updose #19 (8 peanuts)

Second week of summer down with lots of fun and new schedule. The doses have fit right in and haven't caused us any trouble.  This week we went up to 8 peanuts without difficulty.  We even spent the weekend at the cabin with lots of allergens.  We did do saline rinses to make sure we stayed on top of environmental allergies but we had a great time and food wasn't a huge issue for the first time.  We didn't have to tell him to ask us before he ate anything. (he knows to stay away from things that actually contain peanuts) So two more updoses to go!  

8 peanuts!

passing time playing tablets

after this we headed to the cabin for the weekend

Updose #18 (7 peanuts)

On the first day of summer we got up super early, made the trek to Omaha for our 18th updose to 7 peanuts!  Of course the brothers came with us to make the appointment that much more enjoyable.  The appointment was uneventful and went super smooth.  Seven peanuts!  Three more updoses and then our final 24 peanut challenge.  It is crazy to think it is almost over!  We have been enjoying eating all the cross contaminated food we can get our hands on without any stress. The feeling is something I can't even describe!  We love OIT!

this is what a weeks worth of peanut doses looks like (this was 6 peanuts)

dosing in the office

carbing up

brother fun

getting checked out by dr. brownell 

this is my life

Updose #17 (6 peanuts)

We updosed to 6 peanuts on Friday. It went smoothly and we are in the home stretch. We scheduled our last updose for June 11th and then 2 weeks after that we have our 24 peanut challenge.  This weekend we got Chinese food for the first time as a family after being cleared for cross contaminated food.  Even though we have always eaten food that is made in a facility or says may contain we have never let Carter eat Chinese food because the risk for CC was really high (we felt).  So we got several dishes for him to try.  He loved most of is except the crab rangoon. Ironically they gave us Kung Pao chicken (made with peanuts) instead of cashew shrimp.  But we just picked out the chicken pieces and gave it to him without worry.  It was so freeing and felt so great to not worry.  It was such a fun week to let him try new things!

eating 6 peanuts

his brother ate some too

posing with peanuts

eating chinese food for the first time

holding the order

ready to enjoy

trying out the chop sticks

Updose #16 (5 peanuts)

Another updose, another success.  Up to 5 peanuts.  This meant we got to go to Texas Roadhouse without fear for a Mother's Day/Dad's birthday celebration.  Our Doctor said he is really happy with how he is progressing and really feels like we are in a pretty safe place now.  Not only did he go to Texas Roadhouse without fear (we have been before, but always reluctantly) but he got to eat a sample at Sam's club that was a cracker that was sitting in the same cup as a piece of popcorn that had a peanut butter and chocolate drizzle.  He didn't eat the popcorn but he ate the cracker that was touching it.  Talk about some new freedom from worry.  It was so amazing! We are really starting to feel some more freedom from this allergy.  Freedom from worry.  The dosing still gets me nervous from time to time but I am feeling much better.  He also had an incident where he was running outside with his cousins after his dose, within 30 minutes and was ok.  When we realized he was running around we put a stop to it, but it was nice to know that he was ok.

applesauce hulk

waiting to be checked out 

please stop taking pictures!

eating at texas roadhouse without fear

dosing at king kong for dad's birthday dinner

We have really made OIT work for us and our schedules.  It has been much easier than I even thought it could be.  So blessed to have this journey.

Updose #15 (4 peanuts)

On Friday we updosed to 4 peanuts! It went smooth and we got out of there pretty quickly. There wasn't school for elementary students so Camden went with us to the appointment.  We didn't see Dr. Shakir but got to meet Dr. Nelson and he was super nice.  Another successful updose in the books!

updose 15 picture

playing their tablets after the dose

Our April calendar

Updose #14 (3 peanuts)

We are up to 3 peanuts!  That is about 3 grams of peanut! It is so crazy to see him eating his nemesis. We are so grateful that things have gone so smooth so far.  It always starts to raise questions in me about his tolerance before OIT.  Could he have been one of those kids who ate 3 peanuts before reacting? 7? If we would have done a challenge how far would he have made it?  The warm weather is starting and I am getting nervous for the evening doses when he wants to go outside and play after dinner and his dose.  I want him to be ok. I want him to be safe. But I want him to have a normal life where he can eat peanut and also play.  We will just have to see what he can handle as time goes on.  This has been such a blessing so far and we don't have that much more time before he graduates.  Chad took him to his appointment on Friday because I took Callan on his last preschool field trip.  Everything went well and the week is flying by!

taking his dose

being checked out after his dose

the nurse checking all of his vitals

I am thinking of making this for his graduation day as a t-shirt

updose #13 (2 peanuts)

Last week on one peanut went so smooth (knock on wood)!  He likes the taste of them which is great after a full week of eating.  On Friday we updosed to 2 peanuts.  In all actually we go by weight and it really ends up being about 2.5 peanuts.  His brothers sometime eat the peanuts with him for moral support.  I say moral support but it isn't difficult for Carter to eat them and the other boys are enjoying eating peanuts too since they were never in our house.  The boys got to spend the night at grandma's on Saturday and they did a great job dosing him and keeping him safe so it was a win win! Looking forward to being done and eating foods that contain peanut butter or peanuts.  I think getting to the number where he can try peanut butter is the next thing he is looking forward to.

eating 2 peanuts

not too bad

eating applesauce 

he still smiles :)