Y’all know the drill. I’m linking up with Christina (Carolina Charm), Dari (The Good Life Blog), Natasha (Hello! Happiness) and April (A. Liz Adventures) for their weekly link up and sharing five things.
{~ONE~}
After JJ’s appointment at the hospital on Tuesday, I decided to take the kids to my favorite park and have a little lunch. Plus, they could have some time to run around and enjoy the playground. JJ is absolutely obsessed with slides. He hates the swings, but if he sees a slides it’s on and poppin’.
While we were there, I took the kids out on one of the piers to see the ducks and the geese. JJ is also obsessed with those as well. Anyways, I had a little bread and decided to give the kids some so that they could feed the birds. They loved it! JJ thought is was the greatest thing in the world the way the geese and ducks surrounded us on the pier. He cried a little bit when we got up to leave.
We’ll try to do this at least once a month. We have geese and ducks here year round. They don’t all fly further South for the winter. So, the ones that are still at the park will be in for a nice treat once a month! And I’ll get to experience the joy and looks of wonder on my kids’ faces over and over.
{~TWO~}
Well, we’re finally getting into the swing of fall and Halloween around these parts. Moo and I both made Halloween mugs. Can you tell which one is mine and which one is hers?
{~THREE~}
The results came back from JJ’s allergy test today. I got the call just as I was starting this post. Turns out he’s allergic to stuff I had no clue about. Stuff like latex. And just Tuesday while we were at the hospital the nurse asked if he had a latex allergy and I said no. I didn’t know because the results weren’t back then.
I decided to research latex allergies so that I could make sure that I keep him away from all the wrong things. Man, do y’all know how much stuff has latex in it? Toys, bath mats, toothbrushes, diapers, glue, rubber bands, remote controls and balloons to name a few. And looking back, I should have suspected he had an allergy to latex because he’s broken out in hives on several different occasions after handling a few of the things above.
Like once his hands were swollen up so bad after we had been playing with balloons all day. And he got a hold of a pair of latex gloves once and he dropped them so fast, you would have thought they had set his hand on fire. I just didn’t put two and two together. I have such mom guilt right now because I feel like I’ve given both my kids bad genes. He also has more food allergies, which means we’ll probably be shopping full-time at Trader Joes and Whole Foods now. Thus, our grocery bill is going to triple.
I’m really re-thinking whether not I want to still try for baby #3 the end of next year. I just don’t know if I can handle having another child with so many health issues and allergies. It’s super expensive and makes me an emotional wreck.
{~FOUR~}
I don’t know if y’all remember, but a while back there was a news story about young Black student who had been found murdered and rolled up in wrestling mats inside a school gym. Crazy right? Well, his death is not being ruled a homicide but an accident. Wait, there’s more. His second autopsy showed that he was actually killed from blunt force trauma. And to make matters worst during the first autopsy, his organs were removed and thrown away. Somebody then stuffed his body with newspaper!
There are also pictures of what he looked like when his body was found. All I can say is that if you’ve ever seen the pictures of Emmett Till, then imagine if he was one shade darker and had dreads. KJ’s death was no accident. It pisses me off that the police are content to let his murderer roam free and chalk this up to just another Black kid being found dead.
Also, not adding up are the pictures from the security cameras in the gym. There is footage showing KJ walking across the gym alone and then it magically just cuts to his being rolled up in the wrestling mats. Everybody wants to know what happens in between him having went to get his shoes from the other side of the gym and ending up stuck in the mat? There was also blood found the wall that was not his possibly that of his attacker, but of course, police there was no match in their system. I wonder if they cross checked with local hospitals? Please just keep his family in prayer that justice will be served. You can read more about the case here.
{~FIVE~}
I haven’t a clue what the kids are going to be for Halloween. Although, we’ll be doing our trick-or-treating earlier at some local stores because the Mr has work that night, I still want them to dress up in costumes. We’ll have our very own movie and gluten-free junk food night!
Don’t forget you can catch me on these other hot spots
P!nky
October 18, 2013 at 6:34 PMOh man, I'm sorry JJ has that allergy. Don't feel too bad, that's a hard allergy to figure out.
The mugs look so cute :)!
Thanks for your sweet comment today, have a great weekend.
Our Volunteer Family
October 19, 2013 at 10:59 AMThe coffee mugs are such a cute, fun idea!
Jenn
October 19, 2013 at 12:03 PMDon't be so hard on yourself. You got the testing done, and now you know. It sounds like you're taking all the right steps to make sure he isn't exposed to allergens again. My kids have decided they hate the swings too after ebing all about them for months. Seriously? Where did this come from?
Have a great weekend!
Pink and Fabulous
October 19, 2013 at 12:43 PMYour poor little one! That's a very intense allergy and one that you could have never known about. That's so hard on both of you. I love the mugs you all made! I made need to borrow that idea! That story about the murdered boy sickens me. My husband had talked with me about it and it's just horrific and so, so wrong.
Hope your weekend is great!
elise @ cheers yall
October 19, 2013 at 3:37 PMguess who's your 300th follower?! ME! woopwoop! thought that was pretty cool 😉
xx
elise
Elise @ Her Heart and Home
October 19, 2013 at 3:37 PMguess who's your 300th follower?! ME! woopwoop! thought that was pretty cool ;)xxelise
K. Elizabeth @ YUMMommy
October 20, 2013 at 12:26 AMPretty cool indeed! Thanks for being my 300th follower!!
K. Elizabeth @ YUMMommy
October 20, 2013 at 2:40 AMDefinitely give the DIY mugs a try! I'm glad that we now know the full extent of his allergies. It's overwhelming because my daughter also has allergies, but at least we can start to better manage them and avoid trips to the ER.
K. Elizabeth @ YUMMommy
October 20, 2013 at 2:44 AMIt's hard not to be hard on myself because between the Mr and I, I am the one who was always sick as a kid and I also have food allergies. I'm just overwhelmed at the moment, but I'm sure once things smooth out I'll feel better. And I have not clue where JJ's dislike for swings came from. I love them and so does his sister.
K. Elizabeth @ YUMMommy
October 20, 2013 at 2:53 AMMoo had a blast making them. We're making more Christmas too!
K. Elizabeth @ YUMMommy
October 20, 2013 at 2:54 AMYou're welcome! A latex allergy is a hard one to figure out. Just glad we finally know he has and what his other allergies are.
Brownie
October 20, 2013 at 10:47 AMHey love! Are there any indications that JJ will outgrow those allergies as he gets older? I know a lot of kids who had bad allergies early on and by the time they were in school the allergies had subsided a great deal. No matter what I will pray that is the case for your guys. As for Halloween…I'm making the kids costumes this year. hehehehe And I don't sew!?!?!
Caffeine & Commotion
October 20, 2013 at 10:47 AMHey love! Are there any indications that JJ will outgrow those allergies as he gets older? I know a lot of kids who had bad allergies early on and by the time they were in school the allergies had subsided a great deal. No matter what I will pray that is the case for your guys. As for Halloween…I'm making the kids costumes this year. hehehehe And I don't sew!?!?!
Mrs. Pancakes
October 21, 2013 at 1:43 PMallergies are just the worst thing ever….glad you know now though. and the park trip seems like the perfect way to spend an afternoon!! hope your weekend was great!
Wildali @ These are the times...
October 21, 2013 at 2:09 PMThe news about Kendrick Thompson are devastating! The SAD thing is how little publicity it receiving when it happened! We lived 8 hrs from the GA Border at the time and heard NOTHING about it until NOW! It is so sad! Thanks for stopping by my blog!
Kerri Waller
October 21, 2013 at 4:22 PMI've been wanting to do this 5 on Friday and I keep forgetting! So sorry that JJ has a latex allergy! I feel bad for him! As for your grocery bill… do you shop at farmer's markets for organics? That may (or may not) help your grocery bill! I love the mugs you and Moo made! They're so cute!
Unknown
October 21, 2013 at 4:22 PMI've been wanting to do this 5 on Friday and I keep forgetting! So sorry that JJ has a latex allergy! I feel bad for him! As for your grocery bill… do you shop at farmer's markets for organics? That may (or may not) help your grocery bill! I love the mugs you and Moo made! They're so cute!
K. Elizabeth @ YUMMommy
October 21, 2013 at 5:53 PMSadly, at this point it's not likely that he will outgrow any of them, definitely not the latex allergy. He's a year and a half from starting school and I'm just hoping that we can get him to at least know and memorize his food allergies by then because kids love to swap foods. In terms of the latex allergy I don't think that will be a problem because we'll make sure any of his school supplies made of rubber are replaced with a latex-free product. And Moo might be recycling her princess costume from last year because she says she wants to wear it again and it still fits. I'll definitely have to hope we find a costume that fits JJ or I'll be making his too.
K. Elizabeth @ YUMMommy
October 21, 2013 at 5:55 PMThat they are! My weekend was much better than my week. Learning about JJ's new allergies, we did sweep of the frig and the house to get rid of anything he couldn't have and that wasn't marked latex free.
K. Elizabeth @ YUMMommy
October 21, 2013 at 5:58 PMIt is very sad. I think any time a child is found murdered, it needs to get tons of publicity because so many predators are out here killing our children from infants to teenagers. It just doesn't sick well that somebody is trying to cover up something, but I guess if the person trying to keep what really happened under wraps has enough money or influence, his family may never know who his killer was. And that means we'll have another monster walking around free waiting to strike again!
K. Elizabeth @ YUMMommy
October 21, 2013 at 6:03 PMIf I didn't set reminders, I'd probably forget too. With everything we as adults have going on in our lives today, I'm surprised we remember our names half the time. LOL. We don't shop at the farmer's market regularly, but we will certainly be exploring that as an option. I'm also looking into going in on a few the community gardens here that I've heard about. It'll definitely give us more bang for our buck!
rebecca
November 19, 2013 at 10:00 PMI'm totally loving the mugs! They turned out great!!! Sorry to hear about the latex allergy. That has got to be rough. I never really thought about people having allergies to that
K. Elizabeth @ YUMMommy
November 19, 2013 at 10:09 PMIt's rough, but not as rough as him having random severe breakouts and swelling. Now, we know what to avoid to cut back on out trips to the ER. I do wonder how this will affect him when he gets older because there's latex in so much stuff that he's going to be exposed to when he starts school and even as an adult.