An Aggie Already

Daniel is not wasting any time. He’s already exploring campus and settling into his life as an Aggie. 😊

Move In Day

Daniel moved into his campus housing today. School doesn’t start for another week and a half, but next week was supposed to be band camp for marching band. Unfortunately, marching band became a Covid casualty this year. His move in day was already set and he figured having an extra week to settle in, learn to get around campus, and look for a job would be good, so he was not bothered. The move in schedule was staggered a lot more this year anyway to prevent a huge crowd of people from arriving on campus at the same time so there were students trickling in over the course of two weeks. Covid restrictions only allowed each student to have two people arrive with them, so Kevin and I drove up to Logan and helped Daniel move in.

When we got home this evening, Kevin asked me how I’m doing. My honest answer is that I’m fine. Sending Daniel on a mission was much harder because I knew (at least I thought I did) that he would be gone for two years and that we would be very restricted in terms of when and how we could talk. With him going to college within driving distance, I know he’ll be able to come home when he wants and we can communicate whenever we want in a myriad of ways. And I’m grateful that he is finally able to get his life moving again. Coming home in April was hard for him. He had to rewrite his life plan and since then, he has basically been waiting for the next part of his life to start. He was anxious to get going and more excited than nervous to be taking the next step. He has a handful of high school friends attending USU and a cousin who is also starting this fall, so he has a social web in place already. In fact, as Kevin and I were driving away, Daniel was already headed out to meet up with his cousin for dinner.

He has already texted us to say that he and the one other roommate who has moved in have a lot in common. He thinks they are going to get along well. I hope he has an amazing college experience.

Happy Birthday!

We’ve celebrated one birthday amidst Covid but turning nine is a lot different than turning seventeen. I felt like we needed to do a bit more to make Malia’s birthday special. Although her actual birthday isn’t for a few days, Daniel is moving to Logan tomorrow so we did our family celebration today so we could all be here. That was very important to Malia (as well it should be) and she was completely amenable. Plus, we always end up with multiple birthday bashes so having just one would be as abnormal as the past five months have been!

Malia’s passion right now is horses. She loves all things horsey and desperately wants to learn to ride horses. As such, creating a horse themed birthday cake was a no brainer. We combed Pinterest and came up with a winner. Malia loved it and it looked like something I could actually create. Since she is in not in school this summer, she helped me bake the cakes, make the frosting and tint the fondant. She also helped me decorate the cake, forming fondant and piping part of the mane. She really enjoyed the piping part and we were both so pleased with how the cake turned out!

We did presents today as well. Daniel and Nathan gave her a doll that is just the right size to ride the horse she got for Christmas. She was so excited about that! She has stuffed animals and other dolls that have been riding Woody (her horse) since December, but none of their legs are long enough to fit in the stirrups. Having a doll the right size was one of her birthday wishes and we were even able to find one that was wearing the right clothes for horseback riding. Matthew gave her a brown bear stuffed animal which she loves, and Kevin and I got her a new bike since she has grown so much that she really can’t ride her old one anymore. She got the bike about a month ago, since Kevin was smart and picked it up when he started to notice huge gaps in the selection of bikes. Bikes, like many other items, are in short supply due to a variety of Covid induced reasons. Kevin’s mom gave Malia tickets to see “Mary Poppins” at Hale Centre Theater. That show was actually last week and after being shut up at home for so long, Malia was thrilled to be able to get out of the house and have an adventure!

The family celebration was a great success. Malia was thrilled with how everything turned out. And I am glad that we were able to add a little joy to her seriously restricted lifestyle.

Pros and Cons

Back in May I commented about a positive food challenge for Matthew. Unfortunately, that was the last positive challenge he has had. We’ve continued to try different recipes with different bake temperatures, different numbers of eggs and different bake times. But Matthew has reacted every time. Sometimes he reacts to one bite. Sometimes he is fine with one bite but reacts after eating a full serving. The length of time before he reacts differs as well. We had one theory about higher baking temperatures and another about longer bake times. All of them seemed logical and none of them panned out. He even reacted to a recipe he ate with no reaction a couple months back. We don’t want to give up on baked goods with eggs, but honestly, we had no idea what to do next.

On the other hand, he is eating eggs in waffles with no problem. We eat waffles at least once a week and he gets first dibs on any leftovers. It has been really fun because we’ve tried a myriad of different flavors of waffles and have discovered about a dozen different recipes that we love. It keeps weekly waffle eating interesting. Matthew has even gotten comfortable enough to feel safe reheating waffles in the toaster. That’s a big deal for him. It means he isn’t concerned about cross contact with the egg in waffles and the other things he toasts.

As I’m sure you can imagine, those juxtaposed experiences have led to a good deal of confusion. With a spreadsheet full of data and no idea how to proceed, we figured it was time for some bloodwork and a visit to the allergist. His appointment was today, and we got the guidance we were looking for. Allergies are a finicky thing, which we already knew, but his doc gave us an idea of what to do next. The egg white is where his allergy currently resides so we can start using just the yolks. After a bit, we can introduce the egg whites a little at a time. The hope is that with a slowly increasing amount of whites, his body will learn to accept them without reacting. It’s the same idea behind oral immunotherapies.

We will start doing that at some point, but honestly, now that we have the info, I think we’re going to just stick with waffles for a bit. Mentally, he’s not ready to go back to weekly food challenges. It is scary and stressful. And it’s not like his entire life is stress filled right now. He’s been a trooper and has learned to deal calmly with the reactions, but it has been difficult and disappointing to have so few positive results. Add to that the huge challenges Covid has thrown at us and he has a lot to deal with right now. As do we all.

On the upside, we did have some very heartening news. Matthew has always had a really high IgE. High enough that his first allergist used him as an example of a “highly allergic individual” when she was training new medical workers. Today his doc told us that it is completely normal for IgE to go up at his age and to continue to climb until about age 20 when it generally plateaus. It makes perfect sense. He is growing rapidly at this age and will reach his adult size and stop growing around age 20. The interesting thing is that Matthew’s IgE is actually going down. The lowering IgE is why he’s been able to introduce some new foods to his diet. If his reactivity were still as high as it has been in the past, there would be no way he could tolerate eggs in any form. But it’s dropping. Unexpectedly.

I call it a little bit of a miracle. Matthew calls it a big miracle. I think he’s right.

Fighting for Freedom

Our 4th of July celebration happened in a different order this year. Instead of starting with breakfast and ending with fireworks, we did things in reverse order. We ate our celebratory dinner and set off our fireworks on July 3rd because Nathan was scheduled to work the evening of the 4th. Then we did our patriotic pancakes and tri-colored beverages for lunch on the 4th because Daniel worked that morning. Having grown up children means things are changing in our little world, but it is good change. It means our children are growing up to be well adjusted, responsible people who are not only willing to work, but want to work. Guess Kev and I must have done something right.

Parenting assessment aside, this year’s celebration was different than normal. That will come as no surprise at all. This whole year has been different than normal. Nevertheless, and despite the many struggles in which our country is currently drowning, I’m incredibly grateful to live where I do. But the many freedoms we enjoy don’t come without effort or cost. Our forebearers in many generations have struggled, fought, worked, and even died to ensure the freedoms we have. And often, I think we take these freedoms for granted. A few weeks ago, Elder David A. Bednar spoke at the BYU Law School Religious Freedoms Annual Review. He spoke about religious freedom in relation to the crisis of Covid-19 and it was eye opening. He addressed the fact that in an instant, the government took away our freedom to gather as religious groups. It was for good reason, but none of us even questioned it. He spoke of the need for us to be aware of what is happening and to be willing to act to protect our religious freedom. It is one of the essential building blocks of our country’s government and we can’t let it slip away due to negligence on the part of all of us.

Elder Bednar made me think. So much so that we used his address as the topic of one Sunday’s SCONES lesson. We are living in perilous times, in the last days, and I suspect things are going to get harder in the future. So what am I willing to do to maintain my right to practice my religion, to gather with others who share my faith, and to live according to my own conscience? I think that’s a question we must all ask ourselves. Church leaders have counseled often of late that the time to straddle the line is passed. We have to choose a side. We have to take a stand. What then, am I going to stand for? Am I willing to fight to preserve my religious freedom? It seems like a daunting task if I’m standing alone, but when we all stand together, we can be a powerful voice for good. That, in fact, is one of the many reasons we, and those of every faith, must be allowed to gather with others of our religion. It is an essential freedom we must be willing to work to preserve.

O Say Can You See

This won’t come as a surprise to anyone, but I love creating fun food for holidays. Independence Day is coming up and there is a specific patriotic cake I’ve been wanting to create for the past few years, so I decided this was the year to make it happen. I created my masterpiece last Friday when Kevin, Matthew and Malia were camping so it would be a fun surprise when we cut into it. Then I tucked it in the freezer to stay fresh for a few days. This evening we ate my creation for Family Home Evening. I love how it turned out! All it was missing was some white star sprinkles (which I could not find in a Matthew friendly version).

I’m already making plans for next year. 😉

They’ve Got Cabin Fever

I’m not a huge fan of camping. I used to enjoy it, but my tendency to get migraines from the heat and the grapefruit size swollen, itchy spots that I get when bug bitten kind of takes the fun out of it. As a result, I generally stay home when Kev takes the kids camping. After having been cooped up at home for the past three months, Matthew and Malia were getting pretty stir crazy. Kevin arranged an overnight trip with his brother and his family, and all involved in the adventure were super excited. I think Matthew and Malia had a wonderful time. Not only did they get out of the house, but they got to spend some socially distanced time with cousins and sleep in the great outdoors. As for me, I was perfectly content to spend a quiet night at home watching a chick flick. It was a win for all of us.

Giving Tie Dye Another Try

While life has not been normal of late, we have tried to find some sense of normalcy whenever we can. One of our normal summer traditions is creating a patriotic t-shirt to celebrate Independence Day. We tried tie dye about nine years ago and the dye ran together and ended up creating purplish t-shirts. I’ve learned some things since then and so we decided to make another attempt at creating a tricolor design. The kids all had a great time. Daniel and Nathan both spent a considerable amount of time getting the dye just where they wanted it. We’ll have to wait a day or two to see the final outcome, but it was a fun way to spend an afternoon.