60 degrees and swimming!

And it doesn't even bother the kids!  And no the pool is not heated - but since I am a nice mom, I did on the heater to 100 in the hot tub.

DIVVIES Cookies are Peanut and Tree Nut Free

I just ordered a chocolate bunny for Amanda.  Everything at Divvies is peanut, tree nut, milk and egg free!!!!  Such a relief.  No worries.  This is one chocolate Amanda can enjoy without the worry of cross contamination.  And what's really neat is all their treats are really yummy!
You can visit their website: http://www.divvies.com/

This is Sean in all his glorious 7 1/2 years....

This was taken at the park yesterday.  We were playing on the monkey bars.  He won.

Is there a link between a food allergy and having anxiety?

I never really thought about it until my daughter turned 10 last November.  Or maybe it was her starting to feel really alone with her allergy.  I  will post more about this later. But now you can read the article below.

http://www.allergy.org.nz/shop/allergy+today+magazine/archived+articles/fear+factor.html

Clinical Trials for Peanut Allergies

There has been so much in the news lately regarding clinical trials to desensitize children to peanuts.  You can read more about that here.  It is exciting to think about now that I've read more about it.  I casually mentioned these clinical trials going on to Amanda earlier in the week.  She told me no she wouldn't be interested because she has experienced anaphylactic shock after having accidentally eaten a trace amount of peanuts a couple of times.  Her last reaction was when she was 8 and it is something she will never forget.  And neither will I, because I was with her.  She came very, very close to dying.  I'll write more about that in my next post.  For now, the point is that Amanda has done a complete turn around and is now interested in doing a clinical trial!  Now the challenge is to find one!

My fellow blogger, Melanie has a daughter who is participating in a clinical trial.  You can read her story on her blog at http://www.clinicalpeanuttrial.blogspot.com

Never take handouts

Just got back from the store with Amanda.  While there a lady was handing out sample of a new cereal/granola bar - not even sure because it didn't matter to me.  I never sample anything.  Who needs the extra calories?  Anyway, I was just curious if would be something Amanda could eat, because we are always on the lookout for a snack that is safe.  So I asked the lady if it had peanuts and she gave me the standard answer.  No, there are no peanuts, just chocolate chips.  That was fine, but it was still something Amanda couldn't eat because on the label in very fine print it said "manufactured on equipment that also processes peanuts".   We stay away from everything that has that disclosure.