Walking On Eggshells

It's official- we are an egg-free family, at least for a while. Gwendoline's food allergy test results came back positive for an egg white allergy. She is a level 3 on the 1 to 5 allergy scale, where 1 is least allergic and 5 is most allergic. Level 3s, while "highly allergic," tend to straddle the fence: some can tolerate foods with eggs as an ingredient, but some can't. While we hope to introduce foods with eggs as an ingredient eventually, we are holding off for now.

The majority of her allergy test results are still pending, so we don't yet have a full profile of her allergies (hopefully she won't have any more!). Once all the results are in, probably by the end of this week, the pediatrician will put a profile together and we'll go in for food allergy education and possibly a meeting with an allergist. An allergist should be able to help us better decipher the severity of her allergy. For example, while egg isn't usually one of the allergens that can cause a reaction through the air or through skin contact, Gwendoline broke out in hives immediately after we cooked eggs in the house two days after her original exposure. Since this occurred after the first reaction, we don't know if the second (and much more severe) reaction was from cooking eggs in her atmosphere (even though she didn't eat any) or a flare-up from the original exposure. These are the details we hope an allergist will be able to help us with.

It's going to be a tough couple of years as we keep her away from eggs and foods with eggs in them, but the good news is that the majority of kiddos will outgrow an egg white allergy by the time they're 5. We ask that you keep our little family in your prayers as we learn Gwendoline's allergy triggers and how to avoid them, and as we adjust our food lifestyle to no longer include eggs. Jeph and I sure did love eggs...

In non-allergy news, Gwendoline and I just got back from a wonderful visit to Grandma and Papa Gary's house in Conroe! Jeph was there with us for the first three days, then Gwendoline and I got to stay the last two days by ourselves. We got to visit with lots of family and had a ton of fun! I was so proud of Gwendoline- she slept and ate like a dream the whole time (not usually the case when we travel).

Clowning around in Uncle Danny and Aunt Frances's
pool with cousin Natalie

First popsicle: peach fruit bar (she ate it all!)

She couldn't withstand the hypnotic power of Papa Gary's golf cart