I hit an all-time low this week as a parent. First, some backstory. We've known that Levi's allergic to peanuts since he was 18 months. The 2 or 3 times that he'd been exposed to peanuts in his life, he got an instantaneous rash around the outside of his mouth. However, these were carefully controlled exposures and Jeff and I were standing close by with a dose of benadryl.
Then I did something completely careless and stupid on Monday morning. Jeff and I decided to start out the week by taking the kids and dog for a morning run. In my eagerness to actually accomplish this goal and get everyone out the door, I grabbed a granola bar that a houseguest had left behind and threw it in the stroller for Ruby. Levi was still working on his sippy of milk at the time, but he wanted the same thing after we got back. The wrapper said "fruit & nut" on the label, which sounded fine. I usually make the kids home-made granola bars, in which I put plenty of dried fruit, walnuts, pecans, and almonds. I didn't even give it a second thought. I set down the granola bar for Levi and walked off to take a shower. When I got out, Levi was still working on the granola bar, but he was making fussy noises too. This is highly unusual when Levi's eating something that he enjoys, and this kid really enjoys granola. Then the alarm went off in my head. I yelled to Jeff from the bathroom to dig the wrapper out of the garbage and check the label for peanuts. Sure enough, "honey roasted peanuts" was one of the top ingredients. We took the granola bar away, gave Levi cereal instead, and things seemed okay. Levi stopped fussing and that customary rash on his face never appeared.
Fast forward 3.5 hrs later and Levi is in full tantrum mode. He's yelling at me to get the boogers out because he can't breathe through his nose. I cleaned out his nose, but he was still a wreck. Mind you, I'm still in swine flu alert mode at this point, so my next course of action was to get his temperature. Ha, try doing that on a hysterical patient! I tried to stick that damn thermometer in any available crevice or orifice to get a reading, but to no avail. Levi was still telling me to get more boogers out. I told him that I got them all and that he couldn't breathe through his nose because he was crying so much. Then I gave him a generous dose of Tylenol Cold, which contains an antihistamine in addition to Tylenol for the fever that I was so sure he had. That definitely helped, and Levi was asleep within 30 minutes. But he only slept for about 15 before waking up again in tears because of "the boogers". It was only after I helped him with the potty that I noticed the localized rashes around his neck, armpits and groin. By this time, it *finally* seeped into my dense, thick, idiotic skull that this wasn't anything remotely related to swine flu. I quickly gave him a full dose of benadryl, and he calmed down.
We managed to get an appointment with the pediatrician that Levi had never seen before at the end of the day. The nurse at the front desk asked me at least 3 times if I had mentioned that Levi was a new patient when I made the appointment. I actually didn't make the appointment. Jeff had to do it from work because at the time I was at my wit's end trying to figure out why Levi was so inconsolable. Anyway, the nurse was clearly annoyed that she had to go through all the new patient paperwork at 5:00 pm. Whatever. I was even more annoyed because it was clear that Levi was having problems, and that we had to see the doctor out of necessity. Anyway, the doctor was great, Levi has now recovered, and he's scheduled to get 2 vials of blood taken tomorrow to determine the severity of his allergies. Jeff's taking him to the lab because I don't want to know what they have to do to extract so much blood while he's still conscious. My poor little guy.
The twist of the knife came when Levi looked up at me from under his swollen lids and asked, "Mommy, why did you give me the granola bar with peanuts?"
Phew, back to his cute normal self.
Messing around with headbands.
Kind of looks like Tattoo from Fantasy Island here doesn't he? :)
As for me, I got a bilateral bunionectomy in October. I'd finally had enough of what I came to refer to as my 2 sixth toes. Jeff took a couple weeks off to take care of the kids while I recovered. I still have range of motion problems 8-weeks post-op, but physical therapy is helping and I'm starting to run again.
It's a good thing that I can run again, because another thing I've been doing is baking, baking, baking! We pretty much gutted the house during the remodel, but decided to keep the stove and oven. Both are vintage Western-Holly fixtures original to the house circa 1956. The oven is tiny and looks like a retro washing machine, but it is spot-on when it comes to holding a temp. I've had a great time baking my way through the Tartine cookbook.
The Western-Holly workhorse with the guitar rack in the background that we made out of an Ikea headboard.
Deluxe Double Chocolate Cookie
Jeff's favorite: mexican wedding cookie.
Soft Glazed Gingerbread using an antique cookie mold from my neighbor, Laurie.
My favorite: gougeres!
