my first *almost* emergency room trip as a mom

I know as a mom of three boys that trips to the ER are inevitable. But I don't think any amount of experience or knowledge could prepare me for how scary it is. My emotions become involved so quickly, everything seems to escalate, and before I know it fear has completely taken over.

Here's how it went down:

I was making the kids breakfast while Kenny fed Anchor his bottle. I noticed he kept gagging and I thought it was odd but didn't pay much else attention to it. After Anchor finished, he kept choking and seemed to have trouble breathing. I noticed a rash around his mouth and neck. I showed Kenny but he didn't seem concerned, made comments about how I was overreacting, and went to work.

8:52AM

I took off Anchor's amber teething necklace and posted this picture on my Stone Soup Group Facebook page hoping someone knew what it was.  Meanwhile, Anchor kept gagging, choking, and acting like he couldn't breathe. I became really concerned but had no idea what to do. Then he started vomiting... and didn't stop! I finally realized Kenny had given him raw cow's milk instead of the goat milk. (He refused to apologize for it which escalated into a fight, so now we weren't talking.) I felt better knowing what it was, but still didn't have a peace about doing nothing.  I put him in the bathtub and texted the picture to Janette.  The rash was quickly spreading and Anchor continued to vomit. I called my pediatrician (who is 45 minutes away!) and the nurse said she needed to ask the doctor and would call me back.

8:19AM

Janette saw this picture and said take him to the ER. She had been texting a friend of hers who was a nurse. This really freaked me out... the rash was spreading so fast! I had the boys, Kenny was mad and headed to work, how could this be happening!?!? I called Melissa, but she didn't answer. Great, the boys now had to go with me. The doctor's office called back and said to bring him in. I responded that they were too far and I was on my way to the ER. I threw the boys into the car - Joshua was in shorts and no shoes, Maverick was still in his pajamas. Neither had coats and with the windchill temps were in the 20s!

I told Janette I didn't even know where the ER was... (awesome, I now sound like a complete idiot to my mother-in-law). She texted a location and I just started driving. Kenny met me there (much to my surprise). I went in and they told me there was an hour and a half wait! I told them this was an emergency and they informed they were not an ER.  I felt completely humiliated and asked them where one was.

We got back in the car and headed five minutes down the street to the *real* ER. By this time, Anchor's rash had greatly improved, he wasn't vomiting, and had actually fallen asleep. Kenny asked why were even taking him in and I told him because his mom and our pediatrician said to. Kenny again explained that I was overreacting since we knew what this was from. He said to give him Benadryl and take him home.

Thankfully, by the time I got home, his rash was almost completely gone and I never had to give him Benadryl (praise the Lord)!  And the lesson we all learned: Anchor can't have dairy! At least not now, and we'll have to do some allergy testing. I'm praying he won't have an allergy. What a nightmare that will be!

When all was said and done, I realized I'm thankful for Kenny's wisdom and ability to think clearly when all else seems to be falling apart. I learned I need to pray for peace and not allow fear to take over. I don't want to be a weak, incompetent, fearful mom who becomes a wreck the moment something bad happens. I'm so grateful this situation was nothing worse and that God protected Anchor from a more serious allergic reaction.

Christmas

Before too much time goes by, I wanted to post some Christmas pictures. We had a great time decorating, learning about the advent, being with family, and playing outside in our warm Texas weather.

We started the season by opening our Christmas box on December 1st. It had mugs for each boy, hot chocolate, a Christmas book and movie, popcorn, and Christmas pajamas. The boys really enjoyed opening this early.

Then we decorated their door like a snowman!

Every day for advent, we read a story from the Jesus Storybook Bible and did an activity: watch a Christmas movie, have a picnic by the tree, see the Northpark trains, decorate gingerbread men, sing Christmas carols at the piano, dance to Christmas music, etc.

Janette made the boys this felt Christmas tree to decorate. They had fun arranging and rearranging the ornaments over and over again. I need to find a way to make it stick to the wall better, but this will definitely be a new tradition!

Kenny bought a new 10 foot tree this year. She was beautiful! And my heart just melts to see five stockings above the fireplace. God is truly so incredibly faithful! I am humbled to serve such a loving Father.

For Christmas with Kenny's family we decorated gingerbread houses! It was so much fun!

On Christmas Eve, the boys threw out reindeer food!

On Christmas morning, Kenny made his famous eggs (as Joshua calls them), I made a coffee cake, and we had fruit and mimosas! Another tradition for the Wright family.

Later in the day, the Merrimans came over and Kenny smoked a brisket. It was so fun celebrating the birth of Jesus with our friends. I made a birthday cake for Jesus, too!  Unfortunately, I have no pictures of us with our precious friends, but of course we have one of the brisket! (We Wrights don't forget our food pictures.)

And last, our Christmas card:

"Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive

and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel." Isaiah 7:14

In all the hustle and bustle of this Christmas season,

may we remember this prophecy has been fulfilled...

Emmanuel: God with us! Let us rejoice!

Blessings to you as we celebrate this Christmas holiday and joyous new year!

love: kenny, sarah jane, joshua, maverick, and anchor

BFIAR: Ask Mr. Bear

This week we rowed Ask Mr. Bear by Marjorie Flack.  It was a really cute story about a little boy who tries to find a birthday present for his mother.

Our companion books with a farm animal theme were:

• Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown
• Pete the Cat: Old MacDonald Had a Farm by James Dean
• Once Upon MacDonald's Farm by Stephen Gammell
• Moo, Moo, Brown Cow! Have You Any Milk? by Phillis Gershator
• Rosie's Walk by Pat Hutchins
• Thump, Quack, Moo by Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin
• books by Sara Swan Miller: Chickens, Sheep, Cows, Pigs, Goats

Other companion books about presents/gifts were:

• The Present by Bob Gill
• Mama's Perfect Present by Diane Goode

The first activity we did after reading the book was learning about the colors: brights vs. pastels.  This is a difficult concept to grasp, so I just introduced it and let Joshua draw a picture using each.

We learned about farm and forest animals. Joshua cut out and glued the animals in the correct place. I had hoped to walk to a forest near our house, but it's closed due to construction.

We also worked on the letter Bb and the number 2. 

The next day we matched cards with pictures of animals to their products: cow/milk, hen/egg, sheep/wool, goose/feathers, goat/cheese. Joshua loved this!

On Wednesday, we had a Farm Fresh Breakfast! This included eggs, bacon, goat cheese, biscuits and honey, and milk from a jar! It was so special and I loved that Joshua showed enthusiasm for everything. He notices every detail.

watching the bacon/biscuits 

We then worked on rhyming words and putting events from the story in order.  Both of these tasks were quite challenging for Joshua.  He had trouble remembering the order in which Danny met the farm animals. When I realized Danny met them in order of smallest to biggest (hen, goose, goat, sheep, cow, bear), I tried to get Joshua to put them in order that way. But all the pictures on the cards were the same size and even the pretend animals I have are not to scale. 

side note: I'm so thankful for my years and training at Shelton and the privilege to be Joshua's teacher.  Homeschooling him has taken quite a bit of patience that teachers of a large class simply don't have time for.  I know the gaps Joshua has can be remediated with lots of repetition and use of hands on materials. I am blessed to have accumulated so many resources and manipulatives through my years as a teacher and am so grateful that time was not wasted. I humbled to see yet another way God has used every part of my life for good, no matter how insignificant the enemy makes it seem sometimes.

On the last day, we performed our puppet show for Nana! (see the video here) I made a puppet theatre using this tutorial. Joshua was Danny and I was the narrator/animals. He did a great job remembering his part and staying focused! I was so proud of him!!

The we talked about the concept of an "un-birthday" from Disney's Alice in Wonderland. We had an unbirthday party with pizza and cupcakes!

Our last activity was learning directional words: in front of, behind, between, etc. Joshua cut and glued the egg in the appropriate places. He loves this book!