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Also rude, tactless, and offensive are quips meant to be funny like, “Don’t you have cable?” or “they make a pill for that now” or “Gee, I don’t know how you do it all, with all those rugrats running around” or (my LEAST favorite) “Are you always gonna be pregnant & barefoot?”.

Seriously??!

Apparently Emily Post did NOT visit the homes of these people.

Specifically, this means that “well-meaning” strangers, family, and friends shouldn’t be so hyper critical of MY family size. Bluntly, it is none of your business if we are having another. And, furthermore, it is nobody’s business if we want to have 2 more, adopt 4 kids, or do foster care for 100.

Well-meaning or not. It’s still not acceptable for anyone to say to me, “Oh, I hope you don’t have anymore!” or “You’re not pregnant again, are you?”.  Maybe some people don’t realize how much that hurts. It feels like a slap in the face, as if we are such horrible parents that we shouldn’t be allowed the joy of another child to nurture. We are far from perfect– as any parent would admit to. But we ARE good parents.

Frankly, I never imagined I would have more than a single child. But now I have five, and I love each & every one of them, every single little ounce. They are the best things I have ever, or will ever, do with my life. And, I will admit, I WANT another baby. I WANT to adopt or do foster care. We are waiting for financial reasons, but eventually I will have another child to hold in my arms.

Which leads me to my next point… What is SO WRONG about large families? Children always have someone to play with. If you don’t get along with sibling #1, turn to sibling #2. When we’re all older, the children have built in best friends. Their children will have multitudes of cousins. Imagine holiday dinners! Yes, the money has to go further. Yes, they share a bedroom. Yes, the laundry piles up, I have bad days, and wonder how I will make it through. But in the end, it is MORE than worth it.

And just so you’re all aware… We aren’t trying to beat out the Duggar family. We aren’t followers of the quiverful movement (not that there is anything wrong with that, if that is what a family choses). Don’t worry; we won’t hit you up to buy extra Christmas presents or birthday gifts.

So please, even if you are “well-meaning”, your words cut like a knife to a mother whose children mean everything to her. Don’t make off-the-cuff remarks about our reproduction choices, because the stick in my brain as snide insults directed at my parenting abilities.

21) Chocolate, wine, sleeping in. ‘Nuf said.

22) Artificial (read: fake) Christmas trees. No needles, no mold spores, no allergies, no mess. And I can set it up a week before Thanksgiving!

23) My sister. November 23 is her birthday. She’s my best friend & worst enemy, all rolled into one. She can get under my skin like nobodies business, but I have her back, and she has mine. Love her!

24) (Because it’s technically the 24th in Central time) That my mom knows how to use Facebook. Now she can stop bugging me for pictures of her grandkids. Ha. Just kidding.

15) My legs. I realized last night how awesome it is that I have a mode of transportation built into me. Simple, yeah. But impressive design on God‘s part. You don’t even have to think. You just make up your mind to go somewhere, and they do all the work. I used to hate my muscular legs, and wish I had the slight, thin build of some of the other girls I knew. Now, I’m glad I can keep up at work & run a mile. Yep.

16) Modern heat sources. I’ve lived with a woodstove/fireplace as my main heat source. I’m eternally grateful that I have the ability to walk over, push a button, and have my house heat to 74ºf in 10 minutes. I don’t tolerate cold well, and this time of year in Iowa is frigid. (Yeah, I know it gets worse. Shush.) You can find me camping out over a furnace vent, knitting.

17) Skype. I love being able to talk to people I love that are hundreds of miles away, for free, whenever I want. It’s genius. It’s awesome. It’s wonderful!

18 )New socks. ‘nuf said.

19) My smart, motivated daughters. Like any other kids, they procrastinate with cleaning their rooms or doing chores. But ever since I started working, they have really stepped it up in the mornings. My oldest helps take care of my toddler while I sleep in. They both jump on the ball & start working on their homeschool tasks without being asked, and usually finish it with minimal interruptions. I am so thankful to see them really enjoying learning again, and not just doing it because ‘they hafta’. They usually go beyond what I’ve instructed them to do, just for the love of learning. It’s incredible.

11) The level of patience that was bestowed to my husband. I wish I could bottle it up, then drink it. Thank God he balances me out so well, because I happen to be extremely, ridiculously, insanely a little impatient.

12) My families long line of military. I’m proud to come from a solider dad, grandfathers, uncles, cousins, and more. I am SO thankful for everyone of our brave soldiers, doing what the rest of don’t have the  courage to do. THANK YOU.

13) Our landlords. Yes, we’re renting, but we can do pretty much anything with the house & yard. Except for a tear down/remodel, obviously. My bedroom is turquoise, and I love it.

1) To be alive! This should be first on everyones list, right?

2) I’m thankful for God, Jesus, heaven, and earth. (Hell, notsomuch.)

3) My kids. Each & every one of them.There is no such thing as a ‘mistake’ when it comes to kids.

4) My husband, the person I love most & deserve the least.

5) For my job, for my husbands jobs. There are many still searching.

6) Our house, our cars, our furniture, and other meaningless possessions.

7) Starbucks. ‘Nuf said.

8) Being able & willing to homeschool. You don’t have to agree, but it works for us.

9) Modern conveniences. I need a shower, my Android, and internet daily. NEED, I say.

10) The allergist who nailed down Parker’s food sensitivities.

Another to come, tomorrow. Meanwhile, be thankful!

I’m pretty sure this is going to be my son. After the past two weeks, I don’t know what to do with him. He has gone into anaphylaxis twice. The first time was a narrow-miss, and I’m thoroughly convinced God intervened that day. We went to church, and came home after a quick run to HyVee. We had a lunch of frozen DiGorno, and laid Parker down for his afternoon nap. The plan was to take him over to Grandma & Grandpa’s to hang out while we took the older girls to see Avatar in 3d.

About 20 minutes into his nap, Ryan heard him crying. He went up to check on him, which is odd. Usually, we’d let him try to fall back asleep on his own, and would give it a few minutes before we went after him. Ryan brought Parker down, and hollered at me to come & look at this. Annoyed, I asked what he wanted, and he repeated that I needed to come to him.  I took one look at Parker & flipped.

His face was unrecognizable. His eyes were swollen shut. He had hives from the top of his head, down to his toes. He was flushed solidly. His lips were puffy and blue-ish. And he was hardly breathing. In fact, after Ryan took him out of his crib, he didn’t cry for another 15 minutes. I called 911, thinking he was just having a bad case of hives. They sent the ambulance out, and I was holding on the phone with dispatch when I noticed he was taking ragged, shallow breaths.

We sent the girls to the front porch, to keep them out of the way (and from seeing Parker’s condition & terrifying them). They yelled that the ambulance was there, and the paramedic ran into our living room. He took a single, 3 second look at him, and said “I’m not stabilizing. We’re going now.”

And into the ambulance I went, following my baby boy who was wearing nothing but a diaper. I was carrying my shoes, yelling instructions back at the girls & Ryan. The neighbors were all gathered around, offering assistance with the girls. We took off before the doors were even completely shut.

The paramedic (Brian) tried to get the history from me, and all he got was my hysterical bawling & blubbering. He managed to get out of me the basics, and proceeded to give Parker a couple different injections of life-saving liquid. Epinephrine, I think.

We got to the hospital, and they rushed him into a room that was already occupied by what looked like a 20-something guy with a broken bone. They pulled the ever-trusty curtain divider out to shield this poor guy from my sons demise. I’m sure that it helped to minimize the impact from Parker’s shrieks of pain as they tried to get an IV into him, gave him a couple more shots, and drew some blood. Right.

They couldn’t get an IV into him, so he had an intraosseous infusion put in. Read: Drill. Bone. IV.

What a fun trip.  We stayed the night in the hospital with him, and watched as his IV (in his knee) made his leg plump up as it leaked. They removed it, but his leg remained abnormally large, more like our 6 year olds leg than a 16 month olds. He was released the next morning, and we had an appointment set for the allergy doctor.

The following Saturday, 6 days later…

We made a meal-in-a-box junky thing for dinner and settled down to watch Colonial House. Parker ate up his bowl of chicken dumplings, and started to fuss. Not thinking, I got him a second bowl, and started feeding him bites. He kept fussing, and I sat next to his booster chair. Not even 5 minutes after we started eating, I saw three hives on his chin. I looked at Ryan, told him to grab his Epi-Pen, and looked back at Parker to see another smattering of hives, and his face turning red.

911 again. Same paramedic, same ER doc, same scenario, only this time they were able to get a regular IV going. We were there for just a few hours that time, and I didn’t have to jab the Epi-Pen into his leg. (Thank God!)

He went to the allergist this week, and was tested for soy. It came up negative. We are leaning towards getting a second opinion from an out of town allergist, but haven’t yet.So we have no idea what he is allergic to, and no  idea when he might become anaphylactic again. Awesome, I know.

Oh, one more thing. I took a break from the hospital during his overnight stay to run home & get toys, clothes, and a diaper bag. I called up Ryan’s grandparents and asked them to keep our dog for the night. I got the gear gathered, and put our dogs kennel into the front seat of our Mustang. About halfway there, he pees all over his bed, and the kennel tilts backwards, so it starts running towards the seat. As I tried to pull over, he threw up all over the other half. I’m already on edge from Parker, and then the dog & his bodily fluids. I seriously considered just shoving his kennel out at the corner, but I figured an Grabber Orange Mustang would be easy to track down, so I called my wonderful mother in law, and dropped him off there, where she gave him a bath & he cuddled up to my father in law all night.

Sheesh.

Related Articles

• How to Administer an EpiPen (brighthub.com)

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