And the winner is...

Elliana!!

We've been pretty fortunate over the years to avoid the ER. You would think, with the three monkeys (boys) we have, that it would be our home away from home. But alas, we had never made an ER trip with one of our kids until last night.

It all started when I sent the boys to go brush their teeth. Seems harmless, no? A few minutes later Elliana came out of her bedroom with a tube of toothpaste in her mouth. In a few moments she had quickly figured out how to squeeze and suck that sparkly, bubble gum flavored goo down into her gullet and by the time I snatched it away from her, I had no idea how much she had gotten. I knew it was a fairly new tube of toothpaste (although not full) and that there was at least half left in there still. But that was all I could figure out.

Yet in "Mom of many fashion", I deduced that if it were really a problem, she'd probably start throwing up. I was not let down in my assumptions. Within twenty minutes, as soon as we had tucked her in, she was heaving. The boys were yelling and she, being a novice at such things, was quite confused as to what was going on with her body. I quickly filled Steve in on the story, as he held her over the sink, since he had not been in the room when it happened. Plus, I kinda had already forgotten about it and hadn't mentioned it (Mom of the Year Award, I know).

We cleaned her up, changed everything and put her back down to bed. Within minutes the same scenario played out all over again. This time the watchmen were ready. It could be heard up and down the bunk bed. Sound the alarm! Sister is sick! When we were cleaning up round two, they were all analyzing it like announcers at a football game. "Did you see that play?" Quite a spectacle.

We got wiser at that point and pulled her out indefinitely so the boys could settle down to bed for it was way past bedtime at this point. When she was still sick an hour later, I decided to cancel my early morning run with my friend. This proved to be strategic. She is a Nurse Practitioner and she suggested I call Poison Control. Of course!! Why hadn't I thought of that?

Poison Control was on it. If you're ever worried about a poisoning, call them! They are amazing. After going through all the information, weighing what was left in the tube and checking her weight (all whilst she is still sick), we decided to wait it out for an hour. She fell asleep in Steve's arms while we watched a White Collar (great show by the way...except the 3rd season has been a bit racier than the first two). However, when we put her down once more, she was sick again.

Steve threw his jeans on, I called Poison Control back and within minutes, on their advice, Steve headed to the ER with her. Did I mention it was 10 pm? Aren't men amazing? My husband was truly a champ for she was sick on the way there and while he was checking her in. Poor husband...yet, still so composed. Unbelievable.

They observed her for awhile, gave her some medicine and then cleared her to come home around 1 am. They were certain she had been poisoned by tooth paste.

Who would've thought?

So now, 1st prize has been given to the little girl. Of all the peeps, I would have guessed it would be Joshua. She's just a sleeper I guess...so innocent looking yet devious. Ha!

We're thankful she's all right-God was merciful and hopeful that this early-in-the-year ER trip is not a premonition of things to come. Once every six and a half years is plenty for us!!

You never quite know what might happen around here...it's never boring, that I promise!