I lost my power

No, the title of this post does not refer to feeling helpless and lost or at the mercy of someone else's whims (someone under 6 years old and weighing less than 40 pounds).

No, I literally lost power for 3 days this weekend ... no electricity .... no TV, no internet, no CD player or lamps. There was a BIG storm here on Thursday and the power went out around 5:30 p.m. We FINALLY got it back at 5:30 p.m. on Sunday.

We were very lucky -- no flooding in the basement. And we were able to save that expensive soy ice cream because my parents had (1) power and (2) a chest freezer in their basement, amongst lots of other food of course. But when my husband was packing up the coolers, I made sure to tell him "don't forget all the soy stuff, it is costly!"

So, now we have power and I can check email and blogs again. Hurrah!

Don't try this at home

Don't these brownies look delicious???? NOT!!!!!!
I wanted to make brownies that everyone could eat. So, I thought I was oh-so-clever and would use regular brownie mix and just use the Ener-G egg replacer so the boys could eat them. And I was so SURE this would work, I made a double recipe so I could be sure to have enough for everyone.

Boy, was I wrong! Don't try this at home! The batter never really turned brownie/cake-like. It just sorta kept bubbling, like a weird science experiment. So, I ended up bringing Costco brownie bites to the party and gave the kids popsicles. But being so frugal, I did try the science-experiment brownies and they actually weren't bad. They were more fudge-like than brownies. Big Guy and I ate them up over the course of a week or so. I would even break them up and put them on his soy ice cream.

But, next time I want to make brownies from a mix (that the boys can eat), I will make the trek to Whole Foods and get the Cherrybrook Kitchen brownie mix. I know these are good and won't bubble mysteriously.

If you are looking for recipes from a blog for those of us dealing with food allergies, check out a blog I just found called The Food Allergy Blog ... love the picture of the Swedish Chef from the Muppets!!

Bad things come in threes

Ugh, Little Guy has had 3 allergic reactions to food in the last 5 days. Here's how it all went down:

Friday: he must have eaten a couple Doritos when our friends were over because next thing I know I look over and he is rubbing his eyes so hard I thought they might pop out! Next thing I know his whole left side of his face is swelling up. Give him a teaspoon of Children's Benadryl and hold a wet cloth to his eyes. After about 15 minutes he was feeling better, eating soy icecream and back to running around in the backyard.

Sunday: He eats a cinnamon crunch bagel at Panera and 4 bites later, he is scratching those eyes again! I asked to see the ingredient list and teaspoon of Benadryl and hold a wet cloth with eyes in it to his eyes. After a three hour power nap, he is fine.

Tuesday: Off he goes to day care. At 12 p.m. I get a call, "Little Guy threw up. Can you come and get him?" When I get there they are holding him and he is calm and relatively okay, but the hives came out right after I hung up with them -- on his face, wrists and stomach. They gave him a teaspoon of Benadryl and he was already better by the time I got there.

What could he have eaten???? I check with his teachers, it doesn't seem like he ate anything he shouldn't have. I checked the label on the bread (the same bread he has eaten many times there). It says in the label "may contain milk products" -- but there isn't a milk product listed it in the ingredients. I guess that was it. But as usual, it's a guessing game - a crap shoot.

Aghh! I took him home and he was fine. I called the allergist and she suggested I put him on a daily does of Claritin for a couple weeks to help "calm down his system." He is now more sensitive to any little allergen because all those histamines are coursing through his body. So things he can normally deal with are causing reactions. It makes it sorta scary to feed him!

But no calls so far from the day care. Thank goodness. I checked the menu carefully today, talked to the cook and told him (and the teacher) what Little Guy could and could not eat.

I saw this study on the Allergy Mom's blog and I agree that while the milk allergy is not "ruining our life," it does add to the daily stress of life. I am pretty used to it (in fact, yesterday the allergist told me I was handling it well and not freaking out) and luckily, don't have to deal with breathing issues, but once in a while I see a kid sit down and eat anything on the table and think, "WOW, that mom is sooo lucky!"

Picture This

Okay, I am finally succumbing to posting pictures of Big Guy and Little Guy on my blog.

I hadn't done so up until now because I was worried about security issues, but after seeing adorable pictures on other blogs, such as Christina's daughter at A Mommy Story or pictures of this cutie-pie at Mommy Off the Record, I can't resist. It is part of the Mommy-DNA to want to show off pictures of your kids, so why not do so on my blog, right?

So, here is the blog premier of my boys!!!! (Trumpets, please)

Below is Big Guy indulging (can a four-year old indulge?) in a soy ice cream cone. Get it! It's yummy.



And here is Little Guy slurping up a rainbow ice cone (another good non-dairy option for you when you are out, like we were at the zoo, where they don't have soy desserts).



And yes, these photos are about 6 months old now. (No more shorts for us for a while.)

So, those are my boys. Most of the time they are sweet and lovable, other times I refer to them as the hooligans. For better or worse, expect to see more of them here!