Posts filed under ‘The Target’
A Lesson on Perspective
Today was decorate-the-gingerbread-houses-at-school-day. I volunteered to help with this because my girl was just a bit nervous about knowing which ingredients she could/could not have and after I went to the classroom and the mess of icing and candy pieces began to escalate, I was so glad I had gone. My girl was so excited to be elbow deep in bright colored candies and I was glad I could be there to monitor the situation. Thankfully, the decorating went off without a hitch and all the kiddos had a blast. I enjoyed being there with those kids who are all so very different from each other, but wonderful and special in their own ways. (Even though, I might have been dreading the mess!!) When I picked up my girls from school this afternoon, C had her gingerbread house in tow and she was greatly looking forward to getting home and eating some of that house. It seemed she had forgotten all about our little discussion about how it was not something she could eat because of the icing that contains egg whites. So, when I gently reminded her of that, there was a major emotional breakdown. This is really the first time she’s ever gotten so upset (outwardly) about her allergies. Mega tears were flowing in the backseat from the sheer disappointment of not being able to eat such a beautiful and visually appealing treat that she worked so hard on. I let her vent her frustration for a second and then asked her, “Does God make mistakes?” Of course, her answer was NO. And then I asked her, “Did he make a mistake by allowing you to have food allergies?” Her answer, at first, was yes and then we talked about how God cannot make a mistake – never has and never will. He allows everything in our lives for a reason….even things we don’t think are right for us. Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that ALL THINGS work together for good to them that love God…according to His purpose.” Even a 6 year old can begin to understand that God knows what’s best for us and always has our best interest at heart. And while the tears were pouring and the sobbing was in full force, I sat there in the driver’s seat praying she will one day outgrow these allergies, but also wondering what else I could say to help her put this in perspective. Then, I pulled off my exit and sat at a red light where homeless people are almost always standing begging for money or food and I could see just enough under the bridge to see others taking shelter there. I pointed them out to my children and showed them what they had never noticed before. There are real people all around us who have no food or home. When put in perspective, food allergies seem so much less of a burden. The fact is, the focus doesn’t need to be on what we can’t have, but what we already have that, quite frankly, we don’t deserve. God has blessed us exceeding abundantly above all that we could ask for or imagine {Eph 3:20} and THAT is what we can be thankful for.
Allergy Alert Necklaces
Hey Friends, I’m back. It’s been awhile since I last posted, but I am planning to update a little more often in the upcoming days. I have been working on a new venture and wanted to give you a sneak peek at one of my favorites because it is so important to me. My daughter is now 6 and I’ve been wanting a better way for her to be able to alert teachers, etc. around her about her allergies other than wearing a big huge sticker that draws a lot of attention to her. So, I came up with this necklace…
I’ve decided to start making these upon request for boys or girls – The colors I have available are pink, orange, blue and green. The pendants will match the chains and the girls’ pendants will also have a sparkly glaze on top. I think these are perfect for older kids who don’t necessarily want a big sticker stuck to them. The necklace is great for my daughter because she knows her allergies and can voice them to the people around her, but now she can show them the necklace, as well, so they can see for themselves and be reminded of this very important part of her daily routine.
You can view this necklace here. I only have the pink one up on the shop, but I do have blue, green and orange that I will make upon request customized to fit specific allergy needs.
This would make a cute stocking stuffer, Christmas gift, birthday gift or ‘Just Because’ gift. Let me know if I can make one for you!!
Pizza Alternative {Dairy-Free}
Today was my girl’s Fall Party at her school and to most people that means ‘Yay! Party food!’, but my first thought was, ‘Time to research some fun alternatives and hope they turn out well!’ Today’s menu was pizza, cheetos, orange soda and dessert. Thanks to my wonderful friend who had signed up to bring dessert, I didn’t have to worry with that one. She knows my girl very well and watches out for her. I can’t tell you what that means to me! Many of my friends are like this and it is really such a blessing to me. So, she was bringing Oreos, which are free of my child’s allergens. My big alternative to find was for pizza. I’ve never found a good dairy-free cheese that makes pizza taste like real pizza, so I knew I would have to be creative. I decided to make a fruit pizza. So, I went to my Trader Joe’s and bought Whole Wheat Slims (very thin, round sandwich bread that is sturdy enough to hold toppings), Tofutti brand Cream Cheese, fresh strawberries, fresh raspberries and blueberries. I let the Tofutti sit out on the counter to reach room temp and then mixed in some brown sugar until it became a dip consistency. Then, I spread it between the two wheat slims to hold them together and make the base a little thicker. Next, I spread the dip on top of the wheat slim as you would a pizza sauce. Finally, I added fresh fruit. I refrigerated it overnight so that the cream cheese mixture would harden up a little bit. This turned out great!! My girl was very excited when I showed it to her this morning. Instead of cheetos, I could have added any type of her chips, but decided to just give her fresh strawberries to dip into some of that dip mixture and she was good to go. I can’t wait to see how she liked it.
Have any of you ever found a dairy-free cheese? I mean completely dairy-free that has not even been processed around dairy? If so, please let me know where!!!
Allergy Testing
When we first suspected our daughter’s milk allergy (at age 7 months) we knew it was serious. But since she was so young, it was very easy to control her diet and keep her away from any and all milk products. When her 1st birthday rolled around, we were on vacation visiting family on the West Coast and I made sure to find a cake mix with no milk in it. Angel Food cake was what I found. As soon as she ate a few bites, we realized she had more allergies than we had counted on. Needless to say, we flew home a couple weeks later and got to her doctor who referred us to an allergist and had her tested. We went the route of the 40 prick skin test. The results were an off-the-chart milk allergy (the nurses couldn’t even measure it – they said it was the biggest reaction they’d ever seen to a skin prick test), an egg allergy and a peanut allergy which were both in the normal range of a result. I was so surprised and left that office not really knowing the extent to which our lives, especially my daughter’s life, would change. After MUCH research, reading, scowering the internet, etc. I began to feel overwhelmed. The thought of waiting til Kindergarten to have her rechecked seemed like an eternity. I always kept that summer before Kindergarten in my mind whenever I would pray for her to outgrow her allergies. Babies with food allergies have a 75% chance of outgrowing their allergies within 3 years and I was counting on those odds for my girl. She’ll be starting Kindergarten soon and today I took her for her recheck. It has been 4 years since she was first diagnosed and has never been retested until today. I really wasn’t sure what the results would be, but I knew I was hoping for good results. We have been praying about this for 4 years. So, when her tests came back positive to all three allergies again, I was a bit disappointed. We had purposed not to make this a big deal unless she had outgrown the allergies, so she was just a little disappointed, but not distraught. Afterall, this is the only life she has known. She’s been on an allergy-free diet since she started table food so this is her ‘normal’. As she gets older, the journey gets a little more difficult. When I see disappointment in her eyes over having to eat something different than everyone else at social gatherings, my heart breaks. And then, my resolve to make her life as carefree as possible strengthens. Let’s just say, she motivates me. She has the sweetest spirit and a great attitude about her food allergies. She handles it so well and I am amazed at her. As her parent, I want to see her live her life to the fullest extent despite her food allergies. I realize it can be a major source of fear to have your child’s life (or your life) threatened by something you eat. But, I don’t want my girl’s life to be defined by food allergies. Yes, we live cautiously around food, but that is not what our lives revolve around. My goal for her is to make her life as normal as possible without making allergies and limitations the focus. Tonight, I was talking with her and telling her how proud I am of her for being so brave when they ‘itched’ her (as she says – the hives the test caused made her so itchy and she was not allowed to scratch them for 15 minutes). She is ‘fearfully and wonderfully made’ according to the Bible. And I loved being able to point out to her that everyone has unique qualities that God allows each us to have. That’s what makes us special. And because our Creator God doesn’t make mistakes, she is exactly the way He wants her to be right now….allergies and all.
Even though we did not get the negative results we were wanting, I was able to get her an excuse from the MMR and Varicella vaccines that she reacted to previously. (They both contain egg and it turns out that egg is her worst allergy now, as opposed to milk.) Her allergist agreed with me that it would not be wise to have those two vaccinations with this food allergy, especially because of her reactions previously. Now that this is behind me, it’s time to finish preparing my girl for Kindergarten! She’ll be in good hands with teachers that will take precautions around her. I’m so thankful for that.
Here’s to praying my girl can outgrow her allergies before her next recheck in 3 years. Until then, we’ll be busy living our lives to the fullest!
My girl enjoying a blue-raspberry italian ice! Yum!
Allergies @ the Dentist Office
Wow! What a learning experience this is becoming for me. If you haven’t read my last post on anesthesia and allergies, read it here then continue this post – it will make more sense. Today, I took my girl to the dentist ready for her to have her first set of Xrays and a filling. So, when I got there and turned in her new patient info, I sat in the waiting area going over in my mind my usual allergy spiel. A nurse came out to us with the chart in her hand to ask some questions. I was ready for her to ask about the egg allergy, but she instead asked, “How severe is her peanut allergy?” In my mind, I was wondering, “What on earth contains peanuts in the dentist office?” When I told her she told me the dentist had eaten a protein bar that morning that contained peanuts and she wanted to be sure my girl didn’t have severe peanut allergies before she saw her. (Later I learned that they typically schedule allergy patients first thing on Monday mornings so that the office hasn’t been contaminated yet and the staff makes sure not to eat peanut butter products those mornings. KUDOS to them!!!) So, I assured her that with the dentist wearing a mask and gloves around my child would be appropriate since her allergy to peanuts doesn’t seem to be as severe as her milk and egg allergies are. I asked her about the egg allergy and she said they’d talk to me about it during the visit. So, Xrays were done and she does have a few tiny cavities that couldn’t be seen without the Xray and she will need to have them sealed. But today, the dentist told me she would need to order a special type of ‘happy gas’ because even though it doesn’t specifically contain egg, it has a substance that is molecularly structured like eggs and people with egg allergy have reacted to that substance. We obviously want to be on the safe side and go with the alternative! Unfortunately, right now I cannot remember the name of it. And because of its short shelf life, they do not keep it in stock. So, they will order it about a week prior to her next visit. The nurse had asked me if my girl had had any reactions to immunizations and I told her that she did indeed react to the MMR and Chicken Pox vaccines and that I would not allow the flu vaccine (which she had specifically asked me about). Then, she told me that that gives them a good indication of whether or not a child with egg allergy would react to the normal happy gas that they use.
First of all, I have to say that I was quite surprised by this information today! I would have NEVER thought to ask about allergies and anesthesia/analgesics. And secondly, I was extremely impressed with this pediatric dentist office being so on top of things. I feel relieved and just very thankful that they are obviously concerned about allergies in their office and in the way they do things there. The dentist told me she would have an epipen with her while she does the first filling to make sure she is prepared in case of an allergic reaction. (More peace of mind for this Mommy!) I highly recommend Crockett Pediatric Dentistry for those reasons, but please note that I do not know if they are the most affordable. I have to do my research on that, but if money is not an option to you and you are looking for a good pediatric dentist – try them out!
On another very interesting note – I was racking my brain trying to figure out why my girl has a few cavities because we brush her teeth for her (most of the time), we floss them every once in awhile, etc. The dentist asked if she drinks a lot of juice or soda and we do not let our girls drink soda except on very rare occasions and we do not buy juice. They drink water or milk. Except in this case, she drinks rice milk. Immediately, the dentist said, “Ah! I should have known that!” (Because of the milk allergy.) Then, she told me that rice milk is comparable to juice in the way it breaks down into sugar – thanks to all the carbs that rice has to offer. Now that I have been told that, I realize I should have known that myself. We recently switched to Almond Milk because my girl is not allergic to tree nuts and Almond Milk is better for her and has a thicker consistency like cow’s milk. She drinks the vanilla flavored kind. So, the dentist said her son had to drink Rice Milk when he was younger and at age 4 (like my girl) he had the same issues with hidden cavities and it was all due to the Rice Milk.
Anyway, I hope this has been informative for you or someone you know with an egg allergy. It is so very important to alert EVERY person that has interaction with your child about his/her food allergies – even medical professionals.
Monkey what??
If you think you are a bit leary of vaccinations right now, read this list of ingredients in each vaccine and you will be quite surprised. It’s straight from the horse’s mouth (aka – CDC). I have a lot of questions – but one is why is ‘monkey kidney tissue’ really a necessary ingredient for a vaccine?? And that’s just one weird ingredient. Read it for yourself.
Ingredients listed by vaccine OR Ingredients sorted by ingredient names
My child cannot have the Flu vaccine (egg), MMR (egg – although it’s not suppose to affect egg allergic people, but she did have a major reaction), Hib (lactose – aka it comes from milk) and she also reacted to the Varicella (Chicken Pox) vaccine although there is no documentation that it has any of her allergens in it. I had to learn this the hard way. My child’s doctor never said a word about this to me even though we had just spoken about her severe allergies. Don’t leave it up to the doc to tell you everything. If you/your child has any allergy, make sure that anything that is going to go in your mouth/bloodstream or come in contact with your skin has been investigated for hidden allergens.
I encourage all of you who have any type of allergy to look through these ingredients before taking anymore vaccinations. You have to be the judge of whether or not it is best for you or your child to have certain vaccinations. Don’t expect anyone else to have your child’s best interest at heart. Do your homework. Before you go extreme and refuse to vaccinate at all, consider reading this article. Then, determine which ones you should/should not allow. Make an informed decision.
I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for…..
ICE CREAM!!!!!!!
Have I mentioned Tofutti Brand dairy-free products before? If not, then, consider it done. I LOVE Tofutti brand because my daughter can eat it up without me having to worry about her well-being. She has the biggest smile on her face right now as she’s eating it. She told me, “You’re the best mommy to get me ice cream!” That melts my heart. I am so happy she can enjoy ice cream as much as the rest of us do. Thank you, Tofutti!!!!
Living the Allergic Life...to the Fullest! 
