Change is good

Ok....on that note, I am thinking of changing careers.





As you know my career for the last nine years has been mom....and altho that will still be a venture I am participating in, I seem to be less needed than I have been in the past. With one small exception that is....my B.





My youngest, B, has food allergies. She is allergic to peanuts, soy and tree nuts. And these are not mild allergies, these are the if she doesn't get help immediately she dies kind. Scariest thing in my life that's for sure. I have seen her get hives all over her body until she became one big red itchy blob and listened as she began to gasp for air. Not a moment I want to relive ever again, and I have done this twice so I know how bad it gets. My problem is this....she is a kid. All she wants is to fit in and be "normal". You all remember that, don't you? Now imagine that you can't eat most prepackaged foods because they all get made in one big plant that doesn't separate nuts from non-nut sources for foods and one drop of oil that may have splashed from one vat to another could kill you! You can't ever eat any treat that is brought in to school for anyone's birthday! You can't eat cakes at other kid's birthday parties because the bakeries use nuts in some of their foods! Imagine how much that would suck and how non-normal you would feel, on top of the fact that your mom never lets you eat anything "good" because it "could" kill you...





So enter my change of career......baker! After much research I have discovered that there is not a single guaranteed nut-free bakery in St. Louis!!!! I know for a fact there are many, MANY other families that are affected by these allergies and yet no one has stepped up to fill this void.





I love to bake...LOOOOOOOOOOOVE to do it. And to be able to create yummy concoctions that I know would be safe for her....such a relief it would be, as I'm sure it would be for other parents who worry just like I do. And it wouldn't just be for those who have a family member with allergies but also those who's children go to school with and are friends with kids with food allergies. Plus...it would be good...I just know it because I already bake it at home and it disappears around here so fast there is sometimes no point in even turning off the oven!!!





Sooo..just telling you ahead of time that should you see a nut free bakery, ask for K....might be me:)





This is a picture of the precious B at one of her most precocious moments which I absolutely cherish...and it is not recent, almost 4 years old at this point so safe to post but...who could resist a face like that and protecting it?

Too much

This week has been a zoo. So far I have had two Girl Scout meetings where I was in charge...and don't get me wrong, I love the girls, they are neat kids but......13 first graders is a lot to handle after school when it's raining and they have to sit!

I had a coaches meeting which went on WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too long. And I had to listen to a few other coaches who seem to have forgotten this is not about them, but about the kids having fun. Complaining that in a league where we generally don't keep score because it is Tball and I have yet to see more than one out happen in any given inning, it should be ok to take two or three more minutes and let every kid bat each inning. Is it really worth it to stop at a certain number of runs if that is going to make one kid each inning not be able to bat?

I have been up at church three times so far to get things ready for an event next week which I am co-chairing. And that is fine except I am tired of other people trying to get in on the decisions or give me more work....it's church and I'm a volunteer....do your own freaking work that you are getting paid to do!(Ok that may have seemed harsh but this is not the first...or second...or even third time this has happened and so it will be the last time I work with this committee)

And to top it all off I took in my youngest to have her pre-spring allergy season check. Which you might think, well K, that seems like a good idea to get on top of things early, and that is precisely what I thought as well. And luckily enough we have a very vigilant allergist who insisted on doing a skin test for peanut allergies since there is new information regarding a crossover effect between peanut and tree nut allergies. My thought was ok, but it shouldn't be a big deal b/c she had a scoop of peanut butter for snack just the day before. Of course, I should have known better. The panel came back with a reaction to peanuts this time. And even worse with a reaction to now cashews and almonds besides her previous allergies to hazelnuts and brazil nuts. Which all things considered I am glad we know, but, the reactions were so big that the allergist didn't know what rating to give them and was going to have to consult on that. And she has been on prednisone ever since. She's my baby and any time this comes up it scares the bejeebies out of me b/c I have seen her reaction before and it comes on fast. She swells, gets hives and can't breathe. And worst of all.....it could kill her. Not that parents don't always worry about the safety of their children, we do, but this is even more so since not everyone else thinks this is an actual issue, including some of the family.

Anyway, I am headed for the shower now....think I am gonna go for a prune like state to ease the tension ball I can feel building in my neck!

I hope you all have a nice weekend. I'm hoping it stays sunny here.

Thanks for letting me vent.

Blog ya later-
K