It Just Keeps Coming!

Christmas morning we woke up to 18 inches of snow and no power.  We took a quick photo and then headed over to my parent's warm house.  

Today it continued to snow all day.  This is 9 straight days of snow!  Rain is in the forecast for this weekend!

Snow Day

We got our first big snowfall of the winter.  It arrived a day later than we were expecting but it did arrive!  We woke up to find this:

That is a ruler in the snow.  It reads 6.5" and it is still snowing on and off

Luna was not sure what to make of it all.  When it got on her hand she tried to wipe it off on me.

Maggie thought it was great, you can see her running down the driveway.

Wake Up Call....

Today started as any other normal day here at the Vance house except that Brian was working from home since a "big" snow storm was predicted.  

The morning went as usual and then it was lunch time.  I put Luna down for her nap and then Brian and I ate our lunches together (such a treat for me to have lunch with a grown-up).  Well after lunch I decided to try some fruit cake that my Mom had brought over the day before.  

For those of you who do not know, I have a severe allergic reaction to certain nuts, not all nuts just certain ones.  Cashews are the worst and I know as soon as they are in my mouth that I have just eaten something very bad.  The worst/scariest part of my reaction is that my throat starts to swell shut, scary I know!  

Growing up I never had an Epipen (which is like a shot of adrenaline), I just stayed away from nuts.  When the occasional accident happened I just suffered through it and by the grace of God it never killed me.  Well in my adult life I have since gotten an Epipen at the insisting of my husband.  But luckily, until today, I have never had to use it.

Well back to lunch/dessert, the fruit cake.  It had huge nuts in it.  When my Mom had brought it over I of course asked immediately what kind of nut was in it.  My Mom said it was brazil nuts.  I was surprised, that was one nut I did not know if I could have or not, in my memory I had never had it.  So I asked my Mom if I could eat brazil nuts thinking of course the woman who raised me would know.  But she said she did not know.  I am guessing until today I had never had one.

Well being cautious before I ate the fruitcake I reminded Brian where the Epipen was kept.  In a locked filing cabinet in our bathroom.  Weird I know, but there are crazy laws about keeping medicine locked up when you are foster parents.  So I started by licking the nut part, trying to make sure all was ok.  I felt fine so I jumped right in and ate the cake.  About 3/4 of the way through the piece I started to not feel so good, really itchy in my mouth, throat and ears.  So I stopped eating it, hoping that was as severe of a reaction as I was going to have.  

I kept itching my ears and Brian started to get worried.   About 5 minutes goes by and I ask Brian to go get the Epipen my throat has started to become tight.  It is scary but I try to remain calm.  Well Brian goes upstairs to get the Epipen but of course it is not where I said it was.  Well we spend some time looking for it (ie the car in the garage) and Brian remembers that it is locked in a separate box for just prescription medications (again a fostercare requirement, so helpful).  Well we get the key (from downstairs) and try to unlock it, the key does not work (again so helpful).  I am starting to panic a bit, I know I need the Epipen and I am not sure how much time I have.  

Brian decides we are going to have to break the lock on the box so as he is taking it out to the garage I start to vomit (another reaction of my allergy).  By now I am really panicking, I can't believe this is happening.  

Brian brings the Epipen to me and I try to administer it to my thigh because that is the correct spot to administer it.  Well it did not work, I forgot to take the cover off.  Then I really start to panic, we are going to have to spend more time reading directions! You have to be kidding me! So as I am leaning over the commode, just in case there is anything left in my stomach, Brian tries to figure the thing out.  He hands it back to me and I stab it into my thigh again but so very unfortunately for me I was holding it upside down and I administered it into my thumb.  The needle is about 1/2" long and hurt like you can not believe, I can only guess it hit my bone because the needle came out bent and not just a little bent.  

Well the reaction to the nut dissipated quickly, within 15 minutes I felt much better.  My heart was racing and I was jittery but those were all good signs.  But what started to bother me was my thumb.  Over time my thumb became extremely cold, white and numb.  I ended calling my doctor who said I needed to go to the emergency room.  

At the emergency room , they wrapped me in blankets and kept my thumb in warm water to heat it up.  Luckily for me the point of injection was in the pad of my thumb and not the very tip. There have been cases of people losing their thumbs (or parts of their thumbs), the cells/tissue die and fall off as a result of the epinephrine.  I did not have a severe case and they discharge me after my thumb started to regain some of it's color and told me to keep it warm. Which I am doing as I write this.

So I am fine, my thumb is still a little numb and on the cold side but I get to keep it! Yeah!

Luna's First Birthday

Luna turned 1 at the beginning of December. As a foster parent you often don't get to these milestones with the children.  This is the first time we got to celebrate a birthday and we are expecting to celebrate many more with this special little girl.  Here are some photos to enjoy:

Luna's first Birthday cake.

Birthday Dinner

Opening Gifts

Maggie after the party.

Road Trip

In November, Luna and I ventured on a little road trip with stops in Portland, Sun River and then onto San Ramon, Ca.  I was a little bit weary of traveling all that way solo with Luna.  But once again that kid amazed me and did just great.

Our first day was a 3 hour drive from Woodinville to Portland.  I tried to line up the drive for Luna's nap time but she only slept for about an 1 hour of it.  The rest of the time we listened to a Veggie Tales CD in the car, she loves that CD.  We spent 2 nights with Aimee in her new place.  It was fun just hanging out and relaxing together.

Aimee and Luna just hanging

Next we did a 4 hour drive from Portland over to Sun River.  This drive was at night so Luna slept the whole time. We met up with my folks for 5 nights.

We use to go to Sun River as kids and I had not been there in years it was fun to see it again.  Of course our favorite spot was Goody's the local ice cream parlor.

Then we headed down to San Ramon, CA, an 8 hour drive.  We only had to stop once for Luna to stretch her little legs and walk around a bit.  That day I listened the Veggie Tales over and over again, I think I have  that CD memorized.

Luna and Mt. Shasta

She was a trooper and we got to Gramma's house by 6pm.  Brian had been in California for work, so he joined us at his Mom's place as well.  We enjoyed an early Thanksgiving dinner with the whole family.

Luna unfortunately came down with a cold and it was a rough three nights of very little sleep for Brian and me.

Here is Brian trying to catch up on some much needed sleep.

After the weekend in San Ramon, Brian flew back to Washington and Luna and I started our 12 hour drive back home.  Unfortunately she still was not feeling well and the car ride was not pleasant.  Even the Veggie Tales CD was not keeping her entertained.  We stopped a number of times for leg stretched and diaper changes.  At 6 hours (1/2 way) into the drive, we were eating dinner at a McDonald's and I knew Luna would be ready for bed soon.   I had a choice to make.  Option 1: find a hotel and lug everything from the car to the room with a very cranky baby and probably not get much sleep because she was still sick.  Option 2: keep driving, just have her sleep in the car and we both get to sleep in our own beds.  I opted for Option 2.  So after letting Luna run around a JoAnn Fabrics until bedtime, I put her in the car and drove the last 6 hours straight home.   I was so glad to be home and asleep in my own bed!  Brian was on duty that night!