• babies,  children & families,  maternity,  personal

    robin & eoin

    As those of you who are friends or blog stalkers know the story of my BFF from college and her miracle baby who was born at 25 weeks. You can always read their story here. Eoin turned 2 (omg, where did the time go?!) yesterday and is doing amazingly well! With the red hair, green eyes and beaming smile he had me drooling over him the minute I got there. And then when he loved playing with me and let me hold him? Done.

    So one week from today, Robin & Joe (and Eoin too) will be welcoming their identical twin girls!!!!!!! to the family. Robin’s going full term with this pregnancy, and although they had an IVF appointment set up, they found out a week before the appointment that she was pregnant. With twins. On their own.  Totally crazy and a miracle. Again!

    Look how good Robin looks!! When I first walked in and saw her, I said you aren’t so big at all. Especially not for twins! Right?From the side view, there are definitely two babies in there! And I know she cannot wait for them to be born so she can breathe because her lungs aren’t in her neck anymore. And eat more than 5 bites without feeling full cause her stomach is squished someplace in there. And walk without baby A’s head pressing on her siatic nerve at every step. I know these things because I was pregnant with twins once (and cause she told me!)Eoin’s pretty excited, too!Omg, kill me now with that smile. And don’t even get me started on those eyelashes. I’m funny. Especially to two year olds. So in college, Robin painted this beautiful picture of a girl in a clearing in a forest, with dark hair, looking down. It was never quite finished (at least not to Robin) but I always loved it. And the shot of Robin on the left reminds me SO much of that painting.

    Eoin is enjoying the new minivan they just got. With three kids, it’s what you gotta do.  Cannot wait until ‘the’ phonecall next Friday. And to find out what the girls names are (cause Robin won’t tell me and I’m so impatient)! And to see if they have Eoin’s coloring. And who they look like. And to go back up and take a thousand twin newborn pictures!! Stay tuned and please send all of your good thoughts to Robin, Joe & Eoin on a very easy delivery and recovery with healthy twin girls!

  • personal,  travel

    sunny & 85 degrees. everyday.

    I wish this was my life all the time, but it sure was great for the 9 days were in South Florida over Eastover break.

    Since my cameras were on their own spring break/spa weekend getting cleaned and callibrated, I borrowed “mr. mark’s” (the owner of Rockville Camera) Canon Rebel, but I never used it!! Not even once. I shot all the pictures with my iphone. Pretty cool, huh?

    Using the ’tilt shift generator’ app.

    And using the shake it app. The view from the 20th floor balcony. Should be the view out of the windows at home too. Timmy and his new hat. Timmy Beyrer? Tiny boy? Tampa Bay? Turkey Burger? Take your pick…Same view night & day.  Now we have to wait until Christmas to head back down. But hopefully summer will be 85 and sunny every day here!

  • personal

    my allergy boy

    So, for those of you who follow me on FB and know me in real life, you know that Timmy was diagnosed about 3 weeks ago with some pretty major food allergies. Soy, peanuts, all legumes, tree nuts & sesame. It all started after an unfortunate incident with a bottle of Ensure where I almost killed Timmy. Total allergic reaction replete with vomiting, hives, red itchy eyes, running like a faucet nose, wheezing and coughing. Good times.

    I took him to an allergist where he had a skin/scratch test which turned up really positive for soy, peanuts, legumes and sesame. A blood test later on showed the same things. Upon getting the blood test results, the doctor told me to take ALL soy out of his diet including soy lecithin and soy oil, as well as all products made in factories that produce peanut foods, all legumes, and all sesame/sesame oil products. For 3 months. Regardless of the fact that he ate soy sauce at least 2x a week, chocolate (with soy lecithin) all the time, bagels with definite sesame cross contamination, green beans, and most of his snacks were made in peanut facilities. With no reactions ever. Until the Ensure with ‘concentrated soy protein’. I was seriously more worried that he would die of starvation before anaphalaxis. I got an epi pen and benadryl and the doctor scared the crap out of me. I started watching Timmy like a hawk after every single piece of food went in his mouth. Even all of the foods he’s always eaten without problems. Spent some time (a lot of time) crying in supermarkets and at home, trying to figure out how we were going to live like this for 3 months and probably longer. I called all of our favorite restaurants and deli’s asking about ingredients used, read a thousand labels and online articles. And just got more and more convinced that this diagnosis made no sense. He ate soy (the boy will drink the soy sauce out of the dipping bowl unless i stop him). He ate cross contaminated products. He was fine!!!

    We went to Florida where all we do is eat out and toward the end of the vacation I was just getting so annoyed by the whole thing because he WAS eating all that food up to the day of the diagnosis. So with epipen and benadryl in hand and the hospital down the block, we had pizza made with soy oil (at a restaurant we’ve eaten at many times before) and french fries fried in vegetable oil (which may or may not contain soy oil). And you know what? He was FINE. Not a symptom. Not a sniffle. Not an itch. And then he had sushi & steak teriaki with soy sauce when we were back home in NY. Again, fine. I was so happy but so confused/annoyed/needing a second opinion.

    So, yesterday we went to Mt. Sinai Hospital Dept of Pediatric Allergies in NYC to see Dr. Kim for a second opinion. And I’m so glad we did. He still came up positive on her scratch tests for soy, peanuts, sesame and birch trees (he gets that one from me!). But, the big difference was that Dr. Kim said that Timmy CAN still eat all of the things that have soy, soy lecithin, soy oil, and cross contaminated products that he has been eating for at least 4 years! Obviously, he has to be careful not to have real soy (unprocessed soy or soy protien/concentrated) foods, not concentrated sesame foods, and no peanut foods at all. Totally doable and so much more of an appropriate response from this doctor. So we’ll keep the epipen and benadryl on hand for emergencies, but Timmy can eat what he likes! Which is the best news of all!!

    Going back for testing again in a year to see if he outgrows anything which is a definitely possibility.

    A big thank you to anyone who messaged me, emailed or called. Hugged or texted. Chatted or calmed. Your support and advice was SO helpful. Just to know that others had the same experience with the first doctor with him being crazy conservative and sought their own second opinions. To hear of other food allergy stories and that their kids are OK and doing great. You all saved me!

  • personal

    easter

    Spent part of the day (after sleeping until 12pm cause I was up until 3am the night before, and 4am the night before that) yesterday at my in-laws for Easter. The weather seemed to turn at last (yeah, that was totally thanks to me and the weather I brought back from Florida. So you’re welcome.) and the boys got some outside time with their little cousins.

    I think Timmy forgot how to smile for pictures without looking like he’s going to bite. I really, really dislike Patrick’s flat brimmed hats. A lot. I think James had some fun with the boys. And this little one did a lot of sleeping. He’s getting so big! Timmy and I are off to NYC today to get a second opinion on his food allergies. The full story later this week. Hope you all had a great Easter!

  • children & families,  communions

    the calo communion {portraits}

    Met this beautiful girl all dressed up for her upcoming communion over at St. Joseph’s Church for some pre-communion portraits. She was sweet, gorgeous and a little shy. But I think the pictures do all the talking just fine!

    Finally a little green grass and pretty forsythia. She was walking away, so I took the moment to grab a shot of the back of her dress. And then she turned around and her mom and I both gasped (literally gasped!) at how gorgeous she looked right there. So glad I was taking that shot…Looks like she’s in an English Garden or something here. Love these, too! Thanks for sticking it out in the cool temperatures! See you at the party after the real communion!!