Annie at the lake...

a beautiful weekend to spend with family - on the water - doing some serious relaxing :)

Happy Father's Day

We just had a great weekend celebrating Daddy! Annie had her first trip to Prairie Fest -- and enjoyed wandering around the fair grounds uninhibited. (Wouldn't ya know, she doesn't stick close by if we let her go where she wants! Such a free spirit with so much room to roam!)

Look at our Annabelle grow!

The count down begins to the big number ONE -- we're less than a month away from Annie's big birthday! See how she's grown!

Annabelle 1 month

Annabelle 4 Months

Annabelle 6 Months


Annabelle 8 Months

Annie 11 Months!

Annabelle

Busy few weeks! We've been on the road a lot visiting grandparent's, and will be doing so more in the near future. Summer is always so busy!

So what's new with Annie? Well, she's added a few new words and fancy tricks to her days...she currently "says": kitty, duck and bear (all in her own little way, but with enough experience, we've learned she truly knows what these things are) -- in addition to clapping, waving and high fives, Annie's recently started responding to "arms up" -- which she obviously picked up on "Your Baby Can Read" because I've never worked with her on this ;) She also LOVES to play peek-a-boo by crouching down behind the coffee table and popping up (over and over and over). We also were reading that babies at this age will start "pointing", we thought, nah, Annie's not going to be into pointing at things, she doesn't seem ready - and yet, sure enough, as if she read the same book...she's been pointing at anything and everything! So much fun!

We left Annie with "strangers" for the very first time this past weekend. One hour, completely away from us... We attended church with Grandma & Grandpa, and just "stopped by" the day care there to see what it was like. I wanted to just peek in the door, but the caregivers beckoned us in to check it out. There were three little boys playing on the floor with some toys, all a bit smaller than Annie. I set Annie down, just to see what she'd do. She crawled right over to the boys and the toys and started playing. I tried to get her to look back at me. I crouched down and called her. She never even looked back. I got a little closer, held out my arms...she gave me a glance and kept on going. We left her there while we were in the services. I have no idea what the sermon was about as I thought about her the whole time...but I'm pretty sure she wasn't thinking about me ;)

We've also added a new family member recently - Annie's new cousin, Ava Mae Dittmann was welcomed home by her big sister, Maddy just this week. We're anxious to meet little Ava, we have learned that she is galactosemic as well - and we just know Annie & Ava are going to have a lot to talk about in the coming years. :)

We're just a little over a month away from the big ONE YEAR! It doesn't seem possible...

In the grocery cart, AGAIN...Mom's always making new baby food!

Annie & Daddy

Daddy & Annie with Joanna and her Daddy, Nate

4.2 to 6.1

I was all excited to write up some sappy blog entry today. The past few nights Annie has had a bit more trouble getting to sleep at night, and has been waking up for some extra lovin’ at odd hours. She’s normally such a great sleeper, but it’s been a tough week for her. I’d like to complain…as getting up at 4am to cuddle for an hour isn’t the best use of our slumber time…but I can’t for two reasons: 1) Jeremy usually does it ;) and 2) Annie isn’t a huge cuddler in the first place…I’m generally in her way most of the day - any moment that she truly just wants to curl up and breathe in my ear and lay her soft cheeks on my shoulder, and curl her little fingers around mine are priceless. Of course for a second when I’m bleary eyed and ready to retreat to my own bed I start to wonder just how long she’s going to expect me to stay here and rock her…but then I look down at that face and see the days flying by and know…it won’t be long before I’m begging to do just this.

So anyway, life is good, getting some cuddle time with our cutie. We’ve been introducing all sorts of new foods. The grocery store used to intimidate me as I looked for safe foods for our Annie…and the other day I was standing in line confidently, with a cart full of many foods I would let her eat one day. (We already try to make most of our staples around the house “Annie-safe” even though she’s not really to table food yet.) I was having one of those weeks…those nothing-is-wrong-all-is-well, kinda weeks. Annie was good, we were good…it was like there was no galactosemia for miles…(insert sappy music and gorgeous family frolicking on the beach or something…it was like that).

Then today we got Annie’s most recent gal-1-P numbers back. Let me back track a bit…gal-1-P for those of us normal folk is essentially Annie’s galactose level. Galactose is bad…so we want that number to be small. At birth her gal-1-P was 35.8 (yowza!) but it has steadily dropped every test there after…and we were pleasantly down to 4.2 in March. (Anything under 4 is considered a “treated galactosemic” so we were soooo close). Annie’s next scheduled test would not have been until her 1st birthday. But paranoid me, I asked for an additional test in between the 8 month and 12 month…so we went in for the 10 month test last week. I’ve been adding new foods to Annie’s diet - confident that I’m SO paranoid about things that I’m certainly being cautious enough with her diet. I anticipated that even with the new foods, this number would also be less than the previous number - the doctors would be right (they told me the extra test was unnecessary, as the gal-1-P would most certainly continue it’s downward trend.)…after all, the number goes down, even for kids whose Momma isn’t as diligent as I’ve been, right?

Jeremy got the call tonight, Annabelle’s 10 month gal-1-P is 6.1 -- that’s nearly back where she was at 4 months old. The number has gone up, and (this is my personal opinion) (every word I type here is my personal opinion) not by just a bit, but a significant bit. We didn’t go from 4.2 to 4.4.…6.1 is a big jump.

It’s amazing what one teeny weeny little number can do to your day. I’m no longer sappy (ok, I always am) - but now galactosemia is back at the front of my mind, I’m back to spending hours reading about galactose levels in foods, emailing fancy dietitians for advice…and the next time I’m standing in the checkout line at the grocery store, I won’t be so smug…I’ll wonder what food it is that’s lurking in my cart that’s causing Annie’s numbers to rise. Today is one of those days that reminds me that I haven’t figured it all out yet - and I’m most certainly not in control here.

Annie takes Daddy to the zoo...

Annie's first Carousel ride.

In the swamp

Checking out the sea lions

Free ride.

Happy 10 Months!

4 Generations!

Great Grandma, Baby Annie, Momma and Grandma

Busy busy...Annie has been adding new foods to her list of tasty treats, things like pork, beef, a new cereal and she even sampled a bit of cherry turnover - yum yum!  She just had a brief check up and blood test with the geneticist last week.  Blood for her Gal-1-P check...and a little extra was sent off to Emory University to "Dr. Judy" for research.  We're anxious to get the results back on both ends.  We just attended Great Aunt Bonnie's retirement party (photo above with Grandma & Great Grandma at the party).  In Annie's spare time, she's been busy pulling up on everything, babbling away, and a new trick, emptying the dishwasher, faster than I can load it....

Congratulations Great Aunt Bonnie! 

First grade will never be the same at Custer Park.

Happy Mother's Day!

Annie & Momma at the Mother's Day Banquet

Maggie, Dad & Annie

Annie & Dad practicing flying

Annie with cousin Grace

Annie & Dad

Grandma F, Momma, Annie & Grandma M on Mother's Day

What a great Mother's Day - we spent the day with tons of family on a gorgeous afternoon!  Annabelle managed to smile the whole day through with hardly a nap.  She's amazing ;)  Perfect day to celebrate the greatest relationship ever!  It was so fun this year to be the daughter AND the mother! :)

Never a dull moment around here....

Sooo....I have debated touching on our recent family news here on the blog...and because I'm incapable of keeping a secret (which this isn't) and even more unable to hold anything back...here goes:

This next post was GOING to be of Mini-Meek 2's first ultrasound pictures. That's right...TWO...Annie was about to move over and make some room in her nest -- for we had her baby brother or sister on the way, due to arrive early December of 2010. It was a bit of a surprise (I've never understood how such things can be a "surprise"...but now I can say I do. ;) While another baby has always been part of the plan, this was a little sooner than we thought, but we quickly became accustomed to the idea of two close playmates and the house getting a little more snug by Christmas. Taking for granted that the last time we were pregnant...it ended with Annabelle's appearance - we were quick to tell close family and friends. I ran right out and got Annie her first "Big Sister" shirt (which by the way, the smallest I could find was a 2T...for an 8 month old baby...)

In addition to the usual pregnancy lifestyle changes (there went my martini)...we had previously decided that during the next pregnancy I would take on Annie's galactosemic diet, as a precaution, in case this next baby was also galactosemic (the odds are 1 in 4 for another galactosemic). So, quite by surprise, and all in the blink of an eye (or a positive pregnancy test) I became seriously sober and essentially galactosemic. ;) It was a quick crash course in the diet that's for sure -- and also what prompted us to be so forthcoming with the news... It was one thing if I passed up a drink, it was another if I passed up anything with dairy, soy, tomatoes, etc...

So we got excited, we got the granny's excited...and last Friday myself, Daddy and big-sister-in-the-making, Annie, all piled into the Doctor's office to get our first glimpse at this new baby (which I had decided was most certainly a boy, or twins...you know, mother's intuition this time around ;)....only to ultimately find out that we do not have a viable pregnancy. I think we all knew as soon as we saw the big empty circle on the ultrasound screen...this isn't the same. (After all, it wasn't that long ago at all that we saw Annie there, so we knew what to expect.) There's a placenta forming, but no embryo - ie. no baby...to make a long story short.


I expected to be devastated...and I've heard before how hard miscarriages are - but as soon as I saw the empty screen, I think I processed the information pretty mater-of-factly and quickly turned my attention to Annabelle across the room. She was busy babbling, completely unaware that she had gone from big sister, to lone queen of the castle in a matter of minutes... Thank God they were there. No baby news...is much easier to swallow, when you already have a baby to love on. While we would have embraced #2 in December - and enjoyed every moment of two very close babies...we have a new chance now...to get a little better prepared.

We'll take this opportunity to research the galactosemic pregnancy diet a bit more. We'll have more time to give Annie all the undivided attention she deserves. Mommy will take this opportunity to throw back some summer cocktails, sign up for the Chicago Half Marathon, and generally enjoy summer before returning to incubation mode sometime soon :)


For those of you who have followed our short "pregnancy" all this time, thanks so much for your support. I can't believe the amount of calls and emails I received from so many of you who have gone through this very sort of thing. We have the best family and friends - and everythings gonna be just fine :)

Jimmy Johns - customer service so unhelpful, you'll freak!

So - I've been searching for places to safely take Annie to eat in the future (luckily we're not really quite there yet - but most of you know, I'm a planner!) I figured fitting a galactosemic diet into most convenience places would be tough, but we've had great luck getting information from most places about ingredients. One of the places I was especially excited about was good ol' Jimmy Johns...they have simple Italian bread, it's likely safe...build your own sandwich, we could pick our own ingredients from there - Ta-Da! Right?...... Wrong. I emailed the company for information regarding the ingredients in their bread. This was my experience:


Me to Jimmy Johns:

I am looking for an ingredient list in the bread at Jimmy Johns. My daughter has a very specific medical diet she must follow - but we would love to bring her to Jimmy Johns, could you please provide me with an ingredient list for your breads (and any other items on the menu that you could share!) Please send info via email. Thank you, Robyn

Jimmy Johns to Me:

Robyn,

Thank you for taking the time to write.

We do not give out the ingredients in our bread.

If you provide the specific ingredients you are trying to avoid, I can help you out.

Thanks,

Kelly

Me to Jimmy Johns:

Wow, Kelly, that seems crazy to not share the ingredients of your foods!

Due to being galactosemic, myself and my daughter cannot have any of the following, per our medical diet:

*I went on to list the multitudes of galactose-full foods and items (much too long to post here)

Jimmy Johns to Me:

Thanks for eating at Jimmy John's! I am writing you back in response to your earlier email.

Given that your need for information is so extensive, and because we would not want to make a small mistake in providing you perfect answers to your questions, we think it is in your best interest to not eat at our stores. We will miss you as a customer.

I hope that this answer is helpful. We appreciate your business.

Jimmy John's

Me to Jimmy Johns:

Aimee:

Sadly, I have just lost that warm fuzzy feeling I had always associated with Jimmy Johns. I had seen previous posts on facebook and various blogs regarding people with food allergies and disorders having trouble getting information from Jimmy Johns. I didn't believe it, so I went ahead and requested information on behalf of my family. Unfortunately I see, the negative experience others have had finding ingredient info is consistent. I too will miss Jimmy Johns, but much less so now that I realize what very little effort is given to keep customers.

~Robyn & Annie Meek

Sad story huh? Top secret bread I guess...

I will miss Jimmy Johns, but I think I'll get over it. PS. Subway was VERY accommodating with their ingredient list.