Allergies & Flu Shot

Today E received his very first flu shot. I'm not sure if I've mentioned it on here or not, but E has multiple food allergies. He was tested when he was 11 months old, per his pediatrician's suggestion after a bad reaction to yogurt and his eczema. We discovered that he's allergic to wheat, soy, dairy, eggs, peanuts, walnuts, dogs and cats. As you can imagine, it's been hard finding new foods for him to eat. Currently he eats a lot of rice products (milk, noodles, cereal, etc). When he has a reaction to something he breaks out into hives where the food touched his skin, or (if it's been ingested) all over his abdomen. He's even had reactions so bad he had diarrhea and threw up. We're managing his allergies well and hope that he'll grow out of most of them within the next year or so. Unfortunately, the flu shot contains traces of egg white, which could cause a reaction for E. So, we went to allergists office this morning to have his skin tested to see how he would react. They started with a surface "scratch test" and waited 15 minutes for a reaction, gave him 10% of the flu shot in one arm, waited 20 minutes for a reaction and then gave him the rest of the shot in the other arm and waited 20 minutes. He did get a few hives from the scratch test, but not from the injection it's self (weird, I know), so he's been cleared to get the flu shot from his pediatrician in the future. I'm glad he's been immunized and am looking forward to a very active winter with my little guy!

E eating spaghetti - his new fave :)

13 Months

Can't believe it's been a month since E's first birthday party. I feel like he's changed so much. Every day he looks more and more like a little boy. His walking improves every day. He now chooses to walk short distances across the room and then gracefully falls to the floor to crawl the rest of the way. He's eating tons of new foods and right now, anything with spaghetti sauce on it is his favorite. He also loves going to the park, playing in the grass and swinging! He still has six teeth, two on bottom and four on top, but is getting another one on the bottom. His hair is getting much longer, but we still haven't had it cut. He continues to babble constantly in his own little language. He says many words and even waves "bye bye." He's so sweet to be around and loves everyone, even strangers. His smile is contagious...