Happy Birthday Saylor!

O.k so the walk was wonderful and we are home now. I have much to post about it, but right now there is a much more important event occuring. Today Saylor Mackenzie is three years old. I can't believe how time flies. It is crazy to think about. Three years ago today I was in the hospital anticipating this little bundle of joy. I worked very long and hard to have her and she came into my life like a hurricane. A hurricane that has only gotten stronger with time. She is definately a force to be wreckened with. I don't think I have ever known a child with such a strong personality. Saylor is the type of girl who knows what she wants and goes after it. She is extremely intelligent, but acts her age. She is sweet as can be and her laugh is so infectious. She is incredibly well rounded. She will be playing princesses and Barbies and five minutes later shooting her Spiderman web at the family. She is a crazy girl.

It is hard to believe that we waited so long for Saylor. Somedays it seemed like we would never have a baby. I did know that if we had one that it would be girl. Now three years has flown by. In someways it would be nice for three more years to fly by. That would mean Cory would be graduating Law School and we can move on from Moscow. However, then my babies will be all grown up. Saylor will turning six and starting Kindergarten and Sydney will be four and right behind her. I am not ready for that. Time is going way too fast where these girls are concerned. It seems just like yesterday that I brought my little Sydney home to her BIG SISTER! Saylor loved her from the start. I'm not so sure she understood what was happening, but I don't think there was ever resentment or jealousy there. Now she doesn't really love to share her room or her toys with her sister, but she sure does love her. I love to watch them play. It is so fun. I can only hope they are always close sisters.

Well now that my baby is three, it makes me think about how delicate life is. I know we are doing our best in managing her disease, but I know we could be doing better. There is still so much to learn. I listen to some of these other D-moms and it's like they talk a whole other language. I want to understand this disease more. I want to be control her high and lows better. I know it can't be perfect, but I also know there is room for improvement. We will be starting a new doctor soon so we'll see what she has to say. We've just been waiting for that darn Medicaid. Anyways I just want my Saylor to have at least 100 more birthdays. I know she can if we do our job and manage her disease right.

Well to sum up. I love my Saylor and my Sydney more than anything. I wish Saylor the Happ-Happiest Birthday ever!

Happy Birthday Saylor!

Walk to Cure Diabetes

Well I am in Idaho Falls! My dad and sister Trish drove all the way up to Moscow last Sunday to get me and the girls just to drive all the way back the next day to Idaho Falls. We are here to participate in the Walk to Cure Diabetes. Ito started the walk 3 years ago and unfortunately due to other events in our life we could not go to any of them. This will be the first walk since Saylor was diagnosed. Actually it is almost 6 months to the day. So it is important that we (she) be there. We are very excited. We've have created a team (Team Saylor) and have quite a few people walking. We will all be wearing team shirts. Both men and women will be in pink t-shirts sporting Saylor's Monster Mascot. It will look awesome. It's too bad that Cory could not come. You just can't leave Law School. That would not be wise. He will be with us in spirit and greatly missed.

I'm sure it will be a long day full of lots of fun as well as emotional somewhat. I can't wait to see all of the people walking together with their teams united in one purpose - to find a cure. It will definitely be quite the experience. I hope that a lot of money can be raised. It is hard to know exactly with the economy the way that it has been. Well I am psyched and can't wait to report on the walk after it has occurred. Good Times.

Kids do and say the darndest things!

My kids are so cute. Yesterday I was mocking a football commericial and Saylor says to me laughing "mommy you are so silly you're a dork." She totally learned that one from her daddy. He's always teaching her to call me a dork or dufuss. It's funny you try to teach your kids good things to know and say and they always remember the not so good things or rather not so important things. The other day in the middle of an argument with Saylor her daddy was explaining to her that she needed to be nice to mommy and she said very tearfully, "no daddy it's not mommy it's Jamie." I couldn't help but laugh. Sometimes she'll just randomly call us by our first names. She'll just go through the house calling out Cory or Jamie "where are you?" What a silly girl. Cory is not pleased when she calls us by our first names. It really bothers him. I don't love it, but you know who am I to complain I do it myself. Can we say bad example. Saylor also remembers when you correct her. She was saying Oh my gosh a lot and it started sounding a little more like the real thing. Grandma suggested she say oh my word instead. Now she'll say oh my gosh and correct herself right away with no mommy it's oh my word. Of course if I say oh my gosh, wow she is right there to correct me. She doesn't miss a beat! That girl is so funny.

Sydney is pretty funny too. She is so quiet you don't expect her to be so smart. I think she just is a sponge and soaks up everything around her. Every once in awhile she'll just totally surprise us with how much she knows. Yesterday I was trying to get ready to go. Saylor as usual had taken her clothes off. I was explaining to her what needed to get done to leave. I said, "You need to get dressed and I need to find my shoes...." I preceded to try and convince her to get her clothes back on while little Sydney who was just hanging out in the background listening walked into the living room, picked up my shoes and brought them to me with a huge smile on her face. It was as if to say "look at what I did mom!" The other day we were in the girl's room picking stuff up and she picked up a package of wipes and laid down on the floor saying, "poopoo." I mean really the kid is a genius. She says nigh-nigh, poopoo, mommy, daddy, chew (chewy), awwww (oscar), sszzz (saylor), boo-boo (book), ba (bath), ju (juice), sna (snacks), blay (blanket)hi and bye, and nahnahnahnah (binky). I'm not sure how binky translates to nah nah nah, but anyways she is really coming along. She just is very quiet and soft spoken. The only time she raises her voice is when she is mad. I' ve also noticed how tender hearted she is. I still have to repremand her every once in awhile. She likes to bite. She'll lean over ever so sly and nibble on your shoulder or something. Then she just giggles. She doesn't get that it causes pain. Well the other day she did something like bite or pull hair and all I did was say "No Sydney" and shake my finger at her. Well she got this expression on her face like oh mommy you just yelled at me. The next thing you know she was welling up and crying her eyes out. She is very sensitive that one. It is enough to break your heart.

Well my girls keep me going that is for sure. They really entertain me. I need that after moving to Moscow-Hell! Oh did I say that out loud. Oops! Well anyways life is interesting. I have decided to put Sydney's binky in the binky box during the day too. It is sad to take her binky. She really gets upset. I figure I might as well do double duty instead of having to go through this all over again next year with Sydney. It is for the best. Wish me luck!

Well that is all my fun little facts about my girls. I really need to do a better job of documenting these things. I know I'll want to read them in the future when I've forgotten them. They will too.

BEANS!

So we have been having so many issues with Saylor lately it was time to try something new. She is such a good girl and I try sooooooo hard to be patient with her, but sometimes mommy is naughty and loses her temper. I really try to be patient with Saylor. I know that she is struggling. She came into this world stubborn and independent. You mix that with Blood Sugar highs and lows and then throw in a major move taking her away from her family and friends you get one unhappy little girl. Everyone I talk to says "oh it is just her age." "That is just your normal terrible two's." YEAH RIGHT! Needless to say life has been rough lately. I just want to get a handle on it. Not only am I afraid that she is going to grow up an unhappy little girl, but I'm also afraid that these are the years that will shape our relationship. I want to learn patience with her, but it is so hard. I realize that this has been a rough year for her. It was just about six months ago that she was diagnosed. Everything has changed for her. The poor little thing has had her world turned upside down. It's no wonder she is so miserable. Well we need to deal with it so we have been trying to come up with ways to get her back on track.

First of all she needs to get rid of the binky. She will be three in a couple of weeks. It's about time. Her teeth are going to start bucking out. Next we need to get her back on schedule. She has not been napping and she has been going to bed really late. Life would definately be easier for all of us if she starts getting a better nights sleep. Well needless to say we decided to start a reward system using beans. She has a bucket on a shelf in her room. Everytime she is a good girl and does things like getting into her car seat with out a fuss, or eating a meal with out a fuss, or going to bed when we ask her too, she gets a bean. Some things get more beans than others. If she goes potty on the big girl potty she gets five beans. We've really been talking the beans up. She gets excited to get them. It's also good for her counting. She gets to count the beans and put them into the bucket one at a time. Of course if she hits her sister or has a fit or whines and cries during family prayer like she did tonight she gets a bean or two taken away. She doesn't really like that part. Well once she fills up the bucket she gets a toy. I haven't printed out a picture of what she gets yet. I need to do that. She needs a motivator. I also bought the large size lima beans. Small beans would take forever.

I hope this works. I really do. She needs something to work for and to get excited about, and we need to focus on rewarding her good behavior. She really is such a good girl. She can be so sweet and loving. I love to watch her with Sydney. She really loves her little sister. She looks out for her. I hope that they are always close. Well I'll have to update the blog on how the bean thing is going. Who knows maybe we'll have to use it again when Sydney is terrible and two!

Low Sugars - very scary

O.k so Saylor just had a BS of 28. I'm glad I checked her when I did. She did not take a nap again today. We went to the store tonight and she was IMPOSSIBLE! Of course she fell asleep once we got in the car. She has been so hard to get on a descent schedule. She wakes up early, rarely takes her naps, and goes to bed SUPER late. It's no wonder she's a monster. So anyway she fell asleep and slept through dinner. And well you know the old addage "never wake a sleeping baby." She may not be a baby, but it still applies. We gave her her Lantus and her correction shot while she was sleeping hoping that she would be o.k. with out eating. It's not like she's a great eater at dinner anyway. Well she slept for a couple of hours and I decided it was time to check her. Good thing I did. Her blood sugar was 28 - Yikes! Well we woke her up and gave her a tube of glucose gel. It was tropical flavor so I think it was rather tasty. She didn't put up much of a fuss. She usually doesn't mind waking up to candy and other sweet things. She liked it alot. We checked her 20 minutes later and she was up to 70. We gave her another couple of grams in a lifesaver and that boosted her up and unfortunately woke her up for the next several hours - oops! I just hate to think about what would of happened if I had forgotten to check her and waited until 2 a.m. I hate when those thoughts creep into my mind. Those super low BS's don't happen often, but when they do they sure shake me up for awhile.

Well I don't like to dwell on the negative so on to the positive. You know Heavenly Father really knew what he was doing when he sent us Sydney. She is so calm and sweet. She is also so extremelyh patient. It's like she knows that we need to give extra care to Saylor sometimes and she just deals with it and with a smile no doubt. She can be very clingy to me sometimes and I think that is her way of just saying "hey I'm here to" I just love her to death and thank God for her everyday. I love both of my girls soooo much. They are my everything. I love them both in their own specail way. I couldn't imagine taking another breath with out either one of them.

Long time no see

I created this blog to act as a journal documenting our lives with Diabetes. I've been doing a crappy job so far. Well the Walk to Cure Diabetes is coming up in September. It got me thinking I need to get on this thing and start blogging seriously. It's not all my fault. Our lives have literally been turned upside down. Since I created this blog, my husband had surgery and was home for a month, then we moved out of our house and in with my parents for a month, we then relocated to Moscow, ID where Cory would attend Law School, and finally he has begun his classes and I now I never see him. Needless to say it has been busy.

A lot has happened with this wonderful disease. Let's see where do I start. Oh yes - Pacific Source Insurance. I HATE THEM!!! They denied our claim for an insulin pump. They said that their policy is that the Diabetic must be 10 years or older. STUPID! STUPID! STUPID! We tried to appeal it, but it was denied. We were told that sometimes it takes several appeals. We didn't have that kind of time. Our insurance ended as of yesterday. Since Cory left his job and started school, we are now trying to get on Medicaid. Hopefully we will be successful getting a pump that way. If not looks like shots for the next 3 years! YIKES!

Saylor has had some really scary lows. One day she was down to 25. We checked her as a result of her falling down. One minute she was running around the house playing and screaming and the next minute she kept falling down and was losing mobility. We knew something was wrong and quickly tested her. I couldn't believe how low she got. We gave her some glucose gel on her gums. She bounced back, but when she is that low it is a slow return. Another time we were at the park and she had already had a low in the 30's that day when my mom was watching her. One minute she was talking and everything was fine. The next minute she had passed out. It's like we looked away and looked back and she was asleep. We weren't sure at first if it was her BS because she hadn't had a nap that day and she's been known to just fall asleep when she's super tired. Of course the dummy that I am left the meter in the car. Needless to say that is not happening again. We quickly went back to the car and checker her. She was like 40. There was a snowcone shack across the street. I thought the straight sugar in the syrup would be best to wake her up. She was slow to coming around, but was o.k. We try to check her every couple of hours, but those lows sneak up fast. I'm always pretty shaky after that happens. The problem is that she acts normal when she has lows. Her BS could be 50 and she would act just fine. We don't anything is off until we check and course she is too young to know how a low or high feels. I can't wait until she is a little bit older and can tell us how she is feeling. It's just the sucky part of dealing with this disease.

Well let's see lately we have been dealing with crazy highs. We are kind of between doctors right now since the move. So we are making the necessary adjustments to her insulin doses. We upped her Lantus (her base line) at night from 1 1/2 u to 2 u. That seems to be helping.

Well I'll try to be better at posting. I want this to be something that we can read in the future and learn from our mistakes as well as reflect on both our struggles and joys. It will also be nice to see that progress we've made. I can't wait to post someday that we've got a pump. We'll see. Ta ta for now (TTFN)!