As seen at Raising Weg, via APL…a snapshot of 2006 seen through the first sentence of the first post of each month.

You know you are old when you watch Dick Clark New Year’s Rocking Eve in bed and fall asleep well before midnight.

Well, after our experiment last night, A did in fact sleep through the night.

I’m currently caught up in Spring Carnival planning hell, so I haven’t thought much about how to set up the book club as I’ve been too busy settling squabbles over whether we should be serving Jello Jigglers or Oreos (neither, IMO, but hey, who am I to dictate snack choices…).

This is one of those mornings that pre-kids I might have been pleased to be up at 4:30 am.

You can say many, many things about my youngest child.

Head over to Unity ’08.

On Friday afternoon I took both kids over to the new house thinking M was there building his to do list.

Are we the only household in which Band-Aids are the major form of currency?

I’ve been waiting for it to happen, and wake up each morning surprised that it hasn’t hit.

Well, I stuck to the menu last week, but something went slightly wrong with each meal.

So I’ve decided to try the NaBloPoMo instead of the NaNoWriMo.

It was not a good night for the worrier last night at Chez J-E.

Apparently, much of my life over the past year has focused on sleep, or rather, the lack of sleep. Here’s to hoping next year is a little more restful.

Nope, not strep. The pediatrician is stumped, but felt that further allergy testing wasn’t worth it right now as we have no idea what to even test for. So we are in a watching and waiting mode, armed with new Epi-Pen prescriptions. Gah.

Now I have to focus on Christmas again. I wonder where that to do list ended up…

Still hives. Although last night we were smart enough to dose A with Benadryl BEFORE she woke up covered in hives, so we were not treated to a third night in a row of kids TV at midnight. The fact that PBS Sprout runs 24 hours a day is both useful and scary all at once. As clearly there must be enough children up watching TV at midnight to make it worthwhile…

But I digress. We head into the pediatrician’s this morning right after we drop C off for a consult and a strep test, as apparently Cousin C breaks out in hives with strep throat. May it be strep…oh please let it be strep. C has developed “itchies” as well, although his are not apparent to the naked eye, if you know what I mean. And A is convinced that she saw the dentist on Friday night, despite all of our attempts to convince her otherwise. Even C had thrown up his hands in disgust with a “Believe what you want, A. But you DID NOT SEE THE DENTIST!”

So that’s about all the news that is fit to print over here. A has some hives as I write, but I am trying not to dose her with Benadryl until after we see the doctor. Why, I don’t know, as it isn’t like she is going to be able to do anything besides look at them, nod, and say, “Yep, look at that, hives!” but at least I’ll have independent verification that she does in fact have hives. But as I told Rebecca yesterday, it just isn’t a major holiday without a trip to the pediatrician’s. Do you suppose it is tacky to hand deliver her holiday card?

Last night, A woke up fussing. I got annoyed as I was in the middle of baking cookies for the teachers and pies for Christmas. She wouldn’t settle down, and I finally noticed that she was scratching incessantly at her legs. I put some lotion on, and then suggested we put new pajamas on her. When I took off her clothes, I saw she was covered, I mean covered, in giant hives. Her legs, arms, and hands were swollen. Her sides and her face were covered. She was coughing.

M took her downstairs and put on the TV while I phoned the pediatrician’s office. After getting on the list for a call back, I remembered to give her Benadryl. And then we sat and watched the hives grow and change and spread. The nurse-on-call got back to us, and very nicely suggested that I take her to the ER since the Benadryl didn’t seem to be taking the hives down. “The cough is a little concerning,” she said. And my hand hit my forehead. Duh, coughing=closing of airways. Hives + coughing, not so good.

M put on her green princess pajamas, and off we went. On the way, the Benadryl seemed to kick in, and she started chatting with me. “It is dark! Which doctor are we going to? Oh! Is the hospital decorated for Christmas? Why don’t I have a coat on? Is it raining? I was very itchy Mommy. I love you Mommy.” When we finally got the hospital, the hives on her face had gone down, but her legs were still covered. We signed in, and we waited. And waited. And waited some more. I called M (from a pay phone! They still exist! And they cost 50 cents now!), A fell asleep. We were finally seen by the triage nurse and fast tracked in the pediatric ER.

But by this point, the Benedryl had been in her for almost three hours, and the hives were gone. The ER doc gave her some steroids, made sure I had an Epi-Pen and knew how to use it. “Did you consider using it?” he asked me. “No, quite honestly I didn’t,” I replied. “You might have wanted to consider it,” he said calmly. “It sounds like the coughing wasn’t that bad, but if it had progressed, or the hives had spread to her eyes and lips, in the leg, ten seconds, call 911.” I just blinked. “But we don’t even know what she is allergic too!” I screamed internally. “She hasn’t had a reaction to anything in 15 months! I’ve stopped worrying about this!” But instead of freaking out at the poor ER doc I thanked him, scooped up the still sleeping A and headed home.

She woke up on the way to the parking lot, and chattered all the way home while I held the tears back. “The hospital was decorated Mommy! With a tree and lights! I was a good girl! Is it still night time? I didn’t even see a doctor, am I still sick? My face is sticky. I got medicine? What flavor? Oh, I like grape! No, I think I want to sleep in my own bed. But don’t forget to put your jammies on! Did daddy have his dinner yet? Did he like it? I love you Mommy.”

I put her into her bed, and M and I just looked at each other in the darkened house. “I don’t get it,” said M. “How did this happen? How can someone react like this to something and we can’t even figure out what it is?” and later “This isn’t how it is supposed to happen. This isn’t what I envisioned when we had kids. Why?”

As I type, A is still sleeping, hive-free I think. I even managed to sleep, somehow, last night. And Monday, I guess we head back to the allergists to begin what I had really thought we were going to avoid, the long, painstaking process of trying to figure out what she is allergic to. And I have to steel myself for the fact that my daughter is going to be carrying an Epi-Pen for a very long time.

So here are my finished holiday projects for my niece and nephew. I have a puppet that is almost finished for my other nephew, I just have to do the hair and embroider the face.

Now I am off to make pumpkin pies and breakfast casserole to throw in the freezer for Christmas day. Just call me June.

A high of 61+ degrees today. That is just wrong. I know those of you in warmer climates are used to this in December, but we had had snow by this point last year. Not much, but some. I’m finding it hard to get into the holiday spirit while running around in a long-sleeve tee shirt and nothing else.

Still working on Christmas, I should have some pictures for you by the end of the day. I’m almost done with the stuff for the nieces and nephews. But I think Grammy is losing out on her holiday scarf. Perhaps for President’s Day….