Nathan's 3yr professional photos

These are Nathan's 3yr old professional pictures we had done.

Drive-thru mistake

Today we were running errands and we stopped at Burger King to get Nathan some fries (allergy safe) and some apple fries to take home to eat with his sandwich.

Well, I handed him the bag in the car so he could start eating his fries. Thank God he only ate the fires because when I got home I noticed that there were no apple fries in the bag but instead chicken nuggets which has MILK and WHEAT. If he would have eaten them, he would have had an allergic reaction.

When you go through a drive-thru and you get the wrong food that sucks but when you get something that can't even been eaten and you paid for it and it could make your child sick....that REALLY SUCKS!!!

Tip: Always check the bag before you hand it to your child.

He remembers and talks about the horrible day

Nathan is now three and at three I didn't know how much a child knows or remembers but today I was surprised. Nathan talks about the day on March 18th, 2009.

Nathan came out of his room showing us his stuffed Poo Bear.

Nathan: I got it from the ambulance guy, "I was sick."
Us: "why were you sick?"
Nathan: "from my allergies, from milk."
Us: Yes, you can't have milk, only soy milk. Milk makes you sick.

We were shocked that he talked about this because it happened back in March and he has never said a word about it before.

Send a letter to congress

To fill out form to send this letter on-line go here.

Suject: Congress must increase funding for food allergy research

Please support increased federal funding for food allergy research. Food allergies severely impair the quality of life for allergic children and their parents. The most common allergens – peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, wheat, eggs, milk and soy – are staples of our food supply and nearly impossible to avoid completely. Yet the medical consequences of coming into contact with allergy-inducing foods are dire – not only do food allergies kill many Americans each year, but they are also responsible for 125,000 emergency room visits. More than 12 million Americans suffer from food allergies today.

Food allergy research is woefully underfunded. The federal government spends less than $17 million a year on food allergy research. But for reasons that scientists cannot yet explain, food allergies afflict more and more children each year. Between 1997 and 2002, the number of children in the United States suffering from peanut allergies doubled – and now afflicts an average of 10 children in every elementary school. There are currently no medications to cure or control food allergies, but scientists believe a cure could be found within a decade with greater funding.

Please help millions of children and families -- be a leader in Congress to devote more funding to food allergy research.

Feedback from a local restaurant

I wrote to a local burger restaurant to see what allergens were in their food or if my son could even eat anything there. I looked on the website and didn't see anything about the allergens in the food so I wrote to them, this is their response, my comments are in red:

Hello Jeannette, (my name is spelled wrong)

Please accept my apology for the delayed response. (It took over a week for a response, glad I wasn't going to day I wrote)

At this time, we do not have a formal nutrition/ingredient guide available on our menu items; however, we are in the process of developing these guides; however, the beef, buffalo and ostrich patties and hotdogs are gluten free (ok, what about dairy, eggs or nuts?) along with the spice used on the burgers and fries.

The items produced in our bakery may contain any or all of the following ingredients: peanuts, tree nuts, wheat, soy, gluten, eggs and dairy. All these items (cookies, buns, brownies, Rice Krispies treats, etc.) are produced in an environment where peanuts are present and there may be a danger of cross contamination. Most (most? How do I know about the one I am going to visit?) of our restaurants are frying with partially hydrogenated soybean oil.

We do recognize the importance and need for nutritional information on our menu items and we are hopeful that we will be able to provide our guests with this information in the near future. (Why can't companies have this information available on their website or even if asked, is it so hard to do??)

On behalf of Fuddruckers, Inc., we want to express our sincerest appreciation for your continued loyalty and patronage. (Well, I can't be loyal anymore because I have no idea what to feed my child from there)

Adriana Thompson
Guest Services Specialist

Fuddruckers/Koo Koo Roo
5700 Mopac Expy South
Ste C300
Austin, TX 78749
t: 512.275.0418
f: 877.847.3062

We won't be eating there until they have more information available to us.

Nathan's 3rd Birtthday Party

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Today Nathan had his 3rd birthday party at our house. He had more friends this year then family, His friends included: Lyla, Sal, Maddux and Owen. I baked cupcakes and made them into a road with trucks for our guests and for Nathan's allergy-free cake we bought it at Molly's Gluten Free Bakery. Mary did a wonderful job at decorating the cake.

Our first overnight vacation - Wi Dells

We have never been on a vacation with Nathan, with his food allergies it doesn't make taking a vacation very easy or relaxing. There is a lot of work into planning a vacation with food allergies, you can't just eat anywhere or just not eat. It takes a lot of time of planning and packing for a vacation.
We went to the WI Dells (Water park Capital of the World) just a couple hours from our house - a car ride away and we only stayed overnight. I packed snacks and treats for Nathan. Our hotel room had a microwave and refrigerator.
Nathan ate breakfast at home before we left and we when got to the Dells we ate a Burger King for lunch. It was a place we knew was safe. Nathan has eaten their plain burgers and fries.
We went to the water park at our resort and when it was time for dinner we ate at Famous Daves. Another restaurant we have at home be also a great place to eat with allergies because they have a wonderful allergy menu.

The next morning we ate cereal with soy milk for breakfast and then for lunch on the way home we ate at Culver's.

Tried the Epi-Pen

I haven't had to use the Epi-Pen (very thankful for that), only the trainer for practice. When one of Nathan's Epi Pen expired, I thought I would try it on an orange.

I am glad I did, it really made me jump, the power of that needle shooting out actually made me pull back and most of the epinephrine went outside the orange. That would not be good if my son needed it for an allergic reaction.

Ice Cream

School calls me today because they are making sundaes and they wanted to know if it is ok for Nathan to have some soy ice cream so he wouldn't be left out. That was nice of them to think of him and he was included. I said "ok but no toppings."

The Ice Cream Stand

I didn't want to send Nathan to school today because the class was going to a water park then to an ice cream stand. A bunch of toddlers and all that ice cream scares me and plus what was he going to eat??? I have back-up sitter so off he went and I just hoped for the best.
The teacher called in the morning to ask if he could have a frozen juice treat at the stand, that is what they get for the other allergic children. I said "sure".
Everything was fine and he didn't have any problems......this time.

Nathan at the July 4th parade

Today we went to a parade, the one that throws tons of candy. Some of the candy was fine for Nathan to eat but some of it was not. So as he put it in his bag, I would take out the stuff he can't eat (tootsie rolls and gum mostly).

The children next to us were also getting candy and were nice and shared with Nathan since they were faster and older at getting the candy. But many times I told the children "that is ok, you keep the candy, he is allergic."

My famous words at the parade "He can't have that he is allergic"

Maybe I should have just taken the candy and switched it out at home. There are always new experiences when dealing with food allergies.