The first of the last

Today was Elise's first day of her last year of pre-school.  I am so thankful for the amazing pre-school she attends, and that the only prep I needed to do with her teacher (which is the same one from last year) was the teacher emailing me a few days before school started saying, "Anything new I need to know about?"

My answer?  "Nope!  See you Wednesday!"

I know... I am spoiled.  Ms. A jumped right back into things like she had never stopped.

Since Elise's birthday was yesterday, and Mattias's is Friday (it was his first day too!); I sent cupcakes to school for their classes.  Elise's BG at snack time? 336.  Did she eat her cupcake anyway?  You bet.

Numbers-wise it wasn't the best first day, but both my kids came home happy and excited about school.  I call that a win.



Come on... how cute are they?



THIS girl...

... was born 5 years ago today.  She was and still is one of the most beautiful things (on the inside AND out) I have ever laid eyes on.

Happy Birthday sweet Elise!  We love you and you continue to amaze me every day.

Things I learned from Diabetes this month... August edition

-It amazes me how incompetent, poorly trained, and ridiculous the TSA are.  I mean, I have heard stories, but never expected it to happen to us.  The story is still forthcoming and it makes me see red each time I think about writing it.  If anybody knows the right forum to file a complaint, I'd like to know (I know it's out there, I just haven't had the time to research it).  Meanwhile, I think I met a bunch of monkeys at the SF Zoo that could do a better job than the agents we interacted with that day.  Oops, excuse me... that's an insult to the monkeys.

-After almost 4 years, diabetes can still make me cry.  I have an upcoming post about that too, but UGH, I had forgotten how angry and sad it makes me sometimes.

-Travel with D just plain sucks. I knew this, but our SF trip was a reminder.  Don't let this observation discourage you, but prepare you for the fact that even if right before you leave you are having the most amazing run of number you've ever seen, travelling will (more than likely) promptly screw that up.

-We stayed a few nights in a hotel when we road-tripped down to Santa Cruz and unfortunately did not have a fridge in our room.  It was a nuisance and a complete (stupid) oversight on my part.  Never again... when travelling with diabetes (and kids) a fridge is a MUST!

-THIS is what 10g cho of cotton candy looks like.  Also, the pure joy of my little girl enjoying it.

-Diabetes sucks, but cancer sucks more.  I know that by now most of you have heard about my sweet friend Meri losing her best friend and beloved husband to brain cancer at the age of 40 on Sunday.  My heart is breaking for Meri and her boys.  I only had the chance to meet Ryan once, but even that one evening was enough for me to know that I was in the presence of a man who loved greatly and was greatly loved by his family.  And Meri has been an amazing source of encouragement and friendship to me.  Please, if you have the means to give to this family who has not only lost a husband and father, but the sole income provider, please click on this link and give what you can.  And keep them in your prayers.

A quick hello and why I'm going to kick the TSA in the groin

You may notice things are a bit quiet around here... Fred and I have taken the kids out west and we're hanging in SF for the next week and a bit. The posts might be a bit sparse because I'm blogging from the iPad, which is painful when it comes to formatting. First world problems, right?

You do need to come back, though. I have a doozy of a story about the TSA at DFW airport, and how they watched Elise cry for 45 minutes, refused to accommodate my requests, suggested that  we didn't need to check Elise's BG when she said she felt low and ultimately made us miss our flight.

Somehow, this pregnant D-mama's head didn't explode, but someone is going to get a talking to when I get home.

And this morning I woke up to a fun surprise... My blog was featured on Disney's Website along with Meri and Hallie! You can go here to check it out.  Thanks Kim for such a nice write-up!

Sorta Wordless Wednesday - Even THEY can't agree

Sorta wordless because, really, have I EVER been without words???

Please ignore the fact that the time and date is different on both of these meters, but these two results were obtained seconds apart from THE SAME DROP OF BLOOD.

Grrrrrr.

Please also ignore the craptastic numbers.  This was following a pod change (STILL a struggle), and a dinner of a burger and fries.

Yeah, I get it... 20% margin of error.  Blah, blah, blah.  But wouldn't you expect better from two meters that are the same brand?  Heck, even the same COLOUR?

Wordless Wednesday over.  We now return to your regularly scheduled full-of-words programming.

A maze of twisty little passages, all alike

I'm going to get a little geeky on you here for a second... When I was about 11 or so, we had this text-only game on our computer called "Adventure". If I remember correctly, the goal of the game was to go into this underground cave, fight monsters, collect treasure, and try not to get lost and die.

I came within one step of winning too... At the end you were supposed to drop a magical staff you were carrying before you went through a door. I didn't, and the result was that I blew myself up.

One of the most frustrating parts of the game was when getting lost in the maze. Whenever I would stumble into it, I could never get out. Whichever command I typed, it would spit back "you are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike".

Go south.

You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.

Turn right.

You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.

Turn around.

You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.

And so on... Until I was so lost, all I could do was turn the game off and walk away in frustration.

Lately I have found that trying to change any of Elise's pump settings is like being lost in that maze.

Waking high in the morning? Change her basal between 5-8. Now she wakes up low.

You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.

Low two hours after lunch? Change her I:C for lunchtime. Now she's running high.

You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.

A correction overnight drops her too low. Change her ISF. Now that high won't budge.

You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.

Get the picture? Each move gets me further into the maze and even more lost. I do wait at least three days to make sure what I need to fix isn't just some random weird blip on the radar, and I only change one thing at a time, but come on diabetes... Give a girl a break!

What I used to do when I would get hopelessly lost on the computer game is just start over. And I've started taking that approach with changes... I just go back to the original settings. And it seems to work. Every time. What can you do?

Just throw your hands up in the air and be thankful that I'm not blowing anybody up along the way.

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).

One small step for Mom

You'll never guess where Elise is right now... on her very FIRST playdate, sans Mom.

And I'm not even freaked out!

It all started at Target (as all good stories and blog posts do), when I ran into our neighbour, B. Elise LOVES her 5 year old twin girls, A & G. At some point in the conversation, B asked me if Elise could come over this afternoon to play.

I hesitated, because Mattias usually naps from about 1 - 4:30-ish (I know, how lucky am I?), which means Elise would have to go without me.  B was totally cool with that, and Elise was beside herself with excitement (me too)!

Thankfully, B only lives two doors down, and I feel completely confident that she'd be able to handle anything that happened. 

When I dropped Elise off, I gave B a crash course in bolusing for a snack (which I sent as well), and as I was finishing up, Elise was trying to push me out the door.  I think someone is ready for a little independence.

So here I sit... blogging in glorious silence, while I should be doing something constructive like laundry or mopping. Now that my post is done, I think I'll watch a little olympics instead.

I could really get used to this.

Food Ideas: Frozen blueberries in milk

I'm going to bet that pretty much all of you reading this will not try this "recipe", which is a shame, because if you love blueberries, you are missing out.

I don't know what it is that weirds people out when I tell them about one of my favourite breakfasts to eat in the summertime, but the looks I get when I explain it always make me laugh.  I have been eating this since I was a kid, and I think only one person (hi Liz!) responded enthusiastically to the idea.

Have I intrigued you yet?

The recipe is a simple one.  Two ingredients: frozen blueberries, and milk.  That's it. I think my mom used to sprinkle sugar on hers, but I enjoy the tartness of blueberries, so I leave it as it is.

There are a couple of tips I use:

1. Use fresh blueberries that you have frozen.  I'm not a big fan of store-bought frozen fruit.
2. Before you freeze the blueberries, make sure you wash them, let them dry, and then put them in the freezer. 
3. Before you make this, the blueberries have to be FROZEN solid. Usually overnight will do it.
4. Let the blueberries sit in the milk for about 3-5 minutes before you start to eat your concoction.

What happens is that the blueberries freeze the milk around them, giving you a fun slushy breakfast that is so refreshing to eat in the hot summer months.  Seriously... this is good.  You need to try it.

I double dog dare you.

The Steps:


Pour frozen blueberries into a bowl



Pour milk over blueberries. Let sit for about 5 minutes



What the frozen blueberries do to the milk



Things I learned from diabetes this month... July edition

-Elise has been wanting to try a snow cone/shave ice for the longest time.  I'm not sure how she even knows about them,  but they are a treat we haven't attempted for a few reasons; I am not a fan of sugar-free stuff and would much rather give her the full sugar version (which I used to have no idea how to carb count for), and they are full of ingredients I am loathe to give any of my children, except as a special treat.  We were at a birthday party that had a sno-cone machine and the host mom had a great idea... using a medicine cup (like what comes with children's Tylenol) to measure the syrup.  I looked at the carb count per oz., figured out what it would be in mL, and pretty soon Elise was in strawberry sno-cone heaven!

-Because of the above situation, I now know that there are 30 mL in 1 oz.

-Pumps were made for birthday parties. Rarely do I get party duty because they usually happen during Mattias's naptime, and Fred enjoys a good birthday cake, so he usually goes.  This past weekend however, his flight from New York got in late, so I had to suck it up and drag one very tired little boy and one very excited little girl to a party that featured 110 degree temperatures, an inflatable waterslide, sno-cones, pizza, cake... Oh my. It was crazy-town.  It went a little something like this:

• Waterslide fun
• BG check... 78
• Fruit
• bolus for fruit, but only by 1/2
• More waterslide
• Sno-cone
• Bolus in full
• More waterslide
• Pizza
• Bolus with extended
• More pizza and some fruit
• Bolus some more

At this point, Fred arrives and I take Mattias home for his nap. After I left there was cake.  Her numbers during the party and for the hours following were: 78, 105, 98, and 187 (that last number after three bowls of chicken fried rice).
I call that a win! Could you imagine the above scenario on shots???

-When Fred is out of town, I use my cell phone as my alarm for night checks.  Mattias used to sleep in our room before we moved into our new house, and I got used to sleeping with my cell phone set to vibrate under my pillow, so the alarm wouldn't wake him up.  While Fred was away this past week, I forgot to turn the ringer to vibrate and was awoken at 2 am by my very loud (set to max), very obnoxious dance mix alarm.  ALWAYS check your phone volume before you use it as an alarm!

-My above "thing I learned" reminds me that you should never make your favourite song the alarm on your phone that wakes you for night checks.  Fred did this on his old phone, using one of my very favourite songs by my very favourite group. Now when I hear it, it makes me want to get up and do a BG check and I instantly feel tired.  Thankfully, now that he has an iPhone, it's the annoying iPhone alarm that wakes us up. Still can't listen to my song though...