Eczema is Evil

EDIT// I updated the prayer list on my sidebar. I added the Sutton Family. Also, Stacia's baby boy Colin was born today! Please let me know if I can add anyone to the prayer list. If they have a website or blog or anything like that to link to, leave that with your comment! Thanks!

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Eczema. I feel like it is a never-ending battle. It's seriously one of my biggest frustrations these days. Not on my self, but on Benjamin. The poor dear itches all over it seems. Sometimes I feel so hopeless and I feel like I've tried everything but I know I cannot give up.



You can see the rough skin on his legs and arms there {sorry it's a bad picture - the child is snow white so the light just bounces off of him!}. Do any of you have to battle with Eczema, on your person or on your children? I battle both. I am afraid I had something to do with the fact that Benjamin has such bad eczema. Of course, my case is nothing compared to his. It is very hard knowing how miserable my eczema makes me, and then knowing that Benjamin's is so much worse.



It's really bad around his ankles and behind his knees. And the poor thing doesn't know how to ignore the itch, and so he scratches and scratches. I feel like I have tried everything under the sun {I know I haven't}. I've tried switching soap/shampoo many times. We use scent-free, hypoallergenic detergent for his clothes. He wears mostly 100% cotton clothing. I've tried goat milk soap. I've tried countless lotions and ointments. He's had a prescription steroid cream.



Some of these things worked for a while, and all of the sudden they quit. The most success we had was with the Goldbond Ultimate Healing lotion. This worked wonders. And then just stopped. It's so disheartening to see his eczema go back to the way it was- some days even worse. I just feel so hopeless. Have I said that before? Sigh.



The newest thing we have tried has been Triple Cream, which we found in the baby aisle at Target. The box said it was specifically for eczema and although it was rather expensive I had to get it to see if it would help my poor baby's legs. It seems to be doing okay. I've seen a little improvement, but not enough to make me real excited.

This is what his ankles looked like yesterday:


And while that may look not-so-good to you, believe me, that is good. I am praying that this will continue to improve. Please if you have any advice for eczema, please tell me. I feel like I'm at my wits end on this. If this cream doesn't do it, I really don't know what will! This is me asking for help: HELP!!

Excited on a Blah Day!

I don't know if it is just the weather or the fact that I just feel super groggy, but so far today has been a sort of blah day. Hubby just got home from being away all morning. And Benjamin had a sort of grumpy morning as well. It's just one of those days, I guess. He's napping now. I'm taking a breather.

Yesterday we received the Goat Milk Soap we had ordered late last week. Benjamin has eczema really bad {especially in the winter} and I have tried so many different things. Lotion, cortizone cream, steroid cream, Aveeno bath, hypoallergenic bath... I finally gave up on all of that and researched Goat milk soap. I saw some testimonials on the website that said it got rid of their infants' bad eczema within a week of using. Last night we bathed Benjamin with it and this morning it doesn't look nearly as bad as it usually does! Hooray!


That's the sweet bag it came in.


And there's the soap itself. It will hopefully last us a while.

They also sent a few samples so I used one of the little samples on some of my dry spots as well. We got Benjamin the Purity bar because it didn't have any fragrance in it. I used the Oatmeal, Milk, and Honey sample. Fantastic!

Tonight we are going to IHOP to celebrate National Pancake Day with a free stack of pancakes! I am so excited. We have been planning on this for some time now and it is finally here! Is it sad I'm getting so excited over this? IHOP is one of my favorite places to eat. We celebrated NPD with IHOP last year, too, and I think it was the first restaurant we took Benjamin out too. He would have been just over a month old! Is anyone else going out for some free pancakes?

After that, we are going to Chris and Kayla's for LOST night. Excited! Very!

Oh, and my last bit of excitement for the moment... can you guess? Here's a hint!



This happens tomorrow! Can you guess what I'm totally pumped about?!