where do we go from here

At first nothing changed, it was just kind of a being in shock thing, and now, yes I do understand that it could be far worse, while he doesn't have a terminal condition or any thing like that, it did mean that we had to sit down and do a massive overhaul of what we ate and the conditions under which we ate anything.

Do you want to talk about frustrating? My husband and I can tend to be very different in our parenting style, I have to openly admit that neither of us has nailed the art yet.

I am pretty much a go with the flow, things will fall as they may, type, while my husband can tend to be somewhat OCD at times.... yeah.....OCD. So what came from this combination was a lot....A LOT of bickering. I was content to have the children eat separately, wash hands, clean up any mess.... ect....and that is the way it was for the first few days... until a little thing we all know and love called google stepped in. I was not too thrilled with this new development. We have been through a lot of unnecessary issues because of my husband being a chronic googler, and his phone history is proof on that. One time sand in our backyard was going to kill us all, another time it was asbestos in the air because we live in an older home.... I'm sure, I have one of the only husbands in history to go to the ER only to be diagnosed as a "well person".... in hindsight it is really laughable, but at the time, these things are real issues that we have to deal with.

So, like I said, google stepped in and wreaked havoc. All of the sudden, everything was a hazard, food, hands, birdseed, cross contamination!!!..... though for the months previous to the tests, nothing was different, we ate together, what we wanted, we went out to eat, ect. we avoided these things around Colin just for the sake that we knew he was allergic to something, we just didn't know what yet. I went searching for validation that he was over reacting on a forum for parents who have kids with allergies, to my dismay, at first, just about every one there could sympathize with Andy, while in most cases I was viewed more like the husband....

So then I really tried to change my perspective and see where he was coming from, it occurred to me that though we disagreed at how to approach the situation, I should really just relax and be grateful that I do have a husband that cares so much about our child's well being. I started to let him do his thing and to help him out when I could as far as cleaning and enforcing safety rules such as hand washing ect. I started researching food that we could all eat without the possibility of allergic reactions. Basically what it boiled down to was that I needed to start from scratch, literally.

Processed foods are just too risky. I purchased a dehydrator for snacks, learned to make allergen free cake and icing, whipped out my bread machine, that I purchased a few years ago, used twice and put it up... Now let me be the first to say, this is a transition...we still have boxed foods such as rice and frozen chicken nuggets and such, but it's just a matter of finding somewhere to start.

The first recipe I would like to share is for what else, but cake.... we are a snack loving family around here and learning to make cake was at the top of my list and never mind that we had 1st and 2nd birthday's coming up. This is my first try at cupcakes, but my 4th attempt at allergen free cake altogether.... the first one flat out sucked, it had a hard crust on top, had sunken in the middle and was gooey.... the second attempt was decent, but still not hitting the mark, then I decided to find a new recipe. It was one for a 9x13 and it was worlds better. One thing that I make sure to do is mix dry, mix wet and then mix all ingredients, this simple step makes a world of difference.

Today I decided to take that same recipe and make the cupcakes, the only alteration to the ingredients I made was to add a heaping of mini chocolate chips in order to obtain some moisture as well as more flavor. Boy, that was a good move.... I had previously made my own simple frosting with cocoa, powdered sugar and a little chocolate soy milk and it turned out somewhat tasty, but today I went for big flavor and made this recipe, in place of peanut butter I used sunbutter, instead of butter I used dairy free butter, and then of course I replaced the milk with soy milk......the result?

NOM NOM NOM!!

If you try this recipe please let me know what you think!