February

It is February! I am excited and nervous at the same time. in 12 days Zelner will be ONE YEAR OLD!

It has gone so fast!

A year ago today, I was "officially" on "maternity leave" (It isn't really official leave if you basically quit your job...) and we installed the carseat to get ready.

I am sad that my baby will be considered a toddler now.

This year has been an interesting one, a roller coaster of emotions.

I have 12 days left to enjoy my baby, and I am trying to suck up every moment, good, bad, and anything between.

Before get look to the future, let us look at the past.

These last few months have been challenging. Zelner didn't gain much weight at his 9 month appointment and the Doctor wasn't too concerned. But things after that got a little strange. Zelner stopped pooping regularly and then around Thanksgiving, started to throw up randomly. When he did finally poo (it was like once a week if that), he would have an extremely hard time and his whole bum was raw and would bleed. Then around Christmas he got this awful rash on his whole face and his back.

We stopped offering him solids, and I went on the elimination diet. We took him into the doctor and she confirmed it was a food allergy, but what, we had know idea and needed to keep him off solids for 3 weeks and then slowly start introducing them back. Most likely it would be gluten, wheat or dairy.

I am really grateful we were, and still are breast feeding. We didn't have to get anything fancy or expensive, and he healed fast.

After a few weeks of figuring out what his food allergy is, it turns out I have it too.

After delaying as long as possible, we are now a gluten and dairy free house.

Luckily, it is gluten and not wheat and we have been able to work out a way to make our own fermented breads, and other baked goods. We are experimenting and enjoying most of the fruits of our labors.

3 Months

So I am not a super parent and do not get Zelner weighed monthly nor do we take monthly pictures inteh same spot...

This month has been a busy month for this little guy!

We made out first trip to the Westside since Christmas. The reason for the trip was for a funeral, but it was great to see friends I had not see in a while.

Since we were over the mountains, we made a stop and visited my Grandma Betty (my dad's mom).

Grandma had a broken arm, she was hiding. Grandma needs to stop falling!

Driving through the mountains.

A little while after we got back, Zelner had a really bad cold, and we took him to the doctor on the 22nd 12.7 pounds!

The doctor originally thought Zelner had RSV. He had all the classic symptoms. We were very concerned, especially after being up all night with a baby having difficulty breathing.

The test came back negative, and he was fine in a few days.

But, very scarey.

I am so grateful for Brody and his preisthood. The first night, before we took him to the doctor, Brody gave him a blessing in the middle of the night. We were scared, but we didn't want to go to the ER. The blessing, I believe did more for my nerves, but we were able to get some sleep that night.

The next morning we debated about taking him into the walk in clinic. He was doing much better. I took him in, and we were super lucky to see our regular doctor! Knowing the doctor, and knowing that she knows me and my natural approach health was a great relief. It was also great to know that my doctor trust me and gave me a single dose of steroids to give Zelner if he got worse during the day, so he could sleep that night. After a few rough nights, Zelner was fine. Then we got word from the doctor, that is was not RSV and therefore shouldn't return. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

We got a jogging stroller! But we will have to wait a few more months before we can jog, we will just walk a lot for now.

Stoic, post bath.

Sleepy boy.

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