Life of Landon Lately

With all the new baby stuff going on, his mom being for sick the last four and a half months and a baby sister on the way I thought I would update you on this cute little guy!

Aside from being so incredibly adorable (I could just eat him up) he is doing great! Everyday he does something that cracks me up. Whether telling our waiter to "Hey! Bring that back!" when they take our check with credit card or sitting in the cart at Home Depot and telling us to turn off the lights on the aisle with all the lighting fixtures, he constantly puts a smile on everyones face!

He has become a parrot. He says EVERYTHING you say, EVERYTHING! This also includes songs we listen to, any movie quote or us simply reacting poorly to a bad play while watching baseball. It is all I can do not to fall on the floor laughing half of the time but then he would just say whatever it was 5000 more times.

I don't think there is a word he can't say. He speaks in sentences and can just about have a conversation with you. He'll do favors for you, put the dogs in their crates or bring you something if it's within his reach.

He is very independent but is still very much a mama's boy and will cuddle on the couch with me for hours watching movies. He loves to say "I love you more!" when you tell him you love him and has so many kisses to give, even to Gabbie!

We recently started potty training. I am not going to say much because I don't want to jinx anything, but so far so good! A lot of work and effort... I don't think I have ever said "Do you want to go pee-pee in the potty?" so many times in the day, ever. But slowly but surely he is getting the hang of it. I will post on what worked, what didn't and everything in between once I feel we've given the boot to daytime diapers. Once he has mastered the big boy potty we will convert his crib into a toddler bed.

FPIES - I thought this food allergy would be the death of me for the longest time. The countless trips to the ER, staring at my lifeless baby while they would try and try again to get an IV in him. Those are days I never want to relive. For a long time I would read every food label religiously making sure there was no rice. Would have anxiety every time we would eat out because what if some rice got in his meal somehow. I haven't given him a bowl of rice just yet. But I have been more relaxed about the labels and have even given him small bites of food that has rice in it. There has been no reaction so I guess I just need to do a food challenge and see if he has outgrown it like the doctors said he would. 

I often miss his littleness but I swear everyday keeps getting better. I still can not get over how much I love him, what they say is true - A mothers love for her child is like no other.

He is my little sidekick!!

FPIES

While I was pregnant I spent many hours reading and researching all things baby. I felt pretty confident that whatever might come my way as a mom I would be able to navigate through the process and be some what knowledgeable on the situation. One thing I had never even heard of was FPIES (Food Protein Induced Enterocolitis Syndrome). 

On December 21st, 2012 I decided that I would start Landon on solids, and as many moms do, I started him on rice cereal. He loved it! I gave it to him that evening and he slept okay, I remember him being a little fussy but didn't think much of it (could be teething, tummy ache, ect.). The next morning I gave him rice cereal again, and again he loved it! He ate it all up (about four tablespoons) and was perfectly fine for a couple of hours. Shortly after nursing him he had projectile vomiting. He seemed to be taken back by what had just happened and a little cool but recovered within minutes as if nothing had happened. This happened again later on in the evening after nursing him but again, he recovered quickly and was back to being my happy smiley baby. The next morning after nursing he vomited again, and again recovered as if nothing had happened. I called our pediatrician and they said to back off the cereal and that it was probably just a random bug and to discuss at his six month well baby check. 

At his six month well baby check Landon was perfectly healthy and our pediatrician said to go ahead and try the rice cereal again. A couple days later on January 10th I mixed a few tablespoons of the cereal with breast milk. This time was different. Landon was not interested in the cereal what-so-ever, even gagging. He maybe had a total of two spoonfuls. This was around 6:00PM and by 8:15 Landon was vomiting. As this is happening my baby is not himself. He is very pale, extremely lethargic and only waking to vomit then later, dry heave bile. I called his pediatrician and described what was going on and he said to get him to the ER immediately. At this point my baby is lifeless. He is not coming to and can't even be agitated - only waking to dry heave and get up bile.

When we got to Children's Hospital we were rushed into a room and seen immediately. They gave him an anti-nausea medication which seemed to take forever to work. The doctors that saw Landon mentioned that it was probably a bug. I felt it had to be something more than "just a bug." As I was sitting there with my lifeless baby in my arms I started googling allergies to rice cereal and found a wealth of information on FPIES. All of the signs and symptoms describe exactly what Landon had. After mentioning FPIES to the Attending Doctor, I was shocked that they didn't seem to have much knowledge about it.

After hours in the Emergency Department and making sure Landon was able to nurse and keep his food in his belly we were able to go home. It will go down as one of the scariest nights in my life! We followed up with our pediatrician and although not officially diagnosed, we believe that Landon has FPIES. Next week we will see a specialist and although FPIES allergies do not show up in the test that allergist conduct, maybe we can get a better understanding of how to move forward and make sure Landon does not have another episode as he did the other night.

I have started a new page on my blog, "FPIES," and will post updates on Landon and our journey through what looks to be FPIES. In the meantime Landon is happy and healthy and back to his normal self. Hopefully we will never have to experience something like that again!