So, things have been a bit crazy now that the holidays are in full swing. I'm sure they are for everyone else too. But I will just give a quick recap of what's been going on around here for the last month! I apologize in advance for some of these pictures being poor quality! My phone camera has been way too convenient lately. Oh ya, none of this is in any order. I'm kind of all over the place today!
Kalista got the opportunity to participate in a mini cheer camp with the high school cheerleaders. Boy did she love it. She is such a girly girl so she was super excited to be able to try something like this. I just wish I would have sat on the right side so I could have seen her better!
Kalista's hair is soooo long. I'm told I am not to cut it until it is to her feet.... she loves Rapunzel. Go figure. ;)
The nice thing about having such a girly girl for a daughter is being able to try out new hairstyles on her without complaints. Dress up is her favorite! Would anyone like a tutorial on this particular style? It was super easy and turned out way cute.
Speaking of hair, I finally got my hair highlighted! I was very indecisive on what to do which is why it took me so long to finally pull the trigger. But my fake ombre hair was getting uglier by the day so I decided to play it safe with some highlights. I'm loving them!
Here was Kalista for Halloween. She was Snow White if you can't tell lol. Such a little princess.
Do you see our awesome Angry Birds and vampire teeth pumpkins? Keegan's costume absolutely cracked me up. He was Dracula, but that crazy widow's peak gave him an uncanny resemblence to Paul Ryan. Ha!
My Kason was the cutest little spider-man baby :)
We went to the annual Pumpkin Walk and had a blast! The kids were absolutely amazed at all of the different themed pumpkin scenes.
I had Kalista try to give Kason his first bottle of pumped milk this past month. Ummm... he thought it was just something fun to chew on. I guess I'm not leaving him anytime soon! That's ok, I kind of like having a monopoly on him.
This is what happened when I tried making my very first cheesecake. After all my hard work I went to pull my masterpiece out of the oven and the pie tin folded over in itself dumping cheesecakie goodness all over the bottom of the oven. I may or may not have cried. Don't judge.
On a more serious note, about a week before Halloween Kason had a mysterious rash appear on his face. This is really hard for me to write about because it has been emotionally draining.
I took him to the doctor and he was diagnosed with eczema and given a hydrocortizone cream. The rash continued to spread across his face and inner thigh and diaper area and became very raw. I took him back to the doctor and was then told it looked like yeast so was given medication for that. It wasn't getting better and spreading more so a few days I later took him back into the doctor. My pediatrician was dumbfounded so he brought in a couple other doctors to see if they knew what it was. All of them had never seen a rash like this with a few other random symptoms with no relief with the medications. So he was put on four different medications including an antibiotic to see if all of them combined would get rid of the rash. Finally after three weeks of this nightmare some relief! It was actually clearing up!
Unfortunately it was short lived because right before Thanksgiving he got a bad cold that turned his nose into a faucet. This was taken on Thanksgiving and he was absolutely miserable.
That cold somehow agitated the rash and it reared its ugly head all over again. I was finally referred to a dermatologist. We went to the dermatologist today and he also had not seen a rash like this and so he scraped it. Kason didn't like it. He looked at it under a microscope and still wasn't sure exactly as to what it was. So the next step was to biopsy. He got the biopsy on a spot in his inner thigh, then he stitched him up. It was physically painful for me to see this happen to my sweet baby. Luckily he said it doesn't look dangerous but the symptoms are just very atypical so he was hoping to get a better idea on a diagnosis and treatment. In the meantime he is on a antifungal cream because it showed some characteristics of something fungal. Here is saying some prayers and crossing some fingers!
On a happier note, Kason has really grown and learned so many new things this last month despite him being miserable a lot of the time.
(This was taken right before the rash started.)
Kason weighs over 17 pounds now and learned how to roll over. He has turned into a tummy sleeper! He has also been sitting up unassisted for a month now. The craziest thing of all is that he is trying to crawl! I couldn't believe it! He is only 5 months old! What the heck?! I looked in my other kids' baby books and they were 7 and 8 months before they started crawling. Looks like I'm going to have to baby proof early! When he started to get up on his hands and knees I grabbed my phone and shot this video. Sorry it's sideways, I can't figure out how to change it!
Sorry this post was so long! I really should post more often. Has anyone else experienced a crazy illness in your kid that not even the doctors know what is going on? It is so scary. On a lighter note, have you ever had an experience like my cheesecake disaster? That was a total bummer.
So sorry to hear about whats happening to your little one! There is nothing worse than feeling helpless! My son went through a similar thing, but it was eczema and was on his face, arms, legs and he was an infant and would scratch like crazy until it would bleed :( after lots of research on the creams he was having applied, to most of his little body, I decided to see a naturopath and had electrodermal testing done, which I was really skeptical about, but at the point that I needed a reason why it was happening and how to stop him breaking out. The test is easy and safe and different from the regular allergy tests. It turned out he was sensitive to apples, broccoli, wheat, milk, eggs...the list went on. But i cut out what was on the list and he stopped breaking out within 2 weeks! I was so revealed! I was also nursing so I had to change my diet, but it was so worth it. After a year i reintroduced some foods slowly and he is 5 now and eats just about anything! :)
ReplyDeleteThere will be a light at the end of the tunnel! Im not sure if your son has sensitivities to food or allergens, but worth looking into if you don't get any answers.
Sorry this was so long, but I wanted to share in case it may help ;) All the very best to you all!
so sad to hear of your little ones trouble, its heart breaking isnt it, when my eldest (now 3) was 4 months old he developed a "heat rash" behind his knees (or so they told me) it got worse and worse until his entire body was red raw, we spent 3 months on a waiting list to see a dermatologist (we live in a small town with only one) in the mean time he had a anaphalaxis reaction to skin contact with some egg, we where desperate for any type of answer so went to a naturopath who had practically no wait time, she told us that all of the symptoms where beacause we had started feedding him solid food before he had teeth... needless to say we left that appointment brokenhearted blaming ourselves for the incrediable pain ur son was in, once we saw the dermatologist he diagnosed excema and allergies,we had bloodtests done and found 4 allergies, egg, milk, peanut and soy, i instantly removed all these from my diet and his, the rash we reduced so fast and by so much i couldnt believe my eyes, we waited another 6 months to see a peadiatric allergist only to find him to be completely incompetent, telling us that our son wasnt allergic to milk,"feed hikm as much as you want" thinking our dr knew what he was talking about our son then has 2 serious reactions as we 'tested the waters' with a small cup of milk each time almost resulting in hoispitalisation, we now see a different allergist in another state who is amazing, my first piece of advice is beware of dr hopping, we where desperate for answers so took drs with shorter waiting lists, big mistake, there was a reason they had less patients i believe, also go with your gut, i knew something was really wrong despite the local gps telling me it was heat rash, and also, there is a light at the end of the tunnel, my son spent 5 months with socks on his hands to stop him scratching, he is now an amazing bright active little boy who you wouldnt know had anything wrong with him except for a little excema when he gets to hot, we deal with allergies to egg, dairy, nuts, soy, shrimp and seasame, as well as sensitivities to tomato and citrus but he is learning to not take food off others and we are yet to have another serious reaction, so good luck with your journey, i hope you find answers soon xoxoxox
ReplyDelete(also sorry this was so long, i was lost when all this was happening so im always ready to share our stoiry to someone who asks!!)
try coconut oil as a lotion.. It is antifungal also. So it will help with that.. I use it for dry skin also..
ReplyDeleteI have just found your blog and have been enjoying it. I feel your anguish over your son's rash, we had a very similar issue. First they gave him hydro cortisone then the anti-fungal, several doctors and a swab, (thankfully no biopsy) but nothing was working, and it would get worse and have better days but would not go away. Eventually we were given the right anti-fungal which kept away any secondary infections while we also rinsed his clothes in vinegar to eliminate any irritants that could have been creating the atmosphere (in addition to the steps that we were already taking to reduce any possible allergens (like watching how my food might affect his milk). Thankfully for us it was that simple, eventually. I look forward to hearing that what eventually helps his issue comes quick and is simple! :)
ReplyDeleteI'm another "rash" mom. My son had the common milk allergy that caused eczema on his cheeks. It took us ages to figure out what it was because we were only treating the secondary skin infections One thing to try is cover the baby's hands with socks, eczema is terribly itchy and our son was scratching it and making it worse. He's 16 next month and there is absolutely no scarring thank goodness. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteThanks everyone for all of the good advice and well wishes! I am so appreciative and grateful to know I'm not alone with all of this!
ReplyDeletei know this post is old but I wanted to let you know that my daughter broke out in a rash like this right after Thanksgiving. Twice. After a trip to the ER because I was so freaked out (one of her eyes was nearly swollen shut), we figured out it was a reaction to too much acid in her system! (she loves grapefruit and cranberries). A couple of doses of prevacid or zantac and it cleared right up! Just thought I would throw another possibility in the mix just in case! :)
ReplyDeleteThrowing in another rash story- Mother's Love Thrush and Diaper Cream saved my baby's behind after months of dealing with a yeast infection and using anti fungal creams. We even did coconut oil (which wasn't that great).
ReplyDeleteI do hope your little guy is all better. Great blog. Just found it.