HELP - puberty has set in!

Not me, obviously. But in my 11 year old. OK, he's 11 1/2, but still. I'm not ready for this. Any advice?

Heart attack #457

My beloved middle son is cursed with bad genes. He developed asthma at age 2. We didn't know until we decided to take him to the emergency room because he was grunting and whining all night. Not at all like himself. When we got there, his oxygen saturation was only 88. They told us we should have called 911 and had an ambulance bring him in. Ever since then, it's been a fight to get him on the right dosage of meds. He's maxed out on several of his asthma meds. (He's 9 1/2 now.)

And we recently discovered he's allergic to the sun and moon and everything in between - grasses, molds, weeds, trees, dust, etc. He's begun allergy shots to "get over" this, but who knows. I'm pessimistic at the moment. He had an allergic reaction to one of his allergy shots yesterday. He sneezed once. Eyebrows raised, but no biggie. He sneezed again. OK, wait a little longer in the doc's office. Then he sneezed 3 times in a row. We were whisked back to a patient room where he was given back to back breathing treatments, they had the epinephrine ready to go, they gave him massize amounts of Zyrtec, his eyes turned red, his nose was itchy, his throat was itchy, he continued to sneeze, his ears turned red, they took his vital signs every 10 minutes. He was finally ok. No need for the epipen or epinephrine. We stayed at the doctor's for another hour. Just to make sure.

I know he's not the first person this has happened to, but it's a first for us. A scary first. I now know that Epipen I carry around in my purse isn't just for looks. I may really need it someday. That scares me. I was calm during the storm, but afterwards I'm falling apart. Hence, the title of this post - my gazillionth heart attack (when it comes to my kiddos).

Happy Birthday to Me

A little song for me ... happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday dear me, happy birthday to me. :)

I'm now 35. That puts me in a different age bracket for the census and most surveys as well. And I'm now only 1 year younger than my dear hubby. (He's 36, in case you have a problem with the math.)

I am truly blessed. 3 mostly healthy children. 1 wonderful husband. Great extended family as well. I got a bunch of my favorite flowers this week - tulips. And I got a new car (my lease was up, but still). It not only has seat warmers but has seat coolers for those hot Texas summers. A little excessive, yes, but still cool. No pun intended. Or maybe slightly intentional.

Now, to decide on where to go for dinner tonight. Hmm.

Ode to the 11th

It's the 11th. My favorite number, so I felt compelled to write a little ditty. OK, maybe not a ditty, but a few lines. It's my aunt's birthday today, as well as my ex-stepmother and a childhood best friend. Common day in my life. It was also the beginning of what my dad called hell week, when he was alive (and back when he was married). The 11th was his wife's bday, the 14th is valentine's day, the 18th is my birthday as well as my niece's, and the 19th was his anniversary. That's a lot of important dates to cram into one week. Not sure why it's relevant in my post. Maybe because I've been thinking of him lately. He used to send me a dozen red roses on valentine's day. Not even Ben does that! It's hard without a daddy to spoil you, even as an adult. 'Nuff said.