Day 15 &16

We're continuing with the day 2-3 allergic symptoms, but otherwise in GREAT spirits. I cannot believe that Christmas is only days away, where has this year gone? The lights outside are adorned with happiness and joy, and I cannot help but to feel completely in the spirit of the moment. One of our neighbors made us allergen -safe holiday treats for the family, and we've been surrounded by the kindness and efforts of so many. Christmas is my favorite holiday and the BEST time of the year. People give more and acknowledge their own many blessings, and they make real efforts to accommodate people in challenging situations. There is just a noble spirit of goodness around.

When you are a mother with young children, people are so quick to give out advice in the hopes that they can teach you something about parenting, or that their years of experience justify a level of almost "professional experience". The truth is that no two kids are the same (especially ones with food allergies) or respond to the same methods. Whether it be some new-found answer to everything or something that worked in the past for someone else. Parents of children living with food allergies are traveling on a new unchartered path. The way things have always been done, quite frequently, doesn't pertain to us. The worries every parent has are amplified with the additional worries we carry. Sometimes in life we graduate from the "question asker" to the "answer giver". For the most part, a parent of a child with a FA bears the responsibility of feeling like the question asker but always having to be the answer giver.  We have to take on all of the responsibility for everyone in our children's lives.

With the spirit of this beautiful holiday,  I am so grateful to all of the people that have been open to my instructions and guidance in the matter of Food Allergies, knowing that I am coming at this from a loving disposition.  This holiday can be wrapped up in egg nog and chocolate covered everything, making it very dangerous for a little girl living with a life-threatening food allergy to milk proteins. One thing that is true about all parents, and can be passed down to anyone, is to speak up for your child because you are their voice and their advocate more than anyone else will ever be. We appreciate all of the efforts to "ask questions" going around to keep our family safe this holiday season.