I’m Thankful for My Kid with Food Allergies!

Here we go,everyone! From now up until the New Year, we’ll see a lot of articles and posts on gratitude.  When I thought of writing a post on gratitude, I first thought, “There’s already so many. Do I really need to add one more to this group?” Well apparently the answer is “yes” because here this is! I guess I’ve come to realize more so lately than ever before that I don’t think that the idea of gratitude can be spoken of and thought of too much. As a matter of fact, I don’t think that we stop and simply take a moment to be thankful for what we have often enough. At least I know this is true for myself. So my New Year’s resolution this year will be just that… to take a moment, every single day, and to simply bring to my mind the wonderful things in my life that I am so thankful for.

Okay, pull out the tissues (just kidding!), but this is what I’m grateful for—and why…

I’m thankful for my kids with food allergies…

My kid with allergies, Benjamin, was my inspiration to create AllerMates which gave me an opportunity to reach and connect with so many of you.   A mother of a child who developed juvenile diabetes at an early age and was tirelessly dedicated to raising awareness for her child’s condition once said to me, “sometimes it’s our children who lead us“. This resonated with me so deeply because I realized that it was so true for myself, so I thank my son for giving me a cause. 

I’m also thankful for the fact that I’ve had to learn so much about healthy eating and lifestyle choices—and it’s helped my ENTIRE family.  Because I have a kid with allergies, I’ve had to learn to examine food labels and it’s made me so much more aware of what our foods are made of.  I encourage all my kids (even my kids who don’t have food allergies) to read and to be truly aware of what it is that they are consuming and placing within their precious bodies.

I’m thankful for what I do…

Nobody ever claimed that starting and running a business would be easy. And to top it off – raising three young kids. It’s almost impossible!!! The sacrifice, the stress , the constant juggle. All that being said I’m so incredibly thankful for the opportunity and the journey. It’s been an incredible year. I feel grateful and honored to help make the world a little easier for kids with allergies and their parents. This year, we celebrated 3 years on the shelves at CVS, seeing our fun characters (like P.Nutty), allergy bracelets and other fun stuff right next to the Benadryl. Recently, we introduced our Goodie Box so your kid will get his or her own box full of allergy friendly treats with fun and colorful educational and safety tools on special occasions. Remember that special feeling you’d get as a kid when you got your own mail—now, imagine it as your own box! Next year we plan on introducing a few more amazing tools in safeguarding children. It’s been six years since I had this crazy idea and I’m so grateful to be able to do what I do.

I’m thankful for this community…

I’ve learned that I can relate to and rely on the allergy family community. It still pleasantly surprises me the way other allergy mothers share and support each other. The emails and communications we receive from you all make me want to jump for joy! Really, you guys are just wonderful and I don’t think I could do it without you.

I’m thankful for my family..

Lastly, I’m thankful for my two other awesome, awesome kids, Rebecca and Jordan and my husband, Kenny.  There are no words to express the joy my family brings me. You make me feel blessed. You make me feel fulfilled. You make me feel so very thankful.

Now we’d like to hear from all of you–what are you most grateful as we enter another wonderful new year?

xoxo

Iris