Chicken and waterslides

What does one have to do with the other?  Well... nothing really.  Except I am combining them into one post.

Chicken... as in eat more with us!
Just a reminder that tomorrow is the Team Elise fundraising day at the Chick-fil-a in Southlake. If you live in the area, join us Thursday, August 9th, from 6 until 8 pm at the Chick-fil-a at 2301 E. Southlake Blvd. Hope to see you there!

Waterslides
Remember this post, where I wrote about Hawaiian Falls and the wonderful Champions Day they had done?  Well, they're doing it again!  This Saturday, August 11th, Hawaiian Falls invites all kids with special needs and their families for a day of fun.  All you need to do is show up between 8:30 and 10:30 am (with the coupon printed from their site), and each familiy member gets in for only $5 (child with special needs is free).  You can then stay the rest of the day and have fun!

We loved this when we did it back in June.  We got there right at 8:30 and the day was still (relatively) cool and there were NO LINES!  By the time the general public was let in a few hours later, the kids were tired and ready to go home.

To get the coupon, go to the Hawaiian Falls website, and click on Champions Day. There are parks located in Garland, Mansfield, The Colony, Roanoke and Waco (all in Texas).

Time to Eat Mor Chikin again!

Once again, our local Chick-fil-a will be doing a fundraiser for Team Elise!  If you live in the area and can come out, the big day will be on Thursday, August 9th from 6 until 8 pm at the Chick-fil-a on 2301 E Southlake Blvd in Southlake, TX.

Each year we've done this, we've had over 100 people come out to help support Team Elise, and we'd love to see you there!

Thanks again to Tracy and her wonderful team at Chick-fil-a Southlake...

... And go Team Elise!

A1Cs, pumps and other D stuff

Thanks for all the comments on the last post... that is indeed an omnipod, but we're just doing the saline trial right now. We also have an appointment with Animas next week. We're pretty excited about pumping and I'm glad we waited until Elise was ready. She's been GREAT through the whole process, saying "that wasn't bad at all!" after the omnipod was inserted.

I believe we found the culprit to those sucktacular numbers from last week. Bad insulin. All 4 vials at the same time. Freaking Texas heat.

We raised $417 at the Chick-fil-a fundraiser a few weeks ago... almost 100 people (including a whole bunch of D-families) came out to "Eat Mor Chikin" with us. Thank you to Mark, Tracy and the entire staff at Chick-fil-a Southlake for taking such good care of us!

And I saved the best for last... today was our endo appointment and I knew our A1C would be pretty good; at least as good as the 6.7 from last time. And I was not disappointed... 6.4, our lowest yet!

So that's what has been happening around here... I've pretty much fallen off the face of the earth in terms of blogging and reading/commenting lately. I'm hoping I can catch up with everybody SOON!

An update and reminder

Thank you to everybody for your suggestions and comments on my "ouch" post. When I took off Elise's last sensor, the skin surrounding insertion site was obviously infected, so we are definitely going to have to try something. I have a call into our endo to see if I can snag some samples of the products that were suggested. I just don't want to go out and spend a bunch of money on something without knowing if it will work.

Elise has been such a trooper and even agreed to trying a bum site (after I told her she could have a surprise from my stash of toys bought at Target for 75% off). We've been seeing a wide variance between CGM and meter, but the sensor doesn't seem to be be bugging her too much.

I just hate that such an integral tool for us is causing Elise so much misery. Hopefully, one of the many suggestions will do the trick.

And If anyone else is having similar issues, Jessica (thanks Jess!) dug up an old post by Lorraine from This is Caleb for me. Click here to see some of her suggestions.

And... just a reminder that tonight is our big fundraiser at Chick-fil-a! Come out between the hours of 5 - 8 pm, and CFA is donating a percentage of the sales to Team Elise. If you live in the metroplex, please come out and Eat Mor Chickin with us! Click here for the address.

Hope to see YOU tonight!

See you on Monday

If you're a big Chick-fil-A fan and you haven't seen the "See you on Monday" video, you have to see it:




And, if you live in the DFW area, this is just a reminder that we would love to see you on Monday...

This Monday, August 29, from 5 to 8 PM, the Chick-fil-A in Southlake is again donating a percentage of the proceeds from your meals to Team Elise.
Last year, 60 of you joined us for dinner (along with 63 kids) and we raised over $400!

Click here for the address.

BTW, if you're able to and you haven't made a donation to Team Elise or registered to walk with us, just go to http://www.teamelise.com/ and click on Donate Now from any page or on Join Team Elise from the Walk page.

A big thank you to Chick-fil-A Southlake for supporting Team Elise again this year!

See you on Monday...

A belated thank you to Chick-fil-a... and diabetes

Oh my, this post is so over-due. Back in May, I was awarded the Southlake Chick-fil-a Mother of the Year. It came right as we were closing on our new house, packing all our worldly belongings to be moved to said house, as well as getting ready to leave on our trip to Portugal in two days. Crazy times.

I was honoured with a plaque, a dinner for 30 of my friends, and FREE Chick-fil-a for a YEAR!

It was a celebration that was difficult for me. Because so often, I feel like I fail at this motherhood thing. I yell. I loose my cool. A lot of times I revert back to acting like a child. Chick-fil-a totally should have done a hidden camera thing to get the REAL truth about my Mom-skills.

But one thing I do know... I am a better Mom than I ever would have been, if diabetes not came into our lives.

Diabetes has taught me patience. Waiting for that BG to rise/fall. The "rule of 15s (which in our house is more like the rule of "whatever we think will work this time"). Shoving carb after carb into Elise, trying to get a stubborn BG to rise above 80.

It has given me mad trouble-shooting skills. How many nights have I spent pouring over Elise's logs, looking at numbers and trying to find the answers that are hidden among them? Quite a few. And it still amazes me when I tweak something, and it works!!!

I am not the type of Mom who, when her child falls and gets a minor owwie, will rush over to them with an ice pack and administer first aid while covering them in kisses. It's just not how I'm wired. I subscribe to the "it's-just-a-flesh-wound-rub-some-dirt-on-it-and-you'll-be-fine" school of thought. But diabetes has changed that in some respects.

It has taught me that mercy, grace, and kindness all need to be a part of a mother's toolbox. For the times when Elise fights me at shot time. Or when she's being belligerent due to a high or low BG. So I can just hug her and let her cry when she tells me she hates diabetes and just wants to be a normal kid. These are not "rub-some-dirt-on-it" moments.

But most of all, diabetes has taught me about strength. MY strength. When I just want to take the scale and throw it out the window, and the thought of poking my child one more time makes me want to cry. I dig a little deeper.

On the nights where it seems we're up every hour fending off lows, and I feel like I might throw up from the exhaustion; I just keep going.

During the times that Fred is out of town and it seems that those are the times that everything goes wrong at once, I keep calm and carry on (thanks Laura!). Well, I carry on... I still need to work on the keeping calm part.

So while diabetes is not my favourite auto-immune disease that attacks the beta cells in the islets of Langerhans; I can say that, without a doubt, it has made me a better Mother.

Thank you Chick-fil-a Southlake for the honour. And for giving me leverage in arguments with my children for many years to come. Because what the Mother of the Year says, goes!

One more amazing thing I have to mention about Chick-fil-a Southlake... they have agreed to host another fundraiser for Team Elise! I'll be doing a post with all the info soon!

Thank you Chick-fil-a!

So what do you call something that far exceeds your expectations into a whole new realm of awesomeness? I call it Team Elise Night at Chick-fil-a.

Tracy Matlock and the Southlake Chick-fil-a went above and beyond for us and I am so thankful for their support. Even more amazing is the number of friends that came out to "Eat Mor Chikin" with us. Some people drove 45 minutes to come see us. Some I hadn't seen in almost three years. Everybody came out eager to eat some good food and support a worthy cause while they were at it.

At last count I think we had over 120 friends (kids and adults) come join us. And that's not counting friends that went through the drive-thru, or friends of friends. I'm not sure on the exact total of what was raised, but we should have that number in the next few days.

Thank you so much to everyone who came out to see us. You have no idea what it means to Fred and I to be surrounded by so many people cheering us on. I think Elise said it best today during a conversation we had:

Me: Did you have fun last night with all your friends at Chick-fil-a?
Elise: Yeah... I loved all the people. Why so many people come to play with me?
Me: Well... I'd have so say it's because they love you... you are one very loved little girl, did you know that?
Elise: Yeah, that's amazing!

It sure is Elise.

Here are some fun pictures we took of the event... enjoy!

Don't Forget to come Eat Mor Chikin with us on Thursday!

This Thursday from 6 - 8 pm, the Chick-fil-a in Southlake is doing a fundraiser for Team Elise!

Just come by the restaurant, located at 2301 E Southlake Blvd, Southlake, TX 76092, eat some yummy food, and hang with the cutest little Chick-fil-a fan there is!

A percentage from all sales during that time will go to Team Elise, which is already 50+ members strong for this years Walk to Cure Diabetes on September 25th. Speaking of which... have YOU joined yet? Just go to teamelise.com to sign up or make a donation. Thank you so much for all your support!

I also wanted to say thank you for all the wonderful comments on my last post. I think I'm better now. Chalk it up to just the right mixture of guilt, pregnancy hormones, self-inflicted perfectionism, and exhaustion. Seeing your child in pain, and knowing that YOU had a hand in it (no matter how accidental) is excruciating. But I learned some lessons and I'm moving on. Your kind words and support mean the world to me, and helped a lot.

One more reason to LOVE Chick-fil-a!

If you live in the DFW area, here's your chance to eat some YUMMY food, and help support Team Elise!

The Chick-fil-a in Southlake is doing a fundraiser for Team Elise on Thursday, August 19 from 6 to 8 PM (a percentage of the proceeds from that two-hour block will go to Team Elise).

Fred, Elise and I will be there and would love to have all of our friends in the DFW area join us for dinner at the Chick-fil-A in Southlake at 2301 E Southlake Blvd, Southlake, TX 76092.

A big thanks to owner Mark Guilbert and marketing director Tracy Matlock for helping us raise funds to find a cure for diabetes!

If you haven't already, you can go to teamelise.com to get more information about type 1 diabetes, make a donation or join Team Elise for the 5K JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes on Saturday, September 25 at 9 AM at Granite Park in Plano, TX .