Smile Today

Today I am surrounded by things that just bring a smile to my face. It is as simple as the duck in my apartment complex that visits me every morning for breakfast. The same duck who has laid ten eggs under my front door and is now sitting there waiting for her babies to hatch.

Meet Marguerite.

Then there is SuperBabe who loves to draw, create stories and just express himself through paper. I found him engulfed in his notebook. Quiet household with my son on the couch, absolute bliss. 

Hope you find things today that bring a smile to your face as well. :)

Much Love and Laughter,

Nush

Awesome

I saw this today on a fellow T1 parents facebook page. I immediately feel in love with it and will recreate one for my home as well. Great message for everyone!

Much love and laughter,
Nush

First Appointment Can Now Be Checked OFF

Rockstar had his first doctor's appointment yesterday to follow up and continue being seen every three months. It went great and all but holy cow the appointment was at 10:30 and we did not go to the back until 11:50 and we did not see the DR himself until 12:50. All in all we were there from 10:15 until 1:30. Most of it was just sitting and waiting.

All his levels were great and we reviewed his log that hold his blood sugar readings. They decided to have him take 1 to 15 grams ratio of insulin for lunch and the two other meals he will be on the 1 to 10 gram ratio. I asked particular questions about his diet, counting carbs and specific tweaks we have done at home and looking to get approval from the nurse and Dr, which we did.

Yay for a good appointment.

Much love and laughter,
Nush

Knocking Down the Pins

With all we do during the week we decided to change things up for the long holiday weekend. No better way to enjoy your childhood that to be surprised with ice cream at Braums. Though once we arrived they both acted FAMISHED so they got food as well.

 Check out all the missing teeth!!

... and this ham!

That night we headed to the local bowling alley and bowl our hearts content. Everyday our new normal gets easier and easier. You can even see Rockstar's green camo insulin bag on the table.

The boys had a blast along with two special friends of theirs. They were cheering each other on and gave everyone words of encouragement after each turn. It was extremely cute. With all the boys there I had to take a picture with the only other girl in the group. We often are surrounded by boys and decided it was time to take a picture of us both.

Always great to get away from the normal hustle and bustle and enjoy life.

Much love and laughter,
Nush

Where to Administer Insulin?

Friends and family have asked, " Where and how do you decided where to administer Rockstar's insulin?" Well it is simple thanks to Cook's Children in providing us with A First Book for Understanding Diabetes by H. Peter Chase. Both boys have even colored in there because the star of the book is their beloved Pink Panther.

Anywhere highlighted in pink is where to inject the insulin. Alternating locations is extremely important. If you administer is in the same location you will eventually develop scar tissue and the medication will actually not be adsorbed correctly, you run the risk of getting off the correct Blood Sugar mark.

Rockstar is 100% the decision maker when it comes to his insulin.  He decides who he wants to hold his hand and what location in the home to administer. Sometimes I like to play a joke on him and not inject the insulin when he is done counting, why? Because he psyches himself out and starts yelling with pain before  his tiny 3/10th syringe has not be given. When I tell him I hadn't even started, he starts giggling.

Before you put the syringe in location you have - you have to grab a portion of the skin and lightly pinch. Eh, we pinch harder so he focuses on the pinch and not the needle. It actually really works well for him and so we will keep doing that for now.You know what else? It is extremely adorable to see Rockstar ask Superbabe to hold his hand. Then they start at each other and yell in an extremely silly fashion while getting meds. It is sweeter than anything I have ever seen. Two brothers, best friends who support each other at such an early age.

Rockstar is doing great at school and meets with the school nurse at a minimum of two times during the day. Yay!

Much love and laughter,
Nush

When will I get it?

I am frustrated with myself after reading my son's blood sugar levels. WHY DO THEY GET SO LOW AND SO QUICK? I get him where he needs to be, he eats great and then later on he will go well below 100. His target blood sugar level being a T1 kid is 100-180. At school he has been getting 76 before lunch. UGH! That is way too low. He goes to the nurse a minimum of twice a day to regulate this. She gives him correction in Milk or another snack we provided that has 15grams of carbs and then he is back where he needs to be. Ready and focused to learn and make new friends, and for that I am extremely thankful for.

Having a hard time not beating myself up about this... but I am. Last night after taking his blood sugar I started sobbing. Why was he at a 86? I have tried very hard to show him how strong we can be with this new life change, but again he needs to see that his mommy is human and everyone has the right to express how they feel.

He ate dinner an hour before AND even had a snack in between and had an amazing reading. Then right at 8:00pm, when he was scheduled to take his night time insulin Lantus, he was way too low for me to administer. I then called his nurse and she told me to just keep rotating in every 15 minutes with correction of 15g of carbs to help him get back up. After 30 minutes he got back to 145 and was ready to go to bed. But, I still was upset with it. Upset that I did not notice he was getting low. I am thinking more snacks will help with this???  For his blood sugar readings we use Accu-Chek Blood Sugar meter. I am very happy with it and we chose a cute and fun basketball decal on the face.There is a program where it stores the time and the reading. Love that feature since being a mom it maybe hard to write down the reading every time. But with this feature I can dedicate my time to go through the screen and write down in his log book.

He is officially in the Honeymoon phase of his diabetes. This is where the insulin actually communicates with his pancreas and it starts producing it's own insulin on it's own. But.. unfortunately it is only temporary and can last up to two years. So regulation is difficult during this time since levels fluctuate so often. Wished there was this magic pill he could take that would send a message in code to the pancreas and tell it to work for life. Or just transfer it's laziness over to my pancreas and allow his to have the power and energy mine has in insulin creation. I am 30 years old and experienced that whole LET'S EAT WHATEVER I WANT AND NOT THINK TWICE ABOUT IT. He doesn't get that anymore... and I am beyond pissed about it.

{Deep breath in.}

I am very anxious to go to his first doctor's appointment on Friday. It is at Cook's Children's and will always be until he is 18 years of age. I am looking forward to talk more in depth about his nutrition. Look forward to any suggestions from the doctor. Then next month I have a training/nutrition class that is 5 hours long. I am beyond estatic to attend this one. It is all about the disease, correction, and learning how to live with T1. Plus, I will be honest. I am going to make friends with everyone in the class. I'll ask around and see if anyone lives close to us. If so, this will be the start of a group of family and kids that all can grow and learn from one another. I need a sense of community in all of this. So far the closest T1 community is a bit too far for us.

One top of my priority list and always will be... how to feed my whole family a healthy and balanced meal without lacking in taste or insulin calculations.

May the force be with me!

Much love and laughter,
Nush


P.S. Tomorrow I'll be posting a very cool giveaway! Come back tomorrow to check it out.

Day Two and the Bus

Rockstar is officially a big kid and decided he was ready to take the school bus. The bus stop is literally a hop and skip away from my front door and his stop is the only stop to and from school, double score. I met his bus driver yesterday as well, seems to be a pretty nice guy who was informed by the school about my boy. He has him upfront and has an assigned buddy. Riding the bus is a big step in independence and is important for Rockstar to express what he wants to do and experience, but the mom in me wanted to say NO! Of course I didn't since that would defeat his who sense of being a big kid, right? He really r.e.a.l.l.y. wanted to and when the school asked him, his face lit up.  It seemed to help with the transition and it will allow Superbabe to sleep in and get his rest.