oh poor bloggie...

I've been pretty absent around these parts, and for that, I'm sorry.  I have lots to tell you.  Instead of a long winded post, I will give you bullet points:

• I'm not eating meat any more.  It's working out great!  It's been an excellent excuse to eat more protein in the form of crunchy Barney Butter.
• B's skin test came back worse than last year. Worse, in fact, than almost any other year.  Bigger and wider and even more itchier than ever.  My heart broke into a million pieces in the allergist's office.  Even though he is still optimistic about her outgrowing her allergy, I am resigning myself to the fact that she's probably not.  
• I devoured Sloane's new book over the course of an evening.  I didn't want it to end.  This is a book that belongs in every girls' hope chest.  It gave me an incredible amount of hope for my daughter and her journey through life with her allergy. Look for a review here soon (I promise, Sloane!)
• I'm going to the FAAN Conference in June in Anaheim.  Will you be there?
• I created a Facebook page for Peanut Free Mama - come and like me wontcha'?

I promise that I will have more content soon. I've wanted to hide under the covers when it comes to peanut allergy and all that comes along with it since B's last allergist visit. 

But now I'm ready to come out.

I hope you'll still have me.

How We Spent Our Holiday Weekend

I tell you, we're in summer mode at Casa Peanut Free. Bella's still in preschool and I'm still working, but we're making the most of the weather and any excuse for a get together and/or party when we're not stuck inside learning our ABC's or working for the man. :->

Last weekend was no exception. We made our way down to LA to visit family and catch some spectacular fireworks in Marina Del Rey.

I'm happy to say that it was another reaction-free holiday (I could really get used to this!). Our only foray out to eat was at Jerry's Famous Deli and, per usual, they were REALLY accomodating with Bella's allergy. I highly recommend them - but beware of the HUMONGOUS portions. It is definitely NOT a place for a diet.

I did want to share a neat find of mine. Before we left, I wanted to find a few activities to occupy Bella on the drive down and while we were at my parent's place. I'm not anti-tv, but I didn't want her watching tv while we were there.

I bought the obligatory crayons and packed the portable DVD player for the car. But one of my finds was a great book from the Klutz company (a girlfriend of mine used to work for them - I wish I would have taken advantage of her employee discount more back then!) called Hand Art. Basically you trace your hand and then make a picture out of the resulting shape (I've scanned a page from the book at the left - please don't sue me Klutz!).

This book was such a HUGE hit with Bella. We literally made every drawing in the book. And it comes with these little fuzzballs for the nose and tails and little googlie-eyes you can glue on. Her 6 year old cousin thought it was pretty great too. Needless to say, Nana and Grandpa had quite an 'art' collection when we left. And they could tell what each animal was, which was a bonus.

But I also saw something in this book that just made me smile so wide. Bella was doing the dog picture. In the bottom corner of each page, they show the child how to hold their hand when making the drawing. Can you see what's on that little wrist? I've blown it up so you can tell a little better.

It's a medic alert bracelet! I thought it was so neat that they included that in the photo, when they obviously could have photoshopped it out. Kudos to Klutz for keeping it in!

All in all the weekend was great. We made it down to LA on one tank of gas (and the same back up home) and that's something else to smile about. We ate way too much, I read gobs of magazines and cookbooks, and Bella wore herself out each and every night from swimming, running around, and playing all sorts of imaginary games with her grandpa.

I hope your 4th was just as good.