Julia's 1st Birthday

Our beautiful girl
Daddy loves his girl
Butterfly cake

Not so sure about the hat
Julia loved the cake!
Celebrating on her actual birthday

Julia is 1 year old today! We are so grateful to be celebrating this milestone with our daughter. These past 3 months have been joy-filled. Everyone comments on how well she has adjusted to our family and I think it really is amazing. It is like she has always been here. She is happy and healthy. I think she is going to be talking earlier than our boys did. She says mama, dada, bye-bye and is close to saying please, bottle and hi. This week she has started pretending she is talking on the phone. She'll put her hand up to her ear and babble, very cute. She is also walking behind the push toys now and she is SO proud of herself. We're still working on her understanding of the word "no." She laughs and continues on with what she was doing when we tell her no, little stinker. :) She still likes to "clean" our floors by finding specks and trying to eat them and she is very curious these days.

This past Saturday we had a birthday party for Julia. We had some family and friends over and our house was crazy! There were alot of boys running around as our basement isn't usable right now because Nate is drywalling. But, everyone had a good time. We dressed Julia up in her hanbok, which is a traditional Korean outfit worn on birthdays and special holidays. We then did a doljabi table which is a Korean first birthday tradition. We put Julia in front of a table with different items on it. A pencil (scholar), string (long life), microphone (entertainer), ball (sports), hammer (builder/architect), stethoscope (doctor), and I put a Bible for missionary. :) Whichever item the child picks will be their future career. Julia went right for the pencil. I knew she was smart. :) We served a traditional American feast of pizza and cake! Julia loved the cake. She was eating it as fast as she could. Thank you to all of our friends and family who celebrated with us!

Today we celebrated her birthday with my Mom here. I was gone all day so my Mom made a nice pot roast dinner. For birthdays in Korea they make rice cakes. That wasn't happening so I copied someone else's idea of making rice krispie treats instead. Of course, the boys enjoyed helping Julia open and play with her presents.

Today I took Isaac to a pediatric allergist. He's been complaining alot about his stomach hurting and I felt like we were missing something with his food allergies. And I didn't feel like I completely understand food allergies and what he should be avoiding, etc. The visit was very informative. He had the allergy skin test done and he is allergic to milk, wheat, and apples. He is also allergic to dust mites and dogs. The wheat allergy really threw me for a loop. He has always eaten wheat products. But, the Dr. recommended completely removing milk and wheat products from his diet for a couple weeks to see if he stops complaining about his stomach. I can then reintroduce wheat and see what happens. She said the wheat might have been a false positive, I hope that is true! The milk products have to be completely removed though. He is strongly allergic to them and she prescribed an epi pen for him. There is still a chance he could outgrow the milk allergy, that would be wonderful! The Dr. was really helpful in understanding Isaac's asthma/lung issues. He gets a horrible cough with every cold and he throws up multiple times during a cold because he is coughing so hard. She prescribed a different inhaler he can use during his colds that should cut down on his coughing, thank you! So I left the appt with mixed emotions. I have a better understanding of what my child needs, but that also discouraged me. We are going to be one of those families that other people don't understand. Yes, you have to be careful around our kid and not give him "normal" foods. Yes, we're going to be bringing our own food to events. I'm trying hard not to feel sorry for myself, because he doesn't have a terminal illness or cancer, just special dietary needs. I would appreciate prayers over the next couple of weeks as I try to serve foods that are dairy and wheat free, oh boy.