His first bite

I posted a Flashback Friday post, over at Matters of the Heart. It actually has a photo of my little man, and his first bite of peanut butter....

A yucky feeling, to look back and see that photo. Click here if you want to read our walk down memory lane.

The delivey man has arrived

We just received our first order from Vermont Nut Free Candies. My little nut allergy boy is asleep right now... the surprise will have to wait..

Nut Free Halloween - You have to see this

Check out this site Allergy Free Halloween. You can download a sign for your door, if you are giving away allergy safe candy. You can become a fan of this group if you have a facebook. They have a few other helpful things to check out also.

Spread the word.....

Exzcema is upon us.

Red rashy face is all I see, runny stuffed noses, and a cough that won't quit. Allergies all around us right now....I must not forget, that I need a Claritin a day, to keep mine away.

My poor little guy has a bout of that red rash on his face. I am never sure if it is something he has had or eczema rearing it's ugly head again.

On another allergy note. My daughter went into the petting zoo yesterday, and for the rest of the day she had a stuffed nose, and she has been coughing ever since. Now, normally I would say this might be a cold, however, she just got over being sick, where she got a shot and 10 days of antibiotics.

Well, just wanted to give a quick update on our allergy front. If you want to see what else we have been doing, go visit us at Matters of the Heart.

His first taste

We decided to go to the pumpkin patch today. I knew there would be candy all around, so I came prepared. This is my little man's first taste of Skittles.

As you can see, it went over well. He really enjoyed them. I will have a full post, of our trip to the pumpkin patch,over at our Matters of the Heart blog, later this evening.

Ruby shares her....

That's right, Mom was reading a new book tonight about sharing. You guessed it, we turn the page, and Ruby, shares her bag of nuts.

The kids just looked at me strangely... What do you say? It was a great opportunity for me to ask.. Do we eat nuts? Thankfully both kids said no. Even at two and three they are starting to get it.

Just another lesson for this mom. I can't hide them from it. I can only educate them, and hope that I prepare them for what is to come.

Anymore talk of this tonight might send me into a tailspin. I have been so worried about upcoming events, and holiday celebrations, that I just need to let it go for now.

I have been in one of those, I hate nuts, and allergies all together moods. Very emotional about the whole thing. I know that this will get easier. Right now, a two year old, that touches everything, and or puts everything in his mouth, with severe nut allergies, is not the greatest to deal with.

I will be glad when this year is over with, and we have made it through every holiday, and family get together safely.

I now think I will take my overtired self to bed.

Moms talking about allergies.

There are many things that go through a mothers mind, when they have allergic children. On any given day, I have a multitude of feelings on the subject. I love to hear, and read, how other mothers are dealing with the situation.

ABCNews.com, has several videos posted right now, with moms talking about their children and allergies. How they found out. How they cope. How they deal with others. Click here to check it out.

Candy, Candy, Candy

Since I was talking about candy, I thought I would throw in a dress up photo. I also posted a Flashback Friday post, that includes a couple dress up photos, click here to see.

Candy, is something we do not have much of around this house. I am not complaining, It is kind of nice not to have all that tempting stuff around me. We have our usual stash of dum dum suckers, and smarties, and we are good to go.

Today I decided to breakdown and buy some skittles, thought they might come in handy as a potty training treat. I also broke down and ordered some chocolate, from Vermont Nut Free company. I figured, since we were having the Halloween festivities at our house, I might want to have a few special things on hand.

Anybody ever use Junior Mints with their PA and TNA child? I saw them listed somewhere as tree nut and peanut free. I'd love to hear from you if you have had them. I would also love to hear what kind of candy you keep to pass out to the kids.

To me this is a scary time, we did not know last year my son had this allergy. This is our first year to deal with all the holiday festivities nut free.

Thought filled Tuesday

On my other blog, I am doing a thought filled Tuesday or Thursday post. Thought I would share the love over here.

This has been burning in my mind, thought I would solicit some wanted advice. How would you handle this hypothetical situation. (wink)

Your child is highly allergic to peanuts and tree nuts. Every nut imaginable. You meet some friends, they get out of the car with their kids eating a snickers, and a butterfinger candy bar. To go even further. What if the snickers was somewhat melted, and you notice the child just digging into the wrapper with their fingers? Imagine using your finger like a spoon, to dig out the melted chocolate, peanut mess.

What is a mother to a two year old, highly allergic to ingredients, in these things do. Since this is a hypothetical situation, that is all the information I can give you.

Okay, I'll add the kids will come in contact with each other at some point.

Can't wait to see how one should handle a situation like this. Please, do not be shy, leave your answer in a comment. If you would prefer to leave it private, you can email me.

Thanking you in advance, because I know you will all come through on this one.

At least he is not allergic to sand.

Do you think he drank it?

A New Look.

So I decided to fancy it up around her a bit. Found this great website scrapblog, it's free to create and share. It is also a lot of fun. It does have an option where you can purchase your creations, I have not gone that far yet.

If you like to scrapbook, check it out. I am not a big scrapbooker, however, this website was fun and relatively easy.

On to the update. My little guy, is doing real good. He has a small patch of rash on his backside, nothing he is complaining about. We are just watching things, and documenting right now. A few of you mentioned environmental allergies, and it certainly could be. His big sister and I both have these. In fact, mine are acting up right now. Maybe it him before me.

Either way, diligence is the key, when you have an allergic child. How many of you would agree with that statement?

If you have time, I made a topper for our family blog too. If you want to check it out click here.

My little itchy boy.

I have to say, off and on, we keep experiencing this new rash and with it comes extreme scratching. It is so difficult to watch your children experience any kind of discomfort.

I am really starting to believe that this is due to one of the foods, that came up in his panel, as a low level allergy. The doctors told us these could become worse.

The one that I am suspicious of, is another big one to me. It is wheat, holy cow, just saying it overwhelms me. I thought we had it hard with peanuts and tree nuts. If in fact these reactions are to wheat, things just got a whole lot more complicated in our world.

I do not know much about the wheat allergy yet, I have only began to do the research. We are scheduled in December for additional testing, in the meantime I am going to try eliminating foods and see if things clear up.

I am so glad there are so many avenues I can go down for help on this issue. Not to mention great ideas for foods all over the web. Today on ABCNews.com they have a Gluten Free Vanilla Cake Recipe, that even has a video to help prepare it. Allergic girl is talking about this recipe and site today also, check it out.

Now, to eliminate things a two year old has been eating, what fun it is going to be.

Little Man Update

My little guy is doing well. The rash is gone, and has not come back. I am really thinking this may be an environmental allergy, except for him saying his tongue hurts. Could be one of the things we have been eating that he tested level 1 for, that is getting worse. We have allergy testing to see where we are at in December. I am going to ask to be tested for a few other things that we are unsure about.

So, I had a comment on my other blog, that someone could not leave a comment here. Can you please test it out and let me know if that is still the case? Come on, I know you can help me out with this one. If you attempt, and are unable to leave a comment, hop on over to the other blog and let me know there. Anybody ever have that happen on their blog?

Thank you in advance for your help on this.

I'm Stumped.

Not only am I stumped, but I can't believe I am posting for a third time today. I guess if you count my other blog, this would be the fourth post of the day.

My little guy, once again has a rash on his neck, that he can not keep his hands off of. He keeps saying, "Mommy kiss it." It is red all the way from the tip of his chin to the top of his chest. He also again said, "my tongue hurts." I gave him some benadryl, and that has seemed to soothe him.

Another baffling episode. I can not put my finger on these random breakouts. Any thoughts?

Clean bill of health.

My little guy finally got his two year check up today. All is well, and he is growing normally.

Talked only a little bit today about the allergies, our Primary Care Doctor does not offer much in this department. He is knowledgeable, however, I have always found the allergist more helpful. One thing we did talk about, was some of the his so called, lower level allergies.

When I say that, I mean the foods he got a one or a two on his RAST. My understanding, was to stay away from the two's, and if the one's, gave no reactions, then they were okay. Peanuts and Tree nuts are all above a level three for him.

Wheat, some fruits, clams and a few others are at level one and two. Since it is fall, and pumpkin everything (which happens to me one of my favorites) is all around. I needed to double check one item that was on his list. My little guy has a level two allergy to nutmeg.

Anybody else have nutmeg included in their allergy list? Anybody have a good nutmeg free pumpkin pie recipe?

Two year checkup.

We are going to attempt to get my little guys two year check up today. We have been unable to do it for the last month, because he has been so sick. We have an appointment today, and I am in hopes the doctor thinks he is well enough to proceed.

Hopefully I will be back later today with a clean bill of health..