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!