The Stuff of Diabetes

        Tessa was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes when she was 18 mos old. From then until a few mos before she turned 3yo, she got 5 injections/day and anywhere from 6-10 finger sticks (still does) to check her blood sugar. Once she started using an insulin pump, instead of injections, the insulin is administered through a catheter that stays under the skin. We change the pump site every 48 hours, so it's less needles but involves a pretty big needle that inserts the catheter.  In the pic above, she's showing off her new pump site right after I changed it. We use numbing cream when possible to make the site change more comfortable. The needle is shown below.

             The pic below is our diabetes cabinet, with all of her pump supplies, extra glucose test strips, lancets, alcohol and tacky wipes, a blood ketone meter and strips to check for ketones when her blood sugar is very high, all of her paperwork, insulin syringes and needles in case of pump failure, numbing cream and the clear plastic adhesive that holds it in place, spare glucometers and more.  We keep her insulin in the refrigerator.

           Below is her diabetes drawer. This has the supplies we need daily, such as lancets, some wipes, emergency glucagon, spare lancet device, and the insulin vial we are currently using. Insulin can stay at room temp for a month when the vial has been used.

             Below is Tessa's "kit" that she carries everywhere she goes....school (to every class, playground and lunch room), soccer fields, anytime we leave the house, it comes with us.  It has her glucometer which is also a remote to her insulin pump, juices and skittles for treating hypoglycemia, and the laminated tag has her emergency information on one side. She also wears a MedicAlert bracelet that never comes off of her wrist.

Jesus Day Celebration

      Today was Jesus Day for First Eucharist students at our parish. The child and parent (or other special adult) did activities designed to learn more about the Eucharist and our Catholic Faith.  We decorated a special candle, made bread, learned more about prayers and prayer intentions, talked about the Mass, sacred vessels and vestments, and more. Tessa and I enjoyed it and at the end, we all gathered in the Community Center, where Father blessed the bread and we ate it. 

Chin Ups

      Sean wanted to try the chin-up bar that Kevin and Tim use during their P90X workouts. He didn't get all the way up there, but wanted to keep trying. 

Blessed Mother

                                                Statue of Mary at our parish.

Confessions of a Shoe Addict

  My name is Lisa, and I'm addicted to shoes. Dress shoes, pumps, glittery shoes, sandals, and most of all to flip-flops. My closet had reached a critical point. Couldn't step in there at all without standing on shoes. It took me forever to find a pair that I wanted to wear and then much of the time I could find one, but not the mate.  It was time to take the plunge......purge and organize. I don't think I've gotten rid of any shoes in at least 8 years, maybe more judging from some of the styles I found.  I spent most of the morning getting them all out of the closet, matching them up, then deciding which ones to keep and which to donate/throw away. I'm embarrassed to say that I had 87 pairs in my closet. Of those, 35 were flip-flops....but we DO live in Florida, so that's my excuse.  I got rid of 28 pairs, almost all of them going into the Goodwill box.  Now I can see the floor of my walk-in closet!  

      At the same time, I cleared out a lot of other "stuff" that was on my shelves and floor, even emptying out a moving box that has been in my closet, unopened, since we moved into this house 8.5 years ago.     

New Look, No Cost

  I spent the morning, along with a good friend (Thanks Linda!), rearranging our living room and family room furniture. The new (to us) pool table got moved from the middle of the family room into the living room (in what was meant to be dining room, but we don't have formal dr furniture), and the loveseat moved back into the family room. We also moved the piano to another wall, moved the old card catalogue cabinet (thank God it comes apart into 3 pieces), and rearranged the chairs and side tables and lamps.  

      Ignore the boxes to the left of the pool table. After these pics were taken, I finally got the Christmas bins/boxes stored away in the closet under our stairs.       ***VOILA***   A new look for 2 rooms at no cost.   I like it.  Jack immediately jumped onto his favorite chair and fell asleep, so guess he likes it too.

Private Space

  No school today due to the end of the semester/teacher workday. Clare made herself a fort out of the pop-up tent. That wasn't good enough though, so she added a comforter and sheet for extra space and privacy. Inside was her monkey pillow pet, a blanket on the floor, backpack, and two extra pillows for comfort.She was in there most of the afternoon, reading and getting some homework done, with a few snacks to fuel her.

Strange Straw

  Sean is sipping lemonade through a set of straw glasses he got as a Christmas gift. A lot of work for a drink. 

Margaritaville

    
                       Favorite drink: frozen margarita, no salt.  Tim gave me this great blender a couple of years ago for Christmas. It makes the perfect frozen drink...no chunks of ice and has a pour spout for easy dispensing.

Girl Scout Cookie Time

  Clare is selling Girl Scout Cookies, and Tessa & Sean wanted to help her.  They went around our street, selling to neighbors, and sold a lot of boxes, but our family seems to be her biggest customer. Our favorites are Thin Mints, Tagalongs, and Samoas.

Bingo Fun and Laughs

          Once a month I get together with a group of friends and we play bingo.....or more like we eat, drink, chat, laugh, eat some more, have another drink, a lot more chatting, and even more laughing...with a few games of bingo thrown in so we can compete for inexpensive gifts. This picture was taken last night at our January bingo, where the theme (chosen by the hostess) was "As Seen on TV" and we had a lot of fun with the gifts.  I'm hosting February bingo, so need to come up with an idea.

Bus Driver

 Today was "Transportation Day" at Sean's preschool.  They had all sorts of vehicles for the kids to look at, sit in, walk into...plus a horse and a miniature horse.   Sean's favorite was the big, yellow school bus. He liked sitting in the driver's seat.  

Head meets Cleat

 Tonight at soccer practice, Tim bent down to head the ball at the same time a defender was attempting to clear the ball.......and the collision between head and cleat resulted in an evening in the ER for mom and Tim. Typical for head wounds, it bled a lot and Tim grabbed his white game jersey from his backpack to apply pressure. The cut is small in length, but deep, and is a few inches above his right ear.   As far as ER visits go, it wasn't bad...2 hours and 2 staples, and they didn't even have to cut his hair, for which he's very thankful. He'd like to keep the jersey as-is, but I'll be googling "how to get blood out of white shirts."

Shelter for a Rainy Day

  It was overcast and drizzly all day, so we stayed inside and the 3 younger kids ran around, watched some tv, bickered, ate a lot of snacks, and built this fort in Clare and Tessa's room. They love to drape blankets, comforters, sheets over beds, chairs, tables, and then put a ton of toys inside....sort of a dumping ground for mishmash from their rooms.  It's all fun and good until time to take it down and clean up--not their favorite thing to say the least.

Chasing Birds

 After Clare's soccer game this afternoon, a bunch of seagulls were flying around the field, some landing. Tessa and Sean started chasing them and I managed to get a pic with both of them in it, plus 2 of the seagulls in flight.  

Soccer Saturday

 Three of the kids play soccer and John coaches all of them, so we can be found on a soccer field every weekend.  Today Tim didn't have a game but was refereeing, Clare had a game and Tessa too.   The pic above is Tessa in action during the game. She scored a goal today and was pretty excited.

Our Pillow Pet

 Jack, our beagle, always finds the cushiest spot to sleep. At night, that means he's snuggled into the comforter and extra blankets on either Tim's or Tessa's bed.  During the day, he spends most of his time curled up on a pillow.  This is one of his favorite spots in the living room. 

My Drug of Choice

    I didn't start drinking coffee until I was 30yo, but have made up for lost time. Twice a day (morning and afternoon), I make myself a mocha with my trusty espresso machine.

 Espresso + steamed skim milk + sugar-free choc syrup + lots of whipped cream   = Happy, caffeinated Lisa

Scooby Starts the Day

 Sean is a huge Scooby Doo fan. No preschool today, so he's watching one of his favorite dvd's this morning.

Dinner Delivery

  Mary Kate was working this evening, so Tim and I delivered her dinner on the way to the soccer field. Tonight's dinner: teriyaki chicken with basmati rice, broiled asparagus. 

War Eagle !!

     Sean and Tim are ready for the BCS Championship Game.  GO AUBURN!

BFF Chat

 Mary Kate and Becca were spending some time together before Becca heads back to Penn State in the morning.  They've been best friends since they met as 3yo's in preschool.

Traveling Man

  Sean in his carseat as we leave the soccer fields this morning after Tessa's game. As the youngest of 7, he's logged a lot of miles over the years. 

Make a Wish

                                        Happy 8th Birthday Tessa !  

Instruments of Torture

     After 17 years at home with kids, I'm getting ready to re-enter the workforce and taking a RN Refresher course.  I'd forgotten how cumbersome and heavy nursing texts can be, and the volume of information in them is enormous.  The funny thing is, I had these same texts in college almost 30 years ago, but earlier editions.  I'm looking forward to finishing the theory portion of the course and getting into the clinicals, where it will be interesting to see the changes in hospital nursing since I left it years ago.

Breakfast of Champions

  Kevin has been making breakfast each workday/school morning for himself and Tim after their run. The favorite is the Popeye....a fried egg sandwiched between two pieces of  buttered bread that each have a hole in the middle, grilled up to crispy perfection.  They like the yolks to be runny for dipping.  I'm convinced this is the main motivator for Tim to get up at 6am and go running before school, since at 15yo he's all about the food.  Still working on training both of them to clean up after cooking and eating.

Happy New Year!

 This is Tessa celebrating the New Year of 2011 just after midnight on January 1st. 

Getting buff with P90X

 Kevin and Tim are doing the P90X workout everyday. This is a picture of them on January 2nd doing some curls with weights.  I'm tripping over the weights in the living room, so need to remind them to place them out of the traffic flow.  Our beagle, Jack, gets hyped up when they are jumping around, so he's getting a workout as well.

Look Quickly!! This doesn't happen very often...on January 3rd, 2011

 This is a once-in-a-blue moon occurence......my laundry room is free of laundry to be washed, dried, folded or put away!!  I felt a huge sense of satisfaction when I got the last of 5 loads done yesterday.   It didn't last long and soon there were more clothes waiting to be washed, but for that one brief, shining moment I enjoyed the empty space.

Starting Out, 365 Challenge

       January 4th and it's bedtime for our littles........
                               The picture above is of Tessa, Clare and Sean.  Clare is reading a bedtime story to them in Sean's new "big boy bed".  He got the Maurice Sendak book "Where The Wild Things Are" for Christmas and now loves hearing about Max's adventures.