Lots of hair

I have been growing my hair for 2 years. I saw a picture of my hair at my brother's wedding and HATED it. After seeing that picture, I decided to grow it out again.

Now, 2 years later, I was SO sick of it! It is SO long and SO thick! It weighed a ton. It was time for the hair to go.

A friend of mine mentioned hair donation. This got me doing a little research on google to find a place to donate my hair. Sure there is Locks of Love. I have heard some fishy things about them and was determined to find somewhere else to donate to. I ended up finding Children with Hairloss. I only needed 8 inches to donate to them.

I made the final decision to get it done last week and made the appointment for today. Here are some pictures of the before and after along with the "hair" pictures. I will be mailing out my hair soon and I love my new do!

The before...

The after...

The hair...(10+ inches)

After it flattened out...

The results are finally in

We went for our Trial Net blood draws on November 18th and have been not so patiently waiting for our results since then.

They showed up today.

Rod, The Princess, and myself are ALL NEGATIVE! Woo Hoo!

We will get The Princess re-tested each year until she is 18. This is a GREAT excuse for heading to California and going to Disneyland. I know we could get the blood drawn in Tucson, but who wouldn't want an excuse to go to Disneyland each year. :)

I am not sure if I feel complete relief for The Princess. I still have this gut feeling that a dx will be in our future. No signs. No symptoms. Just a feeling I have. Only time will tell.

For now, it is nice to know she does not have the antibodies though.

Holiday Week Debrief

Wow! It has been a LONG, CRAZY, and FUN week!

Last Friday (the 18th) we went to Zoo lights with the Starlight foundation. Saturday the 19th we had our local Diabetes support group Christmas party. You can read about both events here.

Wendy also posted some pictures here and here.

We went to our annual Christmas Dessert at my Grandma's house on Sunday the 20th. You can read about some of that in this post.

We celebrated The Superhero's 3rd Birthday on the 21st, here is more about that.

We did Christmas with my brother and his wife on Tuesday at my parents house. They came in from Washington state on Saturday and left on Wednesday. The kids LOVED spending time with them, but were completely worn out each night.

Wednesday was the only day for a whole week we did not open any presents! We had a quiet dinner at my parents house before my brother left town.

Thursday was Christmas Eve. You can read more about our morning here. My mother-in-law and nephew finally showed up around 10:15. They got lost on the way and had no cell phone. They stopped at a random house and used the phone to call us.

Then The Superhero and I made Christmas Cookies for Santa.

On Christmas, we had my parents and brother over for breakfast (and they were on time!) and the kids opened their presents. Then we went to my mom's and we all opened presents there. Then we came home for naps (all of us). We went back to my mom's for dinner with some friends and my Grandparents.

What a whirlwind of a week! I am happy to have spent so much time with family and friends, but I am equally as happy to be HOME and not have any plans this weekend! We are just relaxing and letting our kids play with all of their new things.

Here are a few pictures from Christmas day. Enjoy!







I hope you all had a great week and get some time to relax as the season comes to an end!

Cookies for Santa

This was the first year that The Superhero seemed to understand the whole Santa thing.

So, of course, we had to make cookies and leave them out with some milk. We made simple sugar cookies. Then we frosted and sprinkled them. The Superhero was SUPER excited that Santa ate his cookies and drank his milk. (he kept telling everyone ALL day) It was really cute.

Here are some pictures of our cookie making process...

Thank you Secret Santa!

Our Secret Santa was simply the BEST! Thank you Laura SO MUCH!


We LOVE the homemade Christmas CD’s (one for me and one for the kids),

the kitchen towels (which are being put to good use),

the cute note pad (will definitely get some use),

and of course the SUPER CUTE sign personalized for my kids!


(I did cheat and open my gifts as soon as they came, I could not stop laughing at the sign when it came! It is SO my kids!)


ALL of these gifts are SO perfect for us!



Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!

My Little Boy Turned 3!

Well, it is official! The Superhero is 3! I can't believe he is 3. It feels like the last 3 years have just flown by.

Here is a picture of him 3 years ago...


And here is his 3rd Birthday Celebration in pictures...

Mini Golf




Just got off the roller coaster, still not sure what he REALLY thought of it


Drinking his Diet Coke at dinner (Fuddruckers)


Cake




Opening one of the MANY presents he had



Giving himself a shot with his new doctor kit (kind of ironic)

2 FUN Christmas events down, 1 dreaded one to go

Yesterday we had our Starlight event at the Phoenix Zoo lights. We all had a blast! We met up with a lot of our Diabetes support group friends there and had tons of fun. Santa was there and brought presents for all the kids. The Superhero is in LOVE with his new bowling set.

Today we had our support group Christmas party, complete with Santa! The kids had a great time and it was really nice to hang out with the other mom's too! My husband even enjoyed himself! Santa came and brought both kids presents. The Princess sat on his lap for a quick second. The Superhero on the other hand would not go near him. In fact, when he was called he was no where to be found! He had gone back into the play room by himself. :)

Tomorrow is the DREADED family get together at my Grandma's. I am going to do my best and act like things are normal and that nothing has bothered me about the drama. We will see how it goes.


Here are some pictures from our fun parties. I will have more pictures after tomorrow's gathering. (The Princess will be wearing and incredibly cute tutu!)

Enjoy!

The Princess ready to leave for the zoo


The Superhero with his antlers, waiting for dinner at the zoo event.


The Superhero doing a craft


The Princess with her present from Santa at the zoo event


Group photo


We were "lucky" enough to win the cookie centerpiece


The Princess at our Diabetes group Christmas Party


The Superhero playing in the toy room


The Princess and Santa (for 2 seconds)

Yay!

The kids are feeling better! The Superhero's allergy meds seem to really be helping. His nose has not been running like a faucet and he has not been coughing as much!

The Princess is doing better as well. She is still on the steroids for 2 more days and will be doing the breathing treatments until I feel comfortable stopping them. She sounds SO much better than she did earlier this week.

This means that our weekend o'fun can begin!

Zoo lights tonight with the Starlight Foundation, Christmas party with the local D families tomorrow night, and the family dessert at Grandma's house on Sunday! (ok, most of it will be fun!)

Many pictures to come this weekend.

Can't belive I had tears

I got my first Christmas card from the D-Blogging list and it actually brought a tear to my eye. It is SO nice to have the support of other families who "get" it.

Thank you Meri for being the first of many cards to come.

Cough, Cough, Cry...

I am so sick of the kids being sick right now!

It all started the weekend before Thanksgiving. The Superhero and Rod both got sick. Cough, aches, runny noses, etc.

The Princess and I tried avoiding them at all costs. We left the house during the day and only returned for nap time and bed time.

It did not work! We both ended up getting sick ON Thanksgiving. Rod and The Superhero were getting better as The Princess and I were getting worse.

A few days later, we all seemed to get better. We were still coughing some. Still had runny noses sometimes. The usual lingering of the cold that happens.

Just one week later, The Superhero started coughing like CRAZY! I could not believe how congested he sounded. He continued with his cough for the whole week. We went to his dentist appointment, endo appointment, and his 3 year check up all in the same week.

While at the pedi’s office, The Princess was getting her follow up H1N1 shot. I meant to have the doc look in her ears because she had been pulling at them a little for the past couple of days and that is the one area that I cannot tell if something is wrong. Of course, I completely forgot to have her check. We had way too many other things going on at that moment.

Friday afternoon after the kids’ naps (same day as pedi appt.) BOTH kids woke up with fevers! The Superhero was in the 99’s and The Princess was around 101.5. He was still coughing the same as he had been all week, no better, no worse. The pedi did not really say anything about his cough at all, so I figured it must not be anything serious.

The Superhero continued feeling the same, coughing, but acting fine. The Princess on the other hand has been SO CRANKY! She fussed ALL day Saturday! She had a runny nose and the fever continued. We kept giving Tylenol and Motrin throughout the day. That night, she was insanely MISERABLE! She was up every couple of hours and I could not console her. No matter what I did, she would not stop screaming!

She was still very cranky when we woke up on Sunday and still had the fever. After posting on Facebook that I was thinking about taking her to Urgent Care, Wendy replied telling me she would take her in and that it sounded like an ear infection. I took Wendy’s advice and took her to the local pediatric urgent care when they opened at noon.

Sure enough, Wendy was right! Ear infection in her left ear. No wonder she has been so miserable! Even though I kept asking myself "Why did I not have the pedi look in her ears on Friday? I knew something was wrong.", I was happy to have an answer.

I got her Rx filled on the way home and started her meds that afternoon. She still was miserable all of Sunday and sounded horrible! She was becoming very hoarse and sounded like she was losing her voice. I started doing breathing treatments for her again on Sunday, hoping to help her breathing. (we were told she might have asthma back when we were told she had eczema). The treatments seem to be helping some. She is sleeping a little better.


The Superhero is still coughing A LOT! So now when either of them coughs, they cough a couple of times and then begin to cry because of the pain. It is the most pitiful thing ever!

The Princess had her second dose of the antibiotic today and I am hoping she feels and sounds even better tomorrow. We have TONS of fun stuff planned in the next couple of weeks and they both need to be better!


We are supposed to go to Zoo Lights on Friday with the Starlight Foundation.


We are supposed to go to the local support group Christmas Party on Saturday (Santa will be there!).


We are supposed to go to my Grandma’s for our yearly Sunday before Christmas family dessert.


We are supposed to go to play mini golf, go to dinner, and have cake for The Superhero’s birthday on Monday.


Not to mention Christmas coming before we know it.


They HAVE to be better!

Circle Of Friends Award

Thank you Kelly and Laura for this Awesome award. For receiving this award, I am required to write about 5 things I love…


1) My husband…Very early on in our relationship I knew he was the man I was going to spend my life with. He has a great sense of humor, which is one of the things that drew me to him. He loves kids, especially our own. We enjoy each other’s company, most of the time. :) I am so blessed to have him in my life.


2) My kids…Two of the BEST things to ever happen to me! They both have an incredible sense of humor and are the two cutest kids I know! They make me smile all day, every day.


3) My church…New Life Community Church has been a great way to bring me closer to God. I feel at home when I go there and love that I know my kids are well taken care of while I worship Him.


4) My parents…What can I say, they are AWESOME! They watch The Superhero and The Princess all the time. My dad attends most of The Superhero’s endo appointments and is involved in his Diabetes care as well as educating himself. My mom attends any appointments I need back up for, or watches one of the kids so I don’t have to take both of them. I don’t know what I would do without them! (this is why we moved ½ mile from them!)


5) My friends…Old friends, new friends, blogging friends, Facebook friends, work friends…I love them all. I love that I feel like I have GREAT support in every aspect of my life. No matter what the issues are, I have someone to celebrate with me when things are going right and someone to support me when they are not.


With that, I am supposed to tag 5 more people for this award. Instead of naming 5 names, I would like to tag ANYONE who has not been tagged yet. That’s right, if you are reading this and have not been tagged, please consider yourself awarded! You are definitely in My Circle Of Friends!

Endo Visit

Yesterday was The Superhero’s 3-month visit to the endocrinologist. Our last A1C was 7.8, and it took A LOT to get it there! We had been hovering in the mid 8’s for months. 8.4, 8.5, 8.6, then 8.3.


My husband and I decided we REALLY wanted to get down into the 7’s. So we worked REALLY hard and adjusted like crazy and checked fingers like crazy, and it paid off! We got down to 7.8 in September!


Then we were hit with a major growth spurt, illness that sent The Superhero to the hospital, a trip to Disneyland with HIGH numbers. I KNEW our A1C would not be as good. I was just hoping to not make it to the mid 8’s this time.


We get called back at the endo yesterday. The nurse does the routine stuff. Poke finger for A1C test, put it in the machine, weigh The Superhero, measure The Superhero, check The Superhero’s blood pressure (his LEAST favorite part, he would much rather give blood, weird kid).


We go into the exam room and get visits from our pump start nurse, J. and our favorite nutritionist, A.. We had not seen A. since The Superhero was diagnosed 1 ½ years ago, and I was pregnant with The Princess. She was excited to see how much he had grown and to get to meet The Princess.


A. was the person who I connected with the most when he was diagnosed. She helped keep me sane in the hospital and even after we left. There were times I would call her on her cell phone to talk about carbs, insulin, etc. She is an amazing person and it was really nice to see her yesterday.


Then the Doctor came in. And to say we LOVE Dr. D. would be an understatement! We originally had a different endo in the same office, which we liked, but did not have a personal connection with. Then we heard a ton of good things about this Dr. D and decided we wanted to switch. I knew she had kids of her own that were around my kids’ ages. I knew she would at least understand the 2-year-old issues we were dealing with.


In June, we made the switch! I am SO happy we did! I love her. I feel like I can just talk to her about anything.


So, Dr. D. came in and told us how great we were doing. She said The Superhero had grown a whole inch in the last 3 months and wondered how in the world we could keep his A1C at 8.2! I was surprisingly happy to hear 8.2 and not a higher number. And knowing how much he had grown helped me to accept the number as well.


Of course, I would like it back in the upper 7’s, I also know that we lost enough sleep, made enough changes, and did everything we could as his human pancreas to keep his blood sugar as in range as possible.


I am going to do whatever I can in the next 3 months to get him back in the 7’s. We will see if it happens.


So, no more getting sick, no growing, no Diabetes taking control of his BG’s and we might get there!

Trains, Binkies, and Fairies...

I knew this day would come.


I knew my little boy would grow up.


I knew I would not be ready for it when the time came.


Here it is whether I am ready for it or not!


The Superhero has been doing FANTASTIC with the potty! He likes to do it ALL by himself. He pees and poops on the potty ALL the time!


He wanted to wear underwear for naptime. I was not ready. I let him anyway, and he did great!


He wanted to wear underwear shopping. I was not ready. I let him anyway, and he did great!


He wanted to wear underwear to bed. I was definitely NOT ready. I let him anyway (yes, I am crazy), and he did GREAT!


My little boy is growing up!


On Monday at the dentist we were told that we needed to get rid of the binky soon. The Daddy and I decided we would wait until after the holidays were over and potty training was more regular.


We talked about how we would make the binky exit. We decided we would have a Binky Fairy come take the binkies away and then the Train Fairy would bring his train set back into the house. (We put them away a while back because of The Princess, we rotated other toys in their place)


We PLANNED on waiting until January. The Superhero had is own idea. Mr. Independent asked for the trains yesterday. Ok, more than asked, he pleaded, begged, bugged me about the trains ALL day. I don’t know what made him think of them all of a sudden. We have not had them out in months.


BUT, since he brought them up, I told him that if he wanted the trains back, he had to leave his binkies out for the Binky Fairy. If he went to bed with no Binky and slept all night without them, the Train Fairy would come and set up his trains.


So, even though we were not ready, The Superhero was. We went through his room and found all of his binkies. Piled them on the dresser in his room and left them for the Binky Fairy.


To my surprise, he fell asleep without them! He slept all night without them!


And of course, the Binky Fairy came for the binkies. And the Train Fairy brought the trains. And the little boy grew up!


At least I have a little girl. I hope she stays little for a while longer.

One down, 2 more to go…

I am not quite sure what I was thinking scheduling so many appointments in one week!


Yesterday was the first day of appointments for the week. I took the kids to the dentist. It was The Superhero’s second time going and The Princess’s first time. They both did fantastic!


We started with The Princess. I knew her appointment would go quickly and I wanted to hand her off to my mom. (I always take reinforcements when we go to appointments with both kids)


The dentist, Dr. Eric, came in and looked at her teeth. He was impressed with how many teeth she already has. I let him know that she got her last 6 teeth in a matter of weeks. I asked about the black spots I have seen where her top molars will be. He assured me it was completely normal. It looks like they were cysts under the gums that will go away as the teeth come in.


He brushed her teeth with her new Winnie the Pooh toothbrush. She did very well sitting in my lap with her head back in the dentist’s lap.


When her turn was over, it was time for The Superhero.


We walked back into the room and the dental hygienist talked him into sitting in the BIG chair this time. The last time we were there, he sat in my lap like The Princess did this time. I was not sure he would be ok, but to my surprise, he did just fine.


While he was sitting in the chair, before she started to clean his teeth, she let him “play” with all of the tools she would be using. He got to play with the “squirt gun”. She actually let him spray water all over the room! He was very excited.


Then they played with “Mr. Thirsty”. He likes to drink the water from the squirt gun and from your mouth. They sprayed water in The Superhero’s mouth and then Mr. Thirsty would drink it up. The Superhero thought this was all pretty cool.


Next, she showed him the cool spin toothbrush she would be using. They “polished” all of his fingers. They smelled the bubble gum toothpaste together. Then it was time to start. He was a little apprehensive, but did very well.


When she told him the dentist would be coming in to count his teeth and sing the A,B,C’s, that is when he started to cry. I am not sure why, but we had to reassure him that the dentist just wanted to count his teeth.


After a little convincing, he did fine. The dentist wants us to get The Superhero to quit using his binky. We had this in the plans soon, but not quite yet. His teeth are starting to be affected.


We have decided that we will wait until after the holidays and his birthday. Since we just got to work on potty training, I DO NOT want to mess that up by taking away his comfort item. Potty training is more important to me right now than taking away the binky.


Both kids got a new toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, and toys. The Superhero has been carrying his bag around since we left the office yesterday morning.


All in all, appointment #1 for the week went very well! We stopped at the potty on the way out and The Superhero was very excited to tell me that his teeth were all “shiny”!

Next up…Endo visit today!

Christmas Cards

A few other D blogging mom's had the idea to send each other Christmas cards. I have volunteered to put together a spreadsheet with everyone's information and then send it out to the group. :) (in my spare time, of course)

If you are interested in participating, please send the following information to me at (email removed)

1) Name
2) Address
3) Email address where you would like me to send the spreadsheet
4) Your blog address

I would love to send Christmas cards to all of you! Feel free to share this info on your blog as well.

Please send your information to me by December 16th. I would like to have the list ready to send out by the middle of next week to make sure we all have time to get our cards ready and send them.

Pictures...Cloth diapers and roller skates

Here are a couple pictures of The Princess' new diapers and of The Superhero roller skating.

12 Days of Christmas (Diabetes style)

Taken from CWD Holiday Songs Page (and there are a few others there)


The Twelve CWD Days of Christmas
By Dawn Burr [ yoake AT comcast.net ]

On the first day of Christmas my parents gave to me
One LifeScan Ultra Smart Meter

On the second day of Christmas my parents gave to me
Two boxes BD Ultra Fine II needles
And a LifeScan Ultra Smart Meter

On the third day of Christmas my parents gave to me
Three bottles of glucose tabs
Two boxes of BD Ultra Fine II needles
And a LifeScan Ultra Smart Meter

On the fourth day of Christmas my parents gave to me
Four vials of insulin
Three bottles of glucose tabs
Two boxes of BD Ultra Fine II needles
And a LifeScan Ultra Smart Meter

On the fifth day of Christmas my parents gave to me
Five packs of lancets
Four vials of insulin
Three bottles of glucose tabs
Two boxes of BD Ultra Fine II needles
And a LifeScan Ultra Smart Meter

On the sixth day of Christmas my parents gave to me
Six jars of test strips
Five packs of lancets
Four vials of insulin
Three bottles of glucose tabs
Two boxes of BD Ultra Fine II needles
And a LifeScan Ultra Smart Meter

On the seventh day of Christmas my parents gave to me
Seven boxes of alcohol swabs
Six jars of test strips
Five packs of lancets
Four vials of insulin
Three bottles of glucose tabs
Two boxes of BD Ultra Fine II needles
And a LifeScan Ultra Smart Meter

On the eighth day of Christmas my parents gave to me
Eight bottles of ketodiastix
Seven boxes of alcohol swabs
Six jars of test strips
Five packs of lancets
Four vials of insulin
Three bottles of glucose tabs
Two boxes of BD Ultra Fine II needles
And a LifeScan Ultra Smart Meter

On the ninth day of Christmas my parents gave to me
Nine Blood Glucose log books
Eight bottles of KetoDiaStix
Seven boxes of alcohol swabs
Six jars of test strips
Five packs of lancets
Four vials of insulin
Three bottles of glucose tabs
Two boxes of BD Ultra Fine II needles
And a LifeScan Ultra Smart Meter

On the tenth day of Christmas my parents gave to me
Ten bags of Sugar Free Hershey bars
Nine Blood Glucose log books
Eight bottles of KeotDiaStix
Seven boxes of alcohol swabs
Six jars of test strips
Five packs of lancets
Four vials of insulin
Three bottles of glucose tabs
Two boxes of BD Ultra Fine II needles
And a LifeScan Ultra Smart Meter

On the eleventh day of Christmas my parents gave to me
Eleven sharps containers
Ten bags of Sugar Free Hershey bars
Nine Blood Glucose log books
Eight bottles of KeotDiaStix
Seven boxes of alcohol swabs
Six jars of test strips
Five packs of lancets
Four vials of insulin
Three bottles of glucose tabs
Two boxes of BD Ultra Fine II needles
And a LifeScan Ultra Smart Meter

On the twelfth day of Christmas my parents gave to me
Twelve A1c Home Test Kits
Eleven sharps containers
Ten bags of Sugar Free Hershey bars
Nine Blood Glucose log books
Eight bottles of KeotDiaStix
Seven boxes of alcohol swabs
Six jars of test strips
Five packs of lancets
Four vials of insulin
Three bottles of glucose tabs
Two boxes of BD Ultra Fine II needles
And a LifeScan Ultra Smart Meter

Quick potty and diaper update

Both kids are doing GREAT!

The Princess and I are doing well with the cloth diapers today! I love that I am not throwing them away and don't have to buy anymore. We will see if this continues.

The Superhero is doing so AWESOME! He has been asking to go potty, by himself. He does not want me going in there at all. I have been lingering in the hallway, or the kids rooms to make sure he is actually going. And he is! He pees every time he goes in there.

He even chose to nap and go in public with underwear instead of a pull up. I was not as ready for that, but he did great!

So far this week he had pooped first thing in the morning, before we put on his underwear (diapers at night still, since when he runs high, he pees a TON).

BUT today he finally pooped on the POTTY! All by himself! He said he had to go, and he actually did!

So, after dinner, we are off to buy roller skates! I sure hope Toys R Us is not out of skates for his age, or I will have a problem.

I hope tomorrow goes as well as today did! I am SO proud of him!

Are you ready for 2 of the cutest kids EVER?

We had professional pictures done today at The Picture People. Getting both kids to cooperate and take a few cute pictures is not an easy feat, but it is TOTALLY worth it!

Here they are, in no particular order...