Raggedy Ann

Caitlin has some kind of allergy right now.  and I hope it's not what I think it is.  Yesterday, at our family Christmas party, she put on a new dress (second hand--and I hadn't washed it. I swear this is not normally OK, but it was her Christmas dress and it was our party and I'd forgotten and I was choosing my battles, so she wore it before I could wash it) for Christmas and proceeded downstairs and put her fingers in some peanuts and wiped her face.  About 1 minute later her face is all red, her right eye is swelling and she's itchy.  grand.  we load her up with benadryl, which she was all too excited about, and do the same before bedtime b/c it's stopped getting worse, but is no better.  At bedtime, she is drowsy and having meltdown after meltdown--I mention to John and Caitlin both, that it's probably the benadryl making her both tired and completely out of control simultaneously, which is a lovely combination when you're three and overexcited with Christmas anyway....Caitlin replied "mama, sometimes medicine helps you feel worse."  so true, my dear.

So today, she woke up with the swelling gone, but with much the same red circles on her cheeks, looking very much like my childhood Raggedy Ann doll (but cuter and a lot sassier)--kind of like a combination of this and the last picture on this page.

--I'm praying it was the foreign detergent on the dress that made her breakout (she had a shirt and tights on underneath protecting the rest of her) and not the peanuts as peanuts are her sole source of protein and fat these days. Please join me in praying our beloved peanuts are still safe.