Sometimes it is the little things.

Sometimes it is the little things that break your heart, parenting a food allergic child.

We had a quick trip to the grocery store today. When we walk in, we go straight through the bakery section. Both the kids know, we do not take the cookies from them, so we or over that.

Today, walking through, my little Rooney said, "I wish I could have some cake." Man, I saw the way he looked at the beautiful bakery cakes, and my heart melted for a minute. I said, "honey, you can have some cake, just not those cakes." "Oh, okay" was the answer he gave,and we were on our way.

Goodness I love that little guy. He has been so adaptable, from day one, with his allergies. Any guesses what this Mommy might be making tonight?

Something is missing.

Besides me of course. Really I am so sorry for not posting lately. We have been very busy and I tend to post more often on our family blog. If you would like, you can check it out here. I probably should just combine the two blogs, until then, you can find us in both places.

Having an allergy child changes everything. You know what I mean, if you live with a child, with allergies of any kind.

Before our little man was diagnosed with peanut, tree nut, and egg allergies, our life looked very different. You could almost always find a bowl of candy, sitting somewhere around the house. Every holiday, you would find a bowl full of foiled covered peanut butter cups, for that was Daddy's favorite.

For the safety of my two year old, we do not keep anything with peanuts or tree nuts in the house. Not even a secret stash for me to enjoy. There is not one thing in my house that my little guy can not eat. Not that I wouldn't love a secret stash for me, because certainly there are times I would love to lock myself in the closet, and enjoy a treat. My little guy can get into almost everything. The safety locks are a joke to him, and his latest trick is climbing in the refrigerator. He likes to use the crisper as a step stool and get what he wants. Man, if anyone had warned me about boys, I might have had an only child. Let's just say, I am one busy mamma keeping this guy out of trouble.

Regardless of all of that, I was very excited to find something VERY yummy lately. It is a 90% Cacao Bar with Goji berries. We do not have soy or dairy allergies, I know some of you do so I thought I would let you know the label says Soy and dairy free. The best part for us, is it is made in a nut, wheat and gluten free facility. It is an organic raw chocolate, made by Earth Source Organics, called Righteously Raw. You can check out their product page here.

I would love to know if any of you have tried these yet, or if you do, please let me know what you think.

We just got back from a little trip, and I have lots to do. Will be posting lots of pictures over here very soon. Plus, you can check out all my other recent photo happening while you are there.

Have a great day.

It's been awhile.

Sorry it has taken me so long to post. I have been posting on our family blog, Matters of the Heart. Click here if you want to see new photos or hear what has been going on.

Right now our allergy issues are status quot. Both the kids are doing well. The medications are working, and we are avoiding all triggers. Today, the last known problem had to go. We sent our dog to a rescue organization. They are certain they will find him a good home. They will keep us informed of where he will go.

I think this would have been a lot harder if we did not have the allergy issues. The way it stands, my child's health comes first. The dog was outdoors, but my daughter could not play outside without being affected lately. Hopefully, Sam is resting comfortably, with his foster family tonight.

As far as the food allergies go, we have been doing great. No adverse reactions lately. It has been a fairly easy transition to add eggs to our off limit list.

That's all I have for now. I will post about our preschool open house soon. My tree nut/peanut/egg allergic guy, will start in September.

Hope you are all doing well.

Environmental allergy takes a very scary turn.

Remember that photo I showed you all, of my little girl having an environmental allergy reaction? Hard to believe, but it got worse. If you missed it, you can see it here.

Last night around 10:30, I heard her rustling around in bed. She had been complaining her leg hurt, before she went to bed, so I ran in to check on her. She started thrashing about and crying. I tried to talk to her, but she could not get a word out. Her eyes looked delirious.

Then she finally started to say Mommy, and what followed was a horrible gasp for air. Her voice was very deep. My husband had already made his way to the room. I did not know if she had worked herself up, because she was in pain, or what was really going on. That gravel, and gasp for air, sounded very similar to my little man, when he gets that cough, yet she had no cough following the gasps. I opened the door for the cold air, and had my husband get her rescue inhaler.

She seemed to calm down a little, but was still somewhat struggling for air. We are very close to the hospital, and I just felt that she needed to go. She was not making sense and was not recovering as well as we thought she should. We wrestled with 911 and driving. My husband put her in the car, and said go. In hindsight, I would have made a different decision.

The ER took us right away, it did not take her long to become stable again. The interesting thing was, it was not until after we got to the hospital, that she broke out in a rash and hives.

The doctor kept asking us about food allergies, and if she had eaten something new. I assured him no, but that we had been outside all day long. He believes she probably went to bed with one of her allergens still present and awoke in an attack.

This was a very scary wake up call for us. We have a follow-up appointment on Tuesday, to figure out what all this means for our sweet little girl.

I will keep you all posted.

Egg Free Easter Eggs.

Say that ten times fast.

Really, when you are allergic to eggs, and the only other person that will eat them, is Mommy, no sense dying any. So then what do you do for a fun Easter craft?

We decorate foam Easter Eggs at our house. You could use any shaped foam pieces you like.



Look at all the our different sizes and shapes. Oh boy were we about to have a lot of fun.




The kids had a lot of fun with this easy, fun and allergy friendly craft.

Almost done

No Easter craft is complete without bunnies and chicks.

All done, this is the completed project.

Nut-Free, Egg-Free Pancakes

I have to tell you, I am pleasantly surprised, at my findings, while trying to discover the perfect pancake recipe, my kids will enjoy.

When Rooney was diagnosed with Peanut, and Tree nut allergies, I started cooking more things from scratch, as opposed to the easy, usually fool proof, box method.

One things my kids loved, was pancakes. I had my recipe down pat, the kids loved the pancakes. Ironically though, my nut allergy boy, never ate more than one.

Then, a few months ago, when we started having GI issues with him, and once throwing up, immediately after eating pancakes, we were back for more allergy testing. Sure enough, eggs were the culprit.

My daughter would eat pancakes three meals a day, if I would let her, she kept begging for pancakes. So I tried various ways of making them without eggs. All of them failed, where the kids were concerned anyway. They were all okay, but just tasted different to them.

I wanted to give one last shot, and found this recipe. I did use regular milk, instead of soy, we do not have milk issues in our house. I have to say, they came out perfect. The kids LOVED them. Rooney even asked for a second one. I even got a, "Mommy you make the best pancakes" again.

The funny thing about this is, the recipe is exactly how I used to make pancakes, minus one egg. In other words, my pancakes never needed an egg, to begin with.

That certainly gives me something to think about.

Nut-Free Easter Candy Oh My

I love Easter Candy, it holds a very special place, on my list of favorites. Since finding out my son is allergic to Peanuts, tree nuts, and now eggs, my old favorites have not been hanging around.

Now, there is always the yummy Vermont Nut Free Chocolates. I'm not going to lie, it gets expensive, and it stinks to have to pay shipping, just to get a little sweet treat. We do it, and I love them, I'm just saying, it would be so much nicer to walk into the store, and buy my kids a little something special.

Imagine my surprise, when I walked into the local Rite Aid, and found these Jelly Beans.



I had never seen, or heard of these before. I certainly never thought I would have found a package, that was labeled like this, at the corner drug store.



To top it off, they taste great, and the kids love them. They are similar to Jelly Belly Beans. You can check out Gimbal's website here. They only have a few candies, but you can order them.

Please share your ideas on other safe Easter Candies, I would love to hear what you are putting in your baskets...

So, now I am off to use a new recipe, to make pancakes for the kids. Nut and egg free, the last one I tried, the kids did not like. Wish me luck.

We are still here.

Sorry it has been so long for an update. I have been blogging a little more over at Matters of the Heart.

I promise, I have some updates for you soon. I am trying a new recipe, in the morning, and I found some great "safe" jelly beans.

Stay tuned.

Ready or Not

Ready or not, here I come.

I love this little guy. Click here, and tell me what you love. You just might win something I love.

One good think about having a peanut allergy.

As I watch all my friends, gorge themselves, on Girl Scout cookies, I am ever so thankful, it is something, I just can't have in my house. Don't get me wrong, I love them, that's the problem.

We donated a couple boxes to their share program. I am just grateful, that I am not eating them, a box at a time. Trust me, I would be too. I would open a box, and just pray that I did not eat the whole thing.

So there, I am trying to get out of a funk I have been in. That's my start, something I am grateful for, in the midst of so much going on. If you've never checked out our other blog Matters of the Heart click here. Lot's of recent pictures of the kids and I will have my 200th post up pretty soon.

Have a great weekend.

A picture is worth a thousand words.

Do you think she is allergic to something? I took this photo, to take to the doctor, with me. You know, they never look the same, by the time you get to the office.

So let me break it down for you. We have one with severe peanut,tree nut and egg allergies. And we have one with environmental allergies. Oh, and to top it off, the allergist says Goose's lungs, sound worse than her brothers.

Allergies, of any kind, are not on my list of favorite things.

Rising to the surface again.

Sorry it has been so long, since I posted, over here. I tend to post, more about the family, over at our Matters of the Heart blog. I save this blog, for more allergy related issues, and thoughts on my little man.

This last round of illness, just does not want to say good bye. My little guy, still has a junky cough, and a bit of a runny nose. He has handled it very well though. We only had a few rough days, now its just lingering.

Otherwise, the little guy is doing well. The new egg free life is working well. We have had zero GI episodes, since we have eliminated eggs. I need a good pancake recipe though. This was one of my kids favorite meals, before we eliminated eggs. My daughter, would eat three, and she is not a big eater. They would beg me to make pancakes. I made them the other day, with applesauce instead of egg, and they did not go over very well. My daughter ate half of her one, and my son, barely touched his. I thought they tasted fine, it was just not what the kids are used too. Any thoughts?

Tonight, we try a new restaurant, for my Mom's birthday, I have my plan of action ready, hope it all goes well. It's always a bit scary, feeding my son, anywhere but home. It is also important for us to do normal family things. Which for us, includes eating out occasionally. I always have my son's best interest in mind, and take every precaution I feel important. Some fear is healthy, I believe it helps me keep my son safe. We do not live in that fear, and I believe, without peanuts, tree-nuts, and now eggs, my son leads a happy life of a two year old.

I will be back, with a cute story, on how protective my little girl has become, of her allergic brother.

Have a great weekend.

Little Man Update

Still sick, better night, thank you for the prayers.

Hubby and I, took turns getting up last night, so I feel a little more rested today. Hoping he feels much better tomorrow. Doctor said, the meds could help significantly, within 24 hours. Let's hope, that it work like that, in our case.

On a funny note. Sent hubby for bread. New we could get by, with what we had, and a loaf of bread today. He goes to 7-11 to get the bread. Why, I am not sure, it is farther than the store, and certainly more expensive. At least it was allergy friendly for us.

Have a great day.

A visit to the doctor.

Oh great, you mean it's going to get worse? The doctor said, the medicine my little guy needs, is probably going to make him hyper, and grumpy.

He already does not want me to leave his side. Carry me, carry me is all he has said to be today. Poor little guy, I know he does not feel good.

Good news, doctor said he could start to feel better within 24 hours.

It is not a good night

It is so hard to sleep when your child struggles to breath. The wheezing, the bark of a cough, and the moaning, are just a little tough to sleep through. Nothing like hoping on to the computer, after the albuterol.

Oh, am I going to be tired tomorrow. On a positive note, at least my hubby will be home in the morning for some help.

It has never failed me yet.

I knew it was coming. All the tell-tail signs were there. My little guy is officially is sick. This time seems a little different. Rooney seems to be handling it better so far.

He has, what I call, a junky cough. You can hear all the grumbling in it. What usually happens next, is he gets real tight, and struggles to breath. So far, he seems to be tolerating it well. He is a little horse, I hear a faint wheeze, and a slight bark to the cough. Those of you, that have gone through this, probably understand exactly what I am saying.

We are keeping low key today. You can tell he doesn't feel good, but he is not down for the count. I am really praying, that this is as bad as it gets, this time.

Mothers Intuition

I hope I am wrong on this one. I hear a faint hoarseness, in my little one's voice. There is just something about this noise, I hear, that leads me to believe we have a breathing issue coming on.



Oh, how I pray that I am wrong. I can not even explain the sound, that always leads to a few rough nights around here. Please, please, let me be wrong. Either way, we are prepared. This mom has learned what to do from experience. It just makes me very sad to go down this road.

The cool mist is ready. We have meds for the nebulizer. Once in my life, I just hope I am wrong.

The Cake Debut

So, the cake has made it's debut. It made it, into a post, over on our family blog, Matters of the Heart. Click here, to see the post.

It might be in the cake wreck department, but at least my little allergy guy, was safe to eat it. All I will say is, thank God, I have many years of birthdays, left to practice.

Have a great weekend.

I'm so glad he likes mustard.

My little allergic guy, is so cute sometimes. Today, he said he wanted mustard, for lunch. What he really meant was, he wanted a roast beef sandwich, with mustard.

I am so thankful, that he is such a flexible eater. I would be sad, if I could not have mayo on my sandwich. Not my little guy, he loves mustard only. While he was chowing on his roast beef, cheese and mustard sandwich, my non food allergic child, was the one eating a sunflower seed butter sandwich.

Boy, have we really learned to adapt around here. We survived the recent birthday, I will be uploading photos soon. My little girl loved her cake. It was not as pretty as a store bought one, but it sure had a lot of love, and hard work poured into it.

Stay tuned.

What's going on, in the nut and egg free home, lately.

Thought I would share a little about, what is going on, around here lately. Our new found egg free life, mixed with our normally nut free living, is working well. My little guy has been feeling well. The transition has really not been that bad for us.

We are completely egg free, and it has seriously cleared all the problems, we had been having up. We did have one episode last night, we ate out, immediately after dinner, he had diarrhea. He had grilled cheese and french fries, which usually is safe for him. Not sure,however, he felt fine after that.

One other interesting thing did happen yesterday though. We were sitting in the lobby, of my daughters dance class, waiting for her to get done. In walks a Dad, eating a granola bar, sure enough, he sits down next to us. Immediately, I smell the peanut butter. Instant fear runs through me. I think I can smell it from a mile away now. Needless to say, I got up and stood near her door. I bet he thought I was rude. I wonder if he should have been eating it himself, with the recall and all.

On another note, this weekend is my daughters birthday. I will be making my first egg free cake. Oh, how I miss buying those beautiful, already decorated cakes. I will be practicing my frosting techniques today. Pray for me, she wants this lovely tiara cake. I sure hope I can pull it off.

Acceptance was the answer

I am back, and in a much better mood, for that matter. My last post was really not how I usually am. I just felt like it was a big blow, to have to eliminate, yet another set of foods.

Without going into much detail, of the last few days, I have recovered my usually optimistic outlook.

The reality is, nothing I can do, is going to change the situation. I have accepted what we can, and can't eat, and am now looking at how we accomplish daily living, without certain foods.

Interestingly enough, my little guy has not complained once, of a stomach ache, since eliminating everything with egg in it. His bowel movements are back to normal also. Acceptance, and action, really was our answer.

Now, I am looking for answers from all you egg allergic individuals. We have the whole nut-free living under control, now we move into uncovering the facts about egg-free life.

What do you use to replace mayonnaise in things? Have a good pancake recipe? What about a yummy birthday cake, since we are celebrating my daughters birthday soon. Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

It really does stink to have allergies.

Sorry I am in such a sour mood. I just want the whole allergy thing to go away. Sorry it has taken me so long to get a post about this up. I think I am just still processing all of the information.

The little guy had another RAST done, just under a year after our first. One, the allergist wanted to see where we were with the nuts, and two, the little guy was and is having many GI difficulties.

Long story short, simply because it still pains me to talk about it, he is allergic to everything, it seems. Somethings not as much, others off the charts.

The most disturbing is, his peanut levels actually went up, quite a bit for that matter. He also tested positive for Wheat, Soy, and Eggs. The levels of his wheat and soy are low, which are probably not the cause of his discomfort. The big problem is eggs. His levels, are concurrent with, a 70% chance of having a physical reaction.

This is what we are going to start with eliminating. Part of me, is kind of glad, that it might me eggs, and not wheat. I am not sure how I really feel about any of it, if I am really being honest.

For now, I just want my little guy to feel better.

So we wait

Just walked in from a few errands. Missed a call from the doctor. Of course, I call back, he is at lunch. So the story goes, we wait.

On a good note...I had the epi-pens refilled this morning and there was no co-pay for them. This has never happened. I just kept asking, are you sure. I keep thinking I am going to get a bill in the mail, or something.

Hopefully, I will be back with some news.

No news update

We have not heard back on the blood work yet. I imagine early next week we will. We continue to eliminate wheat around here. It is not very much fun.

Just a few things that have come up around here. My daughter says that she likes our old bread better. The only reason she is even eating the rice bread, is because, it broke my heart when I made them separate sandwiches, and my little man cried for a bite of sissy's.

The kids have asked for pancakes everyday, and do not like the frozen wheat free waffles. Rice cereal, has not been very well recieved, in the mornings. We have a new hot cereal to try tomorrow morning.

We have a birthday party to go to tomorrow. While I know it will be nut-free, we are not the only peanut/tree nut allergic child going, they are serving pizza for lunch. I really just want to skip out on the whole thing. I wonder how the rice bread, and seed butter and jelly will go over, when the rest of the kids are eating their pizza.

I know we will adjust, if this ends up what we need to eliminate. We have all had a lot of fun snacking on rice cakes this week. Unfortunately, I am not sure I am seeing him getting much better yet. Maybe it is milk?

We will see, just wanted to post a little update. I will post again when we know more.

Have a blessed weekend.

Calling all wheat free families, and a little update.

This is the little guy, when got home, after today's appointment. Mind you, we only live ten minutes from the office. Notice the two suckers still in his hands. He was beat.

What you can not see in this picture, are his arms, wrapped from blood being drawn from them. Yes, they took from both arms. Poor little guy, it took three people to hold him down. All he kept saying was, "it hurts Mommy, it hurts."

The allergist feels like his symptoms are presenting like a food allergy. Since we know he is not being exposed to nuts, it is likely another source.

When we first got the news he was allergic to peanut and tree nuts, we were also told he had a minor allergy to wheat. It was so low, at the time, that they thought it was still okay for him to eat, unless he were to develop other symptoms.

So, here we are with other symptoms, classic of a food allergy, as the doctor put it. Which way do we go now. We are not sure what food is causing it? Well, that is where the blood work came in. We will see how all that comes back in a couple of days.

In the mean time, we need to start the process of elimination, to see if anything relieves his current symptoms. Doc, said first thing to go should be wheat..... We will see how this goes. I bought some of that rice bread today and made lunch on it. The kids liked it, however, about an hour after lunch, little Rooney came walking down the hall with a bag of crackers...

Oh, how fun our world has just become. Adding wheat, to what we already eliminate, is going to be a tough transition.

Thank you all so much for your prayers today, I certainly felt them as I had to help restrain my young son today.

Tummy Troubles

We are having, horrible tummy troubles, the last few days. My poor little man is complaining of his tummy hurting often. He is also crying in pain and has a large amount of gas. The little guys stool color and consistency is different too.

We have an early afternoon Allergist appointment tomorrow. I just pray we get some answers. Even if the answers are tough, I just want to know how to make my little guy feel better.

Hopefully, I will be able to update tomorrow with what we discover.

A Great Givewaway

I just love this giveaway, that I came across today. I really think, you allergy mom's might like it too.

The Mom Jen, at Therapeutic Reviews and Giveaways, has a Label Daddy giveaway. I went to the Label Daddy site, and they have great allergy labels.

Go check out the Mom Jen ,and enter this giveaway.

A Happy New Year to you all.

Happy New Year to you all. I hope you all made it through the holidays, and are enjoying the first few days of the new year.

I am looking forward to this new year, we have the ball rolling on all kinds of things around here.

Even though we made it through the holidays incident free, I still have a few little concerns. We have an allergist appointment set for Monday. My understanding, is that we will get his blood levels tested, to see what direction his allergy is going in.... We also will be tested for a few things that he may or may not be allergic too.

The poor little guy had something happen last night, that has not happened since he was a baby. I awoke to him screaming.... He was screaming and crying in his sleep. He was thrashing around, and drawing his legs to his chest. I picked him up to hold him, after he was at it for quite sometime. He was semi awake and said his tummy hurt.

I held him for awhile. He cried and cried, then he started expelling gas. Poor guy this lasted a couple of hours. He was in so much pain.

He seems fine today, a little tired, from his mostly restless sleep last night.

Not much else going on around here. Remember to check our other site, Matters of the Heart, I often update over there first...