Keeping on keeping on.

There are some weeks that are a success just for their completion. Sure the house looks like a war zone, and we're eating pancakes and beans for dinner, but who cares? We survived. And we're grateful.

Last week was like that. We'd be just thinking, phew...out the woods with that kid, and another one would puke on our shoulder. Sometimes two. And then, by the preschool program Sunday night, we really though everything was great! We were all feeling okay going in. Princess P got to be "the star" that the wise men followed (literally followed her up onto the stage. It was so cute!) And afterwards a cake/cookie/punch party! What could be better?

Allergic mom on the alert, I got the punch for the allergic kids first, and candy canes so they wouldn't focus on what they couldn't have....Thing is, I only was counting the two kids with severe food issues. The other four weren't even on the radar. Especially our oldest. He'd outgrown virtually all of his food issues, or so it seemed. Sure he still occasionally got a stomach ache and a skin rash from eating half a hersheys bar before he realized there were almonds in it, but it wasn't anything severe. He could take care of himself.

Or not. Allergies can and do change around adolescence. Doh!

And his old nemesis almonds had quite the nasty surprise for him. He had taken an almond crescent type cookie in disguise. It was rolled in a ball, and looked/tasted like a spicy chocolate truffle. The only thing that gave away the presence of nuts in it to me was the texture. By the time I knew the cookie's true ID, it was too late to tell him. By the Grace of GOD, he had gotten one that had been overbaked, so other than biting it in half, and whatever crumbs were on his plate, he hadn't been able to ingest much at all. I shrugged it off, thinking, eh, it's his stomach, and he didn't really eat much, so maybe he'd slide this time.

He was laying on a couple of chairs, sucking candy before we left. And then he threw up on the outdoor stairway....I, being dense and forgetful, chalked it up to too much rich, overly sweet food coming off a stomach bug, and cleaned it up while they waited in the car.

Then we got home. He watched basketball with his Dad and even requested cereal before bed.
About half an hour later he was in the ER at Children's Mercy, with severe chest pain...I'd heard him moaning in his sleep.

EKG, Chest X-ray, don't know what caused it, but it's gone now. Follow up with his doctor.
Dad brings him home. Dad goes to bed at 5am. I'm stewing....and then I realize, it was the cookie. Just a few crumbs brought him down. I'm so grateful he hadn't been able to eat the whole thing. I'm so grateful God's more diligent than me, and loves my son more than I can.
He truly does not give us more than we can bear.