What a DAY!

So today started out pretty well.  Actually, it's been a pretty good week.  I have been to a good movie, 'Lincoln Lawyer', right up my alley with the suspense and "who-dun-it" plus Matthew McConaughney and Marisa Tomei.  Me and the two other people who attended the late Thursday showing enjoyed it.  But I digress.

My husband left today for a trip for work.  He's flying half way around the world...and back.  It's a big deal trip flying muckity-mucks on some important diplomatic trip.  He quizzed the kids as he left on where he is going; mind you they are hitting about six countries in five days or less.  Since he doesn't enjoy Family Night with the homeschool group (potluck meals with large numbers of mostly the underage crowd after work isn't his thing) and tonight was the kids' Living Stations night, I thought it would be good if we went.  I got to the Commissary before itinerary man departed and was able to get the potato soup started after my NAP! :)  After the nap but before the potato soup, I found the child pictured below in dire straits.  The lawn crew was here today throwing out mulch in the park across the street and around our houses.  Obviously they use something that doesn't agree with him.

If you have never had this type of reaction to some allergen, I am here to tell you it feels just as bad as it looks.  The whites of the eyes swell and turn yellow.  The rest of the surrounding tissue is puffy and aches and itches so that when you scratch it, it hurts and when you just apply pressure, it hurts.  This picture was taken about 20 minutes after he was escorted inside by his mother who was feeling badly that he was out while they were throwing mulch as she had a sneaking suspesion that he might have some bad reaction.  We immediately dosed with WishGarden Herbs, Kick-It Allergy for Kids.  Awesome stuff.  Did the nasal rinse.  Put him in the shower where he received his second dose of the above in addition to Benadryl and Tylenol.  Post-shower he got a water bottle, a bag of tortilla chips and a snuggle in Daddy's chair while watching Diego.  Mom got to peel potatoes while watching Diego. What a treat.

On the way to the church mulch boy fell asleep, note that his face is not abnormally swollen a mere three hours later.  His eyes are still a bit puffy and VERY blood shot.  I was driving along thinking how nice it was that I was EARLY for this event and that my eldest child, who declined Communion last week because he felt he needed to go to Confession first, was going to get to Confession while we were in the Church basement at the shin-dig, AND we would get to Stations, AND I had dinner ready on time, AND it cost me next to nothing for the soup prep.  Then the guy in front of me decides that OOPS! wrong lane!! and SLAMS on his brakes and STOPS so he can change lanes just before a crosswalk (i.e. I couldn't just go around him, people in crosswalk).  I decide that slamming on my brakes looks like a good idea prior to seat belting in the crock-pot on the front seat or moving it to the floor.  End result: no car wreck...good, broken crock pot...bad, three jackets in the soup...bad, nothing to take to potluck...bad, no diaper wipes in car to help clean up mess...bad.  DIAPER WIPES!  That is what I was wandering around the house trying to remember before we left...diapers.
Off we go to the grocery store...crowded, crazy parking lot of cheap store in HUGE strip mall on Friday afternoon.  Payday, Friday afternoon.   Mommy's nerves cannot take trying to navigate this parking lot, smelling soup on the carpet and contemplating leaving children in the car in said parking lot.  We go to the expensive but less crowded grocery store.  I get diapers, wipes, some cute party bread and cucumber, dill dip as a consolation prize for the potluck.  Also, extra bags for car clean up.
We drive to the church, no point in keeping kids in the car while I de-muck the floor mat.  I hand my eldest child the bag with the dip and bread and charge him with tracking the two youngest while daughter is on crutches (bruised foot from track, nothing serious) and allergy boy continues his slumber.

Crock in the back of the van, where it should
have been the entire trip.  Grrr....

About the same moment I pick up the bottom of the crock pot and realize the LID IS BROKEN, my energetic son, swinging the bag with the bread and dip, looses his balance and falls on the bag.  He smells like cucumber dill dip.  He is trying not to cry as he walks to the car to apologize and clean up.  I am thinking we need to get home as fast as possible before someone gets hit by a car or has a seizure.

Then I think that maybe I just need to offer it up and get in the church basement where I can feed my kids and have some comfort from friends.  We are AT the church at this point!  Plus Mr. Wearing the Dip can still get to Confession.

I go inside with the car mat and wash it in the industrial sink in the kitchen.  Wind up telling a few moms the story; the abbreviated version, I am still frazzled at this point and my head is pounding.

Back out to the car where I left Mr. Dip and Mr. Allergy (still sleeping).  The only person who wants to stay is the girl on crutches.  I start thinking about chasing the two little boys around the basement, cleaning up dinner that will surely spill and getting everyone home, bathed and in bed several hours later and wimp out.  We already missed Stations, I have a measly loaf of pumpernickel party bread and 0 patience.  Zero, nada, zilch.  Yes, it's Friday in Lent, yes, I am offering it up but I still have LIMITS!

I go through the drive-thru and get a fish sandwich for me and two burgers for the two youngest.  Everyone else is either asleep, still, or waiting it out for the frozen pizza at home I have offered in lieu of McD's.  This is a treat because it is WHEAT pizza.  See this post for more on that.

We made it home unscathed.  SOMEONE woke up as we got to our housing area, said he never slept, demanded to know where his sister got her McD's soda cup and what was this about a broken crock pot?

More fun with allergies

I have known for quite a while that child #4 is allergic to wheat.  Our house is, for the most part, gluten free.  We have sandwich bread and an occasional box of Cheerios but other than that it is either GF or nothing.  We have learned to live without French bread, fondue meals, biscuits, french toast and ordering in pizza.  This has been a struggle on some levels and nearly impossible on others.  But we have found the ways to make our favorite dishes (pizza, chicken pot pie etc.) with GF ingredients.  I am starting to work on a GF pie crust that works for everyone.  The apple pie for Thanksgiving wasn't it.  We'll keep working on it.

Post coconut milk filled meal.

For the past month or more little man has had what looks like the last vestiges of a bout with chicken pox.  He is always scratching his face and so the scabs come off and never really go away.  His forehead, temples and bridge of his nose are the worst.  In the last week it has been on his neck as well.  He doesn't have the breathing issues that come with wheat exposure.  I have been lobbying for about one year to get allergy testing done without success despite making my case before four separate allergist.
In the past month his behavior has been regressing.  He bit me during speech therapy two weeks ago.  It has been a long time since that has happened.  He has been wild.  The screaming at night upon waking started up again and his clingy, rough behavior resumed.  It is enough to make a sane person lose their marbles.  I am sure he feels the same way.
Last night, after dinner, his face looked terrible. His lips looked swollen and his cheeks red.  Upon reviewing dinner ingredients my husband exclaimed, "COCONUT!  It's the coconut!"  Yup, I have to agree.  I make scrambled eggs several times each week in coconut oil.  We make coconut rice (rice with coconut milk on it).  In the past two weeks we have had two curry dishes with coconut milk and peanut satays with coconut milk.  Nevermind the Halloween candy; Mounds, Almond Joy.
So, today we start with no coconut in anything.  Initial reading tells me that coconut is a contact allergy so it isn't the ingestion necessarily but the skin contact.  Since scrambled eggs never stay on your fork when you are two so must be eaten by hand and an itchy face must be scratched or rubbed it would make since that eggs in coconut oil would lead to allergic reactions on one's face.
In other wonderful news, those allergic to coconuts are sometimes also sensitive to walnuts and hazelnuts.  Maybe even all tree nuts.  Lovely.  We'll work on that too although I tend to think the number of almonds he ate the other day would have been the tipping point on that one so maybe not those.
Hopefully an elimination of coconut oil and coconut milk will give him some rest from the itchies and allow him to sleep through the night and also keep him from getting crazy.