New Diagnosis

I knew this day would come.  We've had another diagnosis.  It was only a matter of time until Mary Claire told me that Megan (her American Girl doll) had been diagnosed with diabetes just like her.  I was really surprised it took so long for one of her "friends" to get it too. (it's been almost seven years now!)  Today Megan got her pump and a really great matching pump pouch (just like Mary Claire's!).  We reassured Megan as we put a new site on her tummy.  She got to stay up extra late, and she's not as sad now.

The things I'm never prepared for.  This is just one of the things we take as they come, because in our children's lives they are very real.  She'd asked me WHEN (for goodness sake's!) I was going to finish her new Valentine's pump pouch (yes, she was wearing last year's today).  I guess I've procrastinated a bit..I've had the fabric for at least a month!  I even had it cut, ironed and ready to go.  Ha!  And then, other stuff got in the way.  So, while I was sewing her Valentine's pouch, she dug around in my fabric and found enough of the pink peace sign fabric to make one for Megan, and told me matter-of-factly that Megan had been diagnosed today, and she was sad.


I could hardly ignore that!  I made both, and got them all cheered up with some pink.  Here is Mary Claire's new pouch:

You can hardly even see her name!  (But she kinda likes it on there anyway)

And here is Megan's pump pouch:

heehee-it's so tiny!  It was too small to put a zipper in, but Mary Claire really wanted one!

And here she is with her tummy site and her new pump pouch.  She's taken it well so far. : )

Yesterday was a super-busy day, so I didn't even have time to write!  We cleaned, made adorable strawberry cupcakes (and little paper *flags* to go in them..), made dinner for friends, had a date night... I'll just show you!

Look at these perfect cupcakes, just waiting for frosting!

I got a chance to try the new kit Ches got me for Christmas

This is the super-cool creme-filling needle attachment.  You stick it through the top (or bottom) of the cupcake to the center, and squirt in the filling.  I even made homemade fluffy whipped frosting to fill the cupcakes!

Mary Claire and I made cute little flower picks to stick into the cupcakes.  They each had a name or word with a tiny picture, then we stuck a toothpick on the back with little heart stickers. : )

Aren't they cute?  (After the filling mess, I didn't mess with special designer frosting!  It was getting late, and I had to take a shower before we went out.)  Do those little hearts look familiar?  We had extras left from our Valentine cards, so we stuck pairs together around a toothpick and put them in the extra cupcakes!

Here's a closeup of Gigi's (with a cupcake picture!)

...and Mary Claire's with a rainbow!

And I'd forgotten to show you our finished Valentine's boxes:

I told you they weren't perfect.  Clay added "bolts" to his mailbox-so cute!

I'm praying you will be blessed by the wonderful love of God this Valentine's Day!  Enjoy your day tomorrow, and think of all the ways God shows you how much He loves you.  We are blessed.  God, please show us how to be thankful for the gifts You've chosen for us.  Even diabetes.

I have loved you with an everlasting love...with lovingkindness I have drawn you.

Jeremiah 31:3

I need a Control Board

I think I need a Halloween background on here, don't you think?  I'll work on that. : )  Right after I decorate my house for fall..whenever that happens!  (Don't I have a couple weeks?)  I have to get the Husky Hoedown under control (well, my little part!), and then plan a fall party for Clay's class, and um..I think he wants to have a movie party again this year for Megamind, coming out on November 5th (his birthday is over Thanksgiving weekend, so we try to have it early)!
I'll get it done, just one thing at a time.
Today I had the joy of cleaning one small boy's sharts.  Have you heard of them?  No, not sharks.  I have to laugh (sorry).  We saw it in a movie, and we haven't stopped laughing since!  We'd never heard a word for it, but kids are notorious for them.  It's a cross between (to put it as politely as possible) tooting and a little poopy coming out.  Think of the words....yep, that's them! Ok, found the movie-it's Along Came Polly with Jennifer Aniston.
Sorry if the link on the word (movie quotes!) offends you.  It was really funny in the movie, and I kept asking what he (Philip Seymour Hoffman) said!  We had to rent it to figure it out.  Seriously.
So, anyway, I've changed his undies three times (four if you count after bath!) today.  I guess it's the antibiotic?  It's only a tiny bit, but enough that you don't want them back on his bottom! Ahh, my incredibly exciting life!  (There for a second, I thought maybe he was doing it on purpose-just waiting too long to go to the bathroom, but then after I finally got onto him the third time, I think it was just an accident.) (Yes, I'm sending more undies tomorrow to school! and praying it doesn't happen there!)
So..onto my day.  Ran some errands, cleaned more laundry, got groceries.  Then, I started on the Hoedown ticket info and made some monogrammed cups.  I have one for Clay's student teacher that is finishing up her nine weeks in his classroom, and one for a Razorback basket that we'll auction off at the Husky Hoedown as a fundraiser for the school:

And, while I was at it (on the embroidery machine..) I went ahead and monogrammed Mary Claire's new hot pink towel, that I've been putting off for over a week!  It's to go in her bathroom, since I got lime green rugs.  It still has the H2O dissolve stuff over the letters (to make the needle/machine move easily over the loops), just ignore that!

Can you tell I like that font a lot?  hahaha! : )
Then, I made some phone calls and emails, bugging people to help me (Distress Call!!), and got two takers!  Yay, for helpers! : ) (and one email that was wrong/canceled-just since school started!)
We had another guy come look at our crazy garage door opener.  It is soooo frustrating!  It won't just close.  It does the rebound thing, like a crazy girlfriend!  Up/down, up/down, etc.  You have to back out, get out, open the other garage door, hold down the button in the garage while the big door shuts, then push the little door button, RUN for it, and jump the beam.  Yes, this is what I do about four times a day.  FUN!  So, the guy comes, and tells me it's the beam. (I tell him:) Not.  Then he can't fix the beam and says it's working fine (like I told him when he got there).  So..he says it's my control board.  (my van is parked under it the entire time, he's just guessing that's it.) Ha!  He's coming back tomorrow to take $85 and try the new control board.  If he doesn't ask me to move my van, maybe then I'll finally get really mad! : O
Then tonight after Mary Claire wants to wear another Halloween shirt for school tomorrow, I decided to go ahead and make her a Halloween pump pouch (since I bought the fabric on sale at Hobby Lobby today!).  It didn't take me too long to totally make her happy.  (it's the little things!):

So, tomorrow she'll be stylin' in her Halloween clothes, again. : )  Don't worry, we make her rotate! : )
I am hurrying to get ready for bed, I've started another good book: Mini Shopaholic-I love Sophie Kinsella-she's so funny!  (and Becky Bloomwood so reminds me of me shopping-minus the overdraft! heehee)  Check her out! : )

Things Under the Bed

Sky-blue pink is our word for that amazing, unusual color that we sometimes get to see at sunset-you know, that beautiful color right after the sun drops down and you see the sky meet the pinkish haze?  Well, tonight we got another gift: an orange-y blue.  It was a great sunny day, but it gave way to surprise showers/thunderstorm this evening, and then we had an awesome sunset: that orangey color!  I tried to get a picture of it, as it was quickly disappearing, but it was proving impossible.  This is the nearest one I could get, but I can only say it still doesn't do the live show justice.  You just had to see it.

And then, guess what I found under my bed!  It is starting to be a nightly thing, but I forgot he was down there, and he's just so darn cute.

Hard to see, isn't it?  Here's a closer shot of my stowaway!

Normally, he's down near the bottom with his feet hanging out, and after he falls asleep, we can just pull him out.  Well.  Not so easy tonight!  I had to totally pull his arm and then pull his body out.  It didn't go so well.  He cried, and it was sad.  I finally got him upstairs and into bed, and then he was asleep and silent!  Bless his little heart.  I just love him too much to tell him to go to bed when he sneaks in there! : )
Ok, here's him from the front-sound asleep.

So, while he's sleeping away, I was sewing. (Yes, in the same room!)  I monogrammed some fabric,

cut out all my pieces, and made Mary Claire a pump pouch (for her insulin pump!).

I bought this fabric the other day, and I'm planning to make a dress that matches it.  I just made the pump pouch first!  I like the fabric even more the more I work with it. : )
I'm sewing again tomorrow with a friend!  She's bringing her serger to play with.  I bought some turquoise polka-dotted seersucker to make some little ruffle capris.  I'll take some pictures!  I also got some 2" ribbon to make matching hairbows, and I have a shirt for her to wear with them, and I'll make a sash to go on the shirt.  It's a shirt I got from Kelly's Kids this spring, but I ordered the next size for her to wear next year!  It's perfect-no iron, and you can add any sash to make it match your pants.  They are on sale 30% off right now-check them out! (if you can't find your daughter's size on the link, you can choose one from another line like the lemonade line, and just take out the sash it comes with.  MC already has this one, and this sash, but I wanted the next size in the shirt!)

Did stock in velcro go up? It should!

I'm currently working on printing pictures of our Daisy Girl Scout Investiture-it's hard since not all of our girls were there at the time. We've gained a couple of new girls, and so I'm having to hunt for pictures! I can't find pictures of one girl! : ( I'll have to make her collage differently, and it makes me feel bad. We are planning to scrapbook tomorrow, so I have to get busy!

It's now about 8 hours later, and I've really made progress! I have the books ready to put together (I picked out their paper, got the pix ready, and made journaling spots and titles for them. Should be pretty easy. I'm missing a couple of scrapbooks, but I put all their pictures/papers in order from front to back, so they're ready!

I took Clay to a birthday party this afternoon, at a girl's house. He was one of two boys there, and I wondered about taking him, but his good friend was there, and they are both very sweet kids (and I warned him within an inch of his life about behaving at a sweet girl's party!). The little girl is just absolutely precious, and I've gotten the opportunity to get to know her at the school when I've helped her with her writing, and making rice krispy treats! She is so mature and very intelligent. I actually asked her to keep an eye on Clay for me! I told her if he gets hyper or crazy to rein him in (and didn't mention this to Clay)! She actually did one day, he came home and complained about her telling him what to do, and I had to tell him I'd told her to keep an eye on him! He was embarrassed. I think he'll be in better control at school!

Then Mary Claire and I went to the girl scout office to buy patches, certificates, etc. and they were closed! There were lots of cars there, but the doors were locked! It looked dark in the gift shop, but I was not happy they weren't open! They were supposed to be having sales today! Well, I'm not sure we qualified for any, but still!

Then to Wal-Mart to pick up all the pictures I'd ordered, and look for another birthday gift. That took us wayyy too long! We found lots of neat stuff, but we had trouble deciding. The time just got away from us! We finally left (and I decided to shop alone next week!). Then to Hobby Lobby to get even more zippers and velcro for more pump pouches. Get this. Velcro prices have tripled! Why on Earth do you suppose? Is there oil in there? Or bacteria-resistant plastic-y fabric? Or gold sewn in the seams? Ugh. I make all these pump pouches and give them away, but now maybe I'll request some velcro and zippers in return! It's frustrating! I mean, how can it have gone up? Ok, next time you see "notions" on sale at Hobby Lobby, please let me know! (BTW-they had PiNK velcro at Hobby Lobby! MC was so excited!)

I made two more pump pouches on Friday-so cute! I took a couple of pictures, I'll have to post them! Tomorrow we have a JDRF Walk 2009 Family Team Kickoff Event! We're all meeting and going to a Naturals game. I've made a pump pouch for one of the little girls we met last spring, and we'll meet tomorrow to get it to her. I also got a request for one for a girl over at another elementary in Springdale. I'll work on it. I'm also making one for Little Emily! She is so sweet, and appreciates them! : ) I just love to help people. It's a shame I don't have more time to make a pump pouch bank to ship them out (especially to the sweet kids just transitioning to a pump!) I soooo remember Mary Claire just being diagnosed, and not getting good help. And then not having a clue what to do with that stupid pump when we got it! Mary Claire had a belt clip, and for a couple months, I'd totally transitioned her to pants and skirts, thinking we had to have something to clip it to! I had no idea there were other ways of wearing it! Imagine being new at wearing a pump, figuring it out, dealing with your child's transition, and then trying to make it :cool: and stylish, and somehow fit it under your clothes so the tubing doesn't get caught on something! I really do understand. I have compassion for these new families. It's so hard (and that is the Understatement of the Year).

Ok, so then church alone (Ches wasn't feeling well, and Ethan was sound asleep-and slept till we got back with dinner!). We played games and read and Weckled (Ethan's word for wrestled-so cute!) and made ooey, gooey cookies for snack. Sometimes, I like a quiet cold, rainy evening at home! : ) Just sweet.

Oh, and can I just say, Clay was an ANGEL in church tonight??? I mean, perfect? I had to tell him about fifty times because I was sooo impressed! He gets a little Jesus in him, and presto, he's really a Child of God! Woo-hoo! He made his second communion tonight, and he was wonderful, and was so happy and respectful. He prayed with me when he came back, and I am just overjoyed for him. He is exactly what I would have prayed for in a child-I never asked for a perfect child, or an angel, or an intelligent kid, or a sweetheart who adores his brother... But, I knew God would give me what I needed. He knows so much better than I do! Anyway, we prayed on the way home, and I was praising God for my :beautiful: children, and he was back to himself! He protested that beautiful was for girls (I Still object), and I explained and he snapped out of perfection. But it was nice for that good hour and a half. A taste of Heaven. : )

Are you ever surprised at what your kids know? I mean, I think they are (dare I say it?) Learning something at school! : ) We were asking questions from the Brain Quest cards-so fun!-and sometimes Mary Claire was answering faster than Clay! Ha. Even about spheres and name the two words in this sentence that end in -x (Six cats sat on top of a box of socks). And you are reading out loud-and they can't see the words!! Very Cool. And she got it right!

Ok, my house is quiet, and I've now finished my work on the scrapbooks. 12 hours later. They'll never even know. : )

And I got a message requesting a pump pouch for a new pumper tonight. So, put another shrimp on the barbie! (and get me some more velcro!)

Coke, Candy, Chocolate (This is Less Hormonal?)

Well, I'm better. And less hormonal. It just wreaks havoc with my system (and adds at least five pounds to my middle)!

I got to sew a tiny bit today and got one pump pouch made. I need to make a couple for two other girls. I can't decide which fabric for them, so I'm frozen in indecision. I'll get there, just tired, and my brain isn't functioning so well. A week of sick Ethan, not too much sleep (as he wakes coughing and wants company), and ongoing days. There is so much to do, and I dare not start a list, or I'll hyperventilate! There are things to get ready for girl scouts-scrapbook preparations, and a questionnaire, and pump pouches (which I find fun and relaxing, and rewarding-they bring joy to sweet kids who deserve a little something special), and groceries, a couple of birthday gifts, etc.

I updated the group I started for Mary Claire's JDRF Walk Team on facebook, and added the latest research. I receive their publication, Countdown to a Cure, about every three months, and sometimes don't read it till I have a pile of three or four! I caught up on all the latest research (you can skip it if it seems like TMI):

Newest Info (April 29, 2009):
Connection: About 15-18% of children who were exposed to the rubella virus in the womb develop type I diabetes by age 18. The data suggests that rubella exposure in utero potentiates an underlying partial genetic susceptibility for type 1 diabetes.

Hygiene Hypothesis: An exposure to an appropriate amount and variety of bacteria, viruses, and other microorganisms may be important to living a healthy life, and that type 1 diabetes and other autoimmune disorders may actually be a result of lack of exposure to these agents (like when we over “gel” the kids hands, and are general clean-freaks, yep, this is us)….When raised in a germ-free environment, mice developed severe diabetes.

Real Clinical Trials: There aren’t enough volunteers to participate. Unbelievably. Sign me up! Three currently: Protégé-to see if a drug, teplizumab can protect the insulin-producing cells in newly diagnosed patients. Defentd-1: testing effects of otelixizumab, to treat early in diagnosis to preserve beta cell function (in pancreas). And Prochymal: preparation of adult “mesenchymal” stem cells, collected from the bone marrow of healthy adults. Patients receive three intravenous infusions.

SmartInsulin: designed to release insulin only when glucose levels are high-okay, this could change our lives! : ) It’d deliver near normal blood sugars, and prevent dangerously low blood sugars! A half-miracle. : )

Life For A Child: title of a new documentary coming out about the program (lifeforachild.org) that funds insulin for children in developing countries. It follows the journeys of children amid mountains and streets of Nepal, experiencing their life or death struggle to survive. It will air on the Sundance Channel in 2009.

Ok, back with you now...
I am most excited about the SmartInsulin-this would change Mary Claire's life. Really. She'd probably go to injections only, so no pump attached to her body, and then she could eat those carb-y foods like pizza, cake, muffins (you know, all the Healthy Stuff!), and not go high. Woohoo!

Ches is going to be working ALL day tomorrow (correction: in Meetings all day), so yuck. He's usually here on Fridays, so I'll be missing him. The good news? It's the last day. He'll be out for about a month-till summer school starts. We should be able to finish up the landscaping around the pool. I want to get some really big planters full of color for the deck, pool, and porch. I'm ready for spring! I hope we have a few nice days of sunshine, so that spring can really start. It's like Arkansas is just behind. And I thought the globe was warming?

My funny moment today (well, one of them):
Ethan got a bowl of rice chex cereal, and then, as if it just occurred to him, asked, "Where Daddy?" and when I told him daddy was gone bye-bye to work, he got all dejected, let his bowl drop down a little, and some chex fell out-I yelled, "No!" so that he'd stop, and he totally poured them all out (promise it'll get funnier in a minute) all over the kitchen floor. I told him to go to the Naughty Chair, and he did. I calmed down, continued to unload the dishwasher, then had him come back to clean up. He did, but took a few over to the Hearth Room, and put them on the carpet in front of his Tonka tractor/ride on toy. He pushed it forward, and it swept up the cereal! (funny part!) He'd cleaned up! You'd have to see the toy to understand, but there are rubbery fins that sweep up toys as he pushes/rides the tractor. He'd actually figured this out, and was "cleaning" up his cereal (well, after laying it out on the carpet...)! Then, he brought the cleaned up bowl out, dumped the whole thing, and ran over it repeatedly to try to get it all, and therefore crushed rice-y bits into my carpet. Least fun part: vacuuming up the bits that migrated all over the place! (but I DO love those fresh, clean lines in my carpet!)

We had cookies as a special treat for snack tonight. It's the night we change her pump site, so it'll keep her from going low. She's been going low on the site change night, but high on the other two. It's so hard to find a balance!

Ok, kids are tucked in, and I have to head to bed. I have to get sleep so I can function tomorrow. There's still a lot to do, and I can't have a repeat of today: Coke, candy, chocolate, snack, in an effort to stay awake. Must. Get. Sleep.

I do, however, have a date tomorrow night! Which will work wonders on my attitude and focus. Out of the house alone (without kids!) for the first time in a while! : )

Cranky and Hormonal

I'm sorry I'm neglecting you, dear blog.

I don't know where to start...I've been crazy busy (normal for me), Ethan has croup, but is sleeping, and I accidentally fell into all these websites/blogs for moms of kids with Type I diabetes. I'm just crying reading them all. Some are in the newest stages, and some are pro by now. I fit in the middle. Five years is rounding the bend. May 23, to be exact. I think I'm just hormonal, but I just keep crying today. Is it the daily work or just the knowledge of it, or the fact that her nurse has called twice-she got extra recess and played hard (and was lowish-80), then worked hard in p.e. and felt low again (only 91, but she must be headed down to feel low). I assigned another snack, so we'll see what we get when she gets home. It's just another job, and I can't quit that one. Hmph. Frustrating. (and hormonal doesn't mix well with it-it just produces yuck and tears).

I'm at a fork in the road, and I can't decide what to do. I've been blogging a while, been kicked off Google ads (ha, they think I was bribing clicks or something), and blogging is indeed work. I only started it to journal and get out frustrations so I could sleep (and get the garbage off my chest). Am I done? Did I get it out? Is it still helping? Or is it one more thing to do before I go to bed? I'm thinking about it.

I have found this whole other world that I didn't even know existed. I don't know how people keep up! There's so much to do and so many people to talk to! Maybe I'll just follow other people who blog. There are plenty of people who have things to say! : ) I love finding out about other people's families and how they keep up with kids (and diabetes)!

I have a wonderful life, and I'm so thankful for all of the sweet people in it. I don't know if I stress myself more by going over my yuck again at the end of the day. I'll mull it over, and keep you posted.

I'd wanted to make pump pouches this afternoon, but the day has gone so fast! I've done laundry all day, cleaned up all Ethan's messes after he had his Prednisone high, made him pizza (he ate three pieces!), and now I have to plan for when the kids come home. Mary Claire has gymnastics today, so I'll have to get her ready. I'm tired of this school year. I'm tired of taking her and Ethan to gymnastics, I'm tired of girl scouts, and tired of all the field trips. I need summer to get here. If just to stay home. I need my phone to not ring for one afternoon so I can nap. or sew. or have time to think.

I'm just cranky. And I've still got a long way to go in the next month. We have a couple of slumber parties, a few birthday parties, projects, trip to Disney, JDRF Family Team Kickoff, and that's just the stuff I know about coming to my May. Next year, I'm going to schedule a week to stay home (and declare it a vacation).

Three Baths, Two Games, and One Busy Week Ahead

Whew, what a day.
I can't write much, as I think I'll be going to bed very early tonight. Ethan was up at 6:10 this morning (before the sun is too early in my book), and he woke up the kids (unless it was the other way around...). He'd had two baths by 9, and then was so cranky. I laid him down at 9:20a, and he went right to sleep! He even slept through me banging around making lunch. Wow. I was sure I'd wake him up, so I made his lunch. It got gross, and he didn't even eat it.

It seemed like we had lots of time today (guess getting up early does that for you!). We played outside, I cleaned off the deck of branchy bits, leaves, swept behind and around furniture and pots (full of dead and alive plants). I called Lowe's, Barbara's Gardens, and Westwood Gardens, finally WM, and NoNe of them had pansies (well, the middle two were closed). I was so sad. My pots needed sprucing up, and I had an extra hour and a half to fill (ha!) and I couldn't get flowers. It was so nice and warm today! I'll plan to get some tomorrow.

Then I came in (in my non-planty time) and made a pump pouch for a little girl that goes to another school where Mary Claire's nurse works. She doesn't have one, and she just got a pump. She only lives with her dad, and I don't know if dads socialize about where to get a pump pouch. I hope she likes it-Mary Claire has one like it, and she picked out the fabric. I put her name on it, it has flowers on it! : )

Then gave Ethan his real wash-up-for-the-night-bath, made dinner, cleaned up, played two games of Pretty Pretty Princess with Mary Claire (we each won once), gave the kids baths, and read (Calvin & Hobbes-almost a nightly affair and The English Roses by Madonna-good story!). They are up in their beds, maybe not quite asleep. I'm so tired, did I mention that?

I feel like my desk is so clean and I'm organized! It's such a happy feeling! I feel like I will sleep well. : ) I caught up on bills, mail, my calendar (I just keep saving little bits of paper and reminders and never seem to write them in...), and now I know this is going to be a busy week!
Monday: PTA Mtg, Clay's play
Tuesday: Mother's Day Out for Ethan (maybe), Conferences for kids, Clay's First Reconciliation (Confession)! and he has a Boy Scout pack meeting (he'll probably miss for reconciliation)
Wednesday: Ethan's MDO Valentine's Party
Thursday: Ethan's ENT Dr's Appt., Kids Valentine's Parties
Friday: No School, take the kids to see Coraline, maybe Ches and I going out or maybe Saturday
Saturday: Father/Daughter Valentine's Dance (heehee)

and not to mention that I have to gather BIDS for repairs! Painting, sheetrock, deck, we found someone for the fence. Work! And I just hate to have them come when I'm alone. I'm having Mom come over one day when they can bid the jobs. It's scary when they come in, and I'm alone! Even with Ethan, it's creepy! : O

Other things are in the making, I'll see how they go, and let you know later in the week. A reason to check back in! : )

Oh, and I have to try new paint! Remember when I mentioned the Remodel mag with the green island? I'm trying their lime green (kinda apple-y). Adorable! So tomorrow is flowers and paint. and bids. and find out what I owe for roof repair. And the play. Yeah, I think I'm organized (but that makes me overwhelmed). Whew, what a day.