PB & J for Dinner!

In celebration of Sam passing his third and final allergy test today – The Peanut Challenge – we celebrated with a dinner of PB & Js all around! We are so happy to welcome PB back into our family, for we have missed him so. Sam passed his test with flying paleness – meaning no blotchy face :o) It is indeed a red letter day for us all.

Happy Wednesday! Amy

More Fab News!

Sam's blood test came back negative! His last hurdle to be cleared of his peanut allergy will be mid September, so I'll post more on this at a later date :o)

In the meantime I'm going to spend the next week and a half getting ready to send Caleb off to Kindergarten and to play soccer for the first time, and to send Sam off to his first year of preschool. My babies are growing up!!

I leave you with some photos from our beach vacation in the Outer Banks- it was so awesome!

Two down; One to go!

Blood test: done. We should know the results of Sam's RAST test in a couple of weeks. Sam really did a great job, however he did flinch at first causing the needle to come out of his arm. And knowing what he was in for at that point brought on the howls! So in went the needle again. One minute, a strawberry sucker, and a Bugs Bunny bandage later, and he was back to his usual antics :o) Mommy, however, was still clenching every muscle!

I pride myself on not being a queasy person, and can pretty much watch, look at, and handle human "grossness", but for whatever reason when Sam tensed up, so did I. And of course, it took me another 20 minutes before I could relax. So since my mom was with me and the boys, we left the clinic and decided to peruse the clearance racks at Old Navy. I just love it when stores put perfectly good clothing out for next to nothing :o) Retail therapy to the rescue!

Happy Friday! Amy

Fingers Crossed!

This morning Sam and I made a quick trip to the allergist for his 1-year retest for peanut allergy. The great news is that his skin test came out negative! He was such a trooper, and bravely gave up his arm, which I really did not expect. I figured I’d have to sit on him kicking and screaming :o) But he really impressed me, and I was so proud of him. And for his valiant efforts he was rewarded by the nurse with a blue monster truck to play with while we waited the 12 minutes for the allergen to take effect. Before we get too excited, though, I have to take him in for a RAST blood test, and if that comes back negative, then he’ll be allowed to eat a peanut butter sandwich at the doctor’s office. So he’s passed part 1 of 3!

Thankfully, at his young age he really doesn’t know what he’s “missing out” on. But I sure will be able to rest easier when I don’t have to read every label, or pass on something just because I don’t know what’s in it. This is one issue where I’m overjoyed that he’s a pretty picky eater :o) And if all is resolved in the end I know a few folks at our house who will be overjoyed that peanut butter is once again allowed to visit our pantry!

As a bit of history, Sam broke out in this rash after just licking a small amount of peanut butter off a spoon when he was about 18 months old:


It was a smaller red splotch here and there intermittently that started me thinking he might have an allergy to something, but I wasn't sure exactly what it was. After Caleb left a spoon (off of which he'd eaten peanut butter) on the table, Sam stuck it in his mouth and I yanked it right out before he could eat any, but the rash came on almost immediately covering his cheeks, mouth and under his chin, and that's when I called to have him tested.

If you are wondering about peanut or other food allergies, some good resources can be found on the web: FoodAllergy.org, PeanutAllergy.com, MyFoodAllergies.net.

I'm no expert as I've not had to deal with many more situations than friends and family's homes, and the church nursery, because Sam is so young, but there are blogs-a-plenty that are written by moms with kids who have more severe allergies and more life situations that could be problematic for their kids. Those blogs may be of more immediate help to introduce you to a community dealing with the same allergy issues.

Here's to passing tests 2 and 3! Happy Monday! Amy