No nuts for you..... next!!!!!!

Welcome to my blog!

I'm Nikki McDaniel, a very busy Mom with 3 wonderful children, Jayden (10), Malik (8) and Maia (5).  In October 2003, my decision to give my 18 month old son a peanut, changed my life forever.  He was too young to understand what this meant, but I certainly wasn't.   First came the cough, struggling to catch a breath, hives, and vomiting.  A Thanksgiving celebration turned to a life and death situation in the emergency room.  Thank goodness, after hours of observation, and dose upon dose of benadryl, he was okay.  This time.  Who knows what could happen next time.  Instantly, I went from being carefree, impulsive and easy-going, to cautious, nervous and deathly afraid.

Allergy tests revealed that Malik had an anaphylactic allergy to peanuts and all tree nuts.  A 4+ on the 1-4 scale that other nut-free moms are familiar with.  It doesn't get worse than that.

Over the past 7 years, I have become the nut-free expert at home and at work.  Ironically, I started working at a nut-free Nursery School only 5 months before Malik's diagnosis.  Creating emergency anaphylaxis plans for our allergic students, became an introduction to something I never thought I would have to deal with.

The purpose for my blog is to share my experiences and personal struggles with you.  I have come across many products, both food and non-food, that have become life-saving replacements for what we once knew.  I will share with you my reviews of those, hoping to make your life with a nut-free child, as easy as possible.

Even if you don't have a child with allergies, I hope my blog will help you appreciate our struggle and realize that creating a nut-free environment for our children is a life-saving task.  Our children live with the fear of death every single day and it's our job to protect them.

And yes there is more to life than nutella and chocolate covered almonds!!!