Halloween and some updates

One of the big hot topics in the Diabetes world each year is HALLOWEEN.

I mean think about all that candy and the blood sugars that will follow.

Every family handles it differently. Some let their kids frost cupcakes and eat them later, others let their kids indulge in anything they want, and others trade their kids candy for toys.

This will be our third year with Diabetes at Halloween and we don't really have a long term plan at this point since our kids are still really little.

2008-The first year with D at Halloween The Superhero was not even 2 years old and The Princess was just 3 days old. I remember that year we let The Superhero have his FIRST sucker EVER. It was the candy he chose out of ALL the candies he had. It was a dum dum. He REALLY enjoyed it. The pump definitely makes allowing him to eat candy at non-meal times much easier, but that first year with his sucker, we just dealt with it on shots.Then I am sure we ate some of the left over candy and I sent the rest with Rod to work.

2009-Then last year, The Princess was just 1 year old and The Superhero was almost 3. We let them (mostly him, since she was little) eat some of the candy that night. We bolused with his pump and moved on. Over the next few days, he might have had some of the candy. We just did not make a big deal out of it. And again, I am sure we ate some of the candy, saved the "low" candies, and sent the rest with Rod to work.

2010-So again this year, with a 2 year old Princess and an almost 4 year old Superhero, we will let them each eat some of the candy that night. And we will let them have some of the candy over the next several days and then we will send it to work with Rod.

As the kids get older I am definitely interested in some of the other ideas I have heard. The Switch Witch (read about on Hallie's blog, from an unknown blogger) where you leave your candy out at night and the Switch Witch trades the candy for a toy for each kid. I think this is a GREAT idea and could quite possibly become out tradition. We will have to put some thought into this before next Halloween!

So, nothing fancy here, but, that is how Halloween is done in OUR house. It may/will not work for everyone, but for now, it works for us.

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I also wanted to mention that I am REALLY a crazy person, it is obvious to me now because I have been coerced into signing up for NaBloPoMo AGAIN.

You may remember that I did this in September. I posted EVERY.SINGLE.DAY in the month of September and earned my badge.

Well, I will be doing it again in November. Please don't feel as though you have to comment every single day. I know there are several of us signed up for November and it will be hard to keep up with the reading, but we all love all of our commenters, so please still comment when you can. :-)

Other crazy bloggers signed up for November:
Kris@ My Sugar Bugs
Hallie@ The Princess and The Pump
Meri @ Our Diabetic Life
Nicole@ We Cara Lot
Lora@ My Diabetic Child
Wendy@ Candy Hearts
Jen@ I am You Pancreas
Sweet Momma @ The Sugar Kids Blog
Heather@ Sweet to the Soul


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Don't forget to enter this week's Sugar Bolus for a SWEET prize!


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And because I love pictures, I thought I would share Halloween over the last 3 years...

2007-The cutest monkey, EVER...

2008-A baby pumpkin and a pirate
(showing me how to use the sword)...

2009-Superman...

2009-A Pink, Sparkly, Fairy Princess...
(she is wearing this again this year, because I love it THAT much)

2010- To come later...(a CUTE Buzz Lightyear and an adorable Pink, Sparkly Fairy Princess)

I hope everyone has a SAFE and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Here it is, a NAKED pancreas MEME

Reyna over at Beta Buddies started a NAKED MEME and The Superhero and I are going to strip it all off and share with you! I copied Joanne and Hallie's idea and added one last question.

1. What kind on insulin management mode do you use?
We use Apidra in an Animas Ping insulin pump. We also have a Dexcom CGMS, aka Dexie.

2. How often do you inject/change pump sites?
We change pump sites every 3 days, or 4-5 if I forget/am being lazy. We change Dexie sites every 7 days.

3. What type (s) of insulin do you use?
We use Apidra.

4. What are your basal settings ?
12am: 0.050 units
2am: 0.125 units

6:30am: 0.325 units

10am: 0.300 units

12pm: 0.350 units

2pm: 0.325 units

4pm: 0.300 units

6pm: 0.175 units

And on school days at 8:00am (school starts at 8:15) I do a temp basal decrease of –40% for 1 ½ hours.

5. What are your correction factors ?
1:500 at night

1:300 during the day

6. What are your meal ratios ?
Breakfast - 1:30
All other times – 1:65


7. What do you do for activity and/or PE?
Monitor like a crazy person. The Superhero tends to DROP with lots of activity. LOTS of extra carbs are brought EVERY where we go.

8. How do you manage Pizza, Macaroni and Cheese, or any other "difficult to manage" foods?
This varies based on how much he eats of the item. Typically, we can do a combo bolus where we give part of the insulin up from and spread the rest out over several hours.

Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches get an 80/20 split for 2 hours, and double the entire sandwich in carbs (usually a total then of 112 carbs)

Pizza usually gets somewhere around a 50/50 or so split over at least 6-8 hours. And we watch CLOSELY. (tacos seem to fit this category too)

9. How do you prefer to manage your logs/data?
I used to write everything down in an awesome chart I made. Then we got Dexie and I stopped. Now I just download the pump before endo appts and make changes as needed based on what I see on Dexie.

I will start logging again any time I think I need to make serious changes to evaluate before changing everything.

10. What's your A1c?
7/08 -10.11 (at diagnosis)

9/08 -8.6

12/08 -8.7

3/09 -8.4 (just started pumping)

6/09 -8.1

9/09 -7.8

12/09 -8.2

3/10 -7.8 (2 months after starting with our Dexcom)

6/10 -7.9

9/10 - 7.4 (Our BEST ever, and 2 months after switching to Apidra)

12/10 - ?

Alright, who else is going to strip it all and blog a naked meme?

Beautiful Bracelet Giveaway...

Kris over at My Sugar Bugs is giving away a BEAUTIFUL bracelet and the contest ends TONIGHT.

This is one giveaway I seriously WANT to win...

Happy Birthday to The Princess

I cannot believe she is 2 YEARS OLD!

It feels like just yesterday she was born. Sniff. Sniff.

We are planning on a family dinner tonight with cake and a birthday party next weekend (the 6th) at the park. I can't wait to celebrate with friends and family.


Enjoy the pictures from the last 2 years as we have watched The Princess grow from inside my tummy to a 8lb 1oz baby to the Beautiful Little Girl she is today.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PRINCESS!!!

And the winner is...

So, first I would like to thank all 3 companies...

Paul from Kid Safety Bands



Tricia from KPP



Sue from Everything Squeedle


THANK YOU ALL for participating in my first giveaway!

A reminder that the WINNER will receive:
1) 3 Kid Safety Bands
2) 1 item of your choice from KPP
3) 1 adorably cute SQUEEDLE


And 2 runners up will also win an adorably cute SQUEEDLE.



Using random.org, I had 57 entries...

And now for the winner...


Lucky #22 is...

Hallie said...

http://www.theprincessandthepump.com/2010/10/happy-sweetest-day.html

Blogged!

October 17, 2010 5:19 PM

HALLIE from The Princess and The Pump!

So, Hallie, please email me to claim your prize. If I do not receive a response within 48 hours from the time this post was published, I will choose a new winner. (onesuperheroandoneprincess@gmail.com)



And the runners up...(taking out the 1st winner and then the second winner before drawing)


Lucky #45 is...

Meri said...

Tweet Tweet!
http://twitter.com/our3Dlife/status/28377076027

October 21, 2010 10:31 PM

Meri from Our Diabetic Life!


And Lucky #13 is...

Ronda said...

Just shared on Facebook!

October 15, 2010 8:40 PM

Ronda of Autoimmune Island!




Congratulations to the WINNERS! (please contact me to claim your prizes: onesuperheroandoneprincess@gmail.com; you have 48 hours to claim)




If you didn't win, PLEASE check out these companies anyway. They offer GREAT products at GREAT prices!




And, of course, there is ANOTHER SUGAR BOLUS starting TODAY...

Kris over at My Sugar Bugs has a GREAT giveaway...

The Results are in...

Well, it was not a long wait! I got a call from the GI doc about The Princess' results this morning.

Negative. For EVERYTHING. She has a completely normal GI tract.

Now, don't get me wrong, this is GREAT news. BUT, that does not give me answers!

The doc says it COULD be just an allergy to wheat. She wants us to try a wheat free diet, without going completely gluten free. (not sure exactly how to do that yet).

We will follow up with her in December to see if The Princess is still having the same symptoms.


Do I try GF, wheat free, or just a normal diet? Could it just have been her ears that were bothering her for SO long?

Since the moment she started eating Cheerios and crackers I noticed her change. She was moodier, she sometimes would get red spots around her mouth. She became bloated. And we started Acid Reflux meds. Could all of that mean it is really just an allergy? Is it all in my mind?

So, now I sit here and question myself. Am I seeing things where there is nothing. Or is there really something going on? I feel so confused and a little lost in all this.

Trying to decide what to do next...

Blog Post updates, 3rd Edition

Here are some updates on recent blog posts...

1) To bang, or not to bang...

Well, initially I had decided "not to bang" and to grow The Princesses bangs out. She had a different idea. I always put her hair up out of her face when she goes to daycare.

This last week she started pulling out her hair thing and the teachers could not find it. So that resulted in her having her hair look like CRAZY the rest of the day.

After picking her up Friday with CRAZY hair, I decided we just HAD to get the bangs cut. And I decided to get all of her hair cut so it would look more even and "finished". Enjoy the pics below from her cut experience and the resulting cuteness when we were done.



2) The Diabetes MeMe for kids

First, we know no one named Karen. So I am not sure how she is his best friend. That CRACKED ME UP.

Second, we don't eat cookies all the time. I don't even know where that one came from. This is a RARE thing in our house.

Third, I want to be 5 when I grow up too!



3) Update on the Ears for The Princess

Ears seem to be healing great. The GI doc happened to look in there while we visited her and she said they looked good. We go back the the ENT on the 1st of November for a check up. I will update after that appointment. Thank you all for the prayers for healthy ears.



4) 5 Years Ago/ Trip to Vegas

Thank you all for the well wishes on our 5 year anniversary. It is so surreal to know we have been married for 5 years. It seems like yesterday! We had an interesting time in Vegas. A post will be coming when I can find the time. We enjoyed casino hopping and playing the penny slots. I know, I know, we are BIG spenders. :-)



5) Endoscopy has been scheduled

And has now been re-scheduled, and MOVED UP. The Princess was/is getting more and more miserable since re-starting gluten just over 1 week ago. She has had to re-start her acid reflux meds and is NOT sleeping well, worse than before. I called on Thursday and BEGGED for them to move her up to a sooner date. I guess I sounded pathetic enough on the phone because the doc is getting her in THIS Tuesday the 19th.

She is scheduled for a 1pm endoscopy. I will arrive with her there around 11am. My parents will be out of town, so I am VERY THANKFUL for Wendy right now. She has offered to keep The Superhero for the day while I take care of The Princess and her biopsy. Rod could take off work, but since he is still in training at the new job, I did not want him to have to take time off for this.

So, we will have answers SOON. I will most likely just put The Princess back on the GF diet after her endoscopy while we wait for the results. I feel it really did help her feel better and I think we will end up there anyway. A friend of mine shared her friend's blog link, and through there I found a link with more info on EE.

EE is something the GI doc will be biopsying for through this Endoscopy. And The Princess has EVERY symptom on the list. So, even if celiac is negative (which was my first thought with all of this), I still feel there is SOMETHING going on with her and wheat. I have always noticed something and am really hoping for answers now.

I will update after Tuesday to let you all know how everything went. I am not sure how long before we get the official results, I am hoping to know before the weekend. We will see.



6) GIVEAWAY

Don't forget to enter my blog GIVEAWAY. I mean, really, who doesn't want to win FREE stuff!

A Super Awesome GIVEAWAY, right here at The Superhero & The Princess

I am SO excited to be offering my VERY FIRST Superhero & The Princess GIVEAWAY!

ONE lucky winner will win not one, not two, but THREE prizes from three GREAT companies!

So, without further ado...here is what the lucky winner will receive...

1)

Paul from Kid Safety Band is offering my lucky winner THREE personalized bracelets!

These bracelets can be personalized with any information you choose. With THREE bracelets, you are sure to have one on your kiddo at all times! (Or if you have multiple kids, you can create one for each of them!)

We have used these bracelets since right after The Superhero was dx with T1 Diabetes.

I chose this brand for several reasons, but mainly because of the small sizing they offered and the affordable price. They were one of the only ones that went small enough to fit my little man at such a young age.

Paul created the Kid Safety Band after frantically searching for his lost child in a park. These bands can keep ANY kid safe by providing your contact information to those who find the child.

You can have 2 lines of information printed on the band. We chose to have The Superhero's name and T1 Diabetes on one side and around the other side I have my phone number as a contact. The Superhero wears his orange bracelet whenever we leave our house.

(side note: There is a warning on the site stating these are not for children under 3, as they can be a choking hazard. This is a personal choice and The Superhero has always been supervised when wearing his band.)

Here is a picture of The Superhero sporting his orange Kid Safety Band on his first day of school...

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Kid Safety Band!

2)

When we made the decision to put The Superhero on an insulin pump he was barely 2 years old. We needed to have a way to keep his pump with him and out of the way (to keep his hands off!). We were extremely fortunate enough to have been directed to KPP.

We ordered several of the toddler pump shirts with the pouch on the back. The Superhero has been wearing his since he started pumping in February 2008. He does get the choice to wear his pump in a pump pack on his waist or on his back in his KPP, and he often still chooses his tanks with the pump pocket. He and I both love that the tubing is out of the way and tucked in under his shirt.

There are items for children and also some items for adults.

The winner from this giveaway, will receive ONE item from KPP of your choice!

And, even if you don't win this giveaway, you can shop from the KPP store and know that Kangaroo Pump Pockets™ donates 2% of each sale to JDRF!

Here are a couple pictures of The Superhero sporting his KPP toddler pump shirt...(wearing 5T's, they are stretchy, so we bought them big and they have lasted and fit him well since we bought them.)

SO IN LOVE WITH KPP!

3) EVERYTHING SQUEEDLE

When I was first searching for items to giveaway I searched "Diabetes" on Etsy. One of the first sites I came across was Everything Squeedle.


Everything Squeedle's bio from Etsy...
"As a lamp work artist, I made the first Squeedle for my son who has Type I (auto-immune) Diabetes. It was just a fun little character for my son to enjoy. Who knew this would become a way to make contributions to a cure?! The octopus design evolved from the feeling that there are multiple "arms" of this disease which constantly have to be dealt with. My son didn't really see the metaphor in the octopus -- he just thought it was fun and cute! He called the little creation, "Squeedle," and the name stuck. When others wanted their own, the Squeedle© evolved into a fundraiser for Type I Diabetes research. All proceeds from sales go toward finding a cure via the Children's Diabetes Foundation of the North Bay, Inc., a non-profit which contributes to the wonderful UCSF Diabetes Center! Each individually crafted Squeedle has its own unique character."

Sue has provided me several Squeedles. I have been wearing an adorably cute periwinkle Squeedle pendant around and he is just the cutest thing!

My lucky winner will receive ONE Squeedle Lanyard (color may vary from the one shown in the link/below since each Squeedle is unique).

Isn't he cute?!

And since Sue was SO generous, I will also draw 2 RUNNERS UP in this GIVEAWAY who will each receive a Squeedle lanyard of their own!

I wish you all the best of luck!

The rules of the giveaway are as follows...

• Leave me a comment before midnight on Thursday, October 21, 2010. Please include your first name. Comments left without a name will be eliminated.
• To earn extra entries (post a separate comment for each):
• Tweet about this giveaway on Twitter. Then, leave me an additional comment.
• Share a link to this contest on Facebook. Then, leave me an additional comment to let me know.
• Blog about this contest. Then, leave me an additional comment containing
  a link to your blog.

o No duplicate comments are allowed. Duplicate comments will be eliminated.

o Winners will be selected via random draw at http://www.random.org/.

o Winners' names will be posted here on this blog on Friday, October 22, 2010.

o After winners' names are posted, winners will have 48 hours to send a message to me at onesuperheroandoneprincess@gmail.com

o If I do not hear from a winner within 48 hours, I will select a new winner.

THIS GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED.

Click HERE to see who won.

Mail Exchange, the follow up

You may remember the post I did about the Mail Exchange where Cindy came up with the idea to have our kids, D and non-D, have a small gift exchange.

Well, last week our gifts arrived! And The Superhero and The Princess were VERY excited!

I would like to thank Jen and Addison from I Am Your Pancreas for sending The Superhero some awesome gifts. He LOVES the glow bracelets and even used one as a collar on a stuffed puppy (Spotty) and took him to show and tell at school last week.

I would also like to thank Heidi and David from A Work In Progress for The Princess' gifts. She LOVES princessy things and is beyond in LOVE with her new, little baby! She took the little baby with her to bed for many days and was even her baby of choice the day of her ear tube surgery.



Here are the pics of the kids opening their surprises!

Endoscopy has been scheduled...

for November 3rd. I will continue to "gluten her up" until then.

And, she is MISERABLE! She is cranky. She cries a lot. She is sleeping worse than before.

While GF for her 3 whole weeks, we had stopped her acid reflux meds, and she was HAPPIER! (other than the whole ear thing)

Now that she is back on gluten, I have had to start her "acid reflux" meds. I really think it is NOT acid reflux at all and is just the reaction her body has to the gluten.

My mom picked her up from daycare for me today since I was in an online meeting and she came home with the "All about my day" paper that stated "I ate nothing. She sat there and cried." AND "she cried a lot today."

NOT what I wanted to read! I so wish they had called me to let me know! I usually call and check on her but figured she was fine today and I was busy with conferences for work.

I will be making sure they know to always call me if she is acting like that. I hate thinking of her just walking around crying there. Poor baby!

I hate how she feels. I hate that she doesn't sleep well. Which means we don't sleep well. EVER.

November 3rd better bring some answers!

***SIGH***

This Week's SUGAR BOLUS

Check out Jen's blog for this week's GIVEAWAY!

GOOD LUCK!

5 Years Ago

I married the man I fell in love with. We are off enjoying 2 nights away KID FREE, in Vegas! I hope the kids are being good for their NaNa and Pompa. I am sure we are having a great time, and getting a FULL NIGHT of SLEEP!

Enjoy the pictures from 5 years ago today...We were younger and cuter, and lets face it, thinner, back then. :-)

The beautiful (and YUMMY) cake.

The gorgeous flowers.

The happy couple. :-)