Thursday, December 13, 2012

12 of 12 ~ December

...or should I say, 12 of 12 on 12/12/12!

And the day begins with a midnight-ish BG check.
Looks like that nice bedtime number decided it was too low. ;)
Nothing a little insulin can't handle...or at least that's the hope!


I had set an alarm on my phone for 3am to see how the correction was 
going, but, Bean, because of the high BG, overflowed her pull-up, 
and woke me up to help her get her bed back in sleeping order.
Well, at least now there's a bit more time in between a BG check
and when I have to get up...


This is how I found Bug when I went in to wake up the girls...
one arm out of her PJs, not on her pillow, and mostly uncovered!
Such a silly thing, even when she's sleeping!


When living in a house with two girls, there is never a shortage
 of cute bandaides to choose from if you happen to get a
boo-boo...real or not so real.  Mine happens to be real,
though I'm not sure how I cut the side of my finger!
A Candyland bandaide will help it feel better, I'm sure!


Seems we are making up for lost time with today's snowfall.
Nope, not foggy...that's snow falling in large quantities!
Was kinda bummed the picture didn't capture any of the actual falling 
snow, but that's par for the course with my cell phone camera!
Yes, I'm happy we are getting snow...it's so pretty...
but, the shoveling I'm not so happy about!


Today wouldn't be complete without a BG check at 12:12!!
And since I missed the AM opportunity by 19 minutes, I HAD
to make the PM one!  Thankfully the class I was subbing in
went to recess in time for me to boogie to Bean's class to have
her test! (For the record, she thought I was crazy waiting for 
her PDM clock to read 12:12!!)


...that's a LOT of 12's!!
Thanks, Ubergeek, for the cool picture!


So, the class I was subbing in today has been learning about 
ordered pairs. Being the nice sub I am, I printed out some fun 
graphing activities for them to do, thinking it would be more 
enjoyable than just plotting points.  Well, several of them thought it 
would be OK to just try to guess the pictures and draw them 
instead of actually finding the ordered pairs on the graph. 
Rude...and totally not the point of the assignment!
And, yes, I totally said that to them...this is a class I'm in often
and have that kind of relationship with them, which I love.
This one is my example....yes, I love to color! :)


What else is there to do in all that new snow but make
a SNOW ANGEL!?!  Bean had fun making several
while she was waiting for me to be done with my subbing day.
This one was 'headless' because she did it on her tummy!


When we headed down our street, the guys that plow the 
driveways had just started, so we turned around and headed
to Subway for dinner.  Nice way to waste some time and have 
someone else be in charge of dinner! Unfortunately it didn't work 
as well as we wanted because they did the street first and
 hadn't even started on the driveways when we got home.  
But, there was homework to be done and bedtimes to be kept, 
so we just pulled in and trudged through the snow to the front door.
Oh, and then I went out and shoveled the sidewalk 
and part of the driveway.
Fun.


Subway was, according to Bean, was sporting
Diabetes Blue for their decorations!


It wouldn't be a day in our house if a load of laundry wasn't shuffled!
This load was put into the dryer as I was going up to bed.
Funny how me going to bed almost always entails laundry or dishes!

Monday, December 10, 2012

Bracelet Variety Is The Spice Of D-Life

Like most girls, Bean is fond of changing her outfit a bazillion times a day.

Thankfully, this usually only happens on the weekends, so it's tolerable!

She also likes to change up things in the medical ID bracelet wardrobe area, too.

She has several options from Lauren's Hope, including one she's had since very shortly after dx that has stood the test of time.

Recently, our beloved TallyGear (who makes amazing things for carrying pumps and CGM receivers, etc) ventured into the ID bracelet world and I was super excited to check them out.

Before I even had a chance to peruse the options on the website, I got a message to see if I thought the girls would like to have one.  

Um, duh, yes, of course!!

Very soon after, Bean was dancing around the house, kissing her new bracelet, proclaiming how much she loved it!!


It's great for those everyday, casual, but still super stylish and girly, needs.  I love that it's totally adjustable...which is important for Bean's teeny tiny wrist...and that the medical information is easy to get to.

For all the specs, check out this part of the TallyGear website.


What's totally cool, is that you can get just an ID bracelet for kids without any medical alert needs.  This was a BIG hit for Bug, since she's usually left out of the 'cool products' area because there just isn't a need.
It has the same pull out info tag, but the part you can see on the bracelet doesn't have "Medical" on it, nor the caduceus. 
Bug LOVED being able to show off her new bracelet along with Bean when we headed out to dinner with the grandparents this weekend.


Yes, the bracelets were given to the girls free of charge.

But, more importantly (I think, anyway), I will TOTALLY be buying other styles because they are cute and very reasonably priced!

Besides, Bean has to wear a medical ID everyday to make sure she's always safe, so why not give her as many options as possible.

A girl has to have her options!!

:)

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Hope, Comfort, and "Same" in Numbers

On the first Tuesday of each month there is a Diabetes Support Group that Ubergeek and I have started going to.

The first meeting we attended had four other moms.  The second, it was just me and another mom.  Last night there were five other moms and a dad, plus Ubergeek and I.  Plus, there were only two of those five that were at the other meeting.

Last night's meeting was particularly...um...ugh!  Can't find the right word.
Heavy, powerful, enlightening, emotional....that starts to scratch the surface just a bit!

Anyway!  There was a newly dx'd family there last night; three months of being in this battle pretty much all alone.  There were a handful of us with 2-4 of years under our belts and two with around 9 years.

It was powerful to sit around the table and just share what works, what doesn't work, and the unending "1 + 1 = purple" frustration that comes with this disease.

You could see the weight of this life changing diagnosis lift ever so slightly from the shoulders of not just the most recently dx'd, but from those of us who have worked D into the regular routine of our lives, being in a room of people who truly understand what the daily grind requires.

Being able to bounce information off of each other, share successes and failures, talk about technology, compare notes on post exercise lows, and what low treatments our kids prefer,(just to mention a few things we crammed into just over an hour) is such a wonderful thing.

I don't like meeting other families with kids that have T1D because I wouldn't wish this life on anyone!

But, I love meeting other families with kids that have T1D because connecting and sharing are second only to insulin and test strips when it comes to life with T1D, as far as I'm concerned!

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Tears of, well, Jealousy

Jealousy.

That has to be what it is.

Why the tears came when I was talking with Bean's FNP yesterday at our 3-month check up.

Why the tears came when I read a friend's FB status about being able to go on a date with her husband and have someone watch their kids and have the oldest ones stay for a sleep over.


You see, I'm struggling lately with the whole 'how Bean is treated because she has T1D' thing.

It's not like she's being singled out or bullied or anything like that.  She's just seen a 'different' because, well, she is.

But the part that makes those tears become mixed with a bit of anger is that it is NOT HER FAULT she's different.

She's the only one who has to test her blood sugar when she 'gets in trouble' at school for being overly silly or is having trouble focusing.  All the other kids just get a reminder or move their clip or whatever else happens to kids whose pancreases work.

She's the only one who has to help her teachers remember that sometimes she can't do certain things (like take a test or participate in PE) because of a number on a screen.

She's the only one in our group of friends who takes a significant amount of extra planning to go to play dates or a sleep over...which hasn't happened yet, just in case you're wondering. (To be fair, she has been asked, but it's never been an actual planned out invite, just the off-handed 'so and so said I could sleep over sometime' or 'we should figure out something for the girls to do' but it hasn't amounted to anything.)

Ubergeek and I can't just drop the girls off with anyone to go out.  Yes, his parents are great with them and they get the whole D thing, but it doesn't always work out for them to watch the girls.  And, yes, there is a babysitter who has T1 that we trust completely, but she's not free. ;)  And when you are looking at the cost of a night out, plus babysitting, it just doesn't always fit into the budget.


It's frustrating.  Frustrating to the point of tears at the moment.

Yes, I know, this will pass.  The tears will stop.  I'll have a better perspective on things and they won't bother me as much.

But today, well, today is not that day.