The Final Frontier

I knew it was coming. I just kept hoping it would take a while longer.

When you are going through motherhood for the first time you can't wait for your child to hit those major milestones. You know the ones, rolling over, sitting up, crawling, walking, talking, and da da da daaaaaaa...opening the door knobs. As a second time mom I have found myself not really wanting to rush things. Alex has hit all of the major milestones so far, but not the final one until today.

He now OPENS DOORKNOBS! Eeeekkkkk!!!! This was my last defense. Thomas told me yesterday that that he did it like 3 times, but he didn't do it for me until today. And he did it numerous times. It's so funny that he is sooooo late in this milestone because Isabelle did it before she turned 2. Actually it took her like 2 evenings after we took the side off of her crib. We took the side off of Alex's crib in January. It's now May. I was secretly hoping that it wouldn't happen.

Now I am looking forward to him not wanting to stay in his room when it is time to take a nap or go to bed. He can also get into my hiding places (the laundry room and the closet) without the help of his older sister. And let's not forget the bathrooms. He has been obsessed for some time with flushing the toilet so we have kept the bathroom doors closed so that he can't get in there and flush the toilet numerous times. We are in the middle of a drought so we have water restrictions and I REALLY don't want to have to pay extra money because we have gone over our normal water usage. So far he hasn't tried to get out of his room when he wasn't supposed to. I actually think that it hasn't crossed his mind yet that he can open his door and leave when he wants to. We'll see how long that lasts.

Finger Love

I went and picked the kids up today from Alabama. By the end of our trip poor little Alex had had enough of being in his car seat. He started crying and whining and every time I had to stop at a light of slow down and would say "Go Go Go!!!!". He finally woke Izzy up who actually fell asleep. When she woke up she was trying to get him to calm down and quit crying. I suggested that she hold his hand as that might calm him down.

She reached over and took his hand. He of course quit crying.

Then she said, "Momma, when I hold his hand I feel love coming all the way from my fingers to my heart!"

So sweet!!!

Mommy's Vacation

I got my first vacation from Diabetes this week. My Mom and Dad volunteered to take Isabelle and Alex for a few days. I took them over there on Friday and came back home alone on Sunday. It's so strange how quiet that drive is when you are by yourself.

I got to have dinner with my hubby and we actually made it to the movies. Without the children. It was really nice. I got to relax and do whatever I wanted to do and I got to eat anything I wanted whenever I wanted without worrying about carb counts and weather or not Isabelle would want some if she saw it. I slept in late every morning.

I definitely missed the kids, but I really needed the break. It was the first time that Alex was away from us for any length of time since he has been old enough to understand. He did really great! He didn't even cry for me. I think he was too busy making Pawpaw walk him all the way up Booger Hill. Isabelle also did really well. She said that she missed me and my Mom said that she asked about me a couple of times, but all in all she did really great.

The only thing that really bugs me is that my parents say that her behavior was really great. Even though she had some highs while she was over there. When she is with me, she often has major meltdowns and screaming fits when her blood sugars are out of whack. None of that for Meme and Pawpaw though. Makes me realize that she can control her temper when she wants too. I guess this summer is going to be lots of fun for us.

Pumping it up

Thomas and I finished our classes tonight that we need to do to get Isabelle on the pump. We will order our pump this Friday. We are going to get an Omnipod. Everyone is looking forward to it including Isabelle.

We got a trial pod and tried it on Isabelle. The first one that we put on stayed on for a little over 24 hours. Then something strange happened. I realized that the strange buzzing sound was coming from the pump. After talking to the pump rep we found out that the ones that they give out to use for trials are pumps that have been found defective in some way. And when an omnipod isn't working they buzz like that. It took me about 4 hours after I first noticed the noise to realize that it was the pump. By that time I had the absolute worst headache I have had in years. So we took that one off.

The second pump lasted for the normal 3 days. Isabelle did a really great job with it. She loved wearing it and showing it to everyone. We are very hopeful. Now I am really anxious to see how she does with the insertion. I hope it goes well.

So we will be pumping it up within the next month or so. As it works out Izzy has an Endo appointment on Friday and since I have all of the needed homework already done we are going to go ahead and order our pump on Friday. We are all really excited. Wish us luck.

Evel Knievel Rides Again

Alex has been quite the crazy child lately. Still a complete sweetie, but just trying his luck with everything.

A week ago Friday he fell as he was running to play with Isabelle and ran into the corner of the wall. He had the biggest goose egg. If he had hit it any harder we would have been at the ER getting stitches. He still had the bruise over a week later. The same day he dropped something heavy on his foot and left a huge bruise. Later that day he slammed his fingers in a door. Not his best day.

A couple of days after that I went up to get him up from a nap that wasn't happening and found him sitting in the TOP DRAWER of his dresser. I almost peed my pants! We have since put latches on the dresser so hopefully that is done.

On Saturday, the kids and I were at my Mom and Dad's house in Alabama. They have a few riding toys (the battery powered kind) for the kids. We had finished playing when them and put them up on the porch to plug them in and get re-charged. The kids and I were on the porch playing while my Dad and Mom were getting ready to take everyone on a boat ride. The porch is about 3 feet off of the ground with no railing around it. I was getting up to help Isabelle with something when Alex got on the little motorcycle that they have. I immediately started towards him and was yelling for him to get off of the motorcycle.

Then, accidentally his little foot hit the gas and the motorcycle took off with him on it. He rode the dang thing off of the porch!!!! I hate it when things like this happen. They seem to happen in slow motion and you can NEVER get there in time to prevent it from happening. I saw it all in slow mo...he had a look of terror on his little face as I was running toward him screaming for him to stop. First the front wheel went off of the porch. Then the back wheels caught on the pavement and he went flying off of the porch. His little chest/tummy hit the steering column and then he flipped over the handle bars and got hung on the handle bars by his shirt.

That is where he was when I got to him. He was crying and scared. But, remarkably, completely unharmed!!!! The lucky little booger! Not even a bruise. I can't believe it. It will be a miracle if he makes it to 3 without an ER visit. Evel Knievel eat your heart out.

Inspector Blood

Isabelle loves to make believe. She is always asking Thomas and I to be different characters. Today she came up with a new character. It is called Inspector Blood.

She has drawn pictures and asked me to write what she said so that it is a book. Inspector Blood is the person that checks her blood sugar. Namely Mommy. Isn't that funny?

New Izzyism

My Mom is here. We LOVE it when Meme comes. The whole house is different.

One afternoon this week Mom was hanging out with Isabelle while I was typing away on my computer and Izzy wanted to watch Sleeping Beauty. Mom, like me, wanted to take a nap. She said that she would lay down on the couch and be Sleeping Beauty.

Isabelle then said: "You can't be Sleeping Beauty. You have CRINKLES on your face! I can be Sleeping Beauty because my face is smooth."

When Mom and I stopped laughing we tried to explain to her that 'crinkles' had to be earned and that they are a badge of honor. :)

I don't think that she believed us.

To pump or not to pump...

That is the question. Hubby and I are going to a pump information night on Tuesday. This is the first step that we have to go through to get Isabelle on the pump. We are still not sure if that is what we want to do or if she will even want to do it once she understands all that is involved.

We have some friends at church that have a teen aged daughter that has D. They are all wonderful and the daughter (as well as the mother) have taken a lot of time with us and with Isabelle talking about their experiences. The daughter is on the pump and also on a continuous glucose monitoring system. She has shown them to all of us and answered many questions about it. After talking to her, Isabelle said she wanted a pump. And it seems that after we have seen them on Sunday she asks for a pump more often.

I have to admit that I was all for the pump. Then I saw a video on U-Tube of a little girl getting her site changed. I'm not so sure anymore. We have gotten rather comfortable in our little world of insulin injections. Isabelle has been doing really great with her shots lately. She rarely cries anymore and doesn't run from us as often. I just don't know if I can deal with anymore crazy upsets about insulin. I know that after she gets used to it it would be easier. You only have to change a site about every 3 days. You have to give insulin shots at least 4 times a day.

I am also thinking that it would help us get more control with her blood sugars. But, I actually had an endo tell us that that is not always true. So, all of you moms of D kids and people with D, what do you think? Why did you decide to pump or not to pump? Love to hear some feedback.

Hodge Podge

I haven't been posting lately. I just haven't felt like it. Our lives have been busy. We had a week away at the beach. That was fun, but diabetes was there with us every day. Izzy's blood sugars were in the 300's most of the time we were there. We made some changes.

Since then her blood sugars have been almost perfect. It has been nice not to feel so worried about her blood sugars. It is always nice when diabetes is not the main thing that we think about all day long. But, the last couple of days she has been running high again and I completely forgot for the last two days to send her blood sugars in to the endo's office to get some feedback about them.

The little break from high blood sugars and then their subsequent return have me thinking a lot about how all of this effects Isabelle. She has major emotional outbursts when she is high or low or dropping or rising quickly. It is almost impossible to deal with. As a parent my first instinct is to use time out to deal with the outbursts and the misbehaving. Then I realize that she is low/high and then I start to wonder if I am doing the right thing. I hate that diabetes makes me do a double take almost daily about my parenting abilities. I really hate not knowing what to do. I really, really, really hate how diabetes changes my daughter. When she is high or low she is mean and belligerent. She calls me names and yells at me. She has even started telling me that she doesn't love me. She says I am mean.

I know that this is a normal part of childhood. I know that most if not every child goes through this with their parents. It just really pisses me off that I don't have my sweet wonderful girl every day. One of my fellow d-bloggers posted about this a few days ago. His post really made me think about it. http://eyesrubbed.blogspot.com/2008/04/life-is-good.html

I have begun going to a JDRF support group in my area. When Izzy was first diagnosed there wasn't one. It has really been helpful. I have met some really wonderful women there. So far everyone that I have met has been a Mom of a child with diabetes. Last week I met a Mom of a 4 year old who has just recently been diagnosed. I was soooo glad to meet her and her daughter. I told Isabelle about it and she is really looking forward to meeting the little girl. It is a little sad just how excited she is about meeting another girl her age that has this crazy disease. She was literally jumping up and down. Another fellow d-blogger spoke about this on her blog recently. http://tnmtcur.blogspot.com/2008/04/marc-recently-requested-sample-omnipod.html I can't even imagine what it will be like for Isabelle to talk to another child who is her same age that is having to deal with this disease the same way that she is. I know that for me, as a mother, it is so exciting to meet another mother who is going through the same things that I am. It really helps to talk to someone who is walking in similar shoes.