Blessings

Since the beginning of October, Avie has had recurrent ear infections. It seemed every time we went to the doctor (which was like every week) Avie had another ear infection. So about the fourth infection they decided to send her to an ear, nose and throat specialist, who then recommended to put tubes in Avie's ears. This was back in February, but today was the soonest they could get her in for the procedure.

It felt a bit overkill to go to the hospital for a five minute procedure, but I guess in case anything goes wrong, it's better to be in a hospital. Avie was super agitated because she couldn't have anything to eat or drink this morning, plus waiting around for a couple of hours is hard for an adult not to mention a one year old. Like everything else she's faced in her short life, she was a complete trooper. It's sad to me everything she's been through, but there are kids who go through much worse a things. I'm grateful there was a solution for the problem and that we were able to take advantage of it. God has carried us through this last fourteen months since Avie's been born despite my lack of faith and unwillingness to humble myself and surrender to his care. Maybe one of these days I'll learn what I'm meant to learn from my trials, and hopefully become a better mom in the process. I've felt so much love and support from friends around me, and if that's what has come from the craziness then I'm nothing but grateful for the experiences and difficulties we've had. Much love to everyone, thanks for your friendships!

Diagnosis

So today was the day that I had been both anticipating and dreading for the past month. Avie had her skin test today to determine if she has any food allergies. Depending on how many foods they're testing for, they mark little dots on the patient's back with a sharpie, and scratch the skin next to the dot with food being tested. It wasn't as bad as it sounds. Avie was tested for 56 foods, so her little back looked like a dot to dot. I wish my camera was taking better pictures, but this was all I could get.

It turns out Avie has allergies to peanuts, tree nuts, soy and milk. I'm a little overwhelmed with it, but so grateful that we have the means and technology to find out. Hopefully we can control her diet enough to bring her some relief. I'm relieved that her peanut allergy isn't severe enough that I have to carry an epi pen around.

So, in other Nelson news...well there's not much going on. We had a great Easter weekend, I wish I had pictures of the Easter egg hunt at the ball field. Rayce had so much fun. The 7 and 8 year olds were a little too aggressive for Danielle, but she was a good sport anyway.

We recently got a sandbox, well I should say Dan built one in the midst of the building frenzy going on over here. It's HUGE! The kids love it, and now the bottom floor of my house is like a beach, so awesome. It forces me to vacuum everyday, and to bathe the kids twice a day, but they're having fun. We didn't want to pay for the sand to fill it up so Dan rented a trailer and we drove out a way on bell and found some great desert sand!

I'm not sure if I can think of anything else I'd rather do on a Saturday, although there is something about manual labor that is greatly satisfying.

And here's a picture of Rayce and Avie that I posted because I love that Rayce is sharing his Popsicle with her...and showing her how to open her mouth to eat it!