Play-date Dilemma

With JT now in Kindergarten and making his own friends (rather than just playing with the children of my friends), the subject of play-dates is coming up all of the time. Of course, we have done play-dates before but I’ve always been there. Now that he is 6 we are entering the world of the “drop-off” play-date. I’m sure for lots of parents this change is downright blissful.  While for some, including myself, the idea brings on instant anxiety. A few free hours of unpaid child care while your child plays and has snacks with friends actually sounds really great. But, I tend to be a little on the nervous and overprotective side anyway, now throw in JT’s allergies, asthma and medications and the thought of dropping him off leaves me a wreck.

Let’s just say Molly was old enough and going to a “drop-off” play-date. With no medical issues to think of I would still be nervous about plenty of things. Will this family supervise my child like I would?, Will they be in a safe place?, Is the family reliable?,  If they are gun owners, do they store them safely?, Are they good people? Now add in JT’s medical complications and I’m adding questions like: Is this family clean?, Do they have pets?, How do they handle food?, Will there be exposure to peanuts or eggs?, Will they recognize an allergic reaction?, Do they understand how serious this can be? On top of that is the responsibility I would be putting on another parent. In order to drop him off I need to teach that parent what foods to keep away from JT,  what signs to look for if an allergic reaction is starting , how to use an epipen and how to give JT his inhaler. That’s a lot to ask someone I’m not paying!

For now, we are laying pretty low on the play-date front because I’m not feeling ready for it to evolve into the “drop-off” stage, but I don’t think it’s doing JT any good. I know I need to think about that next step, but how?

So, parents who have been through this, how did you do it? Or did you not do it? What advice do you have for a little-bit-nervous, maybe-slightly-overly-protective Mom?

April Vacation Muffins (Allergen Free)

I woke up on this first day of April vacation wanting to bake some muffins with the kids. It’s not something we get to do very often with school all week and the weekends busy with soccer and chores and family. So before even heading to the kitchen I was promising the kids banana muffins and they were just as excited to help with the baking as they were to eat the muffins. I knew I would have to do a little research for an allergen free recipe or a “normal” recipe that I could adapt. But I also knew I would need the bananas so I went to the fruit bowl…to find it empty. No bananas!! You can’t make banana muffins without bananas. Luckily, I’m good at improvising. (actually…I lie. Usually when I try to improvise while baking I end up with a huge flop, but not this time, so let’s just pretend)

So here is my recipe for “April Vacation Muffins” or “Strawberry, peach, a little applesauce and a tiny bit of banana muffins” They were delicious and moist and not too sweet. If I had thought I would have any success with these I would have taken some pictures of my adorable little bakers. Oh well, next time…I’ll definitely be making these again!

April Vacation Muffins

6 Tablespoons of Olivio coconut oil spread (you can use any dairy free “butter”)
1 1/4 cups of sugar
1 (stage 3) jar of baby food bananas
6 Tablespoons of applesauce
1 1/2 cups of flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
6 Tablespoons rice milk
About a cup of diced peaches and strawberries (I used pre-chopped frozen fruit, thawed)

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease muffin pan and set aside. In a large mixing bowl cream together “butter” and sugar. In a separate bowl whisk together all other ingredients except for the fruit. Once mixed add creamed “butter” and sugar to the mix and mix some more. Now gently fold in the fruit. Pour into muffin pan and bake about 25 minutes. Makes 12 muffins. Enjoy!!

Allergen free slow cooker sweet potatoes

I host Easter dinner each year for between 12 and 20 people and I love it. I enjoy entertaining and preparing a big sit down dinner for my family. The most difficult part for me has always been timing all of the food to be ready at the same time and a lack of oven space. But over the years I’ve learned to work out the kinks and roll with the punches. When things get too hectic in the kitchen (which is where everyone gathers, no matter how many times I try to kick them out!) I send the men and kids out to hunt for Easter eggs and when my oven broke one year we fired up the grill! One big help has been preparing one dish in the crock pot to free up some oven space. A few years ago I found this sweet potato recipe and I’ve been able to adapt it to be JT friendly. It’s so yummy!!

Allergen free Slow Cooker Sweet Potatoes

6  medium (2 pounds) sweet potatoes or yams, peeled and cut into into 1/2-inch chunks      

1 1/2 cups applesauce                                            

2/3 cup packed brown sugar                                             

3 tablespoons dairy and soy free butter or margarine, melted  (we usually use smart balance with flax, this year I will try the new olivio coconut oil spread)                                           

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon                                             

1/2 cup dried cranberries

 

Place sweet potatoes in 2- to 3 1/2-quart slow cooker. Mix remaining ingredients and spoon over potatoes. Cover and cook on low heat setting 6 to 8 hours or until potatoes are very tender. I usually start them first thing in the morning and they are ready for our 2 pm dinner. This recipe can be doubled or tripled if you have a larger slow cooker.

Egg Free Easter

All holidays have changed for us, at least a little bit, due to JT’s food allergies. Easter is no exception especially since JT’s most severe allergy is to eggs…and eggs and Easter just go together. I remember feeling totally overwhelmed on the first Easter after JT’s allergy diagnosis. On top of hosting dinner for about 20, I thought I wouldn’t be able to give JT the things I grew up with on Easter. But I learned very quickly that with just a few changes we could be safe and still have a fun day with family. And the changes that we’ve made don’t take anything away from our Easter celebration. In fact, most of them are welcome changes. Like the fact that there are NO chocolate bunnies in the house. Do I miss egg shaped peanut butter cups? Yes. Would I eat an entire bag of Cadbury mini eggs if you put it in front of me right now? Yes! So, in the end, the lack of chocolate is really a good thing. So instead of focusing on what we can’t do, here is what my kids STILL get to do for Easter, even with JT’s food allergies.
The kids still get some yummy treats, they especially love Starburst jelly beans and egg shaped allergen-free rice krispie treats.
JT and Molly still get Easter baskets (that are filled with much less candy than they would be if JT didn’t have any allergies). I like to try to focus on a theme for each kid, like dinosaurs or princesses, it helps me to keep from buying way too much stuff.
The bunny still fills and hides plastic Easter eggs. They are filled with things like fruit snacks, stickers, temporary tattoos, coins and glow in the dark stars.
And we still decorate Easter “eggs”! This year we are making this adorable paint chip egg garland. I’m letting the kids decorate the eggs with glitter glue first and then I’ll string them up. In the past we’ve covered plastic eggs with glue and tissue paper and made embroidery floss eggs.

It’ fun to try to come up with something new and creative each year. Are you avoiding eggs this Easter? What tips do you have to share?

Here we are at Easter 2012!

banana cream disaster

My husband, Chris, doesn’t have a real sweet tooth like I do. The man passes up cake at birthday parties and doesn’t even give brownies a second glance, I’ll never quite understand. But he DOES love banana cream pie, and not a real fancy, complicated pie. Chris is happy with pre-made graham crust, instant pie filling and a big-ol’ tub of cool-whip. So I decided to attempt my first ever allergen free banana cream pie. I was really surprised to see that the graham crust and jello instant pudding mix were JT safe, and I had just recently learned this amazing trick, magically turning coconut milk into “whipped cream”. So, I thought I would just use a pre-made crust, make some instant pie filling with rice milk and experiment with the coconut milk whipped cream…simple right? It’s not like me to just wing-it without researching first, but I did, and…I failed. Apparently you can’t make instant pudding with milk alternatives, unless you drastically change the amount of liquid you use. And apparently when you attempt to make pudding with rice milk and pour it into a pie crust and let it sit overnight in the fridge with hopes that it will firm up (which it won’t) the crust gets way too wet and big chunks start to fall into the “pudding” filling. And then your kids sit at the table, looking at you with big,sad eyes, wondering where their pie has gone. Oh well, fruit snacks it is!

At least I’ve learned a few things….
* I’m bad a winging it, research is good
* Instant jello doesn’t work with rice milk
* Coconut milk makes delicious whipped cream (At least that was a success!)
* My kids are just as happy to get fruit snacks as they would be to get pie

soy and fish free stir-fry sauce

I finally figured out a way to make stir-fry! I’ve been on the lookout for a good soy free stir-fry sauce (Oh, how I miss teryaki!) and found that a lot of alternatives are either fish based (another JT allergy) or seem too complicated. I finally found an alternative that works for us. This recipe is sort of a mix between this one and this one. I thought it was a great alternative and I can’t wait to make more stir-fry!

Stir Fry Sauce
1 Cup red wine
3/4 Cup brown sugar (not packed)
about 3/4 Teaspoon ground ginger
1 Tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 Cup orange juice
Salt and Pepper to taste
(I didn’t have any, but I think some orange zest would have been really nice at the very end)

So, I’m not going to write a really complicated recipe here…
I put it all in a sauce pan and cooked it down for about 20 minutes. Then I cooked up my stir fry as I normally would, using this as the sauce. My stir fry had chicken, carrots and broccoli served over white rice. I think pea-pods and onions would have been a great addition. I think you could use any veggies that do well paired with sweeter flavors. Enjoy!!

New dairy and soy free butter

For years we have been on the search for the perfect dairy and soy free “butter”. We have tried many along the way and while they work for the purpose needed we often find that they are too artificial tasting. By we, I mean my husband and I, as JT has never tasted real butter in his life and Molly is too little still to really recognize a difference.  But my M-I-L, Jan, just recently discovered a new alternative, and in the regular old grocery store!

New Olivio Coconut spread.

Ingredients : : Organic Tropical Oil Blend (Coconut Oil, Extra Virgin Coconut Oil, Sustainable Palm Oil), Filtered Water, sea salt, organic canola lecithin, organic guar gum.

We tried it this morning and it does not taste like fake butter at all! It’s really light and delicious. Neither kid batted an eye at the change on their toast and I was very pleasantly surprised. Not sure how it would be in baking, but I will be trying it next time.

Flying with food allergies

Just recently my little family took a quick trip to Florida. It was so nice and warm and sunshine-y and we were able to have a really nice visit with family. Also, we timed it just right and got to miss the messy blizzard that dumped 24 inches of snow in my neck of the woods!
This vacation was our second time flying with the kids. Flying really freaks me out, flying with kids even more so and flying with a kid with severe food allergies and asthma puts me right over the top. I’m always a stressed-out-mess at the airport. But, despite my freaking out, it has always gone incredibly well. I wanted to share some tips with you for flying with a child with severe allergies. It can be frightening but I have found that doing lots of research and being really well prepared have helped things to go smoothly.

1. Talk with your Doctor – Before flying with JT the first time we made a quick call to his allergist. We just wanted to be sure that he didn’t have any major concerns with us flying, which he didn’t. JT’s peanut allergy is not his most severe, but if he comes into contact with it, even on his skin, he will have a reaction. For us that was nerve-racking enough, I imagine if your child would have an anaphylactic reaction just from breathing in air that has peanut particles in it, it would be even more nerve-racking and your Doctor may have different advice for you.
2. Research your airline – We have flown JetBlue both times we traveled with the kids. This is because after a lot of research I found that I was most comfortable with their peanut allergy policy. (Although peanuts are not JT’s most severe allergy, they are the most widely recognized. They are also the one most likely to be served on a plane.) I also found that JetBlue seemed to have pretty happy customer reviews regarding food allergies. Some airlines may want you to call and inform them of the allergies ahead of time, some will have you wait and inform an employee as soon as you get to the gate. It’s best to know what is expected of you as a passenger.
3. Pack a lot of snacks– If you have a child with food allergies this is probably second nature to you. You just can’t count on airport snack stands or airlines to have safe snacks for your kids. So pack enough for the airport and the flight, with the possibility for delays.
4. Be prepared with medications – For JT it is essential that we always have his Epi-pen, Albuterol and Benadryl. I make sure I have the original packaging with his name on it for these medications (this may mean re-ordering from the pharmacy) and put them all together in a quart sized zip lock bag. Any other medications we need to bring I to put in the checked luggage. Here are the actual TSA regulations.
5. If your airline will not create a peanut free buffer zone around your child, create your own – This is something that JetBlue normally does for you. They alert the passengers in front of and behind you of the allergy and ask them to refrain from eating nut products. On one particular flight the attendants did not follow through on this and I was getting impatient so I just kindly explained our situation, introduced JT and asked that they not eat nuts. Everyone was super understanding and sweet and agreed without as much as an eye roll! I found introducing JT to be especially effective, he’s very cute!
6. Ask to board early and disinfect your area – Whether this is part of  your airline’s policy or not it can’t hurt to ask. As soon as we board I break out the Lysol wipes and clean our armrests, seats, belts, tray tables and window area. I do everyone’s seat because the kids sometimes want to switch up their spot mid-flight.
7. Clean hands often – This is something everyone traveling should do but is especially important for allergies. When you can’t get to a sink your best bet is to start with antibacterial gel followed by a wet wipe.

8. Wear a medical ID – If your allergic child doesn’t already have some sort of medical ID, it’s time to get one. JT has a wristband that he wears to school or when we are out in public. He doesn’t mind wearing it at all. I even had his little sister wear an ID bracelet (not medical) this trip just in case she were ever seperated from us.

That’s it…Now try to relax so you can enjoy your trip! I always find that being well prepared, even overly prepared, is my best defense against my own nerves. What other advice would you add for families travleing with food allergies?

Changes

After JT’s stay in the ICU at Children’s Hospital (read about it here) we had to make a lot of changes. We didn’t know for sure what had caused his “status asthmaticus” but we knew that we would do anything within our power to keep it from happening again. The list of changes was long, but necessary…

•  We met with a new allergist. We had seen an allergist previously who wasn’t willing to do any testing on JT because his skin was so covered in rashes he felt like he wouldn’t be able to decipher the results. He also told me that JT was more likely to die on the way home from that appointment in a car crash than to die from a food allergy. Maybe so…but still. And that was the only info he gave us. So, we found a new, much more competent and knowledgable allergist. He’s wonderful and helpful and listens. He did some tests and we learned of some new allergies to add to the list. These included beef and some environmental allergies (mice droppings, dust mites and we learned just how severe his cat allergy was)
• We met with a pulmonary DR. Just one time, actually. Between his pediatrician and allergist we pretty much had covered what needed to be covered, but it did take one appointment to be sure.
•  We now had an asthma action plan. We knew exactly what to do in any possible breathing scenario.
• JT was prescribed Flovent. I think it’s a life saver. Since being on it we hardly ever have to use his rescue meds. We also have been able to reduce the amount of Flovent he takes by half! Yay! A possible sign he is outgrowing the asthma?
• We upgraded from a nebulizer to an inhaler with a chamber. The sheer convenience of this was amazing. Not lugging around a huge nebulizer and feeling like we couldn’t go places without electricity (ie…the beach) was so freeing!!! Also breathing treatment sessions going from 20 minutes to 45 seconds was awesome!
• Because of his severe dust mite allergy we started encasing all of JT’s pillows and even his mattress in special dust mite covers (get a good one that totally encases the mattress). It’s gross, but unfortunately no matter how clean you are, everyone has dust mites. ugh. This helped a ton! We also wash anything that isn’t encased (sheets, blankets, stuffed animals) in a hot water wash once a week.
• Fortunately we already had hardwood floors, had we had carpets, they would have come up.
• Here is the big one…ready? It was the hardest and made the BIGGEST difference. It was so, so, so hard. We gave away our two precious, much-loved cats 😦 I had asked many DR’s “Do you think the cats are causing any of this?” and they would hem and haw or say “maybe” because we didn’t know the severity of the cat allergy. I loved my kitties and felt like I couldn’t abandon them like that and if I had to,  it couldn’t be MY decision. So, when the allergist finally said “you have 2 months to get rid of your cats” they were gone in two weeks. I sobbed driving each of them to their new home. I am so fortunate that they were able to stay with family members (Thank you Mom and Keith!!). I was one of those people who would have told you that her cats were her “babies” but when you have a real baby and that baby is hooked up to what feels like a hundred machines and a DR. tells you that some kids don’t make it through what he is going through, that goes out the window. Yes, I loved my cats…still doesn’t compare.

In the end something (more likely a combination of everything) worked. JT is a much healthier kid. He went from wheezing and needing his rescue medicine several times DAILY to hardly needing it at all! We went from visiting the ER every couple of months to not needing to go at all in the past 4 years!! And although he still develops rashes it’s nothing compared to what his skin used to look like. We are all so much happier and healthier and calmer!!

The substitute

I got a call from JT’s school yesterday.  JT had been brought to the nurses office by his teacher. This happens quite a bit. He gets “bellyaches” or there is a question about his snack (sometimes JT likes to freak everyone out by claiming he can’t eat something) . They always err on the side of caution, which Chris and I really appreciate. His school nurse and I know each other pretty well at this point!

This time it was a substitute nurse who called because JT was developing a rash on his face. Surprisingly this was the first time that they have ever had to call for a rash, pretty impressive since when we are out “in public” he gets them all the time. The substitute nurse seemed a little nervous about his rash and his allergies in general and said she would feel most comfortable if someone came to get him so we could keep an eye on him at home. We were more comfortable that way too so going to get him was no big deal. When I saw him I knew right away he was fine but was still OK with him coming home, especially with his regular nurse not being available for the day.

The thing that really bothered me, that I am still kind of upset about is that she asked me if he had an epipen. I know it’s not possible for her to know every issue with every student but it is a tiny school and I felt like she should have known that he has an epipen. She said she was looking at the list of his allergies in his file so why wasn’t there a big bright note that said “This kid has an epipen!!”. I thought that part of our health plan was that every employee in the building was to be notified of his allergies. I just looked it up and it specifically says that the school nurse will inform them, and I believe she does/has but I guess I should have clarified what would happen if she wasn’t there. I know realisticly that maybe not every substitutie knows about his epipen but the nurse seems to be the one person who HAS to know, especially when the epipen is not stored in the classroom. It makes me think that if he were having an anaphylactic reaction that he wouldn’t have received his epinephrine immediately, which is so, so important. And then I start thinking about other scenarios like :what if his teacher and the nurse were both absent on the same day”…who would I be counting on to know then? Am I being unreasonable thinking that she should have known?