Hello! Thanks for checking out ollergy! This site is designed to help food allergy families and their support systems navigate everyday life. It’s also one way I hope to spread food allergy awareness. I share ideas and products sure to make your days easier and a little bit more fun. You are guaranteed to find informative, money-saving, practical ideas about raising kids with food allergies, with a healthy dose of humor and sarcasm mixed in. Food allergies suck. There’s no way around that. I hope this site makes them suck just a little bit less and shows you that you’re not alone in this food allergy journey.
My journey began in 2015 when Ollie was born (Ollie + allergy = ollergy, in case you were wondering if I just can’t spell.) From the start, he had terrible reflux and eczema. It didn’t take long for us to figure out he was reacting to food I was eating while nursing him. Enter three rounds of elimination diets—one way to lose the baby weight! He had his first anaphylactic reaction at eleven months old and gets mystery hives at least a few times per month. He’s anaphylactic to peanut, tree nut, milk, egg, sunflower, sesame, and legumes (except soy and maybe kidney beans—we’re waiting to test them.) I’m now am all too familiar with EpiPens and Auvi-Qs, travel to an average of five grocery stores each week, and read labels more than I read books.
I’m an avid deal shopper. This is something I inherited from my Mom. The love of a good sale doesn’t always mix well with allergy friendly, organic, non-GMO food; but I’ve learned to make it work. I’m happy to show you how! If I’m a deal junkie, my husband is a review junkie. I’ve inherited some of that from him, as well. You can be assured the items I’m using have been scrutinized far more than they need to be and are indeed a good value. I promise to share carefully curated lists of our tried and true favorites. Hopefully, our research obsession can save you a bit of time, as I know how precious that is, especially for a food allergy parent. I also have a strong love of organization. Life feels better when everything is in its place. I’ll show how we keep some semblance of order in our crazy life, in an effort to help you do the same. By day, I work in the mortgage industry at a local credit union. Finding order with two full-time working parents is key to everyone’s sanity!
Thanks for stopping by! I hope you find ways to make life with food allergies easier and a little bit more fun. Have an idea for a post? Find something interesting or exciting? Don’t hesitate to send it my way. I’m always learning on this journey with you. I’d love for you to subscribe to my newsletter so I can let you know of new posts. From there, take a look around! Check out the blog and organized list of food allergy favorites. I hope we can develop an encouraging and friendly food allergy community together.
the men of ollergy
Here’s my husband, Erik.
Food allergy dad extraordinaire and the man behind this site’s visual design. All photographs also come from his talents. We’ve spent many a “date night” working on this site together. He supports my quest to find good deals and fully embraces my need for an organized life. He’s definitely the better cook of the two of us, too. His allergy-friendly pancakes and waffles are a weekend favorite at our house.
And here’s David.
A close family friend, he’s all about anything technical with this site. He’s volunteered many hours to get this passion project up and running (and continues to help keep it running). He’s also graciously hosted us at his apartment for countless trips to Boston Children’s for food challenges, follow-ups, and testing. He even let us back after our potty training toddler peed on his floor and spent an hour emptying the contents of his lower kitchen cabinets onto the floor.