Diabetes Awareness Month!

Also, November is Diabetes Awareness Month. I plan on being highly annoying on my Facebook page and hope to continue the trend on here. Seriously though, text the number and get texts through out the day telling you to "check" your blood sugar (the rubber band snap. Not the same pain, but I guess it's feasible).

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from our bat and Princess Sofia the first. 

How does a diabetic do Halloween?

I dunno, how does your kid? Yep. Mine too ;) Ollie was content to have 2 pieces of candy tonight after Trick or Treating.. he picked them out himself and got a Reese Cup (kid after my own heart) and a bag of Cheetos. <3 He had no issues with knowing he wouldn't eat everything tonight (we wouldn't have let him even before T1D diagnosis). I thought it was sweet that Doug put both kids in their JDRF walk tshirts to go to sleep in :)

Ollie also had his 5th birthday last week. 

I can't believe that he's 5! It seems like that those pics on the bottom were just taken (2yrs, 3 and 2.5 in order)! He had an amazing day at Chuck E Cheese and his joint party (my nephew's birthday was yesterday, so we're having a joint party) is this weekend. He is so excited :D I love seeing experiences through the eyes of a kid. And no matter what, he's a kid first, diabetic second. I've recently found a group on Facebook that's amazing (if you're a T1D parent, shoot me a message and I can add you!) and it's nice to keep getting that reminder.

JDRF Walk for a Cure

Sunday was our JDRF walk. I am SO pleased to announce we raised $437!! It was a very busy and packed event. We got there early enough to walk around before the walk. We saw different pump sponsors, food booths (with carb counts listed!), games, bounce houses, an awesome band playing and TONS of people. We weren't really able to connect with anyone in particular, but I want to connect with some local D families.

Yesterday, my sister, nephew, Emi and Ollie and I went to the Smith Aquatic Center in Charlottesville. First of all, um, AWESOME place for little kids. Probably not so great for like, 7 and over. Second, Ollie was checking his BS in the locker room (yep, he's started doing it all by himself!) and a mom walked by and said "my little girl does that too" - she has an 8 year old whose been dx'ed with T1D for 6 years. It was nice to connect with another D mom even if only for a few minutes! 

JDRF Walk

Isn't it weird how things we acknowledged before now are in the forefront of our lives? I vaguely heard about the JDRF walks, saw the Diabetes support shoes and hands at Subway and other places.. now it's my life (although, by some weird work of fate, I've actually only tested Ollie's BS once in the last 48 hours!).

I'm really getting excited for our JDRF walk this weekend. I really hope Ollie enjoys it and can make a connection that he isn't the only one who has Diabetes. (Note to self: Start fundraising earlier in the year! Like, next month!)

Donate to The O-Team!

6 month Diaversary

So, we can officially say we survived 6 months of Diabetes.... 6 months?? It seems like a lifetime. I can't remember the last time I looked at food and didn't think about carb counts. I can't remember not worrying about ketones and highs, or lows. To to top it all off, Ollie now has a cavity (my theory is from correcting lows at night). These past six months (again, are we sure it's ONLY been 6 months??) have been a whirlwind of math, emotions and needles. Ollie has proven time and time again to be an amazing trooper through all of this. I can't imagine what he goes through - not only the testing and insulin, but the highs and lows. I've read that coming down from a high can make you feel sluggish and sick. The many times as he's gone high (or low) and come back in to range, I always try to let him relax, but there is no slowing him down.

Last week I signed us up for the local (well, most local to us) JDRF walk. I can't wait for Ollie to be around other T1D kids! I would love to find more local (like, really local, not an hour and a half away) kids and parents for us to be around, but I figure this is a start. Anyway, if you have the time, or resources, we would all love for you to check our page out - any step to curing Type 1 Diabetes is amazing to me.

The O Team (JDRF Walk)

Flying!

We had a great experience flying to Portland. As you can tell from the picture, Ollie was thoroughly amazed. (You can also see hubby's T1D tattoo on his wrist in the 2nd pic).Only kidding, he did enjoy it. He and Doug sat together for the first leg and played games and watched the inflight movie. Emi slept beside me. (These pics were taken 2nd leg- LAX to PDX). We switched kids on the next flight and that's when Ollie fell asleep... Beside me! I must have that effect. (In my defense, they had woken up at 5am, way earlier than usual!) We had no issues with his T1D supplies. The TSA agent at Dulles didn't even bat an eye. The only problem we had was the ice pack didn't stay cold as long as we needed for his new/extra meds and they got warm :/ On the way home, I forgot to tell them what the bag was/had in it, and not one word was said. Seriously, we had more issues with the kids car seats than we did his supplies. Anyway, we did touristy things in Oregon- (Tillamook Cheese Factory)

 attended a wedding (the reason for going out!), 

hung out at the beach house with family and friends

 played on the beach,

Had a bonfire,

(That's my cousin, Andrea- it was her wedding! I hope she doesn't mind this picture of her talking ..)

Moral of the story: don't fear flying or traveling!! We took more supplies than we ever needed, but felt better about traveling. We were prepared with a letter from the Endo but didn't need it. Oh, his sugars were so wacky, (I think due to time change/meal difference) but we just went with the flow. Next time I will come up with a better solution for new, unopened meds.

We had an amazing time! I wish Andrea and April the most amazing life together :)  thanks for sharing your special day with us!!

I'm ecstatic that I got this in the mail -

This was the most challenging semester for me yet. We started clinicals, I missed a week because of DS's T1D diagnosis, and we had a bunch of ups and downs, yet I still had the energy, the time, the drive and the support (especially from my amazing husband and family!) to get on the Dean's List. It may have been by the skin of my teeth, but I did it :)

(If anyone doesn't know, it's for Respiratory Therapy, by the way!)