A Colorado Spring Day in NC

Wow! What a fantastic day we had! Beautiful snow, blue skies and sunshine. We felt we were transported to Colorado in the Spring for a day. Louis and Hannah came over to sled with us. We were out for a few hours in the morning along with all the other kids and some of their parents on our street. The boys absolutely had the best time and love the snow. They also love all the attention they are getting from all the girls on our street who want to take Tas or Chance down the hill with them.

We went back out in the afternoon. Tas decided to take a long nap so just Chance and I went out. Then, Heath and Tas joined us. What FUN! This will be a memorable weekend for us. The boys first real snow experience!

Best Day Ever

After 2 weeks of very erratic glucose readings due to an H1N1 flu shot, Chance had one of his best days ever yesterday - glucose readings were - 180, 111, 225, 122, and 112 - these are all in range and are fantastic! This included cookies and milk for a morning snack and goldfish in the afternoon. This goes to show you the positive impact of getting some outdoor snow exercise!

All these good blood sugar readings made for a solid nights sleep at the Clayton household. I fell asleep at 10:00 last night and slept until 8:15 this morning when we heard the first frolicking of the punkins. Horray!!! Sleep!!! Yay!!!

It is bright and sunny this morning, so we're heading out for more sledding!

Let it Snow!

Friday, I made a job offer to a guy in Bozeman, Montana to join my pre sales team. The irony of this is that Heath's sister lives in Bozeman so I have actually been to Bozeman. One winter that we were there it was 30 below. My nose hairs were crystalizing - or at least they felt like they were. I told Bruce (the candidate) just last week that I guessed we were not going to have any snow in NC this year. Little did I know!

Last night and today, we got around 4 inches of snow. Combined with cold temps, this maade for some fun sledding and outdoor activity for me, Heath and the punkins. Heath had his original sled from when he was a kid - FUN! The wooden kind that you can steer. The neighbors all had sleds so between the group of us, so we had plenty of sleds to go up and down Dundee Court.

Our friend Christine came over in the afternoon with her two kids Cameron and Sierra. We had a big baked ziti dinner and are exhausted tonight! More snow activity tomorrow!

2 Years Ago, Our 2 Wonderful Punkins were Born!

Who knew how much fun we would have two years ago when the boys were born. All I could think of was "please - will somebody get these kids out of me before I explode?" Convinced that I had broken ribs and would never contract back down to a normal size, I was ready to deliver. We went in at 6pm on January 24, 2008, induced labor for 14 hours, and then on January 25, 2008 the wonderful punkins were born via a c-section.

This past weekend was a monumental one for us. We not only celebrated the 2 year birthday of our fine young sons, but we started it off by attending a JDRF family retreat in Greensboro on Friday through Saturday. There were 240 families there, all very passionate about diabetes research, a cure, improvements in treatment and helping in any way so our type 1 children can live a longer, healthier life. We were able to spend some time with the Ivarssons especially at meals, which was great. In 2009, 250 cases of type 1 diabetes were diagnosed at Wake County Hospital. We are not alone in this fight!

On Sunday, we hosted a birthday play date. This was so like Tas and Chance. If they could have what they wanted for their birthday, it would be a casual outdoor play date with all their friends and this is what we did. The guests included: the Ivarssons, Robbins, Penlands, Cases, McCarrons, Proctors and Dexter's. For kids this translates to Oskar, Gunnar, Max, Tusker, Maddie, Cameron, Sierra, Danica, Callie, Rachel, Evan and Sophie- what a cute crowd!

We played on the new play gym that Heath, Louis and others miraculously installed before the party, ate mac n cheese, hot dogs, fruit, goldfish and home baked carrot cupcakes. The adults got to drink bloody marys, hot cocoa, screwdrivers and hot tea. It was really a fun time! Thanks to all who came to celebrate and make their day!

Bring it!

This week was my annual US sales kick off meeting. I don't think I spoke to many family members or friends this week since we had a very busy schedule, which included 8:30-5:00 meetings followed by team dinners every night. The poor punkins were very out of sorts by Thursday and were acting up in daycare. They also came down with colds, which made for some middle of the night TLC. Needless to say, it was a LONG week. But fun to see all my colleagues whom I don't see on a daily basis.

On Wednesday night we had our pre sales team dinner at Spirits Cafe. This for me was the best night probably due to the venue and the company. It was trivia night. Out team 'Bring it' won second place. Below is a photo of team Bring It. For my family members who are always hearing stories about my work, Annette, our GM is to my left and Mike, my direct manager is to the far, back right.

Tonight, we are all in Greensboro for the JDRF statewide Type 1 Diabetes retreat. It started with a 6pm child friendly buffet dinner, at which we dined with the Ivarssons - Oskar's family. Scott Scolnick was the dinner speaker. He has a website called www.childrenwithdiabetes.com that he started after his daughter was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes a day after her 2nd birthday. He had a photo of her giving herself her first shot at age 4. This of course brought tears to my eyes. I suspect that will happen all day tomorrow. Tomorrow, we will be in educational sessions all day on things like cooking for diabetics, clinical trials, resources, the Triangle Chapter, a research update.

Sunday is the punkins 2nd birthday party! I can't believe it is here already. For year one - the months went by slow and the year went by fast. For year two - the months and the year went by fast.

Chance's Three Month Diabetic Checkup

We had Chance's three month diabetes appointment this morning. His A1C was 9.5 not a very big improvment from his A1C three months ago, which was 9.7. Dr. Lagarde said sometimes it could take 6 months to improve this and also said it is tough with little ones when we are trying to prevent lows.

The next steps are: 1. we increased his meal carb ratios to 1/18 to give him more humalog insulin to get his overall daytime numbers down; 2. change our rounding factor to be more aggressive - .25 and .75 and up will go up; 3. for readings 300 and higher give him a .5 correction at bedtime or after nap; and 4. take the pump class in February and then move Chance to a pump. The pump will enable more tigher control.

Dr. Lagarde does think that the needed increase in insulin during the day is indicative of the honeymoon phasing out. He predicted the honeymoon would be over in about 6 months. For a diabetic - this is a good thing!

My Birthday Weekend and Mim and Granddaddy Head back to Bandera

Birthday's are a time for reflection. I used to cry on my birthday. Not really sure why but I suspect that deep down inside I knew my life was missing something. This birthday, all I could be is thankful for all the love that surrounds me - Heath, Chance, Tas, Gibson, our family, and friends. How lucky was I on my 43rd birthday? I honestly didn't want any gifts - but got a few good ones. Heath has made sure that I am never cold in bed again, Carita and Marshall got me a WAY COOL handblown glass necklace, and I received some money so I can buy a new purse. However, I couldn't think of a better gift than the gift of joy and laughter from my two sons on a daily basis.  As for celebrating - Carita made me a DELICIOUS lamb dinner with the Rum Raisin apple pie on Friday. Last night, Heath and I had a date at Peak City Grill and saw the Blindside. Great time, great food, great movie.

As for today, our three week, wonderful visit from Carita and Marshall came to an end. They departed this morning for Bandera. It is always strangely quiet when they leave, but Carita did leave bits of herself behind, leaving us all kinds of delicious food for us to eat over the next week. We are so thankful they were able to stay with us for a few weeks and enjoy Christmas with the boys. I know this means so much to the boys to have their grandparents here with them.

As for 2010, I am optimistic that this year will bring great things for the Claytons. We have lots to look forward to with our boys and our travels.

Favorite Coat

It has gotten quite cold in NC - like in the 20s and 30s. When my Mom asked me what I wanted for Christmas this year, I requested a three quarter length down coat. At first, I was a little worried that it would be too warm in NC for a down coat, but this has proven to be untrue. I have worn the coat every day for the past three weeks. The picture below was taken at the Biltmore Estate.

We are all back to work and school after having 10 days off. What fun to be at home with Heath, the kids, and Mim and Granddaddy. The boys loved being with us all.

Chance had a few of his best days ever last week followed by an elevation in his numbers this week - I think due to a growth spurt. We are working with Dr. Lagarde to make some adjustments to his humalog doses and get Chance's numbers back in a good range. He adjusted Chance's carb ratio so he is now getting more insulin during the day. This made a big difference today. Chance's glucose numbers were: 181, 145, 294, 294 and 218. These may sound high to the average adult, but these are actually quite good for a 2 year old!

We are going on a JDRF family retreat in 2 weeks at a resort/conference center in Greensboro. It is the Charlotte, Triad and Triangle JDRF chapters. I was told there will be about 200 families there! The agenda will be packed with educational sessions for us and lots of things for the kids to do. We are very excited for this!

Best Apple Pie Ever

This recipe dates back to when Rob and Margaret came to visit and brought us dinner and dessert. Rob made this pie, which was DELICIOUS!!!!!

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Rum-Raisin-Apple-Pie-236430