Duck Eggs FAIL!

Well Gabe had a mild reaction today. Soooo it looks like the duck eggs are out. :( He's got a rash on his back and 4 or 5 really tiny spots on his face around his mouth. And he was complaining of being really itchy. Oh well. We may try again at some point just to make sure he didn't grab something that we weren't aware of or anything, but for now I'm taking them off my list of can eats. (actually I don't think I bothered to add them on in the first place yet. See I'm learning!)

Duck, Duck, Goose!

Well I found some duck eggs and finally cooked them up today. I was told that duck eggs taste, "different" and so I was worried they would be gross. Actually they were really good. I liked them and Gabe LOVED them!!!!! So that is nice that if I want to, I can now sub eggs with duck eggs instead of always applesauce. Don't get me wrong I LOVE applesauce as a sub, (1/4 a cup per egg 1/8 a cup per egg white), but it's only good if it's being used as a moistening or binding agent. If it's for helping leavening then it's not so good. :( And now I can make homemade quiche. :) Mmmmm!

So were you dying to find out how my yogurt was?!?!?!

It was good. I ended up adding more sugar, but it turned out good. Link LOVED it. Gabe liked it. It had more curds in it than expected and isn't very thick so if you make it I suggest adding some powdered milk to thicken it a little. The frozen yogurt I made with some of it was SUPER yummy. :)

I'm excited!

Okay so I haven't tried it yet, but I now have a TON of yogurt! (it has to cool) I made blueberry, peach and vanilla, plus a container of plain yogurt that I'm gonna use to make frozen yogurt with. From what I understand it will all stay good for well over 10 days and I think between me and the two boys that will be more than enough to devoure 3/4 a gallon of yogurt. (the boys normally have 1-2 bowls a day for breakfast with a muffin) The other 1/4 of the gallon will go into the ice cream machine in the am. :) I'm excited. I snuck a taste and decided that I had to add a little sugar with the fruit, but I doubt that will kill us. :) And it makes it taste yummy!!!! So I'll see you all (you know my 1 follower) in the AM to tell you all how it turns out!

Yogurt.

I am braving making my own yogurt. I found a really easy crock pot recipe for it! Wooo Hoooo! Go me. Although I doubled the recipe before thinking it through. It may affect the temps. :S I'm not sure. Soooo fingers crossed it works out because if it does then I'm gonna have a TON of yummy fresh SUPER cheap yogurt AND I'm gonna use my Hamilton beach ice cream maker to make frozen yogurt....Mmmmmm I think I will add blue berries and then maybe I'll add strawberries too. Mmmmm. I love yogurt. Sadly it takes 13 hours to make so it will be at least 7 or 8 more hours til I can taste it. Sigh, patience is NOT my biggest virtue.

Sooo proud!

Gabe totally made today so awesome. We went to an easter egg hunt and I let him do it even though I knew he couldn't have the candy. We talked about it and he said he was okay with bringing everything to me. So we did the hunt and he brings me his basket. I take all the candy out and replace it with stuff I had brought. So then we are stuck with this HUGE basket of candy he can't have. So Gabe goes and gives ALL of it away to the other kids. Smiling the whole time. I was soo proud! We did get some strange looks until I explained he has food allergies and that he couldn't have the candy. But this one lady I nearly hit. He went up and asked if they wanted a piece of candy (and I know how she meant this, but she said it where Gabe could hear AND in a very rude tone) WHAT IS WRONG WITH THAT KID?! Um nothing you fucking idiot he can't eat it so he's being nice. WTF is wrong with you is what I wanted to say. Luckily it is a distant family member of my friends and so she intervened and told her off for me! Oh and because he was sooo great about it my friend who is 2nd cheif let Gabe sit in the drivers seat of the fire engine and push buttons and such. Made Gabe's day!

ok.

So I have found out that I can get enjoy life chips and a mold from a craft store to make my own chocolate bunnys for him. Or that I can get gummy worms and bears yummy earth at toys r us.

So I will cope. I'm just frustrated.

Damn....

So in trying to be good at all this allergy shit I had found a company that made gluten, dairy free and corn free chocolate. So I ordered 2 bunny's for Easter and a handful of just little chocolates. I did this as soon as we got Gabe's list of allergies from the doc.



Well it recently came into focus that Gabe's most severe reaction is to something he tested negative for. SOY! He has delayed reactions to it. So it didn't come up in the testing. :( So now the poor kid who has been looking at this Damn Easter bunny chocolate for a week in the freezer can't have it after all. It's got soya lecithin in it. I didn't even think about it until today when we went to see the Easter bunny and I gave Gabe one of the little chocolates.. About an hour later he had a hive on his face. I'm sure by the time he wakes up from his nap it will be more than just 1. (when we tested him with peanut butter it took 1 hour to get 1 hive 6 hours to get several and at 12 hours his whole face was covered. :( We thought it was the nuts, until a recent incident. Now we know it was the soy.)

I just want to say this just sucks

Cool!

Lays Natural Chips are okay for Gabe!!! Woot! They use sunflower oil and potatoes and sea salt. Can't beat that! Nice and simple and good! Gabe is so excited he can have chips again.

Also a neighbor has a boss with SEVERE allergies and they were talking and her boss sent us a new pancake mix, (Pamela's Products) which by some miracle Gabe can have! It does use almonds in it, but Gabe has had those before with no reaction so I *think* it should be safe. But they are gluten, wheat, egg, & corn free. (I called!) Such a sweet gesture. Really made my day. Actually in more ways than one. Not only is it super sweet that she would think of us and such, but on top of that, now I don't have to think up anything for dinner. Just nice and easy pancakes, which are a favorite food around here. :) I'm also fry up sliced apples in maple syrup to top with. Mmmmm. Only thing missing is whipped cream.

Picture proof!

This is what he looks like this morning. I wish I also had pics of his hands because that is the biggest difference! They are almost totally clear! No more red all over them!

It was easy!

I used this link to learn how to make cheese.
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Cheese-at-Home
It really was easy! And it smells soooo good! (it has to get cold before I can eat any) I doubled the recipe and only got about a cup. But it was a good first trial because if it had turned up crappy then I would have been pissed at using so much milk.

So anyways I am now a maker of cheese and ketchup. I wonder what other random things I'm gonna start making in hopes of giving my kid a normal diet.

Anyways, I just wanted to share!

Mmmm

So tonight I made a chicken & biscuit meal. OMG it was sooooo good! Me and Gabe both had 2 helpings! I used Namaste perfect flour blend for the first time. It turned out like I thought it would (a lot of the free foods don't!) LOL! It was very good though. I was proud. I'll have to post pics! The recipe is alredy in the recipe page!

Now in a little while I am going to try and make mazzarella cheese. :O Wish me luck! LOL!

I need that.

So for anyone who's kids have food allergies, they know that you HAVE to cook a LOT more. Especially with soy or corn allergies. I mean yea it's great no more evil processed foods and all, BUT lets face it, it's a LOT of work! There is a reason that frozen food companies do so well! People don't have a lot of time anymore!

All I can say is THANK GOD (and amazing wonderful hubby who supports me) that I can stay at home. If you are reading this blog and you have a kid with severe food allergies and you work, I bow down to you! Seriously, I don't know how to fit all the stuff into my very boring day. I don't know how people who work do this.

Any-who to the point of my tirade. I need to spend sooo much time in the kitchen now, but I am learning that having those random gadgets that most people buy and never use is actually nice. :) I recently got a crock pot again. (25 bucks for a HUGE one at walmart!) (someone stole ours when we moved, Karma will get them.) Then I got a new hand held mixer (10 bucks at target!), then an ice cream maker. (walmart clearance 15 bucks! WOOT!) Now my Grammy in law is loaning me her bread maker until the one my other grandma is giving me gets here! So now I will have a bread maker! (other than myself!) Wooo Hooo! Everyone it seems that I know, has bought these GREAT gadgets but then never uses them, because well who wants to spend all day in the kitchen? So I am slowly buying them off everyone I know, or buying them when they clearance! My next thing? Dehydrator! I figure I can make banana chips, apple chips, etc, and have a bunch of easy little fruit snack bags that I can just grab and go. That would be nice. So yea I need that! LOL! Seriously though, they are really a nice thing to have! They save some time and get my bread to rise just right!

Tonight I plan on making muffins (didn't I JUST make a batch?) and trying a new namaste mix for dumplings, then I'm going to try to make a chicken and dumpling meal of some sort. I don't have it entirely planned, but it's gonna have peas, carrots, chicken, and a really good buttery milk sauce. (sorry for you dairy allergic people) I'll post the recipe if it turns out any good!

med bands

I ordered a set of 3 from this company on ebay. They fit Gabe perfectly. They did mess up and forget to put one of his allergies, BUT as soon as I contacted them they told me they were sorry and that new ones would be on the way asap! YAY! (I don't have to send back the first ones or anything like that!)

Gabe likes them, most of the time. At this point we aren't making him wear them, we are just offering them to him and praising when he does.

I'm impressed that they magnaged to fit penicillin, wheat, egg, corn, strawberries latex and nuts on it. (of course we had to figure out soy the next day. Grrrr) I'm just gonna write in plus Gabe's name and my phone number on the inside with permanent marker though.

I think it was 14 bucks for all 3. Not too bad. :) And Gabe thinks they are cool because they look like Daddy's. I'll post a pic soon.

Here's the link....http://stores.ebay.com/medical-alert-bands_Custom-Wording

YAY!

I know it has nothing to do with allergies, but this is my blog after all and so I can sing from the Internet rooftop. LINK'S hearing is PERFECT now!!!!! YAY! Back story is he had such bad ear infections that it affected his hearing a LOT and he was dubbed with moderate hearing loss. At almost 2 years old he JUST had his first word (baby while pointing at my belly) and so we've been terrified that it could be permanent. But we did tubes and today he was given a clean bill of health! WOOT!

Mr. Gabe is doing pretty good today. I did end up giving him more benadryl. Still red from last nights reaction. (did I mention it was REALLY bad, like almost went to the ER for steroids bad?) But he seems fine. So fingers crossed. Now we can get this all out of his system and adjust to another allergy and get him back to healthy.

Good night all!

Maybe we've figured it out?

Okay sooo what we think is this....His BIG allergy is soy. That is the one that causes us to go to the ER. The others MIGHT be what causes he eczema and red face and such, but that once his body isn't as hypersensitive they might go away to the point that he can eat them again. So we are definitely adding soy to the list. :( But in hopes that this means it was the soy that caused the really bad reactions instead of the corn, because well soy is labeled on everything corn is not. Soooo personally I'd rather him have a major soy allergy and not a corn one.

LMAO In all honesty it could be both or all of them. We will just have to see. But at least we now hopefully have the complete list of things that set him off and we can detox his system. Then once everything is out we see how he's doing and start from square one again.

Oh and the soy allergy explains yesterdays bad reaction AND the mild one the day before it. Ahhhh enlightenment.......

Ahhh!

Whole body reaction. His whole entire body is covered in rash. :( Almost as bad as the night we went to the ER. I gave him benadryl and it didn't seem to get any worse so I let him go to bed. I'm gonna call the doc in the am if he still has a rash. He had 1 sneak candy this am. Thats it! The only thing I can think of that really makes any sense is that he has a bad delayed reaction to soy. I gave him some soy milk this am. Shit. Thats what we originaly though it was that he was allergic to. Looks like we may have been right. We ASSumed he wasn't because of the skin test, but the nurse said if he has delayed reactions it wouldn't show up on a regular skin test. Actually he had tuna that had soy milk in it yesterday too. That would explain why he got a rash last night from 1 crumb of cake. (literally he picked it off the knife it was next to nothing)

Poor kid.

Moon Sand.

Beware, after doing a search it appears that moon sand is NOT safe for kids with corn allergies. Sigh. Play dough and crayola dough is also not safe. Looks like modeling clay is also not safe. Grrrr.

Crayola crayons are ok, BUT you have to take off the paper and wash off the crayons. Sigh.

Anyone know where I can get him a good bubble?

Feeling better.

Well after a much needed nap for all I'm feeling better. (cuddling with Lincoln always does that) Everyone is in a much better mood. I'm even considering feeding my kids dinner (just kidding). It's just so hard some days. I'm considering trying to go allergen free in the house, but I just don't think we could. Link does not have allergies so far and so for him it's nice to be able to eat crakers or cheese once in a while. Plus with me being pregnant it's hard to live on the everything free diet. I HATE chicken to boot so there goes most the dinner meals.

But on the other hand there would be no more slip ups at home. So I dunno. He needs to learn how to stay away from this stuff and most of our time is at home. So by having it here it is a good way for him to learn. Especially since we never have anything that he doesn't have a sub for around him. But I dunno. I think we will just have to wait and see how this evolves. Maybe we will just naturally stop buying the other stuff.

It's hard.

It's so hard to have to drastically change your eating habits. It's even harder for a small child. Gabe got into some stupid candy this morning and again was complining of a belly ache and itchy face. :(

It seems like no matter how hard we try we just can't keep him away from everything. Like all this hard work is for nothing. We are doing the best we can. We try to make sure NOTHING is out where he can reach it and that we don't eat anything in front of him that he can't have unless he has a damn good substitute (like his own pizza while we have ours etc) but it just seems like no matter how hard we try he ends up with a mild rash most days still. Plus he is constantly telling me he just doesn't feel good. I don't know if it's due to reactions, due to him liking the attention (he does have a sibling and another on the way so 1 on 1 is big with him) or if it's just that he thinks it's what we want to hear because we are asking him all the time.

I just don't know. And today I'm very discouraged, that after all my hard work he still has a damn rash today. I wonder if we'll ever get this down pat. Or if we are gonna find out he has more allergies.

I'd love to go totally allergen free in the house, but lets face it, I'm pregnant I can't survive on his diet. Hubby wouldn't even try. And our second son doesn't need to and he hates all the allergy free foods, but suffers through them when his brother is around. I want to be fair to him too. He deserves regular food too! (we sneak him crakers when he wakes up before his brother, or cheese etc.)

I just don't know how to find a balance today. I'm just bummed. I wish there was just a quick answer for all this. Plus tomorrow we go for my second son, Lincoln's, hearing test. At the begining of the year he had one and he failed miserably. We thought it was due to ear infections and got tubes put in 3 weeks ago. Tomorrow is judgement day to see if his hearing loss was permanent or if the tubes fixed it. If the results are good then I wish it was tomorrow already. If they are bad then I just want to stay at today, because at this moment I'd rather have hope that he is hearing like he should and that we are not just adding on another major life changing health problems to another of our kids. KWIM? I know whatever the results are we will deal and be fine, but just for today it's too much and I'm overwhelmed. And I know that even if the results are bad that it's better to know now so that we can help him with it. He still has hearing just a lot of stuff is mumbled for him so it's a lot to work with. But for today I just don't want more work. I know that sounds awful, but today is apparently a pity party day. :(

Grrr

Well, today was a nice full day. We went to a late St. Patty's parade. 1 hour to drive there 1.5 hour parade, 1 hour to drive home! But the boys had fun. Gabe did really well with only eating his candy.

So then we came home and my father in law and his long term girlfriend and sister in law and her Fiancee come over. We play in the yard for about an hour, then we come in and eat. They brought a pizza which is specialty made and we love. Gabe of course can't have any. Also they brought a cake which is fine, but I thought they would stay a little later and we wouldn't be having it in front of Gabe. Not a bid deal though, he had his own pizza which he loves and a brownie and some ice cream that he can eat. SIL caught him picking crumbs off the knife used on the cake though and then I saw him lick a stray piece of pizza. But I mean MINIMAL amount ingested!

Yup he has a rash. I had to give him benadryl. I don't know if I'm missing something bigger than this, or if those 2 TINY instances could effect him that bad. :( I'm pretty sure it was from licking the tiny amount of sauce. BUT it makes me worry that maybe he's having this reaction to something else. We've only been in this house for 5 months. What if he's allergic to the house? (Very doubtful because the restriction diet made rashes go away, but still what if?) What if he's allergic to something else?!!?

At this point I just don't know. I'm just so bummed, he did soooo good all day and now the poor kid has a rash anyways. :(

Not Mayo, but good.

I tried to make non egg mayo today. Came across a stupidly easy recipe. (it's in the recipe list) It tastes NOTHING like mayo. But I figured it wasn't a bad taste so why not try it in the tuna sandwich like I planned. OMG it's yummy on tuna with some celery salt and mustard powder added in. Mmmmmm........But DEFINATELY NOT MAYO! LMAO!

Apparently betty crocker over took my body today. I ended up making 3 batches of ketchup. Yum. 1 loaf of bread. 1 batch of chocolate chip cookies. 1 batch of muffins and the not mayonaise.

Now after all that I'm having pizza bites for dinner. LMAO. (the boys are in bed I can have non allergy free food as long as I dispose of the evidence!)

Ketchup

Muffins

Pizza

Cookies

Bread

baking and more baking.

Sigh. I remember when I used to put my boys down for a nap and then I would take one too. No longer. Now I do a lot of catching up on my cleaning, because I do all my baking during that time slot now. Sigh.

Oh one hand I'm finally figuring out what my 3 year old can do with me and it's been a blast baking with him. Plus he LOVES it. My almost 2 year old isn't really interested so as long as there's something else for him to do he's happy. So it's something nice that Gabe and I can share. But on the other hand, as much as I really do love to bake, it's a PITA to have to bake pretty much everyday. Today I am making my first Namaste bread. It's been easy. The only thing I worry about is my egg substitute. I use apple sauce and this recipe calls for 1 egg and then 3 egg whites. So I used my better homes cook book to figure out that 2 egg whites equal 1 egg. Then I use 1/4 a cup of applesauce to sub for each egg. So I ended up with 5/8 a cup of applesauce. Hopefully it turns out well. (I think all the math was there! LMAO!)

Also my boys finished off yet another batch of muffins today. (I freeze them and they seem to last about 3 days so 4 muffins a day, 2 for each boy) So I have to make those in a little while.

Freezing is my new best friend. I have to get one of those handy vac food bag things though! I managed to freeze half the pizza I made the other day and it's nice because I can just pull out one piece at a time or so. Plus I freeze brownies and since we aren't a huge sweets and candies house I only do 1 every few days. (I cut them big enough that the boys are content with half of one). Plus I've got the ice cream.

It's nice that I now know EVERY SINGLE thing that we put in our bodies. I always wanted to be that kind of a super healthy mom, but never got around to it. And I'm sure not having so many chemicals in our bodies is gonna be great, but boy is it work! But well I can feed my kids 3 meals a day and a snack and not have to worry about it causing another trip to the ER.

Lately we've been doing plain yogurt with frozen blueberries or muffins for breakfast (often both with how Gabe's eating) Then pizza or fruit for lunch and then for dinner we often do rice chicken and peas or some other veggie or I make plain hamburgers (now I have bread for them! Next I tackle ketchup) Followed by ice cream, or a brownie, (I'm gonna make cookies today maybe too to freeze)

It's not a huge variety, but it's balanced meals. Oh and I also found a pasta I have to order! Then we can add that in! First I have to find a sauce that's either really cheap and everything free OR a really easy recipe that makes large batches that I can freeze. (I like baking, but I'm not nuts, I don't want to have to make 5 things everyday. Freezing is my friend! LOL!)

See the changes.

So we have had the list of allergens for almost 2 weeks now. The first week was a LOT of trial and error (remember how I told you not to make a no no list? This is why!) Finally in the past week I feel like I'm just starting to get a handle on it. BUT a couple of times Gabe got into something, like a chocolate I didn't know was within reach or something. Funny story. The other day hubby was home alone with Gabe and he went to grab something from downstairs. When he came back up (1 min tops) Gabe met him at the gate and said "daddy I got a treat, it has wheat, I'm gonna get a rash". Smart kid sure enough he did. He's really done well with staying away from most things. (I think the horrible hives and swelling of his arms and legs last time he had a lot of corn syrup did the trick.) Poor baby. But he is only 3 and sometimes the temptation is worth the rash to him.

Hey it's a learning curve for me and him right?

Gabe's Safe Food List

These foods are all wheat, egg, corn, strawberry, peanut and tree nut free. I've either done a TON of research on them OR (this is most likely) called the company and they have verified that the foods are corn and corn derivative free. :)

Keep in mind the list is not huge, but this is a starter list! It will keep growing so keep checking it. Also please bear in mind that companies can change ingredients at any time so it's always a good idea to double check!!!!! I don't guarantee that they are free, but that we eat them without a problem and that my son is very sensitive. (He reacts to the vinegar in ketchup for heaven's sake!)

Price Chopper Tomato Paste
Price Chopper Plain yogurt (from what I've come to understand most plain yogurts are ok! They only use the corn derivatives for binding the flavors MOST of the time)
Stonyfield Organic Plain Yogurt
Fresh fruit except Strawberries
Del Monte canned fruit except strawberries. (I called and spoke to them and they said they will always label if they put in corn derivatives in their syrups.)
Fresh Veggies except Corn
Del Monte canned veggies except corn.
Most canned Veggies are ok as long as it's just veggie, water and salt.
Chicken
Beef
100 % Juice with NOTHING added! McDonald's apple juice is safe!
Milk
Elyon Marshmallows (made for passover ONLY!)
Rice
Plain Unsweetened Applesauce (target is great for cheap applesauce! It's 1.92 at our local one for a large jar! Just make sure the only ingredients are apples and water for any applesauce)
Butter
Specialty Chocolates. (Chocolate Emporium makes gluten, dairy free candies. Some are corn free call and ask! They are VERY helpful!)
St. Claire's mints and tart candies
Namaste ANYTHING (again can't tell you how much I LOVE this company!)
Frierich Corned Beef (I called and they don't use any corn derivatives in their natural flavors Woot! Erin Go Bragh!)
Yummy Earth Organic Lolly Pops
Crystal Light Hard Candies (I haven't called them yet!!! So it is not for sure, but my son has been eating them without a problem. They were a GREAT candy sub at St. Patty's parades!!!!)
Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips

Tomato Spinach Pizza Recipe & Peach Ice Cream Recipe

Tomato Spinach Pizza Recipe (but you can sub with anything you like! Although your kids might surprise you and LOVE spinach)

Namaste pizza crust
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 can spinach (only spinach, water and salt)
1 can tomato paste (make sure it has nothing other than tomato puree and water. Price chopper brand is only puree!)
2-3 good sized tomatoes (rinse before use)
Olive oil

Preheat the oven to 450. Bake crust according to directions, pull out of oven and lightly coat with olive oil. Then in a small bowl mix the paste and oregano and garlic powder. Then spread it out over the pizza crust. Take half a can of spinach (or less or more according to your taste) and spread it over the pizza. Take tomatoes and slice them up and lay them on the pizza. Put back in oven for about another 10 minutes.


Peach Ice Cream

1 can of peaches (make sure it's just peaches and water or if it's light syrup you call and ask if it has corn derivative)
1/2 cup of sugar
2.5 cups milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract (I use flavoring that is cheaper)

Put the peaches and 1/2 cup of sugar into the blender and let sit for about 20 min. Then puree. Turn on your ice cream maker. I have the Hamilton Beach one and I LOVE it. Pour everything in and let it churn for however long your ice cream maker tells you to. Super yummy!!!!! When it's done put it in an airtight container for storage. (if there's any left that is)

another day another allergy.

You know at his 3rd birthday back in December my son could eat anything. We knew he had allergic reactions to two antibiotics and that was it. Beyond that we thought everything else was safe. Now he has 16 allergies. You know that is almost the same number of lines as his list of foods he can eat. :( Seriously that's just crazy.

On the blood test Gabe comes back negative for everything. This is normal. From what my allergist says, it's a hit or miss. It works for some people totally doesn't for others. Gabe is one that it doesn't' work for. So we go according to skin prick test results. (SPT)

According to that Gabe has 13 allergies out of the 31 they tested for. Since then he has reacted to strawberries (not on the test), latex, (not on the test) and last night peanuts or tree nuts. (not sure which). They will NOT test for peanuts on a SPT because people who are allergic tend to be so allergic.

So last night we gave him a few cashews that are baked in peanut oil. I mean seriously the kid has SOOOO many other allergies I figured wants the chance he's allergic to peanuts too? Um apparently pretty good. Luckily because of his restricted diet it's not like it's hard to avoid them, just sad that we have to add something to his list of allergies. :(

But on the upside, going corn, wheat, egg and strawberry free his formerly ALWAYS rosy cheeks are no longer there. His ears aren't red anymore, his hands are much less red. His eczema is almost totally gone. He's got more energy (which by the way he doesn't need! LOL!) And the kid is now eating like a horse. When he was first starting food he used to eat and eat and eat. But little by little he stopped eating a lot. We figured he was just done with a growth spurt. But now he's suddenly eating like crazy!!!! I made a great allergy free pizza last night and he had 5 pieces!!!!!!!! (2x3in sized) then 2 oranges, and then half a muffin! (that's within an hour!!!!!!) For the past few days he just eats and eats. Makes me think that all the foods were causing him mild pain, or discomfort and made him feel yucky enough that he didn't want to eat. We'll see if the crazy eating thing lasts.

I'm finally feeling like I have a handle on this whole allergy thing. I'm starting to know what to look for and when I need to call and find out. Plus I finally have enough food that he can eat that I feel like I can give him a fairly balanced diet AND some great treats. (I made homemade peach ice cream for him last night).

Anyways, off to start another crazy day in mommy paradise. Enjoy!

Journey with me. PLEASE!?!?!

My name is Niccie. I have two beautiful boys and another on the way (boy as well and yes we are THRILLED not bummed at having all boys :P) My son Gabriel was recently diagnosed with severe food allergies to wheat, egg, strawberries and CORN. We orginally thought it might be peanuts. That scared the hell out of us. Then when cutting out peanuts didn't stop his reactions and they continued to get worse and worse and more common, we thought it was soy. Both my husband and I thought it was the end of food for us. I mean soy is in everything right? LMAO, boy I wish. Because it is a top 8 allergen they now list it on everything that has even trace possiblities, so where as there is sooo much you can't eat, atleast you know what you are eating. So then we did all of our testing and came back neg for soy. SHOCK Relief! And found out instead he had a corn allergy.

Corn however is a different demon. Corn is in EVERYHING and because it isn't a top 8 allergen, by law no one is required to list it. Actually the companies aren't even required to test for it. Yea I wish we had even realized it was a possiblity that someone could be allergic to corn because as a reward for being SOOOO brave with the spt (skin prick test) we fed him a whole box of gummy bears. We ended up in the ER that night for horrible horrible skin rashes and hives and swelling of his extremities :( So yea that has started my journey into corn free life.

We tried starting with a no nos list. Please for your own sanity don't do that. It will depress you, make you want to cry and drive you nuts! Start in the begining with a can can eat list!!!!! It will make you a lot happier if you KNOW something is safe. We started doing this by pulling everything off our shelves and looking at what we thought was safe. (LMAO boy were we naive) Then I started my campain to call every single company. To do this please have the ingredient in front of you, make sure you can find the barcode numbers and the experation date :) I know a lot of companies list stuff on their websites, but because corn is not a top 8 a LOT of companies don't post the info on it.

When you call ask about citric acid, vitamin c, white vinegar and natural flavors. Those seem to be the top culprits that are corn derived. (shocking I know) Also anything that has maltrodrexin don't even bother with :) If a company can't give you an answer (and there are a SHOCKING amount that can't) then if you are highly sensitive to it please don't risk it.

Make a list of things that are safe!!! And trust me when I tell you to find a health food store near you! And make sure that they carry Namaste brands. OMG I can't rave about this company enough!!!!! They are AMAZING!!!!!!!! Gluten, wheat, soy, corn, potato, peanuts, tree nuts, dairy and caisen free! (their entire factory is dedicated to being allergen free! WOOT!) The people in the company are absolutely wonderful! And the food tastes good!!! We are still trying them all, but I will rave to anyone who will listen about their brownies and muffins and pizza crust! Also I've heard great things about their chocolate cake!!!! (aren't you loving them as much as I do already?!?!?!) Also the health food stores if they are good ones will not mind you picking their brains all the time. (I'm a question asker and if I don't understand something I won't go away til I do and they still like me at mine!)

Well folks I hope you will jump on board with me for this crazy freaking ride I'm getting into! Maybe we can all find others who are struggling with this like ourselves!!