Doing The Happy Dance!

School is officially in session! I spent quite a few weeks this summer preparing myself mentally and emotionally to send Miss E off to kindergarten...I was freaking out just a little bit!


You see, this would be the first time I would EVER be apart from her for longer then maybe an hour! In her five years, I never left her with a babysitter, she didn't go to preschool, we were together all the time. So you can imagine that my anxiety level was borderline OFF THE CHARTS! Just before she was diagnosed I began to look into preschool for her, but after her diagnosis of type 1 diabetes I just couldn't do it.


Don't worry...she wasn't sent of to kindergarten without some book smarts :) I spent a lot of time working with her, hanging out at the library, teaching her all that I could so she would be prepared for the big moment...the first day of school.


I had an opportunity to meet with her new teacher and the teachers educational assistant before school started. It gave us time to really discuss Miss E's care and how we would manage her diabetes in the classroom. So, here is the BIG, BIG surprise...


Her teacher has type 1 diabetes!!!!!!!!! YEP, you heard me right! She has type 1 diabetes!!!! Can you believe it????!!!! I swear to you, I was soooooooo excited it was borderline inappropriate! I don't ever want to be excited that someone has diabetes, but to know that my daughters first teacher ever, has type 1 diabetes....I just don't think I could have dreamed up a better scenario. I am not kidding you, when I found that out I was like a kid who just walked through the gates of Disneyland for the first time...elated, in awe, dumbfounded, borderline tears of joy stinging my eyes! I later apologized to her for my excitement, I felt that I went a little too close to doing a happy dance and I didn't want her to think I was nuts. Of course, she completely understood and she "got it"...she knows and understands my fears and my worries, she "gets it".


So, almost immediately my anxiety levels plummeted...it was like I could breathe again for the first time in weeks. Here's another beautiful piece of the puzzle, the educational assistant...well, she is also a nurse! Yes, I think that settles it...I just won the diabetes jackpot (if there were such a prize).


Miss E loves school, she doesn't even want to take days off for the weekend! It's been great, she wakes up every morning excited and ready for another day at school. I love it! So far, so good.


The school has a wonderful nurse and a health assistant who have been fantastic, they are really stepping up to the plate and going above and beyond what I was expecting. It's been a true blessing and I am just so thankful for this amazing start in this new journey we are on...a brand new beginning for us, a new day and a new adventure has begun!

SHOUT OUT TO MY D-PEEPS

So this is a much overdue post, I guess you could say I took a long vacation from blogging...I needed to recharge my batteries and start gearing up for the school year. I spent a lot of time with my kids, hanging out, playing, coloring and just soaking up their joy and love! Miss E has started kindergarten and I felt like I was counting down the days until she left me...I was a wreck!!!


We also had lots of family visiting us and we even took a road trip, there were JDRF functions and many play dates and sleepovers!


Summer was fun and full of action...


But something was missing...what was missing you may ask??? Well YOU of course!!! I have spent the last couple of hours catching up on some of my fellow D-peeps blogs and I just realized how much I have missed you all!!! So this is my quick shout out to all my fellow D-bloggers out there, reading your posts has reminded me of how lucky I am to have such an amazing group of friends out there who are living this life with D right along with me and can understand the struggles that we face...you inspire, amaze, and delight me...you make me laugh, you make me cry and you remind me that I am not alone in this.


Thank you for sharing your stories and inspiring me...I want to share with you this quote...

You have within you

the STRENGTH,

the PATIENCE,

and the PASSION

to reach for the stars

and change the WORLD!

-Harriet Tubman

I believe that every time we share a story, a moment, a fear or a triumph...we can change someones life and have an impact. Even if you don't think you are making a difference, you are...

Swim Lessons

Miss E has finally started swim lessons, this was something that she has been looking forward to for a long time and something that I have been anticipating with much hope and a little bit of anxiety...you see, I have heard crazy stories about how swimming impacts blood sugar levels.


Now, Miss E is not swimming laps around the pool...she's only five. Yep, she turned five this summer...my little girl is growing up sooooooo fast and kindergarten is just around the corner. So Miss E has taken to swimming and is loving her class, she has been doing so good. I love watching her, there are only five girls in her class so I am able to watch each little personality as they spend 35 minutes in the water splashing and jumping their little hearts out. It's just too cute!


One of the girls is a die hard doggie paddler...this kid just paddles her heart out doing little circles in the pool, and she rarely listens to her swim instructor! In fact the other girls will be doing an activity and this one is off heading in the other direction, it's as if she is in her own little world. Then there's the little girl who is always fearless, she will jump off any ledge, dunk her head over and over or fly down a water slide head first!!! So many personalities...my Miss E, well she is the cautious one. She is always within a few feet of her instructor listening intently and hanging on to every word. She follows his direction well, but if it's something that scares her she immediately goes into negotiation mode...he wanted the girls to jump into a hula hoop looking thing off the side of the pool, all the girls did it but Miss E made him hold her hands while she jumped and she was very careful not to let her head go under the water.


Then there was the day when the girls were supposed to dip their heads under the water, well Miss E would only put her face down while holding her nose and she wouldn't let her ears go under water...like I said, she's very cautious. It was funny, on the first day of swim class her instructor told the girls "If something is too scary for you, you don't have to do it." So later that day I was asking her why she wouldn't dunk her head in the water, you know what she said? Word for word..."My teacher said if something is too scary for me then I don't have to do it mommy" She's a smart one!


I love that she is cautious...it makes me feel good that she won't try anything too dangerous, she is my timid one and she takes her time with everything, always asking lots of questions. Every child has their very own unique personality, I try to help hers blossom and not force anything on her...although after her first class was over she did say she didn't want to swim anymore. All that I asked was that she finish her week out and give it some time and guess what...after day two she was IN LOVE WITH SWIMMING!!!


So far her numbers have been great, I don't think she is in the water long enough or excerpting too much energy for it to have a big impact on her blood sugar...thank goodness! We have been very careful before each class, I check her blood sugar right before class starts and I make sure we have plenty of snacks on hand...but so far it has gone great without any problems, no lows and no major high bg's. She only has one more week of lessons and she is already asking when she will be taking more classes...UH OH, what have I just started here :) I may have a future swimmer on my hands!

Kindergarten

I'm still here...really, I am!


Life has been very, VERY busy! I don't see it slowing down anytime soon...in fact, I feel like life is going to be pretty hectic for me in the near future. Miss E will be starting kindergarten in about a month...my heart is racing as I sit here and write the words. I know that this is a wonderful thing, one that I do look forward to...but I am also dreading it. Is that even possible?! Looking forward to something and in the same sentence dreading it?!


I have never been apart from Miss E for more then an hour since she was diagnosed with T1...I am thrilled at the thought of her entering school and taking that journey, but I am scared too. It's hard to imagine someone other then myself caring for my baby...someone caring for her health, watching over her, protecting her. I know that parents leave their children in the care of others all the time, but this is the first time I will be letting someone else do it for me. I need to prepare myself emotionally for this, I know she will be fine but my ever-worrying mind just won't rest.


I went to a birthday party today with my girls and met a few parents who have kids that will be going to the same school as Miss E...of course I was trying to get all the inside scoop on the school and so far have heard nothing but wonderful things. I will hold on to those positive words and prepare myself and Miss E for this big moment. I am anticipating great things, a little fear and a lot of tears...from ME of course!

A Quick Rant

I just need to rant a little...just a little!

Last night was TERRIBLE! Miss E had a really rough night with her blood sugar numbers, no matter what I did it was really difficult to keep her under the 200 mark. Almost impossible! When she went to bed she was at a beautiful 154, not bad if I do say so. Around 11:00 pm I decided to check both my girls blood sugars and guess what I saw on Miss E's meter...390!!!

Yeah, I was pretty floored by that number. A quick trip to my kitchen for some insulin and I was back upstairs giving my poor girl a shot which woke her up and she was NOT happy about that. I continued to check her blood sugar and correct every few hours and we had a 318, something in the 200's and by the time she woke up...another number in the 200's!

Sigh...I just hate nights like that. Every time I would get up my husband would wake up, I felt a bit bad about that because he gets up so early for work. I used to have my husband check the girls blood sugars with me at the 3:00 am checks but because of his work schedule I decided it better if I do them on my own...he used to hold the flashlight while I poked their fingers...I have since mastered the art of holding a light and all my d-supplies all by myself in these late night checks!

So I would check on Lil Miss C and her numbers were great last night and they had the exact same things to eat that day and the same level of activity. Sometimes it just doesn't make sense.

So there's my quick rant...I wish we didn't have to deal with nights like this...thank goodness these nights are not a regular thing in our home!!! I always think of what those high numbers are doing to my little girls body. Just makes me wanna cry sometimes!

A Brand New Look!

"Do not be afraid of change, be afraid of not changing"

In my last post "What's in A Name?", I talked about that saying, I'm not sure many of you had a chance to read it because I published it just before blogger had some major technical issues and service was unavailable for quite some time. In that post I talked about how I am trying to use this as my new mantra and never allowing fear to direct my decisions...unless of course the fear is justified and whatever action I am contemplating could cause harm.

I want to push through my fears and do the things that make me happy...trying new things, overcoming obstacles, tackling projects I may have pushed to the side or pursuing things that would push me outside of my comfort zone.

So...when I saw the new templates that blogger just put out I thought, how fitting...I am trying new things in life, how about a new look to my blog!

Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

What's In A Name?

card I received from my sister-in-law

Hope and Beginnings...I had a hard time trying to pick out a name for this blog, although I will probably talk about diabetes a lot, I know that I will be sharing things with you that have nothing to do with type 1 diabetes. Although, since my girls were diagnosed I believe that my direction in life and my passions have been changed to some degree because of it.

I still have all of the same values in life, but the things that I have always wanted to do, well...I don't think I would have done half of them if it weren't for T1. I know to some of you this may sound slightly ridiculous, so please bear with me.

About 15 years ago I sat down with my best friend and we each wrote a list...50 Things I Want To Do Before I Die...we were young, silly teenagers with big dreams!

Now, here I am fifteen years later and I have only done 5 things off of that list! I realize that many of us have written these kinds of lists and life, love and the everyday stuff just kind of takes over and at times gets in the way of our dreams...it's not that it is a bad life, it's just a different one then the one I had written down so long ago. I definitely never envisioned that I would have type 1 diabetes be a part of that life, now that it is, I really needed to sit down and think about what I want out of this new life...this life that includes syringes, test strips, insulin, low blood sugars and high blood sugars and everything in between.

I am learning a lesson about life these days, one that I would have rather learned on my own without my daughters having to be diagnosed with diabetes, but regardless...I am learning a lesson. For me the lesson is this...life is short, we never know what obstacles we will face and there has never been a better time then the present to just live it to the fullest!!!

So back to my list I wrote 15 years ago, I have since lost it and I am really trying hard to find it again because I would love to share with you what was on it...I think we all would have a good laugh, I know a large portion of it was all of the concerts I wanted to go to...something on many teenage minds I am sure! Another thing that I remember was I wanted to go skydiving...not anymore!!! It's funny how our interests and passions can change over time, I am now working on a new list and it is one that is very different then the one I wrote so long ago. My new list also has a new name...

"My Life List"

I spent many years only taking care of my family and putting my needs on the back burner, taking care of my kids is always my number one priority but I realize that my needs and my dreams are just as important and will probably make me a better mother, wife, friend etc. if I am doing the things that fill me up and spark creativity, joy and fulfillment in my life. When I realized that my daughters were going to have to live with diabetes for the rest of their life, I decided that I needed to be a better role model for them as to how they live that life. I wanted to be the person that shows my girls that no matter what life gives us, we can enjoy it and live it with great joy and fulfillment. I know that they will face a lot more obstacles then I could ever imagine and I don't want my girls to wait too long to do what makes them happy and I don't want them to ever feel like diabetes is going to get in the way of living it up to the fullest. I want them to live, love and do the things in life that give them great joy...and so do I.

So...HOPE...

• I am hopeful that a cure for diabetes will be found.
• I am hopeful that my blog will have a positive impact on other families faced with a type 1 diabetes diagnosis.
• I am hopeful that my blog will have a positive impact on ANYONE who stops by and takes the time to read .
• I am hopeful that my girls will live a long, healthy, happy life filled with all of their dreams realized.
• I am hopeful that in some way I may inspire others to do their part in making our world a better place, whether that is by encouraging people to volunteer, share their story or make a difference in any way.
• I am hopeful that this blog will inspire me
• I am hopeful...

And...BEGINNINGS...

• Beginning to live a fuller life.
• Beginning to try new things...what's the worst that could happen...I fail (SO WHAT)! I try something else.
• Beginning to connect with other families who are living with type 1 diabetes.
• Beginning to face my fears, it's kind of my new mantra...

"Do not be afraid of change, be afraid of not changing."

My sister-in-law sent me a card with that saying on the front if it, this was over three years ago and I still have it on my fridge, it inspires me daily. After T1 entered our lives it had an even greater impact on me and on how I lived my life.

• Beginning to live in the moment...don't let those beautiful little moments go by unrecognized.
• Beginning to open myself up to the possibility...of what I'm not sure...just waiting to find out.

So that is what's in a name, I'm sure that it will continue to grow with me, but for now I think that kind of sums it up.

Hope and Beginnings...I hope you will join me for the journey!