one down one to go

Last year, after several health scares and a terrifying trip to the oncologist, we found out that Aiden was allergic to eggs and milk!  At the time, we were so relieved by his diagnosis that we didn't really put much thought into 2 things; 1) the number of foods that contain milk and/or eggs and 2) the difficulty in feeding a baby/toddler a milk and egg free diet.  Once I came to the realization that I would never grocery shop, order food, or cook the same way again, the reality of our next year kind of scared me!  What am I going to feed my child?  No eggs or milk seemed simple enough.  However, when I began to read the labels on Gerber baby food, soy formula, and simple breakfast syrup (butter free, of course) I realized that milk, and milk bi-products are everywhere...cheese, yogurt, bread, pasta, hot dogs, chicken tenders, fish sticks, cereal, sausage and even bottled sweet tea (not that he drinks sweet tea but this example helps when Nana wants to give Aiden some of her tea haha).
As Aiden began to transition from an 8 month old exclusively breast fed baby to a 1 year old who needed table food for his motor skill development, weight gain, and nourishment and onto a curious 18 month old who wanted what Momma was eating; my plain meat, fruit and vegetable diet became much less interesting and my creativity was shot!  I believe I was actually shunned by a group of moms when I panicked after I noticed a cracker in Aiden's hand that contained milk.  (either that or they think I am crazy)  HA...if only they knew the luxury of making their child "cheese toast" for every meal or simply ripping open a Gerber Graduate and popping it in the over for a minute!  Apparently they have no sympathy for my desire to avoid Children's Hospital pediatric emergency room for the 4th time, or my fear of injecting my 20lb child with an epi-pen where the dosage is actually for a child 30lbs and up but it's either that or nothing or the agony that Leif and I went through while we waited 2 weeks to see an oncologist and the longest hour of our lives while we waited for Aiden's blood work to come back!  Anyway, I digress, after a long year of reading labels and careful cooking, Aiden returned to the allergist to have his annual test!  The first test was a prick test...he was pricked with 8 different "pricks" whole egg, egg yolk, egg white, whole milk, casein (milk protein), a positive reading prick and a negative one!

We could see some swelling right away but resisted our urges to diagnose...after about 30 minutes the doctor came in to examine...Aiden FAILED all egg pricks again, meaning he is still allergic to eggs...however his milk prick was borderline which meant he would have blood drawn to see what his exact level was.  A few days later, Aiden's wonderful allergist called me (yes the DR picked up the phone and called me herself...does that even happen anymore?) to let us know that his blood test was NEGATIVE for a milk allergy...AMEN!!!  The next step was to do an oral tolerance test...this took FOREVER...
dip stick in milk, rub on arm (wait 15 minutes)
dip stick in milk, rub on tongue (wait 15 minutes)
give 1 ml orally (wait 15 minutes)
give 1/4 teaspoon orally (wait 15 minutes)
give 1/2 teaspoon orally (wait 15 minutes)
give 1 teaspoon orally (wait 15 minutes)
Have you ever spent over 1.5 hours in a tiny exam room with a 20 month old...thank God for Elmo and Angry Birds!

The results....SWEET MILK SUCCESS!!!!  Aiden has officially outgrown his milk allergy!  What do you do to celebrate such a milestone?...give that boy his first taste of ice cream...I went against my policy of not rewarding Aiden with food or sweets and let him have a milkshake!  Did he like it?  You tell me...

I am so incredibly thankful that he has outgrown his milk allergy and to be completely honest I am also grateful for the year of learning I had!  With out this allergy I may not have been forced to feed my child in a way that was extremely healthy, fresh, and limited on processed food!  I learned a tremendous amount about hidden "bi-products" in foods and although I am not going to go crazy vegan natural organic parent on him, I am very grateful for the full year he had to learn to love healthy foods and I was even more proud that after he drank about 1/4 of his celebratory milkshake, handed it to me, and reached for his bag of blueberries and finished every last one of them!

The Bread Winner...

Having a baby with a milk and egg allergy can sometimes be a challenge!  Although I feel like we have become pro's at packing food for Aiden, creating yummy meals, and learning to substitute ingredients in recipes I still feel like there is so much more that I can do.  Think of all of the things that most kids eat...mac n cheese, pizza, cheese sticks, pasta, chicken nuggets, bread, waffles, french toast, scrambled eggs, yogurt, ice cream, chocolate, ravioli, spaghetti o's, hot dogs, muffins, cupcakes....each and everyone of those foods contains either milk, eggs, both or some sort of milk or egg bi-product!  To add to the frustration Aiden's pediatrician keeps telling me that he is below the 5th percentile and really needs to gain weight!  I am doing the best I can!!  I am really not sure if Aiden is sick of the very few things that he can eat but I know I am sick of giving him the same things every other day!  I thought maybe if I bought a bread maker and used a bunch of substitutes, I could make him some nice filling bread, dough, muffins etc...FAIL!!!  So back to the drawing board...I came across a recipe today that provided multiple substitutions for each and every "allergic" ingredient....it seemed so simple that I had to try it immediately!  Trust me when I tell you that I am no Betty Crocker...I can follow a recipe with success but once you start changing it up....FAIL!!!  Well today we experienced a HUGE SUCCESS...we attempted some banana bread and it was amazing!  It was moist, soft, full of flavor and Aiden approved!!!  ENJOY...(we did uuuhh I mean Aiden did)

The Ingredients

Aiden helping Daddy mash the bananas!

Everything mixed together...

Aiden patiently waiting...

Looks promising...

Yummy...

He likes it!!!!

Banana Bread

1/2 Cup Applesauce
3/4 Sugar
1 1/2 All purpose flour
1 Tsp Baking soda
1 Tsp Salt
1/2 Tsp Cinnamon
4 small ripe bananas (I used 3 large)
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

Preheat Oven: 325
Lightly grease bread pan
Mix applesauce and sugar in large bowl.  Slowly sift in flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.  Mash bananas in separate bowl and then add into larger bowl and mix (I used a mixer).  Add vanilla extract.
Bake for 60 minutes or until knife comes out clean.
Allow to cool before slicing!
Here is the original recipe with other substitution suggestions!
http://www.datsplat.com/egg-free-banana-bread-recipe-yummy/

The "Easy" Life?

So Monday has found us all again...my Mondays are usually pretty busy as I am always putting my house back together from the wrath of Daddy and Baby.  This morning as I was doing my usual routine I began to think about all of the things I do in order to make my life easier, what I could do better or more of and what others may do that I am missing out on!  I thought I would "blog" about what I believe makes my role as Momma easier in hopes that I could maybe share a unique idea or even better receive and amazing suggestion that will just rock my world!

These Boys are MESSY!!!

My normal Monday routine usually consists of Laundry, prepping food for the week, making sure my car and diaper bag are ready for any "thing" that may arise, cleaning and re-organizing our common areas (living room, kitchen, dining room and "pub" area) and of course the normal day to day things that we all do (eat, shower, feed Aiden, tend to doggy, play, clean up, repeat, oh yeah and plan and prep dinner).  Seems easy enough right?  So get to the tips already.  Laundry...I usually sort my laundry on Sunday night...my husband likes to hoard his whites in his book bag or in the closet so it is usually a wild goose chase to track down everything...as each load gets done in the dryer, the next load goes in...I usually fold and put away as I go and never put clean clothes back in a laundry basket and always pair up my socks immediately out of the dryer...this helps me win the battle with the sock monster that lives in my dryer...all upstairs laundry (Aiden's clothes and extra towels/sheets) go on the stairs for when I make one of my countless trips up the stairs.  Sometimes my clean clothes will sit on my bed until naptime depending on Aiden's mood but I always put the laundry in the way so it forces me to fold it!  If Aiden is asleep I load the laundry but don't hit start until he wakes up...he is a light sleeper and his naps are already short enough!

Food is a big deal in our house....since Aiden is allergic to milk and eggs I can't just give him some of whatever I am having and I have yet to find age appropriate "baby" food that is milk and egg free...so I spend a good amount of time on Mondays prepping food for Aiden.  I "snack" bag safe crackers, triscuits, cheerios and blueberries, pre-cook gluten free pasta, cut up and bag strawberries, grapes, turkey dogs, grilled chicken, pickles, and apples.  Once I have all of this prepped I put it on one shelf which is "Aiden's shelf"...if it is on that shelf it is safe for my little allergy boy...all dry food goes in a pile on the counter because if your kid is anything like mine he always signs "eat" when I am elbow deep in dish suds with 2 pots on the stove and the dog standing at the back door barking and Aiden is shrieking while signing "eat, eat, eat"...clearly an emergency!  Speaking of food and emergencies, I try to keep a full cup of juice in the fridge at all times because once Aiden sees the sippy cup he does not want to wait for me to fill it up!  Aiden eats everything in his highchair with the exception of the occassional cracker...I have found that this contains my food on the floor mess to just one room and Buddy does a pretty good job of handling that!

EAT!!!

On the weekends we usually drive my hubby's truck so on Mondays I make sure that the stroller is in my trunk, I pack the diaper bag and set it close to the door in case of the need for a quick exit.  The carseat is always prepped and by prepped I mean the straps are tucked into the side so I can just put Aiden in while he is trying to wiggle out and buckle him without him sitting on the straps thus making the process next to impossible.  My purse is always next to the diaper bag and usually contains wet wipes, a hair brush for myself and Aiden, snacks to distract Aiden when we are out, a couple of toys, and a bib...sounds like I should just carry a diaper bag but trust me my purse is smaller and lighter than the diaper bag which by the way contains 5 diapers, wipes, change of clothes, EPI pen for Aiden, blankets, coat, tylenol, gas drops and a few other distactions for Aiden.

Let's Go Momma!

During nap time....after I tend to myself for a short while, I lay out Aiden's clothes for the day, a diaper, wipes and creme all on the bed so that it is all within arms reach when I change Aiden after his nap.  There is nothing like a naked baby bottom lathered with creme and the diaper is no where in site.  We keep Aiden's books on the bottom book shelf so he can get to them without our help and I keep the DVD player loaded with Elmo's world because although he really isn't into TV yet, there is something about Elmo's voice that can buy me about 3.5 minutes of sanity.
Some of this may seem silly, pointless, or even obvious however I am always trying to improve my system, buy myself more time, and make my life just a tad bit easier!  I am sure there are a few more things that I probably "swear" by but for now this is what makes my life just that much "easier"....what do you do???

To peanut butter...Or not to peanut butter!

I have a confession to make!  I have become mildly obsessed with whether or not to feed Aiden (13 months) peanut butter!  I juggle between being an easy going momma to a crazy lunatic worry wart of a mother who does only what the doctor says and nothing else!  Can someone please help me find a happy medium?  Our pediatrician insists that no child under the age of 2 should ingest peanut butter due to the increased risk of either developing an allergy or having an allergic reaction.  So when I see my friends feeding their young children (under 2 years of age) peanut butter with no warning from their pediatrician it makes me wonder, should I just go for it?  Then the fear sets in and here is why... After being rushed via ambulance from a local hospital to MUSC Children's Hospital, a 3 day stay in the pediatric unit, 3 visits to the ER, a terrifying visit to the oncologist, and tons of vomit we finally learned that Aiden was severely allergic to milk and eggs.  Since allergies are her specialty, I decided to ask our allergist her expert opinion.  She strongly encouraged us to slowly introduce peanut butter into his diet because according to her, research shows that the sooner a highly allergic child is exposed to highly allergic foods the less likely they will develop an allergy.  Sounds like a good enough reason to break open the Peter Pan right?  Wrong...enter our nutritionist...she strongly discourages feeding Aiden peanut butter due to a high risk of choking!  Really?  Choking!!!  I remember dipping my spoon into the peanut butter jar as a kid while my mom watched and now this lady is telling me my child will choke if I give him peanut butter!   I am a wishful thinking kind of girl, so my wish is that my pediatrician, my allergist, and my nutritionist would all have a pow wow and discuss this peanut butter issue and while they are together they can also determine whether or not Aiden should get the MMR vaccine because I am not completely satisfied with "he may or may not have a reaction because it is harvested in a chick egg therefore it might contain egg enzymes"...Who knew that something so simple could wreak so much havoc in the mind of this first time mom!

Can he be allergic to spaghetti sauce...I think not!