Diabetes Rebels

Is it so obvious when I'm on vacation?  I get time to w-r-i-t-e! : )  Nobody needs wiped or washed or fed or disciplined.  Or hugged or loved on..wahh!!  Miss my babies already.  (but I'm going to work really hard to enjoy myself in Atlanta for the next few days!)

time for nap.

rug shopping!

So seriously.  Those big kids and their stupid diabetes have been quite the trouble-makers lately.  They are in a mood and it's cramping my style.  And my Mommy-Has-It-All-Under-Control Persona (haha, like I ever had it!!).  Clay won't carry a meter to school.  He has one in the nurse's office and says he'll use it.  Umm..what about the bus?  Going LOW on the bus, dude?  He says Mary Claire has hers, and he'll borrow it.  (Like he'd ever talk to her.  In public.  In front of people who know them BOTH.)

this awesome photo courtesy of Temme Green!  My boy at Solo & Ensemble.  He earned two blue ribbon medals for 1's!

But get this.  She's quit carrying hers, so he can't borrow it.  Rebels.  Haters.  She says she'll use her friend, Alyssa's meter.  What is with these kids?  and not taking responsibility?

beautiful.

I can't stand it!!  And now..they don't go to the nurse's office for checks.  She has to call them to come down.  Like they are 6 years old.  So..I'm planning to set up alarms on Clay's pump.  So the plan is he'll die of embarrassment when it alarms in class, so he'll book it to the nurse's office BEFORE it alarms every day.  I consider myself smart.  (unlike what they consider me.)

more beautiful in watercolor?

Mary Claire, on the other hand, is prancing in and telling the nurse what she is.  (And she isn't taking her meter to school!)  She is on the Enlite sensor..but she turns it off half the time.  Again, she hates the alarms!  Yes, usually it's because it senses she's low or high, but won't take the five minutes to go check herself.

cake decorating class at Briar Rose Bakery

So..if you know a preteen (ok..11 or 13 year old) who is having trouble with diabetes..it could be the CHECKING YOUR BLOOD part.  Or the eating normal-sized portions and getting insulin for it.  Or eating the lunch your momma packed and counted the carbs for and not buying cookies in the cafeteria.  And getting two packs.  Or learning to give a square wave bolus for half the big tub of Nutella you ate instead of all of it normal and making yourself, oh I don't know..THIRTY-NINE?!

Using the Little Door at Briar Rose Bakery

So, yeah, diabetes is hitting hard right now.  And I haven't had lots of control.  They are as tall as me..and trying to take over.  It's not going so well.  The rebels need to be reigned in.  (good time for a vaca, huh?)

She's just growing up too fast.

Ok..my three things to be thankful for today (since D can make me a bit complainy)..safe travels even though we had some "plane problems" right before the flight, seeing Stone Mountain today and respecting the people who risked/lost their lives on it, and the amazing fresh, fried okra I had today (the seeds were just huge and crunchy and juicy..and the outside was so crispy..mmm..delicious.)  I almost went to the counter to yell back to the cook they were a-m-a-z-i-n-g, but Ches thought I was just starving and delirious.  And I do have weird judgment when I'm hungry.  But I might just tell them on my way back. You know..when I'm so much more full of sense. : )

in memory of the first casualty in the carving of the memorial : (

Stone Mountain, Georgia in honor of my mom who remembers being there as a child.

Just to show you the man rappelling down the face of the mountain..he's above the horse on the right, almost in the center of the picture.  crazy man.

ps-if you'd like your own picture turned to watercolor, you can use the Waterlogue app for only $4.99 on itunes, or you can email me a picture and I can try to do it for you? : )  I think my email is still on the tab up top under contact me!

Pigs & Planning my Kitchen!

Progress!  Finally we've seen the upstairs go up, and now the ROOF! : )

Second floor on..but I haven't been able to go up there since the STAiRS aren't built!  (That's our neighbor, Mary, in the entrance..she was checking it out for us!)

Windows delivered!  Woohoo, no dividers!

Doors delivered!  Love to see the outdoors.

Roof going over Carter's room!

Roof over the garage..since the floor was dropped based on the amount of slope on the land, but the roofline continues..the garage is super tall!

And..this is how it is looking so far : )  Roof over garage, kitchen, pantry, and porch.  Hooray!

Today, Mom and I went out for a bit.  We had a nice lunch, and we tried to scope out some stores for good home stuff.  First we tried Red Hill, a new (to me) store that was just what I needed!  Wonderful, casual, furniture, gifts, milk paint-y, filled with beautiful cow and pig art (and many, many more amazing acrylic originals!) by owner, Cari.  She was SO sweet..it took so long for her to actually tell me all those bits of awesomeness were...hers!  As in, she painted them!  I was too in love to think of taking a picture..sorry.  But I did pick up this beauty:

No..not the cutie, the CHaiR! : )  I loved it right away, and thank goodness he does too!

So much..that he felt at home in it right away.  Oops.

Much Better.  (we use a belt as a seat belt now.  Just like when the big kids were learning to use a real chair.)

Ok, he looked so much like Wilbur (non-teachers: Charlotte's Web!) to me, and I had to take him home!  The painting's real name is Morning Pig though.  (I told her it was Wilbur to me though, and she was ok with it.)

I'm still excited about choosing for the house, but still really nervous.  I planned for kitchen cabinets last night since we meet the cabinet man on Monday.  I have to know what to say!  I'm planning to take him a bunch of pictures of what I want.  Pictures are worth a thousand words you know. ; )  Here's what I'll say:

Cabinet doors like this, with a *light* gray-taupe glaze.

Arch over the stove top like this.  Only a mantle-like shelf for art or dishes.

Kinda like this mantle over the stove.

But with panels and corbels glazed like these.

And double glass like this?  Tall cabinets, but not just one door.  Maybe a tall, and a short up top.

And a wood finish on the locker seat, like this one.

And a full-size drawer with two trash cans, like this one.  (no drawer above)  But with rails so you are not just pulling on the drawer front.

And may I please have a pan rack/sorter above my oven?  And maybe two drawers under my stove top instead of cabinets for pots and pans?  Ok, maybe that is all. ; )

Maybe I've been avoiding..I'm supposed to decide on paint colors and tile and lights and flooring and cabinet knobs and door knobs..and I'm nervous.  We'll see how far I get!

Keep praying for Alyssa, she's doing better!  Trying to keep fluid off her lungs..so she needs to get up lots to try to walk (to maker her breath harder!).  Bless her heart..and she had to test her blood today.  Might be the first of many for a while, till they know if her transplant took!  Pray for her to be healed..she doesn't want diabetes! : )

Hugs!

Pancreases or Pancreass?

Swimming in awesome friends!  The kids had a swim party given by their orthodontist, and it was so much fun!  Here are some of the pictures..Ethan even went off the HiGH dive!!

Love, love, love that they all have diabetes.  And check their blood together!!

Ok, so no blood sugar checks..but they definitely have something in common!

My *baby* in midair off the high dive!  (I think I was like 12 before I went off it!)

Sweet, sweet girls hanging with the little dude.  He couldn't get enough of that slide!

So thankful they could join us..it was awesome.  Really.

On another friend note.  Mary Claire's close friend, Alyssa, had surgery on Friday.  It was a huge, long surgery removing her pancreas, spleen, appendix, gall bladder and duodenum.  See?  Huge.  You can visit her caringbridge page by clicking on her name, and leave her a message! : )  She loves reading the notes left.  Even by people she doesn't know! : )  Bless her heart, it was a big deal.  She's up and moving by little bits today (a few steps at a time), and has had a few of her wires removed.  Baby steps.

The other thing?  She had 228,152 islets transplanted from her pancreas (which was causing her trouble..chronic pancreatitis) to her LiVER!! Yes, you heard read that right.  Can you imagine?  Your own cells, transplanted.  No immune suppression drugs after.  I'm also personally praying that they take, and she doesn't end up with diabetes.  They are prepared..but it's no picnic.  I'd welcome her to our side of the park, but she doesn't really want to play over here.  Heck, I don't even want to play over here.  (I'd just miss the friends on this side ; )   But they'd have each other.

She won't be back in town for school to start, and we'll miss her.  Mary Claire is really counting on being in the same pod as her for the big jump to middle school...in a month!

We prayed before lunch.  Yes, she heard me.  Obviously.  But we did pray!!  She loves that girl.

Please pray for her complete healing, and for the transplant to be successful.  Prayers for your family as you head into a new week!  Hugs, y'all!

Cute pigs, can I have your insulin?

Girls Weekend!  We took the girl scout troop to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to stay the night.  We'd planned a hike, a hotel stay, and a zoo trip.  They were so excited!  I think the trip/car ride was half the adventure. ; )

We started at Natural Falls State Park:

Even in the drizzly (read: frizzy hair weather), the columns were gorgeous!

So..Mary Claire chose her own clothes, and thought it'd be warmer! : )

The girls in peril.  I couldn't go out that far on the ledge. The concrete just wasn't thick enough for me.  They clearly loved it.  It's a shear drop to the bottom. : P

This is looking down.  Gorgeous, yes.  Scary, yes.

And..at the bottom!  Safer, yes. ; ) We didn't have the entire group quite yet.

A massive bridge so high in the air.  I could feel it flex as they walked.  More scary. (am I technically old then?)

Ahh..my kind of weather!  It was sunny and 80 degrees.  Cuties in the bubbles!

And in the shade so we can see their faces before we split up again.  It was tough to make group decisions with so many adults and kids!

I had a smiley picture, but this was cuter.  Ohhhh! they say.

A chimp's proportions.  Her legs are too long. ; )

I like the wet earth rotating.  The girls are keeping it going and the boys are trying their hardest to stop it!  (and isn't her braid pretty?  It goes off to one side.)

We loved the seahorses.  Their little back fins propel them, and their tails keep them steady.  Truly a wonder.

More proof God was creative. ; )

Mary Claire loved the tiger.

Me?  I love the flamingos!  This one has its feathers all fluffed up.  We think they were flirting with each other.

Waiting to ride the train back.  They were hot and very tired.  Should have gone to bed earlier last night!

But so thankful they can manage a smile! : )

What do you not see in the pictures?  Well, the panic that comes with absence of insulin.  I'd worked so hard to clean the house (we'd had a showing the night before) and prepare all the boys (I'd never left Carter over night!!), that I left the insulin in the refrigerator.  I didn't discover this until we were checking into the hotel.  I panicked.  (I had the supplies for a site change..but nothing to load in the reservoir!)  Ches' answer was for her to eat no carbs if she wanted to stay.  (Mean.)  I asked him to meet me halfway, but he wasn't excited.  I called our pharmacy, and since we'd filled it on April 10, we couldn't get a refill or have it transferred.  I posted on FB that I needed insulin..and after a few minutes, we had a response. (!!)  I called the sweet lady (that I didn't know), and just started crying.  I couldn't talk to her.  Really.  I blubbered, and said I was sorry, and that it'd been nine years, and how could I forget insulin?  I'm not a newbie.  She was so sweet, and we worked out a plan.  She brought the insulin to me at the hotel.  

Talk about humbling.  I've mailed insulin out, given it out, no big deal.  But receiving?  SO, so, so, so much harder.  I cried again when she came.  I guess I felt so powerless.  I had asked the pharmacist if I could get it OTC, but only long-acting insulin is available.  I knew there were stores within a one mile radius that had what I needed..but I couldn't touch it.  It was so hard.

I used to stick insulin and supplies everywhere.  Hoard them, you might call it.  But I thought I'd evolved since I didn't live in fear anymore.  Umm..talk about regretting it.  I made it, she had awesome blood sugars, and a wonderful trip.  And memories, thank God, she'll remember the good things.  I didn't really tell her all that was going on.  I didn't want her to know.  Bless her heart, she deals with enough.  I had to spare her something.  She just knew I forgot insulin, and someone was saving the day and was bringing it.  That's it.  Enough.

I think that's all I can say.  I am still tired.  Thankful and recovering.  God, please heal my girl and eradicate diabetes.  Please. (but thank you for the saving grace of our T1D family)

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

Matthew 7:7-8