Busy Busy Busy

What a busy couple of weeks. Aubrie turned four last Thursday; where have the last four years gone? We went to Buffalo to celebrate with our friends and family. Aubrie had a Build-a-Bear party at the mall with most of her friends. Unfortunately Anna was sick and could not be there, but John did a great job filling in as one of the girls.

We then went to Grandma Lynda's for cake and ice cream. I made Aubrie a Princess Build-a-Bear cake, which took much longer than anticipated, but turned out beautiful, if I do say so myself.

Aubrie also got to celebrate at preschool on Tuesday since last week was vacation.

While Aubrie was enjoying the week, Tyler was having a much harder time of it. He turned six months on Valentines Day and went in for is 6 month check up. His hight is progressing well, but unfortunately he only gained 6 onces in the last two months, putting him in the first percentile for weight. He also has really bad eczema which we have not been able to get under control. Due to this combination of problems, the pediatrician decided to send us to some specialists. On Monday we went to the dermatologist, who has Ty on three different ointments. Today we went to the allergist. 17 pin pricks later, we now know Ty has a severe milk allergy. So we either need to switch him to soy formula or I need to cut all milk and milk related products out of my diet to continue to nurse him. We will also have to start carrying an epi-pen in case of an emergency. This could also explain why he throws up after every meal. The doctor is hopeful that he will out grow this allergy in a few years but until that time, he will be on a very strict diet. You would be really surprised at how many products contain some form of milk. Even many of the Stage 2 baby foods have some milk or milk products in them. On a good note, we know that Ty is not allergic to Barron or Bruce, so we can keep our pets :) I am optimistic that this information will help us solve his medical problems so he gains weight and start sleeping more than 3 hours at a time!

Weekend Update

Not a very exciting Super Bowl weekend at the Zbrzezny household. Both kids have the sniffles so we skipped out on the party we were supposed to go. Instead we hung crown molding in our master. It still needs to touched up, but we now have one room almost done in our house.
Before:
After:
As I mentioned, Tyler has a bit of a cold, so he is not very happy right now, but otherwise he is doing well. At almost 6 months, he is very different from Aubrie. She was very independent; she did not want to be held or cuddled for long periods of time and she was very happy playing with a toy in her crib or on the floor by herself. Tyler wants nothing to do with being put down. If we are awake, he wants to be in our arms (I am currently typing one handed while holding him the other arm.) This is nice in terms of cuddling and bonding, but does not allow me to get much done around the house and is not helping him learn how to roll over or sit up etc. The only place we have found that we can put him down with out him crying is on an old reclining chair that we got from Grandpa years ago.
If we surround him with pillows, he will take his afternoon nap in the chair rather than in my arms. Not the best solution, but for now, it works.

We are still doing well with food. Right now he is partial to cereal and fruit. We have tried squash and sweet potatoes, but neither of those seem to agree with him, even though he liked them. It is much easier having a baby who likes to eat as opposed to Aubrie who is still a terrible eater.

Tyler after his bath. He is not a fan of the actual bath, but a very happy baby afterward.