What do two nut-free Mom’s do on their night out together? We eat whatever the hell we want. Seriously. A good friend of mine shares the same food restrictions that I do when it comes to feeding kiddos. No nuts allowed! Her son has nut allergies too, so we lean on each other for support and ideas all things food and holiday related; and life in general, too. We have a lot in common, conversation and humor come easy. That being said, we had a ball last night on our “girls night out” together. We enjoyed pedicures, dumplings (not a “safe place to eat”), specialty chocolates (also, never safe), and…
Moroccan Oil Hair Products + Nut Allergy
Moroccan Oil is very popular right now – it’s found in Morocco and is currently used to bring life back to dull hair. What is Moroccan oil made of? It’s argan oil. Argan oil is derived from the nuts of Argania spinosa, a native desert tree in Morocco. In other words, the fruit of the Argania spinosa tree often called “argannuts” are tree nuts. The oil is cold pressed as opposed to heat processed or highly refined, making it more likely to contain allergenic protein. Tree nuts. TREE NUTS. TREE NUTS. TREE NUTS!!!! Do you know what I sprayed all over my daughter’s beautiful, special, birthday hair-do yesterday?! Moroccan Oil…
First Hot Lunch
Wow – this is huge! After talking with Chloe’s principal, teacher and touring the cafeteria and wipe-down process, I was finally comfortable with the idea of hot lunch. Chloe had been asking to do it, and I was hesitant. She hadn’t had a school meal (except for the snacks in her classroom) since her cross-contamination incident last May. That story is also on the blog under “Mom Stuff” and it sent her to the ER for anaphalaxis symptoms. Hot lunch at her school is great. It’s 100% organized and run by a parent committee. There is a designated nut-free table, which she has some great friends at, and never eats…
Nut-free at Kalahari
***Update as of 5/25/2019 we no longer consider Kalahari allergy friendly. The large assortment of allergy free snacks available last time are no longer stocked at Kalahari. There is a restaurant inside the game area that will acommodate allergies, however. But the snacks by the pool and waterpark are gone. The #1 Allergy Friendly hotel for families would be across the street at THe Great Wolf Lodge where the entire hotel and facility is nut free. All restaurants, snacks and treat are safe to those with nut allergies. They take ALL allergies seriously and work to ensure each guest is having a great time. *** This week, my husband had…
First Independent Play Date
When you have a child with life-threatening food allergies, leaving your child alone, for any amount of time, is anxiety provoking. Luckily for us, Chloe’s friends and their families have all been amazing and over the top careful about her food allergies. Here’s what we did to prepare for this HUGE step of independence for her: We decided to invite her new friend over to our home first. This allowed us to talk as a family with her friend and her family about our serious food allergies. This conversation was a great ice breaker and allowed us to talk openly about many things parents have concerns about. After the first play…
Safe Buns at Metro Market
Good Morning! Bakery items are almost always a no-go in our house. Unless we can get a 100% confirmation from the manufacturer on cross contamination, we do not buy it. How do we find out about these details? Emails and phone calls, and keeping in touch with our nut community of friends which we share lots of information! We average about 3 calls/emails a month in our house, so not too bad. Holiday time , it will be about 3 calls per day!!!?⛄? Here is a sample email that my husband wrote this morning while he was at the grocery store picking up supplies: Hello,My daughter has allergy to nuts. …
Homemade PSL, You're Welcome.
Starbucks makes a pretty delicious PSL; however, the homemade version is pretty darn good, and easy as well. Below is a big batch method, too, so you can make it on the weekend and enjoy all week long at work. Here’s what I did. I’ll also put a cheat recipe below if you’re short on time. Enjoy, fall is just 6 days away. Pumpkin Spice Latte Ingredients 2 TBSP canned Pumpkin 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice, plus a sprinkle for garnish fresh ground black pepper 2 TBSP granulated sugar 2 TBSP pure vanilla extract, like penzeys 2 Cups Whole milk, or whatever you like 1-2 shots espresso, about 1/4 cup or…
My New Louboutins, OH I MEAN EPI PENS!
The EPI PEN that we kept at my daughter’s school last May SAVED HER LIFE. Wait. Let me say that again. SAVED HER LIFE! Yes. Our 5 year-old daughter suffers from life- threatening nut allergies where she has an anaphylactic response to any nut that she happens to eat. This allergy is not a choice. She was born with this very severe allergy. Because it’s so severe, we keep epi pens: at home at school/backpack in mom’s purse at Grandmas house That is a total of 4 epi pens at the current rate of $608.61 = $2,434.44 yearly. Epi pens expire every single year. This isn’t a one time purchase.…
Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Emergency Care Plan
Today we had our annual check-ups before school starts at the end of the month and the kids are doing well and are on great growth curves! I thought I would share a sample of what our emergency action plan looks like for our food allergies. Hopefully there are some helpful ideas here, even for people with non-food allergic kids/grandkids/etc. This could be helpful in everyday situations like dining out, air travel, school, etc. If you don’t know how to use an epi-pen auto injector, I highly recommend googling a video of it, or practice with a friend’s epi “trainer” – the trainer’s come with every twin pack of auto…
My Passion for Writing this Blog
Today I received the phone call all nut-allergic (or any allergy/ailment/illness) parents dread. It was just as nerve wracking as I thought it would be. Rewind to this morning. I dropped Chloe off at school, like I always do on Wednesday mornings. Carter and I came home, did some yard work, had lunch and I put him down for a nap. While I was in the middle of emptying the dishwasher, I received a call from Chloe’s school saying they gave her the epi pen, she had been in contact with an allergen and 911 had been called with paramedics on the way. I’ve always imagined this phone call. But…
Fun Friday
Thank goodness it’s Friday. It’s been a LONG week – our furnace decided to stop working and it’s been a hectic week trying to find pricing, information on a new one because the cold temps start again next week. As a room parents at Chloe’s school, I’m responsible for helping with activities in her class, and most importantly, the snacks! Preparing for the Preschool of the Arts (PSA) Fundraising Gala in April, the room parents decided to collect a small amount of money to create a silent auction basket. So last night during our usual Thursday Date Night, Doug and I found ourselves eating a very delicious meal at Johnny’s Italian Steakhouse,…
A Very Nutty Mom
How did you know? – This is the question we hear all the time. How did you find out that your daughter had nut allergies? Well…we did a due diligence in serving our kids nuts and peanut butter at all the recommended ages. On a car ride to Milwaukee from Madison, our daughter started telling us how dry her mouth felt, and how her lips felt funny. When i turned around from the passenger seat (5 months pregnant) I saw what we describe it as “Donald Duck Lips” and that is when we knew we needed a hospital. If you’re driving eastbound on I-94, you know there is not much to…
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