So Many Firsts!

Our last several weeks have been filled with so much joy! We are sailing through treatment with flying colors and can finally see the finish line!

There have been so many firsts for Hayden in the past three weeks. He has eaten his VERY first doughnut, pizza, bagel, fresh roasted peanuts, apple-cinnamon muffins, scones, breadsticks, onion rings, hamburger WITH a bun (a sesame seed bun to boot)!

Hayden best described his feelings by saying, "Mom, I feel free." Beautiful music to my ears!

We have eaten out twice in the past two weeks and he has ordered straight off the menu! For our family, this was a monumental and emotional moment. I captured many of these firsts on camera, but for reasons I cannot understand or explain I will not be posting them. Those photos are so personal, almost sacred to us at this time.

I feel is is imperative to restate that when we got here in late May he was anaphylactic to: dairy, wheat, rye, barley, eggs, sesame, peanuts & tree nuts with test results so high the two top hospitals told me his allergies would be life-long. He was rushed to the E.R. just two months before moving here because of sesame cross contamination that effected his breathing. And now only 8 months later he is eating all this food, without tightness or hives, not even any G.I. issues. Life truly does not get any better than this.

Another first is my CONSTANT baking! I am literally baking every single day because he needs to eat foods that have wheat, eggs and dairy at least twice per day. The foods that best combine all those ingredients seem to be baked goods. My little townhouse smells soooo yummy all the time & my jeans are getting tighter too!!!! 7 pounds in two weeks my friends, oh yes!!!! That's what baked goods will do. After 10 years of not having this stuff in our house, I am like a little kid all over again. But this week has been a bit better, I have shown some restraint and may even be growing a bit tired of all these sweets.

I also owe my little galley kitchen an apology. The day we moved in and I laid eyes on her I almost cried, wondering how I would ever function in such tight quarters. I cursed the lack of counter space and measly pantry. But now I realize just how good she has been to us... there every step of the way, for every bite Hayden has taken. I have managed more than fine and have created some pretty fantastic memories in there, the kind that will stay with me until the end of time. So thank you sweet kitchen for being part of the journey that has so well nourished and healed my boy.

Amanda

"Gratitude is an art of painting an adversity into a lovely picture." ~ Kak Sri