Yummy!

One of the best parts of participating in the walk are the yummy samples that we get to try. So many companies, so many goodies. I love finding new snacks that we can safely enjoy. I'm not paid in any way by any of the companies. I finally got to try Plentils by Enjoy Life. YUM! So many great flavors. I also got to finally try Skeeter Snacks. All different flavors of cookies. I can't even pick a favorite.
Have you recently discovered a new, safe, snack?

Halloween, a party, and a walk

Here's the wrap up for this week, it's been a busy one.

Halloween-It went well. The kids had tons of fun going trick or treating with a few friends. I had two epi pens with us, safe candy, and charged cell phone. After they went to bed I went through the candy. There must have been a sale on Snickers because we had a ton of those. Anyway, I separate it into two piles. Safe and not safe. It's another year where the safe pile was bigger! We were actually able to keep a lot. I think that better labeling and more awareness is key to this success. Something amazing happened at one of the houses that we stopped at. The woman that answered the door asked if any of the kids had allergies! We do not know the people that live at this house. My little one said yes and the woman helped her to find something safe! Incredible!

The party-The day after Halloween my little one had a party at school. I knew about it and plans were put in place in advance. I was at home as it was the day before the walk. As the kids get older parents are not invited in as much. We can attend the parties but if we are going to be the only parents there then I don't want to attend. I want her to have as normal an experience as possible. Anyway, the phone rang and there was the school on the phone. I don't know why I thought that we would actually make it through a whole year without a phone call from the school. It was the teacher. She was asking me if the donut holes where safe and she started reading me the ingredients. I nearly fainted. I reminded her that she can't eat anything unless we approve it prior. I reminded her that she was going to defrost a cupcake. She admitted that she forgot. Luckily I also stock her cabinet with safe cookies and chips. Yes, I am thrilled that she called to go over ingredients. I'm not thrilled that she forgot to defrost a cupcake. Just when I thought it was getting easier.....

The walk-It was yesterday and I'm just starting to recover. I was truly exhausted last night. It was the most amazing day! The weather was incredible. Sunny and cool. The day before it rained like crazy so I was truly stressed about the mud factor but it wasn't too bad at all. We had amazing entertainment, great speakers, great attendance, it was perfect. We are very close to our fundraising goal, I think we might make it by the end of the year. It's always a great day, I love spending time with those that get it. I was humbled and reduced to tears by many kind words. I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did.

Welcome to crazy land

In addition to all of the usual crazy around here it's Halloween week. In addition to the Halloween crazy it's walk week also. I am the walk chair for the local food allergy walk which will take place on Saturday. This makes for a busy time.....
All is good here, not much to report actually. She does have a class party on Friday. Yes, they are serving stuff that she can't have. This is why I stock the freezer and cabinets with safe food. Food will be out of the classroom one day, right?
How are things with all of you? Ready for Halloween?

Hanging in with food allergies

Things have been quiet here and by quiet I mean busy.
The walk is one month away, hard to believe.
School is going well, knock wood. Little one seems happy and she hasn't told me anything that would make me nervous about her class, yay! Let it stay this way.
I was watching a show today that had a celebrity on talking about her child and his food allergies. She said "I did everything right, I breastfed etc and he still has allergies"
I'm not bringing this up to start a debate on breastfeeding by any means. It just made me feel bad, as if she was saying that bottle feeding was wrong. Even the Dr. on the show said that she did everything right. It, to me, was a slap in the face. It made me feel like bottle-feeding moms did something wrong.
Ugh......
Mom guilt stinks.......

Walking for a cure

Many years ago my little one was diagnosed with really bad environmental allergies. I got on the computer and started doing research about allergies. This led me to read about food allergies. I found the organization, FAAN(now FARE). I volunteered at their annual walk. I thought that if a cure for food allergies was found that maybe a cure for environmental allergies would be found. The next year we found out that she was anaphylactic to tree nuts. Five years later I am still involved with the walk, as head chair. It is daunting and overwhelming at times but so very, very rewarding. If you have a walk in your area, get involved. You can volunteer for the day or join a committee. You can join someone else's team or form your own. It is a fun day for the kids and an opportunity to raise needed funds to find a cure.

Check it all out at foodallergywalk.org