A little allergy warning!

Just a little post to let you know we haven't all disappeared. We've just been very, very busy. The kids are extremely excited about going to Disney World in two weeks' time and I think this weekend we'll start crossing the days off the calendar.

Yesterday we had a little scare with Lily. Someone had baked her some brownies and she was very eager to eat them. We were way out in the country and had a few hours before we were due to pick Max up so I told her she had to wait until then to eat them so that he could have one too. Thank goodness I did!

I picked Max up from school and gave them a brownie each to keep them happy in the car while I drove to the mall to find Lily a princess costume for Disney. I saw her scratching her face and thought nothing of it - she's got such sensitive skin that something is always making her itch.

Half way round Target and she'd developed red blotches around her mouth. I grabbed a costume and marched her straight to the pharmacy and by the time we got there her lips had swollen up, they had blisters on and she was starting to sound wheezy. I grabbed some Benadryl off the shelf and opened it right there in the allergy isle and gave her a dose. We paid for our things and drove straight to her doctor's office. By now she was looking a LOT better and they checked her out and declared her perfectly fine. The Dr. prescribed her an epi-pen just in case - apparently the next time could well be worse. She is also booked in for some allergy testing on Monday.

The only other allergic reaction she's had is to cats - and once it was quite severe, so I am beating myself up over not having her tested then. But since she'd been eating peanuts for a long time I thought she didn't have an allergy to nuts. Turns out there were walnuts in the brownies and tree nuts are in another family - what a way to learn that botanical nugget!

The mind boggles when I think about what would have happened had she eaten the brownie twenty minutes away from the nearest town or pharmacy. So please, never let your child eat a new food or something cooked by someone else unless you are near a store or hospital! And if your child has an allergic reaction to one thing, get them checked out - they could have a sensitivity to other things too!

But as it is we are relieved that she is fine, have given her lots of extra hugs and kisses and will now carry a little pink bag (decorated with Hello Kitty stickers) where ever we go to make sure she stays that way. Just in case.