Christmas ER Visit

In my 10+ years as a parent I have NEVER taken a kid to the Emergency Room - I've been pretty lucky.  Well, that all changed on Christmas Day.  Here's how it started.

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On Friday night just before bed, Brailee mysteriously got a fat lip and a couple of hives around her mouth.  I gave her some Benadryl and sent her to bed.

Saturday morning she woke up with a few more hives on her torso (the lip was fine, though).  I gave her some more Benadryl.  She flared up again at least one more time later that day so we did more Benadryl before bed again.  Sunday (Christmas Morning) she woke up with a swollen upper lip.  She was thirsty when she woke up so she took a drink of water and immediately threw it up.  We got some crackers and some more water in her and she kept it down this time.  Luckily she felt okay to open presents then after some breakfast we gave her some more Benadryl.

More views of the swollen lip:

She started to get worse so we decided she would stay home from church so it was just me and the two older girls that went.  By the time I left she was covered from head to toe in hives.

I worried about her all through church - I didn't like how it kept getting worse and worse as soon as the Benadryl would wear off.  I felt like I should take her in to the ER but didn't want to be an over-reacting mom, either.  I talked to a couple of friends at church (some with medical backgrounds) and they helped me trust my gut and realize it really was nothing minor.  By the time I got home from church she was clear and feeling better, but as soon as the Benadryl wore off it came back the worst I had seen it yet.  I gave her some more Benadryl and a soda bath to relieve the itching but this is what her back looked like:

We knew it was time to take her in and we couldn't wait any longer, and the ER was our only option.  David gave her a blessing and then he stayed home with the rest of the kids while I took her in.  She was so good at the hospital.  She took her 'Pink Ploodle' that she got for Christmas (it was the only thing she asked Santa for) to keep her company.  She never whined or cried and she let the nurse and doctor do what they needed.  They never discovered exactly what caused the reaction - it may have been something viral or it could have been a food allergy, though she hadn't had anything new lately so we have no idea what it could be.  They recommended she avoid peanuts/peanut butter for a few weeks, but I was really skeptical since she has eaten it almost daily for the last four years.  They gave her a steroid to help with the hives.

Since no stores were open because of the holiday, we had to wait around for them to find some meds for us to take home.  She played with her 'ploodle' and the iPod for a few minutes.

Then she fell asleep.  We finally got some Zyrtec and the steroid and we were good to go.

She was starting to feel better that night after we got home.  She put on a little show for us...

Gpa T and Gma Shelly gave her a smoothie maker for Christmas (yes, a real one - she loves it!) and one of her friends gave her an apron.  She couldn't wait to use them both and make some strawberry smoothies for everyone.

Here is what she looked like the next day - still spotty but no new hives.

Once the Family Practice that we go to opened again on Tuesday, we went in for a follow-up.  They confirmed my thoughts and told me it probably wasn't peanuts/peanut butter since she did eat it so often and never had shown any other signs.  They said maybe after 4 or 5 exposures maybe but not hundreds of exposures.  On Wednesday she had one more flare-up on her hips/thighs but after a quick dose of Benadryl it finally completely went away and all the spots did too and she's been good ever since!  If it happens again then we will end up doing blood work to try to figure out what's causing it.  For now it's still kind of a mystery!

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It was definitely an memorable Christmas but I'm just glad it wasn't any worse.  It was really the best kind of ER trip to break me in, but I don't look forward to ever have to take one of my kids again!

Christmas Fun

We had a pretty eventful Christmas - I will start with the good stuff first ;-)

Christmas Eve

That day we made more goodies and just hung out together.  We had our big holiday meal this day so there was lots of action in the kitchen that day.  The kids couldn't wait to open up their new jammies so as soon as it got dark they opened them up and put them on.  Then we went to deliver goodies and look at Christmas lights.  I did not make jammies this year - there is not a fabric store here and each time I made it to a town with one it was closed, so I found some online that matched their personalities and they love them and so do I!

We didn't stay out too long as the kids were anxious to get home and get to bed, especially Brailee as we found out later she wasn't feeling like herself.  So we came home and sprinkled magic reindeer dust...

...and put out milk and cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer.  Once again Trysten snuck into Santa's milk - he does this every year!

A few days before, Bree was grumpy and pouting (unfortunately she's good at that) so to get her to happy up I got a little silly and sat on her lap and pretended she was Santa - well, the rest of that week it got everyone doing it and they would all just giggle.  Here Trysten is that night as Santa asking Brailee 'What you want?' even though she didn't quite make it onto his lap.

Christmas Morning - we set our alarms (yes - crazy, I know!  I look forward to the time when we can let the kids wake US up for once) so we could open up presents in time to get ready for church.  I really enjoyed having Christmas on Sunday - it's always a great way to remember the true reason for the season!

Here are some pics from opening presents.  Everyone in the family got a sweet pair of hand-knit socks from Gma Nae and Gpa LaRon.

Brailee got another microphone - hopefully this one is better than the one she got last year for her birthday since it just quit working the day after she got it and we had to send it back.  Notice her fat lips?  You'll hear more about that in my next post.

Kaylee got her very own keyboard that she can keep in her room since she loves music so much and loves to play the piano.  She's having fun with it so far!

Brianna asked for a Zooble 'city'

She was happy when she got even MORE Zoobles from Gpa T and Gma Shelly

Trysten loves his tools. 

Gpa T and Gma Shelly gave him this firetruck and he couldn't wait to open it up.  He pushed it around in the box until we were finally free to open it up for him.

Look at that smile!

Brianna got a Chinese Jumprope - she has had fun playing around with it and learning new moves. If you know of any good sites with clear directions or videos, please share!

Kaylee got a Cat's Cradle and has really loved it. She picked up on it really quickly and she has most of the moves memorized and can literally do them with her eyes closed. Here she is doing Jacob's Ladder, and besides Cat's Cradle she has also mastered Cup & Saucer, Eifel Tower, Cat's Whiskers, and Witches Broom.  Those are the only ones in her book - does anybody else know some good moves/games?

Trysten got a cool new workbench and since he loves to vacuum, he got his own shopvac - I walked into his room the other day to find him cleaning up his workspace.

I hope you all enjoyed your Christmas Day!

December catch-up

We started off the month with a combined birthday party for the girls.  I have never combined their party and never will again, it was crazy!  The reason I did combine was because due to our busy July this summer and then August flew by as well, I just never got around to throwing a party for Bree, even though I had a super fun balloon/water one planned.  When Kaylee's birthday came around 4 months later and she asked for a party, I decided to combine.  A friend of mine had dressed her family up as Angry Birds for Halloween, so that's where my idea started.  Here's some of the snacks - they got to build their own Angry Bird Sandwich using bread cut using a circle cookie cutter, lunch meat, different cheeses for the eyes and beak, and olives.  I found the idea HERE thanks to a friend who shared it on facebook.

The kids also decorated their own Angry Birds cupcakes - once again I won't share pics of the kids and their creations for privacy but I loved what they all came up with!  I provided lots of different colored frosting, black licorice ropes, gummy orange slices (that we cut down for beaks), marshmallows, sprinkles, and various other toppings.  We did homemade personal pan pizzas - so yummy!  I didn't get any pics of just my kids, so I won't share them here.  Here is the pinata that the girls helped me make - he's the bomb!

I ordered some slingshots and ping pong balls and we planned this fun game.  Here is Kaylee trying it out a couple weeks before the party.  If you can't tell from the pics, we drew some pig and bird faces on the ping pong balls.  This pic is before we colored the balls - I ended up using spray paint to get different colored balls for all of the different characters.  The kids divided into teams - one would be the pig team and build up a fortress from foam blocks and the other team would be the birds and try to knock it down with their slingshots.  It was a lot of fun.

The next day Bree had a party to go to so she helped me make this quick fleece hat and scarf as a gift for her friend - she had to model it and make sure it would fit!

Here's Brailee and I hanging out at the girls' school Christmas Program.  I think it's great that we live in a community where the public elementary school can still have a Christmas program!

Brailee is in a performance group called Sunshine Generation and December was their performance month.  She loves it - it's totally her thing as she loves to sing and dance - constantly!  Anyway, they had five performances and she got to sing the solo for 'Teddy Bear for Christmas' a few times - I'm so proud of her!  Here she is in her costume - I'm not a fan of it but she loves it and still looks adorable ;-)

We wrote letters to Santa.  I helped Brailee write hers - we sounded out the words together and I helped her with some of the trickier words like 'dear' and 'would'

She got to drop off everybody's letter at the mailbox since she was the only one who wanted to come into town with me!

One morning while the older girls were still in school, we had a tea party in Brailee's room, in our jammies with only the light of her Christmas tree - so fun.  I'm so lucky to get to stay home with my kiddos!

Dracula joined us...

...along with his little sister, Suzy!

Here we are picking up the girls from Activity Days - they had a fun Holiday party and Brailee played with the leftovers.  It was some reindeer antler relay game with panty hose and balloons, she looks too funny!  It was quite entertaining to watch.

Trysten used them as reins and giddy-upped around the room ;-)

I FINALLY got a stocking made for Trysten - he has been using a 'spare' for the past couple of years.  I planned on finally finishing it last year and had all the stuff out but the pajama project consumed me and then I got sick so it never got done.  I am wanting to do something new for our family stockings hopefully by next year, but at least he has one now!  Last year I didn't have anywhere to hang our stockings since we no longer had a mantel, so this year I came up with this.

I covered clothespins with fun paper scraps from all of those German Stars I am always making, they fit perfectly!  Then I used the clothespins to clip the stockings to a string.

This year since all of the kids finally have their own room they got to put up their trees in their room - I loved not having them all out in the living room like they have been for the last few years.  Here is Trysten decorating his while Kaylee watches.  I only got pics of the two younger ones with their trees - next year I will get the other two ;-)  Trysten's is a black tree with red ornaments.  I need to find (or make - if only I had more time) a tree skirt for his, but just haven't had any luck with either so far.

Brailee's tree - hers is pink with pink and silver ornaments.

We did a few crafty projects in December.  Kaylee came up with this idea and luckily I had everything on hand that she needed - she hot glued together stacks of buttons and used pipe cleaners to make rings out of them for her friends.  I think they turned out super cute.

Here's Trysten and Brailee with a gift for their preschool teacher - I made some of these previously, along with some other characters - you can check them out HERE and HERE.  This time we used the fun button punch that my SIL gave me for my birthday a couple years ago for the eyes and mouth - I like the buttons better than the plain circles I used last time.  Inside we put some warm fuzzy socks and some treats.

We did lots of sledding right in our front yard - love it!

Trysten is fearless.  He goes over and over again, the only thing that slows him down is waiting for someone to help him get his sled back up to the top each time.

Brailee likes to ride down on Daddy's back.  I think she's in that hat there somewhere!

We didn't make it to see Santa until the Wednesday before Christmas we finally caught him at the library.  This was the first year every single one of my kids saw Santa and nobody was shy or afraid!  This was a big step for Brailee this year!

My Dad and Shelly gave us this snowmobile this last summer - it just needed some work, most importantly a new rope for the pull start.  So David worked on it and after some outside help we finally got it running.  It's been fun to buzz around our place.

Brianna wanted to make stress balls out of balloons and flour, so that was another simple project we did.  Here is Trysten with his, plus he got into his sister's lip gloss ;-)

We don't do gingerbread houses around here - we prefer graham cracker houses.  Here are the kids with their creations.

We made some yummy new treats this year - Peppermint Oreo Balls (can you tell we like Oreo Balls around here?), and Peanut Butter Cups (I can find the link to the recipe I used if anybody is interested), along with some old favorites, pretzels dipped in white almond bark and sprinkled with yummy Pampered Chef toppings - Caramel and Cinnamon.

That's not all of our December happenings - I'll be back with some pics from Christmas and of a certain birthday girl!