Friends

Friends...most of the time. The older they get the better they are at playing together. They are really great at acting out different stories, especially Rapunzel. Sometimes I have a hard time telling if Emerie is yelling at Madison because she really did something wrong or if she is just being "Mother Gothel" and telling Rapunzel to "get back in her tower!" They make me laugh and I have fun watching them play. Sometimes Madison will wake Emerie up earlier in the morning than I would like or get her up from a nap just so she can play with her. Madison usually directs all the playing and tells Emerie what her name is and what she should be doing. Emerie can hold her own though and will not go along with Madison if she is doing something that she doesn't want to do.

Still Allergic

About two weeks ago I had quite the scare with Madison's peanut allergy. She had asked for the cereal Strawberry Bunches of Oats which we keep in one of our clear humidity proof containers. I then went in the other room to get ready for aerobics.

Not too much later Madison came in the room complaining that she needed a drink because her mouth and throat were really itchy. I looked at her face and she was red all around her mouth. I thought how strange, got her a drink of milk and then went to inspect her cereal. Oh oh, there were pieces of pecan mixed in with the cereal. I came to find out later that Jake had combined two of our cereals without me knowing. The other cereal had bits of pecan pieces in it. Madison is specifically allergic to peanuts and almonds however we avoid all nuts because they are usually manufactured on the same equipment.

It wasn't long before Madison's face started to swell and all of her membranes became full of mucus. I had actually given her some benadryl that morning for seasonal allergies and I wasn't sure how things would progress. I had always been afraid of using the EpiPen and was hoping not to get to that point. Madison was screaming and very irritated.

I called a friend who has used the EpiPen on her son before and asked at what point do I need to use it. She said to wait until after you have given the max amount of benadryl. So I gave Madison another dose and continued to watch her. Things continued to get worse and so I paged Jake at the hospital. He reminded me that you don't want to get to the point where she can't breath and gave me the courage to do it if I needed to.

I said a prayer and I was able to get Madison to stop crying long enough to realize that even without crying her breathing wasn't getting any better. She knew what the EpiPen was and I told her I was going to have to use it. She started screaming again, no epi, no epi, as I stuck her in the leg and counted to ten. I then called 911 and they sent the paramedics over to come and check her out. Not too long after Madison started to calm down and her breathing sounded a lot better. We went in the other room and turned on Tangled, her favorite movie while we waited for the paramedic (you always have to call 911 after using an EpiPen).

They arrived and Madison was really good while they checked her out. Typically they take kids to the hospital to be monitored after events like this however since Jake was going to be home that afternoon they let her stay at our house and rest. She was pretty swollen in the face the rest of the day and definitely crashed after her overdose of benadryl. I was so grateful everything went alright. Madison has finally stopped reminding me in the morning not to give her any cereal with nuts. Poor thing, I felt so bad. We are definitely more careful now and at least I know if I need to I have the courage to use the Epi.

What a Trip!

A few weeks ago we took a trip! So... this farm, is about a 40 minutes drive from our house but somehow I managed to get there in about 2 hours. How did I extend our scenic drive to the farm with two anxious little girls in the back seat. Well, there are a few contributing factors. #1-A broken GPS (relied on mapquest directions) those don't always go so well for me:), #2-Once we found the right road we were stopped by a very long train which stopped right on the tracks with three cars left to go! The service man didn't know how long they would be blocking the road, 30, maybe 45 minutes, hard to tell! He redirected us to a road with contributing factor #3- A flood, yes, the underpass was flooded. The officer gave us new directions and on our way came #4- We all needed to make a potty stop so we headed to the nearest McDonald's for a bathroom and chocolate milk to keep the troops happy:). #5- Once in the car again those new directions just didn't work out for me. #6- I am sure the train is gone by now, I headed back to by original road hoping the train had moved. The train was gone however there were quite a few more twists and turns before we finally made it!
The girls got to see about 20 minutes of the farm. They saw the sheep get sheered, pet the baby lambs, said hi to a few more animals before heading back to the car when it started to pour rain. Whew I what a trip! We made it home with only one wrong turn and we were saved by my friend Kristen who redirected my awful sense of direction over the phone. The girls were pretty restless on the way home. They were driving each other crazy and letting me know the time in the car needed to be over. Lets hope our next trip to the farm is less driving and more farm:)