Three years ago, I began this blog to share with others our life with an allergic child. As the world
learned more about children with multiple, severe food allergies, I began my journey as the mother and blogger for one very allergic child. I wanted to share with others the day-to-day struggles that we
call normal. I wanted to answer the questions that bombarded us daily. "What is your angel allergic to?" became the most dreaded question. As I gave a quick and very abbreviated list of my angels allergies, the person's eyes would glaze over and a look of bewilderment would fill their faces. 5-4-3-2-1- I could count down to the next question, "So, what CAN your angel eat?" followed by, "Ohhhh, poor thing. I'm so sorry." These questions exhausted me. The pity. The bewilderment. These were not words that I associated with my angel. Admiration. Strength. This is how I viewed my child and how I wanted her to view herself.
Fast forward 3 years... I am now the confident mother of a very confident allergic child. We still have days of struggle, weeks of struggle. We still get the questions and I still hate the pity-filled responses. But, I have gotten better at using my words. I have regained my voice and with it have taught my angel to use hers, as well.
Over the past year, I have not written much. I needed a break, a time to look inward so that I could look outward again. Cooking became routine and mealtimes often boring. There were hospital visits and food challenges, too many to share in one post. In the end, I have new recipes with newly tolerated foods and plenty of suggestions to go along with it. Although our family is still mostly grain-free, meat-eating vegans drawing from limited vegetable sources, there have been a few changes - changes that dramatically affected our meals. They inspired me. Potatoes, peppers and cooked tomatoes are foods that you can expect to see in my newest recipes... we've tried pizza and pasta and so much more.
For those who have been with me, thank you. For those who awaited my return, an even bigger thank you. I am back and eager to share our newest adventures in food, allergies and allergy-free living.
This summer was one of many food challenges. Perhaps the most exciting was the one that showed a tolerance to cooked tomatoes. WOW.... we had forgotten what we were missing! Even my angel was thrilled to taste her first tomato sauce, pizza, meatloaf and more.