Wait…What? Seriously??!!

Today was Matthew’s annual trip to the allergist. These visits have become pretty routine for us. We do the blood draw, go to the office, confirm that he’s still allergic to everything, get refills on all his prescriptions, and call it good until next year. So I knew how this year’s appointment would go based on the past seven years…at least I thought I knew how this year’s appointment would go.

When our allergist walked into the room, she seemed anxious to get right down to business, something that didn’t surprise me based on the fact that she is very good and therefore very busy. But the reason for being ready to get down to business was not anxiety or a need to hurry, it was excitement. She whipped out the results of his blood work and proceeded to tell me that with the exception of peanut, Matthew’s IgE (the antibody that causes food allergies) levels have all fallen in the past year. And we’re not talking dropping a few points (a little variation is common and inconsequential), we’re talking half of what they were last year.

I honestly never even considered the fact that his numbers might go down. We discovered he was having problems when he was five months old and in all that time they have either risen or stayed the same. So today was completely unexpected. When the doctor started reading off the numbers, I actually cried. I haven’t cried in her office since our second visit when she listed everything Matthew was allergic to, gave me a huge list of things we needed to avoid, and taught me how to use the Epipens.

This came as a complete surprise to all of us, our doctor included. When Matthew was two and his IgE totals had doubled over the past year, she told us that he probably wouldn’t grow out of it. As they continued to rise over the next couple of years, she came to the conclusion that he definitely wouldn’t outgrow it. Today she actually told us that she was losing hope that things would improve for him. She was visibly excited today because based on his bloodwork and the results of his skin prick tests, she thinks he might be able to tolerate eggs in baked goods. He is still too allergic to be able to eat plain eggs or have them in other than baked goods (the high temperatures of baking break down the proteins making them less likely to cause problems), but even just that would mean a lot of foods could come back into his diet. So we will be scheduling another oral food challenge when Matthew goes off-track in December. The food challenges scare him to death, but having done three, all of which have gone well and added numerous foods to his safe list, he is totally on board with doing another one.

As Kev and I have pondered why such a dramatic change after years of stasis, we think that it might be the food challenge Matthew did earlier this year that put milk in breads back into his diet. He’s been eating bread with milk in it regularly for the past six months and we wondered if having an allergen in a form that is safe for him is helping his body learn to manage them better. We don’t know for sure, of course, even the allergist doesn’t know for sure, but we have a feeling that the milk in his diet has been a good thing.

The actual food challenge is a hurdle we've yet to jump, but regardless of how it turns out, this year's appointment has given me something very important: hope.

Every Girl Needs a BFF

Malia is accustomed to living in a world full of boys. Not only does he have three brothers, there are simply a lot of boys around here. In our ward it is normal for each primary class to have six or eight boys and only one or two girls. Classes at the elementary school are usually 2/3 to ¾ boys with a few girls sprinkled in for variety (and sanity). But with a few new move ins, Malia’s age group is actually tipped a bit in favor of the girls. Last year her preschool class had only 3 girls which really isn’t a terrible percentage since there were only eight kids in her class. But this year there are six girls and Malia is loving it!

Today was her first field trip of the year and we happened to park right by one of her little girlfriends. I have a soft spot in my heart for this particular little girl. Her family moved into our ward five or six months ago and she sings for me in primary. It has been a challenge to get anyone, child or adult, in this ward to sing. The hymns in Sacrament Meeting are sung by about ten people, five of whom have the same last name as me. And since I am the choir director and the junior primary chorister, the lack of musical participation makes my callings a million times harder. So to have a child come to primary, sit on the front row and sing out with abandon makes me feel like maybe it’s not completely a lost cause.

Anyway, we walked with this particular friend of Malia’s and she had a fabulous time. The two of them are the hugging, chatting, declaring they are best friends kind of friends. It’s actually pretty cute. Since Malia is usually surrounded by boys, she was a bit unsure the first time Raylie dashed up and hugged her (her cousin Kate is really the only other girlfriend who is like that with Malia) but she warmed up super fast. I tried to take a cute picture of the two girls, but the sun and a pesky leaf foiled my plans. Nevertheless, the field trip was a success and we are all anxiously awaiting the next one.

Learning the Gospel Can Be Fun

Tonight's scripture study degenerated into a laugh fest about anemones. Scripture time is not always reverent around here, but at least we have fun. And although at times we mock our children mercilessly (Daniel, in this case), it in no way damages their self-esteem. It makes me think that we've gotten at least some of our parenting right. All our children can laugh at themselves, not just at others. And when they do laugh at others, it is in a jovial way, not a mean spirited one.

It’s Finally Time!

After a very long summer which included watching all three of her brothers go back to school, Malia’s first day of school finally arrived. She has been very excited. I woke up at 6:45 this morning and she was already awake and totally wired. She was completely dressed, fed, combed, brushed and wearing her backpack by 8:00 which gave us plenty of time to get to school considering start time is 9:00 and we can leave our house at 8:57 and still arrive with time to spare.

Now I just have to get Matthew back on-track and three times a week I’ll have 2 ½ hours all to myself. :-)

It Will Happen To Most of Us Sooner Or Later

Something funny happened to me today. Not funny haha, but funny not right. I went to the fabric store because there were some things I needed and there was a rockin’ Labor Day sale. When I was checking out, my debit card was declined. Not just the wrong pin please try again, but declined and the sales associate was supposed to take my card away and cut it up. Now this is something that has never happened to me before. Kev and I are careful with our finances and we don’t fill up credit cards and end up getting them declined. So this was new. The lady working the register ran it twice and then she asked for my ID so she could verify that the card wasn’t stolen. After everything checked out and she was sure that I am so I say I am, she tried again with the same result. Because she had already checked out my ID, she did let me keep the card but I had an unhappy feeling that something wasn’t right.

When I got home I immediately logged into my bank account and started combing through the recent charges to see if anything was amiss. It didn’t take me long to spot two charges that did not look right. The first was for $1.87 at Vons. Those small charges are generally a warning sign, one that Kev looks for. But I texted him on Thursday and told him I had made a charge that was just under $2 so he assumed that was what he was seeing. What he didn’t know was that the charge I made was $1.98, it was on a different card, and there are no Vons stores in our area. The other charge was $24.27 to Walgreens. We shop at Walgreens. There is one just down the street from us. So again, it all looked good to Kev. Because I was already on high alert, I looked closer and noticed that the store location was not ours, but one in Santa Clarita, CA. Definitely not good. So I googled the store number associated with the charge at Vons, and sure enough, it is a California location. The next step was calling to get the card locked to make sure no more charges would be make although due to it recently being declined, I can only assume the bank already suspected fraud. Then I started changing passwords just in case.

Now this was not a happy event for a holiday, but there are several good things associated with an otherwise stinky twist of fate. First of all, we had a great opportunity to sit down with our kids and discuss not only finances, but finances in a digital age. They are going to need to be aware of what is going on as they get older so they can be vigilant in keeping their own financial accounts safe. Second, the total for the fraudulent charges was less than $30. It could have been a much worse and in fact, while I was driving home I was having terrible thoughts of a completely drained bank account. Third, it reminded me that I need to be aware of what is going on in our finances. Kev is the one who pays the bills and although I try to stay abreast of what bills we have and how much they are, having two pairs of eyes checking things out is definitely a bonus.

I called the store and left a message thanking the lady working the register. Yes, she was just doing her job but because she did her job right instead of just brushing it off as a random glitch, I was alerted to a problem. She looked unsure and ill at ease while we were in the midst of the whole thing so I wanted to make sure she knows I am grateful. Because I am.

Two or three years ago I got a phone call from the fraud department of one of my credit cards letting me know that someone in India had attempted to use my card number. Luckily for us, the charge was declined and we didn’t have any trouble beyond needing to cancel the card, get a new one issued under a different account number and change passwords of any online accounts associated with the card. I’m not stupid where digital finances are involved and because IT security is what Kev does all day and he shares his knowledge, I feel like I’m actually pretty savvy about such things. I’m careful with my info and Kev is too. But no matter how careful we are, there are people out there who are determined to rip off other people to support their get-something-for-nothing mentality. So we try to be aware and cautious and we are trying to teach our children to be cautious as well because it’s only going to get worse the more digital our lives become.