A NUT FREE HALLOWEEN!

So I am not sure how many of you know but my son was diagnosed with a severe peanut/tree nut allergy a couple of weeks ago. I am finding that people do not understand nut allergies! Its is not at all that i think that anyone would do anything intentional to hurt my child but that they are simply not educated in the area of food allergy unless they have a child who has one.

I have asked at several restaurants recently if certain food items contain nuts and the answer is no. People think if it does not physically contain nuts it is safe. Well this could not be further from the truth. If it is processed in a plant that also processes nuts it is not safe, if it contains certain ingredients such as coconut oil it is not safe! You must read and read and read!

So now on to Halloween my number one goal is to always keep my son safe. My second goal is to always let him do as much as he possibly can to be a regular kid. My third goal from now until forever will be to raise awareness about food allergies.

I do not plan to go to any church event or anything like that because it is just too dangerous. If Carson got a hold of the wrong thing he could end up in the ER. He can not even touch something that contains nuts!

I do plan to let him trick or treat a select few people in our family. I even considered having a PEANUT/TREE NUT free Halloween party at our house.

You are punishing your other children you say? well we don't have a dog because Meccia has asthma and it could cause her problems. We don't buy popcorn because Hali can not eat it due to he retainer. This is no different. We all make sacrifices for the ones we love! We are a family and we all want the same thing, for each of us to be happy and healthy! Hali is Carson's number one set of eyes! She will tell you very quick if something is not safe for him. Fortunately Hali has two precious friends with food allergy and she was quite educated on the matter before Carson was ever diagnosed. So there is my answer to that.

This year along with our trick or treat bags for candy we will also carry our trick-or-treat for food allergy education and research boxes. We will be taking donations for FAAN. You can order these boxes and help Carson raise money @ http://www.foodallergy.org/Support/Halloween/index.html You can order up to 5 boxes and have them delivered to your house for no cost! Yes it is free to help raise money to save lives!

I also wanted to list some of the candies I have found so far to be safe!
Tootsie rolls
Tootsie roll pops
Smarties both rolls and pouches
Dum-Dum pops
I would like to promote Dum-Dums they are not only tree nut/peanut free they are also milk,egg,wheat, and gluten free! I think this is awesome!
As I locate more candy that is safe I will be happy to list it!

I also found a really cool website oliverslabels.com that sales nut shaped stickers that say NO NUTS really big on them. These are great for those upcoming family get togethers over the Holidays. To help people to remember the allergy! They are also great for sippy cups your child might take into a church nursery.

Just a note...
I found that rabbit food contains tree nuts. Also that burger kings onion ring batter does too! It is the things you would never imagine that can catch you off guard!

As i research I realize there is no way to over react to this. people don't say well this person has cancer and it might kill them but life goes on. People also should not say well that kid has a food allergy and somethings could kill him but life goes on. He will get older and time will go on. He will reach a point when he is old enough to make his own choices and know what is safe for him. For now I am his mother his protection the only thing that stands between him and a food that he so innocently may pick up that could potentially kill him. I take that responsibility VERY SERIOUSLY! I plan to take every precaution possible to insure my son is safe.

Carson has really not been affected by this at all other than a few minor changes in our pantry. He is doing GREAT!

Love you all,
Cody (Mom of a kid with food allergies)

Does your attitude reflect that of a Christ follower?

So as most of you know I can be known to have a slight attitude. I have tried as I get older to control myself, but at times it resurfaces when I least expect it to! Well this morning it happened. I am in the drive thru to pick up my AM coffee and a girl about the same age as me breaks in the line. She squeezed her car right in front of mine! I even rolled down my window before she went and politely (well maybe not so politely) told her it was my turn to go! She then proceeded to go in front of me anyway!

So to make her drive thru experience much more fun I decided to lay on my horn for a VERY LONG TIME! While doing this a lady came up and knocked on my window. I rolled it down. She said "are you ok?" I said "Yes I am just trying to make the girl in front of me mad" She said with that Jesus sticker on the back of your van maybe you should have a better attitude! WOW!

Does your attitude match the stickers on the back of your car? Are you sporting the name of Christ on your car only o reflect the attitude of Satan himself? I guess my point is I praise God for that woman who had enough nerve to say that to me! I sure needed to hear it! I guess we all loose it sometimes, but is that an excuse for not always showing the love of Christ.

Worse I was on the phone with a friend and she heard the whole thing! I AM SO ASHAMED OF MYSELF!!!! And all over a spot in line... I mean seriously! SORRY BRITNEY!

Which is better two daddy's or one?

Well as most of you know I have a daughter named Hali from my first marriage. Her daddy's name is Chad. Her other daddy's name is Josh. You see Josh and I got married when Hali was just over two years old. Shortly there after we had Meccia. As you all know when you have a new baby you start to say things like "Go to daddy" to your child even though they are really too small to say it. Well Hali picked up on the fact Josh was Meccia's daddy so she started calling Josh daddy too! I think she was so small when we married she doesn't ever remember not having two daddy's.

So with the explanation out of the way now onto the explanation.(HAHA) When Hali went to K4 she started to question why she had two daddy's and some of the other kids in her class did not. We always just gave her this answer "God loved you so much he gave you two daddy's to love you." That worked for Hali and we thought we were in the clear. We also have taught our other children who Chad is and also they as Hali did with Josh have begun to know Chad's mother as Grammy because that is what Hali calls her.

So moving on. Meccia has gotten old enough to realize that Hali gets to leave us every other weekend to go spend time with her other daddy and his family while she gets to stay here. Josh's mom was so kind as to offer to let Meccia spend Friday nights with her on the weekends Hali is gone to help ease some of the confusion and frustration and maybe even a bit of jelousy Meccia was feeling at the time. Well as Josh and I talked about it we realized maybe letting Meccia leave every time Hali did defeated the purpose of Meccia having two married parents. For a while it was like we shared custody with Josh's mom. Knowing she was only trying to help Meccia's feelings! We tried to explain to Meccia one of the benifits of having married parents was you don't have to leave us every other weekend. Even still in Meccia's five year old heart and mind Hali gets to leave for a weekend long sleepover, and sometimes comes home telling Meccia all the fun things she did while she was gone, and Meccia was stuck here with her sibblings and "SAME OLD PARENTS" she has always had! Why don't I get to go mommy?

Now I don't want anyone to think Meccia is not happy with her daddy she loves him. She wants the sleepovers not the spare dad! We have tried many things to comfort her. Dates alone with her dad to help her feel special, play dates to have friends over while Hali is gone. Still allowing her on occassion to go spend the night at Nana & PaPa's who she loves so much, and we will continue to always try our hardest to make Meccia feel she is a VERY SPECAL part of our family.

In the end though it still remains the same. Hali will forever have two daddy's and even a spare whole family, that my other children don't have. There will be many times to come when it will be hard to say good bye to her for a weekend or a while on a Holiday. At some point my other kids are going to realize this is just how our family works and we just have to adjust.

I guess right now I am just praying little Meccia will one day be happy she only has ONE DADDY! Although this is always how life has been she is just getting old enough to realize it, and to try and understand it. I pray that she will find comfort in knowing we love her so and her daddy loves her enough for two daddy's!

This I am sure will be a long road for our family and we always have the intention of being as honest as possible with both of our girls. In doing that we want them to feel loved. I guess every family is different , and we all have our our things we must deal with. For the most part I feel like we are happy and so are our children, but to see one of your children walk out the door and leave you to spend time with another family is hard but it is even harder to see another of your babies cry for her when she is gone!