Three years already!

Marriage is great. I highly recommend it. My main goal in finding a husband was to find someone smarter than me. Not hard to do, as I have limited cerebral capacity. Convincing a smart person to marry me was the hard part. Luckily it worked out in my favor. My favorite thing about J-P is that he is a walking dictionary. Rarely is there a word that he doesn't know the meaning to or doesn't know how to spell. This invigorates me. I love to throw out random words to test him.

Anyway, happy anniversary J-P. Sorry we have to spend it apart... I'll be eating chocolate cream pie and thinking of you.

Down by the Bay

It rained last night. All night long. There were also massive amounts of thunder and lightening. Thanks to a booming bolt that hit our house last year, I now get anxiety when the electrical charges start flying through the air. I used to love it. You know it is close when the flash of light and jolt of noise are simultaneous. There's no counting to see how far away it is.


Whenever it rains in Phoenix it floods. I used to walk to parks in our neighborhood when we first moved here and laugh at the signs that said "no walking or swimming in standing water." "What water?", I thought as I drudged back home through the 110 degree weather with 0% humidity. I took some pictures of the flooded park at the end of our street on my walk with Max this morning. It was a nice, cool, 80 degrees at 6:30 a.m.

Desicions

Week one of dealing with Max's allergies is officially over. It's been a long one. Reading labels has never been so exhausting. After rejecting just about everything I made, Max survived the week on rice pasta with tomato sauce, fried potatoes, and rice bread with sunflower butter. I have been learning how to cook with unconventional things like xanthum gum and garbanzo flour. This is all so time consuming and my house is a mess. My only wish is that I lived closer to Whole Foods. Although their products aren't cheap (like they say Whole foods=Whole paycheck), so it is probably a good thing.

I have been distracting myself from the allergy woes by surfing craigslist for cool chairs with lots of potential that I can get reupholstered in the fabric of my choice. I found a great chair and ottoman yesterday and went to pick out some fabric to transform them. I checked out several fabrics but I can't decide! Which one do you like?

The results are in...

After our second visit to the allergist and a skin prick test (Max didn't even blink), it was determined that Max is allergic to: wheat, eggs, peanuts, walnuts, and dairy. The only thing on the test that he wasn't allergic to was soy. I could write a whole blog about why soy products scare me (I'll take corn over soy any day), so naturally I was discouraged by the results. The doctor said there is a chance the test could yield a false positive, and scratched his head about what I should do.

Doc: I hate to tell you to avoid these foods...especially if he isn't gaining weight.
Me: Huh? But isn't he allergic to them?
Doc: Yes, but...hmm...if you only see a reaction with milk...
Me: So, just avoid dairy?
Doc: Yes, and probably peanuts. Too bad, such a great source of protein. And probably eggs.
Me: So wheat is ok?
Doc: Well, uh, let's try avoiding wheat too...just in case. Then come back in a couple of months and we'll see how he's doing.

I still feel like I'm in the dark and haven't gotten any definitive answers. Max is an extremely picky eater, a would be fruitarian, and it was a huge challenge to get him to eat before the diagnosis. I've placed a request and am patiently waiting for several allergy books and cookbooks to be transferred to my local library. I'm trying to look for information online but am running into a lot of dead ends. If anyone has any advice, experience, or recipes send them my way!

Paper Problems

We are still in the process of moving furniture back, hence the hutch on hotpads... Max has been using it to store the "treasures" he finds around the house.

Max is obsessed with paper. He has probably eaten a whole forest in the past week, and might be responsible for an increase in global warming. He eats mail, magazines, newspaper, boxes, board books, and paper towels. I'm just hoping that paper has some magic nutrient that will help him grow. Yesterday (in lieu of food) he decided to eat some aveeno lotion. I thought it was funny until I read the fine print--"if swallowed contact poison control immediately." I panicked. Poison control was quite friendly as they informed us that it was no big deal. He might throw up, that's all. That's all? What's the point of the message to call poison control...to give me a heart attack?

I have been getting major cabin fever since Max has been banished to the house for bad behavior in stores. We both get tired of being cooped up (it's too hot to go outside and Max doesn't like the pool). He starts whining and hanging on my legs (see above photo). Yes, that's my big belly. I still have 3 months to go. Yikes!

Roommates Reunite

When I was in Washington in July I was able to get together with all of my roommates from my sophomore year at BYU. It was the first time we had all been together in years. I stole this photo off of my friend Ashley's blog. For some reason we can't get the pictures from our new camera to load onto our computer. Kind of puts a halt to my blogging efforts. So frustrating! Ashley and her husband live in Beijing. You can check out her blog at:

http://www.thesuitelifeofdanandash.blogspot.com/

Good News

I went in for a follow-up ultrasound today to assess the placenta situation, and my placenta previa is gone. Phew! What a relief. We got some more cute shots of sir-moves-a-lot, and they even broke out the 3-D wand and gave us another video. The baby did not like all of the prodding and kicked up a storm in protest. The technician kept saying, "wow, I felt that one...and that one..."

Other good news at chez scoville...

-We are finally home! It has been a crazy summer of vacations, family reunions, weddings, and more. Max slept the whole way home from CA last night, a true miracle.

-J-P has finally finished listening to Harry Potter on his iPOD and now I have my husband back.

-It's monsoon season in AZ, which means much cooler temps.

-Costco is selling nitrate-free hot dogs. Another miracle. I have been looking everywhere for them.

Oh, and I was tagged by Alicia...the drill is to use one word for each category.

Yourself: resourceful
Your partner: hot
Your hair: uncooperative
Your mother: congenial
Your father: gardener
Your favorite item: camera
Your dream last night: illegal
Your favorite drink: blood orange soda from TJ's (i had to cheat for this one)
Dream home: chateau
The room you are in: niche
Your fear: sharks
Where you want to be in 10 years: healthy
Who you hung out with last night: crickets
You're not: apathetic
One of your wish list items: this
The last thing you did: breathed
Your favorite weather: sunny
Your favorite book: Les Miserables
Last thing you ate: grapes
Your life: bliss
What are you thinking about right now: Max
Your car: outback
What is on your t.v: Foxnews
When is the last time you laughed: dinner

If you read this list and have the urge to create your own, consider yourself tagged!