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the other royal wedding
On the same day that William & Kate tied the knot, there was another very special wedding. This one was held at Timmy’s school and was for Q & U. Not only a celebration of the two letters that always seem to go together but of the Kindergarteners learning their whole alphabet this year. And the royal wedding playing on the screen in the background.
Timmy all dressed up in his wedding finery. 
Teachers and parents really went all out on creating a great wedding and reception.
So serious.
Jack was ready to run down the aisle to get it over with. 
Olivia and Ryan, also quite serious.
The vows were as follows:I, Mr. Q pledge to take you, Ms. U with me wherever I go. And have her stand beside me in all the words that I will make.
I, Ms. U pledge to follow Mr. Q in all the words that he plans to make. Even though I can make my own words…
All the boys were Q’s and all the girls were U’s. Could it have been any cuter?
Timmy with his two favorite girls. 
Congratulations to Q&U- they make a lovely couple, dont you think? -
10 for Tuesday
It’s been quite a while since I did one of these. I’m a little rusty, so bare with me…
First a little business…
1. Looking for the perfect mothers day gift? Look no further! A bsquared gift card (available in any amount) is it!! I can have your gift card ready for the special mom in your life within an hour for pick up or mailing. And it comes already wrapped in a bsquared gift bag, so no wrapping needed! Email me at bethbeyrer@yahoo.com.
2. The bsquared calendar is now open thru the end of August, 2011. You can find it here: bsquared calendar Book your summer sessions soon (especially the limited number of beach sessions available) before they are all gone! (I booked a possible record 7 sessions since sending out the May newsletter via email last night at 8pm and this morning!)
3. Jack & Patrick got another ridiculously amazing report card, both of them with 98+ overall averages. So proud of those boys!!
The competition does tend to get a little rough. 
4. Also on the Jack & Patrick front, they played in 2 baseball games on Saturday. One for the National League where they were subbing for some kids who couldn’t make their game. And one for their regular team. They won both games (yay!!) and Patrick was even awarded the game ball at the end of the second game!! Patrick said that Jack should share in the game ball for pitching a really great last inning and striking out the other team. Patrick got the winning hit for the game!! And my nephew Brendan hit a homerun! It was a come from behind victory and even I was excited! Of course, I didn’t have my camera with me. But here’s the game ball.
It was great to see them play so well, put into action the things that Coach Bryan has been working on with them, and see them get a little more confidence.
4a. Had to pop this in here cause it was too funny to leave out. My facebook status from last night: jack got stuck in the bathroom because there was a towel wedged in the door so he couldn’t open it. and patrick got toothpaste in his eye. and these are the kids with the 98+ average? oy.
5. I’ve decided I’m starting a new movement. To make those who keep us waiting (doctors, dentists, hairdressers, customer service reps, car repair people, airlines, etc) pay us back for our wasted time. I understand emergencies and technical difficulties arise in life and for those instances, no payment would need to be made. But when the wait is NOT caused by those things, I think we should get some money back from the copay or the ticket or whatever. Our time is JUST as valuable as theirs and I’m not paying for services not granted in a timely fashion. Just like I wouldn’t expect a client of mine to wait for me to start taking pictures an hour late without a phone call or an explanation. Who’s with me?
6. We are in the midst of getting our upstairs bathroom remodeled and so far it’s looking great. I can’t believe the speediness of the guys working on it and what a great and clean job they are doing! Pictures on the bathroom before, during and after coming soon. If you are looking for a great general contractor in the area, let me know. I’d be happy to pass on his name!
7. Just finished up the Dennis Lehane Kenzie & Gennaro series of 6 books. Loved them all!! Dennis Lehane is a fantastic writer and I love all of his books that I’ve read so far. I think my favorites from the series of 6 Kenzie/Gennaro books were Gone, Baby, Gone & Moonlight Mile (which is the follow up to Gone Baby Gone). Fantastic and I highly recommend all of them. Still have to read Mystic River and The Given Day to complete all his books. They are on the list.
8. Timmy has informed me that he is marrying Kristen (from his nursery school and now Kindergarten class). They really do make the perfect couple. They are both on the smaller side, only eat very specific food, really are very considerate of eachother all the time, love Disney and just look too cute together. Kristen’s mom and I have decided that the wedding will be at Disney (and then Timmy said they will ride Splash Mountain 100 times after the wedding is over). and that we will be having all of the holidays cause we aren’t going to their house for it with their limited menu of rolls, bagels and oreos. She’ll cook, I’ll cater. And Timmy told me that he’s going to tell Kristen that “I love my Legos, but I love you even more!”. She’s a lucky girl, no? Don’t worry…he’s still really tight with his girl Olivia. They sit together at lunch almost every day and had a blast at Disney together. Although she seems more interested in Patrick these days….
9. I think the boys are a bit sick of me and my camera.
10. I’m afraid to speak too soon, but my allergist (never had an allergist before this year although I should have!) put me on Astepro nasal spray for my horrible spring allergies and I think it’s actually working!! The only thing that ever worked in the past to really stop the itching, sneezing, etc was Benadryl but that just turned me into a raging b*tch. It just made me so tired that all I wanted to do was sleep and it was not a good idea for anyone to speak to me. So far, so good. My peak is usually mothers day, so time will tell if it continues to be helpful. I hope so!!
11. I’ve been doing the Couch to 5K program (via an iphone app) with my friend Heidi for 5 weeks now, and yesterday was a real milestone. I ran (ok, jogged really slow but it was still jogging) for 20 minutes. In a row!! Never, ever before have I done that. Ever. Everyone says speed doesn’t matter (which is good because people walking quickly can pass me while I’m ‘running’- will work on speed after I can do 30 min of running on a regular basis which will still be a while) but I’m pretty excited I actually did it!! Next run day is back to interval training with walking and running. Week 6 coming up!
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robin & eoin
As those of you who are friends or blog stalkers know the story of my BFF from college and her miracle baby who was born at 25 weeks. You can always read their story here. Eoin turned 2 (omg, where did the time go?!) yesterday and is doing amazingly well! With the red hair, green eyes and beaming smile he had me drooling over him the minute I got there. And then when he loved playing with me and let me hold him? Done.
So one week from today, Robin & Joe (and Eoin too) will be welcoming their identical twin girls!!!!!!! to the family. Robin’s going full term with this pregnancy, and although they had an IVF appointment set up, they found out a week before the appointment that she was pregnant. With twins. On their own. Totally crazy and a miracle. Again!Look how good Robin looks!! When I first walked in and saw her, I said you aren’t so big at all. Especially not for twins! Right?
From the side view, there are definitely two babies in there! And I know she cannot wait for them to be born so she can breathe because her lungs aren’t in her neck anymore. And eat more than 5 bites without feeling full cause her stomach is squished someplace in there. And walk without baby A’s head pressing on her siatic nerve at every step. I know these things because I was pregnant with twins once (and cause she told me!)
Eoin’s pretty excited, too!
Omg, kill me now with that smile. 
And don’t even get me started on those eyelashes. 
I’m funny. Especially to two year olds. 
So in college, Robin painted this beautiful picture of a girl in a clearing in a forest, with dark hair, looking down. It was never quite finished (at least not to Robin) but I always loved it. And the shot of Robin on the left reminds me SO much of that painting.Eoin is enjoying the new minivan they just got. With three kids, it’s what you gotta do.
Cannot wait until ‘the’ phonecall next Friday. And to find out what the girls names are (cause Robin won’t tell me and I’m so impatient)! And to see if they have Eoin’s coloring. And who they look like. And to go back up and take a thousand twin newborn pictures!! Stay tuned and please send all of your good thoughts to Robin, Joe & Eoin on a very easy delivery and recovery with healthy twin girls! -
sunny & 85 degrees. everyday.
I wish this was my life all the time, but it sure was great for the 9 days were in South Florida over Eastover break.
Since my cameras were on their own spring break/spa weekend getting cleaned and callibrated, I borrowed “mr. mark’s” (the owner of Rockville Camera) Canon Rebel, but I never used it!! Not even once. I shot all the pictures with my iphone. Pretty cool, huh?
Using the ’tilt shift generator’ app.
And using the shake it app. 
The view from the 20th floor balcony. Should be the view out of the windows at home too. 
Timmy and his new hat. Timmy Beyrer? Tiny boy? Tampa Bay? Turkey Burger? Take your pick…
Same view night & day. 
Now we have to wait until Christmas to head back down. But hopefully summer will be 85 and sunny every day here! -
my allergy boy
So, for those of you who follow me on FB and know me in real life, you know that Timmy was diagnosed about 3 weeks ago with some pretty major food allergies. Soy, peanuts, all legumes, tree nuts & sesame. It all started after an unfortunate incident with a bottle of Ensure where I almost killed Timmy. Total allergic reaction replete with vomiting, hives, red itchy eyes, running like a faucet nose, wheezing and coughing. Good times.
I took him to an allergist where he had a skin/scratch test which turned up really positive for soy, peanuts, legumes and sesame. A blood test later on showed the same things. Upon getting the blood test results, the doctor told me to take ALL soy out of his diet including soy lecithin and soy oil, as well as all products made in factories that produce peanut foods, all legumes, and all sesame/sesame oil products. For 3 months. Regardless of the fact that he ate soy sauce at least 2x a week, chocolate (with soy lecithin) all the time, bagels with definite sesame cross contamination, green beans, and most of his snacks were made in peanut facilities. With no reactions ever. Until the Ensure with ‘concentrated soy protein’. I was seriously more worried that he would die of starvation before anaphalaxis. I got an epi pen and benadryl and the doctor scared the crap out of me. I started watching Timmy like a hawk after every single piece of food went in his mouth. Even all of the foods he’s always eaten without problems. Spent some time (a lot of time) crying in supermarkets and at home, trying to figure out how we were going to live like this for 3 months and probably longer. I called all of our favorite restaurants and deli’s asking about ingredients used, read a thousand labels and online articles. And just got more and more convinced that this diagnosis made no sense. He ate soy (the boy will drink the soy sauce out of the dipping bowl unless i stop him). He ate cross contaminated products. He was fine!!!
We went to Florida where all we do is eat out and toward the end of the vacation I was just getting so annoyed by the whole thing because he WAS eating all that food up to the day of the diagnosis. So with epipen and benadryl in hand and the hospital down the block, we had pizza made with soy oil (at a restaurant we’ve eaten at many times before) and french fries fried in vegetable oil (which may or may not contain soy oil). And you know what? He was FINE. Not a symptom. Not a sniffle. Not an itch. And then he had sushi & steak teriaki with soy sauce when we were back home in NY. Again, fine. I was so happy but so confused/annoyed/needing a second opinion.
So, yesterday we went to Mt. Sinai Hospital Dept of Pediatric Allergies in NYC to see Dr. Kim for a second opinion. And I’m so glad we did. He still came up positive on her scratch tests for soy, peanuts, sesame and birch trees (he gets that one from me!). But, the big difference was that Dr. Kim said that Timmy CAN still eat all of the things that have soy, soy lecithin, soy oil, and cross contaminated products that he has been eating for at least 4 years! Obviously, he has to be careful not to have real soy (unprocessed soy or soy protien/concentrated) foods, not concentrated sesame foods, and no peanut foods at all. Totally doable and so much more of an appropriate response from this doctor. So we’ll keep the epipen and benadryl on hand for emergencies, but Timmy can eat what he likes! Which is the best news of all!!
Going back for testing again in a year to see if he outgrows anything which is a definitely possibility.
A big thank you to anyone who messaged me, emailed or called. Hugged or texted. Chatted or calmed. Your support and advice was SO helpful. Just to know that others had the same experience with the first doctor with him being crazy conservative and sought their own second opinions. To hear of other food allergy stories and that their kids are OK and doing great. You all saved me!