Christmas!!!

On Christmas Eve day Gracie awoke bright and early to see that Santa had left presents under the tree.  She was so excited!  She was a bit spoiled and especially liked her princess castle tent!  She also got a power drill that is very fun to use, some Sesame Street figurines were a big hit too, as well as some other things.  We had a lazy day and enjoyed the Duncan traditional spaghetti and garlic rolls for our meal together.  We went to Christmas eve service at 4:00 p.m. and Gracie really enjoyed the music.  She also enjoyed when all the candles were lit.  We let her hold a candle too but hers wasn't lit.  She still found joy in holding it.

On Christmas morning Gracie awoke and was covered in hives.  I had no clue what the cause was...a food that she was allergic too?  Was it a new toy?  Something else in the environment?  We gave her Benadryl to help with the itching and she spent Christmas with my family in a bit of a tired stupor.  She still made the best of hanging with her cousins, but I did feel for her as she was so groggy looking.  We even had to forego her beautiful Christmas dress for something cotton and soft to make her as comfortable as possible.  By the end of the day Gracie's hives had pretty much disappeared.  She really didn't have much interest in her presents, it was all about being with her cousins and family.  That is until we got into the car...then it was like she was seeing her toys for the very first time.  She slept for about 30 minutes on the way home.  Just enough time to re-energize a bit so she could play with her new toys when we got home.

At 1:00 a.m., the itching began again and Gracie had huge welts of hives everywhere again.  I gave her some Benadryl and she ended up sleeping in til 8:00 a.m. - that was a treat for me, but I felt bad for her.  She was grumpy most of the day, but I couldn't blame her.  You just knew she wasn't feeling well and the Benadryl just made her tired and more grumpy.  I spent the day washing her bedding, new toys, and everything else that I thought might be causing the problem.  We did play outside for about 90 minutes and that was very fun for Gracie.  Her hives looked under control when she went to bed and she again awoke with them...but not quite as bad today.

When I got to work this morning, I contacted her allergist and he indicated the hives were probably not environmental or food related, he said they mostly see these with colds or G.I. infections.  Well Gracie has had a nasty old cold.  He also gave us some recommendations for some allergy meds to use that wouldn't interact with her seizure meds and that would not make her drowsy, so we'll try those today.  I talked with a colleague whose nephew had the same thing this weekend. 

Today Gracie and daddy are hanging out together.  They did come visit me for a little bit and Gracie was in a great mood.  She was running around and dancing.  I think she was happy to be out of the house.

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie