When we got back from our vacation Henry had been having "digestive issues" for about 2.5 weeks. Due to the fact that we had been travelling and not being able to keep him as dry as needed his poor little bum was all red and raw. (I know Henry will love me for posting that when he gets older). Anyway, I ended up calling the doctor and they wanted me to bring him in immediately. So, I did and the Dr. had he had a little virus and that we should take him off cows milk for a few weeks until the bug had worked its way out. This is because cows milk is harder to digest than soy or rice milk.
We got back from our vacation and didn't even have time to fully unpack and decompress before Andrew was packing up again. We had just enough time to get Henry to the Dr and Christmas pictures taken. He was sent to PA for work for a week. Then he made the short drive (well it was 3 hours, but still a lot shorter than from AZ) to visit with his grandparents and aunts/uncle. Andrew had a very nice visit with his family. They had dinner from the Dinosaur BBQ (which is Andrew's favorite) but one of his aunts was sick so she was unable to partake. Andrew is always impressed with his grandfather's garden. but since it is wintertime (even though they had a very nice Oct/Nov) Andrew had to make due with admiring Henri's Christmas Cactus. 
While Andrew was away I was fighting with Henry to get him to drink Soy or Rice milk. Henry didn't really like soy or rice milk so I was halfheartedly trying the get him off milk. If I had to choose between giving him milk or having him not drink any at all...of course I choose milk. On the first couple of days when Andrew was away, Henry and I spent our time getting acclimated to being home. This meant spending lots of time with the doggies (so Henry could get used to their barking again) and trying to teach Henry "Gentle" so he won't pull or hit the dogs and cat. He has also started to get really curious about the dog doors. We have also been spending lots of time outdoor because the weather has been so nice. Henry was having such a hard time adjusting to sleeping in our house once again. So, I was totally exhausted since Andrew was not here to help at night. 
Then on Thursday Henry had his 15 month Dr. Appointment. He got some shots and we talked about the sleep issues. And then we talked about his diet issues. Henry is not a very good eater. He is very picky and one day he will eat a food exuberantly and the next he will not even open up his mouth for it. Plus, it does not seem like he is eating more solids than when he was still on breast milk. There was some confusion as to whether he lost weight. In the computer system at the Dr office he did an entire pound. But according to what we brought home he gained an ounce or two. So we started talking and she said that it is possible he had a milk allergy. Since he had been having digestive issues for 3 weeks, she first wanted me to try to give him Lactaid (Lactose-Free Milk) to see if that is what was doing it. And if that didn't work she wanted me to try to take him off milk and dairy for a week. The Lactaid didn't help, so we switched to soy. We bribed Henry with strawberry syrup, to help mask the flavor of the soy. But we eventually tried vanilla soy, which he liked. Once we started taking him off milk products a magical thing started to happen. He started sleeping. We have had one night where he slept from 7PM to 6:30AM, with no wake ups. That was absolutely amazing. Unfortunately we are finding hidden milk stuffs in all sorts of the snacks we give him. So hopefully once we get him totally off milk he will continue to sleep. Grandma is done with her classes for right now and has her practical exam for hypnosis in December. She was also commenting on how soon Thanksgiving will be here. I think she is glad to have us home, but is not used to the mess and the chaos that comes with an active toddler.
When Andrew came back, we put him to work. There was so much to be done around the house. Yardwork (since the last landscape company we hired did a horrendous job), planting our winter garden, getting organized because are in the process of building a pantry and a storage room (with A/C), we are also trying to get the study cleaned out and moved to our bedroom so we can make Henry a playroom in an attempt to keep our living room cleaner, and Dee Dee has now figured out how to push our patio doors open, so we are scheduled to have the doors replaced on Dec 9th. Needless to say we are scrambling trying to keep ahead. I am very hopeful that we will be able to get everything moved this weekend, the pantry and storage will be complete, and we will have our garden planted. Looks like we have another busy week.
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