Saturday Stresses

So Thursday right around dinner time, Hayden broke out in what appeared to be hives all over his head, face and trunk. It did not appear to be in his diaper area or on his arms and legs. It DID seem to be quite itchy as he kept scratching his face and rubbing his eyes. I went out and got some Benadryl for Children and on the advice of the pharmacist, gave him half the lowest dose. He was pretty miserable all night. The next day the hives were still there and I was starting to suspect they were something else. Talking to Cath assured me that it was most likely NOT rosiola or rubella because he would have had to run a fever and I had not observed one. Thank goodness because he has not even had his first vaccinations yet due to the casts. He was certainly cranky enough though and later in the afternoon I decided to take him to the Yaletown drop-in clinic just to reassure myself. The doctor there was very kind and informed me that it was either allergy induced eczema (called "atopic") or conditionally induced eczema (called "seborrheic"), caused by sweating. Please, please, please let it be that one. I have known people who have suffered through their lifetime from eczema and have even had encounters with it myself and it is a horrible thing to endure. In addition to this, one of his casts is emitting a horrific smell and I can only hope that it is because he had a major poo-splosion and the top of the cotton flannel got very dirty. It reeks like dead mouse so to begin with I was frantically trying to locate the smell in the house until I noticed it was him. How much more can my little guy take?

On the Kestrel front, she is driving me crazy but I noticed that she has begun "reading" herself stories - making them up based on the pictures! I love the imaginary play!

Went shopping for groceries, or rather got volunteered for it by Doug, and it was a total disaster. For one thing, Doug thinks that sending Hannah along with me actually helps and in a way it does. But she has no way of knowing which direction I am going or what I want to buy next, so she bascially wandered in circles pushing the stroller. It was so packed at that god-forsaken Superstore that I finally was reaching stress levels that were not comfortable for me. So I sent her out to the van with the kids so I could finish. While there I discovered my neighbors Innis and Jenny who had bussed it over and I offered them a ride home, which they were thrilled about. It was lovely to help them as they have been very kind to us.