Annual multi-family Canada Day weekend camping trip!

We were 22 this year - even though our eldest didn't attend and other offspring were already on their travels, at camp etc. But there again, some people just brought other people's kids.

This is the stuff of memories!

These 2 kids of friends are just weeks apart in age. It's so lovely to see them play together every summer

Dear Sido and Asha's parents

However, it was not all polenta on the beach moments. It was BUGGY!!! So lots of time to hunker down in the humungous tent. (and yes, those are peanuts....)

Do NOT criticize my style choices! I was only bitten twice. I did get a bad sunburn though... (cooking the polenta)

Great thing is that adults bring and make the meals

but kids clean up!

The dog came and was mostly happy. Let's just say he seemed unhappy to be back in the city.

There were bookish teenagers

and pre/teens

Kim and Linor read but just not there and then.

He couldn't read much because I kept stealing his book... Yes, there are the peanuts again!

Stumbling across a little bit of perfection

Two weeks ago I stumbled across these beautiful - NUT FREE! - biscuits and knew that they
had to be presents for Day of the Dead. Can you guess who got what?

Our favourite monster

Our wise yet kooky owl

Ms Day of the Dead herself

Frankenstein ate his the same day (of course) and said it was tasty too!

Choosing the newest member of our family

After zooming in off my flight from Beirut, we scooped up Sophie (Mike & Seb had the day off) and raced off to choose our dawg. It was tough.

There were 5 males - but the blondie was already huge

Seb leant toward this fellow with his interesting eye detailing. He was the wee guy/runt of the litter

Sophie had a hankering for this fellow but he was really straight haired - for now (which might mean more shedding)

She got right in there - we all did

But this loveable chap is who is coming home with us next week!

And we are thrilled!!!!

Cuddly boys

Making it an annual tradition

With Nana & Gramps arriving before Christmas, we decided to take ourselves out to a fantastic meal at a new restaurant. And so on the 23rd we went for a late dinner at Dailo. It was delicious, beautifully presented and the service was excellent - all questions answered (including all allergy concerns), and attentive enough.

Living with allergies

No points for guessing which one is peanut...
We have been told to challenge his limits on egg. We will do it sometime over the next few months, so fingers crossed.

Basketball alone

Since it's been an age since I posted anything (tad busy in TO), I thought I would throw up this snap, taken just minutes ago. These fine 9 year olds did a "home alone" course this morning. They then practiced for 15 mins this afternoon (with an aunt in the apartment below and parents loitering on the sidewalk outside).

It went well but does raise the issue of whether Seb will be 100% diligent about allergen-free snacks...

A first!

This weekend Sebastian had his first ice cream cornet. Chapman`s now does peanut-free cornets - so start lobbying your `local`ice cream van to stock them.

Consulting + Motherhood = Mayhem

Yesterday was the day. Life was finally “settling down”. By 8.35 a.m. Mike had left the house for work. The children were at school. The babysitter was booked to handle all after-school needs. My work engines were revved. I had a work call – booked over skype - at 9 a.m.

I had no internet. Not a flicker. After fiddling around for an hour, and failing to reach the other party to my call who was working from home, I proceeded to spend 50 minutes on the phone with Bell Canada. Inching ever closer – I thought – to connection.

At 10.25, I realised that someone had just called me 3 times while I was studiously following Bell techie’s basic instructions. I switched over to the other line, only to discover the children’s allergist saying that if I could get Sebastian down to the allergy clinic at Sick Kids within 40 minutes, he could get his H1N1 shot under supervision ( he is allergic to egg) and that there would not be another clinic this flu season. Last chance, Mom.

So I made the rash decision to stay on with Bell. We were so close to solving the problem. Right? 10 minutes later we had not solved the problem and I bailed. Call Seb’s school to say that I had to pull him and could he be waiting for me? Busy line. Dash over in the car. He zooms out of class and we are downtown in a few minutes.

Only for me to make a wrong turn and end up in the bizarrest news story of the day. A deer is on the loose in the city’s core. Yellow police tape everywhere. Slowly I make my way round and to the Hospital.

Now to find parking. Try the car park. F-U-L-L “Full!” exclaims my budding reader in the back seat. “But full doesn’t mean ‘FUUUULL’. There are a few spots in it, especially as cars are pulling out” I say and plunge underground.

After circling round and round ever deeper. I give up. Drivers are literally tracking people as they get out of the elevator and head to their cars... Besides our gas tank empty light is flashing and the car is making a funny sound whenever it is pointed upward since the gas level is too low. Just as I pull out of the parking lot (having firmly told the gatekeeper that I was not paying $4 for having had the privilege of stressing out in his underground car park), a car pulls away from a street spot. I pull in, shove money into the meter and run for the clinic (Seb in tow).

We make it.

But instead of the 1 ½ hours I thought it might take (I knew there was an observation period), it was 3 ¼. So I end up nipping back to the car and pumping the meter full for extra time.

Seb braved his way through the vaccination, which is doled out in 2 bits when allergic to egg – 10%, wait for 30 minutes and observe; 90%, wait for 60 minutes and observe. Unfortunately, the nurse mis-pricked him, so it was 3 jabs... and he has to have a 2nd round in 3 weeks. I have to admit that I haven’t told him that, as hopefully the Canadian guidelines will have changed by then to take the WHO guidance into account.

It was 2.33 by the time we left. School ends at 2.45 and he had left his kit there. Not only that, but he had promised to share his fruit leather (a treat for having gone to the allergist and been retested for egg the day before) with a buddy. He had promised, he told me in tears. A promise is a promise. We positively zoomed – as zoomed as any Dr Seuss character has ever zoomed – back to school. Rushed in to get his kit and chased his classmates across the school grounds to their bus. Shoved the fruit leather into his stunned buddy’s hands. Jabbered away about a promise being a promise. And headed for the library to meet Sophie and Carrie, our babysitter.

The gas tank was still on low. But I managed to get to a gas station (not so plentiful in central T.O.) and headed for home. It was 3.50. I still had no internet. There were two messages waiting for me from Bell. It turns out they had seen some “problem” on the line and referred it to another branch. I called said branch and dealt with a very nice guy of Scottish tongue. It took us another 20 minutes but I was re-connected. Wrote out a note to our tenant to tell her how to connect to the internet given the changes.

It was now 5 pm; the children were home. The overdue library books, the overdue dvds, the skirt to be taken to the tailor with the broken zipper, the business cards of the two mattress shops that I was supposed to have visited, the various family and work e-mails unsent stared me in the face.

I bolted. I headed for our fancy deli about 10 minutes walk. Bought some overpriced but yummy cabbage salad to spruce up a basic sausage supper and headed for home ready to be a mum.

All in a day’s non-career.

Oh, and if anyone knows where we have put the camera with all the photos of Sophie’s party, please get in touch. It’s somewhere in this house, unless a pint-sized guest made off with it in disgust at the fact that we didn’t hand out loot bags.

The worst kind of night

OK, so I went to bed too late as I was blogging away - my fault, I'll confess.

But my bed mate had felt pretty rough all evening and was tossing and turning all night, until he reared out of bed at 2.30 a.m. and vomited all over the bedroom floor - three times. Migraine, terrible, terrible migraine. Fortunately, he hasn't had one for ages and ages. Poor guy misses his first chance to work for the national desk today.

After cleaning that up and tending to his now-sofa-based woes as best I could, I went back to bed but couldn't sleep. Sebastian kept coughing. Seb's coughs are a warning to both his parents - first sign of allergic reaction (had ruled that out), first sign of asthma attack (possible but had checked several times and nothing), just plain old deep cough that didn't seem to disturb his sleep (just mine).

I managed to doze off eventually, only to be awoken at 5.30. Sebastian is calling out because his nighty-nighty has exploded and his bed is wet with strange gel bits on the sheet. I change his pjs and put him back to bed recto-verso.

Surprisingly, I feel fine right now. The kids are merry. Their dad - poor soul - is still huddled on the couch.

A huge step forward!!!!

Just last month, it was news that a group of peanut-allergic UK children had been de-sensitised to peanuts by taking miniscule but increasing amounts of the nut and building up a tolerance. Now there is news of a group of US children who have been "cured" (29 out of 33 of them)!

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090317.wlpeanut0317/BNStory/specialScienceandHealth/home
[I didn't cry this time. I guess I am becoming de-sensitised too].

(P.S. Fellow bloggers, why are my links never hyperlinked???)

At least we don't have to worry about this recall

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090121.wlrecall21/BNStory/specialScienceandHealth/home

Since our camera is acting up, I once again can't post photos. But I have an allergy update. Good and not so good news.

On the positive: turns out that baked egg is accepted by 95% of people allergic to egg. So egg in cookies, cakes, etc are usually fine. That explains why Seb has been able to eat baked goods (that are nut-free). But cooked egg or raw egg are a no-no. Seb is still allergic to egg and was trying to tell us that by saying his throat felt funny after chocolate mousse or ice cream with egg. We are not sure what to do about pancakes. So the positive is that Sophie can now have baked goods (but Seb can't have un-baked; thank goodness we found out this way).

But on a negative note, Seb is not only "re-allergic" (not really, just re-diagnosed) to eggs and still allergic to peanuts (only 20% chance of outgrowing it by 8) and shellfish (50% of outgrowing it by 8), but he has been diagnosed as allergic to tree nuts... Not sure which and since they are almost always shelled together, it isn't safe to say any... When will this end??!!

We want to challenge him on home-shelled walnuts b/c we are pretty sure has tolerated them before. He had one reaction but the package said may have been in contact with peanuts.

Two ta-daaaaa-s for Nana

Every year I mean to make a gingerbread house with Sebastian (and now Sophie). But it's a lot of work and the kits always say that they may have come in contact with peanuts. So this year, Nana came to the rescue - of sorts - by digging up a rice krispie square recipe and sending us her own kit - recipe, instructions, the world's largest box of rice crispies (dyed red & green!), plus 2 big bags of marshmallows, a tub of icing and enough candy to sink a ship. So the pressure was on.

Everything takes ages at the moment, so this little festive treat turned into a 4 day event, complete with child-like meltdowns. With some cutting and decorating help from dad and after several scoldings of Sophie to not sneak in and pick at the house, we have masterpiece - or something.

Unfortunately, having it just sitting out has proved too much for a 5 and 2 year old. So the house has been placed out of view and will come out for Nana & Gramps' visit on Christmas Day and then again at our New Year's Day Open House, when we will invite EVERYONE to demolish - in the hope that that will limit the amount of sugar that our kids ingest!

Next year I am going to make a real gingerbread house - from scratch. You can quote me...



A birthday cardie from Nana.

Shock, horror

Sophie rejected baked beans!!! Sebastian lived on them from 15 - 36+ months of age. Honestly, he ate them or fish fingers every other day. Sebastian was in shock and told her that they were sweet - had sugar (you see, he has been listening). I think it was the shape of the beans on her tongue; so we will try again in a week. Milk and soy aren't going very well either; she can tolerate small amounts but there seem to be rashes on her bottom and around her mouth. Nothing major but traces and all we give her are small amounts of soy & milk.

Today is actually the day of rashes. Sophie has the small dots near her mouth. She developed a new diaper rash. And to top it off, she fell off the curb - nowhere near moving cars - and ended up with road rash on and around her left eyelid, and a huge bump on her noggin. Poor sweet.

no allergy anxst today

No photos but only good news. This afternoon we dropped Sebastian off at Xin's house and proceeded with Sophie to Toronto's Sick Kids. We spent the next 3 1/2 hours wandering around their public spaces (Tim Hortons, playarea, seating areas, atrium, etc), and occasionally giving drops of milk to Sophie. She didn't react!!! In fact, she loved it.

The process of challenging someone is very slow. We started with 1 drop and waited an hour. Nothing, so we did 2 drops and waited 30 mins. 3 drops waited 30 mins. After that it was pretty smooth sailing as people are most likely to react in the first 2-3 drops if at all. 4 (ish) drops waited 20 mins. 1/2 teaspoon, another 20 mins and finally a full teaspoon! So, this means that she can definitely handle "may contain trace of..." and probably milk as a minor ingredient.

We need to get to a full tablespoon, followed by a "tiny" serving, then medium, then regular to say that she is completely fine on the milk front. We didn't have the time for that this afternoon, plus she was already suffering from a diaper rash and I want to see if dairy triggers a diaper rash. So we will proceed later this week after that has cleared up.

But great, fantastic, tremendous news so far!!!!

allergy angst - rant 3 / family food - part 3

As if mealtime isn't hard enough, we now know a little more about Sophie's allergies. She has less of them but they are the opposite of Sebastian's. I kid you not.

She was tested today and scored negative on soy, nuts, peanuts and shellfish. But she still scored positive on egg and milk. On a good note, the milk reaction was only middling and the dr says positive skin tests are only 50-50; given that she did scarfe back that 1/4 chocolate bar 8 months ago and she no longer breaks out into one big hive if she touches milk, he suggests that we buy another epi-pen and then challenge her on milk at home as soon as we summon up the courage.

So no eggy waffles for awhile longer, though the specialist is still hopeful she may out grow that too, like her bro. But we can live with that. We have become pretty good at egg free baking and we still have these question marks with Seb and egg anyway.

Sebastian took the news as mixed. He seems a little confused that his baby sister can eat peanuts (at least in theory) and of course, he wants to know right now if she can have milk.

Given that our camping trip has been postponed due to heavy rain forecasts, we may as well challenge our poppet on milk this weekend. So if anyone wants to come along for the experience, we are meeting at the Sick Kids car park at 10 on Saturday (that way we can dash into ER if need be!).

Oh, and I actually had air in my lungs as I left the doctor's office. He was nice enough and spoke slowly enough and was clear in his communication. I hope Seb can see him too.

Allergy Angst - rant 2

So we were having our family supper tonight (leftover chickpea curry - see previous post), when Seb started to scratch the back of his knees. Now, for anyone who knows him well that's a sign of his eczema acting up. Well, soon he was complaining of it stinging and hurting, so I took a look.

There was a pile of hives all over the backs of his knees, where his skin is chronically irritated by the eczema. We immediately gave him Benadryl and fortunately, it didn't escalate any further.

But what had he eaten??!! No reaction yesterday to the curry. Sweet corn soup from a package; it warned of milk allergens but nothing else. Bread from an organic artisanal bakery - must be. Right? But there again, Sophie ate the bread and she didn't react...

I'm hoping that it's the bread because not knowing is even scarier than knowing. A friend has a book club pal who in her 30s has developed a life-threatening food allergy. Only thing is, she doesn't (or didn't for weeks) know what it was to! Imagine living with that uncertainty...

And on the allergy front, we have not 1, not 2, but 3 - yes THREE - appointments with allergists on Thursday. Turns out that Sophie's referral to the pedatric allergist is zooming ahead, as long as we see him outside of Sick Kids Hospital (where the waiting time is 9 months supposedly). My request for a 2nd opinion has been answered by Sebastian's original referal to an allergist calling for an appointment - that's what happens when you give siblings different surnames.

So hoping not to waste taxpayers' money in the long-run, I will use it all up on Thursday getting good advice that will hopefully keep us out of ER.

I'll keep you posted but if you see a dejected, exhausted mother dragging two young kids across TO late on Thursday afternoon, it might well be me.

Family Food - part 1

Have I mentioned how happy I am when I make a meal that everyone in our family can eat? Case in point, polenta (that was famously rejected 8 months ago causing me to stomp off in tears...) So, polenta with carefully chosen tomato sauce, plus a dollop of tapenade and some freshly grated parmesan (for 3 of us). Delish!

Allergy angst - rant 1

How come every time I meet an allergist I feel flattened, as if all the air, energy and joy has been syphoned out of my body?

As you may recall, last December Sophie was diagnosed as having dairy, egg and soy allergies and we didn't even bother testing for nuts or shellfish or sesame or... This is in addition to Seb's allergies to peanuts and shellfish and strange issues with eggy foods.

We were hopeful that like Seb she would outgrow the egg and over the months, we were fairly sure that she had outgrown the dairy problem (especially as she had eaten half of a chocolate bar 6 weeks after the diagnosis). But we couldn't stomach testing that ourselves, so we waited and waited for an appointment with a Toronto-based allergist.

Well, yesterday with the sun shining and 2 excited young children in tow, we went to meet that new doctor. Fancy address, fancy building, less than child-friendly office. No toys or books, no play space while waiting the extra 20 mins; because of allergies, one isn't allowed to eat or drink anything in the office (tell that to a hungry 21 month old). This nationally-renowned doctor (as it turns out) had no - zero - rapport with the children; we weren't even offered water to soothe Sophie.

Seb was just chomping at the bit for his sister to be tested and okayed for milk stuffs. It melted my heart to see him so happy to anticipate someone else's good news. And this doc just rained on my 4 year old's parade.

First off, the specialist completely pooh-poohed skin tests - even rolling her eyes. She name-dropped constantly; she had copies of her book all over the place.

Then, she said that we must consider Sophie allergic to the things she tested positive for but wouldn't re-test her because she doesn't believe in it...

Then, she said Seb should not only carry a double epi-pen for possible anaphylatic reaction, but a medic alert bracelet. He is 4 years old. Does she have no idea of schoolyard bullying / being made to feel different? this pipsqueak of a boy who already carries a big waist pack everywhere he goes.

Finally, she took the history of Seb's wheezing and labelled him asthmatic. Treatment? Daily doses of cortisone - indefinitely. Oh, sure it limits children's growth but they make it back by the time they are adults (how do they test that?).

She didn't smile once. It got to the point where I felt she must be working for the drug companies, as she pushed double epi-pens on each child (one of whom can't even say her own name yet), daily doses of steroids and a puffer.

So where does this leave us?
1- With the option of reportedly waiting over a year for Sophie to be "challenged" in a hospital setting.
2- with the possibility of skin testing Seb for egg and walnut (as there are question marks there).
3- Going for a 3rd opinion (sorry medicare budget) since the 2 doctors that we have consulted have completely - 180 degrees - different approaches to how to diagnose and treat our kids. And our approach to living healthily tends to be nore in sync with our no-longer-available-to-us NB specialist.
4- continue to nurse Sophie into the fall (but hopefully not beyond)

Stay tuned. Until then, we continue on as before. Sorry, no ice cream parties at our house.

P.S. On a positive note, we accidentally discovered last week that Sophie can have chickpeas; we already knew that she can eat sesame. So we have established the hummous family fan club - if anyone would like to join.