Not just an ordinary evening.

{Friday.}  It was a long day, I was sooo tired, sooo frustrated, and sooo done with the day. But Eli was insisting that we all do a race out in the yard after dinner. So we did.  That got our lazy butts outside for once. We've been in a bit of a funk ever since that extreme heat hit a few weeks ago.  I got motivated to yank some weeds, and the kids were happily playing.  Then there was a RAINBOW in a bright blue sky.

look closely, the rainbow is quite faint

 And later as the sun started to set there were SUN RAYS breaking through the clouds. It was a beautiful evening, and in my head I was already composing a blog post entitled "Surprises in the sky".

 Then I went to check the mail and set it inside on the dining room table, along with my camera, and headed back down to the kids at the swing set.  As I stepped out the door, I heard crying.  Already exhausted from a long day, I immediately sighed and thought "What now..." and continued down toward Eli who was crying that he'd gotten stung by a bee.  He was gripping a swollen pointer finger and when he showed it to me, it was indeed stung by a bee, so I shooed him on to Kevin so I could go get Carter from the swing set.

TURNS OUT...

Just a moment earlier, Eli and Carter were riding in Eli's power wheels Jeep.  I'd watched as Eli parked it under the swing set. It was a fun little spot and it fit perfectly.  BUT apparently, in that long grass where we can't fit the mower, there was a bee nest.  And when the car invaded, the bees went into attack mode, swarming around and around Eli and Carter. Eli got out right away, heading up to the house where I met him. But Carter was still sitting in the car just crying and crying. I rushed down to him but freaked out when I saw the swarm of bees and blood dripping down my baby's lip! I screamed to Kevin GET HIM OUT OF THERE! GET HIM OUT OF THERE! And he ran down the hill and without hesitation yanked him out of the car!  We ran up to the house and I yelled to Hannah who was on the trampoline, GET INSIDE NOW!!  I helped her off and we rushed inside, making sure to shake any bugs off! It felt like they were still on me because I could still feel the stings! The bees, just flying and bouncing off your skin was a STING, I couldn't believe it! We got inside, killed a bee that was still in Carter's shirt, and Carter's lips were already swelling a lot, so Kevin decided to take him to the ER. He had so many stings, and his lips were swelling, I just wanted to be sure his throat wasn't swelling too.  But I stayed home with Eli and Hannah.  And ohhh, it was so hard to be away from my baby boy, not knowing how he was!! I've seen the old movie My Girl, and in that movie the boy DIED from bee stings!

At home I gave Eli Benadryl and cold wash cloths for his stings.  I kept the kids up for awhile to be sure there wasn't any further reaction to the stings, but after an hour, Eli seemed fine (Hannah wasn't stung at all because she'd been up by the house at the time of the attack).  In the meantime I was already on Facebook, calling for prayer and was immediately "surrounded" with wonderful friends and their support.

Kevin reported that Carter threw up several times in the ER but they'd given him Benadryl and he seemed to be doing okay, though still unhappy. After an hour or two they released him and they were able to come home with instructions to continue doses of Benadryl.

this is right after they got home, still wrapped up in a hospital sheet since he'd thrown up on his clothes

the bee that was still in Carter's shirt

 We got Carter bathed and down for bed. And we were just getting ready for bed ourselves when Eli was up saying he couldn't sleep, when clearly he had vomit all over his shirt sleeve and alll over his bed.  Sooo.... Kevin finished HIS shower (because he'd been puked on in the ER) and we got Eli all cleaned up and all that comes with it.  And at last we were all down for bed unsure of what the night would bring.

The kids actually weren't sick in the night but Carter cried in his sleep all night long. At 4am when he seemed more awake I got him up for another dose of Benadryl and some water.  He drank quite a bit so I thought that was a good sign.

In the morning Eli was already up and at 'em and Carter seemed pretty well too.  We managed to get to town for a quick errand (out of diaper wipes!) but before we got back home, Carter was fading.  Even though he'd slept til 8:30 that morning he was clearly VERY tired and needed a nap.  He threw up in his nap though and there it started all over again.  He was up and down all day, feverish and continued vomiting. Kevin was at work, and I just really didn't know what to do.  I'd called the Dr again to see if we needed to bring him back in, but because he wasn't wheezing they didn't think it necessary.  So I put him down for afternoon nap, hoping he'd be at least a little better after some good rest.  And he was. Thank goodness!

It was certainly a roller coaster ride for sure! Carter's still been flushing out his body with some nasty diapers but he's finally seeming all himself now!  See?

So very thankful. Thankful that Kevin is a man and so fast-acting without hesitation. Thankful that Carter didn't have an actual allergic reaction (just a hard thing getting a DOZEN bee stings and you're only a little guy!). Thankful Eli bounced back quickly.  Thankful for modern medicine. Thankful we're well again!!

We've since been still quite fearful of playing outside at all.  We still haven't ventured down anywhere near the swing set yet. And Carter cries every time he sees anything so much as a fly!  Here's Kevin preparing for battle with the bees. Every inch of skin completely covered before he goes to stir them up and find where they're at. In 90-degree weather, all that clothing was HOT!

He used the tractor scoop to lift that end of the swing set, and immediately the bees starting flying up. Then he SPRAYED.  First with bee killer which, from watching from the house, looked like it mostly just blew away. Then he sprayed all the grass with a couple gallons of gasoline. BRAVE man he is!

He sprayed a little more the second day and we think they're mostly gone now.  Here's HOPING!!!