Cross contamination cleared!

Today was SUCH an exciting day in our OIT journey. As exciting as the first day was or the day she ate her first peanut, this day was 10x more exciting! Today Ruthie updosed to 3 peanuts. Each doctor's protocol is different but for our doctor this is the step at which Ruthie is cleared for cross contamination. This means we now only have to avoid things that actually have peanut in them. It means we no longer have to worry about things that "may" contain peanut or that are made on equipment with peanuts. This is absolutely freeing. This opens up a whole world of foods that she can now eat. Almost all tree nuts (which she's not allergic to) are cross contaminated with peanut...but we don't have to worry about that anymore. Almost all granola bars (except the really expensive organic ones) are cross contaminated...no worries there anymore! Lots of dried fruits are cross contaminated...no worries. When we eat out we no longer have to worry about did they make her food on a clean surface or was her sandwich cut with a clean knife. When she goes to a birthday party she can now eat the cake (as long as it doesn't have peanut in it of course) without having to worry about where it was made and could there be cross contamination. When she eats at school she doesn't have to worry about what the kids around her or eating or if they remembered to wash their hands when they finished.
When we started our OIT journey we had no idea how easy or hard the road to safety would be. My prayer was that we would get to this point, cross contamination cleared. I can not begin to tell you how thankful I am that we not only made it to this point but have made it with only a few very minor bumps along the way. When Ruthie was diagnosed with her peanut allergy we were so fearful of every thing. Every place we went, every bite of food she put in her mouth, everyone who touched her. It felt like everything was a potential anaphylactic reaction. We never dreamed at that point that that feeling would every go away. We never dreamed that there would be a way to protect her that didn't involved us standing right over her all the time. We are SO thankful for OIT and for reaching this milestone!
Ruthie has never been to an ice cream store (same scoop in all the cartons so huge risk of cross contamination) so tonight she got to pick where to go and she chose Baked Bear. We had a wonderful time together as a family celebrating Roo, and GiGi got to celebrate with us!

That tray on the top right is a peanut butter cookie...Ruthie never would have been able to eat cookies from here because of the risk of cross contamination. But no worries now! See that cookie in the picture above? She ate every bite!

Wizard of Oz

This weekend Emmie performed in Wizard of Oz with Dance Theatre of Columbia. She was a Munchkin and an Emerald. She has been SO excited about FINALLY getting to be in WOZ. It was the first DTC show we saw, when she was just 5 years old and it is definitely my favorite of the DTC shows. 

There is a LOT of rehearsing that goes into these shows and a lot of late nights the week of the show  but Emmie was a trooper and had a great time getting ready for the show.

We kicked off Tech Week with the cast party. Emmie and I had a lot of fun (so much fun that I didn't take hardly any pictures!).

These moms (and a few others who aren't pictured!) keep me sane! I can't imagine doing life without these friends!

Yesterday was the show and we had SO much fun watching Emmie dance. There was a 2:00 show that our family went to, including JP (his first dance show...he was mesmerized) and all the grandparents except for my dad who is in the middle of tax season.

Ready for the show!

My little munchkin is on the back row, far left.

Emmie is the 4th Emerald from the right. I asked her why she was gritting her teeth and she said the sequins on her costume hurt her arms!

Emmie and her teacher at school.

JP refused to be in the picture.

When the first show finished Emmie and I ran and grabbed dinner real quick and then went back for the 7:00 show. We did some quick hair and makeup touchups and she was off to perform again. She had some friends come to the show, one of her sunday school teachers, and some of the teachers from her school (there are a good number of girls at dance that go to our school). 

Some of us ended up at the same restaurant.

The two Emmies!

Sweet Kendall and her mom came to the show and brought all the girls flowers and chocolate. 

She and all the other dancers did a GREAT job and we were so proud of all their hard work!

I found this picture of Emmie watching Wizard of Oz rehearsal when she was 5. I love how mesmerized she is by the dancers!