I learn something new everyday

Our first hosting of Thanksgiving went over very well. Even with all of the work, cleaning and preparing, it was still more comforting to know my little guy was going to be safe.. It truly was a lot less worry on my part.

In my last post, I clarified why we stay away from nutmeg. Interestingly enough, did you know that poultry seasoning contains nutmeg? Wow, I would have never thought that. I did some quick rearranging, and the stuffing and bird, came out just fine.

I made a special pumpkin dessert for my little guy, and the look on his face, when he said," yum mommy, this is good" made my day.

Hope you all had a special day.

Some Clarification

Thought I would clarify a little bit, since I have been asked about this a few times.

My little guy was tested for, and is actually allergic to nutmeg. Not all people allergic to nuts are allergic to nutmeg. Nutmeg is a seed, and he came up allergic, at a level two. We were advised to avoid anything above a level one allergy.

My little guy tests positive to many things, we just mostly talk about our lives with the peanut/tree nut allergy. We have some testing scheduled for next month, we may have to start talking about his wheat allergy here pretty soon.. Originally, we were at a level one, and I am hoping his recent reactions, are not due to an increase in this.

For now, I am off to get my shopping list done. Thank you for all your emails, and comments. I sure do appreciate all you have to offer.

Our Thanksgiving Plans

Okay folks, this year, I am cooking Thanksgiving Dinner myself. It is the first year ever. I am really rather excited about it.

Knowing that my son has severe allergies, makes going anywhere for dinner, not as pleasant as it used to be. There is the constant worry, checking, and watching. Then there are my questions, that get the weird looks. Come one folks, this is my kids life, there is no going overboard, if his life is in danger. Nuts can be hidden anywhere, especially during the holidays.

Now, even though it is going to be a lot of work to prepare dinner, with a two and three year old under foot. It just seems like it will be much more rewarding to me. I will not have to wonder what is in anything. I will not have to worry if someone doesn't wash there hands and wants to touch my kid. I will not have to worry about any cross contamination coming from my kitchen. I will not have to worry if there is nutmeg in that pumpkin pie, or if there are nuts in those cookies. I will not have to worry about my son walking up to the appetizer table and putting something in his mouth that I did not see. I think you get the picture. It is the safest place we could be, and celebrate a day of Thanksgiving.

Now, what I really need help with, is my menu. I am still not sure what I am going to make, besides a Turkey of course. Any fun, family recipe, ideas would be great.

Fabulous and Forty

Yes, this is the fortieth post over here, and a fabulous award.

My new friend Jill, at Sneaky Momma, sent me this wonderful award. It is the first award, for the spin off blog, here. The whole meat and potato's, can be found at, Matters of the Heart. If you have not visited Jill yet, I suggest you stop on by and say hi. She has a wonderful family, and I am finding we have quite a few things in common.

Requirements for accepting the award are, I must list five of my favorite addictions, and then pass along the award to five other blogs. I will apologize in advance, I am going to only do half of this. I believe, you only want to know, five of my addictions anyway.. There rest of you know your fabulous, so why do I need to pick only five of you.

I am addicted too, with no shame, I might add.

1. Coffee, any and all. I love it, even day old.

2. Blogging, and anything that goes along with it, I think you all get the idea.

3. A few nighttime TV shoes. Can't miss Prison Break, The Unit, The Biggest Loser, Survivor.

4. Hugs and Kisses from my little one's. Oh, I can not live without these.

5. Right now, I am loving me some pumpkin scones from Starbucks. Goodness, I wish they never asked me to try one.

So that is it, five of my many. Thanks again Jill, and to the rest of you fabulous bloggers, take the button, and feel grateful you don't have to admit your addictions. Of course, if you want to, you can share the love in a comment.

Flashback Photo

I was looking through some photos the other day, and came across this photo of our little man.

This was a picture before we found out about his allergies. His poor face was always red and rashy like this. If you look real close you can see little scratch marks, from him constantly scratching his face. If you think this looks bad, you should see what his bottom always looked like.

Speaking of bottoms, we are going through something else right now. Our little man sure has been scratching his bottom a lot lately. It is getting real rashy again. Last night he kept saying his tummy hurt too. Today, no complaints.

I know all you allergy moms out there can relate. It feels like a scary roller coaster I'm riding on. I sure did appreciate all your supportive comments on the funk I had been in. Hopefully I am coming out of it. I know I will feel much better when we get through the holidays without an incident.

I have been planning my Thanksgiving menu, so I have been looking through lots of recipe books and magazines. Is it me, or does it seem like every other page has a nut filled recipe on it? Peanut butter this, almond this, hazelnut gooey this, or that. I am so sick of seeing nut recipe's I could scream.

Okay, so I am done venting. How much difference do you think no nutmeg in a pumpkin pie is going to make? That's right we are allergic to nutmeg too.

Here is a new photo for your viewing pleasure, this makes it all worth it.

The big 40 and an Apology

So this is my 40th post her at "Nut Free Living", it has gone by so fast. I have met some wonderful people that are on this same journey. I have learned so much, yet most days, still feel overwhelmed, with my little guys allergies.

I also have to say, I am sorry for my lack of posting over here. Seems like I have been blogging more on our family blog, Matters of the Heart. I'm coming up on the big 100 over there.

I think the overwhelmed feeling right now, comes from thoughts of the holidays. This is our first year we know about the allergy, and let's be honest, there are nuts everywhere this time of year.

Friends bake, thoughts of stressful play dates, wondering if a peanut or tree nut has been left behind. Others seem worried about watching my little guy, for fear of reactions. I worry to leave him, for the same fear. He's two, he puts everything in his mouth..

I feel like people look at me like I am crazy when I explain the serious nature his allergy. Some people close to me have a hard time really getting it. I put way to much thought into things.

I'm cooking Thanksgiving this year, which I have never done before, this way we can stay in our own home. Not sure what we will do about the rest of the holiday's.

So, I think I have been avoiding posting, because I am in a real bad place right now, with our allergy. My little guy has another unexplainable rash right now. The list goes on. I am so afraid we might have to give up wheat also.

All you seasoned allergy moms, any words of encouragement right now, would surely help me get out of this funk.

Do we ever have to do it again?

Besides seeing my kids dressed up, the rest of it can go...

Our plan took a little detour, however we still managed to have a safe and happy time.

We had decided we were going to take the kids trick or treating to a few houses that I had dropped off safe candy at. The kids had such a great time with that, and did not want to quit.

I was armed with wipes, benadryl and an epi, so we attempted a few other houses. My husband also had a back up bucket to put non-safe candy in.

We instructed our little man not to touch anything that was handed to him. Remember, he is two, how do you think that worked?

After the first house, my husband held on to little man's free hand at the door, and would not let go. Little man was unable to grab the candy. If my husband saw an unsafe candy coming, he intercepted, and put it into the back up bucket.

As far as my daughters bucket, we did a trade, for yummy Vermont Nut Free Skippers, when we got home. By the way, I love those little skippers, and my daughter is so happy to have what she calls safe M&M's.

We did not stay out too long. The kids got tired quickly, and we returned to the house. The rest of the night was spent fighting over who was going to hand out our allergy friendly candy. Luckily they took turns and everyone was happy.

All and all, the night went well. I still felt a lot of anxiety about being around so many unsafe things with my little guy. My husband must of too. When we got back to the house, he said, "I guess from now on, we can go away for Halloween, so we do not have to deal with all of this."

That is a nice thought. I will leave you with a few photos, which was the only thing that made yesterday worthwhile.

Our Pink Minnie Mouse

I eat nut-free cookies

Oh the love

Too many smarties

End of the night silly girl

Brother couldn't resist being silly too