Ear Tubes and Shopping Carts

So we're onto our family next issue - ear tube surgery for Tas on Monday. Tas has been battling ear infections for the past few months, so probably a good thing to take action and be done with it. One of the joys of having twins is that there is always something. As for Chance - he is doing great and has had numbers pretty much in range for a couple of weeks now.

This brings me to my next topic - shopping carts. I don't blame you if you don't see the connection. My former favorite grocery store was Wholefoods. I used to love just wandering around the store on a Saturday selecting my organic produce, free range meats and other items.

As a mother of twins, I am a little bothered by the lack of child friendliness at Wholefoods. They may as well have a sign at the door that says, if you have multiple small children go across the street to Walmart or Harris Teeter. This is in great contrast to their competitor Trader Joes, which is one of the most child friendly stores on the planet. If I even mention going to Trader Joes with the boys they get excited.

My assessment of frequently visited grocery stores for child friendliness:
1. Wholefoods (thumbs down) does not have twins shopping carts - this is a cart where 2 small children can sit comfortably. They have ONE makeshift cart where the kids would need to be about 3 or 4 years old but that it it! If a mother of 2 small children wants to shop there, they need to bring a stroller.
2. Trader Joes (two thumbs up) has the double red car stroller where the kids don't even realize they are doing something for Mom and not themselves. They love driving the car all around Trader Joes while the store employees ask them if they want balloons and stickers while eating yummy samples of healthy food. What kid wouldn't like this?
3. Harris Tetter (two thumbs up) doesn't have all the free stickers and balloons, but they do have several cool car carts and keep them in their own covered cart return so they don't get wet in the rain. You can pretty much always get a car cart, which is a HUGE plus.
4. Super Target (thimbs down) - this is my biggest disappointment. You would think a store with as much children's merchandise in at as Target would have better double carts. They have these terrible carts where the kids sit low in the back, barely harnessed in and they face each other. What mother would want her two small children to face each other in a cart and not be able to see anything. This is just asking for antics and other fighting. If I didn't like shopping there so much, I would remove it from my favorites list.

I bet mother's of singletons don't have a second thought about this.

Good week, long week

Did lots of fun activities this week - NC State Fair with the boys, Heath and Aunt LaLa, theater with good friends, date with Heath, and tonight at a Apex HS reunion football game.How's that for a social life?

Long week due to ear infections for both Tas and Chance - ugh! Lots of middle of the night wake ups. Tas is on his second antibiotic now for this - poor thing.

On the numbers front, Chance is doing terrific this week! We are very please with how well he is doing.

How sweet life is...

We had the best day today! We went to the Durham Life and Science Museum. What a fantastic place for kids and adults to explore. It was a nice cool fall day. We went with Maddie, Stephanie and John. This is Tas and Chance's school mate and her parents, whom are all super nice. We saw wolves and black bears at the museum. Tas and Chance slept until 5:30 this afternoon, they were so worn out. We were totally off routine today with lots of exercise, so Chance's numbers were on the low end of his target range. Not necessarily a bad thing, but something to watch.

Right now, Heath is bathing the boys so I am hearing lots of laughter from the bathroom. I am cooking Pork Medallions in a Pepper Cream Sauce. A recipe of DeDe's - one of our closest friends. I am enjoying a nice glass of red wine from the Arrowood Winery - one of our favorite vineyards in Napa Valley. How sweet life is....

It's All About the Numbers

Chance's numbers are fantastic this week! His 7 day average today was 193 - a significant improvement from where we have been. We couldn't be happier about this!

Heath gave a photography presentation tonight. Weather is chilly here - not a good night for the State Fair.

The Mentor

I met with my diabetes mentor today, Cindy, who has a 4 year old with diabetes and another mom, Carly, with a 3 year old. This really helps to meet with and talk to other mom's who are facing the diabetes challenge. They complimented me on how well we were doing with all this after only a month. This made me feel like we are doing the right things.

Chance's numbers have been fantastic over the last two days - yeah! The mom's told me today that we are supposed to have a team t-shirt for the walk. That this is a big deal. I sent a note out to some creative friends that we have for ideas. As a maximizer, my goal is to come up with something cool and impactful!

We Survived Our First Month of Diabetes!

It has been a month since Chance first went to the hospital. I can't tell you how many people ask me - how did you know something was wrong? The answer is that he was peeing and drinking excessively. From what I have been told by other parents of kids out of diapers - it was sudden bed wetting and excessive thirst that led to a diagnosis of type 1 diabetes.

Chance is definitely one of the younger ones - diagnosed at 20 months. Although this seems extremely unfair, there are some advantages to this. Chance will never know life without diabetes. We can establish good habits for him that he will hopefully respect and carry with him throughout his lifetime.

We are slowly gaining stride and arriving at our new normal. This involves 4 - 5 insulin shots a day, 5 -6 blood checks, carb counting and always having our diabetic and emergency supplies with us. This is basically a small black case and a few sippy cups of apple juice in case of a "low".

From an emotional perspective, Heath and I have felt the spectrum of emotions over the last month. For me it was: confirmation of what I suspected, strength, worry, compassion, love, grieving, sadness, frustration, acceptance, and gratitude for all the help and support we have had. Heath felt many of these same emotions, but in a different order. It took me a week to cry, but when I did, I think I cried all day. Heath on the other hand cried the first night. It is funny how different people come to terms in different ways.

This past weekend, Heath and I lived a fairly normal life. One similar to our life before Chance's diagnosis:

Friday night, Aunt Ladonna and Uncle Charles came over and watched the boys so we could go see A MidSummer Night's Dream at a local outdoor theater. We met our friend Pat and her new beau for a picnic before the the play - how wonderful! Meanwhile, at home, our boys got to spend time with their beloved Aunt LaLa and Uncle Cha!

Saturday, we did an AM playdate with their classmate Maddie and her Mom Stephanie. Then, we went to the NCSU football game, while our sitter Joanne wanted the boys. Sunday, we took the boys to Pullen Park for an outing, which was lots of fun.

It was definitely some much needed time away from home and with each other while still surrounding the punkins with lots of love. Our biggest feat of the weekend, though, was sleeping through the night. Since it appears that we currently have Chance's Lantus (long acting insulin) dose correct, the nurse said we could take a break from the 3 am check. We decided to take advantage of this. Every time we need to change the dose or have changed the dose, we'll need to do a 3 am check. The fasting checks (10 pm, 3 am and 8 am) give the doc the most information when setting the Lantus dose.

Back to work today for us and daycare for Chance and Tas. We are thankful for the support and acceptance that the folks at daycare have shown us. I am meeting my mentor on Wednesday who has a 4 year-old with diabetes and another Mom who has a 3 year old. The support is fantastic! I am excited to see them and want to talk about moving forward and learning best practices for our family living with this. Yes - I said our family living with this. Type 1 diabetes is a family disease. It effects everyone in the family not just the person who has it.

Nov 7th is the JDRF walk. So far we have raised $1925. I am excited for the research that this will help fund. I am also excited that my Mom is coming down for this.

3 weeks in

We are three weeks into Chance's diabetes diagnosis. It has been a rollercoaster ride with blood sugar lows of 45 and highs of 494, but we are accepting our new reality and finding sources of strength through family, friends, daycare teachers, colleagues and doctors. I am truly touched by how much folks have reached out! Chance is a champ about all this and so is Tas for loving him and being supportive of our new routine. I am very proud of our sons and Heath for being strong during this time and moving forward with our new normal.

More later including some photos.