How do you like that?

I was just informed by my son that I can't be the Tooth Fairy. When I asked him why he told me it has to do with not being young enough to be the Tooth Fairy. And he also told me I'm not skinny enough to fit into her skinny dress with wings.

Well, maybe next time one of his rotten little teeth falls out, I'll remember that.

Ha.

Little Boy's good report

I mentioned Little Boy's good report from his endocrinologist. His blood glucose levels have been very stable. I read some blogs of moms of Type 1s who talk about the way their child's numbers fluctuate drastically. I would be freaked out by that.

Little Boy has occasional lows, but more often we're dealing with mild highs. It seems like his 2 am readings tend to be in the low 200s, but his doctor was pleased with how those numbers drop to an acceptable number by breakfast. We do occasionally have to give him a very small shot, but unless his number is over 250, we let it go.

The range we aim for is 80-150.

Here are his numbers from the last month:

7 day avg - 120

14 day avg - 132

30 day avg - 150


That puts his A1C between a 6 and a 7.

Little Boy thought it was a great visit because he didn't have to have blood drawn. It seems his endocrinologist doesn't do blood tests very often. He says it traumatizes the child, and the information he gets from looking at Little Boy's readings is sufficient. If his numbers weren't so consistent, he would be more likely to do the testing.

So Dr. Jones is Little Boy's new best friend. LOL

Quiet Saturday

It's been a long week.

Daddy's long days

Our trip to Morgantown

Unpacking 3 people's things

School work

Bad weather keeping kids inside

Arthritis

Messy kitchen calling my name

Sunday school lesson to write

The list is endless, but all in all, it's been a good week.

Daddy survived his long days.

We got a great report from the doctor.

I got to do some shopping.

Little Boy was challenged by his diabetic educator to read books she'll send him.

We ate out a lot this week; something I often miss.

The weather is supposed to clear for a couple days before our next storm.

And Arthritis. Well, Arthritis will always be with me. Kinda like that person who latches on to you like you're their best friend.

Off to the kitchen. Ugh.

Little Boy's joke

Knock, knock.

Who's there?

Orange.

Orange who?

Orange you glad I'm not still in your belly?

LOL - YOU BETCHA!

My beautiful children

The calm before the storm

Today is a busy day for my husband. He worked last shift, came home, looked at my dying laptop and got it to restart. He's sleeping now, but he has to get up to go to a class at work at 3 this afternoon. He'll get out at 7 pm. Then he has to go back to work tonight at 11 pm.

We don't have anything on our schedule today besides schoolwork. But tomorrow the fun begins.

Little Boy has art class from 11 to noon. Then we have to rush across town to the salon where he and I will get our hair cut. Then home to eat lunch and pack. He and I will go to Morgantown tomorrow afternoon for his 8:30 am appt. Wednesday morning. Daddy will have to take Baby to ballet (a first), and then drop her next door for an overnighter with Grandma and Granddad - since he's on last shift. Wednesday morning, I'll have to get up, get us ready, eat breakfast at the hotel, pack up our things, check out, and get my son to his appt. Thankfully, the hotel is about 5 minutes from the hospital. Then we'll go see his diabetic educator, go to Sam's Club, eat lunch, and come home. And we're praying that the snow on the radar waits for us to get home.

Thursday, Baby has a haircut, and a make-up ballet lesson that night. And Friday we're back to a clear schedule.

On a different note, my friend Elizabeth is having surgery today. She has to have plates and screws put into her neck from her c5-c8 discs. She's a little younger than me, and has 3 small children. Her husband isn't in the picture right now - it's a sad situation. I know it's difficult to go through these things without him. She'll be out of commission for awhile after her surgery. Thankfully, her parents are coming to help her out. I wish I lived closer; I'd love to go help her out for a day, at the very least.

I lost a pound. Woo. I need to get completely serious about losing weight. But I think our trip is going to postpone that for a couple days.

I wish you could hear my son. I can't even type the sound he's making while he plays Mario Kart. Now he's telling himself, "Ok, Little Boy, keep it clean, keep it clean, keep it clean." Baby is climbing all over me because she wants to snuggle. Or because she's bored and wants attention. Apparently, Little Boy doesn't like her bazillion smooches, and she needs another target.

Incoming!

My silly kids

A bunch of really random stuff:

I was going to post some more pictures from Valentine's Day morning; when they were opening their gifts. But I need to do some editing on them first. See, Little Boy is only wearing his undies, and Baby is wearing a shirt with her undies. There is one especially cute picture of my son holding Pez dispensers. Any time he can have candy, his little eyes just light up. So after I get the pic edited, I'll post it.

Speaking of undies, yesterday I was looking at little boy undies at the store. I looked at the size chart, and almost laughed out loud.

The size he was wearing was for whatever weight to 58 lbs. My son weighed 71 lbs. at his last doctor's appt. No wonder he was having issues. I thought they might be a little on the small size, but that poor little boy! And then I thought, "I better check Baby's size." Yep. She was wearing a size smaller than she should be, too. So yesterday was new undie day.

I also bought Baby some more ponies. Nope - not the My Little Pony ponies. Little elastics for her hair. I have bought at least 2 packages before, but I could only find 3 elastics. Dark purple, light purple and white. At least they were in the same color family, right? And while I was looking at ponies, I saw a package of sponge curlers. Ooooo. We could have some fun! I sprayed her hair with a spray bottle, put the rollers in, and we waited a good 2 1/2 hours. When I took out the rollers, she had pretty curls. But about 20 minutes later, droopy waves. Her hair wasn't freshly washed, and I didn't use any product on her hair, so I'm hoping our next experiment will work better/last longer.

I was looking for the other camera, because there were some pics on there I wanted to look at, but DH must have put it away. It's in the case in our room where he's sleeping after working last shift. Kinda should let him sleep.

I got to be the hero this morning. Apparently, our Mario Kart CD/DVD/Game was missing. I looked through every DVD case we own. I've been known to pick things up and just put random DVDs in a case when I'm overwhelmed by the MESS. Nope. Not there. I looked at a couple places where I stash things when I'm overwhelmed by the MESS. Nope. Not there. And then my eyes wandered around the room. Where would I have put it? I looked at the lamp table in the corner. Ah-ha! A small stack of discs - and we found Mario! My kids were so happy; they played nicely all morning for 5 minutes.

I woke up this morning feeling completely vomitous. New word for me. I've learned it's not a good idea to eat pork rinds and later chocolate chips before going to bed when you have acid reflux. Middle of the night - well, it was gross. Woulda been grosser if I'd let it out, but you know...

My kids decided that today I was their short-order cook. Order #1 - Eggs to dip in, toast, waffle, milk. Order #2 - Egg to dip in, toast with no crust, pancake, milk. Sure. Just what a nauseated mom wants to do. Fry eggs. But I did it. DH offered to stay up and do it for me, but he really looked tired. Besides. There are at least a couple places in the kitchen if I couldn't make it to the bathroom to barf if necessary.

My kids wanted to go outside to play. But Baby's snowpants have been bugging me lately. They are just a tad short, and ride up - allowing snow into her little boots. So I've been thinking I should sew some elastic on the hems to go under the bottom of her boot to keep that from happening. But that means digging out the sewing machine, finding the pedal and power cord, finding elastic - GOOD LUCK WITH THAT ONE - and figuring out how to operate it after so long of NOT operating it. I found everything I needed! Wow. And after one snarly looking seam where I didn't put the presser foot all the way down, I did really well. And my melodramatic/rotten son who told Baby with a very sad face, "You might never get to go outside today" was surprised and impressed when I allowed him to come out of his room when I finished.

So my kids are outside pestering their Granddad. (evil sinister laugh - bwa-ha-ha-ha)

I told DH the other day something I'd heard before. "Having kids is like being pecked to death by ducks." Oh yeah. Now I remember where I heard it. Kate Gosselin said it. I googled it, and it's a book. She must have seen the title, or had someone else read it for her or something. LOL

So now that my sewing machine is out, and I have all the necessary pieces, I don't have an excuse to not start my projects. Unless it's that there is NO space on my messy table. Hmm. I wonder if Baby's magic wand works....

Rats.

In my partial defense - the end of the table is covered with stacks of DVD cases and video tapes. Oops.

So what are you supposed to say?

What do you say when someone tells you that you are so sweet?

I am NOT sweet. At least not very often, I don't think.

Today ugly words came out of my mouth. We were running late to get to Little Boy's therapy session. I told my kids to put on their coats and shoes. I came out of the bathroom, and they were not ready to go. I told them to go downstairs and get in the car. I was right behind them. I go downstairs, and they were NOT getting in the car. So when I lost my temper and yelled, you'd think they would hurry up and get into the car. But instead, it looked like these guys on the other side of the car.

And I lost my temper. And I said some things I grew up hearing on a regular basis. And I don't want my kids growing up with those words in their heads.

So I finally got the kids in the car, and realized the garage door opener wasn't in the car. (DH usually parks his vehicle in the garage and it was in his vehicle.) So, out of the car, open the garage door. Pull out, get out, close the garage door. Get in the car, and ... spin. The front tires were on ice. Out of the car, in through the side garage door, open the door, back the car in. Remembered my cell phone was upstairs. Ran upstairs, came back down, got in the car, and drove out of the garage faster to zip past the ice. Called DH to let him know that I left the garage door open.

And we pulled into his appointment 2 minutes late. I HATE to be late. But it was ok.

Anyway. I know how I've behaved today, and it wasn't very sweet.

Valentine's Day pictures

I tried to get Little Boy to smile.

Aren't they so sweet?"No more smooches!""You slobbered on me!"

Isn't she lovely?

I woke up cranky

I have been staying up way too late at night - visiting with my husband when he gets home from work. I usually end up falling asleep on the couch. Then he wakes me up, and we go to bed. Usually after 1 am. This morning he got up and left for work. And then it starts.

"Can we come out now?"

"NO."

"Can we come out now?"

"NO. Go back in your room, close the door, and play quietly."

"Can we come out now?"

And so on, and so on, until I told them they could play quietly in the living room.

It was about 5 minutes later that the Teradactyl (Baby) started screeching.

So I had to drag my big butt out of bed.

And that cranky feeling just hangs on. And it has joined forces with a sinus headache.

Joy, joy.

Overtime?

I'm not wishing that DH would get stuck working a second shift; it would mess up his work schedule for tomorrow as sit-in Union Pres. But the money would be wonderful. Since it's a holiday, he's recieving holiday pay on top of his shift pay. If he worked tonight, it would be considered red time. I think that's double time and a half. That's a LOT of money. So when I looked outside, and saw the snow had just about quit, I figured that wasn't going to happen. But I just looked outside again, and it's snowing again.

Is it bad if I start chanting, "Snow Faster! Snow Harder!" ?

The 14th

My husband gave me these beautiful flowers for Valentine's Day along with a card he made.

I gave him a bag of Duncan Donuts coffee and a large candy bar and a card.

I know it's Valentine's Day, and not Christmas, but I got my kids some gifts. Neither of my kids can have chocolate (caffeine) because of the whole head-spinning, acting like they're on crack reaction they have. And since Little Boy doesn't need extra sugar/empty carbs, I tend to try to compensate. They each got a board game (Operation & Candy Land), a card game (War & Crazy Eights), a stuffed bear, socks and Pez dispensers.

They were very appreciative; that is always nice.

We went to church, and navigated our way through everyone giving candy to our kids. It bugs me to no end, but I guess I'm not much better. I gave heart-shaped lollipop bouquets to my students. We didn't stay at church for the Valentine's Day banquet. It's so hard to do that; Husband doesn't enjoy church dinners anyway, and who knows how many carbs are in those mystery dishes. We couldn't stay since we didn't bring insulin. I know people don't understand. There are three other insulin-dependent diabetics in our church. They don't count carbs, they don't seem to keep ahead of the situation. One man has part of his foot amputated, one lady eats whatever she wants, checks her sugar and tries to bring her numbers back down to normal, and the other man basically eats what he wants and takes the same dosage of insulin no matter what.
I don't get it.

So we got our Sunday treat of McDs on the way home. Ate lunch and the kids wanted to go next door to deliver valentine's cards. No answer. Little Boy left a message. We finally let him call again an hour later. Granddad told them they could come. I told my son to be home in a half hour - 2:45.

I was puttsing on the computer, and dozed off. I roused and looked at the clock. 3:10. Sigh. I called. "He said 2:15, so we figured he meant 3:15." No biggie. We're not going to church tonight, so it's ok. "We gave him a snack. It was only 19 grams of carbs, and it was made with Splenda." I asked if he was low. "No. We gave one to Baby, and so we didn't want to leave him out. It was only 19 carbs."

Great. Now what? He gets one unit of insulin for every 10 grams of carbs. So, I should have to give him 1 1/2 units at least. I called Daddy. He wasn't happy either. While we were discussing what to do, the kids came in. I had Little Boy check his sugar. He was at 88. So either he was low when they gave him the snack, or the carbs haven't kicked in yet and he'll be high in a little while.

Husband asked what we're going to do (about the situation w/his parents). I don't know. I told him we'll just not ever go anywhere without our son. "We already do that."

I know.

Oh well.

My first hero

I look forward to Heaven for many reasons, but seeing my dad again is one of the biggest. 25 years ago today, my dad went to Heaven. I miss him every day.

I finally got out

I've been in the house (or in the yard) for a week and a half now. Today, I got my break. And I "got" to go to the grocery store. :0) It's a good thing I went shopping before the big storm.

I picked up some things for the kids for Valentine's Day. I have to try to be a little more creative since the kids can't have chocolate or a ton of candy. So I bought them each a board game, some Pez dispensers, a stuffed animal and some socks. LOL When in doubt, when you need a filler, buy socks. Besides, they both really need socks. Little Boy would wear the same pair of socks for a month if I'd let him. But after a couple days, they start to get very floppy. And for some reason, I get irritated when I see them like that. Baby's feet are growing, so she needed the next size up. And between the two of them, they keep the black hole that eats our socks very well-fed.

The kids are next door at Grandma and Granddad's house. So the house is quiet for another 35 minutes, or so. Ahh. Sweet.

The volume button is stuck

on REALLY LOUD.

So I sent him to his room.

It could be a long day.

God has a great sense of humor!

Due to wintry weather, the global warming meetings have been cancelled.

Pretty funny!

How do you spell "relief"?

M-O-T-R-I-N-S.

Ok. I know Motrin is the singular and plural form of the word, but it just didn't flow correctly without another syllable.

With the front that is moving through, I am in severe pain tonight. Throbbing, searing pain in my lower back on both sides, aching in both legs and feet, but the more intense pain is radiating down my left leg.

I want to know what the logic of that is? Why only pain on one side? Isn't that discrimination? Not that I really want both sides to hurt like the left side, but I don't know how that happens.

Looking forward to falling asleep when I don't know how much I hurt.

Averages don't always tell the whole story

Little Boy's numbers have been a little more up and down than we'd like. But his last month/2 week/1 week averages are very good - all in the 110's-120's. But he's had a couple highs that we don't "get" and some lows that are likely the result of playing outside in the snow. We have been trying to get him to stop and check how he's feeling while he's playing, but we haven't been very successful.

We've had a couple meltdowns, but they have mostly been schoolwork related, and not to do with checking his blood sugar.

His last counseling session was focused on dealing with his frustrations by using words and a breathing technique. I've encouraged him to do this, but unfortunately, once he's in the middle of a fit, he isn't cooperative at all.

I don't know that he is getting bored with our menu of late, but I am. I need to spend a little time doing some menu planning. And hopefully, we'll be able to get to the grocery store one of these days. We're supposed to get another 10 - 15 inches of snow on top of the 27" we just got.

yay.

I dream of being strong, too

I was sleeping; dreaming about going on a surprise tropical vacation with my family.

But when we got to the port, I realized I didn't have the kids' picture IDs. I didn't have their birth certificates. Even though, through the magic of dreams, I was home tearing through papers searching for them. We went to the ship, hoping they would look at us and KNOW that these children belong to us. How could they doubt it? The kids look like US. And then in my dream, my daughter fell off the platform into the water, and my husband dove after her. I woke up at this point; I don't know what the result of that was. But I lay there trying to rework the events into something pleasant. I prayed that God would take the false fear away. My pounding heart was not cooperating.

I finally got up. Maybe a little stupid surfing would help me relax.

I've been sitting here for awhile - looking at blogs, Facebook, the weather.

And then I heard a door open, and little feet padded to the bathroom.

A minute passed, and I heard, "I'm DOOOOooooonne." She needed help.

I went in there, and helped her. She is so cute in her soft, comfy Christmas jammies. She told me she had a dream. I told her I had one, too. She wanted to know what mine was about. I told her it was about getting on a big boat.

"I dreamed I was really strong. And Little Boy and Daddy were there too."

I didn't ask where I was. I didn't need to know. It was comforting to know that while I was dreaming scary things, she was safe and secure in her dream - with her two favorite guys there with her.

I tucked her back into bed, gave her smooches, and told her to go back to sleep and have sweet dreams.

I think I'll be able to get back to sleep now.

Maybe I'll dream of being strong.

Super Bowl picnic

Daddy had to go in to work today. He was relieving someone who had worked a double. I was sad to see him have to go in, but if I were the wife of the other person, I'd be thankful someone came in.

Little Boy, Baby and I had a Super Bowl picnic on Daddy's big Steelers blanket. Sandwiches, chips and ice cream. Little Boy told me it was a great dinner. I think it was more that we were sitting on the floor. :0) Maybe we should do that more often! LOL

Little Boy picked the Saints, and Baby picked the Colts to cheer for. If they had both picked the same team, I would have picked the team that was left. The way it was, I cheered both teams with them, explaining what was going on in terms they could understand. And I ran the remote; skipping inappropriate commercials and the horrible half-time show.

They had to go to bed before the end of the game, so I'll have to break the bad news to Baby in the morning.

Saturday morning

I think we'll be using the garage door for awhile. Baby in the snow.

Little Boy loves snow!
Daddy clearing the driveway for the third time since the storm began.

Big Snow

My son starting the sled track.

Standing in the snow. Little Boy after a ride down the driveway.

Here he is "luging" down the driveway.

Our pine tree in the side yard.

AWWWW

That's what I heard first thing this morning.

My kids were disappointed that they didn't wake up to two feet of snow.

I told them to not be too upset yet because the storm is on its way.

And I have to run to the pharmacy this morning for insulin, so I'm hoping the storm holds off until 9:30 am.

Kinder than necessary

Just a thought I read on another blog:


"Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle."


I think I'll post this on my fridge; it's something I need to remember.

I'm so excited!

Took Little Boy to his counseling (?) session this morning. His therapist has all kinds of games for the kids to play with her while she gets to know them. Sounded like they were having a lot of fun. Then they take time to do "brain work". He is going to work on using words when he's frustrated instead of throwing a fit. And then he is supposed to do what he's been asked. He's also going to work on using a breathing technique she showed him. We'll see. I hope it works.


THEN - yippee - we went to Joann's. I picked out fabric to make some aprons and I found a fabric I loved so much, I bought enough to make Baby a pillowcase dress in addition to the aprons.


We stopped at the hair salon on the way home, and I made long-overdue appointments for us all. I don't know. By the time our appts. roll around, we may all look like this.


We picked up McDs on the way home, and I splurged. I've been pretty good lately, so instead of a grilled chicken wrap, I got a quarter pounder with cheese. And.... back to my "diet" tonight. Not worried about it, and I'm not going to feel guilty.


Got home and I got the mail. And in the mail? More fabric. I bought some online the other day, and for the most part I am very happy with my purchases. I got some embroidered fabric that has a lot of threads hanging from the embroidery. I'm very particlular. I think I'll have to line the little dresses, and I'm going to spend time putting fray-check on the fabric. But the dresses will be very cute.

So I need to finish getting the tree down, move the chair to the open spot in the living room, move the dining room table a little closer to the LR, and set up my sewing stuff in the corner. For now, that's the best I can do, I think.

I'm excited.


The kids are excited too. Big snow on the way tomorrow and Saturday, followed by more snow next Tuesday.


Wonder how excited Daddy will be?

Funny Girl

My sweet daughter has a new preoccupation with pigtails.

I think she's adorable.

She loves to get her picture taken.

Sometimes she likes to be UP CLOSE.

She loves to be silly.

She came up with a new use for Happy Meal boxes.

She has decided that this is a funny face.

She likes to make "big eyes".

She is more-often-than-not wearing her clothes inside out AND backwards.

And I gave her the opportunity to smile, but she kept looking at me like this.

I can't stop laughing.

But she does have a good teacher, and a natural bent towards humor.

Pinched Nerve

I was taking Baby to ballet tonight, and it was a complete fiasco.

It had started snowing. I got her dressed and finished my hair. I grabbed some magazines to read during her lesson b/c it gets boring. I got her a drink to take, I let her go out to the vehicle. I remembered her ballet shoes, the charger for my dead cell phone, and got out to the vehicle - finally. I lifted her up to put her in the back seat, and I felt a stab in my neck that went half-way down my back. It hurt so much it brought tears to my eyes. I went in to take some Motrin, and DH came out to buckle her in. I could barely turn my head to the left to look for traffic.

We should have just stayed home.

But we got there with a couple minutes to spare.

And we were the only ones.

Apparently, the teacher had sent out an automatic message - to my dead cell phone.

So we went to Denny's anyway. And went home.

And now I am miserable. I've had the heating pad on and off for awhile now.

I'm going to take some more Motrin and try to go to bed.

Ouch.

Valentine's Day is coming

Here is a decadent recipe that you might consider for your sweetheart.

Chocolate Truffle Cheesecake

Crust:
1 1/2 c. chocolate wafer crumbs
2 T sugar
1/4 c. butter or margarine, melted

Filling:
1/4 c. semisweet chocolate chips
1/4 c. whipping cream
3 (8 oz.) pkgs. cream cheese, softened
1 c. sugar
1/3 c. baking cocoa
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Topping:
1 1/2 c. semisweet chocolate chips
1/4 c. whipping cream
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

In a small bowl combine cookie crumbs and sugar; stir in butter. Press onto the bottom and 1 1/2 in. up the sides of a 9 in. springform pan. Bake at 350 for 10 min. Cool on a wire rack.

Reduce oven temp to 325.

In a saucepan over low heat, melt the chocolate chips, stir until smooth. Remove from the heat, add cream and mix well. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, beat all 3 pkg. cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add cocoa and beat well. Add eggs; beat on low just until combined. Stir in vanilla and reserved chocolate mixture just until blended. Pour over crust. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until center is almost set.

For topping, melt chocolate chips in a saucepan over low heat, stirring until smooth. Remove from the heat. Stir in cream and vanilla; mix well. Spread over the filling. Refrigerate overnight. Carefully run a knife around edge of pan to loosen. Remove sides of pan. Just before serving, garnish with whipped cream and miniature chocolate kisses if desired.





















Makes 12 servings. Maybe. If you don't eat more than your fair share. I'm just saying. It could happen.

Church Cookbook

Yikes. I started working on this last October? I think? And here it is the first of February, and I'm still working on it.

I asked everyone to have the recipes turned in the middle of November so that I could have time to get everything done and sent in before January 1st.

Yeah, right.

People are still handing me recipes.

The pastor's wife informed me that there are people who she hasn't reminded to turn in recipes.

So I don't feel badly that I only have half the recipes entered that have been given to me.

At this rate, maybe we'll be done by July 4th.