Mommie Squared

The week from Hell

2009-02-09T22:41:00.004-05:00

Last week was a rough one. I should have known since I had 3 doctors appointments scheduled for the kids in one week.

Monday wasn't bad.

Tuesday started off good. Then when Izzy got home from school it was time to do a pod change. Usually these aren't too big of a deal. We are trying to convince her to wear the pod on her tummy or hip more often since those sites seem to work for a longer period then the arms that she favors. Today however she did not want to do a pod change. I got the pod started and was about to put it on her when she decided that she did not want to wear the pod anymore. Usually all I have to do when she doesn't want to put a new pod on is remind her that if she doesn't wear the pod she will have to go back to having 4-6 shots a day. Usually when I tell her this she relents and we put the pod on and go about our business. This time she said that she wanted the shots. I thought that if she had one shot that she would want to go back to the pod so I went ahead and gave her an injection since her blood sugar was on the high side. The little booger said "That didn't hurt at all. I want to do shots instead of putting on the pod." I was flabbergasted. I didn't know what to do.

First I called Omni Pod to find out how long I had with the active pod before it wouldn't work anymore. They said 59 minutes. Lovely. I had less then an hour to change her mind. I then called the endo because I had no idea how to decide how much Lantus to give her to cover her for the day. In my mind I was thinking that if we did the shots for a whole day and she had to go without eating whenever she wanted to like she used to then she would be willing to go back on the pod. It was after hours so it took a while for the doc to call me back. When she called me back I had to give her the info about Izzy's basal rates which were in the PDM. I couldn't look at them unless I acted as if I were putting the pod on and inserting it. So I had to blow another pod. Lovely. While I was on the phone with the doctor my hubby walked in. After her figured out what was going on he told Isabelle that she was going to put the pod on because we were not going back to shots. So, she changed her mind and let me put her new pod on. Great. I was emotionally spent for the night.

Just the thought of having to go back to shots and figuring out insulin to carb ratios by hand and writing everything down every second it was happening just made my head explode. I'm so glad we didn't have to do that.

Wednesday morning both kids had dental appointments at 8:00am. Lovely. We were there on time. I still don't know how. I also don't know how it took them almost 2 hours to get us out of the office. That night Alex threw up in the bathtub after I already had everyone bathed and shampooed. Great. I spent the night scrubbing the bathroom.

Thursday Alex didn't want to go to school. I took him anyway. I really thought that the aforementioned bathtub incident was because he had accidentally sucked down too much water and threw up after coughing too hard. It wasn't until Friday that I realized he was really sick.

Thursday afternoon Izzy had her 5 year old check up. She is doing really well. The doctor was very pleased with her growth for the year. The only thing that sucked is that her appointment was at 3:45. We got there early. 3:20. I don't think I have ever been that early to a kids doctors appointment. We left the office at around 5:30. Yes, that's right. Over two hours sitting in the doctors office. Never again. I knew I always took morning appointments for a reason. We left the doctors office and I realized that we had a little less then an hour before we had to leave to go to our class at the church. So somehow I had to get home, feed to children, bathe two children, pack snacks for two children, feed me and Thomas, and leave the house by 6:30 so that we wouldn't be late. Hello McDonald's! We barely made it. Hectic, hectic, hectic. By the time we got home that night around 9:45 everyone fell in to bed.

Friday. My birthday. I woke up around 4AM feeling horrible. Not long after that I was in the bathroom with the stomach flu. The whole nine yards. What a way to spend my birthday. I couldn't even get Izzy to school. I knew I wouldn't make it there and back without needing a bathroom. So I spent the day at home, alternating between the bathroom and the couch and letting the kids do whatever they wanted as long as it didn't mean climbing on Mommy or really coming anywhere near me. They were actually angels. I can't believe how good they were.

Saturday I spent most of the day resting and trying to recuperate. By Sunday I was feeling a lot better then I was on Friday, but I am still really worn out and tired. Monday morning Thomas woke up with it. Lovely. Wish me luck that Izzy doesn't get it. Alex still has diarrhea from it.

Some nights...

2009-02-09T22:28:00.003-05:00

Pod changes really suck. Started off with the pod change and Izzy was at a really nice 135. We changed the pod, bolused to get a little bit of insulin going and went off outside to play.

About and hour or so later we came in to get some dinner. I checked her blood sugar and she was around 230. Not bad for a pod change night. There have been many times that she has ended up in the 400's on pod change night. I was feeling pretty good about the night. Usually Isabelle ends up staying up late on pod change nights because her numbers are so high and it takes soooo long for them to come down. I guess that was my downfall.

The night was moving along and I was about to move the kids upstairs to bath and then bed when Izzy wanted dessert. After negotiations we landed on a pop-tart. These usually suck because they really spike her bloodsugar, but since her numbers were so good...I gave it to her. About 3 bites into the darn thing I gave her the bolus to cover the pop-tart (37 grams of carbs for just one...not one package!!!!) and the pod starts alarming. Dag-um!!!! I wanted to grab the pop-tart and banish it to the garbage can, but I didn't. I quickly got a new pod started and put on, the old pod taken off and re-bolused her for the pop-tart.

After her bath and her story I checked her blood sugar while holding my breath. 208! Holy crap!!! That's great! It was just a little over an hour since her last bolus so not bad at all. Of course within an hour she was calling to me telling me that she was low, she was actually right around 150. Not too bad.

We really are going through a ton of pods lately though. It seems that at almost every pod change something happens and we have to start a second one. Thank God we got her prescription changed to 1 pod every 2 days instead of 1 every 3 days. Hopefully that will give us some wiggle room.

Bryan Adams Fever

2009-01-28T13:01:00.004-05:00

For Christmas I got the best Christmas present ever from my hubby. Now, I have to say usually he is not that great at the gift giving thing as most men are. This time he hit it out of the park.

He got me two tickets to go see Bryan Adams in concert!!!!! I was very excited. I can't believe that he actually remembered me telling him that I wanted to go. And really I can't believe that we actually got to go without major drama. My friend, actually more like my sister, Lori came over and learned how to take care of Isabelle and kept them both. She actually had them both in bed when we got home. That is a huge accomplishment. :)

The concert was absolutely FABULOUS!!!! We were in the first row of the balcony so we had really great views, but I couldn't really see Bryan's face. The entire show was basically just him. He had another guy come and play piano on a few songs, but other then that it was Bryan, his guitar and his harmonica. It was the best concert that I have ever been to. I've been to two other Bryan Adams concerts (maybe three...my memory fails me) and a couple of other concerts thrown in. This was the most powerful concert I have ever seen. I sat there with my mouth hanging open almost all of the time. Bryan talked to the audience during the show and it really felt like we were hanging out with Bryan Adams. It was so AWESOME!!!!! I don't know what else to say about it other then if you get the chance, go and see the show. I found this on You Tube and can't quite get the video to embed. Maybe I'll get it worked out, but if I don't just follow the link to check out a video from this tour so that you can get a feel for it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJwXjNbbyME

Of course as soon as Isabelle found out that I was going somewhere fun that she was not getting to go she started begging to go. Since the concert every time we get in the car she demands that I put Bryan Adams on the stereo. She keeps saying that I am his number 1 fan and she is his number 2 fan. Too cute.

My Baby is 5!

2008-12-29T22:25:00.004-05:00

I can 't believe it. On Christmas Eve my sweet little girl turned 5!!!!

Happy Birthday Baby!

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-29T22:17:00.003-05:00

Yeah...I know. I'm late. What's new? Haha! I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday whatever you celebrate.

We had a really great Christmas. My Mom and Dad, my sister-in-law Teresa, my niece and nephew Garrett & Logan, my Father and Mother in-law and my little brother Jason were all here for Christmas morning. I am so blessed that my family and my in-law family all get along. My children get the benefit of sharing the holiday with both of their sets of grandparents with the exception of Thomas' mother who lives in Virginia.

It is wonderful.

I have lots to blog about...sorry I have been out of the loop so to speak for so long but I am hoping to catch up on my blog reading and writing. I have lots of ideas for blog posts and some things that I have been meaning to post about but just haven't gotten the chance to do it yet. What can I say...life has been very hectic. And it has been getting to me. Stay posted. Pretty soon things will be posted. :)

Princesses DO Wear Glasses!!!!!

2008-09-09T11:28:00.009-05:00

and Patches too.

We visited the eye doctor in August and Isabelle's lazy eye has gotten stronger, but the other eye has gotten weaker. So now we have to patch. We are patching for 2 hours a day. When the doctor told us that she would have to wear a patch she got very excited. She wanted me to put her patch on right then. When we got home and I got the chance to put her patch on she realized quickly that she did NOT like it. It has been like pulling teeth every single day since then to get her to wear the patch. She has been doing better with her glasses though.

After our appointment last April I bought her new glasses because her prescription had become much stronger. I let her pick out her new glasses and of course she picked out a pink pair. They look adorable and she really likes them.

On another note...to all of the parents out there that found this blog looking for something to help their little princesses become more at ease with their glasses there is hope!

A while back I was contacted by Pam Calvert. She is an author that has written a book called "Princess Peepers" and it is about a little princess that wears glasses. It was due out on September 1. I haven't gotten a chance to see the book yet. I should have gone over to Border's today to check it out. It seems to be on sale at Borders, Barnes & Noble, Books A Million, and Amazon (according to my online search). I can't wait to get my hands on it and read it with Isabelle.

Pam was kind enough to allow me to post a link to her website and the website for the book. She also sent along some pictures from the book and of her own little princess reading it. Enjoy!!!

This first picture is of Pam (the author) and her little Princess!

First Day of School

2008-08-14T21:16:00.011-05:00

She wasn't excited at all. Can you tell?

Isabelle started her first day of Pre-K on Monday. She is at a new school. It was a really hard decision for Thomas and I to make. We had to decide weather to send her back to our Church Pre-school program for a 4 day, half day program or to send her to a lottery funded 5 day all day pre-k. We decided to go with the lottery funded pre-k for a few different reasons.

When we were getting close to pre-k I started to get excited because where I am from all of the lottery funded pre-k programs are run through the school system. Or at least they were when my nephew went though the program about 9 years ago. To me that meant that there was a possibility of a school nurse being there and that made me feel a little more comfortable. As I started the process of researching the pre-k programs in our area I found out that they are all in day care centers. I couldn't believe it. After calling the 2 centers closest to our house I found out that one of them had experience with Type 1. My goal was to get her into that program. Long story short, she ended up on their waiting list. I was bummed. I went ahead and secured her a position in our church pre-school that she has been in since she was 2.

Then when the kids were at my Mom's at the end of May I was driving past a lottery funded pre-k program that had a sign out front that said that they were enrolling. Not to mention that just under that sign they were advertising that they were NAEYC Accredited. I went in and looked around and talked to the Director and the Owner and signed her up. That is where she is now.

I went in the week before school started to meet with her teacher and her assistant teacher and to train everyone on what they would need to do to take care of Isabelle. This is the first time I have had to 'train' anyone on how to give Isabelle insulin and how to use our pump.

The meeting went well, but I could sense some apprehension. But I had to keep remembering that ANYONE would feel apprehension when they were learning how to take care of a child with d. God knows I did. They asked me to come to school with her the first day so that I would be there to work everything out. I agreed to do that but also warned them that I might have to bring Alex with me as babysitters are few and far between. Oh yeah...the director made a comment during the meeting that she didn't think that licensing would allow them to give insulin. I said that they would have to. The one thing that makes the whole situation more difficult is that they feed the children while they are there. Two snacks and lunch.

The first day went pretty well. One of my mommy friends B. kept Alex for me for the entire day. Thank you B!!! That definitely made things easier. I went in with her and we got started. Isabelle liked her new friends. I went and met with the women who prepares the food. I took the menu (they actually gave it to me when I signed her up) and we went over it together. I figured out carb counts as closely as I could and copied it for everyone. I walked her teachers through checking her finger and giving her boluses that day. Everything seemed to be working out OK, but when we came in from playing outside before lunch they missed Isabelle saying that she was very tired and hungry. That is Izzy speak for I am LOW. I had told them this verbally and in writing at our meeting. I told them that they needed to go ahead and check her now instead of waiting the 10 minutes until lunch. They did and she was low. We treated her and everything was fine. It did bug me that they didn't notice her feeling tired and hungry.

After that first day I told Isabelle that she would have to make sure that if she felt bad at all that she needed to take one of her teachers by the hand and tell them that she was not feeling well so that they could check her finger. She said that she would, but who wants to give a 4 year old that kind of responsibility? One of the things that I hate the most about D is that it makes my little girl grow up more quickly in ways that I don't want her to.

The second day was really her first day without Mommy. It went great!!! Ms. R. and I have quickly developed a system of her calling me whenever she checks Isabelle. That way I can help her decided how much insulin to give her and she gets confirmation on what she is doing so that she doesn't mess anything up (her words not mine).

Izzy has been in school for 4 days now and it is going really great! The teachers have had to handle a couple of lows and they did really great. I feel much more relaxed then I have in I don't even remember how long. I have spent my days with Alex which I think has helped me feel more relaxed because I feel that he is finally getting some of the mommy time that he has not been able to have because of Izzy having D. When she was in the church pre-school she was only there 3 days a week and only there 4 hours out of the day. We had so many problems last year that we ended up spending a LOT of time at the school so he really didn't get much time with me. That has all changed.

Now that I am a bit more relaxed maybe I will be able to get back to blogging on a semi-regular basis.

Snips and Snails and Puppydog tails

2008-08-14T20:35:00.004-05:00

I grew up the middle of three children and the only girl. I was a tomboy, but as I grew I came to realize that boys are gross. They tend to get dirtier then girls, they always seem to 'accidentally' get yucky stuff everywhere. It was my experience that when you are sharing a bathroom with a boy there are going to be boogers and pee somewhere.

Alex is such a sweet little guy. Imagine my amazement when I realized that he is a stinky boy! LOL!

I went into his room the other afternoon to wake him up because I needed to pick Izzy up from school. He was hard to wake up and looked like he really wanted to stay asleep. I rolled him over and started to change his diaper. He passed some gas and we both laughed. I got his pants off and started removing his diaper. As soon as I got the diaper off he tooted again. This one really surprised me and because he had not pooped yet, it alarmed me. I jumped. Alex thought this was hilarious. We both ended up laughing.

Then comes the stinky boy part. He said "Watch this Mommy!" I saw his little body tense up and the little booger pooted at will! Then he did it again 3 more times! Geez...if he can do this at 2 what will he be like at 13????

Oh yeah...shouldn't I get bonus points for how many different words I used for passing gas? LOL!

Sweet nothings in my ear

2008-06-30T19:32:00.002-05:00

My mornings have changed a little with the kids. Izzy wakes up and she usually comes and cuddles with me until we hear Alex. Then she runs in and lets him out of his room. Sometimes she just goes straight there.

This morning Izzy stopped by Alex's room and let him out before coming into my room. Alex was the first to wake me. He jumped up onto the bed next to me and put his head down on me in a hug. Then he said, "Hi Mommy! You look beautiful! I love you!"

So incredibly sweet. What a way to start the day.

Pumps are Ggggrrrreeeaaattt!

2008-06-30T18:29:00.003-05:00

We finally got started on our pump. We choose the Omni Pod for Isabelle because it did not have any tubing and it seemed to offer everything else that we wanted in a pump.

We started a saline start on June 16 and then we went in on June 20 to do the insulin start. The saline start went smoothly. We had a good time learning the pump during the week and Isabelle didn't complain too much when we had to change the pod and believe it or not she didn't even complain about the insertion. She calls it the scary tickle because you never know when it is going to happen. She does not however like having to take the old pod off. It seems that removing the sticky tape that holds the pod on is the biggest issue. She says that it hurts.

When we were at the endo's office doing the insulin start Isabelle pitched the biggest fit because we had to take the old pod off and put a new one on. She did NOT like it and the whole office heard about it. It reminded me of our early days on insulin shots. I practically had to hold her down to get the new pod on her. We left the office feeling really excited and hopeful. But, I was dreading having to be up all night. We were told that we would have to check her BS's every 2 hours for the first 24 hours on the pump and then every 4 hours the second day on the pump including throughout the night.

I had planned to do something special with Isabelle to commemorate the new pump. She decided that she wanted to go to Krispy Kreme and watch them make donuts and have one. So off we went to KK. When we were at the endo's office she was in the low 200's. Nice number considering the major screaming and fit that was thrown. By the time we got to KK her blood sugar was in the low 300's. Still not too bad considering the emotions of the afternoon. So we bolused for the donut and the high and went home to give Daddy-O and Alex their donuts.

I decided to go to the mall and let the kids play in the fountain to kind of wind down the day. When we made it to the fountain I checked her BS to make sure that she wasn't low because she had a big bolus. Nope. Not a chance. She was in the low 400's. I checked for keytones, but luckily none. I decided to let her play and gave her lots of water. When we were leaving I checked her again. She was still in the low 400's. I bolused her again.

We get home and it was about 3 hours after we left the endo's office. I was trying not to freak out. It was time for dinner so I was in the process of making her a hotdog when my cell phone rang. It was Nurse T. from the endo's office just checking in on us. I have never been so relieved to hear from someone in my life! I was totally trying not to freak out and Thomas had been in a car accident the evening before and was upstairs asleep so I was on my own. T walked me through everything. And we decided to wait for another hour to see if she would come down or not. I was thinking at this point that I needed to change that pod. We finally decided an hour later to change the pod because obviously there was no insulin getting through. Amidst much shrieking and crying we got the pod changed, a bath, and she finally fell asleep. She was still in the 400's. After checking her every hour for the next three hours we were still not seeing any signs of the pump working. I was totally freaking out. T was calling to check in every hour. We finally decided around midnight that the pod was going to have to be disconnected and we were going to have to give her shots. So at midnight I was giving her Humalog and Lantus. She finally came down around 3 am. I can't believe that she made it through the night with no keytones. Towards the end of the night she was at moderate, but by the morning she was negative.

I was so incredibly nervous and feeling very discouraged. I didn't know what to do. We decided to just take a break from the pump on Saturday and try again either Saturday evening or Sunday.

Saturday came and we were having to give shots. Late in the afternoon we put on a new pod in a new spot. It worked! Later that evening I picked up the owner's manual to read over it again to see if there was something that we missed. It suggested pinching up the skin around the pod before insertion. Especially when being placed on a spot that is lean. Duh! I don't know how we missed that the first time through the book or if they mentioned it at the endo's how we missed it then. Izzy is lean everywhere. When we did our next pod change I pinched and it worked.

I think that from Friday night to Monday night I got maybe 8 hours of sleep. I'm still trying to catch up. Thomas let me get in a long nap yesterday so that has helped enormously.

The biggest problem that we are having now is that when we change a pod her numbers are going high. I think we might have gotten it figured out though. Now when I know that we are going to change a pod I give her a double bolus of her basel dosage. That has seemed to do the trick.

Isabelle is doing really great with her pump. She loves it. She has decided that she likes it much better then shots. By the time of our 4th pod change she quit screaming and complaining. Now she says that she is ready for the tickle and she is not scared anymore. She is soooo brave!!! I can't believe that she has done so well. One evening she was having some ice cream and Thomas told her that she could have more ice cream because she had a pump now. That seemed to change how she felt about the pump.

Izzy's BS numbers have been really great. It is amazing how much the pump has done for that. It has also relaxed our lives a great deal. I no longer have to stop whatever I am doing to sit down with a paper and calculator and figure out what she needs for her insulin. It makes a huge difference to just put in how many carbs she has eaten and push a button.

So, overall, even with the craziness at the beginning it is really great. We are really happy with the Omni Pod. We have had some issues with the pod falling off. But, I dare say that most of that is due to having a very active preschooler. She is learning to be more careful with it. The first week she pulled one off when she slid into a chair. It was on her lower back and just popped off part of it. The cannula stayed in so I just taped it onto her until we could get home and change it. Today she was playing with me and trying to run from me and knocked the entire pod off after hitting the wall. I guess that we have been lucky that on the days that she has had a pod fall off it has been a day to change the pod anyway. We also had an issue with the water and the pod. Seems we were only supposed to allow her to be in the water for 30 minutes at a time. I remember the cde telling me that but for some reason it went in one ear and out the other. So, it fell off. But, we won't let that happen again. :) Live and learn.

Sorry this post has been so long and crazy. I have been trying to find the time to post and have just been so exhausted from loosing so much sleep that I haven't done it.

Craziness

2008-06-22T22:42:00.002-05:00

I have sooooo much to blog about diabetes wise, but to be honest I just don't have the words or the energy to find them.

Suffice it to say that starting on the pump did not go smoothly. Things are getting better, but I'm guarded. I will try to sit down tomorrow after I have dealt with the aftermath of a weekend without housework and write all of my thoughts down.

Finally, a MeMe post

2008-06-02T13:14:00.003-05:00

Penny tagged me a while ago, and I have never gotten around to it. So here it is.

Once you’ve been tagged, you have to write a blog with 10 weird, random, facts, habits or goals about yourself. At the end, choose 6 people to be tagged, list their names & why you tagged them. Don’t forget to leave them a comment saying “You’re it!” & to go read your blog. You cannot tag the person that tagged you, so since you’re not allowed to tag me back; let me know when you are done so I can go read YOUR weird, random, facts, habits and goals. Have fun!

1. I used to be a portrait photographer. But, I rarely take pictures of my kids. I guess I'm kinda lazy that way.

2. We have the coolest new park near our house. It seriously makes me want to be a kid again.

3. I am a horrible housekeeper.

4. My favorite flavor is raspberry.

5. I cannot stand to go to bed without brushing my teeth.

6. The music from Final Fantasy X makes me want to scream. Literally. Ask my husband.

7. I am addicted to Guiding Light and I have been since spending the summer with my Lanny when I was in 3rd grade.

8. Before I had children I was actually quite intelligent. Lately I feel like all I use my brain for is counting carbs and figuring out how much insulin to give.

9. I love chic lit books. Anything that takes me out of my normal life and makes me not think too much is awesome.

10. I used to be a Resident Advisor in college.

Ok. That's about it. Off to tag some more people.

The Final Frontier

2008-05-26T22:45:00.002-05:00

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

2008-05-22T20:31:00.003-05:00

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

2008-05-22T20:22:00.002-05:00

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

2008-05-20T20:53:00.003-05:00

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

2008-05-20T20:37:00.002-05:00

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

2008-05-08T19:37:00.002-05:00

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

2008-05-02T22:47:00.004-05:00

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...

2008-05-02T22:37:00.004-05:00

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

2008-05-02T21:46:00.004-05:00

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.

Our First Anniversary

2008-04-02T19:19:00.006-05:00

Our first anniversary. I never thought a whole year would pass. In some ways it passed quickly. The children are growing way too fast and I see and feel that passing by way too quickly. On the other hand I remember what happened 1 year ago today. 1 year ago today our lives changed forever.

I don't think that I will forget that day for as long as I live. As soon as the doctor walked into the room I knew something was really, really wrong. I could tell by his face. Those words. The words that came out of his mouth. How I wish he could have been wrong. "Isabelle has Diabetes. You are going to have to take her to the Emergency Room." Just that simple. He should have said...'By the way, your entire life is going to change and you are going to have to stick needles in your child at least 4 times a day not to mention checking her blood sugar via finger pricks every two hours.' That would have been more to the point. Of course I bet he was just trying to get out of the room without making me cry. I still remember calling my husband and telling him what was going on and where to meet us. I remember calling my Mom and asking her to please get in the car (although she had just gotten home after a trip herself) and come over so that someone could be there to take care of Alex. I remember calling Sheila and telling her what was going on. I still remember coming home and hurriedly packing a bag for myself, my husband and Isabelle for a stay in the hospital for at least a few days; the whole time worrying that I was taking too long. I still remember the frantic drive to the children's hospital with two sick children in the car. I remember calling one of the mom's from my mom's group and asking her to post and tell everyone what was going on. I remember getting to the hospital emergency room and being extremely thankful that my husband was there and that they had valet parking. I still remember that Isabelle fell asleep on the ride to the hospital and I didn't know if I should wake her up or let her sleep. I also remember that when Thomas took Izzy out of her car seat she had peed in her pants. I remember being glad that she was asleep because she would have been really upset about that. I remember thinking that I would never remember all of the information that they were throwing at us.

I'm sure there's more, but I'm sure if you have read this far you are tired of reading. :)

I wasn't really sure what to expect of our first anniversary. Things have gotten easier. Taking care of Isabelle is more automatic then it was a year ago. I hope that with more time it will get even more automatic. We'll see what the future brings.

I told Isabelle what today was and I asked her if she remembered not having diabetes. She told me that she did. She also said that she remembers the nice nurse that gave her the yellow care bear. We went out to eat at Moe's tonight for our anniversary.

A year and a day ago...

2008-04-02T19:08:00.004-05:00

One year ago yesterday we spent our time doing whatever we wanted. If we wanted to go to the park we went. We were not ruled by a clock or by a schedule. We did not know about counting carbs or about Humalog or Lantus. We didn't know about the Red Glucagon kit. We didn't know about blood sugar meters.

Boy...how things have changed.

Princesses DON'T Wear Glasses!

2008-03-21T23:37:00.003-05:00

Every time my daughter chooses to dress up like Aurora I am told that, "Princesses DON'T wear glasses!" My first reaction was to reassure Isabelle that princesses wear glasses when they need glasses. Over the last couple of weeks as the princess phase has begun full force I have been told that NO princesses wear glasses. We have begun having battles over Izzy wearing her glasses. I'm not quite sure what to do about it. I usually relent when she is playing dress up, but her lazy eye seems to be getting worse and at our last visit the doctor talked about patching. So, I have really been pushing the glasses. I relaxed for a week or two. I only MADE her wear them when we were out and about or when she was going to school. When she was home she didn't have to wear them. Then I started to see the crossing again. So...back in the glasses as much as possible.

After really thinking about what Isabelle had said I went over all of the princesses that I know of. She is right! Princesses don't wear glasses. I don't even think that in all of the Disney Princess movies that we have (Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, The Little Mermaid) not one person other then men are wearing glasses. What kind of a message does that send to our little girls. I have tried reasoning with her explaining that she is beautiful in her glasses and that it is much better to be able to see then not to see. She doesn't budge. She has almost cried on some mornings as we are getting ready to go to school and I make her put them on. She wants to be beautiful. She says that her glasses make her look cute, not beautiful. This child has always been told from day one that she is beautiful and we have done our utmost to build and encourage her self esteem. But glasses seem to be some sort of a stumbling block.

I spoke with a friend of mine today and she suggested that I Google princesses wearing glasses. I got a couple of interesting blog posts and a really cool website that sells t-shirts saying "Have you ever seen a Princess in glasses before? Well here I am!" http://www.cafepress.com/bjortandcompany

But, I still haven't found any princesses that are wearing glasses. So, Disney...where are you? Why can't you make a princess wear glasses? How about all of you children's authors out there? No princess in glasses??? What is going on? Do I have to write my own book, have it published and write my own movie, get it animated and printed? Please let me know if any of you reading this knows of any cool princesses that wear glasses. It just seems to be one more thing that sets my sweet princess apart. I want her to know that she is beautiful just the way she is...glasses, diabetes and all.

Lost social skills

2008-03-21T22:43:00.002-05:00

It has come to my attention that I have spent the last year really, really caught up in my own life. As a side effect of this I have lost most of my social skills. Don't get me wrong, I'm not hiding under a rock nor have I completely stopped conversing with people. It just seems that most of the people that I have the chance to speak to on a regular basis are under 4 feet tall or are people who are selling me things. That doesn't lead to a whole lot of back and forth conversation. I think that I have lost the art of conversing like an adult.

A couple of months ago I met up with an old friend. It was way overdue. She didn't even know about Isabelle's diagnosis. Between dealing with and chasing children we ended up talking mostly about Izzy and what our life has been like A.D. (after diagnosis). I didn't even take the opportunity to ask her about her new house, what she has been up to lately, or her husband's new job. Completely just talked about myself. The really horrible part of all of it is that I didn't even notice until a couple of days later when I had a few minutes to myself.

So, a couple of weeks later I ran in to another friend. I said hello and asked how she was. You know, the kind of asking that everyone does when you start a conversation. Really just a how is everything not really a 'So really, HOW ARE YOU?' kind of thing. She then did ask how Izzy was doing and how I was doing. We ended our conversation shortly thereafter. As I was driving home I realized that I had done it again. I hadn't even asked how her children were! I realized then that I had completely lost my social skills.

So here is my heartfelt apology. To all of my friends and family out there. If I have offended you or hurt your feelings in any way please forgive me. I am really working on it. I'm trying to get better at asking about what is going on in your lives. Try me again soon. Hopefully you will see some improvement.

Wishing Stars

2008-03-12T20:32:00.004-05:00

As I was reading Isabelle a story at bedtime tonight she was looking through a small box of play jewelry that she had. She pulled out a couple of plastic stars that used to be part of a bracelet. She handed one to me.

Izzy: Mommy, you can wish on this star

Me: (in a hurry because it was late) Ok. I closed my eyes and acted like I was making a wish.

Izzy: Mommy, you need to make a wish that my diabetes will be done.

Me: That's a great idea. I wish that Isabelle's diabetes was cured and that all of the children and adults in the world who have diabetes would be cured too.

Izzy: Mommy, my diabetes is gone!!!! Thank you for that wish.

Izzy: Now you be my friend with diabetes. You tell me that your diabetes is gone too.

Me-Pretending to be C. from church: Isabelle! My diabetes is gone!!!

Izzy: Me too!!! Now we aren't different. We are the same.

Me: You were both special before diabetes and you are both still very special.

Izzy: I know. But, wouldn't it be nice if my diabetes really was gone?

Me: Yes baby...it would be.

I love you Isabelle. Sometimes your sweet heart and whirling mind break my heart.

Blog Relationship Survey

2008-03-09T22:05:00.001-05:00

I saw this posted in another blog that I read from time to time. Swing by and fill it out if you get the chance. Some of the questions made me think.

http://www.blogrelationships.blogspot.com/

The pillow

2008-03-09T21:08:00.008-05:00

Last weekend (yes...can you tell I have had a lot to say but no time to blog?) Izzy wondered upstairs and was gone for a while. She was very quiet so it was a bit concerting. Mom and I called to her and she said that she would be right down.

She came down the stairs and her angelic voice rang down the hall. "Mommy! Look at me! I'm a pillow. "

She had taken two pillowcases off of some pillows and had one over her lower half like in a sack race and another one over her head and torso.

Izzy: "You can lay down on me and get comfy now Mommy. I'm a pillow!!!"

Hehehe!

Body Parts

2008-03-09T21:03:00.002-05:00

Last weekend my Mom and Dad (Meme and Pawpaw) were here for the weekend to help us celebrate Alex's birthday and the kids being Baptized. At one point during the weekend Pawpaw was holding Alex and Alex was doing the whole Nose, Eyes thing. I really wish you could hear his sweet little voice saying all of the body parts because it is the sweetest ever. So, here it is:

Alex: Eyyyeeeessss

Pawpaw: Yes. Eyes

A: Mouth

P: Yes. Mouth

A: Nose

P: That's right. Nose

A: (while inserting his sweet little finger into Pawpaw's nostril) Boogers

LOL!!! The whole room cracked up. Wish I had that one video. We might even win lots of money with that one.

Happy Birthday Alex!!!

2008-03-09T20:54:00.003-05:00

I can't believe it. My baby turned 2 today! He is sooooo sweet. I am still not sure how I ended up with a child that is so sweet. I'm glad that he only turned 2 because he had no idea how lame his birthday was today. LOL! We just hung out at the house and watched t.v. We didn't even make it outside to play. He has spent the day playing and smiling and cuddling with us. As I said...sooooo sweet! I will add a pic to this post as soon as I figure out where my darn cord is to my digital camera.

Did I mention that Alex turned 2 today? Hehehe! I can't believe that my baby is so big. It makes my cry almost daily to remember how little he was only a couple of years ago. It seems like my pregnancy was just yesterday and I remember it so vividly.

We have pretty much decided (at least today that is) that we are finished having children. We really have a lot on our plate with Izzy and her diabetes and Alex being so active and in to everything. It is very sad though to think that I will never get to feel that wonderful feeling of a little one moving around in my womb. And that wonderful feeling when the pregnancy is over and the baby is safely in your arms. All of those wonderful sleepless nights that you get to spend cuddling and holding a sleeping, sweet smelling bundle. I really do miss the time I got to spend with both of my babies in the middle of the night. It was so quiet and peaceful and intimate. I miss feeling that close to them.

Sweet, Sweet Sleep

2008-02-25T17:06:00.004-05:00

We have been making great strides in our household. Isabelle has been sleeping through the night again!!!!! Yeah! She stopped sleeping through the night right after she was diagnosed last April. She still isn't doing it every night, but she has done it at least three times in the last week and a half. That is MAJOR progress. I know that I feel better. It is nice to get some uninterrupted sleep.

Things started to get better after Christmas. She HAD to sleep in her own bed because Meme and Pawpaw were sleeping in the Queen size bed. That got the ball rolling. After the holidays were over and everyone left, Isabelle stayed in her bed. I don't know exactly what happened to make her stay in her own bed all night long, but whatever it is I am very thankful!

Hmmmm...

2008-02-14T21:05:00.004-05:00

Isabelle surprised me yesterday morning by telling me, "Mommy, I'm not scared of the pump anymore. Maybe I will get one."

What a brave girl. She has been scared of the idea of a pump for a couple of months now, really since I first mentioned it to her. There is a teenager at church who has Type 1 and is on a pump. C has shown Izzy her pump and talked to her about it trying to help her not be afraid. Maybe it is working. We have an Endo appointment on the 22nd of this month. Can't wait to talk to the doctor about a pump. Might help us get her numbers better under control.

Alex's hard day

2008-02-12T21:40:00.002-05:00

Little Alex had a hard day today. He woke up cranky and I had to forcibly dress him. Loads of fun for both of us. After dropping Izzy off at pre-school I took him to his first eye doctor appointment. Of course they dialated his eyes. He did not like it. Who could blame him though. I don't like it much either. After waiting for 30 minutes for the dialation to take effect they took him back into the room and check him. They found that he is farsighted in his left eye so we may have to watch out for some eye crossing from him too. The doc wanted us to wait for another 15 minutes to make sure that the difference in his eyes wasn't due to the right eye not being dialated as much so we waited some more. Have I ever mentioned that he NEVER sits still? It was a long visit. We finally got finished and left. I had some sunglasses for him, but he wouldn't leave them on. Thankfully it was a little overcast today.

When we left we had to go to get Isabelle and take her something else for lunch. Her pre-school called just as we were going into Alex's appointment saying that her blood sugar was 301 and she was hungry. I told them to give her the pepperoni and cheese that I had packed for her lunch and that I would bring her something else for lunch. I stopped to get her something and Alex didn't want to get out of the car. He had a screaming fit about it and I just carried him into the grocery store and grabbed what I needed and checked out as quickly as possible. When we got back to the van he threw another fit because he didn't want to get in his seat. I strapped him in anyway as we were trying to beat the clock.

We finally got to the school a little later then we should have been there and he threw another fit about getting out of the van again. I think he just wanted to fall asleep. We went in and gave Isabelle her insulin and back out to the van again. Another screaming fit about getting back into the car seat. By this point I was really feeling sorry for him, but was also ready to scream myself. We made it home and I put him down for his nap after some cuddling and rocking. He slept for 2 1/2 hours. I didn't have the heart to wake him up. He woke up in a much better mood even though his beautiful blue eyes were still dialated.

Alex ended his day by telling his Daddy and I a joke.

Alex- Why chicken cross the road Mommy?

M-I don't know Alex, why did the chicken cross the road?

A- Get to the other side.

Repeat with Daddy and then again with Mommy at least 20 times before he went to bed.

LOL!!!! What a trooper. It is so nice to have a child that goes with the flow.

Quicky's Redemption

2008-02-12T21:13:00.000-05:00

Major drama today. I was cleaning the kitchen and getting ready for dinner this evening and I decided that poor Quicky needed clean water. I didn't mention this out loud as the last few times Isabelle has wanted to 'help'. It makes things much harder when you are changing the water so I kept my mouth shut.

Things started smoothly. I transfered Quicky (yes...Isabelle named him) along with some very yucky water to another container and cleaned his tank and the rocks and plant in it. I filled the tank with clean water and put the water conditioner in. Then I got water started for spaghetti and continued tidying up the kitchen. When I thought that the clean water was at room temperature and Quicky would not go into shock I decided to put him into his freshly cleaned tank. This is when the drama truely began.

I emptied most of the gross yucky water into the sink and a horrible thought crossed my mind...what would happen if Quicky decided not to cooperate and he started flipping around? I shoudl really be doing this with the sink plugged. Stupid me didn't stop and plug the sink and wouldn't you know it, the darn fish started flipping around and he flipped out of my hand and down the drain!!!! I gasped in horror. Isabelle popped up and asked me what was wrong.

At this point I had my hand in the garbage disposal as far as it would go trying to find the darn fish. Izzy walked around the corner into the kitchen and saw me with my hand in the sink, looking frantic. After searching through the muck I finally gave up and told her that Quicky was in the sewer and he was finding new friends.

She totally freaked! She started crying and wailing and asked me what happened. I explained what had happened and she said that she wanted to talk to Daddy. NOW! I was trying to calm her down, she was almost hysterical at this point, so I grabbed the phone and using the speed dial called Thomas. Isabelle said that she wanted to tell him what happened so I put her on the phone. Of course he couldn't understand what she was saying because she was frantic. I took the phone and explained what had happened. He didn't quite know what to say. I gave the phone back to Isabelle planning our trip to Pet Smart to replace the fish.

I started to put the tank away and picked up the sponge that had been left on the counter and was about to put it back into the sponge basket that is on the side of my sink. Out of the corner of my eye I saw something strange in the basket and decided (thank God) to take the couple of seconds to see what it was. It was Quicky!!!! I grabbed that basket off of the sink and screamed, "It's Quicky!!!! He's here. I found him." I dumped him back into his tank and low and behold the darn fish started swimming around glad to be in the water again.

I have no idea how he lasted that long. The whole situation couldn't have takend longer then 3 minutes, but man, how long can a fish out of water last??? I'm still wondering if he will make it through the night. He is a fish with 9 lives.

By the way...Izzy took that picture of Quicky. :)

Brotherly Love

2008-02-04T20:34:00.000-05:00

My kids are like every other set of siblings out there. Sometimes they just absolutely love each other and other times they can't stand the sight of one another. We have been having lots of sibling rivalry lately. Mostly consisting of screaming fits because Alex is in Isabelle's way and she can't watch the t.v.. Then there are the fights because Isabelle takes EVERYTHING that Alex ever picks up. One of those ended with Alex biting Isabelle on the arm. I felt bad that I had to punish him for that...Izzy really did have it coming.

After dealing with the fighting on a daily basis it is amazing when something like this happens.

First a little background. Those of you who know us know that we deal with Type 1 Diabetes on a daily basis since Isabelle has it. Alex was just over a year old when Isabelle was diagnosed. I have often felt like sweet little Alex has been put on the back burner the last 10 months while we have been dealing with learning the ins and outs of this disease. He has had a front row seat. He has often been in my lap as I draw up insulin or give Isabelle her injections or check her finger. I never realized how much he has taken in.

Recently as I stated before, there has been quite a bit of sibling rivalry going on around our house. I know that Alex really wants more of Mommy's attention. He is on my lap every chance he gets. I really even think that his recent interest in t.v. is because it is a time that he can sit in my lap and enjoy some time without inturruption. The other day I was sitting at the table writing down something to do with Izzy's diabetes when Alex climbed into my lap and grabbed Izzy's test kit off of the table and said "Check finger Mommy." I of course that it was charming and sweet. Isn't it nice to want to be so much like your sister that you want to have your finger checked too? Then, one evening we were in the living room and I was giving Izzy her insulin shot which was very trying since she was screaming and fighting me about it, Alex was sitting right next to her and when I got done Alex said, "Mommy insulin shot too!" I asked him to repeat what he said. He repeated it. I didn't know what to say. I told him that he didn't need insulin shots.

The next day Alex found the play doctor's kit. What does every kids doctors kit have in it? A shot. He pulled it out and put it to his little leg and said "Owww!!!!! Insulin shot Mommy! Hurt. Owwww!!!!" I almost fell over. I told him that they don't always hurt. He walked around with that shot for a few days.

Last weekend we were all in the car and Izzy's diabetes kit was on the seat next to Alex. I guess he was bored so he stared pulling things out. He grabbed the notebook that I write all of her meals, carbs, and insulin shots in and he was looking at it. I asked him what he was doing and he said, " Figuring out Mommy." That is what I say when I am trying to figure out how much insulin to give Isabelle. I can't freaking believe how smart and how sweet he is. He is so empathetic. I can't believe how much he worries about his sister. He often tells me in the morning that Izzy is crying if she has been up during the night crying.

I hope that Isabelle knows some day what a wonderful brother she has and how much he loves her. I have two brothers and it is hard for me to believe that either of them would want to take an insulin shot for me if I had to have them. I am so blessed to have two such wonderful children. Thank you God for my wonderful family.

Flushed Away

2008-01-23T15:35:00.001-05:00

It seems around this house that anything having to do with toilets is loads of fun. Alex discovered the t.v. just before Christmas while the movie Flushed Away was on. He continually asks over and over again, "Watch Flushed Away! Watch Flushed Away Mommy!" His absolute favorite part is when Roddy gets flushed down the toilet. He is so funny to watch. He sits very still (anyone who knows him knows that this is NOT like him at all) and his head moves when the toilet paper hits him in the face and then he shakes his head No when the fish asks if he has seen his Dad. I crack up every time I see him. He will sit through everything up to the flushing part, but after that he is off running around.

He also loves to play with the Potty Time Elmo. He likes to make Elmo pee pee on the potty. He flushes every toilet he can get his hands on. Multiple times.

You would think with all of this potty talk that he would be interested in actually going to the potty. After bath the other night he pooped in the tub while I was helping Isabelle get dressed. While I was getting that cleaned up he ran off and peed and pooped in his bedroom on some big floor pillows. Lovely. Maybe next time the poop will go in the potty and be Flushed Away!

A New Year

2008-01-22T16:23:00.000-05:00

I know I've been a bit on the invisible side in the OC. I'm sorry to say that it probably won't get much better anytime soon. I have decided to try and simplify my life so that our little corner of the world can be a little more relaxed and happy this year. It seems crazy to me that my life as a stay at home Mom is so stressful. I don't think that it has to be this way.

Last year was a very hard year for us as was the year before. This year will be different. I'm counting on it.

It has already started off with a bang.

The kids were well for about 3/4 of December (including the holidays) and it has snowed here TWICE!!! All would probably still be well, but I got sick and then of course Izzy got it. But, it seems to have been relatively short lived and I think that she will be back at pre-school in the morning.

Thomas actually put the kids to bed (yes...you read that right...multiple kids) at least 4 times. Gee...things happen differently when mommy can't get out of bed. Alex is now in a big boy bed and he is doing really well with it. He would probably be heading for potty training if I had the energy and I could keep Isabelle out of the way.

Isabelle is back to not wanting to get her shots. I guess this is something that we will have to go through from time to time. It seems to be sort of a cycle with us. We have another endo appointment in February and I am planning on talking to the doctor about a pump at that time. I'll see how Izzy feels about it when the time comes. Boy...it sure would be nice not to have to worry about giving her all of those shots every day. It's hard sometimes not to get upset when she is running from you and begging you not to give her a shot.

Isabelle had her 4 year old well check up last week and the doctor was very pleased with her progress. She has done a lot of growing the last year. For what is probably the first time in her life she is well past the 10% of everything on the growth charts. She is still petite, but she is within the normal range.

So enough rambling. I will try to get back soon with some fun little stories of the kiddies. Don't forget about me out there...I am still here. And Scott(if you are out there)...I swear I will get around to the meme sometime soon. :)

Welcoming highs

2007-12-08T22:46:00.000-05:00

So the kids have been sick. What's new. Izzy and Alex and I had a stomach bug and as soon as Izzy began getting sick with the tummy bug she stopped eating. She didn't really eat for almost 2 weeks. Last Monday she still wasn't eating well but she did eat lunch so I gave her insulin to cover the food just like I would normally do and a little over an hour later she was in the low 40's. I gave her some juice and a snack and checked her again in about a half hour. She was still in the 40's. It took me almost three hours to get her into the 70's! I almost threw her in to the car and took her to the ER.

I spoke to the endo office after it was over and they told me that it is not unusual for a child who has been sick like Izzy to do this. Apparently if they are not eating they utilize all of the stored sugar in the body and they don't have any to fall back on. This all happened after over a week of lows.

She is finally over the lows and we are seeing quite a few 300's. We are working on getting her back on track. We are slowly increasing her Lantus trying to get rid of those highs. But I have to say...after chasing the highs for a few months and then dealing with really bad lows for over a week I am not hating the highs as much.

During one of her lows...she woke up in the middle of the night low and scratched her face. Really bad. I took her in to the ped for her cold and her little face was infected. It was bad. It is looking much better now, but I doubt she will get over it without a scar. What a bummer!

Where did November go???

2007-12-08T22:35:00.000-05:00

Here it is already December 8. I just looked and I didn't even manage to post 1 post in November. Geez...I'm a bad blogger. :P

All I can say in my defense is that I also missed 5 birthdays in November. I think I was asleep with my eyes wide open all month. The kids have been sick (what's new) and of course there was Thanksgiving and a trip to visit the in-laws. Lots of things going on at pre-school and lots of doctors appointments. Not to mention that the laptop that I was using took a dive. It was a little hard to get online and find the time to get online.

Izzy was getting better about sleeping. I actually got an entire night of sleep right after Thanksgiving. Yeah!!! Now she is back to fighting it. We'll see what happens.

Alex is the sweetest thing when he isn't throwing a tantrum. :0 He has taken to calling me sweetheart...like when ever I do something for him he says thank you sweetheart except he doesn't say the sweet part. I just get a lot of 'Thank you Heart!" It is just the sweetest thing.

Ok...enough for now. We actually got our Christmas tree up today and all of the lights on it. Tomorrow we will do the ornaments.

Children with Diabetes and Halloween

2007-10-29T20:28:00.000-05:00

So our first Halloween with this disease is approaching. Isabelle started getting really excited about Halloween last year so this year she has been counting down the days. I don't know if it really is the candy or just being out after dark with Mom and Dad all dressed up in a costume, but she is excited.

All of that candy gives us another problem. How do I get rid of all of that candy without huge fits and without adding another 5 or 10 lbs to my butt and hips? Thomas can only take so much candy to the office. I was surfing around in the d-world and I found the d-bloggers on d-life. I found a link to a newspaper article about a department store in Pennsylvania (I think) that takes candy from children with diabetes and gives them a free toy in exchange. How cool is that!!!!! http://www.republicanherald.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18934521&BRD=2626&PAG=461&dept_id=532624&rfi=6

Now I ask you...why can't every department store in this wonderful land of ours do this? How much money can it really cost them? I can only imagine the good press they would get out of this. Does anyone who reads this blog know of any other places that do this? I am working on writing Toys-R-Us, K-Bee Toys, Wal-Mart, Target, and K-Mart about starting this kind of campaign. Even if it is only a $5.00 toy wouldn't that be great? I haven't had any time to research this on the web to see if there are more programs out there, but I hope to get that done in the next few days. Maybe next Halloween will be different for a lot of boys and girls with d.

Yet another Izzyism

2007-10-24T21:16:00.000-05:00

Izzy came into my room the other day when she was supposed to be napping. She had one arm pulled into her shirt and she said, "Mommy...My arm is gone!!! Help me find it!!!"

I almost laughed myself silly. Hehehehe.

Feeling a little out of control

2007-10-24T21:09:00.000-05:00

Lately things have been so crazy. I know...half of my posts say that. I'm trying to get better about posting the good things instead of just using this blog to gripe. But it seems to me that as Izzy's bs's get crazy I get crazy. I just constantly feel like everything is out of control. The house is crazy...I can't seem to get it straighten out. Izzy's behaviour has been nuts lately, but then again I know I would be really mean if my bs's were that nuts. Alex has even gotten into the act. He has suddenly hit the beginning of the terrible twos. He is pulling everything out of drawers, the pantry, laundry baskets...pretty much anywhere he can get his hands. He is also moving the rugs that are in the kitchen all over the place not to mention throwing things over the railings from the second floor.

Lovely.

Wonder if I'll be bald

2007-10-24T21:00:00.000-05:00

by the time my kids are off on their own? LOL! Isabelle's numbers have been extremely crazy lately. They have been seriously out of control for over two weeks now. I keep faxing the endo and we keep trying new things. They work for like a minute and then BLAM!!!! Crazy again. It makes me feel like pulling out my hair.

I looked back over her stats for the last week and we have numbers ranging from 24 (yeah...you read that right...24!!!!) to 450. I am completely exhausted trying to figure out what is going on. I know that she has a cold and has had one for a little over a week. I sent her to school today because she has been feeling better and got a call around 11:00 saying that they tested her because she was acting weird and she was 301. I went and got her and called the peds on the way. I got her an appointment for the afternoon and when we went in they said that yeah they can tell that she has a cold but it doesn't look that bad. But, her numbers should not be that crazy just from a little cold so we have to put her on meds in the hopes of getting her better quickly and getting her blood sugars back in control. So, here we go again. I do have to say that it has been around a month since we have had to make a visit to the peds. Yeah for me.

The timing is really off for this illness. Izzy has an endo appointment for this Friday. Since her numbers have been so crazy the last couple of weeks I bet her A1C is going to be way worse then the last time. Maybe it won't be so bad.

Oh yeah... the 24. Yesterday she went to school. I went in as usual at lunch time and she was in the 200's ( can't remember exactly and am too lazy as I write this to get up and look at the log) so I did a correction for the high and gave her the right amount of insulin for the lunch. After we came home we layed down for a nap and Izzy woke me up saying that she felt low. I checked her and my heart lept into my throat as it does every time I hear the monitor do that special low beep. I looked at it and almost fell over. It did come up fairly easily though. A half hour later she was at 180. I just have to feel for her though...I can not imagine how I would feel if I were the one that had to deal with that change in blood sugars.

She has been really crazy behaviour wise lately. She has been defiant and mean and of course I am the one that she takes it out on most of the time because I am the one that is around her the most. She is usually pretty good at school...or at least that is the story that I get from her teachers. But when she gets home...man! She is talking back and yelling and pushing her little brother. I don't know what to do with her. I am sort of pulled in two about how much to discipline her. I know that she has to learn how to control her emotions and her temper no matter what her blood sugar is, but I also think that it has got to be really hard to do that when you are going from 24 to 300 in a little over and hour. Right now I am just trying to keep her in check without freaking out too much until she is a little more in control.

Small Successes

2007-10-12T16:36:00.000-05:00

Sometimes you really do have to start small. As most of you that read this blog with any regularity know, Isabelle has not been sleeping. Like for months. Which means I haven't been sleeping because who better to be your middle of the night buddy then your mommy? Well, we have been trying lots of things to get her to sleep. She keeps saying that she is scared so we have been talking a lot about why she is scared and how to be brave and that God is always watching over us and keeping us safe. Last night she only got up once!!! And she went right back to sleep after I tucked her back in. It was really great.

I think I actually logged 6 hours straight without being woken up. It has done wonders for my mood. Who knows...I might actually turn back into the mommy who doesn't yell about everything. ;)

Crazy house

2007-09-15T21:03:00.000-05:00

I haven't been on much lately. Thanks have been crazy here.

Izzy has been doing pretty well lately diabetes wise. She is enjoying school and her new teachers and friends. Her blood sugars are doing pretty well too. Mostly in line with a couple of lows in the 60's and 70's so not too bad. Then all of a sudden she skyrocketed. Two nights in a row. Tuesday and Wednesday nights were not great. She then woke up Thursday and said that she didn't feel well. I asked her what was wrong and if she felt low. She said she wasn't low, she just didn't feel well. I was having a hard time waking up so I told her to hold on a minute while I woke up and she fell asleep. She never falls asleep like that so I knew something was wrong. When she woke up, she said she didn't feel like going to school.

We all had a really great morning. The kids played really well together after breakfast and then we had to go to the mall to get Alex's portraits done. That was lots of fun. Apparently my super friendly 18 month old little guy did not want to have his picture taken. But, with a good photographer we got some really great pictures all while Isabelle was playing all over the place and not acting like she was sick at all. I was thinking that I should have went ahead and sent her to school.

After portraits I took her in to the peds and she has a sinus infection. Lovely.

Before I could even get her prescription filled poor Alex was whining in the back seat so I thought I should just take him home and put him down for his nap. We didn't get Izzy's prescription filled because by the time Alex woke up from his nap it was about 5:00 and it was raining so we just stayed home.

Later that night Alex started crying and just didn't stop. He cred for about 2 hours and then finally fell asleep until about 5:00am. He woke up screaming again. I went back in and he had a really runny, poopy diaper. I changed him and the poor kid was asleep before I even got finished.

I knew sometime in the middle of the night that I was going to have to take him to the doctors. So off to the peds we go. We saw the same dr as the day before. She was surprised to see us. Alex has an ear infection. We stopped at the grocery store where we get our prescriptions filled and I got some groceries while we waited for our prescriptions. Alex was miserable before we were even done. I took the kids home and gave Alex his meds plus some Tylenol and some ear drops for pain and put him to bed. He was out immediately. But, only for about 40 minutes. Then he woke up and screamed for over 2 hours.

I noticed about and hour and a half into the screaming that he had a rash all over his legs and arms so I grab the medication leaflet and of course rash is on the list of side effects/allergic reactions. I called the peds and they wanted us to come back in at the end of the day. Shortly after Alex threw up and of course he wouldn't take anything to drink. He finally fell asleep and I had to wake him up about 15 minutes later to get in the car and go to the peds. By that time his rash was completely gone. They took a look at him, but because they couldn't see the rash they couldn't tell if it was an allergic reaction or not. The dr told me to go ahead and give him his next dose in the morning and if he had the same reaction then fill the new prescription that she gave me.

I have to say the whole time we were at home before going to the peds for the second time I was freaking out. Alex rarely ever cries. And for him to cry that long and that badly it was not good. If I had anyone to take care of Isabelle I probably would have just taken him to the emergency room. The poor kid was just miserable. I'm sure that I freaked Thomas out, he called as we were about to leave for the peds and I almost started crying on the phone with him. I hate being the Mom when you don't know what to do. It sucks. Izzy was freaking out too. She isn't used to hearing Alex cry and it is a little nerve wracking on a good day. At one point I laid him down on the couch so that I could talk to the doctors office and she walked over to him and said, "Quit crying!!!". I of course told her that he can't help it that he is very sick and is miserable. She then said "I'm freakin!" I had to ask her what she said. She repeated it and I had to laugh. I know that I had to have said that I was freaking out while I was on the phone with the doctors office. She hears everything.

The whole time we were at the peds Alex is just laying on me. That is not normal Alex behaviour. I brought him home and he was still whining and crying and just miserable. We gave him some Benedryl and some Motrin and he finally fell asleep. The poor kid slept until 7:15 this morning. I was so worried about him! I actually got up about 3 times last night and checked in on him.

Thomas and I talked about it and there was no way we were going to give him that medicine again. The ped thinks it might have been some sort of stomach virus that was causing all of the crying and the rash/hives so they wanted us to give it to him again to see if he had the same reaction. I just went this morning and filled the new prescription instead.

Alex woke up this morning acting really great. He has been a little clingy today, but he is drinking a lot (thank God!...all he had yesterday was like 1 cup of juice) and he had a little bit of an appetite. He had a pretty good day, but he did have a really hard time going to bed tonight. I think he just wanted Mommy to hold him and cuddle him and so did Izzy. It's hard to be in two places at once so it was a tough couple of hours trying to get them both to sleep. But, everyone is quiet now so I'm off to bed. Wish me luck...I am hoping that everyone sleeps through the night.

Sort of a re-cap. I think I broke my own record...three visits to the doctors in 2 days!!!! Geez.

Sentences

2007-09-15T20:54:00.000-05:00

Sentences...they are so underrated.

Alex said his first sentence today!!! I was helping Izzy finish a visit to the potty and Alex walked in and said, "I want to go potty too." I looked up at him because I couldn't believe that I had heard what I heard. So I asked him, "What??" And he said again just as plain as day, "I want to go potty too." I almost fell over! I asked him "You want to go potty too?" and he shook his head yes. He sat on the potty and didn't do anything, but he was very proud of himself. :) So was Mommy. And I had to get Thomas to come in with the video camera and video the whole thing. He was too cute!!!

I can't believe that he is speaking so well at just 18 months! What can I say...both of my kids are talkers. Poor Thomas...he is surrounded. :)

Voices from the crib

2007-09-11T20:31:00.000-05:00

Picture it...last night it was about 10:30 and I was in bed reading. All of a sudden I hear a little voice through the monitor. It wasn't Alex. At first I was a little freaked out then I realized that it was his Precious Moments Angel. Alex and Izzy both have one and you push their little tummy and they say a little prayer. I thought maybe he kicked it in his sleep.

A few minutes later I heard it again. That's strange. I thought maybe he was in a strange position and he was kicking it again or something. He sometimes kicks his little foot while he is trying to get to sleep.

A few more minutes and I heard it again. I knew that I could not sleep with that thing going off again so I snuck into his room to see what was going on. The little booger was sleeping on it!!! He was sleeping on his tummy with the doll under it. Luckily he rolled slightly, setting off the doll again, and I reached in and grabbed it. He of course completely rolled over then and looked up at me. I ran for the door. Mission complete.

I'm still laughing about this.

Beautiful Saturdays

2007-09-08T14:06:00.000-05:00

I know that the day is not quite over, but just in case something happens to mar the perfection of this day I thought I would jot this down now.

I have had the best day with my family. Izzy has been in line with her blood sugars all day, Alex took a great nap and I got a long nap this morning thanks to my hubby.

Thomas played with the kids all morning and they had a great time while I was catching up on some much needed sleep. This afternoon has been a time of cuddling and tickling and playing and everyone is having a really great time without the screaming. I wish every day was like this.

I just wanted to write this so that when we are having a crazy day I can look back and remember that we really do have good times. :)

During my reading today...

2007-09-08T14:03:00.000-05:00

I came across a link to another blog and a story. I thought all of you that live at the beach or are going to visit the beach (yes I know the summer is almost over) would like to read it so I thought I would post this link. Check it out: http://earthchicknits.blogspot.com/2007/07/worst-five-minutes-of-my-life.html

Oh yeah...be prepared with some tissues.

Back to School

2007-09-07T13:23:00.000-05:00

Izzy started back to school this week. She is now in a 3 day program at the same church pre-school as last year. She is in school Tuesday through Thursday. I think that surprised her because on Wednesday I had to convince her that she 'wanted' to go to school.

She loves her class!!! They keep her really busy and that is really great. I went in the week before all of the school festivities started and talked to the teacher and her aide and explained how to use the meter and when to test and what to look for and how to use the glucagon. It was a lot of information to understand especially with a toddler and 2 preschoolers running around. I was very impressed with her teacher and aide. They had both been researching diabetes and working with a meter so that when the time came they would know what to expect out of Isabelle. I couldn't believe that they would spend their personal time to do that for her. This is why I love this school! We are still looking for books to read to the kids about diabetes so that they can better understand why I am there every day giving Isabelle shots right after lunch. They do love seeing Alex everyday. We were running a little late on Thursday and the teacher told me that a few of the kids were asking where Alex was. LOL! Her teachers are doing a really great job keeping an eye on her. She has had one low of 70 which is not bad and one blood sugar that was slightly high at 209. Both times they were on the phone telling me what they were doing and making sure it was ok. They are doing wonderfully!

Isabelle told me today that she LOVES M. He is a little boy in her class and wouldn't you know it, one of the days I was in giving her her insulin she was chasing him because he wouldn't share. HaHa!!

SHOOOOOEEEEESSSSSS!!!!!!

2007-08-20T21:30:00.000-05:00

It always amazes me when young children are learning to communicate. The lengths that they will go to to make sure that they get their point across is astounding.

In July I took Alex in and got his foot measured and he needed a size 4 wide. I went out and bought him 3 pairs of shoes. Tennis shoes, sandals, and water shoes. About 3 weeks later he began a strange behavior. He would walk over to any shoe he could find and pick it up and bring it to me and say "SHHHOOOEEEEE!" I thought that it was adorable that he was learning to talk so young. We were at the mall about a week later getting Izzy's glasses adjusted and while I was dealing with that Thomas was out in the mall with Alex. He came back in laughing and told me that Alex walked up to every store that had shoes in the window and pointed and said "SHOOOEES!!". Dad also thought this was very charming.

We decided to walk around the mall and low and behold they were having a shoe sale at Stride Rite so we went in. I was looking for some shoes for Alex (it's really hard to find wide shoes). I asked for a 4 wide and the girl asked if I wanted her to measure his foot. I said sure, but I just got him measure under a month ago. She measured him and he needed a 5 1/2 Wide!!! I was amazed. A whole size and a half in like a month.

So, I bought the kid a new pair of shoes and the girl said (this is the kicker) "Do you want him to wear these home or put the old ones back on?" I said he can wear the old ones home. What???? Why would I try to squeeze his poor little foot into a shoe a size and a half too small? I so wasn't thinking. The funniest thing is that he didn't say 'shoe' again for quite a while. I learned to take the hint.

Last week he walked over to me with a shoe and again said "SSSHHHOOOOEEEE!!!!!". We were at the mall later that day and he now needs a size 6 Wide. LOL! He sure is learning to communicate.

Get out the tissue

2007-08-08T20:51:00.000-05:00

Isabelle always surprises me. The things that pop out of her mouth completely amaze me.

We went to visit my parents on Saturday and came home Wednesday. Tuesday afternoon she started running a fever and was complaining of her right ear hurting. I had just taken her to the pediatricians on Thursday and he diagnosed her with a sinus infection. She has been on an antibiotic since then. So, when she started running the fever I called the ped again and they said to go ahead and take her to immediate care. Well, I think it freaked her out. She did not want to go to the doctor.

We got home and I put her to bed and laid down with her. She started talking.

Izzy: Mommy, why am I sick?

Me: I don't know darlin.

Izzy: Who put the sickies in my body?

Me: I don't know darlin.

Izzy: Am I going to die?

Me: Not anytime soon honey. Why are you thinking about that?

Izzy: I don't want to be sick anymore. When is the diabetes going to go away?

Me: Honey, you aren't sick because of the diabetes. You just have a virus or an infection or something. That's why I took you to see the doctor so that they could make you better.

Izzy: Oh. Thank you for taking me to see the doctor.

I just love her so much. Sometimes she makes me want to cry.

Izzyism's continued

2007-07-22T13:35:00.000-05:00

The other day Isabelle woke up hard from a nap in the living room chair and Alex kept trying to love on her. She really didn't want him on her and here is what she said:

"Mommy, Alex is making me crazy!"

Me: "Join the club."

Izzy: "I don't want to join the club!!!"

I'm still laughing over that one. :)

Bad week

2007-07-20T21:15:00.001-05:00

What a week! I'm so glad that it's Friday. Maybe the week ending will cure this craziness.

I have not been myself this week. It has been really busy and usually I love weeks like this. It's fun to be busy and the kids almost always have a good time, but then you throw diabetes into the mix. You never know what will happen then.

My nephew came to stay with us this week and that is great. He is 12 and he is so sweet and very helpful. Poor him that he was here this week. I know he has been bored out of his mind. So add the stress of worrying about him to the mix and things get harder.

Isabelle's blood sugar has been crazy for the last few days. She has been hovering in the high 200's and spiking to the high 300's. Nothing seems to bring them on...they just happen. On top of that it takes FOREVER for them to come down.

Today I thought that finally the highs were on the run. She woke up at 116! Yeah! Then most of the day she was hovering in the 80's. A little on the low side for her, but not hypo. Then all of a sudden in the late afternoon she started asking for something to eat and drink and it wasn't dinner time yet. I of course checked her and BOOM! 256. Ok. That is high, but not that high. Dinner was just a little over an hour away so I just let it go. Usually in an hour or two it is down a little on it's own. So off to the grocery store we go. We got home two hours later. I checked her and she was 389!!! What the F**K????? I am so frustrated I can't even tell you. I was supposed to fax in her test results today to the endo and they were so good this morning that I relaxed a little too much and forgot to do it.

I was getting better about not tying my moods to the blood sugar readings, but after this week I guess I have to start over. I thought it was because I am PMSing and all of us women know that that makes everything at least twice as bad as it really is. I don't know what to do. I just hate feeling so useless. Almost like no matter what I do I can't do anything to help. This disease sucks.

Sorry this post is so down. Hopefully I'll have something better to post tomorrow.

Time for an Update

2007-07-18T15:06:00.000-05:00

Yes I have been out of the loop. Somehow I just haven't found the time or energy to blog lately. It has been a busy summer.

Isabelle started gymnastics 2 Mondays before Fourth of July. She loves it!!! She made me buy her a leotard and wore it the whole weekend before her first class. After her first class the teachers told the kids that they wouldn't have class the next week as the gym was closed for the week because of the holiday. She totally freaked out!!! It took me almost an hour to make her understand that she was going to go back to class in 2 weeks. I guess I should go ahead and sign her up for the next session. :)

Poor Alex has been through the ringer. When I last posted he had an ear infection. We visited the pediatrician 3 Thursday's in a row! The last Thursday we found out that the first medication was not working and that now he had a double ear infection. The poor kid has slept 4 complete nights since all of this started. Since last night was one of them I am hopeful that they will continue. We have an appointment tomorrow for a re-check on his ears. I hope that everything is back to normal. He is eating well and is trying just about everything that we put on his tray (Thank God!). I do wish that he would eat things that are more substantial. He really likes things that are crunchy. I have tried shredded carrots and he will eat them occasionally, but most of what he eats are crackers and cereal. If anyone has any ideas for crunchy foods that will have some calories and nutrients in them please e-mail me or post a comment.

My Mom and my niece Logan came over for a week. We had lots of fun, but it was super busy. We went to American Adventures http://www.sixflags.com/americanAdventures/index.aspx which was lots of fun. It is basically a small amusement park for kids age 3-12. Most of the rides are for younger kids and Isabelle and Logan loved it! Alex even rode the balloon ride with his Meme. Isabelle was very disappointed that she was too little to ride the bumper cars.

On Saturday Thomas and I took Isabelle along with Logan and my sil Teresa to Fernbank Museum of Natural History http://www.fernbank.edu/museum/index.aspx?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1. We also met Sheila and Andrew there. She was a good Mommy and took pictures. :) These days it is about all I can do to remember all of Izzy's diabetic necessities. We had a great time! Lots of fun things. But now Isabelle keeps asking me what we are going to do special today! Too bad we don't live in a city that has free museums...we would be gone everyday. As it is it is too expensive to do this stuff more then once or twice a year.

During the week that Meme and Logan were here Isabelle had her 3 month appointment with the endo. She had her first blood draw since the hospital. Big drama, but I really have to brag. She did really, really great! She didn't like the idea, but she sat on my lap and held Rufus (http://www.jdrfgeorgia.org/family.asp) and talked to the nurses. She did such a good job that they were all bragging on her. They even said that she was better then most of their teen aged patients. Of course it was only her first blood draw so we will see how the next one goes. I got the results back from her A1C and she did good. In the hospital it was 11. This time it was 7.2! I think that is great. She is doing really great about her diabetes lately. Today has been crazy, but I think everyone has crazy days.

Sorry this post was so long. It has been crazy around here and I haven't had much of a chance to sit down and think much less actually use the computer. So, there's your update. Oh yeah...last night my brother dropped my nephew off for the rest of the week. Garrett is great! He is usually a really big help around the house and with the kids. I am glad that he is here.

Poor Alex

2007-06-28T21:00:00.000-05:00

He now has an ear infection. Funny...I know something was wrong when he was up most of the night last night. He just doesn't stay up all night for no reason. He feels better this evening. He should. He has antibiotics, Motrin, teething gel, cold medicine and a tummy full of milk. Plus he got to play with his Daddy and Isabelle.

Alex is too cute these days. He is trying really hard to jump, but can't quite figure out how to get his feet off of the ground. When he is on the bed though he can! He delights in jumping on the bed and landing on his butt. He giggles and then stands up and does it again. He is also trying really hard to give raspberries. Isabelle loves to do that and she thinks it is sooooo funny so now Alex is trying his hardest to do it too. He was totally annoying Isabelle tonight because he kept trying to blow raspberries all over her where ever he could get his mouth. He's too cute.

The Revenge of the Milkshake

2007-06-20T12:29:00.000-05:00

I am really beginning to not like milkshakes. We had a problem with Isabelle when we were on our trip for Memorial Day with a milkshake. It sent her blood sugar sky high so we haven't given her another one until last night.

Yesterday was an ok day. We had a low and about dinner time she was in the 300's but of course she didn't want to eat. We gave her a correction and decided to go out for dinner since everyone had a nap and was fresh and ready to get out. We ended up at the new Steak-N-Shake in town. Of course Isabelle wanted a milkshake. She ate and we gave her insulin for what she ate. I was trying to get her to go to bed and she started complaining about a stomach ache so I checked her blood sugar. It was 72. Gave her 4 glucose tabs to correct for it and checked again in 15 minutes. She was at 122. Good. Left her to go to sleep. She finally fell asleep around midnight.

Around 4:00am she woke me up saying that she was wet. I went in and checked and changed her pj's as well as the comforter. I checked her blood sugar again. It was 397!!! WTH??!!! I gave her a correction and she finally fell back asleep around 6:00am. When we finally woke up at a little before 10:00am she was in the high 80's.

It had to be the milkshake. Either that or there is something else going on. I'm going to guess that it was the milkshake since the last time we had the same problem. Very strange night. I'm exhausted.

Bittersweet moments on Father's Day

2007-06-17T15:54:00.000-05:00

Happy Father's Day to all of the Dad's out there. I know of 3 really great ones!

Today we all piled into the van and went to church. We usually take Isabelle to the children's church and Alex to the nursery, but today they weren't having the in-between (between Sunday school and when children's church actually starts about 20 minutes into the church service) children's church so we took Isabelle to the service with us. She sat and watched all of the kids do the songs from vacation bible school. She asked me to let her go up to the stage to sing with the other kids. I told her that since she didn't get to go to VBS (it was in the evening ending at 9:00pm; her bedtime is 7:00) that she didn't know the songs so she couldn't go up there and sing with them. When it was finally time for the children to come up for the children's message Isabelle just walked right up there and sat down like she did it every Sunday of her life. She sat and listened to the preacher very quietly and while he talked to the kids she raised her hand as if she was going to ask him a question. I waited with baited breath to see what she was going to say. Luckily she never did say anything. She was just such a big girl! When the preacher dismissed them she just stood there like she didn't know what to do then she decided to go and sit down next to her Children's Church teacher. She was such a little lady. I couldn't believe that she looked like such a big girl. I got tears in my eyes. I was so proud of her and her big girl behavior. Just recently she started to dress herself. Plus on top of that she is pretty much past the stage of crying every time we give her her insulin. What a big girl she is becoming.

Alex is also growing up. We have been having problems with him eating. For months he has not wanted to eat anything other than formula. On top of that he has also had problems pooping. A couple of weeks ago I took him in for his 1 year well baby checkup and the ped said not to worry about it that he would eat when he was ready. I have heard this before and have been trying not to worry but every one who is a parent knows that is sometimes hard. He finally started eating!!!! Yeah!!! He started out slow. He would only eat things that were crunchy. Today he started branching out. He grabbed a chicken finger off of my plate and went at it. I'm so relieved.

We also switched him recently to soy milk because he seemed to be having problems with the older infant formula that we were trying. Now he is pooping a lot more. He used to poop about once a week. Since we started soy he is pooping almost every day. At least every other day. One day he even pooped 3 times. Wow...what a difference. He has also stopped taking bottles. He is doing really great with the straw cups and only has a bottle right before bed.

I can't believe the changes in my children lately. Their childhoods seem to be flying by me. I'm so proud of both of them.

Vacations and blood sugar

2007-06-11T17:06:00.000-05:00

Boy...what a summer. It hasn't been here that long, but we have already made two trips. Last week the kids and I went to go see my parents. We had a really great time, but it really is hard to keep Isabelle's blood sugar in check while we are gone. I don't know why it is harder...we do a lot of eating out even when we are at home so you think I would be used to figuring out what she has eaten and how many carbs there are in it.

Just before we left Isabelle developed a rash so I took her in to the peds and they said it was viral, nothing they could do, it will go away on it's own. It was of course accompanied by some high blood sugars. Nothing else though until she got a case of the hives for a day. So, I had a feeling that her blood sugars were going to be all over the place but I decided to go anyway. I don't want a little thing like diabetes keep us from doing things. While we were there she actually had a blood sugar in the 400's. I almost freaked out. I'm still new at this, and I forgot the keto sticks. Not a big deal you say? Just pop out to the nearest pharmacy or large discount store. Yeah right. My parents live in the middle of nowhere and since it was after 5:00 everyone that was close by was already closed. I had to drive to the nearest town to find a chain pharmacy that was still open and an hour and a half later figured out that Isabelle was not throwing keytones. Yeah! But, dumb mommy! If I had remembered to bring them I would have saved myself almost two hours of freaking out. Live and learn.

The whole time we were gone I was up every night with one of the kids (it's been like that at home lately too though). Isabelle woke up the first 2 or 3 nights with blood sugars in the high 200's and low 300's. She of course couldn't sleep and I had to do corrections. Doesn't make for a peaceful night, but towards the end of the trip she was just waking up in the middle of the night to make sure that I wasn't sleeping for more then 4 hours in a row. Oh...not really. It just felt that way.

We have been home for a few nights and things were calming down. I finally got to spend almost and entire night in the bed with my husband. Then last night Alex woke up around 1:00 am soaking wet and needing a bottle. I took care of him and then came back to bed. I was just getting back to sleep when Isabelle came into our room to get me. I took her back to bed and checked her blood sugar. It was 414! Yuck! Why? Why is it soooo high? I gave her a correction and it still took her over two hours to get back to sleep. I finally drifted off around 4am. Luckily they both slept a little later this morning. I really hope that tonight goes better. I have absolutely no idea why it was so high. I hope she isn't getting sick again. I need a break.

My child

2007-06-11T17:02:00.000-05:00

She makes me laugh every day. In fact they both do. Izzy just came and paid me a visit after getting out of the bath. She soon informed me that she was going downstairs to watch her movie. I said OK, but at least put your panties on (she has a really horrible habit of running around naked and if we don't leave the house all day she is likely not to get dressed at all).

She said, "I can't. My panties are in jail."

She totally cracks me up!

Up High Down Low

2007-05-30T21:12:00.000-05:00

We went to the beach for the long weekend and we had a really good time. But, it was hard to keep the diabetes in check. Izzy's blood sugars have been on a roller coaster lately. It really started at the end of last week.

Friday on our trip we made a huge mistake and gave her a milkshake. Of course Chick-fil-a didn't have nutrition information available and we didn't plan on making the stop so we didn't get the info off of the website so we just guessed. Boy did we ever guess wrong. She didn't even drink half of it and it took us 2 corrections to get her blood sugar back down into the 100's. It was crazy. I think we only had one good blood sugar day while we were there.

I have talked to the Endocrine and they can not see any pattern so they don't want to change anything yet. Today she was in the 300's and also had two lows. Lovely.

But, I think that she is getting sick. She broke out in a rash on Tuesday and also vomited. I took her to the peds and he said that the rash looks like a viral rash and there is nothing that we can do but let it run it's course. Today she started with a couple of hives so I gave her some Benedryl and then the blood sugar really went nuts. I would really like a month of just dealing with the diabetes so that we can actually get a handle on what her normal levels look like. She has been sick twice already(not counting now) since she was diagnosed 2 months ago. I am going to keep a close eye on her and check in on her in about a half hour so I can see what is going on with her blood sugar. When I put her to bed we did her Lantus and a correction of Humalog because her blood sugar was in the 300's. Hope we didn't overdose her.

A Day of Firsts

2007-05-22T21:09:00.000-05:00

Alex had a big day. Lots of firsts. He learned how to drink from a straw. Yeah!!!! That makes life around here so much better. He has finally started to experiment more with different food and tries just about everything that we put in front of him. He had his first taste of smoothie this morning surprising both him and me. And he liked it. :)

He also had kind of a bad first this afternoon. Thomas had just gotten home from work and was eating dinner and we were all sitting down at the table talking. Alex was wondering around. He walked up to me and took a bite of my thigh. It hurt like crazy and I just put my hands up and kind of looked at Thomas like get him out of here. Thomas picked him up and told him, "No biting! You can't bite Mommy. You are in time-out. You stay there." Alex looked up at me and at Thomas and put his hands down on the floor and just started to cry. Then Isabelle started to cry. It was all I could do not to cry. He was so upset!!! Isabelle was really mad at her Daddy-O for putting her baby in time-out. She said he was too little to go to time-out. Alex just sat there and cried for a minute and then Thomas went over and picked him up. He was like Velcro with him the rest of the evening. What a first to remember.

"Thank you Daddy-O"

2007-05-22T21:03:00.000-05:00

Last night after a long day I talked to Thomas and told him that when he got home from work I was going to get out of the house...I had a ton of errands to do and I knew they would be easier to do without both of the kids. I had Alex in bed and Isabelle was already bathed and just needed her bedtime snack and her Lantus shot. I made it easy for him. :)

Isabelle has been doing so much better about her shots. She has not been crying and struggling when we give her shots, but she still isn't that great when Thomas gives her the shots. Last night Thomas came upstairs with the Lantus shot while Izzy and I were relaxing in the bed. He gave her the shot without too much of a problem. We both praised her for doing so well and she said, "Thank you Daddy-O for giving me my shot. Thank you for making me better."

Makes me want to cry. What a change from a couple of weeks ago.

The great bedroom switch

2007-05-21T18:19:00.000-05:00

Isabelle hasn't wanted to sleep in her own bed in forever. She constantly wants to sleep in the Queen size bed in the guest room (otherwise known as Meme's room LOL!). I thought it was because she wanted me to sleep with her, but we haven't done that in a while. I sometimes lay down with her while she is falling asleep, but I don't stay very long and she knows that I won't be there when she wakes up. I was talking to my Mom about it when she was visiting and she suggested that she wants to sleep in that room because it is darker and quieter.

I have been talking to Izzy about moving her bed into the guest room and moving the Queen size bed into her room and she has been excited about the idea. So I did it. One afternoon I just went ahead and did it. And of course the little booger is still sleeping in the Queen size bed. She didn't care what room it was in she just wants to sleep in it. I asked her why she wanted to sleep in that bed and she said because it has two pillows. Can't freaking believe it. She has also told me that I should move the beds back. AAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!! I don't think so. Too much work.

When will I be able to relax?

2007-05-21T18:07:00.000-05:00

Now that we are dealing with this disease I often wonder when will I ever feel relaxed? Will it ever happen again? I was driving home today from a playgroup and lunch out with our playgroup friends and I passed a swimming pool. I almost instantly remembered the feeling of laying next to a calm pool in the warm sun and not thinking about anything. Falling asleep without a care in the world other then do I have enough sunscreen on. I don't think I will ever feel that way again. I was just getting to the point with Isabelle that I felt like I didn't have to watch her ever single minute of the day. She was getting old enough for me to feel comfortable with taking a nice long shower without having to stress out about leaving her alone too long. Now that feeling of relief is gone. It has been replaced by anxiety. Constant anxiety.

The kids have both finally been sleeping though the night again (Thank God!!) but I still find myself either waking up and worrying about Isabelle and if she is too low or too high or dreaming funky dreams about her or about running away from whatever is chasing me. Let me take a big guess what that is. I have to say that I am really, really, really thankful to my husband and to God that I don't have to work right now. I think if I had one more thing on my plate that I would never be able to rest.

Sorry about this post. I know that it isn't all that uplifting or even very interesting. I just needed to vent and I am kind of hoping that some of you D parents out there can give me a little feedback on how long it is before you can stop stressing completely about your child. I know that I will always worry about her and it will always be there. I'm just hoping that I can get to relax a little sometime soon. We are headed for the beach this weekend so I hope that will help.

Meme and Izzy

2007-05-15T19:28:00.000-05:00

My parents are here. Yeah! It's always nice to have them. Isabelle is always on her best behaviour and she is soooo sweet. They got here Monday afternoon. They are here because Thomas and I had a follow up class at the children's hospital for Isabelle's diabetes. I needed someone to watch the kids because we couldn't take them with us and Mom and Dad are going to go to a caregiver class to learn how to take care of Izzy but the class isn't until tomorrow. So my Mom, God bless her, said that if I gave her a crash course in Izzy's care she would try to do it while we were gone as long as I kept my cell on for questions. Last night I went over carb counting with her and how to give the shots. She gave her first shot last night after dinner and Isabelle did great with Meme giving her a shot.

Today went really well! Thomas and I had to leave early because of traffic and because the hospital is about 45 minutes away without traffic. Sometimes with the traffic it can take twice that time. We left before the kids were up so Mom had to do the morning shot and the lunch shot as well and figure out all of the carbs and how much insulin to give. She did such a good job!!!! And Isabelle did great for her. I am so relieved. It's almost as though Isabelle knew that she had to be good for Meme. She is still running and hiding from us as well and crying and trying to jerk away when Thomas and I give her the shots. Maybe Meme doing it will help her to calm down with us. I really hope so...it would make everyone's lives easier.

Izzyism

2007-05-15T19:25:00.000-05:00

Sunday Izzy walked up to me and here is what happened:

Izzy: Mommy. Mommy. Mommy. Mommy.

Me: What Isabelle?

Izzy: Mommy...I have a surprise for you.

Me: You do? What is it?

She walked into the living room with her hands behind her back and a smile on her face.

Izzy: Open your hand.

I held my hand out.

Izzy: Here...Just for you! You've got a button! CONGRATULATIONS!!!! Aren't you excited??!!

Me: Oh yeah...I'm excited. :P

She is a trip.

Mother's Day

2007-05-11T18:13:00.000-05:00

I feel so bad. I haven't done any Mother's Day shopping. My MIL's aren't even going to get cards. Unless they are late. I have been trying to get out and get to the card store for over a week now, but it just hasn't happened. The kids have been sick all week. Isabelle actually asked to go to bed tonight at 5:30. She didn't even want a bath. She is really tired.

I actually got a Mother's Day present today from my Father and Mother in Law. I was so surprised! It was really sweet. They sent me a miniature rose bush. I hope that it makes it through my care and I will be able to plant it in the flower bed out front. I also got 2 mother's day cards in the mail today. Boy...I feel the love. :)

I went to Mom's Night Out last night with my Mom's group. Even that was quick and not very restful. I was looking forward to it all week. Thomas had it on his schedule. He hit traffic and couldn't make it home until a little before 7:00. I was supposed to be there at 7:00. When he walked in I didn't want to just run off and leave him without giving him a couple of minutes to get his breath. I ended up not getting to the restaurant until around 7:30. While I was there Thomas called three times. The last 2 times were a little scary. Izzy's blood sugar was in the 400's! And of course even with the insulin she didn't come down very fast so he was really worried. By the time I got home it was in the 300's and I told him we should wait for at least another hour to give the insulin 2 hours to work before we completely freak out. When I checked her a little over an hour and a half later she was 68. Gave her some juice which she actually drank and drifted back off to sleep quickly. When I checked her again she was 80. I finally went to sleep with her in the guest bedroom. She woke up at 3:00am wide awake and wanted a fudgesicle. I of course was exhausted. I think she wanted to play, but I convinced her to go back to bed. She's been really strange lately about going to bed. She wants me to sleep with her. I hope that ends soon. I would love to get back to my own bed.

So, I guess I have an excuse. I still feel bad though. My Mom will be here on Monday so I was planning on not sending her anything so that I could give it to her when she was here so at least I have that under control. Maybe I'll be able to get that accomplished.

I'm hanging in there.

The special ring

2007-05-10T09:10:00.000-05:00

Last night as Thomas was trying to get Isabelle to bed she came into my bedroom where I was having some alone time to tell me goodnight. She was very sweet and gave me a kiss and then begged me to sleep with her. She was wandering around and found my wedding ring on the nightstand. I tend to take it off when I put on lotion and I hadn't put it back on yet. She grabbed it and took off with it. When I tracked her down in the guest room Thomas was telling her that it was a special ring that Mommy and Daddy wear to show everyone that they are married. She thought that was really neat and she wanted a special ring of her own. Thomas came up with a great idea. There was a small ring on something of his that he thought would be about the right size and it was! She is now wearing her own 'special ring'. She is so excited!

And it begins again

2007-05-09T18:17:00.000-05:00

Fever of 102.5. Lovely. I thought she was well. Plus to make things just a little more fun I have a really sore throat and feel feverish too. I went to the doctor's today because I thought I might have strep, but no strep so she sent me home telling me to take some Tylenol and rest. Yeah right. I went to the school to get Isabelle (she didn't have a fever until after we got home) and brought her home and about an hour later I noticed that she had a fever. Now her tummy is hurting and of course she is refusing to eat. Great. Here we go again.

Ice and Diabetes

2007-05-08T20:25:00.000-05:00

Lately whenever Izzy's blood sugar is out of whack she asks for ice. She tells me that her teeth hurt and the ice makes them feel better. Tonight as I was putting her to bed I gave her a bowl of ice and she was happily munching away as I was reading the Lorax. When I got done she told me that the ice was going to make her diabetes go away. I told her that I didn't think that the ice would do anything for the diabetes. She again told me that it would take it away.

Then she asked me, "Where is my diabetes?"

I pointed to her tummy and said, "In there."

Izzy: "ohhh...that's not good."

Me: "I know...that's not good."

Sometimes she really makes me want to cry. Actually that has happened a lot today. We have been talking a lot about being brave with her shots and not crying and running away and wiggling. She actually took two shots without crying. Yeah! That is progress. I hope it continues.

Another Izzyism:

We have been reading the Lorax quite a bit lately. She has told me a couple of times that she is a Bar-B-Loot. She has crummies in her tummy. She is too cute!!!

Hi's and Low's

2007-05-08T16:47:00.000-05:00

Isabelle has been all over the place lately. She has been high a couple of times today and she had a low in the 30's. Totally freaked me out. She has not wanted to eat anything other then grapes and cheese crackers. Maybe that's what's going on. I do wish she would level out. All of these ups and downs scare me.

We have another appointment with the Endocrine on Monday so maybe by then we will have it figured out or they will be able to figure it out then.

Thank God!

2007-05-08T16:35:00.000-05:00

Both of the kids seem to be getting better. Alex had two naps today (rarely ever happens) and he is in a great mood. Isabelle is finished with her antibiotic and seems to be almost completely better. Plus, she never got pink eye! They are both playing together right now and are so cute!!! Alex just follows her everywhere. She is teasing him mercilessly and he is loving it. I love that they are playing so well together. I've been waiting for them to be able to do this...at least it gives me a few minutes of peace during the day so I don't go too crazy! LOL!

Will it ever end?

2007-05-03T15:32:00.001-05:00

I am soooo tired of sick kids! It seems that one or the other (if not both at the same time) has been sick since Thanksgiving. Yes that is almost 6 months ago! We have had a few brief respites of like a week or two. Now they are both sick again. Izzy has an Upper Respiratory Infection. She woke up yesterday with green snot so I took her to the peds and they actually gave her antibiotics which almost never happens. Plus the doctor thought she was getting a case of pink eye. Lovely. I'm hoping that she doesn't get the pink eye. So far so good on that point. Then this morning Alex wakes up with lots of snot. Thank God his is clear so we didn't have to spend the day trying to see the doctor. So, I'm back to two clingy babies. I actually have them both off of my lap at the moment. I can't believe it. :P

I am really hoping that when the Spring and Summer really hit that we will get over all of this sick mess. Wish us luck.

Fun times at the Mall

2007-05-01T15:12:00.000-05:00

You know my daughter is a trip. She is such a character. Today we went to the Mall to get her glasses adjusted and to do some errands that I needed to get done.

As we were walking through the mall one of the kiosk vendors asked if she could try some pins in Isabelle's hair. I said sure. She put some pins in Izzy's hair and Isabelle just sat there so sweet and quiet. When the lady showed her her hair in the mirror Isabelle said she looked like Cinderella and was very excited about the hair do. We paid for the pins and walked away. We went from there to lunch and as soon as we sat down Isabelle said, "That lady forked me Mommy. Did she fork you?" Another one for the Isabelle books.

Later on we were waiting for a new battery to be put in my watch so we went into Payless to look at shoes. I have been really lucky at that store with children's shoes. Lots of times I walk in there and can find a pair of shoes for $3 or $6. Alex needs a pair of tennis shoes and a pair of water shoes for the summer so I thought we would see if they had anything. Right off I found the shoes that I wanted for Alex, but they didn't have his size. I took the shoes to ask the woman at the counter if they had his size in the back and on the way back up the isle I looked at Isabelle's size just to see if they had anything cute and cheap. We found the cutest shoes marked down to $6 plus they had Buy One Get One Half Price for the entire store. She tried them on and refused to take them off. She was wondering around in them as I stood in line behind two older women waiting to talk to the sales woman. One of the women commented on her pretty shoes and Isabelle said, "They aren't shoes...they are Glass Slippers! I am Cinderella!" They were enchanted. She is still calling them Glass Slippers. Too cute.

Hard or Easy

2007-05-01T15:01:00.000-05:00

Hmmm...being a Stay at Home Mom (SAHM). Hard or Easy? I guess it depends on you and your family and your day. Today I'm going to say it is HARD! I did manage to get a shower by myself today although not with enough time to actually shave my legs. LOL! I really enjoy being a SAHM, but sometimes I think most of the world thinks that we don't 'work'. Just because we don't get a paycheck definitely does not mean that we don't work. Plus with being a SAHM you get the added benefit of being on call 24/7. A fact that I have been reminded of almost every night for at least a couple of months. Lovely.

I guess that I will be hearing all about the other side of motherhood (Working Moms) since my best friend just went back to work yesterday. I am missing her desperately. We used to talk on the phone like 5 or 6 times a day and of course we can't anymore. I have to say...I am not very happy with her husband right now. He's right up there with another guy I know right now. Or should I say down there. And no, I don't mean Thomas. :P

Sorry...this post kinda stinks. I'm just really tired and there is no rest in sight.

Crazy blood sugars

2007-05-01T14:53:00.000-05:00

Crazy blood sugars again today. We keep getting lows and sometimes they are hard to get up. They start out being between the 50's and the 70's and sometimes don't go up until the third try. It makes me nervous because among our many directions from the Endocrinologist is to call immediately if you can not raise a low blood sugar after 3 tries. Today when I checked her blood sugar for the third time the meter read 557. I didn't even know the meter went that high. I almost freaked!!!! Then I remembered that she probably had something sweet on her hands since I had given her sugar tablets to bring up her blood sugar and I might not have washed them good enough. Thank god when I read it again it was 136. Yahoo!

I don't want to tough it out

2007-05-01T14:47:00.000-05:00

This morning I was trying to rally the troops for a trip to the mall so that we could get Isabelle's glasses adjusted (among other things) and Isabelle was giving me a hard time about getting ready. She kept coming up with excuses as to why she couldn't get dressed. Among them were: She was Little Creek (the friendly Indian from Spirit), she was Baby Spirit the horse and she just didn't want to go bye bye. She finally came up with what she thought was the winner. She told me that she was dirty (she had a bath before bed last night as usual) and needed a bath. My reply was that we didn't have time for a bath, we needed to go. She of course tried to argue with me about how dirty she was and how much she had to have a bath. I told her that she wasn't dirty and she would just have to tough it out. Her reply, "I don't want to tough it out. I want to tough it in." I just couldn't contain my laughter. :)

He's Brilliant!

2007-04-28T15:41:00.000-05:00

Yesterday as we were hanging out in the living room Sesame Street was on. Isabelle was watching it intently as they were singing the ABC's. Alex was sitting in my lap drinking a bottle. Elmo came across the screen singing the ABC's (it was an ABC day) while he was riding his tricyle. Alex jumped off of my lap and went straight to his toy box. He rummaged around for a few minutes pulling toys out and looking at them then throwing them down. He finally found what he was looking for and he turned around with the most proud expression on his face. He had Elmo in his hand...the one that is like a rattle that you shake and it giggles. He was so excited!!!! He walked over to me talking and giggling the whole way and handed it to me. Then he wanted to climb back up in my lap and finish his bottle.

I had no idea that he knew who Elmo was let alone like him. LOL!

Yucky Day

2007-04-26T18:06:00.000-05:00

Last night Isabelle went to bed around 8:00 and by a little after 9:00 she was complaining about her tummy hurting and that she was hungry. I went upstairs with the meter and checked her blood sugar...60. It's supposed to be between 80 and 180. Back downstairs to get some juice and a snack. She finished the juice and it still 74. She wouldn't eat the snack that I brought her and she was complaining about her stomach hurting. I went back downstairs for more juice. Finally it was up to 83. Thank God. I stayed with her for a little while and read another story and then she finally fell asleep around 10:30. I set the alarm for 2:00am to get up and check on her blood sugar again. We didn't make it that far.

At around 12:30 I was asleep and Isabelle came into the bedroom complaining that she was wet and that her bed was all wet. Thomas went in to check on the situation and I heard him say something to the effect of "Oh No!" and I was up. She had thrown up all over the bed. And it looked bad because she had pizza for dinner and some of the juice that I had given her when she had the low BS was red. Lovely. Sweet Thomas stripped the bed while I got Izzy into some new jammies and into the bed in the guest room. I checked her blood sugar and it was 85. That wasn't too bad. But, she wasn't done throwing up. Lovely. She finally crashed sometime after 1:00am and I got to sleep a little after 2:00am. I slept with her because I felt like I needed to be close by in case she started throwing up again and so I could check her blood sugar easily if I woke up again. We both luckily slept all night and so did Alex.

So, today didn't start until around 9:00am when it is usually starting between 7:00am and 8:00am. She has kept everything down today, but it has been a total battle to get her to eat anything. She has mostly eaten fruit so I guess that is ok. Her blood sugar has been all over the place today. We have had at least 2 lows and 1 high. It's almost time for her to go to bed. I hope tonight goes better then last night.

I have felt so helpless today. Izzy obviously was not feeling so great today and I don't think that she felt so great yesterday either. Now that I think back about yesterday she told me quite a few times that she didn't feel good. I thought that she was being a drama queen because she was at preschool yesterday and I am sure that everyone was cautious about her diabetes. I guess I should learn to listen to her better. Some of the info that I got from the Endocrinologist says to call whenever they vomit. So I called them first thing this morning. They just said to keep a close eye on her blood sugars, make sure that she doesn't get dehydrated and to call back if she vomits again.

It's just been such a stressful day. Alex hasn't been himself today either. He has been really clingy. He actually sat with me in the chair just playing with a small toy and cuddling with me for at least 30 minutes. He never does that. He is getting some new teeth in and I think that is what is wrong with him. On top of all of that the DSL has been acting up so Thomas called Bell South last night and they were supposed to come today to check things out. I had to be here from 1-5 and they never showed up. The only phone in the house that is working is the phone in the kitchen on the wall so whenever the phone rings today I have had to stop what I was doing and run into the kitchen. Totally annoying especially since it has been quite a day. The phone guy called around 2:30 to tell us that he was on his way and to see if anyone was there. I didn't answer it because I was upstairs and didn't hear it. He never showed up. Really pissed me off. GRRRRRR!!!! Add frustration to an already crazy day. Hopefully Izzy will feel better tomorrow and we can see some friends.

Funny Isabelle

2007-04-26T18:04:00.000-05:00

We were hanging out today not doing a whole lot of anything and Isabelle out of the blue says, "Mommy...I have a baby in my tummy. His name is Achy." Then she turned around and went on playing. I laughed until my tummy was achy. LOL! Guess her tummy still isn't back to normal.

So many new things

2007-04-21T21:12:00.000-05:00

It seems like for the last three weeks everything has been new. We are all learning about how to deal with diabetes and how it effects Isabelle. And on Wednesday of this week I took Isabelle in to see the Pediatric ophthalmologist and they gave her glasses. So now we are dealing with a 3 year old with diabetes who has to have her blood sugar tested at least 4 times a day; which actually tends to be more like 8 times a day and the subsequent shots who seems to have figured out that when she eats she has to get a shot which has not helped the eating situation. Now we are supposed to get her to wear her glasses so that she can correct her lazy eye. She does not want to wear them. That makes me say to her at least a 100 times a day..."Put your glasses on." "You need to wear your glasses." or something of that sort. So much fun. She did get to pick out her frames and was very excited about them until she put them on. The prescription is really strong...the girl at the eyeglass place was surprised that this was her first pair with this prescription. She is very cute in them though. If only I could get her to wear them, but I am also thinking that this is just one thing too many right now. Today I took the day off from bugging her about her glasses...I told her to put them on once then not again. I think I will let her go for a couple of days and then start again.

Thomas kept the kids today so that I could get out. Friday was bad so I really needed some time to myself. It was nice to sit and have lunch all by myself without having to talk to anyone or do anything for anyone. Everyone needs a break now and then. I do worry though that Thomas doesn't get enough of a break.

I have found quite a few new websites about diabetes and some interesting blogs. It's nice to know that there are other people out there that are dealing with the same things that we are dealing with. I do feel really sad that she has to go through this and that she is going to have to do it for the rest of her life. I am trying to wait patiently for the day that she won't scream and cry about getting her shots. I hope it is soon. It is really hard to take sometimes.

Sorry this post is so blah...I'll think of something cute to write about the next time.

Sweet Alex

2007-04-19T00:26:00.000-05:00

My sweet little guy. I know that I am his mother, but he is just the best baby in the entire world!!! He has such a great disposition. He is always happy and laughing and he just hangs in there no matter what we are doing. Today Isabelle had an eye doctor appointment so I left him with my Mom. Alex loves his Meme, but today he seemed to really want Mommy. I don't know what was up with him, but he was just not happy this morning unless I was holding him. Well, I had to pry him away to take Izzy to the doctors and when we got back he was just so happy to see us. He just walks around most of the day and plays all by himself. Later in the day we went to the mall and he was just content to hang out and watch all of the people.

I guess I was just thinking back to what a sweet little baby he was. Now he is getting to be such a big boy. He is trying sooooo hard to talk. He repeats or tries to repeat everything that you say. He doesn't have much time to cuddle now since he is so busy, I actually find myself not minding at all when he wakes up in the middle of the night needing a bottle or some comfort. Tonight when he woke up (why else would I be up this late???) I went up and took him a bottle. He was just so cuddly. When he was done with his bottle he turned over on me and snuggled his little head onto my shoulder. I just LOVE that feeling. When you have a sweet little one laying on you and they are so sweet and trusting and they are sleeping so soundly. I know that there won't be that many more nights like this so I am trying to treasure them.

The antelope

2007-04-17T20:17:00.000-05:00

Ya gotta love toddlers. This morning while Isabelle and I were eating breakfast my Mom came downstairs. On her way to the kitchen through the dining room she noticed that there was a centipede on the floor. She told us about it and Isabelle was very excited to see it. Mom then picked it up with a tissue and flushed it down the toilet.

You would think that it was not a big deal at all and that it would be forgotten. Not with a 3 year old around. Isabelle asked me to tell her the story about the antelope. It took me about 15 minutes to figure out that she was talking about the centipede. So I told like a thousand stories about it. Then I got up to get her waffle out of the toaster. When I had my back to her she said "Mommy I am going to be the Antelope." I have to admit that I was only half listening to her as my mind was on how many carbs were in the waffle that I was making her and how many units of insulin I was going to have to give her. When I turned around to put the waffle on the plate I didn't notice that she was no longer in the chair because I could hear her sweet little voice. When I got the waffle cut up into the necessary 16 pieces I finally noticed that she wasn't in her seat. I walked around the island and there she was. She was laying on the floor on her tummy saying "Look Mommy! I'm the Antelope!" It was hilarious. We were in fits of giggles for at least 20 minutes. Good old Isabelle! She always makes me laugh.

Crazy day

2007-04-11T22:14:00.000-05:00

What a crazy day! Isabelle, although very sweet, was a pistol today. I forgot my new lesson that when she is crazy and mean that I should take her blood sugar. I didn't do this and found out later that she was low. Not just once but twice! Hmmm...could this be part of her mood swings? I think so. Alex was also needy today so before 9:00 am they had both driven me a little crazy. At least my Mom is still here so that helps a lot.

When she wasn't driving me crazy she was riding around on her stick horses and asking me to be 'Spirit' with her. She is too funny!

Thanks to Jay who sent me the links on the articles about the news in the diabetic world. I sometimes don't have enough time to look for things on the Internet.

Tomorrow I am headed to Isabelle's pre-school to talk to them about what kind of care she will need. I am hoping that she will be able to return on Monday. On Monday I will be able to go with her and stay for the day so that if anyone has any questions I will be there. Wish me luck.

Isabelle's hospital stay

2007-04-10T20:50:00.000-05:00

Ok...I'm trying to move into the computer age so I thought I would start a Blog. I have been spurred on by my friend Sheila. She has a blog and I love reading it.

I started to create this blog a little over a week ago and I got kind of sidetracked.

Last Monday, April 2 my sweet little daughter Isabelle got sent to the hospital. She was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. Totally threw me for a loop. I took her to the pediatrician because she was peeing all the time and really thirsty. She had what we thought was the stomach flu and I just thought that she was dehydrated. While we were at the peds they did a blood test and the doctor came back in and told me that she had Diabetes and that I had to take her to the emergency room at the children's hospital. He said that we would be there for at least 2 days so that we could learn to take care of Izzy. I called my Mom first thing and told her that I needed her to come over asap. Then I called my hubby and told him to meet us at the hospital. We were crazy. Alex was sick with throwing up and diarrhea so I couldn't ask any of my mommy friends to keep him so we had to take him to the hospital with us. We got to the hospital a little before 5:00 and we were finally put in a room a little after 8:00. Thomas was about to go home with Alex when my Mom showed up. Isabelle was so excited to see her Meme that it really helped her to not be so freaked out.

Thomas and I spent the next 2 days in the hospital with Isabelle taking classes to learn how to manage her diabetes. My Mom took care of Alex and stayed with Isabelle in the hospital while Thomas and I were in class. I don't know what I would have done without my Mom. It helped not having to worry too much about Alex.

Isabelle will have to have insulin shots for the rest of her life unless they find a cure. We have to check her blood sugar via finger prick at least 4 times a day and she gets shots after every meal and at least 1 before bedtime. It is really hard to have to give your child a shot every day. Especially when she is crying and screaming for you not to do it. Isabelle thought that she would not have to have shots any more after she got home. I'm so sorry that it wasn't true.