Guest Blogger-polooza Day 1: Kim

While I am with my family living up the Disney Dream, I have some amazing friends that are pinch hitting for me this week. My blog will dazzle you for the next five days with posts from some of the most amazing PWD, (people with diabetes,) in the blogosphere!I begin this exciting week with a guest post from Kim Vlasnik at Texting My Pancreas.If you haven't checked out her blog...cut and paste her URL now! Her humor, her candor, and her drive to make a difference inspires me! Thank you Kim for your words of wisdom today!Okay.Diabetes digs its claws.Have you ever awoken, drenched and confusedStumbled down a hallway that's suddenly sidewaysWith...

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Our job description: An eternal round of worry

I had just turned the corner and came face to face with her. Another D Mom, who upon seeing my face, instantly broke into tears. "Oh great!" she said. She had been keeping it together all day long, but once she saw me...another D mother who understood every inch of angst she was feeling in her gut...well...holding those tears back would have been as fruitless as trying to hold back Niagara falls with a paper napkin.I hugged her tight. I gave her all my years of wisdom in one sound bite, "It all works out in the end." Her daughter came and hugged her, with a big smile and a bounce in her step. "See!" I said, "She is having fun at the party...

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My "Smarty" List

Thank you all for responding to my call for help! I got a ton of great ideas in the comments section, and even more on Facebook, on Twitter, as well as emailed to me directly.I thought it would only be fair to share. I don't want to be an idea hog or anything...so I present to you a list of things that are used for lows by some of my favorite peeps. Keep in mind that these things are simply ideas used by others in the community, and not necessarily what your doctor would want you to use for lows. Most of these ideas are used for lows, but not the "bad" lows...like the ones that require a quick acting sugar such as juice. (I know..they are all...

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Calling all smarty pants! Help. Me.

When J was younger, I mean REALLY younger, we gave him fruit snacks when he was low.We could even feed that kid in his sleep. Chomp Chomp Chomp...his eyes wouldn't even flutter open when I would stick one in his cheek.Rookie mistake.10 years and hundreds of dollars in dental work later...we needed something new.That is when we switched to Yogos. The yogurt covering kept them from sticking to the boys teeth. They had a sugar to bring the blood sugars up, and a bit of fat to keep them there. Also, they did not melt in my purse.Win WinBut for the past month I haven't been able to find them on shelves anywhere. Not at Target, not at any grocery store....

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Blooming a new perspective.

Saturday L came running into the house. Door flung open, feet barely touching the ground...in his hand, a small branch that had fallen from our tree in the front yard. He was excited to show me his discovery. He lifted the branch up to my eyes and pointed to the flowers. The most beautiful flowers. My husband followed behind me in awe, saying that he noticed after closer inspection that the tree was full of these flowers. They are practically hidden to the naked eye unless you put effort into finding them. L quickly grabbed a cup and filled it with water to preserve the precious gift he was bestowing upon me. (This picture, does them no justice.)I...

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My secret.

I get asked all the time, how I do it.Inevitably, as soon as introductions are made...the question comes. How do you do it?I'm going to tell you my secret right now. No point dancing around it.At the risk of sounding completely sappy...The answer to that question and every other variation of it, is love.I survive Our Diabetic Life because of love.I thrive at times through Our Diabetic Life because of love.I'm not being Bragity McBragerson here or anything...I'm not saying the love that abides here is stronger than the love that abides in your home...I'm just acknowledging that in my hardest hours...on my saddest of days...it was love that brought...

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10 things that have nothing to do with Diabetes!

1) My oldest is turning 16 on Wednesday. He got his permit and I had the privilege of taking him driving for the first time yesterday. My favorite quote from him had to be, "Okay, this shouldn't be too hard, I've played quite a few driving video games in my day. Just show me where the "A" button is and I'm good to go!" He was kidding of course, but man...you gotta love him! 2) There are 10 more actual school days left. My boys are chomping at the bit for summer. Sadly, I have practically chewed through the bit, because I JUST. CAN'T. WAIT!3) One word. Disneyland.4) L had strep last week. Guess who has a sore throat right this minute?...

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To the DOC. D Blog Week, day 7

The last prompt for Diabetes Blog Week is to write out what I learned this week. Easy Peesy!When you are in need of friendsand starting to feel down,just open up your browser and find the greatest peeps around.When you've had a little victoryand want all the world to know,just click "new post" in Bloggerand let those happy feelings show.When you have a burning questionand just don't really understand,Shout it out on Twitter and watch the tweeps give you a hand.When your greatest wish is to knowwhat your children feel inside,just read the type 1 bloggers... they have nothing there to hide.When you feel aloneand would like a friend there by your...

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Nighttime. D Blog Week, Day 6

An homage to the nighttime check.Quiet.The house is still.Parents peacefully sleeping. Children gleefully dreaming.Respite from a long busy day.The dog sighs happily in his bed. The heater hums, the faucet silently drips.The alarm waits.It’s black plastic, hard and distantly cold against the softness of the bedroom.Seconds tick by. Soon it will be time.Tick Tick Tick.BUZZ! BUZZ! BUZZ!The scream of the alarm echoes against the still walls of the sanctuary.A mother’s eyes open.She turns fluidly towards the snooze button.The check can wait.Three more minutes of sleep. Much needed precious sleep.BUZZ! BUZZ! BUZZ!A violent throwing of the blanket....

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Getting in the groove for Blunt Lancet. D Blog Week, Day 5

Blunt Lancet is the one of those music groups that defies the ages.They are loved and followed by generations of Type 1 groupies and their families. I don't want you to faint from excitement, but I've heard through the grapevine that a comeback tour is in the works.For those of you who have been blind to the stylings of said Blunt Lancet, check out this post by Kim where you can find out more "Behind the Music" of this talented group of people.I have been fantasizing of a We Are The World-esque comeback single. This group of musicians are so inspiring, I feel like they can pull off awesomeness such as this with amazing magnitude. I mean who needs...

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Ten things I can't say to the other mothers. D Blog Week, Day 4

(Blogger ate this post, so I am reposting it. I'm sorry your comments were lost, but I read every one and I want to thank you for you sweet words of encouragement!)So if you haven't noticed, I'm different.I have three boys who have Type 1 Diabetes.Sometimes I don't feel like I have a lot in common with the other moms. Sometimes when I pick up the boys, I just wish I could bust out with a little diabetes lingoed epiphany and get an AMEN from the peanut gallery.Sure, most of the time I can fake my normalcy and talk freely with the mothers in the hallway...but sadly, sometimes I'm just in another world with my thoughts.On this note, I would like...

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MacGyver at the movies. D Blog Week, Day 3

Today's prompt for Diabetes Blog Week tasked me to find a moment that I could laugh at...a blooper of sorts.When I read the prompt I had to wonder, isn't my entire existence as a parent-pancreas a giant blooper? Frankly I think America's Home Videos could set up camp in my living room and play laugh track after laugh track in reference to Our Diabetic Life.I wonder if the studio audience would laugh at my ridiculous pancreas costume, or if they would just sit their shaking their heads in pitiful disgust at my pancreatical inadequacy.Whatdoyaknow...Our endo says I'm too hard on myself...I wonder if she is onto something?Any hoo...I love to laugh....

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Dear Ultra Mini One Touch Meter/ D Blog Week, Day 2

Dear OneTouch UltraMini Meters,You've got it all style wise. I mean look at those bright colors, man alive you look good in green! It brings out your numbers.You make diabetes a touch more fun for the boys. I mean, who wants a boring grey meter anyway...You seem to be the whole package...but since I've been able to spend SO much time with you, I have realized...things aren't always what they seem.Sure your accuracy, (whatever that is when it comes to meters,) seems ok...it is the perception that you would never mislead me that took our relationship a step down.You mess with me sometimes, and it isn't funny. Not to me. Not to my children...not...

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Meri's Ark / D Blog Week, Day 1

I like to think of my blog as my ark.I was drowning, so one day I took my thoughts and built my ark/blog.I filled the ark with my fears, my hopes, my belly laughs and musings from my swelly brain and let it sail!It traveled father than I ever imagined, and has taken me to places I never knew existed.The best place of all is the DOC. When I started this blog, I didn't even know the DOC existed. It was a happy coincidence my sister in law found another parent blogger and pointed me in her direction. Discovering Shamae's blog list was akin to finding the new world for me. I had found solid ground. I wasn't alone in the ark with my thoughts, like...

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Pinch Hitting for a better Diabetic Life.

Although L still has a couple days left of his so called, "Diabetes Vacation," I'm ready to return and report on the results.When I sat my cutie down on Monday to tell him my intentions, he pretended to faint back onto the couch and said I was the most awesome mom ever.Yeah, so I knew I was doing something right.I want to start out by saying that I really didn't expect to see anything eye opening here...I mean...for YEARS I did do everything. I did every check, opened every apple juice box, bolused every meal and correction...everything when they were babies. My boys, on their own, took it over when they turned six. They each expressed their...

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IMHO

IMHO means "in my honest opinion." I just figured out that little gem this year. Yeah, I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed sometimes.I'm online a lot.There is no secret about that.And in case you were one of the few that did not know...Now you know.I READ A LOT. Tons and tons of blogs, and Facebook statuses galore. It started out as a venue to quash my aloneness in this diabetic life, and it morphed into friendships that I cherish and support systems that I rely on. Yes, I'm ok with feeling close to people I've never met. After all...we have the same hearts. We want the same thing. We all fight the good fight.And being online allows me to come...

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Job burnout. And he's 7.

Last week when it was time for L to check his sugar at school, he announced, "Time to go to work AGAIN! I'm so tired of my job!"He's burning out. At the Endo's office on Wednesday he spent the majority of his time sitting on the OUTSIDE of the Endo's office door. He just didn't want to talk about it. He didn't want to be there. He didn't want to answer her questions...you could see it all over his face. Burn out city.It isn't a stretch to say that diabetes is a job. He works all day! The VERY FIRST THING he does in the morning is check his sugar. The VERY LAST THING he does at night is check his sugar. And in between is filled with blood sugar...

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