Under the Sea

Sophie made her first diorama for school this week. She was asked to choose a habitat to represent in the project and she knew right away that she wanted to make the ocean. She gathered up the ocean animal toys we had and, after realizing we didn't have as many as we thought, I ordered some additional animals on Amazon.

I assisted by taping the lid of the Amazon box open so she had a deeper space for the diorama and by tying fishing line to her ocean animals. She did the rest, and I think she did it well.

Sunshine

You guys! It warmed all the way up to 52 degrees yesterday! As soon as I discovered that I called out to anyone who was listening that we were going on a walk and if they wanted to go they needed to put shoes on right away.

It was still chilly, especially with the wind, but it was so much better than it's been!

Style

 

The Groundhog Wasn't Kidding

It snowed again. There is so much snow outside. I'm not complaining, I know the moisture is important and it is winter and all, and I don't have to be outside in it like I would in a normal year. I'm just amazed at how much there's been.

So Much

Tonight during dinner Topher leaned over to me, put his arm around my shoulders, and said, "I love you, so much!" And then he gave me a great big hug.

This is what I'll think about when he wakes up at 1 o'clock in the morning for a snuggle.

Into the Outside

When we had our giant snowstorm a few weeks ago we all went out to play and found ourselves practically buried in too much snow. I told the kids I'd take them back out after the snow had melted a little and was more manageable. Two days later, with the snow looking just right to play in, I threw my back out and had to spend most of the next week flat on the couch, moving as little as possible. That meant no more snow play and some very disappointed kids.

Right about the time my back was calming down and I was moving more, Cooper's hives showed up. That took a lot of time and energy and focus to help him, so we still didn't go back outside to the snow. Plus the snow had turned hard and icy and was much less fun.

It snowed again last night and today. I'm tired from a late night of supervising Cooper while he worked to catchup on school, but I made it a priority to bundle us up and go outside. Then, when Topher and I were ready to come in, Bryan stayed out with the girls since Phoebe had just finished her schoolwork and desperately wanted to be out in the cold too. Seriously, she loves the cold.

Cooper was wrapping up his final assignments for the week and didn't join us. Don't worry though, we're supposed to get even more snow next week; he'll probably play then.

Love Is All Around

With all the craziness of last week, I didn't have much energy to put together Valentine's Day magic. Thankfully, Bryan and the girls did.

Bryan bought decorations on Amazon and I assisted the girls in putting them up on Saturday night before bed. Then I turned my attentions to ironing out the details for my YW Zoom lesson for the next day. Bryan stepped in and took it upon himself to create Valentine's goody bags for all of us. Cooper, Phoebe, and Sophie also made Valentines for us.

After a nap on Sunday afternoon I found some energy and made cupcakes and helped Bryan with dinner. The best part of cupcakes is getting to decorate them yourself, which is just what the kids did. While Sophie ate her treat I heard her say, "Hey Phoebe, without these cupcakes this would have been a Valentine's Day meeting, huh?"

They both knew they had chocolate on their faces when I took these pictures.

We enjoyed a lovely family dinner. Bryan really is the master of cooking pork chops.

Sophie loved the decorations. She has decided this is her favorite holiday.

Bryan is also the master of getting fun treats. Topher was a big fan of this chocolate-covered marshmallow heart. 

I love that we celebrate Valentine's Day as a family.

You Need Me

I was trying to think of something clever to post with this cute picture when I heard Topher crying upstairs. I ran up to see what was wrong.

Me: Buddy, what's going on?

Topher: I need a tissue.

Me: You need a tissue? Okay, I can help with that. (I hand him a tissue) Is that all you need? Are you ready to go back to sleep?

Topher: No. You need me to 'nuggle me.

Me: I need you to snuggle you?

Topher: Uh huh.

That's when he lifted his arms up to me for a cuddle.

Who can say no to that?

A Sure Sign

Good news: Cooper is feeling well enough to be ornery, always a sign of being on the mend.

We're thankful the hives are almost totally gone. We're thankful that he's only had two doses of Benadryl today. We're thankful he was able to do schoolwork the last two days.

We're not thankful for the ornery, but we're thankful for him.

Progress

Friday night was rough.

We had suspected that Cooper's swelling was due to his scratching. We were finally able to get him to sleep around one o'clock on Saturday morning by holding his hands so he couldn't scratch himself and doing a deep breathing exercise with him. I suggested that Bryan head to bed so he would have some rest in case he needed to take Cooper back to the ER. I offered to stay with Cooper and hold his hands so he wouldn't scratch. There were several times throughout that night that he tried to pull his hands away to rub at his face. I held on tight and prevented that until 6 AM, which is when I finally crashed. It helped though, his face was not as swollen that day.

We also made the choice to increase the Benadryl from every six hours to every four hours. This made a huge difference. By Sunday afternoon the hives appeared to be mostly gone, however his hands, feet, and face were all swollen, though not in the same way they'd been swollen from the scratching. By bedtime last night I wondered if we were done with the hives.

He had them again when he woke up this morning. They were mild compared to what they had been, but still visible. We hadn't woken him up at 3am for a Benadryl dose, which is possibly why the hives came back. They've been much calmer and milder today as we've stayed on top of the medicine. He's still itchy and doesn't want anyone to touch him, but it's so much better than it was.

Our goal tonight is to send him to bed at his regular 8:30 bedtime, then not give him medicine until 7AM tomorrow. We all need the sleep. This will be the longest he's gone without Benadryl since he started taking it on Wednesday.

The next step is determining the cause. He's been keeping a food journal since the ER visit. In order to have an allergy test done he needs to be symptom and allergy medication free for two weeks. So once the hives are gone we'll ween him off the Benadryl. Hopefully we can do that without a recurrence.

Thank you for your comforting messages, it makes a difference.

News

It's 11:30 at night and we've finally convinced Cooper that a baking soda bath could help his itching. He's been losing his mind for the last few hours because the itching is so intense. The bath seems to be helping.

The hives have migrated throughout the day. His arms and legs are getting hit hard right now, though they also seem to be coming back on his stomach.

That's all, I wish I had something better to report.

The Hive

When I woke Cooper up for the day on Wednesday I noticed his eyes looked a little red. He sat up and I turned the light on to get a better look. That's when we discovered that Cooper had huge hives on his torso, neck, face, and head. His eyes were a little swollen, as if he'd been rubbing them a lot. I gave him a Benadryl and monitored the hives.

They appeared to go down and we all wondered what had caused them. All his bedding went into the washer, just in case the hives were from something he slept on.

Then, after lunch, the hives came back stronger.

The rest of the day went like this: another Benadryl, more watching, more hives, more Benadryl, sleep.

Bryan, Peter, and I each checked on Cooper throughout the night. When Cooper woke up this morning, the hives were significantly worse. His face was so swollen, he no longer looked like himself. Angry hives were all over his back and stomach. He was itchy and in terrible discomfort.

As soon as their office opened, I called our doctor. After explaining Cooper's symptoms I was transferred from the receptionist to one of the doctors at the practice. She listened as I went into detail about what Cooper was experiencing. Then she recommended that we take Cooper to the ER.

Bryan and Cooper spent about four hours in the Emergency room today. At that point the hives had spread to his arms and legs. After being evaluated by a doctor, Cooper was given Prednisone, Benadryl, and Pepcid through an IV and kept for observation. He attended his Art History class from the ER bed via Bryan's phone.

This is the only picture from this ordeal that Cooper was comfortable with me sharing. I have several others that show the extent of the hives. They're much calmer here than they had been earlier.

The theory is that the hives were caused by a food allergy. Because of how widespread the hives were, the doctor thought it must be caused by something Cooper had ingested rather than something he came in contact with. There are only two new things that Cooper consumed this week that he hadn't had before (though none of the individual ingredients were new), and neither seem like good candidates. It could also be an allergic reaction to something he's had for a long time, but his body is just now identifying it as unwanted.

He still has hives, but his face finally looks like his own again. We'll see what tomorrow holds.

The Best Time of Day

Topher looks forward to 5pm each day. That's when the kids finish taking turns playing with him and, if I'm not finished making dinner, he finally gets to sit and watch a show. His current favorite is PJ Masks. 

He looks very relaxed.

A Few of My Favorite Things

I've noticed my kids tend to have a lot to say at bedtime. Full disclosure: they have a lot to say all the time, but it feels amplified at bedtime. This conversation happened tonight.

Sophie: Mom, what's your favorite color? Wait, I know, it's red. What's your second favorite color? And I'm not trying to get you to say pink.

Me: Blue.

Sophie: What's your third favorite color?

Me: Green.

Sophie: My favorite colors are pink, rainbow, unicorn, magical, sparklyish. That really fits my personality.

Meta Trash Day

 

Artist at Work

 

Remember Who You Are

Topher, after having been awake for a few hours during the middle of the night, was nearing bedtime with much less emotional control than usual. He was reacting to almost everything with big, two-year-old outbursts of angry. That's when this conversation took place:

Peter: (in soothing tones) Oh, are you a grumpy buddy?

Topher: (stops throwing a tantrum and stands to face Peter) No! I'm not a grumpy buddy. I'm a human!

Sing, Sing a Song

Our ward has been holding Singing Time for the Primary kids directly after our Zoom Sunday School/Relief Society/Elder's Quorum meetings. The kids are enjoying it, though it is a bit tricky to keep Topher from closing the computer or jumping on the computer or smacking the computer with the handy egg shakers all the kids have and use while they sing. Two-year-olds and laptops don't really mix.

36.1

According to the National Weather Service, we got just over three feet of snow over the last three days.  There's so much snow outside that none of us were able to walk very well in it. Topher and I only stayed out for a bit, mostly because we couldn't move around much. Peter and Bryan both worked at shoveling the snow, including the mountain behind Bryan's car that was deposited by the snow plows clearing the streets. Everyone in our family is in these pictures, they're just not all easy to find.

Can you spot Peter?

Phoebe and Sophie scooted and climbed to get across the tundra.

Cooper and Topher made their way into the snow and worked on a fort.

A few snowballs were thrown.

This gives a better idea of the depth of the snow. That tall bush on the left had so much snow that it was nearly bent in half. Peter rescued it by knocking the snow off.

Proof I was out there, freezing with the rest of them.

This is the mountain left by the plow.

So is this.

Snow gear on kids is equal parts a pain and adorable.

I wasn't ready to go out when the girls were, so they put on their snow clothes and hung out by the front steps, soaking in the sunshine and cold.

This is what the van looked like this morning.

And this was Bryan's car.

There is so much snow.

Groundhog Eve

 This is how much snow we had yesterday evening. I thought it was a decent amount.

And this is how much snow we had when Peter went out to shovel, after Bryan had already shoveled twice.

This was shortly before dinner tonight.

You can't really tell, but this is a sidewalk that has been shoveled at least three times already, plus a few steps and the wall of snow that was not shoveled away.

Bryan's car is under there.

And it's still snowing.