Christmas in the ER

We had a wonderful Christmas day. Lots of yummy food, perfect gifts, and spending time with family! I wish it would have ended perfectly... but instead, we spent the evening in the ER!

We found out a little after Connor's 1st birthday (almost a year ago) that he was allergic to peanuts. We've been so good about keeping them away from him... until tonight. I ALWAYS check something before I give it to him. And if I didn't make it, I ask the person who did make it what's in it. It's been a constant struggle, but we've done it. Well, I was tired tonight, and I wasn't really thinking. We were playing games with the family, and Connor kept asking for some candy. He'd had a lot already, and I didn't want to give him anything. But then I saw a plate of goodies that my parents neighbor had brought over, and there was an oatmeal cookie. So I let him have one last sweet for the night.

Turns out there was peanut butter in them... which I didn't realize for quite a while. Honestly, when the reaction starting happening, I was thinking it had to be something else, because I knew he hadn't had any peanuts. At first I thought maybe something had just got into his eye, because he was rubbing them because he was really tired... then started crying while saying "my eye... my eye!" I gave him some Benadryl just in case, and we left to go home. He screamed the whole ride home and once we got home he just wouldn't calm down. He screamed for about 30 minutes as I was rocking him in his dark room. I said a prayer with him, that we would know what was wrong and how to fix it, and that everything would be ok. Then I went out into the living room with him, and he was swollen with welts all over his face. So I called my mom (like always) and she said to go to ER. Then my sister who was next to my mom suddenly said "what about that cookie?!" and it was then that we realized that it had peanut it it. Bethany took a bite and confirmed that there was peanut butter in them.

So we took a ride to the ER (luckily it's only about 5 minutes away) and even though there were TONS of people in the waiting room, we were seen right away (yay!) :) We were in and out in about 1.5 hours. Connor got some more Benadryl (I was told the wrong dosage previously, and hadn't given him enough) and a steroid (not sure which one)... and luckily the swelling went down. It was itching him so bad... I felt horrible, because I couldn't do anything to help him :(

Here are some pictures about an hour after the Benadryl...

one of his legs...

the other leg...

bad picture, but if you can sorta see... his eyes were VERY swollen...

poor little tummy, it was so swollen it got all wrinkly...

luckily Connor had wonderful nurses and a doctor that made this trip not as bad as it could have been. The nurse even gave him that wooden train/truck on the right :)

Luckily he's doing better. We're home and he's in bed. We have to give him Benadryl until the welts/swelling goes away and Prednisolne for a few days.

And now we're going to be even more careful about watching what he eats!

Merry Christmas!

Twins

I had to go to T-Mobile to get a new SIM card for my old phone (because I lost my new phone while on vacation to Utah) and as I'm standing in line, I turn around and see this...

my twins :)

A Little Mess

A few days ago, Connor and I decided to make some Cranberry Muffins. He LOVES helping me cook... and I usually let him have some baby oatmeal and water to mix, so he thinks he's doing something too. That way, he can also eat the "dough" :) I finished my batter and put the muffins into the oven. He was mixing so nicely that I decided to leave for a few minutes to go check my e-mail. After only 1-2 minutes, I went back to check on him and found this...

and an empty container of baking soda (which WAS full before I left)

Of course I think this is funny, and take these pictures, and I figure he can't do much more damage, so I'll go upload these pictures while he's mixing his dough (oh, and he asked for more water, which I thought would be pretty harmless)

As I'm loading the previous pictures, I here him laughing... followed by some weird noises and more laughing. I come back out to the dining room and find him "sweeping" his mess...

My guess is that while he was mixing, a little "dough" flew, and it was just too funny to not have all of it fly...

If you can see behind him, it reached my dishwasher and wall, which were about 5-6 feet away from him...

That'll teach me never to leave the room to check my e-mail!

A visit with Santa

At our ward Christmas party...

I've been preparing Connor for Santa for about a month now. I show him pictures... we've learned that Santa says "ho! ho! ho!"... and I've told him what a nice guy he is :) Connor is scared of anything in costume... so I figured he'd be afraid. As soon as he saw him, he got clingy and started crying. But I tried to distract him by asking what Santa says, etc. Of course that didn't work, so I told him that if he sat on Santa's lap, he'd get candy...

For anyone who knows Connor, he LOVES candy. I hide all candy, cookies & sugar from him, or he'd eat it all :)

and as promised, he got his candy...

and then very quickly got off Santa's lap :)

Picking out a Christmas tree

I love doing comparisons from one year to the next... just to see what a difference a year makes. Here's Connor last year and this year, picking out a Christmas tree...

He went from a baby to a boy. It's crazy to me how much he's growing up!!

And here he is... helping with the lights...

Backyard fun

Connor's favorite thing to do is play in the backyard. He LOVES turning the hose on and "watering" EVERYTHING in sight. It's been really cold, so I haven't been letting him play with the hose... so I disracted him this day with climbing trees instead :)

I LOVE this one :)

I love his little expression in this one too!

Arizona Trip

We hadn't been to Arizona to visit Aaron's parents for almost a year, so we decided to take a short trip out there in the beginning of November.

We were trying to pack up the car, and Connor was getting in the way, so I gave him a snack (lasagna) to keep him busy. Then he came out to me looking like this...

I didn't take that many pictures for some reason, but here are a few highlights from our mini vacation...

Trying on Grandma's glasses, and doing some work on the computer...

Connor and Daddy out in the backyard, checking on the chickens...

Connor thinks he's a doggie...

Playing in the "sandbox" at Grandma's...

Playing video games with Uncle Kris...

Watching movies with Grandpa...

Trip to Utah - Nov

My blog has been acting up lately. For some reason, when I try to load pictures, 95% of the time, there is an error! Luckily it worked this time... and some pictures are out of order, but I don't care... at least they are on here :)

Bethany (my sister) visited me for my first birthday away from home (in PA where I was a nanny). Bethany just had her first birthday away from home... so I REALLY wanted to go and visit her. I was going to fly up there with Connor... but then I talked my mom and other sister, Katie, into driving up with me and staying for a few days! :) We left the day after Thanksgiving, and came home the 1st of December. We had such a fun time. I LOVE going to Utah. Actually, I love any vacation... but it was especially nice being able to see Beth.

For Bethany's birthday, we did lots of fun things...

We went out to breakfast at Denny's...

We visited the Bountiful Temple...

We went to DI for shopping (where I found LOTS of good books!) & Ikea for lunch! (no pictures from there though) :)

Went to see the lights at the SLC Temple...

Went out to dinner at Famous Daves BBQ (Bethany and her non-alcoholic drink on her 21st birthday! lol)

Here are all the things she got...

Some other random stuff from Utah...

Kate & Connor taking a little nap

Connor's first snowfall. Not technically... but he was too young to know what was going on when it's snowed the previous year. He LOVED it, and didn't want to go inside because it was too much fun!

Grammy was TRYING to take a nap. Connor doesn't like when people take naps, lol.

I was worried that Connor would forget Bethany (you should have seen his reaction when she got home from Russsia almost a year ago after being gone 5 months!) but he totally remembered his "Ya-Ya" and stuck to her like glue :)

I was in the shower and he decided to dump his full container of puffs onto the bed, and eat them off without using his hands (how he often eats his food)!

Connor LOVES when I take pictures of him now. He'll do something, find my camera, and then try to bring it to me and tells me "cheese?" That's what he did here... he lined up his cars (which is what Connor enjoys doing 95% of the day) and wanted me to take a picture of it :)

On our way home... our usual stop in Beaver :)