Our Little Peanut

It's official. Our little peanut.....is allergic to peanuts. We suspected that he might be allergic over the past few months. We gave him peanut butter and jelly a couple times, and noticed that he broke out in hives around his mouth and got really bad stomach cramps a couple hours later. So we took him to the allergist on Monday and he had a skin test, and he is officially allergic. He went for a blood test today which will more specifically identify the severity of his allergy. But either way - he has to avoid peanuts and tree nuts altogether...for a long time. (Poor kid. I LOVE peanut butter. Could I have eaten too much of it when I was pregnant with him? I did have a major graham cracker and peanut butter addiction during my pregnancy!). The allergist said that while most kids outgrow allergies to milk, eggs, and soy, only 20% of kids outgrow a peanut allergy. Hopefully Henry will be one of the 20% - so he doesn't have to deal with it for the rest of his life. The good news is that peanut allergy is common enough that almost all foods are clearly labeled with a special warning if it includes peanuts or is processed on the same equipment as peanuts. I guess that is going to become a new part of my life - reading every label! But we're not complaining. We have a happy, healthy baby and are very thankful for that. We've learned how to use the EpiPen in case of an emergency - but hopefully will never have to use it. Since we're new to this whole peanut allergy thing - if anyone has any experience or can offer any words of wisdom, we'd be happy to hear it!