new baby brother later that day. They loved him right from the start,and were constantly asking to hold him again, and saying what a cute little baby he is.
Heidi wanted to take him home already.

37 Weeks

Today was my 37 week appointment. I'm actually 37 weeks and 2 days. I was glad to gear that I have made a little progress. I am dilated to not quite 2 centimeters, but still pretty tight. My next appointment won't be for another week and a half, on Monday, June 6th. Dr. Beck will be out of town all next week. By then I will be almost 39 weeks! And, if I go into labor before he gets back, one of the other doctors in the office will have to deliver the baby instead. (Whoever happens to be on call at the time.) Kind of worries me a little. I guess that's how it goes when you are due over summer vacation. Anyways, I took this picture today with the timer feature on the new camera I got for Mother's Day. (That post is to come as soon as I figure out how to crop those pictures with the new program.)