TMI Tuesday: Oh, Nuts!

We have a, most of the time, happy little boy who is, mostly, health so there isn’t really anything that we can complain about there. So far, 2016 has been pretty good to us but there have also been many challenges this year and while we have gotten some answers there are other questions that remain. The biggest of which relates to our son’s possible allergies.

We learned rather quickly in the spring that Penicillin, for all the good that it can do, is not something that agrees with our son. The hives, rash, and bloating made us acutely aware of his allergy to this widely prescribed medication. It was one of the scariest few days of parenthood thus far with multiple trips to the emergency room and countless appointments with the pediatrician. Not knowing what was going on during those first couple of days is a feeling that I hope to never experience again.  

I guess the good and bad things about the situation is that we already had an allergist lined up for our son as there have been some minor reactions to peanut butter that we were hoping to get figured out. The appointments started in January or February but, because of the chaos that ensued since then, we are still in a state of flux. We simply don’t know if this is another allergen to add to his list.

The latest attempt brought us some hope as it was the final of three steps of testing. He had already passed the skin test and the blood work also came back negative. The final exam was to conduct a food challenge to see if anything happened while consuming peanut butter. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, our son wouldn’t eat more than the initial taste (three are required) and we are once again in limbo until the winter.

While nuts have been a part of our regular diet before this year, we haven’t had any in the house since winter and have consumed little outside of the house as well (never around our son). It is a change and sometimes a challenge, especially given the stock pile kept in the office kitchen, but it is completely manageable. Yes, we have to alter some things here and there but, beyond the aforementioned allergy and potential allergy, our son is a happy and growing boy. And, having survived last year, 2016 is pretty easy in comparison.

A Milestone I Wasn’t Sure Would Happen

Seemed apropos. 

This is a blog that I did not expect that I would reach especially in the equivalent number of days. It was my original intent to do so but there were more than a few moments along the way when it seemed nearly impossible to keep up the pace. But here I am, 700 days and 700 posts later. What started as something to keep me occupied during the long nights behind the front desk has morphed into a cathartic daily exercise that has allowed me to vent, reflect, record, and sometimes just play with words.  

This space has allowed me to keep track of my various interests and maintain a record of my experiences in a variety of different areas. Some of the posts have been simple recounts of trips that my wife and I have taken or events that I have attended while others contain opinions on topics with which I am certain not everyone will agree. And there is everything else along the varied spectrum.

It is a given, as mentioned above, that there are many posts that I have struggled to write for one reason or another. Sometimes I just didn’t feel like writing while other times I wanted to write but couldn’t think of how to say something. And because it has been a daily process, there are many instances (too many to count) when I have found myself repeating the same point time and again… along those lines, I am sure that this post is similar to those that I wrote for the other centenary milestones.

In the end, it is a means to get things out and maintain my writing despite the obvious depletion of the minimal skills that I once possessed. It is also a way to start conversations with those that I know read these posts… some regularly and others on occasion. In these regards it is an incredibly self-serving endeavor and I have never denied that fact. After all, this is a collection of my experiences, opinions, discoveries, and interests.

However, things have changed a lot since I started recording my life… while it is still a record of my experiences and a number of my opinions it is also about my son and what I want to make sure I share with him. There is nothing that can replace the connection of telling him in person but there will inevitably be things that are overlooked and I don’t want to end up like Michael Keaton. While there are some topics and things that I haven’t written about there is a pretty broad range of posts that can sum up a large part of my life. The words on the screen/page and the act of writing tells much of my story and I want my son to know me, the good and the unpleasant, the passionate and the combative, the structured and the creative, everything.

One Fast Month

It is hard to believe that a month has already passed since our son decided to surprise us. We had been planning for his anticipated arrival for many months but when he showed up we were taken off guard. Even if everything had gone according to plan I think we still would not have felt as if we were prepared. I guess that just comes with the territory.

Since that early February morning, things have been a little hectic to say the least. It has been both a challenge and a time of wonder watching him adapt to life outside of the womb. Each day there is something a little different. Sometimes it is a rather unpleasant surprise (hence the TMI Tuesday posts) while other times there are moments of awe when my son hears me come home from work and smiles.

The nights can sometimes be long (more so for my wife) and the days go by way too fast. I don’t know where the last month has gone. All the while we have done our best to adapt and get acquainted with the fact that our life is completely different and our priorities have changed significantly.

There have been moments when people have been tremendously helpful and there have been times when those people, contrary to their good intentions, have been quite the hindrance. All the while our son has be surprisingly understanding of all that is going on around him and, for the most part, has not unleashed a plethora of protesting cries. It is a steep learning curve which we sometimes struggle with but have, thus far, been able to keep up.

Now I find myself a lot left that I still have to learn, a stories that I look forward to sharing with my baby, and a schedule that still needs some tweaking. All of this tends to go out the window on a daily basis as our little boy wants nothing to do with schedules and plans. We are all trying to just take things as they come, coordinate the best we can, and see how each day and night plays out.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that I can’t look forward to the future so I am slowly forming my baby bucket list that began germinating not long after we found out that we were having a child. Some of the things are common events during development like hearing his first words, watching him crawl and walk for the first time, and enjoying the silence as he sleeps through the night. Other things are very specific like sharing our hobbies, our family history, and taking him to the places that we enjoy visiting.

This is just a quick overview of what I am jotting down here and there. Don’t be surprised if you read a post in the future about many of the things that I am looking forward to doing and sharing with him. But, for now, I am going to keep it simple and enjoy the wonders of the first month and these first memories that my wife and I have of our new life as a growing family.