Snow Day...And 5 out of 6!

This was AFTER we cleaned the house. Can we possibly get anything else out?

Playing "drums"......that would be a tamborine and maracas in case anyone wonders.

As expected, Joshua and I find ourselves in our sweats at home today because of the winter weather. I don't actually think it's as bad out as the weather people predicted...but their forecasts scared us enough to make the call to stay home yesterday.

It's now 2:30, and Joshua is dreaming away upstairs. I can't remember when the last time was that he fell asleep before 2:00. Usually it's because he's sick, in trouble, or so grumpy that he can't stand himself for even one minute longer. None of those are the case today. He has been an angel all day and I'm really loving being home with him.


We have managed to cross officially 14 things off of my to-do list so far today. 8 to go. Our house is cleaned for the week (a few days early), which may just allow us some time to do some visiting with Nana and Pap, Libby, Zig and Brooke this weekend. And if we get out of the house for a night, Daddy just might be able to knock out a whole bunch of studying since we won't be around to disturb him. Sounds like a plan, huh?

I wanted to pass along the results of Joshua's allergy testing. I got a message from the nurse at the allergist's office yesterday that went like this, "Uh, Megan.....I just got the results from Joshua's blood work back and I, uh....I need to talk to you." I panicked for a second, and then called them back. She explained to me that the results for these tests go from Class 0 (not allergic at all) to Class 6 (Holy Smokes you're allergic!). Joshua came back at Class 5. In some ways, seeing the results and seeing how severe his sensitivity is to peanuts and tree nuts, I somehow feel better....like there's no possible way we were imagining the reaction he had, or embellishing it at all. She also said, though, that it's unbelievably serious that we keep him away from everything that could possibly have any slight trace of nuts or nut oils in them. Birthday cakes from grocery stores or Walmart......no way. Cookies from a bakery....never. Nothing into his mouth that we haven't seen a label on. And suddenly I'm feeling very stressed. But at least we know. She said we all need to know how to use the Epi-Pens and that anyone who would be watching him even for a short time has to know how to use them. Lovely. And, it'll be really important for us to teach him what he can and can't have, and what questions to ask before anything goes into his mouth. By the grace of God, we'll figure out how to do that, although I haven't a clue at this point how we'll do it. So that's the update.....ugly as it is. But, like I've said before, we are so lucky that this isn't worse than it is. He's shown no other allergic tendencies, so we're counting our blessings about that. So many kids have it so much worse. We can live without peanuts.....all of us.....birthday cake, now that might be tougher. Just kidding.

In other news, Emily has issued a reading challenge, and I'M 100% IN. I'll order the book now. Darn it....that's 9 more things on my list. Better get cracking.