Food Allergy Fail + Cool Bracelets

So on Halloween, I was not thinking. We had tons of Halloween candy, but it was all chocolate. Some contained peanuts (peanut butter cups!) and others were made in the same facility as tree nuts. This little (I would guess 3) year old boy came and was trying to pick out candy and kept asking his mom if it was safe. She nicely told him "no" and he picked one anyway that they would later swap for him. I felt HORRIBLE. And so dumb for not having Starbursts or something that kids with nut allergies can have.

We were smart enough to think of Carter and to not get anything contaminated with sesame (which is pretty easy when it comes to Halloween candy), but I should have had nut and dairy free candy since those allergies are so common with kids now!

I can't even explain how bad I felt because it's so sad to see little kids disappointed when they can't have things that all the other kids around them are enjoying.

I'll make sure to do better next year!

In happy allergy news, we have discovered some pretty AWESOME allergy bracelets from Cool Allergy Stuff on Etsy. I'm so excited to tell you guys about these because I love how they have a fun/happy look (something not often associated with food allergies), and they don't just look like medical bracelets (kids will actually want to wear them!). These bracelets are so perfect for kids in day care and in school and once Carter starts school he'll definitely be wearing his every day. Every bracelet has a cute character made out of the allergen.

Carter has the sesame bracelet and his character's name is Teeni Tahini. How cute is that? (If you don't know what tahini is, it is ground sesame seeds and it's in most types of hummus). These bracelets are just what we were looking for, and even better? They're only $6.99. Not a big deal to replace them if they get lost.

The bracelet is great because it has three size settings. It is a tiny bit big on Carter, but he's only one so what can you expect? He liked wearing it and he actually brought it to me the other day to put on for him. ; )

It was tough to keep him still long enough to get a good picture of him inspecting it. This was as good as it got!

There are also bracelets for asthma. pollen, latex and cat allergies. Love how there is something for everyone.Definitely check them out if you deal with serious allergies in your family. I love them!

Food Allergies Suck: Take 2

So if you've ever read my old posts (or know me in real life), you know Carter had some food allergy issues as a tiny baby. I won't get into the nitty gritty and bore you within an inch of your life, so that's all you really need to know. We trialed milk and soy at 12 months and he grew out of them (yay!) And then, just as we were thinking Wow, this is so nice, he can eat whatever he wants, we can go out to eat, we don't have to bring food over to people's houses, we can be normal. Just as we were thinking that, I give him hummus, he breaks out in hives all over his tiny face and we go to the ER. Just like that. Forget the GI issues of the past, now we get to carry an EpiPen (Jr.) wherever we go. I'm thinking of bringing the fanny pack back into style. Thoughts?

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Updates

{I just love Shabby Blogs, don't you?}

So tonight I finally made it 3 miles. I went pretty slow, but it's alright, I have 4 weeks until the dreaded (ha, just kidding, I'm pretty excited) Warrior Dash, so that's enough time to speed up a bit! Totally slacking on the strength training though. Anyway, today on my run, I was attacked by 2 things: the first was a little 8lb dog. I literally looked down because I thought my shoe was untied, but no, that was the dog jumping at my foot, that's how small it was. Then I realized the dog's owner was running after us. I probably should have stopped so that the dog stopped, but hey, I was running my full 3 miles (actually I did 3.12 miles plus a scooter race--details on that in a bit) so I wasn't stopping for anybody, not even a little cute dog. The second thing/person I was attacked by was my 7-year-old neighbor. She is constantly yelling "Aaaammmyyy!!!!" from afar and I had to keep telling her "5 more minutes and I can talk." I kept dreading passing her (I run in a loop around where we live) because I was really trying to  keep my focus and enjoy the awesome Spice Girls song that came on my Pandora at just the right moment.

Anywho, I finished the run, went and talked to my 7-year-old neighbor as promised and was promptly asked to race her while she rode  her scooter. I couldn't say no. We were neck and neck for a while there and then she just kept going so I had to give up once I reached my front door. Apparently she had to flag me down because she was dying to tell me that she's a flower girl in her aunt's wedding. That was actually a pretty good reason to interrupt my run. Being a flower girl is exciting stuff.

In other news, Carter seems he may have grown out of his milk allergy (wooooo!) He's gone through a week of cow's milk yogurt and almost a week of cheese. Next week is the real deal, so we'll see how it goes. Honestly, I doubt I'll end up giving him the whole cow's milk though because I think coconut milk is just so much healthier (and basically has the exact same nutrition--we'll see what the pediatrician says, but I'm thinking it's a good substitute).

Well, off to read The Lucky One. Nicholas Sparks totally sucks me in.

Scared into Exercise

I've noticed that in order for me to exercise consistently I need to be terrified of something.

+In high school it was field hockey tryouts (they haunted me all year), they were pretty marathon-esque if you ask me.
+In college, I slacked a bit more than usual but stepped it up before the wedding (I guess I was terrified of looking bad in my dress, hating my wedding pictures and wearing my bathing suit for two weeks on our honeymoon).
+Now I have a new fear, maybe you've heard of it...duh duh duh...The Warrior Dash. My sister-in-law and I are running it on June 9th and I'm excited and want to puke all at the same time. It's only a 5k, but there are lots of scary obstacles mixed in (that's what I'm most nervous about!) Here are some pictures from the website:

Are you scared for me? Good. I'm not the only one. I actually think it will be lots of fun, but it's still intimidating!

To prepare for this craziness I have been running (of course), which has been great and now I'm forcing myself to do more strength training exercises. I've recently gotten into Pop Pilates on YouTube.

Thanks to pregnancy I have essentially zero (or maybe even negative) ab strength. My abs are so sore from doing this video yesterday and it feels so good!

I love this girl! She's so bubbly and sweet. I could work out with her all day long (except for the fact that I would drop dead first). My sister got me into these videos and I'm so glad she did!

I've also been watching Lean Secrets YouTube videos. This girl is another winner. I love her personality and she knows her stuff! My blog friend at Purple Kale posted this video on Facebook and I instantly fell in love with Brenda and I've been reading her book nonstop. (You can download it for whatever price you want to pay here) Just scroll down to the bottom of the screen. Now all I have to do is actually eat the way she says, rather than just reading about it ; ) It's so darn easy to reach for a box of crackers sometimes though, isn't it?

I have heard similar things to what she says before, and I stopped eating wheat for a few a weeks while breastfeeding because we thought Carter was reacting to it, and I honestly noticed a big difference in the way I felt. I might do it again, but it is definitely a hard one to eliminate!

Just wanted to share!

More Food Allergy Stuff

So C has been having issues the last 2 weeks with blood in his stool...poor baby! Today we saw a pediatric GI, which I was dreading because I thought he would say "well just put him on elemental formula." Boy was I wrong! This was the best experience we could have had at a doctor. He said C looks healthy, is gaining weight well, he's happy, and is a good candidate to stay on breast milk while we continue to tweak my diet! I was so relieved. I want to continue nursing more than anything because
1) I know it's best for C
2) I love our special quality time
3) It makes me skinnier
4) It's so much easier than making, warming and cleaning bottles 24/7

For now I continue my diet free of: milk, eggs, tree nuts, peanuts, soy, fish and corn. If C still has bleeding at his next appt we will talk about eliminating other foods (but we'll make sure he's not becoming anemic first). The GI was also kind enough to set me up with a nutritionist appt during C's GI appt! This guy was great!

Obviously I'll switch to elemental formula if it is in C's best interest, but right now breast is still best and I'm thankful for that! : )

Happy 3 Months Baby C!

So yesterday C was officially 3 months! Time has flown! And this means I've been doing my dairy, soy, egg, nut free diet for about 2 1/2 months!

Yesterday, some relatives stopped by to see C and they brought us 3 grocery bags FULL of food from a high end store. So. many. delicious. things: pasta, chicken, bacon/cheddar burgers, pastries, eclairs, ice cream, TONS OF STUFF....and I can't eat any of it!!! Except the fruit salad, which was delicious and I almost ate the whole thing already. It was so nice of them to do that, and they didn't know about my allergies. Obviously I didn't say anything because how rude would that be?

A few hours they let, though, my didn't-go-to-the-grocery-store, lazy-on-a-Sunday self got moody! ha! It was 1pm and I hadn't eaten since 6pm the night before because I was doing who knows what and I was STARVING, and my coffee wasn't that good that morning (I made iced coffee and it was that weird lukewarm temp because my ice melted before I could finish it). And then I started thinking if I am a mother perfectly capable of thinking of allergen free alternatives, and I felt bad that I couldn't eat all of this delicious food, how will C feel when he's only three and everyone wants to go get ice cream and he can't have any? It made me want to cry. And I also decided that I'm not just going to do this diet until C is at least 12 months, but I'm going to do it until he either grows out of his allergies, or until I don't feel guilty for eating these things when C can't (probably when he is in his 30s).

I know babies have a good chance of growing out of food allergies, but I wonder about C sometimes. We knew he had dairy/soy allergies because he had colitis (intestinal bleeding that led to microscopic blood in his stool). Colitis means a more severe allergy than simply getting a rash. C gets a rash from eggs, so I feel good about him out-growing that one. Also, C gets crazy reactions from a minuscule amount of milk or soy. When I had only been doing the diet for a week I accidentally grabbed the wrong popcorn and ate one with butter on it. I only ate less than a handful before I realized. C vomited for 2 days. : (


On a more positive note: The diet has helped me lose all the baby weight. But honestly, I'd rather have all the weight packed on +10 if it meant C's little tummy never had to hurt so bad : (