Trip to Boston

Its been a while. Between Christmas and my new found obsession with catching up with old friends on facebook I have not blogged. I find it hard to write about the bad days and easier about the good. I should find one good thing about a day even if it is horrible, but rehashing anything in writing is giving me anxiety right now. Completely different than a few months ago when I would rant and rave about all the things that are/were going wrong. I think I am getting better about ignoring them, which could be a good thing or a bad thing.


Anyway, today was one of those fabulous days when you forget your worries and everything seems right in the world. (except for when you almost pass out in the American Girl store, which is a different story) I was reminded of why we had children and what a joy they are to be in my life.


We went to the New England Aquarium, McDonalds (easy to count carbs) The American Girl Store and Toys R Us to get something special for Sam. Each of them got money for Christmas that they could do what they wanted with. Save, spend etc.. Kailyn of course has wanted to go to American Girl for months. We talked about getting accesories and clothing for her new doll Kit, but I let it slip out of my mouth that she had enough money to buy a whole other doll. So, she looked for quite a while and then decided to get Kits best friend Ruthie with her money. She figures Grammie can help her make clothing for the girls on her sewing machine. ;)


Kailyn is estatic to say the least. She wants to collect all the dolls and get their beds. She also earned money today because we lost her lancet and had to manually do it, which is painful. So, for every painful poke she got $10 added to her money for the American girl store and ended up with pajamas for Ruthie and a t-shirt for Kit. I think we need to invest in a few more lancers because it would be less traumatic and less expensive. I felt really bad, but its something we really had to do.


I almost passed out when we were upstairs in the AA store because it was hot and overwhelming with all the little girls running around. Just glad I actually did not. We were in the hair salon part of the store (which had a six hour wait) and I was trying to make sure that what Kailyn had picked was what she really wanted. She assured me so we quickly went downstairs to get some air.


Before we went to the American Girl Store we went to the New England Aquarium. This was the kids first visit ever and they LOVED it. Their favorites were the penguins, sharks and turtles. Mine were the Scuba divers that jumped in the tank at 11:15am. We were lucky to get there early enough because it got completely crowded and hard to move around. This was a special Christmas present from Aunt Alice and would not have been possible without her. We enjoyed spending the day with her very much and hope to do similar things with her in the future.


Another big event of the day was being in Boston in itself. The kids have never seen big buildings and a city as big as Boston. Kailyn has, but she was a baby. They were amazed at how tall the buildings were and how many people there were. We could not have asked for better behaved kids today either. They were perfect. For as much trouble that they give Seth and I when we are alone with them they certainly know how to pull it together when we are doing special things.


So, all in all it was a great day. The kids learned a TON, we had a great positive outing experience as a family (our first since K's diagnosis) and we feel blessed to have family and friends on both sides that made it possible.
It's back to reality tomorrow, but today was a wonderful break.


The following are a few pictures from the day:

We had a great Thanksgiving

The kids had a lot of fun going to Nanie and Grampa's house and playing with their cousins. They also got to see Kyleigh and Graham a little more over the weekend. They both were healthy the whole week. (Kailyn had the week off) Sam now has a cold and Kailyn is developing it. Hopefully it won't slow Kailyn down. It has not slowed Sam down. :)

The Christmas craft frenzy has begun. Kailyn whipped through all the crafts in the house that she could last week. She made ornaments, painted ornaments, put up the tree and made a gingerbread house. I held her off from decorating the house in full force. She wants me to make a wreath(I told her to ask Grammie lol) and she currently has us working on making construction paper garland. (I bought the paper today and I am trying to hold her off) I decided that I am going to just let them decorate the tree however they want. They are the ones that enjoy it the most, so why not?

Sam is really into drawing and writing his name lately. The bare walls in his room are his favorite place to do this. Thankfully, we have washable markers so it is easy to get off, but I hate erasing his creations because they are so clear and big. I get excited. I never thought I would be excited about my children drawing pictures and writing their names on the wall. We talk about how we just write on paper all the time and I think he is starting to resist the urge, but I have also kept track of the markers and pens a little better lately.

Kailyn and Sam suffer from licking hands and spoon syndrome. If you receive a baked or made item from us make sure you ask me if it is contaminated or not. I try to let them do their own little batch because they just can't resist themselves, particularly with the butter. I tell Sam not to lick, have him repeat it and then I turn around and he is licking butter. He knows he should not and you can see that he knows it in his face, but the urge for the butter on his tongue is just too strong.

We made a Gingerbread house (don't worry, the gingerbread was store bought, I am not that ambitious) and both kids licked their fingers continuously. It was the last "baking" project for the weekend and most people won't eat the candy off of Gingerbread houses, except for my kids. I have to keep track of Kailyn sneaking the candy off. I can see that they are doing it because broken frosting is all around the house. Gingerbread houses are not great to have with young diabetics in the house, but I am determined to not change too much about the holiday's. We just make sure we do the eating on her schedule, which thankfully is every two hours. I decided that baking in the middle of the afternoon is the best because Kailyn has some free carbs then. She needs every free carb she can get because of all the licking. I guess I need to stop writing because Kailyn just brought construction paper up to me. :)

Below are a few pictures from Thanksgiving.

A lot of fun yesterday

We started off the day bringing Sam to the Country Mile Day School for two hours. While he was there Kailyn and I cleaned together. We had to get ready because
the kids had a play date with their good friends the Warehams. There are four kids in the family, but only 3 come because the youngest is only two. So there were 2 six year old girls, 1 eight year old girl and 2 four year old boys here.(5 total) This was the first play date with people outside the family since Kailyn's diagnosis and it went really well. I only had to referee a little bit and there was no major damage done. We thought they might have ruined the heating system for a bit after we realized we had no heat this morning, but we figured out that they had flicked the heating switch by the stairs off. Kailyn and Isabelle even picked up her room without me asking.

We attempted a visit to Grammie's chickens in the wind and the rain, but ended up looking really quick and then coming back home because the wind was really strong. All I could think of was seeing 5 kids being blown across the field. That was an adventure that they thought was cool though.

Kailyn was extremely excited to show her friends how she pricked her finger and how she took her shots. She also bragged about how she got to have soda. She got to demonstrate that she was the only kid that got soda when she was low one time. She went low a couple of times because she was burning up so much energy and eating the same amount she usually does.

After the playdate they ate at 4 (they still have not turned back time) and then quickly called Grammie and Grampa to see if they could go over to see their Great Nana who was staying the night en route to New York for Thanksgiving. They had fun playing with her for about an hour.

They basically did not stop yesterday, but it was a huge success with no major dramatics. Kailyn still went to bed at 10pm because she worked on a magazine with pictures.(she has endless energy) Sam crashed a little before 8pm.

Diabetes in remission?

Well, at least I know they are working on it. Rumors have it that they want to start human trials within a year.

http://news.ucsf.edu/releases/cancer-drugs-type-1-diabetes/

Sam was just chasing

Kailyn, growling like a monster and she was screaching. When she got to me he stopped dead in his tracks and looks at her and says, "It ok Kaiyn (he does not say the L) I just pretending. I not a monster."

My artist

Kailyn has been using some stickers that Nanie gave us a while ago to decorate her room. The sports one were supposed to be for Sam, but she likes basketball, soccer and skating so she thought they were appropriate for her. She also has been using supplies that her Great Nana gave her to use for projects. She took my camera and took some pictures tonight. I tried to perk her up because she said her stomach hurt and this means she is either sick or something is bothering her. Using my camera takes her mind off of it and the stomach aches go away. Above are a couple of her pictures. She was so proud of her Diabetes sign. I made that Kailyn sign before she was born. Both of the kids have them in their rooms. Sam's is Blue. The wrapping paper artwork is from her Great Nana's project stuff. The red lines on the molding to her closet door are where she measured both the height of herself and Samuel.(In washable marker)

Sam is so funny lately

He is having another language burst and is coming out with things I remember telling people he did not understand.
Tonight he was faking being sick and wanted to go to the Doctor with Kailyn and I so bad. He said, "My tummy hurt, my throat hurt, my head hurt". I checked his throat and it was fine so we went off while he cried. When we got home he poked his head out the door to the garage with a big grin and said, "Mommy, me not sick anymore, me not crying" Kailyn was crying at that point and whenever she is crying or misbehaving (in his opinion) he LOVES to point out that he is behaving and not crying.

We went to Nanie and Grampa's yesterday and he stayed with Nanie while I went to the Doctor. He had a great time having one on one with her. On the way down he told me, "Nanie live far away, Aunt Katie live close and we live with Grammie Grandpa". I remember telling his teacher who was asking him that question last year that he did not understand that concept. He also was telling Nanie about all the different trucks names. Specifically the difference between Monster trucks and regular ones. I did not know that he knew this. Nanie gave him a pamphlet book from one of the toys she opened up that had lots of different trucks in it. He insists that he is going to get them all and told Nanie to go to the store and buy them for him ;) Nanie also gave us a gingerbread house to make for Christmas. Sam remembered this from last year. He wanted to do it that day, but I told him we had to wait until it snows. Hopefully it won't snow until after Thanksgiving. We actually ended up doing two last year. When we got home from Nanie's he kept asking about it. I have it safely hidden away until the appropriate time.

He is doing well at both schools and has started to draw pictures that are recognizable. Today he brought home a picture that looked like a big dinosaur and he had his name prominently written on it. (He is REALLY good at writing his name now). He tried to tell me the name of it, but I had no idea because it was some sort of dinosaur. His favorite thing to do at home is to make houses out of the chairs, cushions and pillows. It takes up most of the living room and he even makes a bed. Kailyn does this with him too. They both were playing school the other day and Kailyn was teaching him about question marks, exclamation points and periods. He copied what she wrote perfectly. We are so happy for Sam. Our only sticking point is bedtime, but even tonight he went without a battle. We shall see. He makes me smile all the time.

We had a good two week run.

Where Kailyn had pretty good stable numbers, was not ill and made it through school all week. That ended Monday. Its ok though. I expect it and as the Doctor tonight pointed out. Diabetics have to fight the viruses off harder. We had a waffle incident on Monday, where the kids ate bad waffles. Both got sick simultaneously. They were bad waffles and all seemed fine by the afternoon, although Kailyn's numbers were all over the place. Don't ask me how we got bad waffles. I really don't know. I just know that we are getting a bunch of coupons in the mail to replace them because I called the company. The blood glucose numbers were the same yesterday 60-470 and she said her throat was scratchy. The nurse and I new something was brewing because the last time her numbers were as high as they are now she got sick.

I got the call late this afternoon that she could not stay in class and was laying on the bed in the clinic. She was crying basically the whole afternoon over things that normally don't bother her, wanted me to hold her and by 5 was asking to go see the doctor so we went. She has white patches all over her throat, but the test came back negative. The doctor said to wait a week. I will wait until Monday at the latest. They put diabetics on antibiotics regardless if it has been a week. Right now she is in my bed and will stay there. She went low early the other night and that stresses Seth and I both out. I wrote the teacher an e-mail and will get her work to work on next week. She has the whole week off. Kailyn was sitting next to me and was reading the letter as I typed. I had to help her with a few words and she had me add a line in for her. "staying up late makes me grumpy and tired".

Besides being sick Kailyn seems to be doing a lot better psychologically. She loves her new routine and is still making a list a MILE long for Santa. She still wants money for Boston too. She can NOT wait until Christmas so she can get the American girl doll. Nanie got her the Kit movie to get her even more hyped up and we got an American girl magazine in the mail for her to drool over. Her and Sam now get on all the toy websites and pick out toys for themselves. They get the addresses from the flyer's and get on themselves. Kailyn and I have fun on the American girl website playing games and on Facebook playing Tetris. She wants me to beat everyone on there.:) The kids are learning a lot about how much things cost and that Santa has a budget. Sam yells at me when I tell him he has to pick three and can't have it all. Kailyn says, "then you can get it" and I let her know that she will be lucky if she gets 3 things on her list.

Kailyn was begging Grammie to make her a dress for Thanksgiving a few days ago. A little too late and I let her know that it was not going to happen. I could tell that Grammie wanted to at first, but she agreed and they decided to start working on a design for Christmas. Kailyn is now all excited about that. She also can't wait for it to start to snow. I could do without the snow this winter. We got plenty last winter. We are going to try and have a play date with old friends. This will be the first since diagnosis so Kailyn is excited. Unless she is throwing up they are coming. My friend never cares if they are sick and brings her kids over anyway. LOL
Overall Kailyn is getting older. She likes cool clothes, older kid toys and getting on the computer. We have a lot of fun chatting about these things, but she also still wants her Mommy and loves to cuddle :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRAMPA!!!

I wanted to take pictures of the kids with their cards and the books that Sam wanted to give him, but I could not find my memory card for the camera. :( Of course I found it without looking a few hours later.
Right before we read books this evening the kids called Grampa. Sam was the first caller and when Grampa picked up he said. "It you birfday" and told him about how he wanted to give him some books. Kailyn understood that we could not make a trip down to see him, but was happy to make him some cards. Sam is happy about making cards, but insisted that we were going to see Nanie and Grampa at bedtime so he could give Grampa his (Sam's) favorite books. "Go dogs go" and "Polar Bear, Polar Bear" He read the books and then was ready to go. He was not happy when I told him it was not happening. He said, "But it Grampa Birfday today"! My kids don't realize that there is not always a big party when it is someones birthday.
However, I heard that this was a big one for you Dad numbers wise and you might have gotten up a little earlier today because you were excited :) We made sure to call you before you went to bed, which is right around the time that Sam goes (6:30-7:00 pm) LOL
So, Happy Birthday Dad/Grampa!! WE love you bunches!! :)

We are still here

Things are really starting to calm down and I am trying to get us into some type of a groove or routine. My house needs an overhaul, but I have been concentrating on just the kids. When I have not been attending to their needs I have been in bed. When I thought I was getting better I actually got worse and ended up with an ear infection and a viral infection that could not be helped by the anti-biotics. I was getting to the point that I thought I would never feel well again, but then it happened. Yesterday, I woke up without a throat that hurt so bad that I wanted to rip it out of my neck. So far, no one else in the house has gotten this and hopefully it stays that way. It had me out of commission for two weeks. I did not leave my bed at all last weekend. I have finally been able to get out and do my walking/running the past two days.

Kailyn still goes to bed later and has a hard time getting up in the morning, but once she gets to school she seems genuinely happy to be there. She made it through the ENTIRE week last week. The first time since school started in August. Her nerves have really started to calm down. She loves the fact that I bring her all the way into the school and help her unpack her huge bag and get her set up at her desk. We are just going to forget that fitness fun exists until she starts showing an interest that she wants to go. She is also not going to take the bus. Since we are finally getting into a good groove we want to keep it that way and avoid bringing the anxiety level back up again in any way. I am now officially volunteering once a week Thanks to Grammie. The only time they had left was when Sam was not in school. Kailyn wishes I could spend the whole day, but I keep reminding her that that was a very special day that will never happen again ;)

Kailyn's latest obsession is American Girl dolls. She is on the website picking out clothing and playing games every day. She wants the doll Kit for Christmas. I told her that after Christmas we could go to the store in Boston (which is actually in Natick) if she gets the doll. I also told her she could use any money she has to buy stuff for the doll. I told her we would go to Boston even if she did not get the doll and would go to the Aquarium. She is excited beyond belief. Aunt Alice said she would come too so that makes her even more excited. Neither of the kids have been to Boston. Don't be surprised if she asks some of you for money for Christmas. LOL We will eat lunch at the American girl Bistro and then go to the Aquarium for the afternoon. I need to make reservations soon for the Bistro. I am sure every little girl in New England is going to want to go to the store after Christmas. It is going to be a long month and a half.

Sam is still absolutely thrilled about his "new school". He wants to go everyday. He actually begs and gets mad at me when I tell him that he is going to the "old school" that day. However, once I bring him into the old school (developmental one)and play with him for a bit he is very happy to be there and happily gives me hugs and kisses goodbye. I think one of the reasons he likes the regular preschool better is because he only goes for 2 hours and then has the rest of the day with me to himself. Sam hit a major milestone today and answered a why question unprompted. I asked him, "Why does Kailyn have to get out of bed? and he said, "She needs to go to cool (school)":) Now we just need to get him to ASK the Why questions. Even though he does not ask why questions I notice improvements in his vocab and speech every day. He also has decided he likes to write his name a lot. He wrote it on his pillow, his comforter and his cork board. We had to explain to him that we only write our names on paper. It reminded me of when Kailyn wrote her name on the back of her Jacket using my lipstick.

Seth decided to take a leave of absence from the MSW program at UNE. It was absolutely WAY to much and his work was not doing what they agreed to do. I am not exactly sure how he is going to get this internship done now, but I will let him worry about that. We are both dealing with getting used to having a child with diabetes in different ways. Right now I go between pissed off, sad and acceptance. Seth seems to just go with the flow. (Lets me worry about it, typical man ;)) No actually, he is a fabulous husband and one of the reasons he stopped doing the UNE program was because he felt that he needed to put more time into our family. The healing and getting used to our new lifestyle process. I have asked others that have been through the diagnosis and getting used to it process and they all say that it takes about 5-6 months for everything to become second nature. If that is the case then we have 2-3 months to go.

So at this point, we are not where we should be, but we are getting there. However, we are not living our lives in complete and utter chaos and that feels really good.

Election Day 2008

I have not written in a few days. Between Halloween, visiting family and being sick I have not had much time. I think I have turned a corner today. It does not hurt to swallow and I am not in constant pain. Kailyn and Sam have seemed to avoid this or have already had it. Hopefully, they won't get anything else either way. We did really well with Kailyn and Halloween. It was not the nightmare I thought it would be and we actually ended up begging her to finish her candy. She did reach the 300's on Saturday night, but that was one time. Most of the time she was within range or in the low 200's. So far her levels have been almost in range or in range at school this week too. I went in and volunteered today. Kailyn LOVES this. They certainly keep those kids busy. I remember learning a lot of the stuff they are doing in first grade in 2nd grade and most kids could not read when they started 1st grade. At the rate they are going she will be doing Algebra in 4th grade.
Sam loves going to his "new school" as he calls it and is now at home happily building blocks while relaxing and watching Little Bill on the tv. We will go to get Kailyn at 10 of 3. After I went and dropped Sam off at school, I went and voted. It was busy, but it looked like they anticipated a high turnout so they were stocked full of booths and there were no lines. I called Katie and offered to watch her kids when she got home so she could try to avoid the after work rush. Then I asked to make sure she was voting for the same people as me so I was not aiding her in wiping out my vote ;)
So, things are relatively calm and I like it that way. We are beginning to not live in a state of panic all the time, which is good for everyone in the family. Our goal for the week is to get Kailyn to school every single day. I will let you know;)

Kailyn's conference today

She is doing wonderfully academically. Right where she should be and then some. She brought in her last paper that needed to be finished out of her green folder and her teacher gave her a big sticker for having an empty green folder. This filled up her sticker chart so she got a new one of those too. This is something that Kailyn has really wanted to have happen. The teacher did a great job of boosting Kailyn's confidence. She told her that she was a role model for the other students and that they looked up to her. That made her feel great. On they way home she asked me what it really meant and I said that the kids thought she was cool. LOL She liked that. I told her that I was proud of her for being such a hard worker and she was beaming. She scored 100% on a reading comprehension test and was one of only two kids in her class of 22 that did that. She also tests well above average in reading. The teacher said that she should continue to work on her reading fluency. (so she does not sound like a robot) Kailyn thought that was funny. I let Mrs. Kenny know that this was the first week that she has had her blood sugar levels within range for most of the time at school. We are both hoping that she makes it through her first full week of school next week. :)

The USM Gorham Community Halloween Party

I wish I had taken my camera now. But, I will next year. The kids had their first pony rides and apple from a string experience. It was donuts when I was little, but now that putting apples in water is considered a health risk, you can't do that anymore. So, they put apples on a string. Of course, there was candy everywhere. The kids made their own bags and collected some in them. We did a great job of keeping Kailyns levels under control. She had a ton of candy and when we got home her level was an 86. Hopefully, we can do the same tomorrow. They also went in a bouncy house, got their faces painted, played a game of plunco and went on a hayride around USM. It was COLD on the hayride and the tractor went FAST! They had a haunted house, but I heard people coming out of it saying it was too scary for little kids so we skipped it. Kailyn begged, but she is just like me and can't handle scary. We saw a ton of Kailyn's friends and people we know. The Gorham Rec dept and USM Athletes put on a really great party and the kids can't wait for next year. This is the first year that they have been old enough and there was no school the next day for Kailyn. Sam had a school party today and has one tomorrow. Apparently, it is not PC in Gorham to celebrate Halloween so no party at school for Kailyn. That is why I wanted to get her out to do something else fun for Halloween. Here are a few pics of them in their costumes:

Getting ready for Halloween

We are busy making last minute preparations for Halloween. Tomorrow we have two parties. One at Sam's school and one at USM. Kailyn decided that she wanted to be a princess again, her fourth year in a row. She is wearing the costume that Grammie made her last year with a new hair piece and I am painting silver ballet flats from Target with Glitter Fabric Paint as I type. (Taking a break between coats) Sam is going to be a Robot. Grammie and Grandpa made the costume and it is safely being stored high away from Miley. Sam decided he wanted Robot shoes once he saw me making Kailyn some, so I guess I will be covering a pair of his sneakers with aluminum foil and duct tape after they go to bed. Then Sam has another party on Friday and the actual Trick or Treating Friday night. Kailyn has made maps of where she wants to go with neighbors names on them and has decided she wants to hit Aunt Katie's neighborhood (our old one) because she can get tons of Candy there.

Kailyn has a half day of school tomorrow and then I have a conference with her teacher in the afternoon. I am sure I won't learn anything that I don't already know. I went and spent the entire day with her on Monday. Gym class and all. Our team kicked butt playing asteroid blast (lots of fun) and when they did their running I stayed in the middle of the pack even with my clogs on. Kailyn was so proud.LOL Spending the day with her was very helpful. It let me see that it is not school causing her anxiety it is her Diabetes spilling over there. Any difference she perceives is magnified 1,000 times. I think my presence may have helped her to calm down or it may just be luck, but her blood sugar levels have been almost in range for the first time since starting school this week. (I hope I did not just jinx that) Of course, I expect them to be completely off because of Halloween now. LOL

On Saturday we hopefully will be getting together with my side of the family and will be able to meet Adam (my new nephew and Kailyn and Sam's cousin) for the first time. I say hopefully because I know that curve balls come our way often.;) My Aunt/Uncle and some cousins are flying in from Arizona for my cousins wedding on Friday night so we hope to get to see everybody. We have not seen some of them since my Grandfather's funeral. It will be good to see everyone for a happy occasion. Seth might go hunting that day. Then on Sunday we will rest in hopes that Kailyn will make it through her first full week of school next week. A busy weekend! Hope to report that all went as planned.

High School Musical 3

We went this afternoon. Big excitement because we don't take the kids to the movies very often. I think the last time was Alvin and the Chipmunks last fall. Kailyn wanted to look Cool like the girls in the Movie. She is all about looking cool and not looking cute now. Problem with this is that she does not like the way how pants and jeans feel. Only velour and jogging type pants. She has decided she does not like tights either. Once in a while she will tolerate the jeans, but it depends on her mood. I understand why she does not want to look "cute". Most of the girls don't wear dresses in first grade, but she decided she could last week because she had not felt well and the dresses are more comfortable. Oh, and skirts are cool. At least if they have a lot of glitter and tulle on them. On the weekends she happily wears her dresses. Its hard changing from a dress girl to a pants girl, when you really just want to be a dress girl, but it is not cool.
Anyway, she picked out the outfit pictured below (all bought by Nanie except the sweater/shawl) because it is cool (the stars are silver and the tights sparkle)and wanted to wear her hair down because that is how the teenagers do it. (she is 6 for crying out loud) I let her put a little make up on for the event (barely noticeable) and she felt like a superstar.
The movie was good. Kailyn was glued to it the whole time, but during slow times Sam got restless. At the finale Sam was dancing like a Maniac and had the two rows behind us laughing hysterically. He danced a little throughout, but really let it loose at the end. He usually is in constant motion so 1 hour and 40 minutes of sitting is a lot.
We messed up giving Kailyn's insulin in the movie theatre so she ended up 399 and we had to correct it at 4:00 after we left. (mental note to self: get there early enough so you can test, see the carb amounts and see the amount of insulin you are giving) She started crying hysterically for no reason so we knew her levels were off and pulled over in a parking lot to correct things.
Below are the cool clothes/hair/makeup pictures and Sam was trying to make cool faces.

Our little weight loss coach

I was talking in bed with Sam before he went to sleep and all of a sudden he says:
"Daddy have a baby in his tummy"
I said, "no he does not, boys don't have babies only girls have babies in their bellies"
He says, "Jayme big tummy"
This is my SIL who just had a baby in September.
I said, "Yes, but Daddy does not have a baby he just has a big belly." ROFL
Poor Seth, he really does not look pregnant he just gains in that area and has even lost 20 pounds. LOL
Sam has done the same to me. He did it last summer. When I was buckling him in his seat he looked at my behind and then looked at my mother's and said "You butt is bigger than Nanie's". LOL
So glad we got him speech therapy so he could learn how to talk and help coach us on our weight loss journey. ;)

Kailyn has an ear infection

It started yesterday morning and got worse by the afternoon, but she was her bubbly self. Her sugar levels have been really strange too. Either really high or really low. Overnight she kept waking up in pain and had a fever. We just got back from the doctor and got the prescription filled. Of course you could not tell she was sick when she was in the grocery store because she was so excited to be out shopping with me. We got shampoo, chapstick, notebooks and gum. Everything a 6 year old little girl dreams about.LOL It was Gorham House day at the Grocery store (the independent living home for seniors) so there were a bunch of them in line getting their prescriptions and they kept smiling at Kailyn as they passed by. Kailyn wanted me to jump up and get in line (we were sitting in the chairs waiting) because she did not realize that they were not cutting and we were already being taken care of. Even if they were cutting I can't imagine plowing them down and telling them not to cut. We could wait. LOL
Good thing we got that 504 that says they can't count absences against her because we would surely have the police at our doorstep soon. LOL I do work with her when she is feeling up to it when she is home so she can keep up in Math. She is above average in reading so we don't have to worry about that yet, but I still have her read to me.
Seth keeps telling me I should just home school her and I keep telling him I already am, we just send her to school for socialization once in a while.LOL
She just saw a commercial for High School Musical 3 and has been dying to see that movie since she learned about it this summer.(keeps asking me when it is coming out) It said tickets available now. Anytime she sees this she tells me I should buy them just in case they sell out. I tell her not to worry and she will get to see the movie. That will be a lot of excitement if we do get to go this weekend. :)

Kailyn is over the top EXCITED

about Halloween. She is making her own costume with the help of Grammie. She is going to be a butterfly for the actual trick or treating and a princess again for a party we are going to at USM. The USM athletes and the Rec department sponsor it and it is supposed to be pretty good. She asks me every day how many days until the party and Halloween. I will bring our carb book to the party. She gets 15 free grams at night and anything over needs to be treated with insulin. They said it has free food and drink. We have not been very many places where we have had to guesstimate. We need to figure out all the carbs for every candy we can think of and how we are going to do this. In the past I have let them eat the Candy until they were full that night and then slowly threw it away.(Gone in a couple of days) I am not going to be able to let them do it this year. So, Seth and I will have our assigned kid and make sure Kailyn does not eat anything until we decide what she is going to eat and how much insulin she needs. We also need to make sure she does not sneak Candy. She kept sneaking frosting off of Seth's cake the other day.LOL A little bit is ok, but a lot is not. I think we are going to let her eat one piece of Candy when we are out and about so she is not deprived of the experience, but will make her and Sam both wait until we get home to eat a bunch of it. Good thing the next day is a Saturday.
Sam does not seem to be over the top excited like Kailyn and I think he vaguely remembers it. He is going to be a robot and has the voice down pat. It is so cute. I think he will catch on quickly after the first house though.;) He also has a party at school and only one parent is bringing the food. The Mom with the kid who has a peanut allergy. She apparently does not trust the other parents to not bring products that contain peanuts. Oh well, less work for me to do. :)

Sam Loves his new preschool

He is still iffy on his "old school" as he calls it, but he is loving the fact that I am taking him in in the morning and playing with him for a bit before I leave him there for the day. The new school, he can't get in there fast enough.LOL Today they went to Story Time at the library and got to look at town equipment. Snowplows and trucks. He was very excited about that. After I picked him up from the Library we went over to Aunt Katie's to visit Nanie, Kyleigh and Graham. They were all very excited to see each other and I was happy to get some kisses in.
Kailyn is doing a bit better with transitioning to school because I walk her in and put her supplies (which are kind of heavy) in the teachers closet behind her desk. She puts everything in there so that no one can take it "by accident" and it is safe. This is her lunch box, her diabetes bag and her diabetes log. I get Kailyn all set up at her desk and then leave. She loves it. She has been running very high during the day at school (the nurse just called and she was at 409)and woke up hypoglycemic this morning. This means we are going to have to get up a couple of times tonight to check her glucose levels. Its not ok to wake up a 61 and very not ok for her to be running high all the time. She has not tested positive for keytones yet, but runs the risk of it if she continues. We think we get her levels figured out and then her pancreas decides to mess everything up again. She is definately still in the so called "Honeymoon" period.
Apparently, Kailyn did not realize that she would have Diabetes for the rest of her life. I have told her before, but it apparently did not sink in. I also tell her that they are looking for a cure, but we don't know exactly when it will happen. We were looking at pumps and all the cool skins for them. I am trying to get her excited about getting one. I said, "wouldn't it be easier to have the insulin just put in you instead of getting all those shots for the rest of your life" and she said, "I am going to have Diabetes forever?" I can't even describe the look on her face.

She is unremarkable

Well, at least her labs came back unremarkable and that is terrific news!! I figured no news was good news, but I decided to call and find out what the real deal was today. Kailyn, on the other hand IS remarkable. She is so brave. Her shots do hurt sometimes (bleed and leave bruises), but she has never said I don't want them or ran and hid from us like I hear other kids her age with Diabetes do. She gets hesitant, but knows it has to be done. That and pricking her fingers. Her little fingers are scarred over in places, but she does not complain. Just knows that is how it goes. She asks intelligent questions about Diabetes, some of which I can't answer. Today she asked what diagnosed mean and why she heard the word all the time? We are working on getting her used to the idea of getting a pump and I think we are going to apply for Katie Beckett (government program for people with disabilities) so that they can cover the Blood glucose monitoring part of the pump and other expenses related to the disease. Medication, deductibles and copays add up quickly. Right now insurance only covers the insulin part of pumps. The blood glucose monitor has an alarm that would go off if she is getting below a certain level among other things, but costs $380 a month to maintain.

Kailyn went to school for the entire day today even though she has a cold. I gave her a dose of motrin and sent her on her merry way. She was the leader for the day so she was really excited about that. She had a stomach ache on the way there, but it was the nervous kind. She is starting to be able to distinguish the difference between being sick or nervous. When I told her her blood results came back normal she asked me "Then what is making me have stomach aches?" I said "stress" She asked "what is stress?" I said "It is when you are scared to do something or get worried about what is going to happen" She then said, "So I get stomach aches like you did last night" She was right, Sam gave me a really hard time last night, Seth got home late and was not here and I ended up with a bad stomach ache after I finally got Sam to sleep. She agreed that it was a good reason to have a stomach ache if your child is having a meltdown because it is hard to deal with. Our talking about her anxiety openly seems to be working so far. The nurse said she has been complaining less and if she does complain she tells her what kind of stomach ache it is. The teacher also gave her a talk and told her not to worry and if she felt nervous to let her know too.

Kailyn had me convinced she was failing Math because she was so worried about it, but when I talked to her teacher she said she was right where she should be and they were not doing drilling. Kailyn is actually having to learn Math, while on the other hand she is above average in reading and already knows everything they are doing. Both Seth and I have physical reactions to anxiety so we are just going to have to help her learn how to cope with it just like our parents did with us with a little twist added on top.(Type 1 Diabetes)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!! (Seth)

I know that Seth does not read my blog, but I will write about his surprise birthday party anyway and wish him a Happy Birthday regardless. Kailyn did her usual party planning even though she has a cold with a fever and her sugar numbers are all over the place(from the 50's to 460's, her range should be 80-180). She made hats, made sure there would be nachos and shrimp, had me get balloons, a cake, a game and made her father a gift. She invited Grammie and Grandpa to the surprise party and had everyone hide and jump out and say surprise when he got home. She also made sure that I cleaned the house because she knows that part of party preperation is having a clean house ;)
Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and both Kailyn and Samuel took pictures of the festivities.



SO HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!!! WE LOVE YOU!!! :)

Kailyn made it to school

for 1 1/2 hours today and won't be going tomorrow. We were seriously late because of her brother. He had a major meltdown because I would not do things in a certain order before we left. This is where the Autism shows up still. If we start to do something in a particular pattern he insists on doing it in that patten and it gets worse. We have to stop the pattern from happening in the first place, which in turn causes a meltdown. Todays meltdown resulted in us being an hour late for both schools. I could not get him in his seat and when I did he we get out while I was driving so I had to pull over and get him back in again. Kicking, hitting, screaming and crying. We finally made it to school and he apparently had a wonderful day. Grammie picked him up for me. I could not bring Kailyn to school first because I could not bring Sam in the building so I could sign her in.
Once we got him to school I brought Kailyn in and helped her catch up with the handwriting that they were working on. Once handwriting was done it was time for snack. I got her blood checked, gave her her insulin and checked her ketones because her sugar levels were above 240. She ate her snack and then I left.
I got into the house and decided to lie down for 15 minutes before I tackled the things I needed to do for the day. One of those things was baking a cake for Seth. Well, I got my 15 minutes and then I got a call from the school that Kailyn had a stomach ache and a fever and I had to come and get her. I knew she was getting a little cold, but if I kept my kids home for every little cold they would never go.
Around 2:30 I decided I needed to do something about our cake situation so I got Grandpa to watch Kailyn while I went to the grocery store and bought one. Kailyn was planning one of her famous birthday parties so it had to be done. (It's Seth's birthday today) Glad we have Grammie and Grandpa next door to help out in these situations. Maybe Kailyn will make it to a whole day of school on Friday??( I won't get my hopes up), which reminds me, we still need to sign the 504 and IHP plans.

Apple Picking

We have gone every year since Kailyn was a one year old and I did not think we were going to make it this year, but we got to go today because it was a beautiful day and we put all of our other responsibilities aside. The kids had a blast. They both got little pumpkins and Kailyn named hers fall. Sam's favorite part was the old farm equipment. We had to drag him off of them so we could leave.

6 until Me

6 until me is a blog written by a woman who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at the age of 6. Just like Kailyn. I like to check in on the blog once in a while to see what life may hold for Kailyn when she is her age.

Here is a recent posting on October 8:

My Parents

I saw a mother and her eight year old daughter at the train station this morning. It was kind of chilly out, so most of the conversations on the platform were visible, with little puffs of cold above the speaker's mouths. The mom leaned over to her child and touches her finger tip to what looked like a cell phone. The child drew back her hand and stuck her finger in her mouth. The mom looked at the machine, furrowed her eyebrow, and said something to her daughter. Her daughter reached into her coat, pulled out another machine, then tucked it back into her jacket.

Untrained eyes wouldn't see this action as anything of note. Commuters weren't staring. Everyone was going about their business - a regular Wednesday morning. But I saw this mother's daily business - keeping her child alive. I'm watching this from the sidewalk, not able to hear what's being said. I can only imagine the words, but they sound so familiar.

I read a lot of diabetes blogs (I know - me?!) and some of the blogs written by my fellow diabetics really touch my heart. Even though we're all working at different jobs, driving different cars, maintaining different values, and living in different families and skins, every last one of us is dealing with the same vulnerability. We're all trying to pinch hit for our pancreases, and it can be a tough road at times.

Reading the blogs from the parents of children with diabetes ... they touch my heart, too. But some times they break it.

I forget that while I'm testing my blood sugar, wearing the pump, and doing my diabetes thing every day, my mother and father are still worrying. My parents had to step in when I was diagnosed because I was a little kid who has more interest in climbing trees than climbing blood sugars. And I can't imagine what it's like to have a child with diabetes - I've only been a child with diabetes, and now an adult with diabetes. Sometimes it hurts a bit to prick my finger or do an injection, but I can control and manage that pain. I can't imagine what it must have been like for my mom to have me crying and hiding behind the dining room curtains while she drew up my shot when I was a kid. It wasn't like that all the time, but I'd imagine that once was enough to leave a mark on my mother.


This mother this morning reminded me of my own mom. Made me think about the other parents of kids with diabetes, and what they do every day to keep us safe, healthy, and able to be kids. Just regular kids, even if we have to take a break from playing every now and again to test or shoot or eat. Some of the blogger moms and dads write about their child's diabetes, and I have to really concentrate to find the bits of diabetes memories from my childhood. And I prefer it that way - my childhood wasn't "childhood with diabetes" but instead just "childhood." Our parents, they protect us and keep us safe from feeling scared and unsure. They absorb those feelings for us and try to make our lives as normal as possible. And I am so thankful for everything my parents did for me.

The train rumbled to a stop and the mother and daughter climbed on board. And I went into my office and called my mom.

by Kerri Morrone Sparling

6 until me

Pictures from the sleepover

That Grammie just sent :)