L is for... Laugh

Having two children diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in 2 months is overwhelming and heart breaking, to say the least. Since neither one of those feelings are particularly enjoyable for me, I often turn to laughter to lighten the mood.  So this week I'm sharing some of my favorite diabetes funnies that help our entire family laugh in the face of this life changing disease.


This cracks me up every time. And not only is it funny, it's also true.

Bwaaa haaa haaaa!!! Love this!

My daughter's special dance for when she gets a decent blood sugar reading. Sadly, she rarely gets to use it because diabetes is STUPID.

K is for... Kind of...

Sometimes life is hard. We all have those times when we feel lost, overwhelmed, and not sure that we can keep our heads above water. The last few months have been like that for us. Back in September, our older daughter, Mackenzie, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.  And if you'll recall, our younger daughter, Kayleigh, was showing symptoms and put on a "diabetes watch" by Mackenzie's endocrinologist.

Well now he's Kayleigh's endocrinologist too, because she was officially diagnosed this past Tuesday. I'm not going to go into the details of that in this post (I will in the future) but I will say that getting the second diagnosis is not any easier then the first one. Even if you know it's coming, it's still just as heart breaking. And there's a phrase in the T1D world called YDMV. Which means "your diabetes may vary." True story. Diabetes is always changing within one person and it never looks the same within two different people. The best you can do is manage it one number at a time. It's hard.

So when you find yourself in a difficult, even painful, place in your life you have a few options. You can, and should, grieve over it.  You can count your blessings. You can be furious and stomp around and probably make yourself, and everyone involved, feel worse.

I'm very big on counting my blessings at times like this because if I didn't I'd probably go mad and not be able to to take care of my babies who need a lot of care.

So as I sit here feeling sad for the difficult life that my babies have been given, I can't help but think that God is Kind of awesome for giving us some Kind of awesome people in our lives to help get us through this. This post is for them.

My friends are more than Kind of awesome. They are flat out amazing.

They're the Kind of friends who...

Remain calm when they check your (supposedly) none-D child's blood sugar and its incredibly high.


Want to learn about T1D.

When they hear your kid has T1D, start a board on Pinterest with recipes and things helpful for diabetics.

Are still willing to watch your kids even though it's now a lot more work and more than a little stressful.

Pray for your family.

Are willing to keep your kids overnight, even though it's an additional blood sugar check, or two, in the middle of the night for them.

Teach their kids, your child's friends, about T1D. So well that they think of ways to cure it or always check the carbs of what they're eating to see if Mackenzie or Kayleigh can eat it.

Curse restaurants that refuse to reveal the carb counts in their food along with you
.

When they hear on Facebook that your T1D's sugar is high, stop by to take her hiking to help bring down her numbers.

Enjoy a good diabetes joke.

Ask you how everything is going and what can they do for you.

Do nice things for your kids to help cheer them up when they're down.

Understand that diabetes is hard and sucky.

Think that a t-shirt that says "I'm with stupid" and has an arrow point to a pancreas is a brilliant idea.

Leave drug paraphernalia on your porch when you need supplies for your newly diagnosed four year old.

Are willing to bike 100 miles to bring awareness and raise money for a cure. Check out Tour de Cure to donate to my friend's ride.

Think its fun to think of ways to use an insulin pen and needle to deal with annoying people.

Keep their eyes out for food and snacks that are lower in carbs and sugar so that your kids can still enjoy some their favorite treats that aren't as good for them now.

Are simply so wonderfully thoughtful that they sometimes make you want to Kry.  (I hate that. lol)

So to Andra, Kristy, Teresa, and Wendy...

We love you!!! Kevin and I thank God for you every day!!

xoxo

Weekly Wrap-Up: The One Where I Actually Do One

While I haven't blogged about it much lately, we are still doing school. Really. For the most part. I just seem to run out of time on the weekends and don't get around to the Wrap-Up. But this weekend has been relatively boring so I'm getting on it.

Mackenzie

History

We're back into our Sonlight full swing. Complete with our beloved readers/read alouds and Eastern Hemisphere Explorer. We're currently studying Vietnam and reading Land that I Lost, which I believe is a true story. And truly awesome.  The author shares tales of his childhood in the jungles of Vietnam, pre-war. So far it's been very exciting. It also makes me glad that I don't live in a jungle.

Math

I can't remember if I mentioned it, but Mackenzie finally finished MUS Epsilon and has moved on to Zeta. She also finished Life of Fred fractions and has moved onto LOF decimals. We are happy to have finally moved on. And the joy that we feel about this has cemented our resolve to do a lot less math reviews. Mackenzie has also discovered the perfect place to do her math. In front of a fire.

Language Arts

We are still happily plugging away with our grammar and writing lessons. I am thrilled to report that she is doing a better job at reading the instructions in Growing With Grammar so that she is actually doing the exercises properly. Woot!  She has a habit of reading the first part of the directions and then skimming the rest. The result is doing the grammar over.

IEW is, well, excellent. Just like the name promises.  And Mackenzie is finally remembering to underline her dress-ups for fear of the wrath of me. That can only help her. Dress-up underlining aside, her writing is vastly improved.

Science

We're currently studying primeval sea creatures and we have a sudden urge to watch The Water Horse. If I had unpacked any of our DVDs we would.

Kayleigh

Kayleigh is mostly interested in messy work, so we did some messy work. So we practiced our H's in shaving cream and did some sight words in glitter glue. Glitter glue is so much less messy than glitter and glue. Except the part where she squeezes the GG too hard but at least there's no glitter hiding all over the house.

In other handwriting news, she hasn't quite mastered the HWT's wet/dry/try method. Solely because she does not want to make the strokes in order.  And we've skipped the rest of the lame coloring pages in the HWT book and moved onto the actual writing. We're happier now.

We've added in some new reading activities from The Moffatt Girls. She has a Ready2Read program that has some really fun stuff, including the glitter gluing of sight words. She introduces word families as well as sight words which is fun for Kayleigh. And she has her doing stuff like "Cracking the Code" using a code to figure out the sight word. Good thing we put that page in a sheet protector so she could do it again and again.

Her Bible verse this week was one of my particular favorites, Exodus 20:12. ;) We are still using the Bible activities from Raising Rock Stars Preschool.  And now I've reminded myself that we didn't do our craft this week. Maybe we'll do that after church.

Speaking of crafts, Kayleigh did a fun and easy one (and totally not messy) craft to go along with one of her Sonlight stories, Stealing the Sun. She just drew a sun and then poked holes around her drawing using a giant thumb tack. Because who doesn't like poking stuff with a giant thumb tack? I can't name even one person. In fact, Mackenzie insisted on stopping her math lesson in order to get in on the giant thumb tack action.

In Other News

We had our last soccer game. Woo-hoo! I'm looking forward to not having to do anything on the weekend for a while. They were almost undefeated except they tied  one game that last day. Still awesome. She has seasons like that every time Coach Montgomery is her coach. He has mad coaching skills people.

We had lots of visitors. First my dad came to town.

Then my friend Joanne came in with her adorable son and brand new grandson. She'll be visiting her more often because now her grandson is living in the area. Yay me!!!

And our BFFs all came over to break in the girls new swing set. It didn't fall apart so I guess my man did a good job on it.

Lastly, in diabetes news. Mackenzie had to get more insulin. She's addicted. We refilled on election day and it was dead in the pharmacy. Woo-hoo! To see a military pharmacy empty is rare. So at least one good thing happened on election day. We didn't have to wait hours for our insulin.

 Kayleigh had a day of really high blood sugars. Like the meter wouldn't read it kind of high. And for the record. It was high before the lolly. I had to bribe her with the lolly to get her to let me prick her finger. I guess that won't work once she's diagnosed.

That's it. That's all I have. I feel good that the length of this post makes up for the weeks that I skipped. Have a nice day.

And if you haven't heard, I'm giving away a wonderful toy from Melissa and Doug. We have a lot of M&D toys in our house and we haven't had a dud yet. So check it out and see if you can win.





Linking to Weekly Wrap-Up, Photo Collage Friday, Preschool Corner, and Homeschool Mother's Journal.

J is for... Jammies!!!

The official homeschool uniform!!

There's a lot to be said about being comfortable while you learn.  =o)  Ahhh, the good life!

Melissa & Doug Terrific Twenty List and Giveaway

I don't know about you, but I like quality toys for my daughters. One of our favorite toy makers is Melissa & Doug.  Their well made toys promote creativity, imagination, and fun! We own many of their toys and they get a lot of play at our house.


With Christmas around the corner, you might be scratching your head while you search for gift ideas for the little ones in your life.  If you're looking for great gift ideas for your tot, be sure to check out Melissa & Doug's Terrific Twenty Holiday Gift List.  There's something on their for everyone.


And they've got more than just ideas for you, they're are giving away one item from the list for every day for 20 days.  Just pop over to their Facebook page to enter.



And if that is not enough, the kind folks at Melissa and Doug are offering one of my readers an item off of the Terrific Twenty List to one of my readers. That means you dear reader!  So if you're interested in the Doorbell House, then this the give away for you.

Ding Dong! Fun is at the door of this soundly-built wooden doorbell house. Four electronic doorbell sounds, four unique locks with matching keys, and four pose-able play people are included with this charming cottage! The keys are attached to the house so they won't get lost, and the sturdy handle allows this exciting house party to go wherever children.

Good luck!!!



a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclaimer: I was given a Doorbell House for myself and a reader in exchange for blogging about the Terrific Twenty List.

I is for... I Can't Believe...

that I'm saying this again. I'm serious, I CANNOT believe it. I could also go with Insane or Incredulous.  But here's how it goes...

As you might know, our oldest daughter, Mackenzie, was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in September. It's been a major adjustment and it's effected every one in the house in one form or the other.

The small one, Kayleigh, has felt a little displaced over all of the attention, and gifts, plied on her big sis. She has on more than one occasion declared that when she gets diabetes she is going to get spoiled too. Watching her sister get pricked and shots for every meal has not once deterred her from this line of thinking. Not even after we tested her blood shortly after the diagnosis. (She was normal.)

So last Friday, Kayleigh was on on a one track snack train after dinner. She wanted snack, after, snack, after snack. We were trying to get stuff done at the times so she got away with it twice. When she asked for the third snack, I tuned back in and said no, you're done. She went on and on and on about that apple. So I told her that she could have the apple if she got her finger pricked first. I was thinking she's say no. Because who in their right mind would say yes to a needle in the finger over an apple? A Snickers, maybe. Well the little minx said "Okay Mommy!"  Grrrr...

So we tested her blood. And the results were surprising and unwanted. She registered at 331. That is very, very high for a diabetic and is not something that you should see in someone with a normal pancreas. Not even if they'd just eaten dinner and 2 snacks. Normal is generally between 70-150.

We were stunned. And torn about what to do. We didn't want to be the crazy, neurotic new d-parents and we didn't want to do nothing. Especially when our older daughter had it for over a year before we caught on.  So we texted our good friend, and life saver, Kristy for advice. Her little man was diagnosed back in July so she has more experience.

Kristy suggested waiting another hour and testing her again. So we went with that. Next thing you know, Kristy is at the house because she found the hour to be unbearably long too. About 75 minutes after the first test, we did it again. With better, but still sucky, results.

What to do, what to do?? Still not wanting to be the wack-a-doos, we decided to get an A1C test from the drugstore and check that. An A1C is basically a test that gives you your average blood sugar level from the last three months.  Kevin ran and picked one up and we figured out the instructions. She did come in within normal ranges but she was on the very high end of normal. So we were back to considering what to do.

In the end we decided to err on the side of caution and we called Mackenzie's endocrinologist. Boy was he surprised to learn that we weren't calling about Mackenzie.

He debated a bit about what to tell us. He would've liked to have seen her directly but he can't unless she has a diagnosis. He didn't really want to send us to the ER on a Friday night (crazy town) because he knew that we'd be there forever and he was concerned about who would care for Mackenzie. (Isn't he the most awesome doctor ever?) Then he heard that Kristy was with us, her son is also his patient, and he said to bring her in.

Worst case, she gets a diagnosis and we come home. He wasn't going to admit her either way because her numbers weren't off the charts and because we already knew how to care for her and we had insulin in the house. Best case, she's fine.

So Kenzie went off for a sleepover with her little BDFF (best diabetes friend forever) and the rest of us headed to the hospital.

Thankfully, it hadn't gotten crazy yet. They got her into the triage area within 30 minutes and took all of her vitals. But didn't check her sugar yet. Which in hindsight, I should've had them do. Then we waited about another 30 minutes before getting a bed. And it was probably another 30 after that before she did get her blood sugar checked.

It was 141, which is a yay. Except that now they didn't have a record of her being high. But they ran all of the fancy blood and urine tests. Xrayed her for pneumonia. Talked a lot with Dr. Jensen. Kept us there forever. Typical ER stuff.

Around three a.m., they told us everything came back normal and that we could go home. Woot!!! But then they said that Dr. Jensen wanted us to call him tomorrow morning, no excuses. Sigh... I thought we'd got off to easy.

So like a good mom, I called the man back.

Dr. J.: "How was her levels this morning?"

Me: "Who said I checked them?

Dr. J. : Laughs. A lot.

Me: "93"

He basically said that all of her tests came back normal but that he really didn't like the numbers she had at home, especially given how slowly Mack's D came on. So she is on what I call "D-Watch." We are to watch for symptoms like eating more (yes), urinating more (yes), sleeping more (yes). And we are too weigh her every week. Loses more than a pound a week, call him. More than 5 pounds in month, call him.  She was 39.5 when I weighed her that day. Kevin weighed her the week before, she loves the scale, and she was 42. But we did just get a new house and its huge and she loves to run around it. Over and over and over. All. Day. Long.

He also wants to do an A1C on their professional machine. We can't just bring her in because she doesn't have the diagnosis so we're to bring her to Mackenzie's next appointment and he'll do it then because it's right in their office.

We are only to check her sugars if we really, really, really think something is off.  Naturally, we've checked her twice since. Monday she was 425 right before dinner and 280 at 2 am. Normal the next morning. She was 280 on Halloween, just before we started feeding her candy. We didn't bother checking after.

I have to again say how much we LOVE this doctor.  Not once has he made us feel like neurotic, nutbuckets. Instead he listened,  is concerned, and is being proactive regarding her health.

So we sit here in limbo, waiting. Which, in my opinion, is a tad worse than the diagnosis.  My gut tells me that we're going to get another diagnosis in January, if not sooner. I'm praying that, for once, my gut is wrong. On the bright side, if she is Type 1, we shaved off at least a year on our "hey something's wrong with the kid" record.  =o)