We WILL Get This Kid's Health Figured Out...Right?

That's how I feel right now about Abraham.

He's finally growing well enough to keep the doctors happy.  But, the poor little guy is still battling other issues.  He's got horrible eczema on his legs that his dermatologist had us treating with steroid cream.  We finally got a referral to an allergist though who says the eczema is definitely caused by some kind of allergies, most likely food, and to stop using the steroids because they are causing hypopigmentation of his skin (lightening it).

Then this weekend we ended up in an urgent care clinic because the poor baby was up screaming for 4 hours in the night and his eczema had flared up horribly.  It got all bubbly and then covered in scabs.  Poor guy was pretty miserable.

We have to get his eczema to calm down before we can have him allergy tested because the eczema is a sign that he has lots of IGE (allergy related) antibodies in his system.  Too many IGE antibodies can lead to false positives on an allergy test.  This means he's on more new medications and getting lotioned up a bajillion times a day.  Hopefully with intense treatment of the eczema we can be able to test in a few weeks.

We want him to look like this.

Not this.

City Garden

One of my absolute favorite things about spring is watching everything outside come back to life (except the bugs, those can stay dead).  When we bought our first home a year and a half ago I was thrilled because it meant I would finally get to have my own garden.  Talk about watching things come to life.  You plant a bunch of seeds and voila!  In a few weeks time the ground is covered in tiny plants that change and grow every day.

I actually enjoy weeding.  And watering.  Two key parts of this whole gardening gig.  I know very little else about plants other than they grow best without weeds and plenty of water.  I just love to stick stuff in the ground and hope it grows.  So far I've had varying levels of success, but for the most part, have enjoyed the process.  And the tasty food that comes of it.

I greatly expanded my garden from last year, well as much as I could while still leaving some yard.  We live on a small lot.  On Zillow our lot is listed as .1 acre.  I can reach out the window on our stair landing to the second floor and touch the neighbors roof.  It's small.  So I've had to make the most of it.

In the back we just dug up a square of grass.  In it I've planted leaf lettuce, romaine, spinach, zucchini, kale, radishes, carrots, cilantro, parsley, brocolli, basil, and onion.  I squished a lot in there.  I squished stuff last year too and it did fine.  I like to ignore the spacing requirements on my seed packets.  Live on the wild side.

This is Evelyn's garden.  I give her the little triangle of dirt beside the patio.  Last year she grew carrots and flowers.  This year she requested lettuce.

This portion of our grass would never grow.  Digging down 6 inches showed us the problem.  There were giant cement slabs just under the surface keeping anything from growing very well.  After we got them all dug out, instead of planting a bunch of new grass, I decided to just fill it in with top soil and grow some tomatoes.

Along the fence we are growing hops (the large vines on either side), snap peas (on the net), and garlic.

Beside that are my other herbs: oregano, sage, and spearmint.  The mint and oregano had to be moved from the ground to pots because the TAKE OVER everything.

Beside the pots is my raspberry bush that I'm so excited about.

A better view of one side of our backyard.  The pot beside the hops has another tomato plant in it.  The wheelbarrow is full of some of the cement that we dug out of the ground until we can figure out what to do with it.

I turned part of our front yard into garden space as well because it gets amazing sunlight.  I had to rip out some landscaping, but it wasn't looking that great anyway, so it was no big loss.  I think next year I will expand this area so that it's the same width all the way down.

This will hopefully be covered in pole beans soon.  In front of it are 4 broccoli plants and a row of sweet onions.

Four more tomato plants, including two that are cherry tomatoes.

One celery plant on the left and three strawberry plants (that already have some strawberries on them!).

I need to add some flowers like I did last year to help attract bees and butterflies and such.  I'd much rather plant things we can eat though!

Abraham: Almost 11 Months

We're inching up on your first birthday.  Rude.

But you're growing up so wonderfully.  You are starting to talk (hi and dada being the most common words we hear), and cruise along furniture, and eat food like it's going out of style.

Sweet, sweet boy, you are a joy.