Allergists are nice, but you never want to need one.

Elspeth is officially allergic to soy now.  And milk.  And eggs.  And we have an epipen in case she accidentally eats some peanuts, so she doesn't die.  T_T  Fortunately, since we have a letter from a real allergist, the WIC program will give us goat milk for Elspeth, which she should tollerate much better.  Which is weird, because I had actually not noticed any allergic symptoms when she has milk or milk products.  But hey, live and learn I suppose.  The big problem of course being that grocery store goat milk is not so great... any milk you buy is a MINIMUM of two weeks old, and goat milk doesn't have as long a shelf life as cow milk, it starts to taste goaty at about the week and a half point.  We are going to have to get some goats some day.

New Flickr pics

Climbing Stove
Originally uploaded by Driggs family

More pictures on Flickr. Not tons, but some. Also, I finally aquired a carseat! Yay! It is on the floor in Elspeth's room because Mark wants to clean out the car a little before we put it in. I just hope I don't lose the seatbelt clip before that happens.

The adventure never ends

So, we have decided to do cloth diapers on the new baby, because it only costs about 20% as much as it would to use disposables.  Well and good.  But the stuff was already here, so I decided to try out my diaper-fu on Elspeth.  That is when I discovered the cause of the perpetual rash around her waist and legs -- she is allergic to something in the disposables.  We have also proved pretty conclusively that she is allergic to soy.  Now the diapers aren't that big a deal (the new one was going to be cloth buns anyway), but the soy, oddly enough, is.  Can't use cooking spray.  Can't use shortening.  No Oreos.  Most brands of granola are out too.  SOY IS IN EVERYTHING!!!  I swear, every time I think I have everything under control, she breaks out again, and yep... soy.  The good news about this is it may explain her egg "allergy" -- sometimes they bother her and sometimes they don't, and it's pretty much random.  Which means it's POSSIBLE that she isn't reacting to the eggs, she's reacting to the soy that they fed the chickens who laid the eggs.  Fortunately, my plans involved raising my own laying flock as soon as I have room anyway.  And soy isn't really good for chickens, so hey... healthy soy free chooks, healthy soy free Elspeth.  But in the mean time, I am getting VERY tired of reading labels.

Well, I didn't get the carseat.

I did, however, order the cloth diapering stuff.  It seems really expensive up front, but when I keep in mind that this is ALL I WILL HAVE TO SPEND ON DIAPERS FOR THE NEXT FOUR MONTHS, it doesn't seem so bad.  Also, the subsequent four months will only cost about a third as much.  I have however found another eBay carseat.  This time, I swear I'm waiting to the LAST second and I'm going to POACH IT!  Less than two days to go tho, and nobody has bid yet, so things are looking a lot more promising than last time.

I freaking hate eBay.

I am trying to get a carseat on eBay, and it makes me angry.  We do need a carseat, and this one IS a good deal (assuming bidding doesn't go too high), but really, I can't stand the suspence!  It makes me grouchy and obsessive.  So, if any of you are bidding on a plaid rear facing carseat that started at .99, CUT IT OUT!  IT'S MY FREAKING CARSEAT!  >.<

I don't post very often, do I?

But then, I question whether anyone reads this blog very often anyway, so there you go. Not much is new in any case... I am officially thirty weeks pregnant with a still-alive baby, my birthday is tomorrow, and my pepper seeds are (finally!) sprouting, and that is about it.  Also, Elspeth is trying to wrap my head in a towel, so I have to stop typing now.

It's a...

GIRL!  She is just the right size, has all the right parts, and fought the ultrasound tech every inch of the way.  Definitely a fiesty one.  I guess I only know how to grow them one way.  We even got a free 3D ultrasound (they were trying out some new equipment), and she didn't cooperate for that either!  By the end, even the tech thought she was getting mad.  Cute little chicky.