She eats pancakes!

Through a surprising (and really incredibly lucky) series of events, we've learned that little Charlotte lives in the world of food allergies. To date, we know she's allergic to milk, eggs, sesame and possibly peanuts and avocados. And there's more testing to come. She's oblivious, except for her itchy skin. But I have gone through all of the stages of mourning her eating limitations: shock, fear, denial, more fear. (When the doctor gives you an epipen and tells you, 'This is twice the normal dose she needs - they don't make these in a dose small enough for her. But if she has a reaction don't hesitate to give it to her,' it makes your heart skip a beat.)

She's been eating baby food and rice cereal to date, but the thought of all that processed food with nothing "real" makes my skin crawl. But today - today! - we made awesome progress. I found a dairy-free, egg-free pancake recipe that is pretty good, and we all ate the same pancakes for breakfast! In fact, Ms. Charlotte is on pancake number 2 right now. She is so anxious and excited to pick up food and put it in her mouth. And I'm so happy I found a recipe that fits the bill. These pancakes don't taste like eggy-buttery-milky cakes, admittedly, but they are fairly tasty. The vanilla helps a lot. With some real maple syrup, the big kids didn't notice a difference.(Thank you epicurean escapism.)

I do feel lucky to live in a society where it's easy to find vegan recipes and food substitutes. In the future, I'll be writing occasional updates on how our family adapts to this new world, including recipes that work well for all of us. Stay tuned!