Harlow and the pistachio

I grew up snacking on nuts of all kind, and a lot of my side of the family does too. So I didn't have a second thought about sharing Lauren's pistachio bag, knowing that Harlow is old enough to have nuts/made with nuts things. Of course I only gave her one at first. She liked it, asked for another. I gave it to her, and thought, "Oh she eats so well. Nuts, fruits, greens, yogurt. So proud of her." Then 5 minutes went by, and she asked to spit out the second nut. Ok, she changed her mind. No biggie.

Then I noticed her cheeks were puffy, tongue swollen, her eyes went darkish, upper throat glands swelled..and she started to cry "It hurts, it hurts!" 

Immediately I gave her the zrytec, two minutes later she doubled over yelling out. She was figgity, crying, face flushed..NOT A GOOD SIGN. And also not one that I've seen before. 

"Taylor!! Get the Benedryl, and the big pasta pot!"

Gave that to her, 10 minutes later she threw up. Emergency room- here we come! So from the moment she ate the nut, to the moment I walked into the ER- it was a 25 time frame. On the way there, a 10 minute drive, she started to talk less. I asked her, "Harlow are you ok? Does it hurt?" She always answers me with her words. I got no answer so I asked again- also with no reply. I slammed on me brakes, and as I turned around I asked her again...She was nodding her head the whole time. Of course now that I'm looking at her she answers, and I notice her speech is better. One heart attack a day please Harlow! 

We were immediately taken to a room. Vitals checked, they said her breathing is perfect, heart is up because she's now nervous- but overall she looks good. We stayed for about 2 hours beginning to end, got a prescription for an epi pen for her. Then next day I called and got her in to our clinic (military has their own doctors, labs, pharmacy- at most locations). He ordered a blood test that would test for particular nuts. YAY. ME. But it's to save my baby's life. She was such a trooper. Daddy held her, plus she had seen me have blood taken before- and knew I didn't cry..but she did :o( She held still though, didn't squirm or fight back, poor little baby. They had to stick both arms and came up short to test for all nuts. So we chose peanut and pistachio. Turns out they had enough to cover some more, so here's her findings:

PISTACHIO: HIGH positive

PEANUT: LOW positive

BRAZIL NUT: LOW positive

ALMOND: LOW positive

We will now be reading our nutrition labels more thoroughly!

Pistachio...was obvious lol. The other's he said she could totally grow out of by 4-5 years old. I bake, and she has had almond extract in cake/frosting with no signs of a reaction, never had a brazil nut (not even me lol) and she can eat peanut butter things with no reaction..just JIF pb caused her at 1 years old to have hives, and threw up in the night (just like your body, your stomach produces histamine- so it expels it when you start to try to digest it) but she eats actual peanuts with no reaction and eats ALL NATURAL peanut butter with no signs either. So for the next year or two, she doesn't eat all the other stuff regularly- just on occasion, we'll slow down her intake of peanut stuff until she's older. BUT NO PISTACHIO'S!!! Now I need to get her one of those special bracelet/necklaces. Good thing she likes to wear jewelry :o) 

Nope, I'm fine.

That is Harlow's most common response. "Nope. I'm fine." That has been attached to many questions I've asked her haha..

Lauren's most common response: "There's this (toy) I don't have.." Yeah, because that's what I expect to hear when I ask you to go put your shoes away.

Taylor's most common response: "I didn't hear that." Oh. Sooo you didn't hear the second half of EVERY. SINGLE. SENTENCE. I. SAID. ALL. DAY. LONG. It's getting old lady..

At least one kid is "fine." Ha ha ha..

And the fourth one is just growin' every day.

The more we've had, the more you see that every kid truly is different from the other. They all go through the same physical and mental stages, but their responses to each one have been different from the one before. Not dramatic, but just different. Crazy as it sounds, they all so far have come out looking different from the others. So what the heck will Jason look like?? Lauren was night and day compared to Taylor. She came out and I thought, "That's my baby?" She was so big, and had so much more hair (I had crazy heartburn with her!) compared to Taylor. Dark complexion too. Harlow came out with dark hair like Lauren, but around three months it lightened. I was really hoping she would have blue eyes with the brown hair. I think that is so strikingly beautiful. She's the only one with blue eyes too. What will Jason have..

Taylor around 2-3 weeks

Lauren at 1 week

Harlow at 1 week

Lauren and Harlow looked alike, don't ya think? Personality wise, much different from the get-go. 

Four kids.Why so many you ask? Well. I guess we just kept feeling like someone was missing every time we added another. It's not about the number. It's not about our age. (Although I always said I'd "like" to be done by 30, I'm sliding in to HOME PLATE with 2 months to go till I'm 31.) And it's not about keeping that "baby" feeling going. Someone was missing. Simple as that.

and "I'm fine" with four.