Dora Gets A Bath

Well, the title of the post is a bit deceiving...Dora actually got a bath in the washing machine. Most of you know that Dayton LOVES Dora...he adores her and is very protective of her. He has always enjoyed watching the show on TV and actually gave up watching his beloved Wiggles for it. Everyone thought it was cute, so when Auntie Jess Jess bought Dayton some bath bubbles in a plastic Dora bottle it was not surprising that he wanted to carry the empty bottle everywhere he went. Fast forward 6 months...we as parents, got a little tired of toting this plastic Dora everywhere and dealing with meltdowns if she was left upstairs or downstairs or couldn't be found. She even has a special spot reserved in his bed and she HAS to be in that exact spot every night or Dayton freaks out. We decided to look for a little Dora doll that be more comfortable to carry and couldn't find one that was small enough. Well Daddy (brilliant man that he is) found a soft Dora pillow type toy in Walmart that is literally the size of Dayton. He thought it was funny and really didn't think about what we might have to deal with. Well, initially Dayton was somewhat afraid of her (her eyes are the size of golf balls) and she always has to sleep face down in his bed. He didn't like to carry her but did enjoy sitting watching TV with her. Okay, fast forward to this past February when my sister visited. Dora ended up getting dressed in an outfit that Saige outgrew and never wore and ever since then, he has redeveloped some feelings for her. He carrys her everywhere (inside and out) and does not like to share her with Saige. He even expresses some empathy towards her as he states, "Dora bump ed" when she gets dropped on her head. He'll give her a hug and then wrestle with her on the floor. She even sits at the kitchen table for meals. As you can imagine she was quite dirty so I decided to throw her in the washing machine to clean her up a bit. She was almost too nasty to sit on our white sofas. Secretly though, I was kind of hoping she would fall apart in the washing machine and maybe we could replace her with a Buzz or Woody doll or something. Even Diego would be better. But no, she came out nice and fresh and clean and Dayton is so proud of her. Truthfully, I'm kind of worried that he'll want to start to wear PJ's or T-shirts with Dora on it. I know he sees them in the clothing departments. In the meantime, I just patiently wait for Saige to grow up a little more so her lonely big brother can play with her (and secretly hope he gives up Dora).

Where We Are With Allergy Testing

We've done 32 skin tests and discovered an allergy to dust mites & horses. Guess I need to sell my horses AND dust more often. Kind of pointless when you live in Hawaii with your windows open 24/7. Food allergy results were inconclusive and so we went ahead and did RAST testing (testing for antibodies in the blood). After 2 different labs had no success finding a vein, the 3rd time was the charm. Finally, Saige donated. We will have our blood results in 2 weeks at our follow up appointment. So, in the meantime I continue on with my elimination diet. For those of you that didn't know, I started an elimination of all dairy, eggs, wheat, nuts, shellfish, citrus, tree nuts and seafood from my diet in an effort to help figure out what was causing such severe eczema and constant face rubbing as well as reflux problems. I am still on the elimination diet but have re-introduced wheat. Thus far there has been no significant relapse, but we still have to spot treat areas daily all over her body. In the process, I've discovered she's sensitive to sesame. I know many of you were concerned about me eliminating so much from my diet and yes I have lost a bit of weight (that seems to have stopped now), but the improvements have just been so worth it. I will keep you all posted when we have some results. Here are some before and after pictures.