First Peanut Butter Sandwich

On June 16th, Carter got to eat his first peanut butter sandwich!  They gave us the dosing for 12 peanuts which is around 2 1/2 tsps of peanut butter.  He liked it.  We gave it to him plain the first night but has since had it with jelly and nutella.  Nutella is by far his favorite way.  It is so nice to have options! Such a fun milestone!

first pb sandwich

Updose #21 12 peanuts

On Saturday we had our last updose to 12 peanuts!  We waited until Saturday because the boys all had a camp or VBS this week and we didn't want them to miss their final day.  So we all went up as a family and Carter took his final updose.  Everything went smoothly and we didn't have any problems.  He really wants to change to peanut butter but since we were not seeing Dr. Shakir they were not comfortable telling me what dose to use.  So hopefully soon they will let us, I have a call out to the doctor.  That night we went to a Saltdogs baseball game and he dosed while we were there eating dinner. After dinner I noticed the guy behind him was cracking open peanuts from the shell and eating them.  This meant peanut shells all over.  I didn't even flinch.  The guy even asked Carter if he wanted some and he politely declined.  OIT has been amazing and not having to worry about those little things is so nice.  We go back July 1st for our final 24 peanut challenge.  Wish us luck!

final updose of 12 peanuts

down the hatch

dosing at a baseball game

Updose #20 (10 peanuts)

We are one updose away from being done!  Next Saturday we go in for our final updose and then On July 1st we do our 24 peanut challenge!  It is so surreal that it is almost over.  Maintenance is right around the corner.  We are making lists of all the things carter can now enjoy and he is excited to try so many of them. He had a 2 peanut jump this week from 8 to 10. Then next week it is 10 to 12.  So far so good.  It really is becoming second nature to us. We are going to try peanut butter after our 12 dose increase which carter really wants to do.  But eating the peanuts is so easy!  Chad took him to his appointment this week because I was having a garage sale.  Carter was sad to miss out on the lemonade stand while he was gone but got to help out when he got home. Here's to another great week!

he is at 10 nuts

down the hatch

waiting out his time

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.