All the little babies

Dbolg week day 1 - Find a Friend

The tagline of my blog used to read, "having a baby with type 1 diabetes sucks... I'm learning to make it suck less."  A baby... that's what Elise was when she was diagnosed. 

I spent many hours on the internet trying to find someone like me.  A mother of a baby with diabetes.  But there was nothing out there.  So I started a blog and slowly started to meet other D-Moms.  But the best was when I discovered Meri's blog.  While it's true J was no longer a baby, he was diagnosed at only 8 months and Meri became a wealth of information for me.

So I thought I'd use today to highlight a few blogs of other Moms whose babies were diagnosed at a young age.  In case you've stumbled upon this blog in search of someone else like you too.

Kelly and her Sugar Babie

Shannon and Joshua

Laura and Nate

Jen and Addison

Jules and Rueben

Sarah and Issac

On being a Mom

A bit of trivia about me; I retired at the ripe old age of 23.  At least, that's what I tell people.

In fact, I had just moved from Canada to the U.S. and did not have permission to work.  It was interesting, being a snowbird (okay, so I don't meet the TRUE definition of a snowbird... call it poetic license) at such a young age.  Children were not yet on our radar and I had a lot of free time on my hands.  Besides volunteering, I spent a lot of time thinking about what job I'd like to do if the #&$%-ing government would just let me work.

Now that I am a Mom, I can imagine no other job that I would like.  Am I perfect at it?  Nope.  Not even close.  I yell.  I curse (under my breath, of course). I make Elise go back to bed if the number 7 isn't the first number on her alarm clock.  I don't make lunches in the shape of zoo animals and think that Moms that do should have a pillow case shoved over their heads and then beaten with a sock full of quarters.

What?  They are making the rest of us look bad!

Where was I going with this?  Oh yes, being a Mom and why I love it.  Watching my little babies grow up and bursting with pride at who they are becoming has to be at the top of my list.

A few weeks ago, I was asked to write a post for Sanofi's Diabetes Blog.  I was honoured and thankful; writing my post help me to reflect just how lucky I am to be a Mom.  And that is my true Mother's Day gift. 

Click here to read my post and Happy Mother's Day to ALL the Moms (in whatever capacity that may be) out there.

Thanks Tips4type1!

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away (or at least that's how it feels to me), I was the winner in a pretty cool giveaway.

Shannon, at The New Normal Life teamed up with Tonya from Tips4type1, and the lucky winner (ME!) received two rockin' bottles of nail polish.

A little about Tips4type1:
Their objective is two-fold; to raise money and awareness for type 1 diabetes. It was started by Tonya Homme whose daughter was diagnosed with type 1 in October of 2008,at the age of 23-months.

Tips4type1 offers polish in two beautiful colours; blue (for the diabetes awareness circle), and silver (for the diabetes awareness ribbon). The colours are named True Blue Hope and Tips of Steel. Tonya donates $10 from the sale of each set of polish to the Diabetes Research Institute. So you can look glorious and feel great about yourself at the same time!

And I was the winner of the giveaway on Shannon's blog that happened so many moons ago! Go me! Even more excited was Elise, who bugs me almost on a daily basis to paint her nails.

So as soon as the polish arrived, I set to work. My tootsies didn't get a new coat, because I'm still sporting the polish from my birthday pedicure and couldn't find the polish remover. But Elise was only too happy to offer up her hands and feet.

So pretty (the girl AND the polish)!

Elise LOVES her pretty nails and was so excited to show them off at the birthday party we went to that weekend (the fact that it was a boys party and was Cars-themed was lost on her). Thanks to Shannon and especially Tonya at Tips4type1! We love the polish.

Now go check out Tips4type1 and get some polish to paint your nails for World Diabetes Day!

Say Dia Dhuit to Chris!

One thing I love about blogging is "meeting" new people. Especially when they de-lurk to say hello, as Chris did the other day.

Chris's daughter K was dx'd in September of 2010, and he has just started blogging about his family's life with D. And the coolest part? He lives in one of my favourite countries (besides Canada and Portugal, of course); Ireland!

So go on over to his blog, Temporary Pancreas and say dai dhuit (hello in Gaelic)!

P.S. Chris... I apologize if I mistakenly insulted your mother or something worse in Gaelic. Google told me that's how you say hello. It's all Google's fault!

Cranes4acure

The other day I received the following email:

I stumbled on your blog a couple weeks ago, through a friend who’s daughter was diagnosed with diabetes earlier in the year. My 9 year old, after seeing a picture of my friend’s daughter in PICU (her penpal for a long time now) and after our youngest daughter had a seizure and the only thing “off” was her blood sugar…so we monitor her, my 9 year old wanted to do something to help kids with diabetes. So she came up with Cranes4aCure . She is up to $659. she has raised for JDRF. Every day she reads about different kids with diabetes, and she would like to know if you would mind her posting a picture of Elise on her blog (linking it back to your blog) and she would like to make a crane in her name. I look forward to hearing from you.

Can I just say I love hearing stories about kids like Lizzie?

Not to get all curmudgeon-y on you, but I've noticed a discouraging trend in the kids I've seen lately.

Like the 4 year old who told me she only wears a certain brand name of shoe, because the kids who don't, get made fun of. She's F-O-U-R.

Or the pack of 10 years olds I saw at Jamba Juice the other day. Enough make-up to make Lady Gaga look tame. Fingers flying on their phones as they facebooked, texted, and tweeted their meanness. I listened as they cackled things like:

"LikeohmyGod, Jane is such a hag! I'm totally slamming her on her wall"

"Liketotally! You should see what I just tweeted about Kim!"

"LiketotallyohmyGodyouguys! That is soooo funny!"

Ugh. Sometimes I weep for the future.

But I am thankful for kids like Lizzie, who bring balance back to the universe. Please go check out her website and post about Elise here, and make a donation if you can.

And thank you Lizzie, on behalf of Elise and all who live with type 1. Not only are your raising funds for a cure, but you are bringing awareness to people about type 1 diabetes. I am so impressed at your initiative, drive, and sweet spirit. Thank you from the bottom of this D-Mom's grateful heart!

A big, sloppy wet kiss to Karen

So.

It's no secret I've been under a bit o' stress lately.

Diabetes.

A three year old with night terrors every freaking night.

A baby with feeding issues so severe, that his pedi was going to hospitalize him for intensive feeding therapy if it didn't get better soon.

Buying a house.

Leasing our house.

Closing on said house, packing everything up, moving and leaving for our trip for Portugal... all in a two week span.

Yeah... it's a lot of stuff.

So. Why I felt I needed to take on DBolg week, I'll never know. But I did. And it couldn't have come at a better time.

You see, I was in a funk. BIG time funk-o-rama. I just wanted to insulate myself in a cocoon and hide from the world. I wanted to be left alone. I didn't want to blog, nor did I want to read any blogs. Dblog week forced me out of hiding.

So I wrote. I read. I met new people. Learned new perspectives. Giggled, wept, found "same" and then some. It was awesome.

Thank you Karen, for the kick in the pants I needed to start feeling good again. None of the above crap has gone away (although feeding issues are better and night terrors have abated for now), but it's okay.

Suddenly I feel like I can do this again. And for that, I am grateful. To Karen and the entire DOC.

If you haven't seen it yet, new-to-me blogger Mike did a thank you video and posted it on his blog. You can see it here.

I submitted a pic, and you can see it if you watch the video. But as a SPECIAL thank you to Karen, I thought I'd post the rejects.

Please ignore that fact that I am in sweats (or my "uniform") or that my son is wearing Christmas pyjamas. In May. Don't judge me.

Complete fail

Come on kids, they want to see your cute faces! Nice outlet in the background, btw

I think I fell asleep in this one. Only getting 4 hours a night will do that to ya

Look at the camera

I said, look at the CAMERA!

Mattias is outta there, and Elise looks possessed

Wrestling with an 8 month old

Gimme that

Not bad, but I look like I have one muttonchop because of what my hair is doing

It will have to do

We be stylin'

I was so, so, so, SO excited when I found out I had won Cindy's giveaway... #1, because I NEVER win anything. Nada. Zip. Zilch.

And #2, I LOVE Cindy's hats. They are so adorably uber-cute that I can barely stand it. And the best thing? She sent us 3 hats to adorn our cute little heads.

Thanks Cindy... they are beyond awesome!

Featured!

As you know, food plays a very important part in diabetes. I am forever trying to figure out how certain foods affect Elise, find foods that won't spike her BG, and come up with fun and interesting food ideas.

I am very blessed to know (in real life) Angela Lemond. She is a registered and licensed dietitian who has worked in pediatrics. She is also the author of Mommy Dietitian and my go-to gal when it comes to food advice. Plus she's a just plain lovely person!

She is starting a new series on her blog called "The Mom Chronicles"; featuring stories of people with chronic illnesses, and how food plays a role in their treatment. We are honoured to be the inaugural family featured! Click here to read it.

Thanks Ang, for asking us to be a part of your new series, and aswering all my crazy questions over the years!

Now head on over to Mommy Dietitian... what are you waiting for?

Meet Denise and the Bean!

Before my life turned into utter chaos and this blog became a dumping ground for all rants associated with that chaos, one of my main goals was outreach to others dealing with the "D-monster". This disease can be so isolating, and I found great comfort reading all the stories of other parents who were the "same".

Although it never delights me to know that there is yet one more family affected by diabetes, I am always happy when they stumble upon my little blog and leave me a comment. Which brings me to Denise!

Denise's 7 year old daughter,(aka the Bean), was dx'd last year and is pumping with Omnipod. They live waaaaaay up north in Alaska, and Denise has just started a blog. You can get to it by clicking here.

So go and say hello! Perhaps she can say hi to Russia for you (okay, I'm totally joking about that).

Welcome to the DOC Denise... the group that nobody in their right mind would want to be part of, but we're all glad we are!

Why I love the DOC

Is it weird that I feel closer to the people living in my computer than some of the real live breathing people in my life?

Maybe it's because you get me.

Maybe it's because we live very similar lives.

I know it's because you guys have my back no matter what happens.

When Eileen gasped her final beep on Friday night, I had resigned myself to the fact that we had to wait 4 rather long days for a replacement. That's when Carrie swooped in and saved the day.

If you haven't met Carrie yet, you should head on over to her blog. Her now 2 year old son was dx about 6 months ago. Before last night, we had never met, just exchanged an email or two. When she read my post about our CGM kicking the bucket, she sent me an email saying we could use an extra receiver they happened to have. They live about 20 minutes from us, so I hopped in the car to get it.

So now we are up and running until we receive our replacement on Tuesday, and I am so thankful. I know we could have made do without it... we lived with D for almost two years before Eileen came along.

But I liken it to being blind. And then for a glorious period of time you are able to see, and you are amazed at everything you've been missing. And then, without warning, your sight is taken away from you, and while you lived before without being able to see, you know know what it's like to have sight, and you miss it terribly.

That 24+ hour period without Eileen was hard. Static numbers are hard. Not knowing is hard. Thanks to Carrie and John for making it easier for us!

Hats off to Cindy!

Just wanted to show off my cuties sporting their adorable hats (and booties for Mattias) made by Cindy from Eaten Alive. Thanks Cindy... we love them!

Using the F-Word

Used to be, when people asked me how Elise was doing, I always used the F-Word. As in fine. As in she's fine, we're fine, my whole stinkin' life is FINE (As least, that's how I would scream it in my head).

But to the person who asked the question, I would always just say, "she's doing fine". Because anything less than that was an admission of my failure. So I would put on my biggest, brightest smile and pretend that everything was okay, all the while inside I felt like I was drowning.

Because as hard as I tried, I still felt I was failing at this whole "being a pancreas" thing. But I wanted people to believe I had it all together. I also figured that nobody wanted to hear or really cared about how hard it is to care for a baby with diabetes.

But after awhile, I got tired of lying. So I started a blog. And poured out my inadequacies, my fears and most importantly, my failures. And you know what? It felt GOOD.

Then, to my utter surprise, people started reading my blog. And commenting. And saying things like, "yeah, been there, done that... you are NORMAL!" And I could scarcely believe that there were others out there who felt like I did. When Elise was first diagnosed, I felt so alone. And like nobody understood. But on my blog, I could be real and accepted all at the same time.

And now, when people who live outside my computer ask me how Elise is doing, I no longer use the F-word (unless I'm having a REALLY bad day, and it's the other F-word). I tell them how it's really going. Because I don't want to put on a facade anymore. And I think it's important for people to understand that life with D is really a day-by-day (and sometimes an hour-by-hour) disease.

So why am I blabbering on and on about being real? Because I just read a post on another blog about why it is so important to be able to be open about your struggles. It touched me so much that I just had to share it with you. It's a long read, but so worth it. You can either click on the link below or copy and paste it.

http://www.danoah.com/2010/09/disease-called-perfection.html

I'll end by saying this; if it wasn't for my blog, and all of you who have encouraged me by sharing what you struggle with, I would not be as functional as I am today. I'd most likely be curled up in a dark corner somewhere, unable to face the utter crap that life with diabetes can throw at you.

I like it much better out here, thankyouverymuch.

Diabetes Week

I've never taken part in anything like this, but when I saw it on Lora's blog, I decided to give it a whirl.

To get all the nitty-gritty on what Diabetes Week is about, head on over to Karen's Bitter-Sweet Diabetes Blog and leave her a comment if you want to take part.

I'm looking forward to reading what everyone has to say on the various topics!

See ya tomorrow!

Welcome to a new D-Mom

Remember Sara from my last post? Well, her sister (Mom to Joshua, the little guy Sara's post was written for) Shannon has joined the blogging world!

Check her story out at The New Normal Life... and what a story it is. Let's make her feel welcome and show her how awesome it is to be a part of a group that no one in their right mind would ever want to be part of!

(sorry if that last part makes no sense... pregnancy brain + exhaustion = me)

A must read

You have to go to Sara's blog and read this post. Well, you should read her blog anyway, because she's just the most adorable soon-to-be-newlywed ever!

But her post left me in tears. You see, she's an Aunt to a one year old little boy who was just diagnosed with diabetes, and she wrote the most beautiful letter to him.

My heart breaks for this family, but my soul is cheered at the same time. They are so blessed to have someone in their lives willing to stand with them and do battle with this disease.

Just make sure you have your kleenex ready when you do read it!