On High Alert

Earlier this week, I was talking with our pharmacist, who is also our friend, about Olivia’s epi-pens.  One of the ones we keep in her epi-pen bag had expired at the end of September and she wanted to know if I wanted a new one now, or did I want to wait until January when our health plan will cover them again. (We’re covered for two per calendar year and any additional ones we pay $120 for.)   I actually paused and thought about it then told her that it is only six weeks until the new year…  When it’s been so long since she’s had an anaphylactic reaction, it’s easy to become complacent.

Yesterday, I had a wake up call.

On the weekend when I got groceries, Evan asked for a box of “S’more” pop tarts as a treat.  Since fruit pop tarts are one of the “safe” commercial treats that Olivia can have, I said “sure” then came home,  put them away and didn’t think about them again.

Late in the afternoon yesterday, Olivia came into the living room where I was with one of the new pop tarts in hand; Sarah had climbed up and gotten one down for each of them.  Olivia had about two bites and something made me go check the ingredients on the box.  Fourth ingredient from the end – dried egg white!!

I panicked.  I grabbed the epi-pen bag and made Olivia sit on my lap so I could watch her.  I called my mother and told her I needed her to come over because if I was going to have to give her the epi-pen, I wanted someone to be with me.  She reminded me that Olivia had eaten 1/16 of an egg baked in cookies before she started to react during her baked-in egg challenge and she felt Olivia would be fine.  After all, how much egg would there be in just two bites?

As it turns out, she was fine.  She developed a few hives around her collarbone, by her ears and her cheeks got red, but I gave her some Reactine and other than some eczema she’s fine this morning.

As for the epi-pens, Deborah brought us a brand new un-expired one last night!

The Olympic Torch

The Olympic Torch celebration was in Truro tonight, and Alex’s choir was singing, so we headed over to Victoria Park.

I remember back in 1988 when the Olympics were in Calgary, I had two friends who were lucky enough to be chosen to run with the torch – Sandy & Suzy.  In my memory, there was a big event for the torchbearers that we attended on the grounds of the then Teacher’s College and Sandy won a 13″ tv.  They’ll have to correct me if I’m wrong…

Tonight’s Olympic Flame celebration was NOTHING like the one 21 years ago!  This was held in Victoria Park, where they had set up a huge soundstage.  There were drummers, dancers, athletes, singers, choirs, guest speakers, you name it!

Unfortunately, Sarah has an ear infection, so we decided to leave her at home with her grandfather who doesn’t like to get chilled.  Since we were leaving Sarah, we left Olivia too and it was just as well.  They wouldn’t have seen much in the stroller, but it would have been too long & too cold for them to be on their feet.  They were happy enough to stay home and play “I Spy”!

I couldn’t believe all the tents that were set up when we first got to the park – the event was much bigger than I had anticipated.  We got Alex checked in backstage with his choir and found my mother waiting for us there.  Earlier today, I had been joking about the itinerary that stated the kids would sing at 7:00, then the torch would enter the park at 7:08 and the kids would sing again at 7:26, but they really did have it timed pretty much that precisely.  There is no question that this was an extremely well thought out and well planned event!

The kids sang “O Canada”, which again brought me to tears…  How lucky are we to live in Canada?!  Gary & Fernando, our guests from Houston (Fernando is actually from Mexico City, but works in Houston) came and joined us, and we ran into Martha, Stephane & Chloe.  (Gabriel is in the choir with Alex.)

It was a really fun, really exciting night, capped off with fireworks!  The boys, Evan especially, are getting excited for the Olympics and Evan hopes to go himself one day as a curler.  I hope to go watch him someday…

Ginna with her future Olympian(s) She was taking her B.Ed and was in class during the Torch celebration in 1988

Evan was facinated by these drummers

This athlete was amazing - the things she could do with a hula hoop!!

Some of the crowd, waiting for the Torch to arrive

Martha, Stephane & Chloe

"Coach" Bob Piers lights the Flame

With Fernando & Gary, our guests from Houston.

Putting the flame "to sleep" for the night at the end of the festivities

Fireworks in the baseball field

We stopped for a photo with "Cyber", who teaches about cyber-bullying, internet & texting safety on the way out of the park

Her bubble has burst!

Yesterday, we all passed a new milestone – Olivia went to her library program which includes stories & crafts without any of her regular caregivers with her.  Since her birthday, she is now eligible to go to the 3-5 year old programs, which parents (or grandmothers in our case) do not attend.  We asked Sarah if she was ready to help Olivia out and to remind her not to put anything – including her hands – in her mouth!  Sarah said she was.  My mother took her downstairs at the Library and asked the librarian, in front of the other parents, if she was comfortable with the epi-pens and when she said she was, she said good-bye and went upstairs.

It was somewhat nerve-wracking for both Ginna & Mom, who was at home.

It was fun for Sarah to have her sister in her program.

I can only imagine that it was liberating & exciting for Olivia to have some independence.

My mother told me that she did peek in and Olivia was watching Sarah and doing everything that she did.  She was listening nicely and made a whimsical paper mask that the girls had a great time with when they were finished.

Two years ago, we were so afraid to take Olivia anywhere because she was having allergic reactions to so much.  The library was especially scary because who knows what kids are eating or have on their hands while they read library books!!  When I expressed this concern to the allergist when she was a baby, he said, “Yes, you’re right.  She does have a chance of having an anaphylactic reaction when you take her places like the library, but she can’t live in a bubble either.”

I’m so glad that in only two years, with the exception of having to wear a medic-alert bracelet, take a bag full of epi-pens and antihistamines with her everywhere, and ask “is this safe for me” before she puts anything in her mouth, she is now living as normal a life as her siblings did which includes weekly trips to the library!

That’s one bubble I’m glad has burst!

The Strangest Dream

In honour of Remembrance Day today, a video of Alex, singing at the Remembrance Day Service at St. Andrew’s on Sunday.

The Strangest Dream

Last night I had the strangest dream

I’d never dreamed before,

I dreamed the world had all agreed

To put an end to war.

I dreamed I saw a mighty room

Filled with women and men

And the paper they were signing said

They’d never fight again.

And when the paper was all signed,

And a million copies made,

They all joined hands and bowed their head

And grateful prayers were prayed.

And the people in the streets below

Were dancing round and round,

While swords and guns and uniforms

Were scattered on the ground.

Last night I had the strangest dream

I’d never dreamed before,

I dreamed the world had all agreed

To put an end to war.

 

 

The Fall of the Berlin Wall

Twenty years ago yesterday, November 9, 1989, after supper, I was in my bedroom with Bettina, our exchange-student from Germany.  West Berlin to be exact.  I was in Grade 12 and she was in Grade 11.

We were doing our homework when my mother rushed in and excitedly announced, “Bettina!  They’ve opened the wall!  It’s on the news – they’re taking it down!”

To which Bettina replied in disbelief, “That will never happen!” which after she realized it was happening, quickly changed to, “But I’m stuck in Canada!”

For the next few months, we were glued to the television whenever there was coverage to see if she could spot anyone she knew.  We had already heard stories about her family from the East who had been separated from her family in the West when the Wall went up.  We had heard about how her cousin was going to be either a dentist or a doctor, I don’t remember anymore, and that the family had applied to buy her a car for her graduation seven years before.

New Year’s Eve was especially painful for Bettina since her sister and friends in Berlin were all ringing in the New Year of 1990 at the Wall.  Again, we were glued to the television.

In 1994, I was lucky enough to be able to go to Berlin overnight to visit Bettina while on a trip to Amsterdam.  We went to the Brandenburg Gate and to the Berlin Wall Museum at the site of Checkpoint Charlie. To see the images and the history there, coupled with a visit to the Secret Annex of Anne Frank in Amsterdam was overwhelming.  To this day, I can’t sing “O Canada” without getting teary;  if I hear a group of children sing it, I’m a mess.

Looking back, I’m sure that the Fall of the Berlin Wall was probably my first conscious realization of some of the horrible things that happen in the world.  Because I had a personal connection, these events that we learned about in history class or heard on the news became real.

Tomorrow, as we do each year, we will take our family and go to the Cenotaph for Remembrance Day.  During the moment of silence, I will think about those who fought and continue to fight so that we may bring our children up without the first-hand experience of war.  And in the words of Anne Frank, I will reflect on “How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”

 

Number Three

Yesterday was Olivia’s third birthday.  There are no babies here anymore!

Olivia names all of her babies “Hot Chocolate”, except for one she has named “Marshmallow”.  She has been asking for a “mug” cake for weeks now, and has specified that it should be orange.  We’ve talked it over, trying to make sure she knew what she was asking for; she never wavered!  I, of course, acquiesced, and made her cake a mug of “hot chocolate”, complete with marshmallows!  I had made an egg-free vanilla cake which I frosted with a chambord butter-cream icing and topped with fondant.  I added some peanut/nut/egg/soy free cocoa to the butter cream to make the “hot chocolate”.  It was YUMMY!

We went to church in the morning to see Alex perform with his boys’ choir for the first time and they were wonderful!  We sat with Martha, her mom & Tom, in the balcony.  That was a bit nerve-wracking, to say the least!  Olivia was enjoying jumping off the step towards the railing; at one point I was wondering if she’d make it to her fourth birthday!  Eventually, when the boys’ choir started singing, she did sit nicely in my lap and then we looked at books through the rest of the service.  The sermon was pretty heavy for little ones and made me appreciate our own church(s).  (If you want to know more about the sermon, just as D’Arcy what I’ll do if something ever happens to him…)

Olivia & Evan went home with my parents and we stopped to get some veggies before coming home.  When we got here, we frantically cleaned & cooked until D’Arcy had to go to a “half-hour” cub meeting that lasted close to two hours.  I was in quite a state by the time he got home, just before our guests were supposed to arrive!

We celebrated Olivia’s big day by inviting my parents, Bert & Lugene & Fernando for supper.  (We invited Auntie Ruth too, but she’s sick with a cold and didn’t want to pass it along.)  We had a pork roast, roasted potatoes, squash, and broccoli & cauliflower.  I had also made rolls, and the pork was marinated in a cranberry balsamic vinegar with rosemary sauce.    I was thrilled when Theresa surprised us by showing  up at the door in time for cake! I tried to convince her to stay the night, but she had to continue on to the city.

Olivia ended up falling asleep in my lap after she’d had her cake and opened her gifts and the other three went up to bed while we were still sitting at the table.  Evan’s belly was sore and he was stressed out about the thought of going to school this week.  Many hands made light work and we ended up getting the food & dishes cleaned up in no time.

D’Arcy’s birthday is the end of this month and then birthday season will be over again until next summer – phew!

The orange mug of hot chocolate...

The birthday girl with Ginna

Alex, playing host

Three years old!

D'Arcy & Fernando

Cake Time!

Olivia with her godparents

Olivia with Theresa

Presents!!

As if Hallowe’en with an allergic kid isn’t stressful enough…

Olivia went to Halifax for her H1N1 vaccination today.

Obviously, it went well.  I didn’t realize how stressed out about it I was until I started to discuss it with her allergist.  I felt the tears sting my eyes and had the lump in my throat after he had explained to me that there was virtually no detectable egg in the vaccination ( the company that made it found 20 nanograms per part and Health Canada could find none) and that there had been no problems at all in the clinics they’d given to egg allergic kids so far.

As Olivia’s mom, I was able to find my voice and heard myself say, “It’s just that her worst reaction – the one where I held her lifeless body while five people scurried to find a vein they could get an IV in because her blood pressure was so low and her veins had collapsed – is burned into my brain…  I trust you, but…”

He was quick to reassure me.  He told me he knew.  (He has children that are allergic as well; actually he has life-threatening food allergies himself!)   He said that he wouldn’t suggest it if he didn’t think she would be perfectly safe, and that he would give it to his own daughters in the same situation.  How could I have any reservations after that?  I teased him about having a clinic for this on the most stressful day of the year for a parent of a child with food allergies!

He skin-prick tested her to the vaccine first, and after a fifteen minute wait to see what would happen, nothing did!  Her allergist talked to us some more and answered all my questions (and I had lots!).  We decided together that based on her SPT, we would give her the whole (half) dose at one time instead of doing it gradually.  The nurse came in and gave her the needle, to which she didn’t even flinch.  When it was over, she asked, “Where’s my chocolate milk?” since the last time we were there, in August, was for a dairy challenge!  We all had a great laugh over that and I promised we would go for some chocolate milk as soon as we were allowed to leave.

She had to wait in the office for an hour to make sure she didn’t have a reaction.  I won’t say it was fun, but it was certainly eye-opening to be in a room with that many other parents of egg-allergic kids.  Normally, we all keep to ourselves in the waiting room, but today people were talking about what other allergies they were dealing with.  Two boys had mustard allergies – glad we don’t have to deal with that!

When we were given the okay to go, we headed out to McDonald’s to get her some french fries & chocolate milk and then headed to Costco for a few things.

Meanwhile, Sarah was with her grandmother, creating her pumpkin which was a great likeness!

Pumpkin Sarah

The three boys, meanwhile, raked the leaves on the church property with the Cubs.

I arrived home mid-afternoon and helped Alex bake a cake for Olivia and while it was in the oven, we went to get some dark shoes for his first boys’ choir performance tomorrow.  Then I dropped him back at home to carve his pumpkin while I went to get a few things for Olivia’s birthday tomorrow.  It was one of those crazy days where, we were all doing different things at different times; I set out cheese, ham, fruit & veggies for them to eat for supper.

We had our first trick-or-treater at about 4:30; he was about two years old.  My parents came down at 6:30 so that we could all go out together as a family.  I can’t help but think this might have been our last year to do that since Evan will be in Junior High next year.  Although it was a Saturday night, the streets were fairly quiet; the boys’ principal, who is a neighbour surmised that it might be due to H1N1.

The girls & I did the block and D’Arcy took the boys a bit further.  When they got home, we sorted through the candy and took out anything deemed “unsafe for Olivia.”  They were all in bed before too long, but then D’Arcy & I had to switch gears and I started getting ready for Olivia’s birthday and D’Arcy tried to get some marking done but keeps falling asleep.

I should take Auntie Ruth’s advice and “not worry until there’s something to worry about” as today went far more smoothly than I expected!

Dare I say it, we even had fun!!

Cousins & friends

Last day as a two-year old!

The Cake & Other Birthday Photos

I tucked one very happy five year old girl into bed tonight.   By all accounts, it was a great day. Before heading upstairs to bed tonight, Evan said, “birthdays are so much fun around here!” My cake turned out fantastic. It had some seams showing that I was disappointed with, but it contained five frogs with pink spots, two holding umbrellas, one with glasses and the purple rain was falling! It wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be; I’m just not sure how I’ll top it in the future…

Sarah's special frog; her father made the glasses out of copper wire.

The day was great from the start.  Sarah got her pink ipod, which she’s been asking for since last Christmas.  I thought at that time that it was just a passing whim but she’s still been asking for it one.  We bought her one and loaded it up with the soundtracks from all three High School Musical Movies, among other things…  (Third children grow up much faster than the first two!!  Olivia is now saying that she wants a yellow ipod when she turns five!!)

She went to preschool this morning then this afternoon we got a fruit & veggie tray ready for her party, making dips to go with them.  We also spent time at the kitchen table, stringing  fruity cheerios on string to make necklaces with tags that read, “Thank you for coming to my party.  We will deliver your artwork to you when it’s ready.  Love, Sarah”  She gave each child one after she opened their gift.

She has been planning this party at the Clay Cafe for almost a year now;  I didn’t have to plan much of anything.  (She has a bit of her mother in her…)  Alex had his music lessons after school, so my mom came and took him and all our goodies to that while Evan, Sarah, Olivia & I walked to Sarah’s party because D’Arcy was driving the carpool.  Before we all left in different directions, we let Sarah have a look at her cake for the first time.  The look on her face made being up after midnight creating it worth every moment!

I’m glad we showed it to her ahead of time.  Normally, I hide the cakes from the kids until the big reveal, but my mother pointed out that then they don’t get time to enjoy them.  We kept this one on display during the party.

It was a very low-stress party.  D’Arcy arrived from school shortly after it started.  The kids all behaved beautifully and sat in their seats and enjoyed their painting.  Nothing got broken and there were no big meltdowns.  We had safe pizza delivered at five and the kids ate the pizza & the fruit & veggies.  After the cake, Sarah opened gifts and it was time to go home.  She had friends from preschool & dance there as well as her siblings and they all seemed to have fun together.  She was especially happy that her fairly-odd god parents were both there.  (Martha & Chloe for the whole party, but Stephane & Gabriel stopped in for a hug!)

Playing in the leaves in our yard while waiting to go to the Clay Cafe.

 

I just loved the look on Olivia's face in this one!

A kiss for the birthday girl!

A hug for Stephane!

Martha & Chloe - Two generations of best friends.

Next, we have Hallowe’en on Saturday and Olivia’s birthday on Sunday.

I think I need a nap!

 

 

Five

Our sweet Sarah Sue, Sarah Liz, Saragus turns five today.  With a temperament to match her strawberry blond locks, she has grown from a serious & studious baby into a real spitfire who dances to the beat of her own drum.

She will spend the morning at preschool, then this afternoon we are heading to the Clay Cafe for a party with a few of her friends.  She has had this party planned since last year.  (And she’s already got next year’s planned as well.)  She very specifically asked for a “frog with pink spots, sitting on a lily pad, holding an umbrella, with purple rain” cake.  I can’t wait until she sees it!

We loved you from the first moment we saw you!

One Year Old!

Second Birthday, Point Pleasant Park

Third Birthday!

A four year old Princess!

Five years old today!! (With her new pink ipod!)

Speaking of birthdays…

We were lucky enough to be invited to Phinn’s 1st birthday party last weekend!  Where did that year go?

Emily had set up a scavenger hunt for our kids (the rest of the invitees were either babies or adults) and they had a ball looking for things with the help of their older cousins!  They were impressed with how much Phinn enjoyed his cake and a great time was had by all.

We came home with balloons, whoopie cushions & nerf swords, so we hope Mike & Emily realize we’re keeping track for future reference…

 

Scavenger Hunt!

 

 

Sarah & Cousin Sean

 

The dads, trying to figure out where things were hidden...

Phinn was interested in the boys' swords while Sarah & Olivia cuddled with Emily

Here comes Phinn's cake!

YUMMY!

Sarah made him a birthday hat - bath time!