Snaggle Tooth

This little bottom tooth has taken a long time to come out. Harding has had 4 loose teeth for months, and for the past week, this one has been hanging on by a thread. I finally helped Harding yank it out last night and after he recovered from the slight bleeding, he was really proud.

My grandmother Burney gave Harding this tooth fairy doll last Christmas. I love how it looks like him! Harding was thrilled to be able to finally put it to use. He found a dollar in place of the tooth this morning and announced to Trip that he was going to save the money from all his teeth and use it to buy a factory in a couple years.

Craggy Gardens

Trip was eager to go on an adventure outside today, so we packed a picnic lunch and drove the Blue Ridge Parkway to Craggy Gardens for a hike. Trip's idea paid off--we were rewarded with beautiful skies, panoramic mountain views, and happy children. God I love living in the mountains!

whirlwind Atlanta weekend cont'd...

As the tour bus left downtown Atlanta in rush hour traffic to go back to Asheville that Friday, Harding and I caught a cab to my friend Melanie's house in East Atlanta Village for a relaxing evening. We had a delicious dinner, I got to snuggle sweet baby Abram and visit with Melanie and Jeremy, and Harding and 2-year-old Henry played together happily. It was a perfect evening, the kind that Melanie and I wish we could do on a regular basis!

Harding and Henry

Trip and Shelby picked us up that evening and we spent the night and next morning at his grandparents' house in Decatur catching up. I wish I had taken pictures at Gene and Betty's, but it didn't occur to me since I was so worn out from our busy day.

On Saturday we headed to Zoo Atlanta for my niece Riley's birthday. Harding said, "I sure am seeing a lot of animals this weekend!"

After the Zoo, we went to Chris and Grant's house for Riley's birthday party. At this time, Shelby had another vomiting spell, so as soon as the party was ending, we headed home to Asheville. We got home around 11 on Saturday night and it was really nice sleeping in our own bed. Except for the vomiting, this was a lovely weekend, even if it was a whirlwind trip.

field trip to Atlanta

Harding was able to accompany me on the 7th grade class field trip to Atlanta back in March. I loved having him all to myself as we went through the Georgia Aquarium and the World of Coke together. It was also really fun to go back to my college city as a tourist (and to watch some of my students experience a big city for the first time). Harding's favorite part of the day was the live dolphin show. He decided then that he wants to work with dolphins when he grows up. I'm fine with this, because his previous career aspirations involved delivering people their burgers and shakes on roller skates at Sonic.

Creepy Coca Cola Bear

I couldn't resist buying Harding the dolphin stuffed animal in the gift shop. Then we stumbled across this dolphin outside the aquarium. I love this photo...go Falcons!

Vomiting spells

For the past few months, Shelby has been having regular vomiting spells that occur every 7-10 days. At first we chalked it up to her constant mouthing of toys and figured she was just catching every stomach bug in sight. But then it kept happening. At the beginning of April, I was sure her shunt was slowly failing (vomiting and lethargy are the main signs of a shunt malfunction). But we had a scheduled MRI and check-up with Dr. Grant at Duke over spring break and he said everything looked fine. This was a huge relief...but then the vomiting has occurred four times since Spring Break and we are stumped. Shelby's eating has advanced and she is tolerating larger bites and more textures of food, but I wonder if she is chewing thoroughly enough. Could her stomach be upset from that? Our pediatrician thought Shelby might have reflux and prescribed Prevacid. The neurologist thinks Shelby might be experiencing migraines (especially considering that Trip gets them). Another person suggested the glasses might be giving her headaches and someone else thought Shelby might be having a food allergy. We are now keeping a detailed log of everything she eats. Whatever is going on really stinks (she is missing school and feeling bad, we are losing sleep and missing work). We've got to figure this out!

Allergies

For the third year in a row, Harding has suffered from terrible seasonal allergies. His eyes are the most noticeable...they weep constantly and swell shut with crust every night. This quickly turns to conjunctivitis. But then there is the sneezing and sniffling to contend with as well. We decided a trip to the allergist was in order, and low and behold, my boy turned out to be allergic to EVERYTHING! Well almost everything....he is not allergic to sweet gum trees or roaches. I had no idea how badly Harding had probably been feeling, hello mommy guilt! Anyway, H was brave throughout the tests and did not cry once, but he made some pretty funny faces.

This is one minute after they did the general allergy test....the nurse came in and said, "whoah"! I didn't get a picture of what his back looked like after ten minutes, but there were large welts everywhere.

This is when the nurse came in to do some more specific testing using injections. We are still trying to figure out if Harding should go through the long process of regular allergy shots. He is now using flonase daily and some very strong antihistamine eye drops (in addition to zyrtec). This regimin is making a huge difference, but he is also finished with the bad part of allergy season. I just can't decide what to do....
Harding enjoyed all the attention he recieved during this process....he goes to a lot of Shelby's doctor appointments and I think he enjoyed the limelight. He kept showing everyone his back and arm for the rest of the weekend.

the good and the bad

Long time, no blog post....and I've missed this little blog. I'm hoping to get back into the swing of things with regular Kinnaird family updates this May. We have been extra busy around here, and not all of it has been the "life is good" kind of busy. Sometimes our situation of two parents working full-time and raising two kids (one with an absurd amount of medical and therapy appointments) can be overwhelming or exhausting (or both). I try to be pretty positive and have gotten good at taking one day at a time, but I am also human. I don't blog much when times are tough, because everything I write just sounds whiny to me. But in the meantime, I've missed documenting life. And I figure that anyone who takes the time to visit our little spot on the internet doesn't mind me being real and human and yes, a bit whiny about our day-to-day struggles. I'm going to spend the weekend catching up on happenings I've failed to document over the past couple months (there will be no rhyme or reason to the order of catch-up posts), but in the meantime....some things that are putting a smile on my face these days:

Like the fact that Shelby is once again allowing me to fix her hair....bows and pigtails make this mama incredibly happy!

Or Harding teaching his cousin Riley all about Spiderman. Did I mention that Riley (along with my sister and Grant and soon-to-be-born nephew Gardner) will be moving here in June? Happy happy!

We're starting to seriously think about what kind of house we will build out at our land in a couple years, and we're working with an architect who happens to be a friend. It is so exciting to dream and plan for the future.

And there is a light at the end of our busy tunnel, summer is just around the corner! We really need a vacation....