the day after.

We had a most wonderfully fantastic Thanksgiving and as soon as I get all the pictures from my parents I will be sure to do a post.  But for now, this story takes place the day after all the turkey.

Friday we met my parents + cousin P at the Gaylord for the spectacular ICE village [or whatever it is really called].  There was an ice Santa, polar bears, gingerbread house and my favorite.... an ICE slide.  It was a nice chilly 9 degrees but everyone was provided with cozy parkas so we kept warm.  The boys had fun and were in awe that everything was ice.  Ty even snuck in a lick even after I told him not to.  Should that surprise anyone, no!  After our freezing adventure we bunkered down at Chili's for lunch and then headed home to put Benny down for a nap. 

But did the fun stop there?  It most certainly did not.  Being the awesome parents that we are we took another mini trip to a little downtown city near by for their "dickens of a christmas" festival.  By the time we got there is was dark and a bit nippy and absolutely perfect for the holiday cheer.  They had choo choo rides, a man-made hill to sled down on real snow/ice and even horse drawn carriage rides.  Tyler was unsure whether he wanted to sled [since you have to go it alone] but Benny offered to step up as his lil bro and show him it was absolute fun.  The boys LOVED it.  The first thing out of Benny's mouth was "again!".  After the sledding we decided to grab a bite to eat and the first choice on the menu was some of those gourmet nuts.  You know the kind they roast in sugar and cinnamon?  Well, if you don't, just pretend you do for the stories sake.  We bought a little snack sack of cashews and trippled asked if they used peanuts.  They confirmed they didn't and let Tyler try one.  After about 30 seconds of chewing it, he spit it out and started crying....

[do not read further if you are squeamish]

And almost immediately after that he threw up twice.  I gave him a benedryl for good measure since he started breaking out in a minor rash around his mouth.  I was concerned but thought if there were in fact actually peanuts in the mix he would have had a much worse reaction.  I assumed then that maybe he now has an allergy to cashews?  His breathing was fine and he said he felt better and wanted to stay and get something to eat.  So we did and had a merry ole time. We soon wrapped up our trip and headed to Amanda's house.  I was going to surprise her with a bag of kettle corn [a favorite of hers].  We got about 5 minutes from Amanda's house and Tyler complained of his tummy hurting.  I told Matt to pull over and let's put a diaper on him. He just got over a tummy bug and thought that if he needed to "really" go to the bathroom before we made it home that he would have back up.  Not even a minute after we pulled back on the road he started throwing up again.  We were in the middle lane at a red light.  Matt cut the person off in the right lane and before he even came to a stop I jumped out of the car and tore Tyler out of his car seat.  This was not just a little bit but a huge fountain.  Poor little guy had no idea what was going on and of course I got sprayed in the process.  Tyler was covered in you know what.  Luckily I am always prepared and had extra clothes and enough wipes to somewhat clean up and wipe him down.  

So what to do now?  We headed straight to Pediatric After Hours to make sure all was well. Benny and I waited in the car.  Matt came out shortly after we arrived and told me that his vitals were fine but it would be a good idea to take him to the Children's Hospital close by for observation.  I dropped two of my boys off at the ER and took Benny home where my dad was meeting us.  I got Benny bathed and in bed right as my dad showed up.  Matt called an hour or two later and said that Ty received a steroid shot and should be able to go home after 30 more minutes of observation. My dad so graciously offered to go pick them up so I could scrub down the car seat.  I had to order new straps because you can not submerge those in water and they reeked of throw up.  I did the best clean up job I could and threw everything that was contaminated in the wash.  I even got to finally eat some dinner [9:30] before the boys arrived a little after 10pm.  Tyler bunked with us last night and is still currently curled up with his daddy in bed.  Ben and I are watching Mickey Mouse by the fire.

There you have it.  The day after all the turkey.  I think I'll take a rain check for next year.  I don't really need all this excitement.