Workin' The System

Baby Girl is a little too smart for her own good.As you may know, we recently found out that she is allergic to...well, just about everything. Especially peanuts.

Question; (as a parent) has this ever happened to you? Your child asks you for a pudding, apple, bowl of cereal, etc., only to take one bite and then say they don't want it? Well Baby Girl does it to me all the time, only I make her eat whatever it is she asked for. (OK, I try to get her to eat it.)

Anyway, the other day Baby Girl asked for some yogurt. She sat in her chair. I gave her the yogurt, unopened, because she likes to open it herself and lick the lid. I gave her a "baby" spoon because she doesn't like regular spoons. She started eating the strawberry yogurt and I started unloading the dishwasher. She ate about half the cup and then looked at me with a disappointed face, shaking her head and said,

"I can't eat this, it has nuts."

Mother of the year (I don't think so)

We have been potty training Baby Girl and using gum as her incentive. She has done really well, with the training and the gum. Until recently when she started pulling the gum out of her mouth and wrapping it around her head. I cut the gum out of her hair in the back, but when she got gum stuck in her eyebrow, (?), on family picture day, I was not going to shave her eyebrow off. So, how do you get gum out of hair? Peanut butter of course. We got Baby Girl in the tub and proceeded to rub peanut butter all through her eyebrow and forehead. When the gum was just about all gone I remembered something I should have remembered long before I rubbed peanut butter all over my baby's face. SHE IS ALLERGIC TO PEANUTS!!! We quickly washed the peanut butter off of her skin, but she was already having a reaction to the peanuts. Everywhere her skin came in contact with the peanut butter it was red and starting to swell. Then down her neck and scattered across the rest of her body she had a rash. I immediately gave her some benedryl and prayed that I would not need to use the epi-pen. Then I sat and watched her. Slowly the rash and swelling went away. I am thankful, again, that my ignorance and stupidity didn't harm my baby anymore than it did.
And no, I will not be mother of the year.

It's a good day

It's Veteran's day.
It's my Dad's birthday. Happy Birthday Dad, you're the best!

My dad...then and now.

What can I say, I love this guy. ♥

I Dare To Hope

Today my mom started a kemo-like IV therapy for her blood disease. In 1986 she started receiving blood transfusions and has been getting them ever since. After 23 years of transfusions, it has really started to take a toll on her body. Lately she has been going to get blood every 9 days, and she is still tired. Whenever I drive past the hospital my kids say, "There is Grandmas hospital."

Unlike Kemo, this therapy is not as hard on the body, she will not loose her hair, the most common side effect is fatigue. I don't know how she could be more tired. Just walking from her bedroom to the living room makes her break out in a sweat. I don't think people understand how tired she really is. Sleeping doesn't help.

Anyway, this medicine, if it does what it should/can, is supposed to help her bone marrow produce proper red blood cells. The medicine does not kill the cell like kemo, it kicks them into gear. The doctor said there was a 40% chance that it will work. It is not a great percentage, but it is something. If it works it should make her transfusion less often or maybe none at all. It takes about 3-4 months to see if it is working. She goes in once a day, for an hour, for 5 days then nothing for 3 weeks, then once a day for 5 days and so on.

So, I am hopeful. If it will make her feel a little better, that is enough for me. She has already lived longer than I thought she ever would. It is hard to see her tired and ageing and not be able to do anything to help. I do not expect a miracle, because I trust in the Lord and his plan. But if He wants her to stay with us a little longer, that is alright with me.

Halloween Trick

I pulled a mean trick on my kids, what can I say, it's Halloween.
On Friday afternoon our Pediatricians office called and asked if we had gotten the H1N1 flu shot yet. I told them we had not. She then told me that their office had received a shipment and they were calling all the high risk patients (thank you Baby girl) and their families first. So I scheduled a time later that day for all of us to get our shots. When the kids got home from school I piled them into the van and told them we were going to get new shoes, but first we had a stop to make. When we got close to the doctors office Brother said, "Are we going to the doctor?" I said, "Yes." Little Sister, trying to calm herself, said, "Don't worry, we are not getting shots, we already got our flu shot." What she said was true, we already got our flu shots--the regular flu shot.
We all got our shots, some were easier than others. And then we got shoes and ice cream. The really mean part of my trick is, in 30 days they have to get a booster shot.