The Severe Allergy & Anaphylaxis Playbook and an interview with Jerome Bettis

Last week I had the extreme pleasure to take part in an interview with former NFL player Jerome Bettis.  The interview involved several people in the food allergy community asking Jerome questions about his shellfish allergy, the new Auvi-Q ephinephrine autoinjector, and the The Severe Allergy and Anaphylaxis Playbook that was put together by Jerome and Sanofi (the makers of the Auvi-Q autoinjector).

Thank you Jerome for taking the time to answer all of our questions.

The The Severe Allergy and Anaphylaxis Playbook is designed to help people with severe, life threatening allergies avoid their allergies and to help them be prepared in the event of an allergic reaction.  Not only is this tool valuable for those who have severe allergies, but it's also a wonderful tool for those who love and care for them.  You can download the playbook at the above link.

To learn more about Auvi-Q and to see how it works, check out the video below.



We filled our Auvi-Q prescription about a month ago.  The Little Man is excited to have something that talks to him.  He feels more comfortable that people who are not familiar with food allergies will be able to safely inject him if he should have a severe reaction.  It's also smaller and easier to carry.

So please check out the interview with Jerome Bettis (my questions are close to the middle), download the Severe Allergy & Anaphylaxis Playbook, and be sure to watch the informational video about the Auvi-Q if you haven't already.

 The Little Man in his "Bus" jersey age 2.5

9 Months Today

He's sitting all by himself, crawling and teething like a mad man (cranky, cranky, cranky).  He's clapping hands and making clicking noises.

I can't believe how big he's getting.

Mother's Day: As the mom of 3

This was the Little Monkey's first Mother's Day and my first Mother's Day as the mom of 3.

I had a really nice day.

They boys insisted on giving me their gifts first thing in the morning.  They presented me with a book made at school, a new double Knock Out rose bush for the yard, a glass rooster for the kitchen and a rock that the Little Man made at school.  It has his picture on it and I think it's supposed to be a paper weight.

After gifts, we got ready and headed to church.

Next came lunch.  The Little Monkey is teething and quite cranky so it made for an interesting afternoon.  Hubs was nice enough to handle most of the crankiness.  Best.Mother's Day.Present.

Older Boy and I took a trip to the greenhouse to get some plants for the yard and hanging baskets for the front porch.  Sadly it's too cold to plant anything but if I wait until the weather warms up to buy my flowers, they will all be picked over.  So the flowers and plants are nestled safely in the garage where the frost can't get them.

After the greenhouse, I decided that we were close enough to the Antique Mall to make a visit.  Older Boy hasn't been there since he was 1 year old and I wasn't sure how long we'd be there before boredom set in.  Of course it didn't set in for him because he found all the sports memorabilia.  I've been going there for 10 years.  I didn't even know they had sports memorabilia.

Dinner was kabobs on the grill that Hubs cooked.  It actually flurried a little bit while he cooked.  Got to love Ohio in May.  One day the air conditioning is on and the next day the heat is back on.

Me and the Little Monkey.  He's sporting his "I'm teething and cranky" face.

Me and my boys.  The Little Monkey is not smiling in this picture.  He's screaming.

So Mother's Day was really nice and relaxing.  I couldn't think of a better way to spend my day.  I'm truly one lucky Mama.

Blue and Gold Banquet 2013

Since Older Boy crossed over to the Boy Scouts earlier this year, the Blue and Gold was only for the Little Man this year.  He has gone from Bear to Webelo I.  He loves scouting and has put in a ton of work to get all of his badges, knots, belt loops and arrow points.  Unfortunately Hubs was out of town and missed it and I missed having him there as a helper.  The Little Monkey was less than impressed and I had to walk him around the whole time to keep him from screaming.  That meant that I put Older Boy in charge of pictures.  Unfortunately he's not a photographer.  Most of the pictures came out really blurry.  At least we got a few usable ones.

 Little Monkey before the melt down

Little Man doing a skit 

Little Man receiving his awards.  Notice I'm "flying" the Little Monkey.  Yea, he was screaming. 

Little Man presenting a plaque to his pack from the District for hosting this years District Pinewood Derby

Congrats Little Man on your accomplishments.  We are so proud of you.

And we hope next year to attend your event a little more quietly, a little more organized and get better photos.

But we can't guarantee anything.

Allergy Friendly Cookies: Lucy's - A Product Review

A few weeks ago the nice people at Dr. Lucy's asked me if I wanted to sample some of their allergy friendly cookies.  Their cookies are Peanut, Tree nut, Milk, Egg and Gluten Free.  Since I had not heard of or tried Lucy's Cookies before, I agreed.

We received the Ginger Snap and the Cinnamon Thin.  I read the ingredients when we received them, and unfortunately they contain gluten free oats.  The Little Man is allergic to oat so he could not try the cookies.

But the rest of us could!  And did.

Everyone thought the cookies had a great taste and a nice crunch.  The Cinnamon Thins were a bigger hit than the Ginger Snap.  Besides from just eating the Cinnamon Thins I think they'd make great ice cream sandwich cookies.  I'd love to take two cookies, put ice cream in the middle and freeze.  Unfortunately, the Cinnamon Thins are gone.  We finished them quickly.

The Ginger Snaps are very tasty.  I'm a big fan of ginger, but Hubs and Older Boy are not.  There's actually small chunks of ginger in the cookies and it gives the cookies a bolder, authentically ginger taste.  We have a few of these left, but not many as I just ate three while writing this review.

We all really liked the cookies and agreed that they don't taste like "allergy friendly" cookies.  They are just really good cookies!  So two thumbs up for the Dr. Lucy's cookies.

There are many other flavors of cookies and they also have Brownies, Snack N Go packs, and Holiday Cookies.

You can learn more about Dr. Lucy here and their dedicated bakery here.

The cookies were sent to us at no charge for review purpose only.

Baby Update

I never realized how busy things would be with 3 kiddos.  Half the time I don't whether I'm coming or going.  I actually think most of the time I'm either lost or running in circles - lol.

Baby Stats:

He turned 8 months old on 4/14/13.  I can't believe he's 8 months already.  Please slow time down....

He's not crawling or sitting up by himself yet, but he's close on both.  I think by 9 months, he'll be doing both for sure.

We are still working on solids and introducing everything very slowly.  So far so good but we are staying away from dairy, wheat, egg and nuts because of our family history.  This has been on the advice of the gastroenterologist and the allergist.

He's currently 19 pounds 8 ounces and 27.5 inches.

No, he's not sleeping through the night.  I let him fuss for a little bit, but when full blown crying happens, he gets a middle of the night bottle.  It won't last forever...

The big boys are both playing CYO baseball.  12 games in 6 weeks X 2 boys = complete chaos.  Is it over yet???  It needs to be.  Of course rec baseball starts next week.  Pray for me.  I'm losing it.

Baseball in April in Ohio is more like football weather.  I look dorky, I know, but it was FREEZING!!

Eating puffs

Getting ready to crawl

God Bless Boston

And especially the victims and the families of victims.

My heart is broken today for all of the families who lost loved ones and for the seriously injured. And I'm sending up prayers for all.

So senseless.

So tragic.




I'm sad that this is the world that we live in, that we are raising our children in.  I'm tired of feeling physically ill every few months when someone else tragically takes the lives of innocent victims.  I'm tired of feeling heart sick for those left behind.

May God help us.