Milk and Cookies

Back in June, 2008 we had Kyle tested for food allergies. He was having symptoms that lead me to believe that he might have some allergies. I originally thought he was allergic to milk so I took him off of cow's milk and started giving him soy milk. His symptoms seemed to clear up. But...I wanted to have him tested to be sure. The test itself was simple (you would think). They could do it at his pediatrician's office. They had to draw blood. NO FUN! Kyle screamed. Troy had to hold him down and I was in the waiting room crying! It was horrible. But it had to be done!
We got the results on June 27th.
Kyle is allergic to milk, wheat, and egg whites.
Oh great! What do I feed my son?????
That day Troy and I were pretty upset. Poor Kyle had been eating foods that were harming his little body. Now that we know we can change his diet. But that is not going to be easy! If you think about it....those 3 things are in pretty much everything! No more toast, yogurt, cheese, cookies, cake, baked goods, etc.
It was very hard to wrap my brain around what I could feed him. He was a picky eater to begin with...now my options have slimmed drastically!
The first week of the diet change...I took it one meal at a time. Breakfast used to consist of a piece of toast with peanutbutter and fruit. Well...he can still eat the fruit and peanutbutter. I had to find some wheat free toaster waffles at Trader Joes that worked for him. Lunch and dinner was even harder. Kyle doesn't really eat what we eat...he is too picky. So for a while all I could get him to eat was a Turkey Hot Dog and some fruit.

It has been 2 months since the diagnosis. I can say that I feel more equipped and educated on how to live with a child with food allergies. Some friends have been very helpful with websites, recipes, ideas, stores to shop at, etc.
Kyle is doing much better. His symptoms are GONE! He likes most of the food I offer him. He still is too young to understand when he sees a friend eating goldfish crackers or a cookie that he cannot have them. That is the HARDEST part for me....telling him "no" when he wants to eat something. I have found food substitutes for most of the things he likes. We make Wheat-Free/Egg-Free Pancakes, I found LOTS of snack food that he can eat (Granola bars (wheat free), wheat-free pretzels, fruit leather, rasins, dried fruit, rice krispie treats, etc.)
I have not been to Whole Foods yet..but I plan to go soon. Trader Joes and Fred Meyer both have a good selection of foods Kyle can eat. Kyle LOVES pizza and cannot eat it so I found a Rice Flour Pizza Crust and soy cheese so he had pizza for the first time in August. It is the little things in life!!!
I cried the day that I made him wheat-free/egg-free chocolate chip cookies. I cried because he was so happy eating his cookie treat. If you ask me, they were terrible....but they were a God-send so that Kyle can feel "normal"
I am not sure what the future holds. We are praying that he will grow out of these allergies. For now, I will always have to pack special treats for Kyle at birthday parties and school events. We are taking him to see an allergist in September. Hopefully she can give us some insight. For now, we just take things one day at a time and we are thankful that Kyle is healthy again. We are thanful that his allergies are not life threatening. We are thankful that there are so many gluten-free food options out there now. We are just thankful for our son, Kyle....allergies and all!!!!



Kyle enjoying his first taste of a cookie!

He LOVED it!

Pass the Rice Milk Please!

August Rush

Here are some photos from our August Adventures:


Kyle "driving" the truck. (We let him play in the truck while we set up the campsite)

Kyle helping set up the tent.

Playing baseball at the campsite.

Digging in the sand.

Catching crabs in the bucket.


Hiking at Sehome Hill in Bellingham


Kyle and Ethan sitting by the campfire.

Roasting Marshmallows!


It's Ready!

Yum! Yum!

Kyle driving PaPa's boat.

Troy driving the dinghy.

Beautiful Sucia Island Sunset!

Troy's big catch--we got 20 crabs in 1 day!

PaPa, MiMi, Troy, and Kyle riding in the dinghy.

Daddy and Kyle on the fly bridge.


August has been a crazy and fun month!
We went camping at Penrose State Park on the Key Peninsula at the beginning of the month. It was a fun trip. We spent our days playing at the beach, teaching Kyle how to hit a baseball with a bat, getting DIRTY and WET, and enjoying our time together---just the 3 of us. The rain got pretty bad and we packed up our soaking wet camping gear and drove to Christy's aunt's house about 30 minutes away. She lives on a beautiful piece of property right on the water. Kyle loved playing at the beach at her house and then we enjoyed soaking in the hot tub and taking a nice warm shower (instead of sleeping in a wet tent). Christy's entire extended family joined us the next day for the annual Hagan Family reunion. It is all of Christy's mom's brothers and sisters. All together there are about 50 people with the original siblings, spouses, kids, cousins, second cousins, etc. We ate yummy food including clams dug from the beach at her house, played volleyball, hung out with cousins, etc. It was a wonderful weekend. Then we came home for a few days to do laundry and re-pack. We went camping at Birch Bay State Park with our neighbors Nate, Carly, Ethan, and Caleb. It was quite an adventure camping with a 2 1/2 year old, a 22 month old, and an 11 month old. All Boys! They spent the entire weekend digging in the dirt and throwing rocks into the water at the beach. Kyle loved looking for crabs under the rocks at low tide. Kyle roasted his first marshmallow. He loved it! It was a wonderful time...despite the rain. I don't know what it is about us...but everytime we go camping it rains! We will go camping next year....but we plan to go to Eastern Washington so it will be sunny!!!!!
After our camping adventures we came home and celebrated Christy's 30th B-day (separate blog to come about that).
Then we pack up again for another family adventure.
We went up to Bellingham to go out on the boat with Troy's mom and dad (MiMi and PaPa)
They have a 36 foot Uniflite Boat. It is so much fun! We went out to the San Juan Islands. We spent the first night at Deer Harbour on Orcas Island. They have a swimming pool at the marina...Kyle loved that. We also spent time crabbing, kayaking, playing at the beach, and relaxing in the sun. It was beautiful weather. The next day we took the boat to a nearby island in the San Juans called Sucia. Both Troy and Christy grew up going to Sucia on many different family vacations. It was fun to bring Kyle there. He loved going fast in PaPa's "little boat" and trying to skip rocks like daddy. Kyle even had a pretty good attitude about wearing his lifejacket (most of the time). He slept pretty well in the boat bunk room. PaPa made a little bedrail so that he would not fall out of the bunk bed. He did hit his head a few times on the bunk above him since he was sleeping in the bottom bunk. He is not used to having another bed above his head. We are happy that Kyle loved boating as much as we do. We have many more boating adventures to go on in the future.
It has been a very busy month! We had alot of fun. But we are glad we are home and back into more of a "normal" routine.