Photobooth

The Mr. took me out on the town the other night. His restaurant of choice had a photobooth so in we went and out this came:

For anyone wondering, dining out is interesting on a Clark diet. The choices are usually very limited, if any exist, and are pretty bland. I messed up when I ate a fried pickle (weird...but the waitress said they were to die for), forgetting about the egg and breading part, but I tried to stick with it otherwise...except dessert.

The Clark Diet

I've never been on a diet, but recently I put myself on the Clark Diet (no wheat, milk, eggs, soy, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, or legumes) to train myself to plan delicious and nutritious meals and snacks using the subset of food that is safe for Clark. It's also my guilt-free diet since I feel a little guilty anytime I eat something he can't have, whether he sees me or not. One more bonus: less stress for me when I know I'm cooking something that won't harm Clark through cross-contamination. So far, as with anything new, it's different and challenging. I thought I was going to starve after the first day which translates into motivation for me to QUICKLY rework my approach to cooking and baking.   

New foods for me since eating Clark style: rice milk, rice pasta, palm oil, and oat flour--lots of it. p.s. The cooking part is going much better than the baking part.

Sunday Stroll

We took a nature walk on Sunday evening at the arboretum near our house.

Clearly, it was very exciting.

We crossed paths with an armadillo.

What is usually a rainy, humid Houston has been very dry this year. Consequently, the arboretum had a lot of brown and dry trees on display. 

The Party Post

For everyone not in attendance at Clark's party, here's how it went down: 

I ran some crepe paper down the table and strung a garland of Clark's weekly photos:

I made a Clark-friendly meal of rice, sweet potato fries, chicken kebabs, and spinach salad.

I used a store-bought allergen-free cake mix [Cherrybrook Kitchens] to make cupcakes. Instead of frosting I opted to sprinkle with fresh peaches, a Clark fav. He didn't eat the whole cupcake, I suspect, since he was already stuffed.

The favorite toy of the day was a play vacuum Grandma Broadbent got. Clark loves putting things in it and taking them back out. Thank you G&G Broadbent and Mark and Amy for coming to celebrate with us!

12 month well check

Clark had his 12-month well check today. Here's how he's growing:

Height- 27¾ inches - 3^rd percentile
Weight - 19lb. 3oz. - 5^th percentile
Head Circumference - 48cm - 89^th percentile

1 year!

We celebrated this guy's first birthday today. I had been looking forward to it for weeks but last night after I finished putting up a few decorations I got a little misty. My little baby is already 1 year!

and what a great year it's been! Clark and I have both changed so much. Steve and I are so blessed to have him in our family. We love you, Clark!  Happy birthday! To see how he has grown, here are 51 weeks of Clark:

Mrs. vs. Mr.

Every Saturday morning we wake up and race. 3 miles. Clark seems to have a good time and Steve usually looks like this at the end:

While I look like this:

ha ha. It's rare when I'm in better running condition than Steve, so I enjoy every 8-minute mile that he's huffing and puffing behind me (and Clark).

Food Allergy Diagnosis

I took Clark to see an allergist today where they administered a scratch test or skin test. They basically take a high tech toothpick to poke a little hole in the skin on his back and put a bit of serum containing allergens on the hole to see if it reacts. They did a multi-panel which included: apple, orange, soy, milk, wheat, egg, corn, and peanut. By default, they also do a histamine and saline as a control. I also requested peas and beans which were both on my suspect list. He didn't take well to the multi-panel--8 pokes at once--so the Dr. kindly brought him a duck to distract him.

This is 5, 10, and 15 minutes after the test was given:

At the 15 minute mark I was beginning to panic since the welts were spreading around to his stomach and literally covering his back. The left side of his back looked like 1 giant welt, covered with little ones. It was slightly disturbing for me, to say the least. The nurse wasn't able to determine if he reacted to soy or not since all the reactions were blending together. She wanted to repeat the test but I requested the antihistamine+steroid therapy instead to start reversing the breakout. The doc didn't anticipate the intensity of Clark's reaction so he kept us for 90 minutes to keep an eye on him and gave him a little more medicine. He also sent me home with a mild steroid to give for 2 more days. I think we both left that appointment a little shaken up.

The verdict? Allergic to wheat, milk, eggs, peanuts, beans, peas. The peas and beans were the most mild. Peanut elicited the strongest reaction, followed by egg (pretty sure, but I wasn't in the clearest state of mind). Doc also said avoid soy and tree nuts and all legumes. Might as well.
As I walked us out to the car I tried to practice positive thinking:

• Clark actually DOES have food allergies so I feel vindicated for being so paranoid about food!  ha ha
• He can still eat corn.  This is HUGE since corn is in everything.
• He can also eat strawberries. those are always good.
• He can have citrus! I haven't tried this yet, but will...with caution. There are such things as false negatives (and positives for that matter). 
• I don't have to wonder about egg or peanuts anymore.

There is a chance Clark will outgrow some or all of his food allergies by the age of 4 or 5 but for now he's on a special diet. As I think about dealing with food allergies I always think of something Elder Nelson said in General Conference in April: "Each [child] is born with challenges to overcome and faith to be developed."