Dinner with family and happy Eddie

Friday night we went out to Mimi's Cafe with Bill's parents, his sister Diane, and her kids. It was a great dinner, good company, and just nice to be with family.
Max is 9, and the only young male cousin Josh has. He is always so sweet to play with Josh even though they are several years apart. There are times when I think they look like they could be brothers, but they DEFINITELY look like cousins! Josh just adores Max.

I wish I had taken pictures of everyone, Diane, Bill, Hannah, Lennon, Jade, and good 'ol mom and pop. :)

Eddie's food allergies have brought some challenges and blessings. The blessing is that he is going to get us all to eat a bit healthier. Now I have someone to split meals with, but the catch is that I HAVE to order special. For this dinner, I ordered salmon with a vinaigrette salad and baked potato. I had to order the salmon plain without the butter spray or any coating, and the potato completely plain with butter on the side for myself. (I have never had very simple salmon like this before, usually has seasonings, but the seasoning mixes have wheat in them)

Eddie really loved the food. He ate half the potato before I got a picture of it. And he probably ate about half the salmon too. I can't believe how much this kid can eat sometimes! Once he heals up inside and starts absorbing all the food he shovels in, he should shoot right up in size.

I know it sounds a bit extreme to those of you not familiar with food allergies, but it seriously makes a difference. I wanted to cry the other day, I didn't know what we were all missing, Eddie was just SO happy! H woke up friday and happy talked in his crib for 20 mins before I got him! He has NEVER done that! (always wakes up crying) All day, he made happy sounds, he was loud, smiling, laughing, playing, etc. He wasn't pulling on my legs and begging to be held, wandering around whining and crying, he even slept without waking up crying through his sleep. I am just so happy his little body is not in pain anymore.

As an example of why we need to be extreme with avoiding gluten, eggs, and dairy, we had a little experience recently. I was gone saturday to a girls night out with Janae, Mica, Lindsay, and another friend of theirs in Provo. Bill didn't know, but when he ordered chinese food for everyone, he ordered some french fries for Eddie. (They were coated and fried in the same oil as all the other breaded foods) He woke up crying and was fussy most of the day, just like his old self. So a little bit makes a difference.

btw- As far as I have been told, McDonald's is the only place that fry their french fries in separate oil from all the other breaded, fried foods. I do not know any other places, but I'm sure there must be at least one or two others.