Liam's First Birthday

It is hard to believe Liam has hit the one year mark, but it is true. August 5th was his 1 year birthday.

This past year has been filled with lots of adjustments, trips to the doctor, and so many great memories.

Abby had to learn how to be a big sister. She practiced on her dolls and seemed to move into the role so naturally. Mom and dad had to learn how to adjust to sleep deprivation again, but we all made it

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Not only did we learn the ins and outs of the hospital with Liam being in the NICU and then in the pediatrics ward early on, but have also become quite knowledgeable of the medical offices we visited so frequently. Besides the normal check ups, Liam has also been seen for countless viruses (RSV, Flu, the general upper respiratory virus diagnosis I heard so often) and the spots he developed, which now we know as mastocytosis. Regardless of all of this, Liam is a healthy, happy little boy.


Of our great memories, The ones I remember the most include, The day he was born (and Abby meeting her brother), the day we brought Liam home from the hospital, The day Abby made him laugh so hard, Him rolling over, sitting up, getting teeth, meeting Grandma Callahan... okay too many to list.

We had his party on Saturday and he had a blast. It was a nice combination of family and friends and kids from daycare. The kids ran around, played in the pool and had a good time.


My friend Amy is a master of cakes. I sent her a picture of the plates we were going to use and she baked a delicious almond cake with cherry filling for the guests and designed it to look like the plates.

She also made Liam a special cake that was white cake. I had a bite of that cake and it too was amazing.

Liam started off eating his cake by just touching the frosting and licking it off his fingers, but soon enough, he got his hands in there and crumbled it to pieces. I was surprised by how much he ate as well. Even Abby was helping him. It was a priceless moment.
















Liam is growing up so fast. Lately, he has been pulling himself up and now he is starting to stand on his tip toes and reach for things. Once he figures out he can stand on his own it will be no time before he starts to walk.

Liam is also talking more. He understands quite a bit and tries to talk. I have heard him say hi, bye, mama, dada, Aba, & nana all in context. The hi and bye are also accompanied with waving most of the time. He also likes to copy the sounds I make and click his tongue or twist it when I do.

Liam and Abby have such a special bond. In the mornings, they seem to wake up about the same time and the first thing they do is look for each other. We have a song we sing in the morning (Good morning, good morning, good morning to you, good morning, good morning, how do you do.)and the two of them cuddle and hug. Watching the two of them together like that just melts my heart. On Liam's birthday, Abby woke him up by singing "Happy Birthday" to him. I was almost in tears. I ran and grabbed the camera and asked her to sing to him again. The video is priceless, but the first time was the best.

I wanted to take a few moments to add a video about another child who suffers from Mastocytosis. His mom is holding a fundraiser in Ohio and was able to get the local news to do a story. It really touches my heart to be able to connect with others who are dealing with the same issues as we do with Liam.

Birthdays & Family!

We had a wonderful Surprise party for my in-laws this past weekend. Bill turned 65 on July 17th and Sue turns 60 on July 30th. We had about 45 people at the party including Auntie Mary Alice, Auntie Kathy, Uncle Bill, Janet & Lou, and Bev & Timmy (All from the East Coast). Kelly also flew in so they had all their kids together. Some of Bill's coworkers came with their families.


Carol and Debbie (Weaver) catered the party for us and made the best foods. These ladies are truly amazing and I don't know what I would have done without them.
Jimmy made the best Peach Sangria. It was the hit of the party. His Mint brownies were as good as ever... The Karaoke machine was also a hit. I never saw so many people jump for a microphone... Liam and Abby were so well behaved. They had a great time playing with friends and showing off. In the end, it was a great party.








On Monday, we took a trip to Napa with the family. The day started off with a butterfly landing on Sue's hand. We figured this was good luck.






We made it to a few wineries including Robert Mondavi, BV, and J. Satorri. We decided to have a tailgate lunch which was perfect. Then headed to the hotel in Ronhert Park. We ate dinner at Olive Garden and ended the night chatting around the jacuzzi. What a perfect day!


Tuesday we drove to Bodega Bay. We saw the church and school house in the movie the Birds. and tried to go into a casino before realizing that it was really a bar anf grill.... Why they put a Casino sign outside is still a mystery...

We ate lunch in Occidental at a place called Howard's Station. It was definitely the town hot spot. We stopped into a toy store and I bought Abby a ballerina skirt and Liam an aligator toy. The Ballerina skirt was a huge hit!

We ended the day at Iron Horse Winery. It was beautiful. The tasting area overlooked a valley of grapevines and was just breathtaking. It was the perfect way to end our day!

I enjoyed spending time with the family. I hope we get more times like these. I will cherish the moments, like Mary Alice's punchline "So What." And my Ladybug! Or just feeling like a couple again with Bill. It was so nice to go to bed and waking up without having to worry about the kids. Carol kept them overnight and gave us a break. It was such a wonderful time.

We now have to get ready for Liam's party on Saturday... We have such a busy calendar this summer...But I am enjoying it.

Milestones and other fun stuff

Abby and Liam are so cute these days... I thought I would just write about some of the cute things they are doing.

Abby is in a dress phase. She only wants to wear dresses that spin. She loves to sing and dance. She is really good at telling us opposites. She knows who the president is and continues to surprise us with funny sayings like telling Billy that she wanted to have a conversation with him. She loves Dora the explorer and princesses. She is very loving and I am so lucky to have her as my daughter.


Liam is almost 1 year now.... He has 7 teeth and more on the way. He started crawling doing the army crawl, but recently started lifting his belly. He is also pulling up on everything and starting to push things around. He has let go a few times. He will be standing on his own any day now.

Liam learned to drink out of a straw earlier this week and also said byebye and waved when I took him out of the room. He is starting to associate sounds with words and words with actions. It is so amazing to watch him learn and grow.

He is eating all kinds of table food now and only eats baby food a few times a week. We will be transitioning him off formula in a few more weeks. My baby is growing up.


Abby and Liam are starting to play together more and more. Liam crawls into Abby's room and gets into her toys. Abby loves to hold her brother and give him hugs. She is such a great big sister.

Both of my kids continue to amaze me and remind me how much I love being a mom. We have our rough days but when I see them smile and hear them laugh, I forget all about the struggles and try to capture the moment.

Mastocytosis

We recently learned that Liam has a rare skin disorder called Mastocytosis. He has a version called Cutaneous mastocytosis, Uticaria Pigmantosa. This means he has several spots that are confined to the skin. It is a disorder that causes him to produce an abundance of mast cells that clump together and form spots on his skin. Most of the time, these spots are light brown, smooth, and don't cause any issues, but when they are triggered, they can become raised, form blisters, and release histamines. He can break out in hives and become agitated. He will most likely deal with itching and discomfort throughout his childhood.

We first noticed the spots on Liam at around 3 months. Spots started appearing on his scalp. Because he didn't have much hair, it was easy to see the light brown spots. At his 4 month check up we showed the doctor, but she was not worried. She said babies get all kinds of spots and they typically go away, so we would just watch them.

As time went on, more spots appeared and they were not going away. Spots were now on the back of his neck, on his back, arms and legs. The doctor continued not to be worried, so we tried to ignore it, but it was becoming obvious that something was going on.

Besides the spots, Liam seemed to be sick more than not. He always seemed to have runny eyes and nose. He has had more upper respiratory viruses than I can count, and developed wheezing when he is sick. He was given a nebulizer so we could do breathing treatments at home. I was worried about him, but in the end, he remained happy even when sick, so we continued to talk to the pediatrician but did not worry too much.

At 9 months, we finally were able to get the doctor to call in a dermatologist. She came in, looked at the spots, and sadi we should be referred to dermatology. A week later, we saw a dermatologist who within 5 minutes diagnosed him with mastocytosis based on a darrier test. This is a test where he scratches the surface of a spot with his pen. The spot became very red and started to blister leading to the diagnosis. In order to be 100% sure, he said we could do a biopsy.

At first we were not sure we wanted a biopsy, but then decided it would be best to have the diagnosis in case we ever had issues with insurance. Sure enough, the biopsy came back positive.
We had already been doing some research about the disorder. There is no cure, but they can treat symptoms with antihistamines and other meds as needed. The disorder seems to clear up on its own during adolescence...

Since the biopsy, we have had several cases of hives. We are trying to figure out what causes them but so far nothing. I think it is the environment. Heat is a common trigger and we have had some hot days. Stress is another trigger, so when he gets mad, he can cause himself to have a reaction...

After a lot of persistence from me, we were referred to an allergist. She seemed really interested and was helpful in that she did allergy testing, gave us printouts of common triggers, prescribed us an epipen since stings seem to cause a larger reaction in masto patients.

I still feel like the doctors do not really understand the disorder. Most of them have only read about the disorder and never treated it. The allergist said this was her second case in 30 years. The dermatologist said he had seen it once before and the pediatrician has never seen it.... I am trying to educate myself so I can drive his medical care.

I joined a website called Mastokids.org I can now interact with other parents dealing with this disorder and learn from them and ask for advice. It has been such a releif to have this resource. I am glad we are not alone.

As I mentioned. he has broken out in hives several times over the past month. We are not sure why, but continue to track. Today when we went to pick him up from daycare, they pointed out a blister on his head. It is raised and filled with liquid. This is the first time we are seeing a blister reaction without a doctor causing it. We gave benadryl and are now watching it....

I feel like this will be a neverending battle but we will learn much along the way. I am going to try to update this page as we progress. If anyone who is dealing with this disorder finds this blog, please do not hestitate to contact me.

I am realizing that spots are a part of who he is and that makes them beautiful!

The kids are growing up....

Abby and Liam are growing up....

Abby continues to amaze us with her ability to recall information and sing songs. She can now spell her name (Abigail) Spell Liam, and Abby. She has a song that goes through the days of the week and one for the months of the year. I am so amazed by her.

Abby is also at the point where I can say she is potty trained. We still have some accidents, but we no longer have to buy Pampers for her. We still use pull ups for naps, but she got big girl underwear and loves to wear them.



Liam is also growing up. He can roll to almost anywhere he wants. He loves to play on the floor with Abby. We put out toys and the two of them laugh and play together. Soon he will be crawling. Then we will be in trouble.

He now has four teeth. We have been lucky in that the teething stages have not lasted long. Liam loves to eat baby cookies, breads, cereals etc. We are working on his finger coordination for the smaller foods, but he is doing great and seems to like most foods, including pickles.

Liam is almost sitting up all on his own. He can do it for a few seconds, but then falls over. If you give him a ball or toy to hold on to, he can stay up for a bit longer. I still see him as my little baby, but seeing him sitting up is so fun and reminds me he is growing.

Liam is also now saying dada quite a bit. I am working on getting him to say mama and Abby is working on her name. He babbles frequently and I love to hear him. It is like he is singing. Soon we will have two little talkers telling us stories and singing through the house.

I love our family and am so blessed to have such wonderful kids!

Who does he look like?