a reminder...

they are only mine for a little while...

continued...

this past few weeks has been a bit of a whirlwind. take the normal business of the weeks and throw in the beginning of the final trimester (yay!) of my fourth pregnancy and you can just about bet that i have been beyond exhausted. last saturday i had plans. i had to go to mooresville and go to a bridal shower for my soon to be sister in law. then i was going to finish making plans for the shower that my mom and i were throwing for her the following day. i was already feeling rushed and i was frantically wrapping the present for the shower in the living room as kyle made lunch for the kids. i needed to leave in 10 minutes and i was trying to put those final touches on the package...at the critical bow tying moment kyle calls from the kitchen, "i think you should come in here because i think jack's lips might be swollen."
i responded by saying, "i'm busy...bring him in here." (mother of the year part 1)
kyle responded by saying, "no, i think you should really come in here..."
i got up and walked into the kitchen and saw the image from the pictures i posted yesterday.
obviously kyle's response was a little understated; jack was OBVIOUSLY swollen.
neither one of us is a stranger to allergic reactions because calvary has had his fair share, so thankfully we were not panicked. we looked in the cabinet and gave him a dose of benadryl and then took pictures (mother of the year part 2)
i decided i would call my friend, who is a nurse, and ask her if she thought i needed to do anymore. at this point his lips were swollen along with his tongue and part of his cheek. i casually chatted with her for a couple of minutes (mother of the year part 3) and then asked her what i should do. she told me to keep checking his breathing and head on to urgent care if i notice any difficulties. 2 minutes later he started coughing and breathing funny.
i scratched all plans for shower appearances and we quickly loaded all the kids up and headed straight away to the urgent care.
the first place we went to asked us to sign in and have a seat. (she was incredibly curt and overall just rude) we sat down with our obviously swollen jack and she ignored us. for 15 minutes. we decided we were going across the street and the minute we walked in the lady took one look at us and ushered us back into a room. the next thing we all knew there were firemen and medics in the room asking us for a car seat and which one of us would be riding in the ambulance...nice.
i, being mother of the year (part 4), asked the medic if it was necessary to take the ambulance to the hospital. he assured me that it was. they did not like the idea of me riding because it is a bumpy ride so kyle was voted to ride along...
by the time we made it to the hospital we had swollen lips on jack and kyle car sick.
the hospital staff was very nice and gave all the kids popsicles...affirming calvary's love for the hospital...the doctor was really weird, but we left with prescriptions and spent the rest of the day recovering from the festivities of the day.
i am now armed and ready with epi-pens and the new found knowledge of oliver jack's allergy development.
the only thing that bothers me is the fact that we have been feeding him peanut butter for the past 6 months (i know, i know--kids are not supposed to be given peanut butter until year 2---mother of the year part 5) and we have never had even a hint of an allergic reaction.
i'm not writing off peanut butter forever, but without question peanut butter is off limits for at least a little while for now...

guess how we found out that oliver jack is allergic to peanuts...

should i be offended?

me (in response to calvary's happy observation that we were parked closely to a buggy return): i know. your mommy is one smart lady...

calvary: hysterical laughter...


my children keep me humble

sick little baby boy...

i have spent the last few days helping oliver jack fight off the strangest virus that i have yet to encounter with any of my children. over the weekend i thought that he was developing a cold. his nose was running and he was a bit needier than usual. by monday and tuesday i thought that i would be taking him to the doctor to check for an ear infection. he was very grumpy and was staggering around like a drunk man. yesterday, though, he woke up throwing up and having diarrhea. he wouldn't eat and he slept 4.5 hours during the day. i have spent the entire week either holding him or having him on my lap. today he is still quite weak, even though the vomiting subsided after 2 episodes. i'm hoping that we are on the final stretches of all of this. everyone else has been remarkably well and i am thankful for that...the last thing we need is a sick calvary. after hand foot and mouth i think everyone in this house needs (deserves) a few years off of calvary sickness...

the mind of calvary...

out of nowhere at lunch today calvary matter-of-factly says, "some people sleep naked."



(i burst out laughing which leads him to explain that some people do not have enough money for clothes so, sadly, they have to sleep without clothes "and it is very cold.")