Weekly Randoms (week of November 6)

doxiemoxie212

@dinodna3 yeah, when the mom is allergic it's definitely a different situation. Do not introduce things that give you an allergy just for baby! 

Allergies are such a weird thing because food allergies seem to occur more frequently with a lack of exposure, but skin allergies tend to occur with more exposure, which seems so weird to me? 

llamamama14

Since we're talking about allergies, FYI for FTM concerned about potential allergies when introducing solids, Benadryl is fine for babies even though the bottle says not for children under 2. DS had his first allergic reaction at 9 months (eggs) so I ran to the store for Benadryl and the pharmacist tried to tell me I couldn't give him Benadryl but I called the pediatrician and she said it's fine/recommended and gave me his dose. With my 2nd kid it was nice to have Benadryl on hand as I introduced new foods. It made it less scary. (Though it would still be scary if your kid a severe reaction.)

catlady1215

now that my scan went well today, I want to go buy alllll the maternity leggings and sweaters!!

dinodna3

I’m slightly jealous of everyone who gets to bust out cold weather clothing. We didn’t really get any cold weather last winter and it’s not looking like it will come anytime soon this year. (I’m in FL)

doxiemoxie212

@dinodna3 you shush right now

krash_

@dinodna3 honestly I'd be jealous of me too! lol I love my sweaters and scarves! And I like the snow/winter. I love all the activities. 

dinodna3

@doxiemoxie212 I said slightly!

I’ve never lived anywhere cold though, so I honestly have no idea what winter is actually like. 

doxiemoxie212

Winter is the worst. Get me the eff out of here. Maybe it's nice in suburban or rural areas where the snow stays pretty, but in NYC it's just gross. Blechk.

catlady1215

I hate hate hate winter. the cold physically hurts me lol. I did go through the end of my first pregnancy in summer and that was pretty awful though with the heat. I will say that!

krash_

I know @doxiemoxie212 is also a beauty/make up lover so I just have to share that I have added so many things to my cart in anticipation of 20% off at Sephora starting tomorrow. I know we need to save money but these are things I need, right? 20% off of $200 is such a deal! 

Miz_Liz

@krashke do you use ebates?  If you buy from Sephora through there you will get another 2.5%!

doxiemoxie212

@krashke I spent $500 on last week's 20% off sale. Did you not do last week's? Now I'm like SHOULD I DO THIS WEEKS??? But I know that's crazy.

(Don't worry, guys, most of it is skincare that I'm pre-buying to save money or stuff I'm going to return.)

@Miz_Liz I loooove ebates. Everyone should use ebates! I just recently learned that I can get even more cash back if instead of cash I get gift cards. So now I'm getting Sephora gift cards to fuel my addiction even further. 

Miz_Liz

@doxiemoxie212 ebates is AMAZING! Last time I was placing a Sephora order it was 8% cash back!!!!!  I ended up returning one item and they never adjusted my cash back bonus - score!

Lilpenguin3

KFC and taco bell in one was created for pregnant women. Satisfied my taco and mashed potato craving at the same time. 

krash_

@doxiemoxie212 I'm only VIB not VIB Rouge. I think MH would kill me if I got to Rouge. Although, I have been close. 

@Miz_Liz I don't actually shop online all that much to make it worth it. I think it would take forever to get a check. Also do they do Amazon?

doxiemoxie212

@krashke 1) you get a check regardless of total amount, and honestly it adds up so quickly. Like, 1% back on airline tickets? Randomly some things will be 16% back. It's amazing. 2) I think I have VIB Rouge through 2019 because of how much money I spend at that stupid Sephora...

Miz_Liz

@krashke very limited on Amazon but you can do so much through it - hotels, air, groupon.  Also, they just send a check a few times a year - as long as it is above $5 they will send it (and you get a $10 welcome bonus, so one time is already above the $5).

krash_

ok ok ok...y'all convinced me. I know we are probably going to be ordering more online when the baby comes too because I will not want to leave the house. 

Ooo I wonder if you could use it for the new Target pick up thing? You order online and then drive up and they come deliver it to your car. Idk if it is available everywhere yet though because they started testing here in Minneapolis. But I just looked at Target on Ebates and basically every category is excluded from cash back. 

doxiemoxie212

@krashke it's true, some stores don't do cash back. BUT there are usually great alternatives. I installed the ebates button for Chrome, so whenever I'm on a website that sells stuff a button pops up that I can click to get cashback, which makes it easy for me to remember. I had DH install it too. Honestly, like, 1% cashback on things like Hotels.com and Virgin America alone is a lot. I also always used it for work purchases soooooooo... reimbursement but also I get some cash back! 

Miz_Liz

@krashke they run specials a lot too and some are insanely good.  

PatientlyWaiting10

Why did I NOT use Ebates the last six years!  I did SO much online shopping for my current position!  That has now ended!!  And going into the public school system I will not be spending $1000 on sweaters at Nordstroms anymore...SAD!!!  

bkrahn

@krashke we don't have target anymore in Canada but one of our local grocery stores started doing grocery pick ups and it is seriously a game changer! So handy in winter with little ones in the car, and I can't wait to take advantage of it with a newborn! 

sabby2

Grocery pick up is life. 

Give me ALL the skin care.  Confession: spending that much money would make me hyperventilate...  although at work I get a discount at the spa so I drop like 80 dollars on my products all the time... Probably not so different...

marcus7676

@doxiemoxie212 et al. My son is allergic to egg and there is nothing different about an egg allergy from other food allergies. While egg allergies are fairly coming to grow out of by the age of five (dairy and soy are also common to grow out of), they are still treated the same as other food allergies. 

doxiemoxie212

@marcus7676 I thought there’s something different about them since you can do things like allergy shots to get rid of/lessen them but you can’t with nuts for some reason. Maybe that’s just related to aging out of them tho. 

dinodna3

@marcus7676 @doxiemoxie212 Not really different but specific to egg and peanut allergies, they can test if you are more likely to have an anaphylactic reaction to them. Also with egg allergies they can test for different components; eating a cooked whole egg, egg whites, egg yolks and eggs baked in things. For example, DD, DS and I are all allergic to eggs but DD is the only one who can’t have eggs baked in things. With DD, she is much more allergic to egg whites than yolks. We didn’t even realize she had an egg allergy until she had a meregine topping, which is solely egg whites. 

marcus7676

@doxiemoxie212 no allergy shots for eggs that I’m aware of. DS is allergic to both whites and yolks, but he passed his baked egg challenge (so he can have muffins and cakes). We are doing the scrambled egg challenge in December. I know with the food challenges since he passed baked egg, we are supposed to keep giving baked egg to him to help increase his tolerance. But allergists are doing a similar protocol with nut allergies too for kids - introducing small amounts of the allergen to develop a tolerance - my neighbor tried to get her son enrolled in one of those studies. So maybe that’s the comparison to allergy shots? 

@dinodna3 what’s the test for ANA reaction? Our allergist hasn’t mentioned anything about that. We’ve just had blood tests, skin tests and a food challenge. DS hasn’t had an ANA reaction (but given food allergies, he could, so we carry an epi) but has a contact allergy as well as the oral allergy. 

doxiemoxie212

@marcus7676 I just sent DH to an allergist who said there was literally nothing they could do about his tree nut allergies, but maybe that’s because he’s already an adult? I don’t know, she specifically said it would be different if it were egg. Maybe it’s because it’s so many nuts vs just peanuts or just eggs?  No idea. I really want him to get over the nut allergies so I can keep Nutella in the house! #selfishwife 

eta: or maybe it’s the known ana reaction? DH has only ever reacted with ana to nuts so maybe since it’s not oral or skin....? Is that different?

dinodna3

@marcus7676 If I remember correctly, if you test positive to the baked portion of the blood work that is the higher risk of ANA. I tested positive for it and my allergist told me to avoid due to greater risk of ANA. I still eat baked eggs because I only test a 1 out of 6. For me, personally, I take the risk. I just developed this allergy after having DS and I have so many other allergies that totally eliminating eggs would be a big sacrifice. I wouldn’t risk it for DD or DS. 

DD will get her annual allergy blood work in January and then we’ll see if she can try the baked goods food test. 

catlady1215

I finally decided to tell my DH what a rainbow baby was today. I haven't wanted to cause telling him meant I felt 'comfortable' which I've been scared to feel. I actually caught myself getting choked up. I'm not an openly emotional person. But talking out loud about it being our rainbow allllmost got me. I covered it up well

marcus7676

@dinodna3 I don't think our allergist gave DS that test.  He had the blood test that tests 0-100, and he was something like 0.2 for yolk and 0.4 for whites the first time and 1.5 for yolk the second time and 0.5 for whites.  So really low.  He didn't have an ANA reaction the first time (just hives / contact) so maybe that's why we didn't get a that test.  Good luck to your DD on the blood work for baked egg.  I wasn't nervous about the baked egg challenge (except about him eating, since he was only 13 months), but I'm terrified about the scrambled egg challenge in December (both about reactions and him eating it).  Allergies are stressful.

@doxiemoxie212 Yeah, I think this type of trial is done for kids only.  This is similar to what my neighbor looked into for her son: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/aug/17/peanut-allergy-cured-in-majority-of-children-in-immunotherapy-trial  I think the ANA reaction also makes it worse.  Can he be around people eating nuts or does that affect him too?  

doxiemoxie212

@marcus7676 totally fine around people eating nuts. Never had any airborne issues thankfully. That would be so awful (...for me lol)

kmurdock925

Random- but thought I'd share.  It took me forever and a million different "systems" to try and document milestones and just fun/exciting things my DD did/does.  I finally just bought a nice planner that has a lot of space in the calendar to write so if she has a milestone or just does something silly or worth remembering I just write it down on the date it happens.  I'll also use this system to document pregnancy things for this baby and when baby gets here feeding/nap schedules so it will both be functional and memorable and alllll in one place. 

Tip of the day.

galactickates

I HATE when you email someone and instead of saying sorry I should have included this like you've asked a million times they instead say : I don't have a "project code" but here's what I've got.   I didn't just make up the word project code.  Don't put it in quotes. I'm not asking for a magical unicorn. It's a real thing.  I find that it's mostly men that use the quotes trick when emailing and it's beyond annoying. I think I just hate everyone right now. 

galactickates

These hormones - I just watched a video of a kid who saw colors for the first time and I'm sobbing at my desk

BurlapandLace

I just bawled my eyes out watching last night’s episode of Grey’s Anatomy. Hormones out of control. 

Also, i had my first episode of actual puking during this pregnancy last night  

BurlapandLace

^ that should have gone in symptoms. My bad 

ffw0617

@catlady1215 just another perk of June babies. People with August & September babies really get the short end of the stick. They have to be pregnant all summer, and they don't know they're pregnant (yet) during Thanksgiving time, if they know by Christmas its typically too early to announce. Meanwhile, we get to be pregnant during the holidays and have 4/5 month olds during the holidays next year, our pregnancies miss the hottest part of the year, and we'll have cute bumps for dresses in the Spring. And Spring baby showers! I'm getting excited all over.

llamamama14

@ffw0617 Yes. Knowing but not being able to announce at Christmas would make me feel jipped.

Random- I had a new sitter come today while I had an appointment and I felt like Mrs. Doubtfire came. She was so sweet and brought books and a game and stickers and I came home to a clean kitchen, clean playroom and happy kids. She's an empty nester neighbor who's trying to get the word out that she's available to sit and at first I balked at her rates because I'm used to a bit cheaper for the college girl I usually get, but Mrs. Doubtfire was worth. every. penny. 

doxiemoxie212

@BurlapandLace lol lol I just watched that ep of Grey's. It was so so so so so so bad, and yet, I did get teary eyed. So much nostalgia!