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.