Bad day

Just been sort of a bad day 'round here. I'll share a few of the, um, highlights.

First, Connor's school called to say Connor had thrown up at school. A lot. Violently. Turns out, snack time today was granola bars that may contain traces of peanuts. Um, looks like they did indeed contain a trace. His face was also red, swollen and splotchy (ya know, the usual scary reaction). Fortunately, his reactions have not severely inhibited his breathing, but with peanut allergies, they say each reaction can get worse. No thanks. His teacher had not yet read the 3 forms I filled out each indicating a strong peanut allergy (her bad). And, I guess I need to verbally tell his teachers about the allergy IN ADDITION TO filling out the 3 forms (my bad). And, when his teacher announced they were having granola bars and was anyone allergic to peanuts, Connor for some reason didn't speak up (his bad). Consider us all having learned a big lesson. This has been my big fear (well, one of them) about school, him being exposed one way or another to peanuts. Reacting that strongly to a TRACE terrifies me.

So now we have a plan in place. He is only allowed to eat classroon snacks with no trace of peanut warnings anywhere. If they do have a warning or actual peanuts, he gets to have a safe snack from the class snack stash. And, he is not going to be able to partake in homemade birthday cakes/cupcakes for classmates' birthdays - you just never know when peanut butter might have come into contact with stuff. So, I have to provide a little Connor stash of Hostess cupcakes for those days. Poor kid. But what else do we do? It's just too scary to mess with.

Second, my mom called to tell me my grandpa had been in an accident. He was driving (which admittedly is sketchy these days), and they think he had a mini-stroke or something. He ended up hitting the same car 3 times, then running 2 red lights, and crashing into a firetruck that was actively involved in helping someone else. The police told him he is NEVER TO DRIVE AGAIN. It's for the best, but so hard to watch someone's independece being taken away. And his doctors are worried that he is experiencing early stages of Alzheimer's. He is becoming very difficult for everyone to handle.

This is complicated by the fact that my grandma just last week had a hysterectomy to remove her endometrial cancer. She can't drive for 6 weeks, and is having a difficult recovery. My poor mom is shouldering much of this burden right now. It really is true how life comes full circle, and you start caring for the parents who once cared for you.

Brian and I are fortunate to still have 5 of our 8 grandparents, and we'd love for that to continue for a long time. And all of them have been in pretty good health, too. So it's hard to think of my grandma and grandpa having these problems.

Third, can you see Lucas's shiner?:

Slammed into the coffee table. After his brother pushed him (another reason it was a bad day, grumpy kids all around.) It's pretty swollen and increasingly bruised.

Here's to a better day tomorrow!