South Dakota!

"South Dakota.... Where the wind goes whipping 'cross the plains."

Our trip to South Dakota was good. We didn't get to see my ailing grandma which was sad (she's 87 and not in very good health) or one of my uncles. However, we got to spend a lot of time with my cousins and my aunt and uncle. Addie and Lily were incredible travelers! They had no problem with the 7 1/2 hour car ride. I was really worried about that, but I kept the kids happy with snacks and the movie "Happy Feet" the entire way.

Once we got to my aunt and uncles the girls had a blast in the swimming pool. Lily was such a fish! She was kicking her legs and splashing, just having a wonderful time. We couldn't stay for the actual graduation ceremony, but we did go to the graduation mass (Catholic High School) which was very nice.

While we were there I had my uncle the doctor check out Lily since she still hadn't gotten over her cold from the first of the month. He said that her ear was getting pink and that her lungs were kind of rattley. So he proscribed an antibiotic biaxin (sp?). By her 3rd dose, Lily's nose was running like a sieve, she was cranky and she had a rash on her legs. I freaked. Here we were about to take this child on a 7 1/2 hour car ride and she was having a reaction to the meds. I was shaking I was so scared. My uncle checked her over and said it was a mild reaction and we should just give her Benedryl. Guess she won't be getting Biaxin again! So now we're watching her carefully.

Comments:
*Yes, I checked out flying to South Dakota, but it was prohibitively expensive. From Duluth to Aberdeen it was $897 per person.

*I received an email from Gerber. They are forwarding my concern on but they develop products based on demand, so basically they won't do anything. However, they are being gracious enough to send me coupons that I can never use because all of their products have milk in them!! If you have not gone to the Gerber website and asked them for more non-milk products, please do so now. The only way they will sit up and take notice of people like us is if we request more allergen free food.

*In answer to Sue's question, Lily is allergic to milk and now arithromyocin. She is 14 months old as of tomorrow. Her reactions seem to be only from ingesting, and she develops a horrible open sore diaper rash/skin rash.