It happened.

My worst nightmare came true on Wednesday. Miles went into anaphylaxis. I don't know what happened or what he ate, but it happened and it was the scariest moment of my life.

Here is the whole story:

9:45 am- "Mommy, my mouth hurt." I thought he was just picking at that dry piece of skin on his lip again. "Sorry, sweetie. Lets get in the car to take Daddy to school."

9:55 am- I look back at Miles in the car seat and his lip is completely swollen. What the?! "David! Grab the Benadryl!" He gave him a tablet and reassured me that everything would be fine as it usually is; giving him Benadryl is not uncommon at our house. "Crap. I forgot my phone. Pick me up at noon. Just watch him," he said. So I did.

10:00 am- We pull into the driveway. Miles' lip is so big he can barely talk and now he is crying, wheezing and coughing. I have never been more scared in my life. I know what I have to do. I scramble to get him out of the car, I grab the EpiPen and pull his pants down. "I'm sorry baby, but I have to poke you with this. It will hurt really bad, but I need you to stay still okay? I will hold you. Ready? One, two, three." Miles screams and I count to ten. "I'm so sorry Miles. We need to hurry and get you back in the car because we have to go to the hospital."

10:20 am- We are driving to the hospital and I haven't started crying yet. I am trying to stay calm. I think to myself- If his lip is still swollen that means his throat is as well. I drive faster.

10:23 am- I realize that I have no way to get a hold of Dave.

10:25 am- We pull up to the valet and I put Faye and Miles in the stroller.

10:30 am- We go the ER, a doctor comes in to give Miles some steroids. He is still crying. He may or may not have swallowed any of the medicine. He just keeps crying and saying "I sorry Mommy. I sorry Mommy."

10:35 am- I finally get him calmed down and the nurse needs to do a work-up (including a rectal temp). Miles is terrified and will not cooperate. His lip is still huge, but he isn't choking anymore. We try to put him on the scale. He freaks out. He gets double upset during the temp taking. I am still trying to stay calm. He is still crying uncontrollably. Faye is fast asleep- thank heavens.

10:45 am- We get into a room in the Emergency Department. PBS Kids and cuddles from Mom calms him down. His sippy-cup lid comes off and applejuice soaks us and Miles isn't happy about it. Awesome.

10:55 am- The doctor comes in to make Miles breathe some special epinephrine smoke and the panic attack begins again. Faye wakes up and is screaming for food. Luckily, I have a bottle of formula ready for an emergency situation that I just put in my bag this morning. As the doctor tries to "mist" Miles I try to feed Faye the bottle and hold Miles down. It doesn't work. The doctor and I switch. That doesn't work. We leave Faye to scream while I hold Miles down and she sprays him with the medicine. It takes way too long.

11:20 am- Faye is fed and seems semi-happy and Miles has finally stopped crying. The pediatrician comes in. "Because Miles' lip is still quite swollen and his voice is still horace- I want him to get an IV and stay here for a while to keep an eye on him." My response- "Really? An IV?" I really don't want to do one more thing to make him upset. "Oh yes. It's a must in this type of situation." Sadly, I give them the okay.

I don't even want to tell you about the IV. It was horrible. It was so bad that Miles started screaming something I've never heard him say before- "Oh, Gosh! Oh, Gosh!" And then continues with "It hurts! I sorry Mommy!"

Sometime after 1:00 pm- After being hunted down at school, David arrives at the hospital. Thank you Hursts. Miles falls asleep in his arms.

Things got better after David got there. We moved to the peds unit and Miles was much happier. He was either bouncing off the walls (because of the steroids) or dead asleep (due to the Benadryl). David and Miles had to stay a long night at the hospital. I believe Miles was up until just before midnight.

We still have to pump him with both for a few days, but we are all home now and everyone is fine.

It was awful.

You know, before Wednesday- his allergies were just an inconvenience really, but now- things have changed. He could've died.

I am so thankful for modern medicine. And for the power of prayer.

And for Miles. And Faye. And David.

Well, that is it. The scariest experience of my life so far. I hope and pray I never have to do it again.

Last Chance Weigh-in

Hello Friends.

I am posting once again about My Own Homemade Biggest Loser Challenge. We have a good group so far, but would love some more people to join for support and, of course, to make the pot a little bigger. :)

Click here to read more about it. If you are interested leave a comment with your email address and I will send you an invitation to join the blog.

Better hurry. It begins on Sunday, March 1st.

Thanks and happy losing!

Oh man, Faye.

When Faye starts crying in the car Miles says this, "Oh Man, Faye." Which is usually followed by this "It's okay. Almost there, Faye." It's adorable.

Speaking of adorable... I have proof that my baby is.

Exhibit A:



Exhibit B:



I know you can't tell in this picture, but you have to see this little chickee's eyelashes. They are soooo long. Then at the end of her dark lashes she has little blonde tips that make her eyelashes at least half an inch long. Take a look.



So pretty.

Poor girl has had some tummy trouble, a surgery scare and some itchy eczema, but she made it and we couldn't be happier.

Why is Dave so happy in this picture?



Because his dreams are coming true... Miles has a new found love of skateboarding videos. I remember when in high school when David said this, "I will be telling my children that they can't do their homework until they have done their skating for the day". Thats a little out of control.

Chubbs McGee.

Ok. It's business time.

I'm going on a serious diet and I want you to do it with me. Lets do it...

The Biggest Loser.

$5.00 to join and at the end of three months whoever lost the most percent of bodyweight wins the pot.

What do you say?

If you are interested leave a comment and we will work out more of the details later.

Tag me.

6 Things Tag

My dear friend kindly tagged me. So here are my 6 random things .

1- Post the rules on your blog.
2- List 6 random things about yourself.
3- Tag 6 people at the end of your post.
4- Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.


1. My feet stink in the winter. This personal problem is mostly due to the fact that I don't usually wear socks with my shoes. Here in Dreary Erie- it's too cold not to not wear socks so my feet don't stink this winter. So, thats good news.

2. Dear Abby. I have this friend- Wynter "Abby" Clawson Johnson (who was nice enough to tag me). I never laugh harder than when we are together. Both of our husbands are semi-reserved and when we go out they kind of hang back hoping that we won't embarrass them with our loudness. We usually do*.

*Remember me! Abby Clawson Class of 2001?!
*Cobwebs! She's got cobwebs!
*CanIhavesome? More like Kihansum.
...Oh, the never ending inside jokes. Now Cicely will do a dance.

3. Magic Carpet Ride. Yesterday my son was watching Aladdin with my Mom and when Aladdin and Jasmin are cuddling on the carpet- he said, "look! It's Mommy and Daddy." Does that mean we are going to overboard with the PDA?

4. Sometimes I take a nap on Saturday night and wake up to watch SNL. Dave and I love it. It's worth the tiredness the next morning.

5. I miss snowboarding, volleyball, summer swimming, and playing with my band.

6. I am blissfully happy. I can't remember the last time Dave and I had a fight and I have the most beautiful, adorable, lovable kids on earth.

I TAG YOU- people with J's in their name: Davey Jeffey, Jenn Elton, Jolyne, Julie Keith, Jax Bair Holt, and Ali Mae Johnson.

Well, there you have it. I'm looking forward to reading those of you who I tagged!! Especially you- David.

Meet Henry.

Hello all! I would like to introduce you to the newest member of the Erie family. Please say hello to Henry David Hurst.



He was born at 11:00am on Monday, February 16th. 7 lbs. 1 oz.

Emily and Henry are doing great and should be heading home from the hospital today! Oh, and did I mention that she did it naturally? Good work, Mom.

Isn't he a cutie?!

Rain!

Today it is raining in Erie, PA and I couldn't be happier. Rain means that the temp is above freezing and above freezing means snow melting and snow melting means spring is on it's way!

We have had quite a winter here in Erie. Here are a few pictures of David trying to shovel our driveway...





Here is Miles taking a sleigh ride with Bill the Neighbor.



I think with the wind chill it was -15 this night. Miles didn't seem to mind.

Anyway, I'm happy with the rain.

So much.

These past few weeks have been really hard with Miles. He has been a menace and it has been really hard for me not to lose my temper with him. But, in the past few days he has more than made up for it. He has been doing rather well using the potty, he has been saying sorry, please, thank you and no thank you without help from me, he has been very nice and very soft with Faye and (thank heavens) he has had less time in the naughty corner.

Just a few minutes ago we were laying on my bed together and he was tickling my face. I said, "I love you Miles. Do you love Mommy?" I will never forget what happened next. He grabbed my face, gave me a big hug and said, "So much."

It was amazing.

One of the top ten moments in my life so far.

I love my little guy. He is so beautiful it baffles me.

I love you Miles. So much.

Holden is here.

A congratulations is in order...

My newest nephew and Faye's best friend has arrived and we couldn't be happier! Sabrena and Danny had quite the experience to welcome their first child Holden Daniel Mangum to the earth.

Feel free to learn more and/or congratulate them here.

A Hard Day.

Feb. 3, 2009

Dear Diary-

I had my post-prego wrap up appointment today and I had both the kids. Miles was awesome. He charmed the nurses and the midwife and even went potty in the big person potty while we were there. Then he started getting tired and threw a fit when I tried to put him in his seat to go to Faye's doctors appointment, but he got over it pretty fast.

When we were at Faye's appointment Miles was awesome while there were fishies to look at, but when we went into the little room he was so naughty. Sometimes he turns into this little crazy person and it is really hard for me to be nice to him when he becomes what I call: "Monster Miles" or "M squared."

Faye is always a little sweetheart and spends most of her time sleeping. Today, for some sad reason, during her appointment, she cried. Hard. And while she was crying Miles climbed up on the doctor's spinner chair, turned off the light, and then fell off the spinner chair on his head.

Today I feel like I am just babysitting Miles and I can't wait for his parents to get home so that I can have some alone time. I thought I was going to get that time when Miles took his nap, but a few minutes after I put him down I heard a horrible crash. I went upstairs and he had pulled all of the clothes out of his drawers and tipped over the bin that holds them. I was so mad.

We sat up there until he cleaned everything up and then came over to me and gave me a big hug. "Mommy sad. I sorry Mommy." It made me cry.

It is hard when he is naughty, but he can be such a sweetheart and he is my best friend- excluding David, of course. I spend all day everyday with him and I love it, but sometimes I lose my cool and it's so not worth it. Will he remember me as his Mom who spent fun time doing activities and reading him stories or will he remember me getting upset and showing my angry eyes?

Love you,
Cicely