Wordless Wednesday

Hippity-Hoppity ...

This afternoon we went to an Easter egg hunt at a golf course near our house.  This was no run-of-the-mill egg hunt, either.  There were games, crafts, bounce houses, a petting zoo, trolley rides, pony rides, and, of course, the Easter Bunny himself.  Sara was not fond of him, but did allow a quick photo.

Steve and Sara spent lots of time in the petting zoo with the baby animals.  Among them were goats, bunnies, chickens, ducks, an even a llama.  S & S fed the animals some of those pellet-type petting zoo treats.  I'm pretty sure Sara tried one, too.

The smart people who organized today's event broke up the egg hunt by age groups.  Sara was in the 0-2 years group, and they "hunted" for eggs on a putting green.  Here she is, a few minutes before the "GO" whistle blew, putting on her Game Face.

It didn't take her long to get the hang of things.  Before we knew it, she'd filled her little bag, and we were certain that she'd taken more than her fair share.  But then I noticed parents picking up eggs to fill their kids' enormous baskets and I didn't feel so guilty about the seven or so eggs Sara had snatched.  (Side note gripe: every year, I read in the paper about parents who go crazy at egg hunts and kids who get trampled in the mad dash, etc., etc.  It's insane.  All for some plastic eggs and cheap candy.  I don't get people sometimes, and it seems there is someone in every crowd; sure enough, today there were parents who couldn't resist the competition ... even in the 0-2 years category.  Now, I'm no saint, as a person or a parent, but c'mon. Honestly, people.). 

After the egg hunt, nourishment of the Mexican variety was in order (isn't it always?) and then we made a quick Target run (don't we always?).  Now Sara is in bed (honestly, pathetically, I don't think Steve and I are far behind her), and I'm munching away on her candy, feeling so thankful for our perfect day.  I just love how much fun we had today as a family.  The older Sara gets, the more she can experience, and it's so incredible to be on this journey of growth and discovery with her.  I couldn't be more in love. 

Playing Catch-Up

Spring break is nearing its end, and though I am envious of all of the people who took exotic trips, I must say that we have thoroughly enjoyed our stay-cation.  My mom came to town last Friday evening and stayed through yesterday evening.  Her original flight was scheduled for Tuesday, but due to our unfortunate circumstances, she stayed a couple extra days.  What a treat!

 

We started our week with massages last Saturday.  This isn't something we splurge on very often ever, and we both agreed that the massages ended way too quickly.  And they were so relaxing that we were both pretty much worthless for the rest of the day.  We did manage to make it through a Target trip, though, and Sara came home with her very own lawn mower.  Her words are still a little hard to understand, but I think that in this picture, she's telling her dad that the yard is ready and waiting for him to pull out his own mower and put it to work.  Hint, hint.

We spent Sunday at the Children's Museum at the Museum of Nature and Science in Fair Park.  Sara did a great job collecting chicken eggs in her borrowed burlap sack.  She didn't fully understand the term borrowed, and was not happy to learn that the eggs had to be returned to their owners at the end of our trip.  After working hard at the museum, we ended up on Matt's patio in Lakewood for some Tex-Mex refreshments.

On Monday we went to the Dallas Arboretum.  It was a beautiful day, and because of the annual Dallas Blooms festival that is taking place, there were many fun activities going on around the park.  Sara enjoyed looking at the animals in the petting zoo.  She didn't want to touch them, but she had a good time pointing, calling the baby goats "dogs", and laughing with delight when they stuck their heads out of the fence to be fed.

We waited in a ridiculously long line (it didn't appear to be very long when we originally committed) to have a $5 silhouette made.  Though we had all had enough by the time we were finished, I'm so glad we waited.  Have you ever heard of a $5 silhouette?  Me neither.  And it turned out so perfectly.  It's hanging in our kitchen now, and will always be a keepsake. In fact, it's so absolutely precious that the pain of our long wait had nearly subsided by the time we were lounging and enjoying our arboretum lunch not fifteen minutes after the silhouette's completion.

This picture is of Sara right after she broke my sunglasses, requiring another Target trip.  Darn.  Aren't those daffodils beautiful?  And what about that little girl?

Sara spent lots of time over the break coloring at her table.  Here she is on St. Patty's Day.  You can see that, even on Wednesday afternoon, she was still pretty red and puffy from her now infamous run-in with the good ol' PB.

Sara is much, much better today.  She was on Benadryl around the clock for 48 hours, beginning Tuesday afternoon, and continues to take a steroid through tomorrow evening.  Though she's been acting mostly like herself, she's been a little glassy-eyed.  I hate that she has had to have so many drugs in her little system.  Anyway, we are now part of the EpiPen club, and we'll visit an allergist on Monday afternoon for more details regarding Sara's reaction to PB.  Today we went back to the pediatrician for her 15-month check-up.  Leaving the doctor on Tuesday evening, it gave me peace of mind that we'd already had this visit scheduled.  Since Tuesday, we've had a few people tell us that children under two-years-old are never supposed to have PB.  I hadn't heard that, and it surprised me because our pediatrician is so good about letting me know what's okay and what's not okay.  So I ran this theory by him today and he said that, while it was popular for a while, it's basically been myth-busted.  Even the American Pediatric Association (or whatever it's called) doesn't subscribe to that thought. He said there are so many theories out there, including one that suggests it's best to introduce such foods within the first year to decrease the likelihood of allergies.  As with most things, there are arguments for and against.  But in the end, he said that Sara's reaction to PB was going to happen -- now or in a year from now.  He also said that 75% of people do not outgrow peanut allergies.  That's a pretty big number, which makes me even more anxious to hear from the allergist.  Can you imagine a life without PB? 

After our appointment today, Sara and I had a lunch date at Chick-fil-A.  Yum.  Then we did a little window shopping outside at Firewheel (a little real shopping, too, with leftover birthday gift cards that have been burning holes in my wallet).  Now my sweet girl is napping.  It's a beautiful day today - high of 73 - so once she's up, we're going to head outside.  Tomorrow a cold front is supposed to move through (thanks a lot, Denver), so we're going to try to soak up the sun today.  When we say, "Let's go outside," I don't know who gets to the door faster these days: Sara or Higgins!

So Long, PB & J

(That's peanut butter, in case you couldn't tell). 

Long story very short: we had a serious peanut butter scare today.  The victim - Sara - is much better now, thanks to the good care she received from her doctor and a small team of nurses.  Things could have been much, much worse, and I'm so very thankful they weren't, but I've had my fill of scare for a while. 

Amidst all of the chaos and concern today, my mom missed her flight back to MN and she now gets to stay until Thursday.  Lucky us!

Good Morning! ... Good Morning?

Where's Your Tummy?

       

Rite of Passage

Sara came home from school today with her first bite.  It's on her forehead (which doesn't seem like the most opportune place to bite, if you ask me), and was delivered via a boy in her class while the whole group was playing and dancing in the middle of the room this afternoon.  While her teachers said she did cry for a bit, she was back to playing in no time.  They did also assure me that a disciplinary plan has been put into place for the biter so as to avoid such problems in the future.  I don't know that that's totally necessary since I'm sure Sara will be returning the favor sometime soon. 

See the marks on her forehead?  Good thing she's a tough cookie!