Odds and bits and pieces and ends

Hello.  Remember me?  I used to blog here.  

It's not that I don't have much left to say, it's that I have so much to say and no time to say it properly.

But I wanted to bring attention (to the one or two of you who still might read this) to some cool (to me) stuff:

Awhile back, Fred and I were asked to take part in a You Can Do This Project video.  They wanted parents of kids who were diagnosed under the age of two to tell their story.  We did and you can see it here at Texting My Pancreas.  Feel free to comment on my awkwardness and dorkiness.  I'm okay with it.

Secondly, Sara, from Moments of Wonderful, is hosting a year-end Best of the 'Betes Blogs.  She put a lot of time and effort into it, so go here and check it out.  Vote.  You may notice that Yours Truly has been nominated in a couple of categories.  You don't have to vote for me, but if you haven't sent me a Christmas present yet, this would do nicely.  Just sayin'

So that's about it.  My first post in over a month.  Hopefully it will lead to more.

After all... my daughter still has type 1, and I still have a lot to say about it.

You can do this. We can help.

***I was going to do this as a video. Still might. Unfortunately, with about a million boxes left to unpack (this might be an exaggeration), kids to chase after, and that fact that it's 2011, and no one has figured out how to get dinner to make itself, all I got is this all-over-the-place post.

This is my submission for the "You Can Do This" Project.
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My whole world stopped on September 6th, 2008.


My 12 month old baby had been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.

I stopped living.

I stopped being.

I don't think I left the house by myself with Elise for about a month. I sank so deep into a chasm of despair, I feared I would never emerge.

Then came a revelation.


How I lived with Elise's diabetes would be how SHE would live with her diabetes.

Live.

I wanted her to live well.

So I had to start living again too.

I started small... going back to the story time that she loved so much at the library.

Then, trips to the park.

My big moment came when I took her out to Chick-fil-a to have lunch with my Mom's group... All by myself.

I started believing... I can do this.


If someone had told the post-dx me all we would have done in the last 2.5 years, I would have laughed at them.

We have not only lived.


We have LIVED WELL.

Since 6 months post-dx, we have taken total control of her care, making all changes ourselves. And doing a pretty decent job of it, despite the curves diabetes likes to throw at us.


We have travelled.

We had another baby.

Elise went to pre-school.

We enrolled her in gymnastics.

Ice skating.

She takes ballet and tap lessons.

We bought our dream house.

And we just got back from a 17 day trip to Portugal, where we:

Dealt with a 6 hour time change.

Experienced new foods.


Excitement.

Fun.

Stress.

And all sorts of craziness.

It was HARD. Harder than I could ever put into words for you.


But we did it.

And you can too.

If you are finding yourself in that same pit I was almost three years ago, take solace in the fact that you are not alone. There is a whole community waiting for you.

We are here.

We get it.

We are "same".

You can do this.

Thank you to Kim, from Texting my Pancreas for putting this together. She is just one example of what makes the DOC so great.