It amazes me at the stuff the girls come up with some times!
I had to take Dani in for a well check one Friday, then take Ellee in for her well check the following Friday. Both girls needed shots but I tried not to say anything about it ahead of time. After seeing how big the needles were at Dani's appointment, she kept asking if she had to get shots at hers. Not wanting to scare her, I kept saying I don't know (because I really had no idea what she needed or how many).
After getting weighed in and height checked (44 pounds and 44 inches!), we did the usual waiting forever for the doctor. The girls decided they had to go to the bathroom, so we walked down the hall. El returned to the room before Dani and I did, and when I walked in I heard the following conversation:
"Do I have to get shots today?"
"I'm not sure, we'll have to take a look in a little bit to see if you need any."
"Well, if I do have to get some, will you use my *little* needles instead of your *BIG* needles?"
What do you say to that?! I was so stunned that I didn't know whether to laugh or cry! I was amazed that she was able to make the connection between her needles and the shot needles and think of substituting them! And I seriously wish they would consider downgrading the gauge of their needles because they were huge!!!
Mom and I had the same thought (and she even told El) that she should be fine with the immunization shots because she's use to getting her insulin shots. WRONG! That whole wing of offices could have heard her screaming! And the worse part was that in order for me to hold her down, my ear was right by her face!
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Start of Summer!
I decided to try something new and upload a video! The girls have been begging to go out in the kayaks, and Dani is especially excited since she is finally big enough to try to paddle her own boat! Good thing Mom had the for-thought to go ahead and get two kayaks when we found them because we have yet to find them again!
This is a video of El in her boat for the first time in "big water". We taught her to paddle in the pool before going out on the lake.
This is a video of El in her boat for the first time in "big water". We taught her to paddle in the pool before going out on the lake.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Fairies
For Christmas, I got the girls the cutest tutus and have been wanting to do pictures of them in them. The weather finally cooperated and we were off to Uncle Dave & Aunt Tonya's tree farm to see what we could get into!
Friday, May 21, 2010
Such a Caring Little Girl!
On Friday, May 14th, I *finally* had my appointment to have my wisdom teeth out (it got canceled and pushed back for 2 months because of insurance delays). I was really hoping to be able to do it on a weekend when I didn't have the girls, but that didn't happen since Josh was in Florida that weekend. Mom was a trooper and offered to take the girls and I to the appointment and babysit us as much as we needed that weekend. I love her to death... she is such a strong, and brave, woman!!!
I had to be to the surgeon's office at 10:30. Because all 4 of my teeth were completely impacted, they knew it was going to take a little longer than normal... no big deal to me as long as they didn't have any difficulties! All I told the girls was that mommy was going to a "special dentist", and at some point it was said that I was getting teeth pulled. At either point, neither of them really cared, they just know that I was having *something* done!
The game plan: Mom drops me off, then takes the girls to McD's to eat and play at the playground till I'm done, then head back and get me and head home. Simple enough. On the way there, we see that there is a playground a block away from his office, and Elizabeth was bound and determined that she wanted to play at THAT playground! For some reason there was orange barricade fencing around it, so Mom told her that they were going to a different one. We get to the office, I get Danica out and Mom gets El out. As I walk around the back of the car, I hear Ellee crying and Mom is asking her what is wrong. El manages to choke out between tears that she "doesn't want the dentist to make Mommy cry"! It was so cute and ironic that I couldn't help but laugh and cry at how sweet she is! We assured her that Mommy will not cry!
Surgery goes well and we head home. I hurt, boy did I hurt, but I didn't cry! When we got home I sat on the couch with an ice pack icing down my face for a few hours which helped with the pain. At some point, El sat down beside me. I showed her the bandage and cotton ball in the crook of my arm and said "look, Mommy got a straw in my arm, but it didn't hurt!" I've learned over the years from blood draws and IVs, that it just hurts initially, but not even that bad as long as I don't watch them insert the needle. El has had her share of draws an IVs, so I'm trying to get her to see that the initial poke is the only thing that hurts. I assured her that my arm doesn't hurt any more so she told me to take the bandage off, so we did. I had to choke back the tears because that was a sticky bandage!!!
Dani would come over and play with me, which usually consisted of using me as a playground. El seen her do this a few times and sternly told her "Dani, be careful, Mommy's arm hurts!" I couldn't help but laugh and tell her that my arm is fine, it's my jaw and mouth that hurts!
After a couple hours I got off the couch and went out side to watch the girls jump on the trampoline. A few different times, Ellee came up to me and said that she wanted to "make soup for me so that I feel better!" I couldn't help but laugh and cry a little every time because it made me so proud that she was so caring and wanted to do anything to make me feel better! Mom and I both told her that when I when I finally get hungry, I'll let her know so that she can make me soup, but not to worry about it right now!
It just goes to show that how strong of a little girl she is. With all the needles and pokes she has to go through, that she is brave and gets through them. And when some one else is hurt, she is willing to help take care of them! I really do hope she becomes a nurse and puts her caring to good use!
I had to be to the surgeon's office at 10:30. Because all 4 of my teeth were completely impacted, they knew it was going to take a little longer than normal... no big deal to me as long as they didn't have any difficulties! All I told the girls was that mommy was going to a "special dentist", and at some point it was said that I was getting teeth pulled. At either point, neither of them really cared, they just know that I was having *something* done!
The game plan: Mom drops me off, then takes the girls to McD's to eat and play at the playground till I'm done, then head back and get me and head home. Simple enough. On the way there, we see that there is a playground a block away from his office, and Elizabeth was bound and determined that she wanted to play at THAT playground! For some reason there was orange barricade fencing around it, so Mom told her that they were going to a different one. We get to the office, I get Danica out and Mom gets El out. As I walk around the back of the car, I hear Ellee crying and Mom is asking her what is wrong. El manages to choke out between tears that she "doesn't want the dentist to make Mommy cry"! It was so cute and ironic that I couldn't help but laugh and cry at how sweet she is! We assured her that Mommy will not cry!
Surgery goes well and we head home. I hurt, boy did I hurt, but I didn't cry! When we got home I sat on the couch with an ice pack icing down my face for a few hours which helped with the pain. At some point, El sat down beside me. I showed her the bandage and cotton ball in the crook of my arm and said "look, Mommy got a straw in my arm, but it didn't hurt!" I've learned over the years from blood draws and IVs, that it just hurts initially, but not even that bad as long as I don't watch them insert the needle. El has had her share of draws an IVs, so I'm trying to get her to see that the initial poke is the only thing that hurts. I assured her that my arm doesn't hurt any more so she told me to take the bandage off, so we did. I had to choke back the tears because that was a sticky bandage!!!
Dani would come over and play with me, which usually consisted of using me as a playground. El seen her do this a few times and sternly told her "Dani, be careful, Mommy's arm hurts!" I couldn't help but laugh and tell her that my arm is fine, it's my jaw and mouth that hurts!
After a couple hours I got off the couch and went out side to watch the girls jump on the trampoline. A few different times, Ellee came up to me and said that she wanted to "make soup for me so that I feel better!" I couldn't help but laugh and cry a little every time because it made me so proud that she was so caring and wanted to do anything to make me feel better! Mom and I both told her that when I when I finally get hungry, I'll let her know so that she can make me soup, but not to worry about it right now!
It just goes to show that how strong of a little girl she is. With all the needles and pokes she has to go through, that she is brave and gets through them. And when some one else is hurt, she is willing to help take care of them! I really do hope she becomes a nurse and puts her caring to good use!
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Speechless!
I have to admit that I had a hard time thinking of a title for this post! Even before diabetes, Ellee has always seem very grown up for her age and her personality definitely started showing through at an early age! In the year that we've had to deal with T1D, she has proven to be such a strong little girl - maybe too strong! She has accepted this new path through life with a shrug of the shoulders and keeps moving forward.
Last night she said something that caught me off guard but so funny at the same time! We've become very good friends with the neighbors who have a little boy and little girl who are the girls' age. Last night, we ate dinner with them because it was their Mimi's birthday! I made sketti & meatballs with garlic bread and when it was done, I fixed 4 plates and sat them down at the table. I set El's test meter down beside her plate and called all the kids in to start eating and went out into the kitchen to make my plate. I sent back out to see get the meter and to see what her number was.
Being pokey like she can be at times, she wasn't done yet. Standing there waiting for her to finish, the little boy asks her what she's doing. Consintrating on getting the blood on the strip, without looking up at him she says "I'm checking my sugar". He accepted that and started in on his plate, but to my surprise, a few seconds later El adds "*sigh* I'm just the kid next door with diabetes!"
WOW... not sure what to make of that! I did have to laugh to myself and mom laughed this morning when I told her about it. I think the "matter of fact" voice that she used is what made it so cute and funny. In a way it scares me that this is making her grow up too fast, but on the other hand, I can't be more grateful that she's accepted this as well as she has.
Last night she said something that caught me off guard but so funny at the same time! We've become very good friends with the neighbors who have a little boy and little girl who are the girls' age. Last night, we ate dinner with them because it was their Mimi's birthday! I made sketti & meatballs with garlic bread and when it was done, I fixed 4 plates and sat them down at the table. I set El's test meter down beside her plate and called all the kids in to start eating and went out into the kitchen to make my plate. I sent back out to see get the meter and to see what her number was.
Being pokey like she can be at times, she wasn't done yet. Standing there waiting for her to finish, the little boy asks her what she's doing. Consintrating on getting the blood on the strip, without looking up at him she says "I'm checking my sugar". He accepted that and started in on his plate, but to my surprise, a few seconds later El adds "*sigh* I'm just the kid next door with diabetes!"
WOW... not sure what to make of that! I did have to laugh to myself and mom laughed this morning when I told her about it. I think the "matter of fact" voice that she used is what made it so cute and funny. In a way it scares me that this is making her grow up too fast, but on the other hand, I can't be more grateful that she's accepted this as well as she has.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
D-Day
April 21, 2010 - Ellee's one year anniversary from her diagnosis date. I know it sounds odd to celebrate it, but I've heard of others doing just this and I think that it's a pretty good idea! We have to celebrate the small victories, and one big victory - that we still have our Ellee!!! A year ago, two hospitals and an ambulance ride later, we still have our Ellee!!!
Our nightly ritual is to try to read at least one book before the girls go to bed. Some times it gets too late and we don't have time, and other nights we'll read for an hour! Thursday night Dani had fell asleep so it was just El and I to read. We crawled into my bed and chatted for a little bit before I started the book. I was pretty emotional, for many reasons, this week. While I usually try not to cry around the girls, some times I can't help it! Monday was 11 years since my grandpa passed away, Tuesday was Ellee's 5th birthday (wow, 5 years!), and Wednesday was her 1 year diagnosis day. With all of that, on Thursday night as Ellee and I laid in bed, I told her "you know, you've had diabetes for a whole year now! I am so proud of you for being so strong and cooperating so well! I really appreciate that you handle this as well as you do!" I started to tear up and couldn't say anything else, but she got this big smile on her face and shook her head yes (like she does when she gets really excited about something). It brought a huge smile to my face, I said thank you and she gave me a great big hug!
That is what is so amazing about all of this... she is such a strong person and has taken it all in stride and not let any of it phase her! Why can't everyone be like that?! It's funny that most people look up to an older person to model themselves off of, but after living with and seeing other Type 1 kids, I admire them so much! Sure, I still have to fight her every once in a while to do a shot, or she doesn't like that I make her do a leg instead of an arm, but she's over it very quickly!
Things we've learned in the past year:
1. Type 1 Diabetes is still kind of a tabo thing, but many, many people have it and get it.
2. After Ellee's diagnosis, I am finding that more and more people I know have it and I didn't even realize it.
3. The cause of T1D is unknown, but learning the symptoms of it for early detection are important.
4. Getting the word out can help others, 2 other people close to us have been diagnosed since, and the one has credited us with helping her get her son to the hospital as early as she did!
5. This disease sucks! And while the first couple of months are rough, even horrible, things do get better.
6. Younger siblings do get jealous of the attention, and are often very curious of all the supplies!
7. A younger sibling will always want to check their sugar too, and usually at an in-opportune time!
8. There are terms associated with T1D that when said out in public can raise eyebrows (see this post!)
9. You find yourself saying things with out thinking and realize that never in a million years you'd ever think that you'd be saying it to your child, let alone a 4 year old, such as "Lets do shots!" or "come on and poke yourself, your meter's running!"
10. Kids are very resilient. As an adult, you can't imagine giving yourself a shot, let along multiple times a day, yet these kids do it 3-5 times a day and think nothing of it!
The biggest thing that I've learned from all of this, and the thing that I think has pulled us through all of this the most is that we have to control the T1D, not let it control us! I'm very proud of how well we are doing in this aspect! It is a few extra steps we have to take in our lives. One day I hope that Isolet Transplants will come to the fore-front so that these kids get relief. Knowing how strong as these kids are, I believe that they will push and strive for it, even if they are the ones who go into the medical field and develop it themselves!
Happy D-Day Ellee!!!
Our nightly ritual is to try to read at least one book before the girls go to bed. Some times it gets too late and we don't have time, and other nights we'll read for an hour! Thursday night Dani had fell asleep so it was just El and I to read. We crawled into my bed and chatted for a little bit before I started the book. I was pretty emotional, for many reasons, this week. While I usually try not to cry around the girls, some times I can't help it! Monday was 11 years since my grandpa passed away, Tuesday was Ellee's 5th birthday (wow, 5 years!), and Wednesday was her 1 year diagnosis day. With all of that, on Thursday night as Ellee and I laid in bed, I told her "you know, you've had diabetes for a whole year now! I am so proud of you for being so strong and cooperating so well! I really appreciate that you handle this as well as you do!" I started to tear up and couldn't say anything else, but she got this big smile on her face and shook her head yes (like she does when she gets really excited about something). It brought a huge smile to my face, I said thank you and she gave me a great big hug!
That is what is so amazing about all of this... she is such a strong person and has taken it all in stride and not let any of it phase her! Why can't everyone be like that?! It's funny that most people look up to an older person to model themselves off of, but after living with and seeing other Type 1 kids, I admire them so much! Sure, I still have to fight her every once in a while to do a shot, or she doesn't like that I make her do a leg instead of an arm, but she's over it very quickly!
Things we've learned in the past year:
1. Type 1 Diabetes is still kind of a tabo thing, but many, many people have it and get it.
2. After Ellee's diagnosis, I am finding that more and more people I know have it and I didn't even realize it.
3. The cause of T1D is unknown, but learning the symptoms of it for early detection are important.
4. Getting the word out can help others, 2 other people close to us have been diagnosed since, and the one has credited us with helping her get her son to the hospital as early as she did!
5. This disease sucks! And while the first couple of months are rough, even horrible, things do get better.
6. Younger siblings do get jealous of the attention, and are often very curious of all the supplies!
7. A younger sibling will always want to check their sugar too, and usually at an in-opportune time!
8. There are terms associated with T1D that when said out in public can raise eyebrows (see this post!)
9. You find yourself saying things with out thinking and realize that never in a million years you'd ever think that you'd be saying it to your child, let alone a 4 year old, such as "Lets do shots!" or "come on and poke yourself, your meter's running!"
10. Kids are very resilient. As an adult, you can't imagine giving yourself a shot, let along multiple times a day, yet these kids do it 3-5 times a day and think nothing of it!
The biggest thing that I've learned from all of this, and the thing that I think has pulled us through all of this the most is that we have to control the T1D, not let it control us! I'm very proud of how well we are doing in this aspect! It is a few extra steps we have to take in our lives. One day I hope that Isolet Transplants will come to the fore-front so that these kids get relief. Knowing how strong as these kids are, I believe that they will push and strive for it, even if they are the ones who go into the medical field and develop it themselves!
Happy D-Day Ellee!!!
Monday, April 12, 2010
One Year Checkup
On Monday, April 5th, we went in for Ellee's one year check up!
We didn't have the best morning, including a point in which I didn't think my car was going to make it to Dublin. After calling to let them know we were running behind, we finally got there and had a fairly good visit!
They were fairly happy with her numbers over all. Her A1C was 8.3 (they like it to be around 7-8). Her numbers have been higher than what they should be, but they were fairly consistent with very few lows. We did ask about getting a prescription for an insulin pen and the nurse came in and demonstrated one for us! I will admit that I was nervous about them after giving Gaven a shot with his. For some reason it seemed like the needle on his pen was twice as long as the syringes, but after seeing the demo pen, they almost looked smaller! The girls got a kick out of watching us learn to "bleed the air out" of a new cartridge of insulin! To do this, you have to set the pen to 2 units and press the "inject" button. You do this into the air to push any air out of the cartridge before the first use and it shoots a stream of insulin (or in this case of demonstration it was saline), but the girls thought it was just as fun as trying to run through a sprinkler or catch bubbles!
The doctor came in to go over our log book with us. There really isn't anything worse than having a doctor "yell" at you for doing something you didn't know you weren't suppose to do! She did politely tell us to not adjust the long acting insulin because it takes a few days of consistent dosing to see any results. Josh and I talked afterwords and he admitted that he did the same thing, he just didn't write it down in the log book! To us, our thinking was rational so why not give it a try?! Now we know!
The yearly blood draw afterwords, however, was not so pleasant. =( We went next door for this and they had a wonderful play area in the waiting room! Which was nice because the girls were going stir crazy after sitting in the doctors office for 2 hours! We got called back in a matter of minutes, Dani was ready to follow the nurse, but Ellee was entranced in the toy! Josh told Dani that she has to stay here and play and without looking up El says "I'm staying here to play too!" I wish I could have let her, but couldn't. We did have a great nurse that worked as fast as she could with minimal pain. Ellee really hasn't had that many blood draws, but she knew that she got that stretchy cord wrapped around her arm and tried to do that herself while the nurse was getting ready! What followed however wasn't not so fun or cute. They had a sheet of different bandages for her to choose from. After blood donations and draws during my pregnancies, I learned that I was okay as long as I didn't watch them insert the needle. Using this, I tried to get El to concentrate on the sheet and deciding what she wanted. The nurse, being as good as she was, recognized this and inserted the needle. Unfortunately, it still hurt and she screamed, then cried. It was over fast, but in the rush and getting El to calm down, I forgot to grab the prescriptions and print out from the doctors when I grabbed my purse and the diabetes bag!
We went over to Cici's for a late lunch and I got a phone call from a 614 area code and immediately answered it. Once the nurse said who she was, it immediately dawned on me that I didn't grab the papers! Oops!!! Thankfully we were still in town and not halfway home!
Over all, we had a very good visit! It's been almost a year since diagnosis and I have to admit that we are all handling this very well! Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't wish Type 1 on my worst enemy, but you definitely learn how strong you really are when faced with it.
We didn't have the best morning, including a point in which I didn't think my car was going to make it to Dublin. After calling to let them know we were running behind, we finally got there and had a fairly good visit!
They were fairly happy with her numbers over all. Her A1C was 8.3 (they like it to be around 7-8). Her numbers have been higher than what they should be, but they were fairly consistent with very few lows. We did ask about getting a prescription for an insulin pen and the nurse came in and demonstrated one for us! I will admit that I was nervous about them after giving Gaven a shot with his. For some reason it seemed like the needle on his pen was twice as long as the syringes, but after seeing the demo pen, they almost looked smaller! The girls got a kick out of watching us learn to "bleed the air out" of a new cartridge of insulin! To do this, you have to set the pen to 2 units and press the "inject" button. You do this into the air to push any air out of the cartridge before the first use and it shoots a stream of insulin (or in this case of demonstration it was saline), but the girls thought it was just as fun as trying to run through a sprinkler or catch bubbles!
The doctor came in to go over our log book with us. There really isn't anything worse than having a doctor "yell" at you for doing something you didn't know you weren't suppose to do! She did politely tell us to not adjust the long acting insulin because it takes a few days of consistent dosing to see any results. Josh and I talked afterwords and he admitted that he did the same thing, he just didn't write it down in the log book! To us, our thinking was rational so why not give it a try?! Now we know!
The yearly blood draw afterwords, however, was not so pleasant. =( We went next door for this and they had a wonderful play area in the waiting room! Which was nice because the girls were going stir crazy after sitting in the doctors office for 2 hours! We got called back in a matter of minutes, Dani was ready to follow the nurse, but Ellee was entranced in the toy! Josh told Dani that she has to stay here and play and without looking up El says "I'm staying here to play too!" I wish I could have let her, but couldn't. We did have a great nurse that worked as fast as she could with minimal pain. Ellee really hasn't had that many blood draws, but she knew that she got that stretchy cord wrapped around her arm and tried to do that herself while the nurse was getting ready! What followed however wasn't not so fun or cute. They had a sheet of different bandages for her to choose from. After blood donations and draws during my pregnancies, I learned that I was okay as long as I didn't watch them insert the needle. Using this, I tried to get El to concentrate on the sheet and deciding what she wanted. The nurse, being as good as she was, recognized this and inserted the needle. Unfortunately, it still hurt and she screamed, then cried. It was over fast, but in the rush and getting El to calm down, I forgot to grab the prescriptions and print out from the doctors when I grabbed my purse and the diabetes bag!
We went over to Cici's for a late lunch and I got a phone call from a 614 area code and immediately answered it. Once the nurse said who she was, it immediately dawned on me that I didn't grab the papers! Oops!!! Thankfully we were still in town and not halfway home!
Over all, we had a very good visit! It's been almost a year since diagnosis and I have to admit that we are all handling this very well! Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't wish Type 1 on my worst enemy, but you definitely learn how strong you really are when faced with it.
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