First Post- How My Journey Began

My second son was born on September 4, 2013.  He was a blessing from God. We now had two handsome sons. When I looked at him, all I felt was pure love, the same love that I had felt when I looked at my first son only 14 months prior on July 4, 2012. Looking back to that moment, I would never have imagined the journey that we were beginning and how different each one of our boys were.
People would look at us and tell us it would be so easy this time, that we knew what we doing, after all, he was our second baby. But that could not be farther from the truth, I knew everything about caring for an easy going, happy, care free baby. But I knew nothing about caring for a baby with red blotches, and eczema from head to toe, as well as the constant fussiness and vomiting after every feeding. To plan one outing we carried with us a diaper bag full of spare clothes and receiving blankets just for cleaning him up.
After many doctor visits, prescriptions filled, creams and lotions and even formula switches, our doctor referred us to a pediatrician. M was 7 months old when we went to the hospital on a Sunday afternoon for his appointment. That day is a day I will never forget.
My little baby was so sick that day, he had been up all night crying and I was so glad that he had his doctor appointment that day or we would have been taking him to the emergency room. We were at the hospital for hours, M was constipated, wheezy, covered in a sore, itchy rash and had an ear infection. This was all the result of an allergic reaction. M was allergic to the protein in milk and in soy. We left the hospital that day with 7 prescriptions for our baby.
Now, 11 months later M is happy, easy going, loving, fun, enjoys life and has a smile for everyone.  And he has many food allergies. Here in NB, they don't do allergy test on babies, you have to be 3 years old, so until then we just have to avoid any foods that give him a reaction. Besides milk and soy, he has had reactions to wheat, tuna, salmon, kiwi, mango, kidney beans, maple syrup, almonds and peanuts.
Each day has been a learning curve and through it all we have changed. I pray that this blog will be a blessing and an inspiration to others who are facing challenges in their own lives. And I would love to share some of our families favorite recipes along the way. If you have a loved one with multiple food allergies, don't focus on the things that they can't have, instead focus on life and the joy of being together with family and friends. And while your on your journey maybe you'll lose 40+ pounds like I have.