Allison's Allergies

So I finally heard back from the doctor about Allison's allergies. The doctor started the conversation with, "Well, she's definitely allergic to peanuts." Great! I knew it was coming, but this sounded pretty severe. She said that on a scale from 1-6 she's a 4! She's not sure how sensitive she will be to it, but because she's so high on the chart not to take any chances. She said to keep it out of the house, wash our hands well after coming in contact with it, and to not eat peanuts in front of her. Funny thing is, that's not all she's allergic to! Here's the breakdown:

Peanuts- 4
Eggs-1 (I guess that's why it's ok when cooked in foods, but not plain)
Dogs/Cats-1 (HA, well, I guess I'll just be vacuuming more)
Soy-2
Wheat-3

She asked if Allison has eczema and I said yes, and she said to cut these items out of her diet and that should clear up! So, I guess Allison is now on a gluten-free diet! I had a suspicion that she could be allergic to gluten after her mini-birthday party when we gave her a bite of a store-bought cake and she broke out, but I thought I was over-reacting! Apparently not! The doctor gave me a website to check out about dealing with allergies and it was helpful. I need to do a lot more research about it so I can figure out what Allison can and can't eat and then start cooking like crazy! The good thing is that it seems to be more common lately, so there are a lot of choices on what to eat and labels that scream "GLUTEN FREE!" So it looks like eating out might be a thing of the past (at least when she gets older) but that's a good thing!

Here's the funny thing, I'm not scared/worried. Chris has been trying to cut carbs from his life and this will be the start we need to get healthier ourselves! I feel like God is trying to tell yelling at me that's it's time for me to get in shape and straighten up about what I'm eating so I don't pass my unhealthy eating happens to my children! I've been wanting to start eating better and this is my wake-up call! No longer can I eat things that my child can't (how selfish is that!) so it's time for me to figure out what's good for her to eat and start cooking that! God has given me this challenge for a reason, and I'm going to jump on the opportunity to take advantage of it! I know that I'm strong enough to handle it, and even though my child might not be eating chips and muffins regularly, I'll make her her own special treats!

So that's it. If you have any advice, please feel free to share with me! Any good books/grocery stores/recipes, I would love to hear. Thanks for your support!

An Interesting Week

So last week was quite interesting for us! We had some GREAT times and then also some not so great times! Allison's been babbling a lot more, and can really mimic what we are saying, or at least the tone in which we say some things! It's quite fun to hear her do this, and now she's starting to "bark" whenever the dogs bark! She'll make more of a grunt, but it's cute and she'll even try to get them to bark with her after they stop!

We also had some family come in from out-of-town and we had a great time with them! Allison is semi-cautious at first of new people, but within 15 mins she's your new best friend! She's such a ham too... she demands attention at times but then is perfectly fine playing by herself other times. We had a great time with them and went out to dinner and to the zoo! She had such a good time at the zoo and it seems like she really knew what was going on! She would stare at the different animals, wave to them, and even growl at them! It was so much fun watching her and even though we were there all day, she was still just as happy as when we first got there! God really did bless me with a perfect child! She cried once when she wanted to get out of the stroller, but then we put her in the front pack and she was perfectly happy the entire day! (she also slept really well that night too!!!)

I did decide to have an experiment and give her a tiny bite of my peanut butter and jelly sandwich... that didn't turn out the way I was expecting! Within 15 mins she started turning red and apparently had gotten the PB on her hands and wherever she touched turned red! She then started rubbing her eyes and scratching her face and about 5 mins later was quite swollen! I put her in the bath with some oatmeal and that seemed to distract her from scratching (she does love baths!). About an hour later she started looking "normal" again! The redness was subsiding and it was becoming more patchy and less all over her. We then left to go meet up with our family and on the way there she threw up what seemed like everything she'd eaten the past 2 days! Well, everywhere she got vomit on her turned red and she started the whole swelling up thing again! We went into the hotel and I gave her a mini bath in the sink and again, within an hour or so she started looking normal again.

I called the Dr. to let them know, if they needed to put it in her chart or whatever, and they told me to come in and get some paperwork to take her and get her allergy tested. I went and talked to the Dr. and she said it sounds like she's pretty sensitive to the PB and it might be best not to keep it in the house (just in case the oils get on her). They also gave me a prescription for 2 Epi-Pens to keep with me at all times, God forbid I have to use them! We then went to LabCorp to get her blood drawn and little did I know they did it just like they took mine! I had to hold her little arm from moving while Chris distracted her and the nurse stuck her! The nurse was really good and got it on one stick, but they needed 2 rather large vials, so it seemed to take forever! Allison was good, but she kept trying to look at what was going on and Chris didn't want her to. When it was over with they put the tape over her arm and I think that just upset her! She kept trying to pull it off and when she did, it would hurt and she'd cry! We then came home and I gave her a bath and took it off (gently) and she's been fine since! What a trooper!

We'll find out in a couple of days what the test results are and how sensitive she is to PB! And what other allergies she possibly has (I know eggs, but we'll see what else)! This is going to be an adjustment more for Chris and I since we love PB so much, but Allison will never know anything different! We'll start buying Almond butter instead and she can have AB & J sandwiches instead! We wont be eating at Chick-Fil-A since all of there food is fried in Peanut Oil, but that's ok! We'll figure it out as we go and hopefully she'll grow out of it!

So that's it for now! I'll let y'all know when we get the results back what new changes we'll have to make!

We have a 1 year old!

OK, so again I must apologize for not writing for a long time! I really can't believe it's been almost 2 months since my last post! Allison has gotten so much bigger and is doing so much more these days! She has officially become a walker and is toddling around the house every day! She will still crawl if she has socks on or if she falls, but for the most part she's leaving the crawling for the babies! My mom and I went out and bought her some new shoes, for when we go out, and she despises HATES them! I take that back, she loves to play with them, but does not like to walk in them! She looks like an awkward clown when walking in them! For one, she has some rather large feet, thanks to Mommy Daddy, and she has no idea what to do once they're on. She's getting a little better at walking in them, but she is not steady at all in them and would much rather walk around barefoot (Just like Mommy)! She doesn't seem to like sock either. I guess they are slippery on our non-carpet floors (even though they have grips on the feet) and again, I think she'd be perfectly happy barefoot! Alas, it's getting too cold for the barefoot days, so she'll just have to deal with the shoes!

We went to the doctor last week and Allison is looking perfect! She's still above average on her height (30") and is a little below average on her weight (20lbs). The doctor said it was normal since she was walking around, they expect her to lose some weight, so no need to worry. We got the OK to start weaning her off of formula and onto either Soy, Almond or Whole Milk! I'm not sure which route we're going to go. She seems to not be lactose intolerant so we could do whole, but Chris drinks Almond and Soy so since we have that we might just do that (plus I think it is healthier). The doctor said to add some fat to her other foods if we do the Soy or Almond (like butter in her grits) just so she can get all her fats in for the day. Allison then had to get 4 shots!!! (Chicken pox, Hep B, Influenza, & Flu)! I felt so bad for her, but she was a trooper! She cried for about 10 mins, but then was done and acting fine after. Daddy was there to help out and she snuggled in with him. Apparently he is the shot-fixer-upper. (He also threatened to hurt the nurse or anyone else that hurts her, and I think she appreciated that!)

There's more to come, but Allison is not wanting to go to sleep right now, so I have to deal with that! Hopefully soon I'll post all about her 1st Birthday Party, but for now, I must go!