Shout Out to Austin

A couple of weeks ago I went to DeerStep with Austin and his Sunflowers were in full bloom and are absolutely gorgeous! Here are a few pictures of his greenthumb and God's creativity!

I found this picture on my camera card and absolutely love it. Austin was at a duckhole in Mississippi and that is our dog DJ hard at work.

Austin also writes articles for a magazine called "Farming For Wildlife". Here is a link to one of his articles.

http://farmingforwildlife.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=64&Itemid=64

This is just a small glimpse into what Austin does on a daily basis for the wildlife of the South.

4th of July

This was Lane at last years 4th of July celebration...a few days shy of 3 months old.

This is Lane at this years 4th of July celebration...a few days shy of 15 months old.

Time has flown and Lane has grown so fast. He is such a little boy (all boy too). We had a great 4th of July with our families. Lane got to play with his cousin Michael and Rylee at my parents house and then went to Cicle and Pops that evening and got to play with cousin Riley Delano. They fought over the cozy coupe and being the gentleman that Lane is (HA!!) he finally compromised and decided to just push Riley.
After getting really, really hot pushing this little lady, they decided to play on the sprinkler mat.

Lane thought it would be funny to pour the water on Riley's bottom:)


We are teaching our babies a little early about water guns...

Of course the big people could not let the little people have all the fun...so we decided to have a water balloon/water gun fight. Austin was the only one that brought a CANON!!! THis think was ridiculous! I think Tressa actually fell down from the pressure of this thing!!

Michael trying to be all sneaky.

SIbling rivalry. I think Jesslyn won.
And this is pitiful, but Jess and Austin was using the kids sprinkler mat as their reloading station. If you look closely in the background you will see Tressa on the deck, aiming for Austin but missing and getting Lane. He was not happy!!

It was a wonderful day of eating WAY too much food and having WAY too much fun!!

E.A.R Update

Since my last post on the E.A.R. situation I was given a name of a pharmacist who created an Excema cream that has done WONDERS for Lane's skin. Thanks Shera for the contact. Also, he is on Soy milk (SILK) b/c we figured out that cows milk in conjuction with allergies was causing the reflux. He has been on SILK for 3 weeks and has not needed any reflux medicine! YAY for a happy Lane!! Also, we have come to discover that Apple Juice and Pear juice makes for an upset tummy so we are only giving Lane diluted White Grape juice. Hopefully we are on the right track with correcting the E.A.R problems! I apologize to those of you that have had to "smell" his blowouts in the nursery. Hopefully those will come to a cease now that we have begun to figure out his sensitivities!!

E.A.R.

The above title represents the issues that we have been battling with Lane for quite some time and especially in the last few weeks. He's been having difficulties with Excema, Allergies and Reflux for the last few months and the excema and allergies seem to be getting worse.

To give a little background and history I was the world's most allergic child to absolutely everything growing up. No exaggeration! Once my mom weened me at 16 months old, I had to be put on goats milk because I was allergic to cows milk. And not just the milk, but anything made out of cow's milk (no ice cream, no cheese, no recipe that had any of those ingredients). Also, I was allergic to cats, horses, grass (wore long sleeves and jeans), citrus fruits, bananas, white flour, and the list goes on. Anytime I ate or touched any of the above my excema would break out like a wild bangee. So I learned very early what to avoid so I would not be miserable. I eventually grew out of these allergies and for the most part do not have the excema flair ups. When I found out that I was pregnant with Lane, my biggest fear is that he would have my allergies or worse. I decided to breastfeed with hopes of avoiding the allergies and for the most part they did.

Now to Lane's history. He's had excema since he was born. It was mainly on the back of his knees and since I was breastfeeding I controlled mine and his diet to be sensitive to the things that I was most highly allergic to. When he started eating solids I would try foods that I was allergic to and was scared to death of what would happen. Most of the time he was fine. He would have flair ups, but only on occasion. I have always used scent free soaps, lotions, detergents, etc. and anytime that something scented was used on him, the excema got worse. He is also allergic to cats. I had suspicions of the allergy to the cat for some time, but his flair ups were not that bad until a few weeks ago. Tressa has a cat that was living inside. Lane had spent some time at the Delano's while I was finishing up school and his allergies and excema went bonkers. The cat is now living outside and is happily catching moles and bringing them to the garage. Also, I think most of his excema flair ups are due to "contact" situations like wool, synthetic fabrics (carpets), and grasses. When his allergies are triggered by whatever, he sneezes, waterery, itchy eyes, runny nose and the excema on his wrists start to irritate him. The drainage from the runny nose triggers the reflux!! AHHHHHHHHH!! Poor baby can't win for losing!

When we left for the beach he was horribly broke out, reflux was out of control (currently on Prilosec), and his allergies were going crazy. Now that we are back and we've had some time away and are rested, I have started a log of what Lane is eating at every meal and snack to see if there is a connection to the food, allergies and excema. So far, he will no longer be enjoying bananas or berries. The grass, well, that is a hard thing to control considering we would all go crazy couped up inside. We have to go on living, right? But now that he is walking, I am going to try to keep shoes on his little feet when we go outside to control the excema on his ankles. I have read that stress and heat can also be huge factors in excema flair ups. Nothing like Sweet Home Alabama's heat waves to cause an Excema outbreak. LOL!!

Our pediatritian knows of Lane's issue and we all know that this is genetic (thanks to me and my moms side of the family). Lane has some prescription cream to ease the itching, but so far, good old Crisco has worked wonders!! Yes, Crisco (fried chicken, greased cake pans, and now excema relief)!! I was a Crisco baby and I have two cousins who were as well. I think between my cousins and I and all the prescription creams out there, Crisco can't be beat!!

Hopefully we can get Lane straightened out and be able to control the flair ups. I know that he will have break outs and it will drive him nuts as he gets older, but I am hoping and praying that he grows out of it earlier than I did. I am ready for his E.A.R. problems to be better!!

Point Clear

Austin and I decided to take a quick little family vacation for just the three of us to Point Clear, Al this week. I get a discount through RSA so we couldn't pass it up. We left on Tuesday and stayed in Foley for one night and went to Gulf Shores on Wednesday and spent the day at the beach. Lane LOVED the sand but was unsure of the ocean. He slowly warmed up to it, but only if you were holding him. Around 2, we left Gulf Shores and went to Point Clear (about 20 miles from gulf shores). It is absolutely BEAUTIFUL!! We arrived a little too early to check in, but were able to walk the resort and get familiar with the grounds. By the time we checked in to our room, we decided to go grab a bite to eat and head out to the beach area to watch the sunset. A man walking by offered to take our picture as a family. After the sunset, we walked over to the pool area and Lane familirized himself with the water. He was a ham. He loved it! On Thursday we mainly played at the pool all day and walked on the beach area that evening to watch the sunset and the storm roll in. On Friday morning before we left we went on a bicycle ride through the resort and down the road through part of Fairhope. That is such a neat little place! Point Clear is an AMAZING place with alot of history. On the golf course there is a confederate grave yard (which we did not know about until we were leaving) and every day at 3:45 a drummer line comes through to signal the time for the cannon to go off at 4:00. The cannon symbolizes the rembrance off all veterans and of the men that are still protecting our nation today. I hope that Austin and I will be able to make this place a tradition for us to visit at least once a year. Several of my coworkers have vistited here for many years and one has actually been going since she was a year old and now takes her family there every year before going to Orange Beach. I hope that we can make this our little family tradition. We had a wonderul trip and it was a nice little getaway for our little family! Attached are some pictures from our trip. Enjoy!

Summer Fun

Wow!! Lane has accompolished so much in the last 3 weeks since my last post. He FINALLY decided to let go and is walking everywhere! He is also learning new words and animal sounds and has also learned and practices some sign language (milk, ball, and his form of story) . He does the funniest sound for a horse, cat, duck, and sometimes we will get a bark out of him too! He is a sponge soaking everything around him up! Here are a few pictures of our day yesterday. He was playing at the sand/water table and discovered the water hose. He was fascinated by it and got absolutely soaked.

Lane also enjoys cleaning...Let's just see if he will keep this up through the years! He played with the swiffer for about 10 minutes. He started off in the kitchen and ended in the living room.

Change of subject...Austin and I had our 10 year high school reunion last night. It was great seeing so many of our class mates. Everyone still looks great and seemed to be doing well. It is amazing how we pick up right where we left off. Austin and I started dating at the end of our Senior year so it was neat for us to be able to attend together and get to share memories together with our old classmates. It is hard to believe that 10 years have already come and gone and that Austin and I have been together for that length of time as well. The following are a few pictures from the night...

We had a great night! I am definately looking forward to my two months off at home with Lane and Austin! The summer break is a definate plus when it comes to being a teacher. Austin, Lane and myself are leaving on Tuesday for a short, much needed vacation to Point Clear, Al. We are staying at the Marriott Resort in Point Clear and I have heard that it is wonderful. Point Clear is about 20-25 miles from Gulf Shores. I will post pictures when we return. Sorry this post is so jumbled with information, but I have not posted in a while and a lot has been going on. Signing off until next time...

Dis...

Lane has been doing well with learning new words and pointing to objects and calling its name. Apparently we have become so obsessed with asking Lane "What is this?" that now he calls alot of things "dis". Makes sense, right??? I guess now we are going to have to just say the noun of whatever word he is learning and stop asking him "What is this?" I think he might be a little confused??

Here are some of the words that he knows and can say...
Mama, Dada, Nana, Papa, Michael (ichael), Tressa (ssessa), dog, D.J., rye,rye(rylee), deer, duck, bu-bu (bye,bye), drink (ink), and now "dis".

I am amazed at how much he has changed and how much he has learned just in the last couple of months! Babies are truly an amazing miracle!!

How Does Your Garden Grow?

I absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this time of year!! I love seeing the Dogwoods bloom in early spring, and when the blooms of the Dogwoods are fading, the bright blooms of the azaleas start shining through and pretty soon the Crape Mrytles will start showing off too! When we bought our house two years ago, Austin redid all the landscaping and he did a beautiful job. We have a year round showing of colors in the front and the back of the house. Included are a few pictures of the Spring Plant Show (lol:) at the Delanos.

The azaleas in full bloom in front of our house.

Nandinas and daylilies in the back of the house.

This is just a cute little poem I found...

Dig In by

George Shannon

Dig a little.Dig a lot.

Dig a brand-new garden spot.

Plat a little.Plant a lot.

Plant the seeds and bulbs you bought.

Wait a little.Wait a lot.

Wait much longer than you thought.

Pick a little.Pick a lot.

Share the best bouquet you’ve got!

We also decided to plant a garden for the first time. In the past I have always gone to my parents to get the fresh veggies that I wanted, but this year we wanted a small garden of our own to share with Lane. We decided to plant corn, tomotoes, a variety of peppers, cilantro, cauliflower, a squash plant, peas and Sunflowers. I am so excited to see how our garden grows! I will try to update the pics of the progress of our garden and maybe make some SALSA!!

View of Garden (minus corn) Squash