Happy New Year!

Where did 2013 go? We had a great year here. Thankfully, it was a safe year. It always feel good to get rid of those expired epi pens, knowing that they weren't used. I hope that you had a safe year too. I look forward to 2014 with hope. I hope that it is another safe year for all of us and I hope that a cure is found soon.
Thank you for reading! Cheers to 2014!

How did it go?

How have your holidays been so far? Safe,  I hope. All is going well here. We are into the lazy part of vacation. Last week was busy and wonderful with friends and family. I am really enjoying this lazy time. We are doing the usual for New Years, nothing. Which is fine with me. Do you have any festive plans?
Thank you for reading and I wish you all a safe, happy, and healthy New Year!

Two weeks.....

The children are off for the next two weeks. They haven't started fighting yet, that's encouraging. Two weeks of not having to worry about her at school. No worrying every time the phone rings. Two weeks where my brain doesn't have to be in over drive. I needed the break.
This time of year often brings reflection. I am so blessed with friends and family that do everything they can to make us feel safe and included. I hear horror stories from others about how their friends and families do nothing to help and at times, they make it worse. I can't even begin to imagine......
I hope that you all have a safe, happy, and healthy holiday season.

Share it

I fully believe that the only way that lives will be saved, before a cure is found, is education. The only way to educate is to share information.

Share this, another child gone, and her name was Emma....
http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/mothers-agony-as-teenage-girl-dies-from-peanut-allergy-on-city-street-29854519.html

and Abbie
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/bostonglobe/obituary.aspx?n=abbie-benford&pid=168639786&fhid=25327

This should never happen...my thoughts are with the families.

The ice cream party

My daughter had an ice cream party in her class yesterday. I was unable to be there but my husband was there the whole time. It went great! Just about everything was safe and what wasn't was supplemented from home. A goodie bag was sent home. The room mom sent me an email later. She had taken pictures of all of the ingredients from every bag of candy and sent them to me! Everything was safe. I was stunned by her kindness and willingness to help.
Two more days and we are on winter break. We are home for the two weeks with very little to do. Yes, of course, there will be baking!
How are you spending your break? Have there been endless parties in the classroom? How do you handle it.

Playing with the Auvi-Q trainer

My little one went into the junk drawer in the kitchen, what a mess! She found the Auvi-Q trainer (I'm not paid by them in anyway). She decided that she wanted to practice. How could I say no to that. She spent about 30 minutes using me. She practiced on me and then I had to do it on her. Every time I used it on her she said, in a very dramatic voice, "Oh Mommy, you saved my life". Cute, but slightly depressing. At first she had a hard time getting the trainer out of the case and she had a hard time getting the red tab out but, after a while she was a pro. She was very proud of herself! It was a good reminder that every so often she should practice.
We had to renew her prescription for her epi pens so we practiced using the old ones by injecting a clementine. Poor clementine never saw it coming....
Do your kids ever practice with trainers? What do you do with your expired epi pens?

Mixed emotions

This time of year is crazy. Holidays, shopping, cooking, managing life with food allergies and so on. I often feel bad for my daughter because her life is not easy and it's  not going to be easy. Well, life is never easy but it's even more difficult because of the food allergies. Then there is the guilt that I live with. I know, I did nothing to cause the allergies. I'm still a mom, I still have guilt. Can't help it. This morning I went to Target to do some shopping, grocery and holiday. For the second year in a row I ended up in Target on a special day. There were many police officers there helping children and families do some holiday shopping. Santa and Mrs. Claus were there too. There was a T.V reporter there also. The parking lot was packed with police cars. I started walking up and down the aisles gathering my things. I passed Santa. He wished me a Merry Christmas and then stopped to talk to someone behind me. There was a mom and child. Santa gave the little boy a candy cane. The little boy seemed to be a little scared of Santa but he took the candy cane and enjoyed it. Of course, this was adorable. Then I thought, glad the kids aren't with me because I would have to say no thank you to the candy cane. That would have been awesome....... :(
I moved on and heard an adorable conversation between a child and Santa. He asked Santa why he was there because we all know Santa lives at the North Pole. Santa replied that he came down to visit him and the other children etc. It was very sweet and brought tears to my eyes.
My family is so fortunate. We have a roof over our heads and food to eat. I can buy my children presents for the holidays. I have so many good things in my life. More importantly I have so, so many good people in my life.

Shimmer

Another child is gone. Lost to life threatening food allergies. I can't believe it. I feel like I am beating my head against a wall some days. When will this be taken seriously? Our children (and adults) need to be protected. There needs to be life saving epinephrine everywhere. There needs to be better labeling laws. Schools need to have uniform laws on how to handle life threatening food allergies.
Everyone needs to know that food allergies can be, and are, life threatening!
https://fundrazr.com/campaigns/eeai9

Tis the season with food allergies

Are you as super busy as me? This time of year is crazy. Going back to school after Thanksgiving was tough. We had a nice break and we didn't want it to end. Now, about 3 weeks until our next break. During those 3 weeks there is shopping, cooking, and so on....
Yes, there will be parties also. How do you handle them all? Do you bring food with you? Do you not attend or do you have them at your house?
It's so hard to keep up during this time of year. Do you give  yourself any time off to relax? Is that even possible?