Picture Perfect Play Date

What a great way to end what was already a lovely weekend, than to host two of Tas and Chance's favorite friends - Maddie and Sophie and their Mom's on a beautiful, sunny, 63 degree day.

The kids played for hours in the sandbox and on the swingset. They enjoyed wagon rides and rides on the trykes. A good time was had by all. They enjoyed snacks at their picnic table and the we all had lunch. This has been a fun weekend and one of great quality time. It is interesting how well behaved the boys were this weekend. I believe it is because they had lots of love from me and others around them.

The next few weeks will be ones of big change for our punkins. Chance goes on his insulin pump on March 3rd. I am to understand that this will feel a lot like when Chance was first diagnosed. We'll need to figure things out all over again, but should end up in a much better place. Heath and I have lots to learn over the next week.

The boys will also transition into their next class with their new teachers in the 2 year old room.

We all went to visit the class last week. It is really awesome. There are lots of fun activities for the kids with different stations - including housekeeping, legos, reading, puzzles, and arts and crafts. There are also lounge chairs and sofas. Lots of structure too including that they have to put away their current toy to play with another one. There is a potty in the room. While we were there, Tas wanted to use the potty. We will implement much of this philosophy at home.

We are on the doorstep of enormous change and are embracing it wholeheartedly.

I got lucky this weekend!

Heath is away camping. I have had Hannah helping me all weekend, we have had beautiful 60 degree weather, I did yoga today, and Chance's bedtime numbers have been right on target!

Tomorrow, my punkins have a double date at our home with Sophie and Maddie - two of their favorite toddlers.

Life is good at the Clayton household!

Spring Weekend in NC!

Heath is winter camping. Miss Hannah Banana is helping me this weekend. It is a beautiful Spring weekend here. Hannah and I are waiting for the boys to wake from their naps. Tas and Chance attended a birthday party today at Planet Child. I wanted to post this completely adorable photo of them from a few weeks ago. Photo credit to me!

Pump update: the pump arrives on Monday. We chose the Animas Ping. Heath and I will wear it for a week. Chance goes live with it March 3rd. A week and a half before he moves up to his new class at school. Tas will move up a week or two later. Boys are up so gotta run...

A Bittersweet Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is an important day in our household. For on this day, we celebrate love, mine and Heath's wedding anniversary, and Aunt Lala's birthday. For Heath and I this marked our second wedding anniversary. Though I must admit, in what we have been through in the last two years, it felt more like five.

Chance woke at a stellar 186 - right on target though he didn't eat much since recovering from his stomach bug. This Valentine's Day would be a very special day for us. In addition to all that we were celebrating, we had five families come over so their kid(s) could get their photo taken for the JDRF Gala program. These kids will represent the families that have been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 2009. Heath was the photographer and Dan the artistic director - thank you Dan! The Ivarssons were there to help greet the families and get the model releases signed.

One by one, over a period of a few hours, five cars pulled into the driveway. Each family having a story to tell. There were parents, grandparents, kids from 3-14 with type 1diabetes and their siblings. One family actually had TWO kids get diagnosed within a 6 month period. One a 12 year old and the other a 14 year old - as if the teenage years aren't hard enough on families. There was a familiar theme though - they were all positive, in it together, and happy to meet other families with type 1 kids.

The other interesting theme was how proud these kids looked when we reviewed the photos last night. As they should be! They have been given a tough twist in their life and they are making the best of it. And more importantly they are getting involved!

The last shot is Oskar. He is a little trooper and a cute one at that! Unfortunately, Tas and Chance slept through all the festivities. A nap that lasted from 12:30-5pm! For the next photo shoot, we are going to get them to bed early the night before and get down for their naps early so they can partake in the festivities and so Chance can have his photo taken.

In ther evening, Heath and I ordered steaks from Outback and celebrated our special day. Heath gave me two wonderful gifts - the first a 8X10 shot of the boys from our Mt. Leconte trip last summer mounted on a cube frame. It is a very intense photo of the boys and was the last big trip we did before Chance's diagnosis. The photo brought tears to my eyes when I opened it. The second photo is 16X20 family photo from our beach trip last summer, which Heath did an oil painting effect and mounted on canvas. It is a stunning piece and stands proudly on our mantle.

Guardian Angel - 2 am Check

It is 2:23 am and I just did Chance's middle of the night check. He was 108 - phew. He is holding his own and his liver is helping to self regulate him, i.e. dumping sugar to keep him at a safe level. There are nights where I am in and out of the nursery multiple times, checking on the boys, doing blood tests, giving milk, making sure the boys are covered with blankets, changing soaked diapers, etc. We are parents, but I feel in a way that we are guardian angels too. Protecting our kids from harms way or any discomfort. For me, I can sleep better knowing they are safe.

Today, is a big day at our house. Heath is doing the JDRF photo shoot with Dan in the afternoon. I hope and pray that we are all feeling good for this!

We got more snow in NC. It was a beautiful winter scene yesterday morning. I went into the nursery and said to Tas, "guess what's outside?" and before he could see out the window he replied "snow!" How smart they are. And how excited they were to see the snow!

Game Night

Tonight, we got together with our good friends Jim and Holly and Loren and Carrie to reinstitute our game night. Bill and Kymberly are part of the game crowd too, but Bill was out of town and Kymberly was tired from the day's activities. We had been doing game night monthly up until last summer when Carrie got diagnosed with breast cancer, then Chance with diabetes, and Jim lost his job. This extreme turn in fate for our three families eliminated game night as we all went into survival mode.

Tonight, we got it back on the calendar, which for us was a sign of returning to normal...is it really normal? Tas and Chance had a great time and played over at Loren and Carrie's with Griff, Jimmy, Julie and the Robotic vacuum Rosie. We played karaoke, which was fun. For a short time, I had a great buzz going and really had a fun time singing the songs.

The boys slept all the way home. When we got home, we transferred the punkins to bed. I was sitting in the bed downstairs on the computer when I heard Chance puking. It was a busy day with a birthday party this morning, so we have no idea what caused this. It would not be the first he puked from a too long eventful day. All I know is it is scary when a diabetic pukes because you think "I gave him insulin for that food he just puked up."

I am going to bed now and will wake up in two hours to test his blood sugar. He was 94 after he puked. With diabetes and 2 year olds, you never know what life will bring.

Here's To Good Friends

Over the last week, we have been able to spend time with two couples who are dear friends of ours.

Saturday night, we went out with John and DeDe to celebrate John's 50th birthday. We had a lovely evening at Irregardless Cafe eating delicious food and dancing to the fantastic music of the Jim Ferris Trio. A Jazz band whom played at our Christmas party. While we celebrated, the boys were in good hands home with Lala, Cha, Pop and Caitlyn who were giving them lots of love and showering them with birthday gifts.

On Monday and Tuesday, Heath and I tagged teamed staying home with Tas who came down with a bad cold. Poor thing, his whole face is chapped from his nose running during the night. Needless to say, a sick toddler makes for some long days and nights. Also, Tas was sad that Chance went to school and he stayed home. He asked for Chance both days and hugged him when he got home from school. Very sweet!

Fast forward to today. What a terrific day it has been! I got a massage during lunch to work out the Mommy kinks in my back, gave the boys a bath after work and cooked dinner for Ed and Kim who had little Ruby with them. I made my lemon rosemary chicken. Cooking brings me back to who I am and grounds me. It makes me feel good to serve a home cooked meal.

When the boys were going to bed tonight, they gave me big hugs. I want to package this feeling up and save for the day when we are not getting hugs on a regular basis. I think about the endorphins that must get released when you get a hug from your child because a there is not much that can make you feel better about life than a hug from your child. The last great thing about today was Chance's bedtime glucose reading - 186!

The last thought of the day is about grandparents. I would think the love they give and get from their grandchildren must bring them back to the days of their children and the hugs. It is wonderful how life provides this!

Dawn of a New Way for Diabetes Management

Last night, Heath and I attended a diabetes pump support meeting at Rex Hospital (followed by a fun sushi dinner in downtown Raleigh). The meeting was a very informative session with a diabetes educator presenting and leading the meeting. We learned a lot of new things like the effects of exercise on blood sugar and how to better manage this with the pump, setting up different profiles on the pump like weekends and weekdays, using diluted insulin for little ones and the benefits, the effects of foods high in fat like ice cream, the effects of hormones on blood sugar, transient highs vs. more serious highs, etc.

Bottom line is that you can get much more precise insulin dosing and management with a pump as well as getting rid of all the needles. The biggest benefit besides better blood sugar management is enabling Chance to snack or drink milk when he wants to and getting off this strict routine we are on. One parent whose daughter was diagnosed at 11 months and is now 9 years old said - "you will feel normal again. The pump enables you to return to a normal routine." A person who was 4 when he was diagnosed came up to me after the meeting and said, "I was 4 when I got this and I am 50 now. I am still alive, I have healthy kidneys, can see well and healty feet and I didn't have all the modern management methods that you have today. You can live a healthy life with diabetes."

They also talked about advancements in research and how in 5 to 10 years the management will change dramatically and there will possibly be a cure. Here are a few links to some new and exciting research:

Feb 2, 2010: JDRF Funded Research Advances Potential For Regeneration As A Possible Cure For Type 1 Diabetes http://www.jdrf.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.viewPage&page_id=90837DB8-1321-C844-132E9B0745D4A9D3&page_version_id=9088E311-1321-C844-132E3E538E764B13

Jan 13, 2010: JDRF Forms Partnership with Animas to Develop First-Generation Artificial Pancreas Managing Type 1 Diabetes http://www.jdrf.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.viewPage&page_id=2458B97B-1279-CFD5-A70D0580F67A16A9

Over the next few weeks, we'll be doing our due dilligence, taking pump classes, wearing them ourselves to see how they feel and making a pump selection decision for Chance that we believe will suit him the best.

What has transpired inside me over the last two weeks is a great feeling of excitement! When Chance was first diagnosed, I couldn't help thinking how awful this is and asked myself: why him?, why us?, how did this happen?, will our lives ever be normal again?....  Now, I am feeling passionate, dedicated, optimisitc and most importantly like we are part of a very exciting time in diabetes research. This fuels my passion about doing more to help make the much needed diabetes advancement. Heath and I have started working with JDFR to help make a difference. Instead of feeling doom and gloom, I am truly excited for Chance and the advancements we will see in his lifetime, hopefully before he is a teenager.

For both Chance and the diabetes community, this is a dawn of a new way and the dawn of a new day for diabetes management.