The Sinus Infection Challenge

I mentioned a few blog posts back that I was on a really wacky diet to help pin-point the cause of my chronic sinus infections. Remember that one? Well, thought I'd finally tell the whole story here... And if you could care less, scroll down for some cute photos of Carter playing with his Thomas trains.

I'll start with the summary: the doctors have NO IDEA why I get chronic sinus infections.

Now the how-I-got-to-that-realization...

1.) After being on antibiotics pretty much every month between September and March (i.e., the cold months) for the last 2 years, I decided to complain to my doctor. And the only reason I complained was because the antibiotics were interfering with my wine drinking at Book Club (which is monthly). So yes, I'm very selfish. Oh, and every time I got a sinus infection, I shared it with Matt and/or Carter, so at any given time, one of us was sick. Guess I'm not TOO selfish then, eh? Spreading the love!

2.) Doc C sent me to see an ENT. We did scans of my head to see if I had anything wrong "structurally," and he put me on a super-powerful antibiotic for 30 days to [hopefully] kick out any remaining bugs. Results of the scan: nothing wrong. Results of the antibiotic: nothing - even got another sinus infection in the middle of the 30 days.

3.) Doc C then sent me to see an allergist (Doc K). We did a full-panel skin test (where they prick you with 90 known allergens - foods, plants, animals, etc. to see what you react too). We did some blood work to see if my immune system is compromised. We did some breathing tests to see if I'm asthmatic. Results of the skin test: nothing (I'm allergic to Japanese Cockroach - just like the other 99.99999% of the world and milk and eggs, which I already knew). Results of the blood work: nothing. Results of the breathing tests: nothing.

4.) Doc K then made the leap that since I had "hits" for the milk and eggs, I MUST be allergic to several other foods and THOSE foods are causing the chronic sinus infections. Excuse me?! So he put me on the world's worst diet for three weeks, which eliminated ALL known allergens (dairy, grains, sugars, citrus, nuts, alcohol, and pretty much everything else that tastes good). THREE WEEKS OF THIS! But I did it. I ate beans, potatoes, some vegetables, and some fruit for three weeks. I lost like 10 pounds (don't worry, I've gained it all back...).

5.) So I went back to the allergist to discuss the results of the diet and determine the next course of action. Basically I had no reactions to anything I ate, I was feeling fine (i.e., no sinus infection - but it IS warmer here), and I was ready to eat "normal" food again.

After being p*ssed off for having to eat next to nothing for three weeks, I was hoping this doctor could shed some light on my "condition." What's the first thing he says after the three weeks of H*ll?

"So, why did you decided to come see us?" EXCUSE ME?! IT WAS A FOLLOW-UP VISIT!!! I meekly told him so and maintained my cool.

Holding onto my bloodwork results, he then says, "Looks like we did some bloodwork, wonder why?" EXCUSE ME?!?! MAYBE BECAUSE I LOVE GETTING PRICKED WITH NEEDLES!?!? NOT!!!

I couldn't speak. I just sat there.

He flipped on the computer and proceeded to READ MY CHART TO ME OUT LOUD FOR 20 MINUTES! I was about *this* close to losing my cool.

This quack then explains that my immune system is fine. He flipped through the diet and said it was fine (although he had no idea or memory of telling me to DO the diet...). He then informs me that it MUST be another food causing these "sinus infections" as I called them (using air quotes).

OH MY LORD! I ALMOST WALKED OUT!!! Does he think I've made up my own misery?! Did I not really know what a sinus infection is/was?! I wanted to stab him (except I'm a pacifist and besides, I didn't have anything to stab with...).

I tuned him out while he quacked on, but he kept reminding me that it MUST be because of a food. We just had to "find out which one." So he put me on "challenge diets" for 8 weeks. For 8 weeks I was to basically over-indulge in a single food, one per week (milk, soy, wheat, etc.) and record how I felt. Thanks but no thanks.

When I asked WHY I should do this and explained that I was slightly puzzled how a food was causing my sinus infections, he proceeded to treat me like an idiot and slowly explain that the food or foods was/were aggravating my sinuses and prolonging the infections. I'd never be able to make them go away completely, but I might have ONE LESS per cold season if I eliminated the food (i.e., eggs) for the entire cold-weather season.

*eyeroll

So the gist of my saga - I'm blaming my toddler that is in daycare with zillions of other snot-nosed toddlers. He's building up his immunities by bringing home every ounce of crud that he is exposed to. Carter gets over it in 3 hours, I get over it in 3 weeks. Matt, he's just the innocent by-stander that is gonna get the crud too - most likely from me.

My pals tell me that when Carter is 6, 7, or 8, it will get better. Until then, I'll just suck it up. (And I'll take 1,000 mg of vitamin C twice a day and do sinus rinses/sprays when I need.)

And finally, the moral of my story: Allergists are complete and total quacks, especially Doc K. I'm canceling my second follow-up appointment and I'm NOT doing any stupid challenge diets. So there. Plbbbt. And it's not like he'd even remember me, why I was put on those diets, or whatever.

So let me end this post with some cute photos of Carter playing with his trains. He spends the entire time saying "Choo choo!" and it's absolutely adorable:
He's also just like his mom and sticks out his tongue when he's really, really concentrating:
Thanks for reading my rant. Now I have a doctor's appointment to cancel...

Stay healthy!
~kerrie

Off to the Races

With the Kentucky Derby coming up (this Saturday!), thought I'd get a post in about our own little jockey. Behold, Carter the Great riding on the super-fast, pure-bred, African-raised, "GIRAFFE EXPRESS"!!! (...thanks Grandma C!):
Such concentration required in a high-stakes race such as this(!):
Uh oh, traffic ahead, must lean a little to the right:
And it's a photo finish! Carter the Great for the WIN!
Good luck to all of the horses, jockeys, and bettors this weekend! And let's hope there's a Triple Crown this year!
~kerrie

Them's Good People, Those Oklahomans

(yes, I'm playing a little catch up with the blog tonight... this is my last post for the evening, but be sure to catch the other thirty-six I just posted...)

Our mostest favoritest people in the whole state of Oklahoma came to visit us last weekend and if you can believe it, I completely forgot to get out the camera! D'oh. Well, luckily we'll be back through OK this summer, so I'll take extra shots to make up for it. (And that link takes you back to a post from last summer when we visited them at their house.)

It was really, really great to see Renae and Chris and catch up (and eat New Mexican food! Yes, I broke my diet...). They did a whirlwind trip through the Land of Enchantment and then went back to OK to their real lives. While they were here Renae and I got to chat about everything and anything and Matt and Chris did whatever guys do...

So happy that Renae is all healed from her horrendous car wreck (not linking to my "best wishes" post because I don't want to think about the horror of it...). Chris is doing great too and I think collectively they've lost more weight that a 1-ton truck! They look AMAZING!

I know they made it back safely, but let me say it again, drive safe and be careful! They know how much we love them and they know we don't ever, ever, ever want to hear about car wrecks or injuries! Got it! Now thanks for stopping by and take care of yourselves and we already miss you! :)

Ok, let me move on...

After Chris and Renae left our place, we headed out to the mall for a little shopping. I was shopping for some school clothes for Carter, so Matt took him over to the little play area by the food court so I could take my time. He didn't really want to "ride" any of the machines (and we didn't have any quarters, so tough luck kid!), all he wanted to do was climb up, climb down.

Tried like heck to get at least one photo of him sitting at the wheel, but no such luck. This (below) is what I was able to capture:

There was also a couple cars, an ice cream wagon (which I think is where he's learned the phrase "cream," as in "ice cream"...), and a rocket ship. All he really cared about was the train. Good taste kid, already showing some love for engineering! Keep making that mama proud!
~kerrie

He's With the Band

I'd posted a few pictures of Carter's new band set back around Valentine's Day... Well, without a doubt, he's into the music! Found these few photos (and a video) today while cleaning up my work computer, so I thought I'd write up a quick post.

Here's The Dude...He's With the Band:
And the rockin' shirt and sweet plaid pants are courtesy of my pal Amelia (thanks!):
And a short little video that Matt took (7 seconds; and sorry, it's crooked, I don't know how to fix that...) of Carter banging away on the drum like Animal (if for some reason you've been under a rock for the past 30 years and don't know who Animal is from the Muppets, link takes you to Wikipedia...):





Rock on, Dude!
~kerrie

Furniture Relocation Specialist

I'm sitting at home today with a heinous head cold (long story short, I've had about 3 zillion sinus infections in the last year and cannot seem to get a good diagnosis as to WHY I keep keeping them....) - anyway, since I'm on some gnarly head meds, I thought I'd do a little catching up on the blog. Also figured that this was NOT a good time to make engineering decisions or correspond with my clients...

So, hope you have fun catching up with me!

This first post is about Carter's knack for relocating the furniture. Apparently wherever we seem to put the furniture is WRONG and MUST be corrected immediately! A few shots of Carter relocating his snack table before school:
Oh well, we don't mind him relocating the furniture as long as he puts it back. Oh wait...

Also wanted to share a short little video of Carter's second favorite obsession - dancing. They have music time every day at school and the kids "sing" and "dance" with the teachers. Well, while poking around on the internet the other day, I came across the "Gummibar" song (that's with an umlaut over the a) on youtube (link takes you to this wonderful, wonderful song...). Anyway, as SOON as I played the video, Carter went nuts! Dancing, spinning, clapping, and just having a blast. Tried to catch it on camera, but didn't quite come out as hilarious as it really was...

If you're so inclined, here's the 12-second video of Carter jammin:




And a photo of that uber-enjoyment:


The kid's a nut, I tell ya! But we still love him!
~kerrie

Keys Please...

Well, well, well....somebody got himself a new car! Introducing Carter's new ride - the Cozy Coupe:
Technically it's "hybrid" - either self- or parent-powered:

Dent resistant panels - in fun bright red! With snazzy yellow trim!

Fully functional horn (here's a test shot):
Although it's a "coupe," there's ALWAYS room for Mr. Bunny:
Driving is indeed thrilling - see?
And all this for the low cost of $49.99!

Plenty more photos to come, as this is indeed a "favorite" toy for Carter. When he came downstairs and saw it in the kitchen on Tuesday, it was just like Christmas morning!

Drive safely!
~kerrie

All About the Toys

For my next exciting post, I'll show you a few of Carter's favorite toys. Starting with an old REALLY noisy keyboard that Matt found out in the shed. Carter loves to peck and plink on the keys and make as much racket as possible:
Another favorite toy is his pull-along telephone (from Jacque - THANKS!). He'll tote that thing around and around the house until he's completely worn out. Lucky for us, we have one of those houses that can double as a race track and he can run in circles (through the livingrooms and the kitchen) over and over again!

Here's a shot of his favorite phone:
And an action shot:
And in real time, that racket sounds like this - 16 seconds of fun (and sorry for the shakiness - sort of hard to keep up and capture it on video at the same time):




Boy, do we know how to have fun around here or what?!
~kerrie

The Dancing King

This is a VERY, VERY random post that ends with a funny little video! So keep reading!

We'll start with Carter's first popsicle (and to stay in the ranks of "good parenting," it was made with 100% fruit juice and was sugar free...really, it was!).

First assessment, AWESOME:
First taste, AWESOME:First notice that it drips sticky juice, AWESOME:
First taste of the stick, AWESOME:
First realization that it's really cold in his hands, NOT SO AWESOME:
And actually, he pretty much ate the whole thing... And we've tried again with other flavors and now that he's got the hang of it, he's a big fan!

So let's move on to topic number 2 - gardening...

We bought Carter some mini gardening tools to play with in the backyard (so he won't steal Daddy's tools...). We've found that pretty much ANYTHING that can be scooted along the floor like a broom is fantastic. These garden tools pretty much qualify for fantastic! See:There are three of them (a shovel, a rake, and a hoe) and he constantly tries to carry around all three at once:
And then he'll prop them all up in the corner all nice and neat. It's actually pretty endearing that he tries to "clean up" and keep Mommy from stepping on them barefoot (OUCH!):

And my final completely random topic for this post is dancing. You see, Carter LOVES music. He'll dance around pretty much EVERY time he hears a song, a toy makes noise, or when Matt and I sing silly songs to him. First he'll swing his arms around from side-to-side, then he'll clap his hands. Then he'll spin around in a little pirouette, and then he'll bend up and down at the knees (which is REALLY cute!!!).

Well, we downloaded some horrendous kids tunes to play in the living room for him. Needless to say, he's a fan and will do his goofy dance pretty much every time!

I wasn't able to capture the entire dance "routine" to embarrass him, but I caught this short clip (~15 seconds) of the arms a-swingin' (and ignore the "trance" at the beginning - I was clicking around on the TV and since we don't typically watch the tube, he pretty much zones right in on the screen any time it is lit up...). Here goes:



As soon as I get the camera batteries charged back up, I'll get some videos of the entire routine. Adorable, I say!
~kerrie

Fish Fry

While in Portland, we picked up a set of tiny pots and pans at Ikea for Carter to play with in the kitchen (figured it was better than him playing with my All-clad gear...). Well, he chose the skillet to bang around before school on Friday, so I snapped a few photos of him in his "Catch of the Day" outfit:
Pretty happy boy we have here, eh?
Happy fish frying!
~kerrie

Best Chinese Food EVER!

Last weekend we had dinner with some of our very best pals, Gundar and Myja and their son, Noah. The food was perhaps the BEST Chinese food I have ever eaten in my life!

They made eggrolls from scratch (and I ate three...):
In the upper corner you can see the Green Bean & Chestnut Salad (and for the record, "chestnuts in water" are a completely different product than "water chestnuts"...).

They made Broccoli Beef with awesome Bean Thread Noodles (which are totally awesome when you drop them in a bit of hot oil - they expand to about 5x their original size...always wondered how they cooked those and now I know!):Here's a shot of Noah anxiously awaiting some food:
After pigging out, Carter played with a balloon he found in Noah's stash (and by "play," I mean "eat"...):
Myja scooped him up and he managed to sit in her lap for all of about 3 seconds...
And that was just before Carter tried to get in on the game of catch (with this really funky green, hairy ball...):Noah was ALL ABOUT having his photo taken in the middle of the action - so here's what I got: And another action shot as Myja had to reach for the sky to grab that throw:
Not to be outdone, Carter was showing off his batting skills with Noah's big blue plastic bat. Surprised that he was able to leave it behind...we were fully expecting to have to bring it back the next day because he was having so much fun with it!
All in all, it was the PERFECT dinner date with friends! Hopefully as Carter grows up, we'll be able to entertain at our house and have just as much fun! Thanks again to Gundar, Myja, and Noah for a great meal and great fun!
~kerrie