Our Labeled Home

I can still remember the first time we came to look at our house with our realtor. We walked in and immediately the unique layout was like a breath of fresh air saying this is your new home.  As we walked around and dreamt of the future we would build in the dwelling we also noticed some quirks of the current owners. They were labelers - every light switch had a label saying what it turned on and every outlet had a label as to what circuit breaker controlled it. Now this made sense to my OCD mind! I could see myself living here.

Therefore it should be no surprise I did a lot of labeling to help manage our food allergies but I haven't done too much in a while because even that wasn't enough to quell my neurosis of the threat of anaphylaxis to my children in our own house.  I instead opted for a complete floor of physical separation between the kitchen where I prepare and store their food from the common foods they are allergic to that their father still stocks for himself. This created clear directions for our babysitters and minimized the chance of accidental exposure.

However, corn is a more recent change for us AND corn is in EVERYTHING!!! My son has been what they call 'corn-lite' since June and that is when you don't eat anything with the word 'corn' in it.  That was tough. I was saying then that corn is in everything. After my son had some success but another reaction to an accidental corn exposure, hospitalization, and prolonged unresolved symptoms lead to the decision to increase his avoidance and become corn-free. Corn-free is not eating any corn products or derivatives. I'm now teetering on conspiracy theorist that CORN IS IN EVERYTHING!! Almost any packaged food you pick up I can point out a corn product or derivative.  Want to be overwhelmed? Just look at this list I have permanently open on my phone for reference...   http://www.cornallergens.com/list/corn-allergen-list.php  And add an hour onto any grocery store trip to account for label cross-checking with this list and appropriate time for the tears of frustration...

We're working on making our house corn-free but keeping one kid corn-free is enough of a challenge at the moment while I work on completely phasing it out of our diets. In the meantime this again means there are allergens in our pantry that one of the boys can't have. So back to my labeling and signs that cause guests to gawk. I came home from an appointment the other day to see my son eating something that had corn in it. I quickly removed everything and started him on his medicines so as to contain his reaction. My sitters are only supposed to give the boys what I explicitly tell and show them each time is allowed but her well intentions of feeding a hungry child were not appreciated this time. Frantically out came the orange labels and our pantry transformed back to something even my kids can understand at their ages.  Everything my son can't have is on the top 2 shelves with a little sign. All the things they are anaphylactic to are still in the basement. Orange is my oldest favorite so he can have that stuff but my youngest can't. There isn't really stuff that my younger one can have that older one can't. And then yellow things in the basement are Daddy only! My labels may seem silly but they make our home safer, more orderly, and give me some peace.

So while I can openly admit I like organization and labeling. Keeping a pantry like this is not something I enjoy... Telling one child they can have something and the other they can't - that is never fun. I'm still working toward our corn-free home.. and hope one day to have all of this safely tucked away in our basement again so the labels don't stare me in the face every time I open the pantry door but for now this works. From day 1 our house was made to be labeled...