Monday, March 29, 2010

The last few weeks

There has been so much going on at our house lately. It has caused a bunch of questions so I thought I would just take time to write on my blog.

First of all, I wrote that we are selling our house. This has been such a huge relief for us. I have posted this in the past so to summarize, 2 years ago my hubby lost his job. The income that he was making at that time has never been replaced. It is a tough market for his line of work (banking/financial) and it seems that financially everything has been a struggle ever since. Not to mention that 5 months after he got laid off the Princess was diagnosed with diabetes then almost exactly a year after that Little Man was diagnosed. To say that it has been a rough few years is a HUGE understatement. We have done everything we felt was right. We have prayed, we have fasted, we have tried everything, but there was still no light at the end of the tunnel. That was until we realized that the only way to get out of this mess is to start over. This means selling the house and moving in with my mom and dad to be able to get back on our feet again. As pathetic as it sounds to be in your 30's and moving your family in with mom and dad, I am actually really excited. This is the first time in a long time that I feel like there is an end in sight and that we are taking the right steps in moving forward. My mom and dad are saints to be willing to do this for us! They are amazing people and my goal is to be like them some day. Guess that just means that I need to live with them for awhile to see the example up close and personal. :)

Our house will be on the market soon. It is a tough housing market here in Utah, so we will see what happens. I really hope that after knowing without a doubt this is what we need to do that it won't take long, but I am prepared for the worst. We have been cleaning and organizing for a few weeks and that in itself is refreshing!

In other big news I quit my job. This was a tough decision for us. It is a little complicated why I quit, but again, I know it was what I needed to do. So to be honest, and hopefully brief, I quit because my kids need health insurance. We have been battling insurance issues for several months now. We had a hard time getting approved for medicaid because of our income, but because my husband is self employed they approved the younger two. After children turn 6 they are put into a different tax bracket and you have to make less money in order for them to have medicaid. We were border line before so they don't qualify after they are six. Little Dude hasn't had it in over a year, and after the end of next month Little Princess won't have it either. There is the option of C.H.I.P insurance but only if you don't have any other insurance. Right before the Princess was diagnosed I signed up for the part time insurance with jetBlue because I felt that I needed something. Turns out that is the very thing that is holding us back from getting insurance for my older kids. I contacted the benefits department at work and they wouldn't let me cancel the insurance until open enrollment, then be in effect in January. I tried to fight my case, but there was nothing they could do. So the way we looked at it, we can't take the chance of the kids not having insurance from April until January, and the only way to get rid of it at this point was to quit. So I did. It stinks, but I am also relieved.

So you see we have been busy here at our house making life changing decisions. It hasn't been easy to make so many big decisions all at once. Thankfully we are being guided and our prayers are being answered. I haven't been this happy for several months.

In between all this decision making Little Man has struggled with croup, strep, and a dislocated elbow. Poor kid has been to the doctor 5 times in 3 weeks. But he did have a birthday yesterday and I think that he has officially forgotten all about all that other stuff.

So there you have it. Life is busy as always. Hopefully I will have time to blog more in the upcoming weeks. I have so many things to get caught up on. I could write twice a day for a month and still have things to write about. Thank goodness you are all so patient with me.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

" No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude and humility. All that we suffer and all that we endure, especially when we do it patiently, builds up our characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender, charitable, more worthy to be called the children of God...and it is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the education that we come here to acquire."
~ Orson F. Whitney

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

The change of the seasons

Change is in the air and boy am I just thrilled.

It has been a long long winter. The sunshine and warmer weather has never been more welcome. I cleaned my house today with all the windows open. It is lame to say it was amazing? Maybe it was the cleaning part that was amazing....now that IS lame to say! But you know those days where you're in "the zone" and you get lots of things done and it is so refreshing? Today was one of those days!

Spring is knocking on my door, but that isn't the only change that is happening around here. The biggest one of all.....we are selling our house.

If I would have uttered those words a year ago it would have been through tears. But today I am ready. It is needed, and honestly this is the first time in 2 years that I feel like I can take a deep breath. The fight is almost done. The terms are good, and I am excited to see what the future holds. Don't get me wrong it is still hard. When we told the kids they cried and complained. They really, really don't want to leave their friends. Heck, I don't want them to leave their friends. I don't want to leave my friends here either! This choice was not an easy one and we didn't take anything lightly. But the choice was made prayerfully and with an open mind about the future. We know that this is the best option for us right now. Regardless what people say or think, we tried our hardest.

Who knows how long it will take the house to sell. It could be months. In the mean time I am working my hinny off trying to junk almost everything. Really....I took over 10 bags of garbage bags full to the DI yesterday. (Remind me to tell the story of the bank getting robbed while we where there....that was a fun experience!) Garbage day isn't for another 2 days and my garbage cans are already full. It feels great to be getting rid of excess baggage that we have been holding onto. Physically and emotionally.

Today my heart is full of gratitude for the love and support that we received along this crazy journey over the last few years. This time in our lives could be so much worse if it weren't for our amazing family and friends. I don't know how to thank everyone. My mom and dad have always told me that sometimes the only "thank you" you can give is to pay it forward and help someone in the same situation some day. This is my goal.

Monday, March 08, 2010

Croup

From the wheezing and coughing in my ear, and the "I really need a drink of water" every 10 minutes throughout the night, I kind of figured that the Little Man had the croup.

I took him to the doctor this morning and sure enough, I was right.

Because he was having such a hard time breathing they gave him a dose of dexamethasone. Wikipedia definition: Dexamethasone is a potent synthetic member of the glucocorticoid class of steroid hormones. It acts as an anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressant.

Anyone else see something familiar in that definition? You see that word glucocorticoid? The name glucocorticoid is made from 3 words (glucose + cortex + steroid). Yes GLUCOSE.

I don't need Wikipedia to tell me what the steroid is going to do to his blood sugar. Actually back in October Little Princess has the same dose and it was complete havoc on her blood sugar where it wasn't below 400 for 2 days. I fully expected them giving this to him when I took him in, but when the Pediatrician called his Endocrinologist and came back and said "The Endocrinologist wants to see him in the office on Thursday. He feels that this steroid alone could kick him right out of his honeymoon." it kind of surprised me a little. You see we caught his diagnosis so soon that we thought his honeymoon would be a really really long time. Right now the only insulin that he gets is at meal time or when he is high. Which isn't all that often. The doctor wants to see him in a few days because he feels he will have to start getting some sort of basal insulin.

Guess what this means? That he can start using a pump a little sooner than we thought. The approval has already been done for it, I just have to fill out some more paperwork. I never thought I would feel this way, but I can't wait to use the pump for him too!

So we will see after Thursday for sure, but maybe in a few weeks I might have 2 pumping kids. One with a pink one and the other with a green one. How exciting! I will keep you posted.

Monday, March 01, 2010

I am feeling super emotional today.

I am wondering again what the future brings.

I am grateful for friends showing up at my house when they knew I needed them more than I did. Turns out they were right.

I am hugging my kids more tomorrow than I did today. They need to know their mommy loves them.

I am going to try to get some sleep and eat more healthy because my body deserves it.

I am blessed that I have my hubby close by to hold me tight and assure me it is going to be ok.

I am going to look back on this time in my life and know without a doubt that it is my faith that gets me through the day.

I am thinking I need to start looking at the good in all things instead feeling like everything is a struggle.

I am meant for something great.

I am determined to find out what that is.

I will find it.

Sunday, February 28, 2010

The Little Man

No I didn't have another girl that no one knew about. This is just what happens to the Little Man when his sister gets her way.

This week has been on crazy for the Little Man. You see he is always a little mischievous but this week he seems to be a little more so. It all started on Wednesday when I came upstairs for a break from work, I saw him walking around the corner with his pants half way pulled up. I asked him if he went potty and he proudly said "YES!" I asked him if he had flushed the toilet. "No, I didn't go in the toilet" he said. I asked him where he went then? "[Princess'] backpack" he replied. I turned the corner then there in the middle of the hallway was the backpacked, soaked. So was the floor all around it. My guess is he was pretending it was on fire and he was the fireman.

The next day my hubby walked into the kitchen and the Little Man was crouched behind the counter with chocolate frosting covering his face. He had gotten into the fridge and took out the container of left over frosting from Little Dude's birthday cake. We have no idea how much frosting was in there, but he had polished off the entire container. 20 carbs for 2 tablespoons, a wild guess of how much insulin to give and a few hours later things were under control. This is time that I am thankful he is in his honeymoon still!

Then Friday morning he woke up really early. One of the other kids woke up not too long after he did (I didn't even know he was awake to be honest) then came running into my room to tell me that he was painting his hand with fingernail polish. I walked into the family room and there he was a glove made out of fingernail polish. His hand was completely covered. It took me almost 30 minutes to get it off.

Then on Saturday he took off his clothes to run through the house completely naked a grand total of 5 times! If he wasn't running around naked he was sneaking out the front door to run two houses down to see if Max, the 15 year old neighbor, would come over and play with him.

Then today I came home from church to a very frustrated daddy because Little Man, for some unknown reason, decided to pee in the HUGE container of lego's. Daddy was washing every single one of them in the bath tub. It took him almost 2 hours to make sure all of them where clean.

He is quite the character I tell ya! Here is another short list of things this kid has done this week.

-Went to a high school basketball game and told a girl that he was 16 years old and that indeed he would love to go to prom with her.

-Refused to give his "girlfriend" Jessie back her blanket after she came over to help her mom do my hair for the wedding. He came up with a plan that she could have his as long as she left her blanket. He carried that thing around for 2 days until I made him give it back to her.

-While this post is all about Little Man I better tell you about Jessie. She is my friend's 14 year old daughter. Over the summer we went to lunch together and Little Man fell in love with Jessie. He constantly asks me "where's Jessie?" "can Jessie come over?" he even goes to find her at church every Sunday. He will follow her around, holding her hand and hugging her. He loves to play with her! He told all Jessie's friends that "Jessie is my boy friend" at the basketball game last night. She came to see him in the hospital when he was diagnosed and gave him a teddy bear. His Jessie bear has to sit at the end of his bed every night! He made a Valentines for her and will wrap up his cars to he can give them to her. While this has nothing to do with Little Man, Jessie was tested a few weeks ago for Celiac Disease. Her blood levels came back pretty elevated so she had a scope done last week. They are waiting for the results. Oh and it is her birthday today....sort of. She was a leap year baby born on Feb. 29th. Next year Little Man will technically be older than her! LOL!

-Convinced someone at the wedding to give him a piece of wedding cake. He had eaten almost the entire thing before I knew about it.

-Watched my wedding video over and over and over again because he wanted to watch mommy in her pretty dress. He asked me ALL day long "You getting married mommy?"

See it really has been a busy week with him. I do think he is adorable, but he keeps me on my toes! Like I have always said "whoever coined the phrase 'terrible two's' never had a three year old!

******Update*******
Just thought I would add that he was caught writing on the hard wood floors today with blue permanent marker. Honestly, this isn't even funny anymore....maybe tomorrow I will laugh.

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Proof that my "Imaginary Friends" are not actually imaginary!

I can't tell you how happy I was to be able to go to lunch with Wendy and Shamae yesterday. With my sister in law's wedding yesterday too I didn't think that I was going to have time to go. At the last minute a few plans changed and I made time to meet up these gals (and Loren) for lunch at Chili's.
Shamae was here in town meeting with Dr. Swinyard (aka THE BEST ENDO EVER!) so it was the perfect chance to meet up with her again, and well Wendy what is our excuse that we hadn't met sooner? Oh well there are no excuses now!

While we were waiting for a table all the kids, minus Morgan (thankfully!) got out their testers and tested their blood sugar. Little Man was so excited. I really think this is the first time that he saw someone else other than his sister test. He thought is was great! The girls were right in range and the boys were a little high in case you wanted to know! :)


When you blog stalk someone or chat on facebook for a little bit but never meet you wonder what they are going to be like in real life. I am so happy to say that they both are as amazing, funny, and easy to get a long with as they are in the cyber world. It really was like long time friends getting together again.


While eating Little Man stole the hearts of all the adults. He was playing footsies with Wendy and just talking to everyone. When it came time for him to get his shot he wanted Wendy to hold his hand. I admit he is a cutie!


I loved Avery, he is so stinking adorable! And so tall! I felt bad when all the girls moved away from him so they could sit together. Poor Avery! He is such a sweetie! He sure did love dipping his corn on the cob in his ketchup! I love adventurous kids!


The girls sure did have a great time Little Princess and Sydney are pretty close to the same age. She had a ball with the girls and has asked when she gets to play with them again. I so hope they can play more often!
I only have 3 regrets. First that I have is not being able to stay longer and chat. Second not having the rest of my family there. Trevor and Loren would have gotten along great, I just know it!


And third, not having the rest of my D mom friends there. I can not wait to meet the rest of you!

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Happy Anniversary!

Dear Trevor,

10 years ago I was madly in love with you and eager to start our lives together.

10 years ago you took my hand in Eternal Marriage and we promised to stick together through the good and the bad.

10 years ago we had dreams of a happy, successful, and beautiful future together.

10 years ago we could sit and laugh at some really dumb things together.

10 years ago we would lay in bed every night and watch movies (Ok Cheech and Chong's Up in Smoke mostly) before we went to bed.

10 years ago you inspired me to always be my best.

10 years ago your quick whit would always make me smile.

10 years ago my heart would melt when we would see each other.

10 years ago you made me feel like a princess.

TODAY
None of that has changed.

Except that we have 3 amazing kids that share in all this with us!

And that I love you more today than I did 10 years ago!

Happy 10 year anniversary Trev! I couldn't be more happy to be your wife!
__________________________

Last year I posted this video on our anniversary. I would love to share it again, but I am too lazy to copy and past it here. Please go check it out and read all about our wedding day!

What I REALLY wanted to say but couldn't because I would get fired.

"Yes, just as you said, I have F*#^ lost my mind! This is why they have padded all the walls in my office and are only letting me use sporks for now on."

"Let me just go ahead and pull this airplane out of my back pocket, put it in your route, and write your name on a seat. Will that fix your problem?"

"Didn't you know that it was my job to make you miserable?"

"No! I don't think you know how I feel!"

"Since when was everything free?"

"Sure lets hold together for another 45 minutes for my supervisor to tell you exactly what I just told you!"

"Miracles happen all the time, just not in New York's airspace!"

"I would be happy to pick up the phone and call Mother Nature and ask her when it is going to stop snowing. Do you have the number?"

"Is is really a good idea to try to check your boat engine as luggage? Is it REALLY that important?"

"I have said it a hundred times, they will not let you just go to the ticket counter with an expired passport and let you "talk your way" onto an international flight!"

"I can't give you something that isn't there. Sorry!"

"We don't have rules and regulations just so I will have something to do and you will have something to complain about. They are actually there for a reason."

"If you don't know how Daylight Savings works by now then maybe you should question where you have been for the last 70 years."

"I would be happy to tell you what time to set your alarm clock for, but it probably wouldn't help you get to the airport on time."

"I think you have more problems than not being able to assign a seat."


Can you tell that this last month of working has been SO MUCH FUN? I can not wait for February to be over with! Please let's pray that I don't have to keep working mandatory overtime into March too!

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Congressman Chaffetz




When asked what our life is like with having to deal with diabetes my first thought is always crazy! Then I start to think about it all and most of the time I cry. I try to not let my emotions get the best of me, but lets be real, it was only a little more than 3 months ago that Little Man was diagnosed. Three months of dealing with two diabetics. One was hard enough. I don't feel like we had time in between the two diagnosis to find our new normal so it has been a big adjustment. Each day I still feel like my life is consumed with counting carbs, testing blood, keeping the Little Man out of food, figuring out why the Princess is high....you get the idea. Throw in the fact that our insurance was cancelled for February without notice, and the school board possibly cutting the school nurse program and my poor brain almost can't focus on anything else but diabetes.
Last week when the JDRF asked us to go meet with Congressman Chaffetz I couldn't pass up the opportunity, but I was scared. I laid awake all night thinking about what I was going to share. I didn't want to sound pathetic. My hubby kept telling me to just be me and share whatever comes up. I wasn't sure that "flying by the seat of my pants" was a route to go, but I trust him and his judgement. Plus I didn't have any other choice, my brain was too tired from working so much I couldn't put more than two thoughts together.
The entire family drove to Provo the next morning. The kids didn't totally understand what we were doing. We explained that a Congressman works with the President of the United States to help make laws and stuff. He was going to go to Washington DC to talk about a bill that helps fund money to research for diabetes. (the Promise to Remember Me campaign)They seemed to get that. The Princess wanted to take her own camera to document her time there. (It was a super proud mommy moment! She was thinking like me!) We were meeting up the another mother and her son who is also diabetic and the representative from the JDRF that invited us there.
I didn't know what to expect. My tummy was in knots. I was pleasantly surprised though when he invited us into his office to sit on his couch while he sat on the desk to just chat for a minute. He asked the kids a few questions about diabetes. "Is it hard?" "Do you feel different than other kids?" "How many shots do you have to have every day?" Each of the kids answered all his questions with ease. He asked us parents "how did you know they were diabetic?" The other mother stated symptoms that she saw in her son before he was diagnosed. She knew the signs. Her husband is diabetic. Congressman Chaffitz turns to us and asked the same question. Before I could answer Little Dude piped up and said "She kept peeing the bed all the time!" Oh I was worried for Princess, I was so sure that she would be so embarrassed. She didn't seem to be too effected by it thankfully and the conversation just carried on.
We talked for a few minutes. Talked about our struggles with insurance, with the school board (all of which he was very interested in) We talked about how as a mother we worry each and every day if our children are going to make it to the next without any major complications. my statement to him (that I truly hope he remembers) "I wish every day that we could just ignore diabetes. I wish that I didn't have to do all these extra things to keep our kids alive. I wish that we didn't have to get up 1 or 2 times in the middle of the night to make sure my kids are still breathing. But I can't. Diabetes can't be ignored! The hope for a cure can't be ignored either. Every improvement they make not only gets us closer to a cure, but they continually help us find ways to improve their diabetes management."
That was it. 10 minutes sitting on his black leather couch. A few minutes of pictures, and hopefully a memory to last a lifetime.
I came home feeling empowered. I could totally do that again! In fact I WANT to do that again! My voice can be heard....hopefully....if not through that way, maybe another! I can't thank the JDRF enough for that opportunity!

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Me

Shamae I read your entire post and loved it! I too have a few more followers so maybe another post about me is due.

So here it goes...

~I hate drinking milk out of a plastic cup. For some reason it just tastes different to me. The cup must be a glass cup!

~My absolute favorite date is to go to dinner and a movie. I have always loved watching movies, but going to the movie theater is seriously the greatest thing. My dream is to be able to make enough money that we can go to the movies every week as a family.

~I feel that I have the potential to be a really amazing person. Unfortunately I am stuck at being mediocre. There is so much that feel I should do or I felt prompted to serve but there is something holding me back. I haven't narrowed it down quite yet, I am sure there are many reasons actually, but someday I want to move past it all and be the woman that I am meant to be.

~I own over 100 cookie cutters. I used to make sugar cookies at least once a month, but it has been a long time since I have made them.

~When I was in Junior High I was so self conscious that I used to change into my gym clothes in the shower stalls. Thankfully the only people that have ever made fun of me for it is my sister. (Love you sis!)

~A few years ago our family wanted to become more self reliant. We have a pretty large yard so we ventured out in getting chickens. Jane and Mini were part of our family for about a year then we had to give them away. They were messy and my family wouldn't eat the eggs. It just wasn't worth it anymore.

~I was a pretty outgoing teenager. I didn't have a whole lot of fear. I worked for a pretty popular radio station all through high school. I was on air a few times and even did a commercial. I was the announcer at many events where I had to get in front of crowds like the battle of the bands, movie premiers, rock concerts, and much more. The best part was being able to hang out with different rock bands when they came into town. I got asked out on a date by the lead singer of 7 Mary 3 (here is a song in case you don't remember who they are), hung out with Queensryche (check out this song to remember them) for a few days. I played baseball with them in front of a crowd of thousands. I got to meet Don Shanks who played Michael Myers from Halloween #5 and Diamond Dallas. Life was pretty interesting back then, but I am so grateful that isn't my lifestyle any more. I am much more shy now.

~I organized a walk-a-thon for the Muzak Heart and Soul foundation several years ago. That was tons of fun but so much work. It makes the JDRF walks more meaningful. I am super excited that I am going to be volunteering with the JDRF this year to help get families excited for the walk. Hopefully I will be helpful to them too.

There task completed Shamae.

Now you know way more info about me than you ever wanted to know! :)

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Life

When life gets crazy it is hard for me to post anything. It isn't just finding the time but also narrowing it down to one thing to talk about. I need to come to terms that a bullet point post isn't as horrible as I always feel that it is. I need to remind myself that I don't just blog for my followers (Hi guys!) but I blog to keep a record of our family life and be able to check off one more commandment.

So anyway, here is my bullet point post since I just don't know where to begin to catch up...

~ The school nurse did call me to come fight for the school nurses in front of the school board. Unfortunately I couldn't go. The night they were holding the meeting was the night that jetBlue cancelled a few hundred flights on the East Coast because of some serious snow storms. There was no way I was going to be able to get off work. I feel guilty, like I missed my chance to fight for what I know is right! I don't know what decision was made yet and honestly I am scared to know. I pray that they didn't make the wrong choice!

~ Speaking of work it is I.N.S.A.N.E I am so tired I could scream. Since jetBlue switched to the new operating system I have been required to work a minimum of 7 hours of overtime each week. I feel like that is all that I do...hello it is what I am doing right now. Luckily it is really slow. The pay is good, and I am feeling more confident with the new system, but I miss my family.

~ There is a bit of drama about our medical insurance. To keep it short they cancelled us again. WITHOUT NOTICE might I add. We found out when we were trying to get the kids prescriptions. I have left messages and they won't call me back. I have no answers and I am pretty dang grumpy about it. This means that Little Man won't be able to get his pump until it is all worked out. Hopefully it gets worked out very soon. I hope that it is an easy fix.

~ So Little Dude accidentally got hit in the eye with a bouncy ball the other day. At first his eye looked blood shot and was pretty sore. That night it was painful enough that it woke him up. The next morning was the first time I saw it. It looked as though the eye was bleeding and had filled the blue part of his eye with blood. I made an appointment for him to be seen that day. The Dr. looked at it and basically told us this his eye was bleeding on the inside and what we could see was the bruise it leaves. He looked and made sure there wasn't permanent damage and everything looked ok but he did have one concern, that his pupil wasn't dilating. He put the drops in his eyes to force it to dilate to see if it would work. It did, but as soon as that wore off the next day it was "stuck" and not dilating again. I called the Dr. back and he said there very well could be permanent damage to the nerve. He called in some dilating drops for us to put in his eye 3 times a day for 7 days. This will stop the bleeding in the eye and help the pupil to be forced open so the nerve could heal. Or if worse comes to worse and it is going to be stuck forever they need it stuck in the dilated position. We will not know for sure if this is permanent or not for about a week. Until then he can't play, run, hop, wrestle, or even go to school for a week. He has to wear sunglasses every time he is in bright light, and he has doctor's orders to take it easy. He has been a good sport about it so far. His bestest buddy (the one that accidentally hit him) wrote him the cutest get well card and has even been over with his drawing book to just keep him company while he takes it easy. He is such a good friend to him, and it just makes his so happy to see him. I am pretty sure that he is going to be ok. I think that it just needs time to heal.

~ I have mentioned that my sister in law is getting married in a few weeks. I am so excited for her! I have been asked to be the Maid of Honor so I have been doing my best to help her in any way I can. I took some pictures for her (which you can see at my photography blog if you want to. I did her bridals today so stay tuned for those) and have been busy planning a bridal shower for her. I am on the hunt for a light blue or silver dress, but I am having a very hard time finding the time to go shopping. Even though we are all busy trying to get things together, it will be worth it!

~ My grandfather turned 80 today. We were able to go to a dinner celebration tonight with my family. My dad put together the most touching video for him. While watching it I got choked up thinking about how wonderful of a man he is. He has always been so fun and such an amazing example. My father has been taught many of the traits that my grandfather has and tonight I couldn't feel more blessed to have these wonderful men in my life. It was a wonderful evening!

~ I am trying so hard to come up with something super fun for my 10 year wedding anniversary next week. I am currently accepting any ideas so please shoot them my way if you can think of something!

~ And lastly for now (since I am now off work, and my hubby is waiting to watch a movie with me) I wanted to tell my hubby how much I love him. He means the world to me. He works so hard for us yet he is always trying to do fun things as a family. Happy Valentines Trev! I love you!

Tuesday, February 02, 2010

School

I got word yesterday that the school district is making cuts. They want to cut the use of the school nurse aids.


There is one school nurse for each school. Well actually she is the nurse for several different schools. She is rarely at the school that my kids go to. They have 2 aids that switch off weeks and come in and test Princess every day at 10:15. They have another diabetic boy in the 2nd grade that they test too. This has made my life much easier for more than one reason. I can't imagine going to the school every day at 10:15 to test her. Don't get me wrong, I would if I had to, but it has been very nice to have these ladies go in and test her. They are knowledgeable and already know what to do. In fact they are the only ones in the school that are trained to give insulin when needed. If they aren't there to test her the office staff can test and give a snack if she is low, but giving insulin and administering the glucagon is out of the question.

The thought of them not being there really stinks. It isn't only because I don't want to be there every day to test her, it is more than that. The office staff has way more things to do than to worrying about her well being. I am afraid that they would forget to test her when she needs to be and heaven forbid they give insulin wrong. The office staff isn't a trained medical professional and I don't feel that I should have to put my child's medical condition in their hands.

I keep thinking, when she is in school full time next year I will pretty much be spending my day at the school. Morning check 10:15, lunch 12:45, recess and gym in the afternoons. She is good at managing her diabetes herself, but I haven't taught her how to give herself insulin. She is only 5 it just seems too young for me.

I have been asked to write a letter to the school board to see if somehow I can stop them from cutting the aide's job. They also asked if I would be willing to go before the board and plead for them to not make the cut. (Why me?)

How do other schools handle this? What do I say? Options? Really I feel so lost with this. Not sure what to say or do.

Monday, February 01, 2010

The Potty Training Report. And a Happy 4 year Blog-aniversary to me!

Exactly 4 years ago today I started the Mommy Going Crazy blog. I had a few friends telling me I should start a blog so I sat down one day and set it all up. Then I went to post my first post and didn't know what to say. So I didn't post anything and went on with my day. Ironically, I was potty training my oldest son at that time and he kept having accidents on the floor. My very first post was about poop! LOL! You can read it here.



Now today I am potty training my last child and this post is going to be about poop too! LOL!


Without further "apoo" (I think I am so funny some times!)


I can't believe how this all started still, but I am happy to report that Little Man is doing AMAZING with potty training. It has been a day and a half since he has had an accident. I think my goal of potty training him in under a week is looking pretty good! However, he has only pooped in the potty once. The other times have been in his underwear. Once he can get that down then I will consider it done.



The way we potty train there are no more diapers ever again and we don't use pull ups. This includes at night. Before, when thinking about potty training my newly diagnosed Little Man, I worried about this. High blood sugars + underwear at night + a glass of milk before bed = too much potential for accidents. But he has never had an accident at night! He has woken up every night to go in the potty! I couldn't be more proud!



It really must have been his time.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

The Endo....

DUN DUN DUUNNNN (enter mysterious music here)

I was talking to my friend, NaTasha, on my home from taking the kids to the Endocrinologist yesterday and once she found out where I had been she asked "So was the 'Good Mommy' report ok today?" Let me translate, the only info she really knows about diabetes is what I have taught her. She knows how I feel about the kids A1c and how I automatically relate it to my self esteem. (more on why I do this in a minute) Her little joke about it being my "Good Mommy" report actually made me laugh, mostly because I had good news to report. Not that the appointment wasn't stressful, because it totally was, but their A1c's are not as bad as I had expected.

When I picked the Princess up from school and told her where we were going she almost instantly got grumpy. It came out of left field since she has always loved going to see Dr. Chad and Dr. Swinyard (They really are THE best doctors in the world. I can't say that enough!) She just pouted the entire way there, but when we walked into the office, she flipped out. Need I remind you that she is almost 6? A little too big (in my mind) to be throwing fits like this in public. Problem is though, she has been doing this a lot lately. Imagine this, we where at the bridal store with my sister in law looking at wedding dresses. A 5 year old girl's dream. Something didn't go her way and she ended up on the floor in the middle of the store kicking her feet and screaming and crying. I immediately tested her blood sugar and it was perfectly normal. I was shocked. I tried to deal with it the best I could and put her in a time out and talked to her, but it took her a good 15 - 20 minutes to calm down. Then a few nights later I was trying to get her to drink a glass of milk and she did the same thing. She even headbutted me and made my lip bleed. I went to bed so mad and confused. So in a small way I was happy the Dr. office could witness what was going so I could ask a few questions about it. Problem is though this terrible mood was picked up my my Little Man and he was throwing a fit too. By the time Dr. Chad came in to see us I was sitting in the room crying. We were all a bit of a mess. We talked for a bit and he offered some help. He said that it might be nothing more than her just throwing a fit...being moody. But it could be more (I agree and that is what I was afraid of) nothing major but just stress of life (a hem, is this not all my life consists of?) compounded with 2 kids being diabetic and all of us, including the kids, are in survival mode trying to cope with everything. Our family is just going through a lot right now. So he gave me a few numbers to social workers that deal mainly with families/kids/adolescence/ that have diabetes. He said to see if we can take the family in and find a way to all work through it. This may or may not be needed but I tell you what, I am more that willing to give it a try. I need a little fresh air and this just might be the only way I can find it so I am calling on Monday.

When Dr. Chad and I were talking he said "We all know that even under the stress of life you and your husband are doing a great job. We know this because 'Princess' A1c is 7.4 and 'Little Man's' is at 5.8." I was pretty excited to hear those numbers, but don't get me wrong the first thought that went through my head was "that is why I let the A1c's determine my self esteem because the doctor in a way does." Not that this is bad. For all he knows I could be at home letting my kids eat whatever they want and put on their log sheets whatever I want. The only true test is that darn A1c. Thankfully they are pretty good even after the longest and hardest 2 months of my life.

So we made a few changes with both kids. We all left with smiles mostly because the kids got candy and a toy and I got some help. It was a rough visit, but as NaTasha put it "It seems that it had to happen that way so you could find the answers that you truly needed." She is right!

Friday, January 29, 2010

Little Man is not so little anymore.

We ran out of diapers the night before last night so when my Little Man woke up and needed his diaper changed I thought "I might as well potty train him." He is the same age that I potty trained my other kids so I had thought about doing it sometime soon, but I hadn't planned on doing it yesterday. I wanted to wait a bit. The poor kid has been through a lot in the last few months. First we take away his binky in October (which he was totally attached to) then in November he was diagnosed with Diabetes. I didn't want to change his entire life around in just a few short months. But out of necessity, I kind of did need to do it, or go to the store at 5 in the morning. So I thought I would give it a try.

When I posted on facebook that I was potty training my friend Holly called me a "potty training ninja." (love you Holly!) This comment came right as I was headed out the door to go buy some diapers. LOL! We started and I thought he wasn't ready. I was backing out. Until I read that and thought I can't stop now. That is going against I have ever said about potty training. So I didn't give in and we kept going with it. (thanks Holly!)

I am happy to report that he hasn't had an accident at all in almost 24 hours. He even went potty at the store and the best of all he woke daddy up in the middle of the night to go. No accidents at night even without a diaper or pull up! YAY!

I am super proud of him. I guess he was ready after all!

I am still waiting a few days to see if I can say he was potty trained in one day or not....remember less than one week is my goal. I want to see if he regresses at all today or not. I will give my final thoughts on this in a few days.

Wish us luck!

Thursday, January 28, 2010

(Ignore the not so good quality of this picture. Thanks so much)
I over heard her tell her little brother the other day "You're going to grow up to be a really great guy some day! "
As much as I would like to think I "get it" when I talk to other people that are living with diabetes I just can't to it's fullest. But these two can really say to each other that they get it!
That just might be the only reason I would be grateful to have more than one diabetic child.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

I had to copy and paste Amy's comment, just because I love it! I did miss some fun things!! Reading this totally makes me laugh! Thanks Amy, I love you!



"Wow!!! What a good recounting of the crazy events!!! You forgot to mention our matching Target hats, the elevator/urinal, NaTasha almost puking from car sickness, signs on EVERY shop door stating "We DO NOT SELL UMBRELLAS OR RAIN BOOTS!",the dead dog story (sniff, poor Waldo), asking every passerby WHERE they got their cute galoshes, are Creme de la Crepe...that smelled like moldy dog! hahaha Obviously I had a SUPER time too!!! I love you so much and I am so glad we got to blow off a little steam! We are DEFINITELY going again!!! <3"







Ahhh...I love these girls!

Dear NaTasha and Amy,

I had the best time in Long Beach with you! We should do it once a week. Ok maybe once a month! Either way, we MUST do it again! I came home feeling refreshed and like me again.

There aren't many people that can say they flew to Long Beach, spent the entire day chatting in the hotel room and watching TV and still loved it! The shopping the next day was awesome too! Even in the pouring rain! Too bad we never did find the golashes, but I think I came home with THE coolest umbrella ever!

I am still thanking the heavens above for my cat like reflexes that saved our lives when I realized I was driving down the street going the wrong way, and for Karen the Computer Wife (aka the GPS) for helping us get back on track when I missed the freeway exit twice in a row.

There are a few things that will never be the same though. Like making waffles. Who knew they were so hard to make? And my elbow. With holding the extra small umbrella and everything else in my hand I swear I didn't see that pole right in front of me. Too bad my face was the last thing to see it.

I can't stop laughing about our miss-booking for our 2 double beds for our 2nd night there! Expedia really needs to be told that the "Dreamcatcher Room" is not suitable for 3 adult, heterosexual woman, and that it infact does NOT have 2 double beds. The owners were really nice and it was cute despite the 2 headless women in the hallway. Honestly, there would have been a better story to tell if we actually did stay there. I think I better keep the "theme rooms" for a stay with just me and my hubby! LOL!

We need to be grateful that this trip was still able to happen. I can't believe that the night before we left the airport was closed down because it had flooded. We made it though and walking through a river to get inside the airport was not really all that bad. The stress of the flight home was a little more than I could bear. Leaving the two of you to sleep in the airport (since you refused to spend the night together in the "lover's lounge") was not what I wanted to do. THANK GOODNESS they packed us all onto that flight like sardines. Well maybe I felt a little more like a sardine because I was strapped to a board at the very back of plane squished next to 2 other strangers, and left to fly backwards. Did I tell you yet that flying jumpseat isn't very fun? Who cares though, because we all made it home together!

Really, let's do this again soon!

Much Love,
Shannon

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Wanna know?

Incase you care...

~My laptop doesn't have photoshop on it. I can't post pictures here cuz all I shoot in is RAW and I can't resize them. Hence the lack of "cuteness" on my blog.

~I am happy today. Really happy. And I don't know what makes today any different than any other not so fun day, but I am taking it! It has been awhile.

~My sister in law got engaged and I am SUPER DUPER happy for her! She is marrying a great guy and they will live happily ever after. I am sure of that!

~My trip to Long Beach was FANTASTIC!! I needed to just go away and hang out. We went on a 2 day hunt for golashes and umbrellas. I bought THE last umbrella in all of Southern California and it was a Lightning McQueen one. Little Man was one happy camper when I brought it home! I honestly loved every minute of my little getaway! Next time I am hoping to hop on a plane and getaway with my hubby. Now wouldn't that be awesome?

~My little speech for the JDRF was rescheduled. Someone got word that I was coming and started to 2nd guess the whole thing all together. Ok not really, but I was getting really excited about it. Now I just have more time to polish my lame jokes and find a talent for not crying in public.

~Little Dude has found a series of books that have him totally engrossed in reading lately. Anyone ever read The Adventures of Captain Underpants? I swear they were written for him. I even laugh out loud when reading them. Reading time is quite enjoyable at our house lately.

~I found out why Little Dude has been sneaking so much food lately. First let me tell you that he doesn't know how to tell anyone that he feels low yet. The only thing that I have been able to catch on to is when he says "Mommy, I need you." That means that he is a not well. But I have realized that when he has been getting into the food he is low. This has been hard for me to catch on to, but lately when I test him after he has gotten into the food he hasn't gone "too" high. I think that his breakfast carb ratio is too high. We shall see, a few more days of monitoring really close and I might need to make a few changes.

~I am totally addicted to The Bachelor. I don't even know how it happened. It got recorded on my DVR on accident and now my hubby and I find ourselves on the couch every week. Insane I tell you. But don't worry my heart still belongs to American Idol.

~My kids woke up this morning with some really tough questions that they wanted me to answer while I was still half asleep. Really! Check it out! The VERY first thing my Princess asks me before she is even out of bed all the way "Why do we need belly buttons?"


There now you know just about everything there is to know about my last week. Consider yourself updated by another really lame bullet point post.

your welcome :)