Bastard blood

Sadly I am not allergic to any food.

While for some people this might be a wonderful thing to hear, for me? Not so great… I was totally expecting to find out that I had a wheat allergy too (just like V) and possibly some other hidden allergies lurking around in my system.

Bastard blood of mine!! I was expecting a lot out of you!

You were supposed to be the answer… I am looking for intel into V’s allergies. Any insight into the allergy situation would be awesome and currently I am focusing on me. As soon as I have made myself run the gamut, I’ll be putting M through his paces. Only fair!!

And so today I went through the intradermal allergy testing. Another interesting process. Small amounts of the allergen are injected just under the skin. In my case, 64 times. We then wait for everything to cook for 15 minutes and then measure the reaction on my skin.

Ding! 15 minutes later, we had our results. And they weren’t anything that exciting. Nothing earth-shattering or anything.

Funnily enough I am allergic to Maple tree pollen. And am Canadian. How disappointing. And so I now live in Florida and apparently am allergic to Orange tree pollen as well. What. The. Hell.

It make me kind of laugh though. From the land of the Maple tree to the land of the Orange tree, she is allergic to it all.

And allergic to dust-mites, a few other trees and 7 different types of mold. 7 for gods sake. Which, in hind sight, isn’t that surprising since I have a childhood allergy to penicillin that I apparently have passed on to V.

So while I didn’t learn that much about V’s particular food allergies and where they might have originated from, I did learn some interesting things about my own. Especially considering that I wasn’t aware of any of them.

So it looks like 2010 is going to start off, for me anyways, with an exciting ‘mold elimination’ diet. 3 months of a diet which basically has me eating nothing, as apparently all food is on this list, most condiments, all things pickled and vinegared  and lots of tomatoes. Oh, and cheese. And most heartbreakingly of all….. wine….

Oh lord how will I survive without cheese and wine.

I am totally f’d in the a.

Allergies, ahoy!

I love my Little V.

I accept his allergies with a smile and, in some small ways, enjoy the challenge of his lifestyle. In a way, it forces me to make his meals healthy as the challenge of peanuts and wheat really narrows down the kind of things that you can feed a child out in public. It really cuts out large amounts of crap.

Nice challenge, eh? I am a well-prepared mother when we are out and about, as Lord Only Knows what people put in food these days and either don’t mention it or mention it in a super low-key way.

Like Chik-Fil-A.

Did you know that they cook all of their food in peanut oil?

Really, Chik-Fil-A? In an allergen filled world, with peanut allergies becoming extremely prevalent in children, this is a good idea?

Are you even aware of peanut allergies? Or people? Or people with allergies? Or anything? Anything at all? Bastards.

And yes, I didn’t ask at the drive through. And yes, I am a terrible mother. And yes, I was surprised that I hadn’t heard anything about this before. And yes, I tried to steal his chicken nuggets. And yes, that’s how I found out. And yes, I was terribly mad. And yes, finally, I know it is all my fault for not asking. Totally my fault.

However, still annoyed with Chik-Fil-A. Annoyed with their cute kids meals that have Berenstein Bears books in them. It really was one of the few places that I felt ok about Chicken Nuggets. It is actual real chicken,  not that chicken goop that is formed into nuggets.

Maybe I am just a little naive in thinking that in these days of enlightened eating, where everyone is a gourmet chef and food critic, that I would have heard it mentioned before physically running into it. Head first.

Although, CFA is not exactly the most gourmet of eateries.

In reading over their website and allergen claims, it seems quite clear-cut from their point of view. Their oil is heat processed and refined, which apparently makes it safe for consumption by people with allergies.

However, I still feel a little overtly ‘mother concerned’ and am banning them. It weirds me out just a little.

Anyways, that is the end of my Chik-Fil-A rant.

Really, this was all about how V and his allergies. And what I do about them.

Well, I got allergy tested. First part was last Monday, RAST testing on my back. Very interesting. Apparently I have some kind of dermatological skin , which makes skin testing rather tricky because of the welts.

I had a lot of positives for different molds, a few pollens, MAPLE TREE (if you can believe that! AND I am Canadian… whats up with that!), Orange tree. It was very very interesting.

My lovely Nurse  friend drew some blood for food testing and tomorrow I am having intradermal skin testing done.  How allergic am I? Am I an allergic person? Does V get it all from me?

AND, on an interesting side note, it appears he might be allergic to penicillin as well. This is based on a weekend filled with vomit roughly the colour of the amoxicillian he is taking.

I am allergic to it, or was at least sensitive to it as a child, and stupidly haven’t ever mentioned it to V’s Dr.

Dumb-ass.

Just one call to her this weekend, and she happily reassured me re: Vomit-Fest 2009 hosted by the Melvins.

More to follow tomorrow, post testing…

xox a.m.

ps: Kids allergy testing info here…

Brick-like

I just got a chunk of waffle tossed into my hair.

Since this is not breakfast-time, I know you are surprised. I was.

It was unearthed in Chewies Dog-bed (which really is a cat-bed. Even though he’s a dog). Chewie has this tendency to bury things he won’t eat in his little bed.  I just found it a few minutes ago and thought it was funny. Ever since M became ‘Mr Mum’ I have found a lot of random bits of food all over the house.

Now part of it might be that we are doing a lot of ‘wheat-free’ cooking. Tapioca bread and wheat-free waffles. Tapioca bread does not toast well. If you make it golden brown, that actually means ‘brick’ in the language of toast.

And M is such a good Mr Mum. He toasts things to perfection, a lovely golden-brown. Which might make for deliciousness in our wheat-filled world. But actually means ‘cobble my sidewalk with your toast pieces’ in the land of the wheat-free.

I have accidentally stepped on it. I know. It is as hard as a m-f’er.

Apparently Chewie is not interested in our new wheat-free life-style. In the evenings, when I am home and M is off at his summer evening job of serving…. I find little morsels in corners of all the rooms. Waffles in the living-room. Biscuits in the bedroom. Toast everywhere. Chewie hates toast. Well, wheat-free toast anyways.

At least, this wheat -free toast. I think he would have liked what V was eating in Canada. We needed a dog in Canada to clean up the mess V made.

So, unbeknowest to V, wheat-free sucks. It sucks as even the dog won’t eat it.

And then, Chewie did something that surprised me. In retrospect though, it shouldn’t have.

He ate the waffle. So I guess, in hindsight, it wasn’t that bad. I just wish M hadn’t thrown it at me first……

Bloody lip

I have a split lip, courtesy of my son.

Let me backtrack a little….. V and Pop-Pop hung-out Friday(as a result of a day-care  scheduling issue). M worked the usual 2 jobs. I didn’t eat lunch (for the 3rd time this week), left early and relieved Pop-Pop from grandson-duty.

Off V and I went to pick up birthday party supplies…. Oh, I am getting soooooo excited about his birthday. I know all he is going to do is ignore everything, look overwhelmed, cry and smear cake all over everything. And maybe swim in the pool. Again, I am so excited.

So Friday evening was the usual…. usual dinner, usual bath, usual struggle to strap a diaper onto that little fat bum. Usual everything. During diaper-changing, I usually give him a toy to play with to distract him while I wipe the tush and slap that diaper on. Today his toy was a maraca.

Big mistake.

Seriously, it really was.

The first sign was when he learned to how to shake it. So adorable really, a baby shaking a maraca. And the look on his face while he was doing it was priceless. Even though he has had the toy for ages, this was the first time he realized that he could make it make noise.

And make noise he did. And about 25 minutes later I started to regret giving it to him (mostly after I got hit in the head repeatedly by that darn thing)…. but when I tried to take it away, he cried (and so I gave it back).

During that whole “Can Mummy have the maraca??” I got headbutted in the mouth and split my lip. Holy Mother does V ever have a hard head. It didn’t seem to faze him at all though, and this morning (Saturday) when he woke up there were no signs on that huge head of his that he had ever slammed it into my teeth at all.

I think perhaps he is impervious to pain. Or he has a really thick skull…Or both.  I can’t believe that his head made me bleed and he didn’t even notice that the whole event occurred. Although considering how much he is like his father, I guess I shouldn’t be that surprised that he didn’t notice… I think sometimes that M wouldn’t notice if the house was on fire around him, especially if some sort of  cooking program is on while the house is burning down. He would definetly stay until that end of the show, while V, Chewie and I waited patiently on the front lawn.

Chip off the old block, eh?

Bloody noses (and crocheting)

Sadly enough I am starting another craft project.

Not that I have actually finished the blanket I was working on or anything…. I am just having problems with it. So instead of starting over with it, I am putting it aside for the time being and starting completely over with brand new yarn (but the exact same pattern).

This is my M.O.

I feel guilty about giving up, so I don’t….. I put it ‘on hold’ and move on to something else. I really do mean to come back to it (I love the colours in the last project).

Anyways, so I am trying a thinner yarn, a smaller crochet hook but am still using the same pattern which is called “Waves” and looks like it will be quite pretty when it’s done.

I really will finish this one…… for real.

Anyways, so that was one of our errands today, running to Michael’s and picking out some new yarn with V. My colour choice was partially decided by the ball of wool V grabbed and stuffed in his mouth.

Anyways, after all of this craftiness we swung by Gramma and Pop-pop’s for a little visit.

V loves playing at their house, probably because it’s so much bigger than our apartment, and more people pay attention to him.

He was playing away on the floor and somehow slipped and fell, banging his face on the hard tile floor.

Instant screams and sad little boy face. Tears streaming. Gramma reached him first, grabbed him and instantly soothed him (he loves his Gramma) with this lovely Italianism “Do you want a cookie??”. It worked, he got a treat and everything was fine…. He is soooo his daddy’s boy!

He was munching away on his little treat, when I noticed that it had turned pink… which was odd, since there was no reason it should have. And that’s when I realized that it was blood.

He must have hit his nose when he fell, and with a closer look I realized that there was a smudged trickle of blood on his upper lip. Poor boo, his first accident.

M arrived soon after, I told him about the whole thing and his response was “Really??? Awesome!! His first accident!! Did you take a picture of the blood??”

Men…..