Show-and-Tell

Elizabeth had Show-and-Tell at preschool today. She was so excited to go through all of the bins in her room to decide what item she wanted to bring and talk about. After narrowing it down to a couple of things, she decided on this car. When I asked her why she wanted to bring the car she said, "It will make all of the kids smile because look, He is smiling at them!" When I asked her what she was going to tell all of the kids, she said, "It is a car, it is pink, and my Uncle Bill gave it to me!"

I am so happy that Elizabeth is having these fun experiences. It makes my heart so happy to watch her learn and grow!

Harvest Festival at Thanksgiving Point

This week, I took Elizabeth and Zachary to the Harvest Festival at Thanksgiving Point. As we arrived, we noticed that they were having the giant pumpkin growers weigh-off. Elizabeth was amazed by the size of all the pumpkins. Some were three or four times bigger than her.

After looking at all of the pumpkins, we headed over to the children's craft area so that Elizabeth could participate in the fun activities. She got to throw darts to pop a balloon. She was so excited to find a yummy treat inside.


Next, she got to make a scarecrow hand using candy corns and popcorn. I don't know if she had more fun making it...or eating it!


At the next station, Elizabeth got to create a scarecrow mask. She colored, glued and used stickers to create her masterpiece.


Elizabeth was so excited when she discovered that there was a bounce-house. She jumped her little heart out and did a great job of watching out for all of the other kids that were jumping.


Zachary was such a little trooper throughout the entire time we were at the event. He sat in his stroller, looking at everything, and smiling. He is such an easy-going, happy, little guy!


As we walked around, we came across a Farmer's Market that was being held in Water Tower Plaza. They had all sorts of vendors, selling all kinds of things, including fruit. Elizabeth picked out a couple of apples for us to have as a snack.


She also found pears and just had to get some for Papa.


We found a grassy spot and settled down to eat our snack. We watched all of the people walk around and talked about all of the fun things that we had been able to do.


After our snack, we went on a wagon ride. This was Zachary's very first trip on the wagon...and he seemed to really like it. He just kept turning his head to look at everything. He smiled the entire ride!


The look on Zachary's face in this picture is priceless. I love how it seems like he is looking at me and saying, "If you take one more picture of me, I'm going to punch you in the nose!"


Before we could leave, Elizabeth HAD to have a pony ride. She is such a "traditions" girl and would not think that our trip to Thanksgiving Point was complete without a ride on the ponies.

Family Night On The Farm-Autumn

Tonight Elizabeth and I headed to Thanksgiving Point for a fun night together. Every Monday night, the Farm Country section of Thanksgiving Point hosts an event called Family Night on the Farm. Each week they focus on a new theme. I love that it is fun and educational...it doesn't get any better than that!

This week we learned about Autumn. We got to go on a scavenger hunt around the entire farm. All the clues for the scavenger hunt taught us about leaves and the changes that occur during Autumn. Elizabeth had such a fun time running all over the farm looking for clues.


Since it was the evening, the temperatures were cooler and all of the animals were awake and active. We got to see cows, goats, alpacas, llamas, sheep, and little baby chicks!


Elizabeth loved all of the animal statues. She thought that it was so cool that she could walk right up to them and get her picture taken.


Once we were done collecting all of the clues, we turned in our scavenger hunt paperwork and got a yummy treat. Additionally, Elizabeth got to make this fun fall frame.


Just before we were going to leave, Elizabeth got to go on a couple of pony rides. She was so excited that she got to ride on the tiniest pony!


I absolutely adore this girl. I love spending time doing fun things together. She is such a character and enjoys all of the little things. I am so blessed to have her as my daughter.

An Afternoon at the Park

Elizabeth has been asking to go on some swings for the past couple of days...so today I surprised her with a trip to our local park. Since Zachary was born, I don't get as many opportunities to do things with just her, so I left Zachary at home with Matt and spent some special one-on-one time with my little girl.

We had a blast. We started out at the swings...


and then headed to the slides...


Elizabeth just ran from one end of the playground to the other. She was in heaven. She climbed...and jumped...and twirled..and climbed some more.


After playing for about an hour, we headed home for Popsicles. I hope that Elizabeth had fun playing with me in the park...I know that I enjoyed it!

Not Again!

Today, Zachary and I headed back to the pediatrician's office because Zachary still looks like this...


Even though I have been on a milk-free diet for ten days, my poor little guy still has rashes on his scalp, face, and torso. Since he is not getting dramatically better, I decided I wanted Dr. Broadbent to take a look.


In addition to looking at his skin, Dr. Broadbent checked Zachary's weight...a whopping 15 pounds 12.5 ounces. What a little chub! Also, Zachary has been sneezing and has sounded "stuffy" since yesterday, so Dr. Broadbent checked into that to look for signs of a ear or sinus infection. For now Zachary is just congested. I am so glad that it is not more serious. For being sick and covered with rashes, Zachary sure is one happy little guy. He is such a good baby!


After examining Zachary's skin, Dr. Broadbent isn't convinced that Zachary's rashes are due to a food allergy. Instead, he feels that it could be a severe case of Seborrhoeic Dermatitis (common name: Cradle Cap). Cradle Cap is easily treated and is something that Zachary should outgrow. In order to lessen the symptoms, Dr. Broadbent gave me a few suggestions to try.

First, we need to bathe Zachary no more than twice a week.
Second, we need to use 1% Hydrocortisone twice a day on the affected areas.
Third, we need to use Eucerin Creme on Zachary as often as necessary to prevent itching.

In addition to the above suggestions, Dr. Broadbent prescribed Fluconazole which is used to treat fungal infections. Dr. Broadbent mentioned that there is a yeast-based infection that looks similar to Seborrhoeic Dermatitis. This medicine will treat the yeast-based infection...should that be what Zachary has. We are suppose to give Zachary this medicine for the next ten days to see if it makes a difference.

Lastly, Dr. Broadbent ordered a blood test for Zachary so that they can test for food allergies. He is testing for Milk, Soy, Eggs, and Nuts...which make-up over 90% of all food allergies. I really like how aggressive Dr. Broadbent is with my concerns. I am so glad that there are additional suggestions to try and additional tests that can be done.

On the way home from our appointment, I stopped at the new Intermountain Medical Center to have Zachary's blood drawn. I hated the idea of it and really wished that I could have endured the needle prick instead of him. Zachary was so happy and was smiling at everyone he came in contact with. Even the nurses mentioned how hard it was going to be to prick him with that huge grin on his face. I was so nervous to hold him down and really wished there was another way...but the nurses did great and got exactly what they needed with only one prick. Although there were some tears...it was nothing that a binkie and some lovies from mommy couldn't fix. I am so proud of my little man. He did great!


Hopefully, one of the Dr. Broadbent's suggestions...or a combination of all of them...will finally cure Zachary of all of these nasty rashes. If not...my next appointment will be with a pediatric dermatologist.

Getting Big

My little Zachary is getting bigger and bigger. He is growing so fast and getting so chunky. I absolutely love his chubby cheeks...but my favorite is the little dimples at the base of his fingers.

We had the opportunity to have Zachary weighed today and he came in at a whopping 15 pounds 7.5 ounces. What a little chunk!

My Little Munchkins and Me!

I am the luckiest mommy in the world. I love my little munchkins!

"It Tastes Like Chicken!"

We found V8 Fusion at Costco, and...well, Elizabeth is in love. The entire time she was drinking it, she was moaning and saying, "This is good!". As soon as she was done with her entire glass, she turned to me and said, "I love this juice. It tastes like chicken!".

What a crazy girl!

"Whoa!"

This afternoon, as I undressed Zachary so I could change his diaper, I noticed a red rash all over his arms, legs, back and torso. Zachary has been known to get rashes, but this was a rash that I had never seen before. This one looked angry and painful. It was made up of dark red, raised dots. As soon as his torso was undressed, Zachary reached up and started rubbing his hands around on his tummy...as if he was trying to scratch it. I immediately called his pediatrician to see if I could talk to the doctor, or a nurse, about what I could do to treat this rash.

The pediatrician's assistant mentioned that it would be best to see the rash so that they would be able to try and identify what was causing it. I headed right in so that they could take a look. Dr. Broadbent was not available so we met with one of his associates, Dr. Sandvig. As she walked in the exam room and glanced at Zachary, her eyes bulged out of her head and she exclaimed "Whoa!"

After a lengthy discussion, and an examination, Dr. Sandvig thinks that my little Zachary may be allergic to milk. She says that his rash is typical of a food allergy. I just recently started to drink a glass of milk in the morning and in the evening, as a way of increasing my calcium intake. Needless to say, I will not be doing that anymore!

Dr. Sandvig has placed me on a strict milk-free diet. I was given a list of ingredients to avoid and must now read each and every label on everything that I plan to eat. I was told to follow the milk-free diet for the next two weeks; if Zachary improves then I will need to continue this diet for the entire time I nurse. However, if he does not improve, the doctor would like to see him again so we can reassess the situation.

I hope we can get this figured out once and for all so that my little man doesn't have to endure anymore of these nasty rashes!

While We Had The Chance...

Since Elizabeth looked adorable, and she was agreeable, Matt took some photographs of her before she headed off to her first day of preschool. I cannot get over how grown-up she looks in each of these portraits. Where did my little Elizabeth go?


Matt did an amazing job. I am so happy with how these turned out!