Don't Separate the Twins

So maybe this is because our boys spent nine months in the womb together, three months sharing a crib and then two years in a very small nursery, but...

 

Saturday night, while I was away, Heath decided to rearrange the boys bedroom. We had moved them out of their cribs and into a larger room a few weeks ago where I had pushed their mattresses together so they could sleep together. Heath decided that they needed their space. He put their mattresses on opposite sides of the room and put a large rocking chair and foot rest between them so they could not see each other. Chance screamed all night long on Saturday, Sunday (the night I returned from Omega), Monday and till 1 am this morning. 

At 1 am, I went into their room and rearranged their furniture so their mattresses were about 1.5 feet apart. I know this sounds crazy rearranging furniture in the middle of the night, but I couldn't take it any longer. Chance immediately curled up and leaned over as far as he could towards Tasman's crib on his mattress and peacefully fell back asleep until 8 am, when Heath went in and woke them up!!!!!!

 

When I told this story to our friend Stacey she told me her friend had boy/girl 6 year old twins who still sleep together. She said, "dont separate the twins until they ask to be separated." GOOD ADVICE!

On a side note, our good friends are out in the Southwest exploring the desert. They called Heath to him know that they were having a great time at Gobblin Valley, Arches and a few other places. We are so happy for them! We love the US SW.

In terms of my spiritual commitment, I meditated every so far since I have been home and feel great about it! I also did yoga tonight while the boys enjoyed time with their Aunt LaLa. I plan to go back to Omega again in October to see a traveling Buddhist Monk from Sri Lanka.

 

Omega Weekend

My Mom and I did a New Age weekend at the Omega Institute this weekend. It was a lovely weekend and much needed for me to rest and rejuevinate my self. I landed at LGA and we drove north to Hyde Park for a pitstop at the Culinary Institute. It was a beautiful campus overlooking the Hudson River and there were students all around in their chef outfits. We had the most delicious rubens and potato salad I have ever tasted. After this, we continued North and stopped in Rinebeck for a little ecelctic shopping.

We arrived at Omega around 5pm. We checked onto our "green" room, which was very nice - local slate BR floor, local wood floor, all organic blankets, florescent light bulbs, etc. and I went for a 30 min walk and did a mediation at the sanctuary. Then, we had dinner and headed to the wellness center and got the best facials ever and had reiki done. Reiki is all about your chakras and balancing and clearing your energy. The woman told us both some interesting observations that were spot on with what we both have going on in our lives. After our treatments, we went to catch the end of Marianne Williamson's opening session. We were not impressed and were in fact a little taken back by her. She was preaching the word of Christianity and definitely alienating a lot of the new agey people in the audience who were there for a "non-religious" experience as described in the program.

I got a fabulous night's sleep knowing I had no diabets checks on toddlers to care for. I woke up at 6:30 and did Qi Gong a form of Tai Chi. Then I met my Mom and we had a delicious breakfast and ate the best pumpernickle raisin bread I have ever tasted. Then, off more more preaching and in between some good life advice. One thing I quickly realized is how important it is for me to get back to my daily mediation practice, my yoga and my other new age beliefs. I truly believe this will help me to be more patient and kind to my children, my husband and our friends and family.

In the afternoon, after a yummy, vegetarian lunch, we wemt down to the lake at Omega and took naps on their hammocks. How delightful. After my Mom fell out of hers, we decided to catch the end of Marianne's session. At 5:30, I did a teriffic yoga class in the Yoga pavillion, which was rejeuvibating after a long day. After dinner and a delicious blueberry cobbler dessert, we went to the sactuary to listen to live music - Ceclia St King, a Peace Trubidor. She had a beautiful voice and wonderful stories about how she has used her music to make the world a better place.

After, another awesome night's sleep, my Mom and I went for our last Omega breakfast. We skipped Marianne's sessions today due to complete disinterest. I did yoga at the lake, then a Qi Gong class at the library, then to the sanctary to meditate and then lunch. And, then we departed. This was where my lovely weekend of serenity ended. The real world can be a tough place after a weekend retreat. Nothing else said here.

The lessons leanred this weekend were:

1. it is important for me to get back to my spirituality and daily practice and make it a part of our boys lives like camping and backpacking are.

2. spend more time with my Mom.

Mim is here!

After an afternoon in Black Mountain on Sunday, we came home and prepped our house for Carita's arrival yesterday - yay! There is a certain energy in the house when Carita is here, which I can't explain, but it is wonderful.

Last night, we had a family gathering with Carita, PaRan, Charles, LaLa, and Cate Cate. Charles and Ladonna brought over a really awesome inflatable bed for Carita to use since we have not refurnished our guest room. They also brought over a bunch of fresh veggies and fruit from the Farmers Market. They are so good to us and love our boys so much!

Since I don't mention Gibson very much in my blogs, I will mention him in this one. Yesterday morning, Gibson got stung by either a bee or a yellowjacket. We didn't think much of it, but he did seem out of sorts and was flopping his ears all day and night. Then, last night around 10, Heath noticed that Gibson's neck and ears were completely swollen and filled with fluid. He looked terrible.

Heath gave him Benadryl and took him to the emergency vet clinic. Ends up he was having a reaction to the bee sting and his lymph nodes were filling with fluid so they gave him a cortisone shot. Today, our friend Michelle the vet came by to see Gibson and make sure he was OK. This was extremely kind of her. She brought Gibson cortisone pills to take until the fluid is completely gone. She had her RV with her, which was sweet! I could definitely travel around in an RV like that! We sat in there for a while. I think the boys and Gibson would love it if we got one.

Tonight, Carita prepared a really yummy dinner - pork tenderloin, rice pilaf and some of the fresh veggies from Ladonna - fried corn, fresh tomatoes and cucumber. Michelle stayed for dinner and we all enjoyed the feast around the dining room table. Even the punkins ate well. Then, Carita cleaned and put the boys to bed for while I took a walk with Gibson and Heath taught photography. We are so spoiled this week and I will enjoy every minute of it. What a nice break from the normal routine! Thank you Carita for coming to be with us!

RATTS, Tas Won a Guitar

We are in Knoxville, TN tonight at the Best Western, which is high end luxury compared to camping for a week. Actually, it is a very nice hotel and our room is a suite so this gives us adequate space so we're all not on top of each other. Tonight, is our last night of vacation then we'll make a b-line on I40 tomorrow for home.

We had a fun week in Kentucky. After Cumberland Gap, we drove to the Red River Gorge area of Kentucky, which was pretty cool. It is a world class climbing area so we met people from all over the US and Canada. Some highlights were: walking over several arches including the Natural Bridge, camping and Tas running around teh campground naked greeting everyone, finding a quiet shallow swimming hole on the river, biking down a winding, gravel mountain road, taking a sky lift with the boys up a cliff, hiking with the punkins (we've determined that 1/2 mile is their limit), sleeping through the night, enjoying good BG numbers from Chance, eating especially at Miguel's Pizza, going to a bluegrass festival and meeting some really good people.

"RATTS" stands for Race Against That Thunder Storm. We did this the day we biked. The storms came in before we got back to our car - oh well. At least it cooled us off. We did enjoy fairly dry weather though - a first for us.

A definite highlight was the Sally Gap Bluegrass festival today. This was no Shakori Hills, but as the mc said, "we have vendors,  not a lot of vendors, but they are the best." It was very hot today. The boys made banjos and got free festival T-shirts for doing this. They also got to go on stage to play their instruments. After the mini recital, the festival organizer drew four raffle tickets to give away quality musical instruments amoungst the kids whom had just performed - an accoustic guitar, a mandolin, a fiddle and a banjo. The first three kids who won picked the mandolin, the fiddle and the banjo. Then, she drew the forth ticket, but the winner was not present so she redrew and the winner was Tasman Clayton! Wow - the Clayton's are really on a winning streak. The guitar is beautiful and Tas was so excited. He stood on stage and strummed the guitar while the festival folks took pictures. he will be featured on their website and in the local newspaper.

Forget the Baptists and the Veterans

After 3 days in the Daniel Boone National Forrest with no wine or alcohol, we finally are in a town -  Harrodsburg, KY which is a moist county - meaning we got margaritas at LaFonda - the Mexican restaurant in town. We are staying at the Hearth Country Inn, which allows dogs. The boys are in our jacuzzi tub right now getting a bath and are very happy. We decided to splurge and get the jacuzzi suite.

On Saturday, we drove like heck to Cumberland Gap, KY. After 10 hours in the car, we decided to have a picnic dinner. When we arrived at the Pinnacles Overlook, it rained cats and dogs so we had a picnic under a shelter then did a short hike out to see the view when the rain let up. The boys of course loved the rain. We arrived at the campground after 10PM - typical Clayton arrival time. We could not find our site since the campground was overbooked, so we ended up camping at the Pavilion near the pool. Heath photographed the moonbow - rainbow at night from the full moon over the falls at midnight to 3 am. We went to see Cumberland Falls together, the next morning, which were very cool. The boys really enjoyed the area and even found a hallow tree to hang out in for a while.

Sunday, we decided to stay in our Pavilion campsite even though we were in the middle of the horseshoe ring toss area. The Pavilion ended up being the hub for entertainment. Tas, Heath and I made pottery there - very cool. The potter was hysterical. Then, we swam at the pool. We met another type 1 family at the camp ground. Their son Nathan was 7. Him and Chance exchanged pump details - ended up that they had the exact same one, same color too. In the evening, a bluegrass band played. Tas sat in the first row and took in all the music and commentary. Chance hung out in his chair and tried to figure out how everything worked. Then, bedtime for the punkins.

This morning, Chance woke us up at a bright and early 6:30 am. I woke at 7 am. We packed up and were so happy to be on the road by 9 am. Heath put the keys in the car and oh no - the battery was dead. Thank goodness, I flagged down a ranger and they brought over cables to jump the car in a few mins.

Today, we did the Stearns Railroad. This was great. It was a three hour excursion with a ride to an old mining town, lunch, a walk over an old RR bridge, and then the train rode back.

After the train excursion, we drove to Harrodsburg - a quaint town, one of the first settled in the west according to the locals and a place with some booze. Everything was closed tonight due to the holiday, but thanks to the local Mexican joint, not only did we get great food but booze too! Something very much needed after 3 days with twin, two year old, adorable, inquisitive, feisty toddlers.

Some observations. Wow - are there personalities really exploding!! Tas is a complete chatterbox - "Mommy this, Mommy that...", Chance just trying to figure out how everything works. Chance sat on my lap both ways on the train because it was an open air train and a little scary. Tas wanted to sit on his own chair the whole way and chattered about everything he saw. Chance not a word. Best friends, yet complete opposites.

Gibson  - doing well and happy to be with us! Me - glad I had a margarita tonight!

Cribs Be Gone

We finally pulled the trigger and let the punkins loose. They were climbing out of their cribs and trying to sleep on the floor so I gave in. We also moved them into the larger room. Their sleeping arrangements are their crib mattresses on the floor and an air mattress, which they are both sleeping on tonight. It is very sweet actually. So far this has gone well and we have been able to get them to go to sleep 3 nights in a row.

So while the punkins have been enjoying all this new freedom, they have also been battling a bronchial pneumonia-like illness. Tas was able to take prednisone to clear his up, though it has returned. Chance has not been able to take the prednisone due to his diabetes, but is now on a neb steroid. This illness has wreaked havoc on his BG numbers this week with lots of highs and lows. Tonight, we had a bad low - a 43. This I believe is one of the worst to date and really made me realize how scary diabetes can be. Chance was low and refused to drink his juice. Heath ended up having to force feed him a tube of sugar gel that Carita had given us. Four hours later, he was 344 - the life of a diabetic is not easy. And sickness for them can be very complicated.

Tomorrow, we leave for a week in the mountains of Kentucky. I am hoping that a week in the great outdoors will do us all good and rejuvenate our minds and bodies. I figured getting rid of the cribs is excellent practice for sleeping in a tent!

Dinosaurs, Butterflies & Crawfish

What a day we had today! Momma, the punkins and I went to Durham Life and Science Museum where there was a butterfly fest today. Lots of activities, live music and people. We saw a few of our SAS and diabetes friends there. We did the dinosaur trail including the fossil area, ate lunch, did the butterfly house, which also had lots of bugs,  and listened to live music. What really amazed me about today was how much more engaged the punkins were than when we went to the museum over the winter. They were totally into all the bugs and exciting things around them.

After the museum, we headed home for an attempted nap. The boys have been sleeping in their cribs with the sides down for two days now and it is working out just fine. This is great progress. The boys never really went to sleep but instead entertained each other while my Mom and I had some down time and prepared to go to a Craw fish cookout at Ed and Kim's tonight. I used my new cooler to pack up the food and drink items we needed for the party- nice!

What a lovely party it was! This is a pretty big compliment to Ed and Kim considering that when we arrived it was raining cats and dogs. We stayed inside for a bit, and eventually it stopped raining so a lot of the party moved outside. They served DELICIOUS craw fish etoufee - YUM! Ed boiled up tons of craw fish, potatoes and corn. They also had spicy sausage and boudin. I kept thinking it was really too bad Heath, Carita and Marshall weren't with us! To top it all off, folks brought decadent desserts. It was a feast!

The punkins had a FABULOUS time running around with all the other kids and exploring their new surroundings. I must say they were very well behaved and acted very independently. I was able to really enjoy myself and chat with folks while they entertained themselves without getting into trouble. Ed's Dad commented to me that he saw the boys do a face plant down the porch stairs four times and each time someone picked them up and asked if they were OK, they were like "I'm fine, what's the big fuss about".  They started to expire around 8:30 when they got very wired and decided to start emptying out the coolers of ice into Ed and Kim's screened porch. At this point, we made a quick exit so the boys could leave being the charmers they are before turning into gremlins. Chance passed out immediately in the car. Tas made it all the home, but then crashed hard in his crib.

In addition to being with my Momma, going to a really cool museum and attending a fantastic party, one of the best things about the last 24 hours was Chance's numbers. I tried a few new things using my new found diabetes expertise that worked well. Last night, when I checked Chance he was 220 and being very fussy. I honesty believe that since his numbers are so good that when he is over 200 now, that he doesn't feel well. We're not supposed to correct under 250, but I decided to give him .05 units - the smallest dose possible and gave him a bunch of sugar free juice. This worked like a charm. I checked him 2 hours later and he was 133 and woke up at 148 this morning. I felt really good about this.

The other thing I tried was that since today was a very active day, I set a temporary basal rate to reduce his basal insulin by 50%. I did this once on the way home from the museum for 2.5 hours so he would not be too low after his nap and I did this again at Ed and Kim's party tonight for 3 hours. Tonight, Chance is going to bed at a comfortable 125 and we're all going to sleep in Clayton household after a LONG day!