Egg, Dairy, Soy and Wheat Allergies

I've started this post 3 times and deleted it. The first seemed like I was about to host a pity party, party of 1, the 2nd overly chippy and fake and the 3rd just too dramatic. So on attempt #4, I'll just go with the truth and facts.

Parker has been "off" lately. He's constantly bloated, his belly is hard as a rock and distended. He's been irritable and not the most fun to be around even though we still love him to pieces. He's so bloated sometimes it's actually causing him to have pee accidents because of the pressure on his bladder. 4 times today.... Fact.

We've had poop problems with Parker since the day he was born. So much so that the neonatologist thought he had NEC. Come to find out, things I was eating wasn't settling well with him so I went on a bland diet but with lots of coffee to help his insides if you know what I mean. When we switched 100% to formula at 8 months, the problem seemed to fix itself. Fast forward 3 years later when we potty trained... It wasn't easy but he finally pee potty trained. Poop was a different story. He either poops little bits all day long (like 7-8 times a day) or doesn't poop for days until we take drastic measures to make him if you know what I mean. We've noticed the last few weeks he wasn't acting like himself. His eczema is worse, he lays around and whines, he's bloated, always tired and wasn't pooping for 5 days in a row almost religiously. That's when we finally put our foot down and decided to figure out what's going on with our buddy.

We headed to the doctor's office to have blood drawn and talk to Dr. Smolen which is where I was given this lovely diagram:

Something about eating food, it's consistency and how it forms poop? Not so helpful but a funny memento.

We got the results of the blood test yesterday and I'm SO thankful that he doesn't have a serious problem. He does; however, have an inconvenient issue. Poor kiddo is allergic to eggs, wheat, soy, and dairy which is pretty much 95% of his diet. A light went off in my head.... why hadn't I thought earlier that he might have more than just a chili pepper allergy?! He's a highly allergic child... we know that. He has seasonal allergies and the weirdest food allergy ever in chili pepper so it only makes since that he would be allergic to the majority of the things on the "most common food allergies in children" list! I am SO thankful that he isn't allergic to peanuts and tree nuts or I'd have to figure out a way for him to eat lentil beans or something for protein!

After a few calls back and forth to the doctor, we decided to focus on his main 2 allergies: eggs and dairy. Originally I was planning to 100% cut EVERYTHING and then realized that pretty much leaves him eating rice cakes and apple slices. I went to the grocery store twice yesterday and left in tears. I knew it would be hard but I didn't know HOW hard... and expensive! We're still planning to cut soy and wheat as much as possible, especially this 1st month or so to make him feel better as soon as possible but I'm so thankful we don't have to be as strict as I originally thought we would. 

This will be a big lifestyle change for us but I know it's not only going to be great for Parker but eating healthier surely isn't going to kill Daniel and I either. But this will...

Daniel tried to make a "mean green" smoothie last night and we were dry heaving trying to drink it. Kale, Celery, Green Apples, Cucumbers and water.... GAG.

For snacks I made rice cakes with PB, local honey and raisins. Avery loved it and Parker tried one bite before declaring it was dirty and he needed a clean one (without PB, honey and raisins.... so the good stuff). This is going to rock his world but my hope is once he starts feeling better, he'll learn to enjoy eating these foods and return to a happier, healthier, less irritable and bloated Parkerman.  

We appreciate your prayers and any advice you have on raising kids with food allergies.  I'd also love any toddler friendly, egg and dairy free (and mostly soy and wheat free) recipes you may have! We could use all the help we can get!