The baby likes the nighttime!
But…not really for sleep.
Oh, she’ll catch the occasional wink
and then wake,
like it’s time to play.
And daytime naps?
Well, maybe?
Nah – there’s just too much to do and say,
too many good messes to make.
Yeah, we’re all going a little crazy.
Except, of course, the baby.
I’ll start with the good news, right up front:
As of now, it appears that Lucy is not, in fact, allergic to peanut butter or eggs!
Y’all, I am so relieved. I was ready to hear the opposite news, and ready to make the subsequent lifestyle changes, and I know we would have managed just fine, as many people do. But I’m really glad that we don’t have to do that.
The sort of not great news is this:
The allergist thinks that what we saw was a contact reaction, and Lucy has really sensitive skin.
Apparently, this is quite common in very young children, and he was not concerned. We do need to be careful, though, and until she’s a little older and neater, if we’re feeding eggs, peanut butter, or other allergens or irritants, we should feed them to her, rather than letting her feed herself. (Lucy will NOT like that, but it will be fine.)
The allergy test itself was super interesting. Did you know that these tests have a 50% false positive rate? I didn’t. Or that they are 97% accurate when they come out negative? I didn’t know that either. Lucy actually reacted to everything, even the negative control, but the doctor was able to measure anyway, and was not worried at all. It was very reassuring, and we got some good advice for introducing allergens in the future. (Happy to share, if anyone is interested or curious!)
Lucy did not enjoy the tests, and still has some little marks on her back, but she was back to herself within a few minutes. And today she’s just doing her usual stuff. All’s good here. Just ask the napping people:
So, that’s that for now. And hopefully for good. Being a parent really is a whole new world!
Well, this is not the post I expected to write this week. We’ll start here:
Nutritionist, food-savvy, and parent friends, I need your help!
Because, alas, it appears that Lucy is allergic to peanuts. (And eggs. But I’m much more worried about the peanuts.)
We’ve fed her peanut butter several times, and thought we were in the clear. I was relieved, because I love peanut butter. Like, love it. Like, ate it constantly during my pregnancy and breastfeeding, always have it on hand, believe it is both a healthy snack and a dessert, eat it on a spoon in a pinch kind of love. It seems we will not be so lucky.
Yesterday, while eating a peanut butter sandwich, Lucy developed a small rash on her face, and it spread to her neck, arms, and belly. It wasn’t that bad. It didn’t look like hives, and disappeared quickly, so we weren’t sure how concerned to be. A call to the nurse line at our pediatrician’s office sent us to the emergency room, which felt excessive. And it was, because a later, follow-up call from our pediatrician – when we were most of the way to the hospital – confirmed that while this looks like an allergy, we could just monitor for worse symptoms. There were none. She is fine.
Thank goodness.
We cleaned EVERYTHING. And we’ve been advised to get rid of any peanut products in the house for now. And I’m getting a new high chair, because it is impossible to clear all the peanut butter off of the one we have. (Lucy is a leisurely, messy eater. It’s beautiful to watch.)
And now, until we have our next appointment and can hopefully get a referral to an allergist to confirm what’s going on, we feel like we’re operating in the dark. I’m not too worried about the egg allergy. It’s apparently quite common in very young children and in many children will go away when they’re older. But peanuts? I’ve heard that one’s scary. Neither Graham nor I have any major allergies, and aside from checking food labels and being careful, I have no idea what to do here.
So, friends, do you have experience with peanut (and egg) allergies? How do you handle it? Know of any great peanut butter or egg alternatives? Have favorite recipes that use neither? (Seriously, cookies! I have to be able to make her cookies!) Have any good advice for how to approach this situation?
What I’m saying is: Tell. Me. Everything.
And also, thank you! I do, in fact, get by with a little help from my friends. And I’m so grateful!
It’s a big deal, meeting your very first celebrity.
Lucy kept her cool. (She is the coolest.)
But in all seriousness, these first memories…I just had no idea how special they would feel. It’s like looking at life through all new eyes. I know that sounds trite, and I suppose I’m sort of late to the party. But here I am. I couldn’t have known, couldn’t have totally undserstood, before. I can only be in the moment I’m in.
And that’s one of life’s great discoveries, isn’t it? And one of its most beautiful and hardest lessons.
We only have right now.
And y’all, this is such an amazing now.
Here’s the short of it: It’s been over a year. I am so ready to get back to writing. And I mean, real writing. Like, creating. You know, the magic – putting words together and making something that didn’t exist before it came together on a blank page.
Here’s the long:
Having a 1-year-old, and the year and change in between her birth and now, is busy, crazy, different every day, and exhausting. It’s also amazing, inspiring, fun, and its own kind of magic. Lucy is my whole life, and finding ways to bring her needs into harmony with my own has been a challenge that I meet in novel, interesting ways every day. Some days, I succeed, and we’re both satisfied. Some days, I…don’t succeed quite as well…and she is happy and her needs are met and I have not even brushed my teeth. Time for writing? Nah. I barely have time to eat. “Well, you’ll make time for what matters.” Dude, have you had a baby? SHE matters. More than anything else. But I matter, too. And I do want to make time.
So, where does that leave me? What does it mean?
It means that, for the next month, I’m going to sit down at least once a week and jot down ideas, and good lines of dialogue, and when I can, a few paragraphs of beginnings and endings. And come January, I’m going to start posting short stories again.
I don’t know if I’ll do a theme like I have in past years, or if I’ll try something different. Back in October of 2023, I posted the start of something fun, and maybe I’ll revisit that. I would like to know how it ends.
I don’t know exactly what my writing will look like in the new year, but I’m going to do it, and there will be stories. I hope you’ll read them!
But for now, Lucy’s waking up from her nap.
This avocado supermodel is one year old today.
I’ve been wrestling with what to say about that. A poem? An essay about motherhood and all the wonderful things about Lucy? A list of that enumerates and explains this experience so far?
Nothing feels quite right.
Probably because nothing quite captures how I feel.
I’ve never loved this big. I’ve never worked this hard. I’ve never felt this tired. I’ve never been this happy.
One year of absolute, complete and all-encompassing joy with my beautiful, strong, smart, spunky, funny, fearless girl.
One year with my Lucy.
I’ve often said that perfection doesn’t exist in this universe. As it turns out, I was wrong. Because this –
This is perfection.
But I will be soon!
This is just a quick post to say: Hi! I’m still here. I miss all of you something fierce! Things are happening around here in my little corner of Virginia, and I’m planning to be back in October with a weekly post. I’ve got a lot to share, let me tell you.
In the meantime, how are you? How are things? How is life?
All good here, if a bit crazy. Lucy’s good.
Pets are good.
Graham and I are tired. But good.
I can’t wait to get back to creating soon. I hope you’ll be here when I do.
Stay tuned and happy writing, y’all!
Been a while, and I hope to get back to writing in the very near future, but for now, I hope you enjoy this sweet little success as much as I did:
Yep, that’s right. Sweet Lucy Blue-Eyes has started solid foods, and she loves everything so far. It’s a whole new adventure, y’all. And so far, it’s pretty fun.
Y’all, my heart is so happy.
My parents came to visit last week. Graham’s work has been insane, and some nights he’s been up until 3:00 a.m. or later. We were struggling. We were both tired, our house was a mess. The cat’s feeling neglected. I don’t even want to talk about laundry.
We needed help. And we got it, and more.
My family has always done music. I’ve posted about it a lot, and I’m just so elated that Lucy seems to love music, too. My dad brought out his mandolin, and she was just fascinated.
Absolutely entranced. And she wanted to try it for herself.
She cried when he put it away. She’s never done that before, with any toy. (We got it back out and gave it back to her, of course.)
These little moments, they just keep coming. Lucy is an easy baby, but life around her has been generally chaotic. These sweet new memories make all that chaos seem like nothing at all.
Milk drunk, y’all.
It’s a thing.
A Virginia Writer's Diary 