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.