Reason number 867,899 not to have a kid

I'm sitting at the kitchen table this morning drinking coffee and reading the news when out of nowhere I get a thumb of poop thrust into my nasal area. "Look! Stinky on my finger!"

Now I have both barf and poop to clean up.

Thanks Buster.

Sunscreen

So, we have the 1 kid in 5000 (or whatever the number actually is) that is allergic to chemical sunscreen. Seriously. This is what happens if we put sunscreen on him -

Not good. His entire face swells up and gets huge red welts on it. Thankfully, he doesn't really seem worse for the wear through it all.

Off we went to the pediatrician to try and figure out what went wrong. Her reaction = "huh, weird. I've never seen that. I think you should see an allergist." Thanks. Off to the allergist we went to try and figure out what's wrong. Her reaction = "huh, weird. I've never seen that. There is no actual test for allergies to sunscreen or the sun so it's all trial and error. Try putting him outside without sunscreen on for a day and see what happens." See what happens!?!!? Uh...do you notice the whiteness of his skin and the redness of his hair?

Ultimately, we tried many different combinations - no sunscreen (only outside for an hour), sunscreen on a cloudy day, sunscreen on a sunny day, sunscreen for babies, sunscreen for kids, sunscreen with parabens, sunscreen without. Finally, we deduced that yes, he does have an allergy to chemical sunscreens. Now we have the kid with the white face because we have to use zinc oxide as a physical sunblock.

"Did you have a good birthday?" "Yes, I did. I big."

Happy 3rd Birthday Buster!

I can't believe we've all (mostly) survived to 3!!! These years have been filled with tons of fun memories, as well as tons of hair pulling moments.

Buster's favorite part of his birthday - 2 birthday cakes and seeing Tori!

My favorite part of his birthday - when he yelled 'Holy Balls!' as he opened his gifts from us.

Jim's favorite part of his birthday - when it was time for bed.

Here's a rundown of the Dude's big day -

Opening presents in the morning. We decorated the house after he went to bed. Buster was so excited when he woke up - "For me?!?!? It's my birthday!!!!" As he opened his Thomas the Train wooden set he yelled "Holy Balls!" I learned that while not technically a swear, it's pretty close so I need to stop saying it. However, coming from a 3 year old - it's adorable!

Picking out what Thomas toys he's going to get next.

After the morning's festivities, we spent the afternoon with Grandma and Buppa, Auntie E and Auntie Chelle, and Allison. As usual, he and Buppa played until Buppa could play no more. Then Buster made him play some more. It was wonderful to see Grandma out of the house and dolled up - we are so happy you are healing well!

Grandma and Grandpa Mason called Buster all the way from Florida to wish him a happy birthday. He loved talking to them and misses them very much!

Then it was on to Stonefire Pizza Co. for some pizza and fun with Tori and Ferris. (If you ask Buster, Tori is his sister.) We told him he could bring one friend with to pizza and he chose Tori (Ferris comes along in a package deal but it's cool because Buster also loves Ferris.) We ate pizza, played with (more!) trains, water tables, pizza kitchen, face painting, and playgrounds. Then it was on to our home for more cake and presents with the Drake clan, Uncle Chris, and Uncle Patrick and Aunt Steph.

By the end of the day, Buster was beyond exhausted and more than ready for bed.

A huge thank you! to everyone for the birthday wishes and gifts as well as the gift of spending time with us and helping us celebrate. The day was a success!