Partyin' Diabetes Style

It was our first time attending the Diabetes Support Club Holiday Party and it was pretty fantastic. The banquet room of the Children's Hospital was beautifully decorated. We had a Mexican Fiesta of a dinner; catered by Qdoba. There was a DJ and a ton of presents. Unfortuneatly, there was a blizzard that day and Santa got stranded in Midland.

Lorelei liked the cookies.

The staff called for all of the diabetic kids to come to the front of the room for their gifts. Ashton stands up, takes a couple steps, looks back at Chadd and asks, "Am I a diabetic?" He knows that he has diabetes, but we have never called him a diabetic before. It was kind-of a surreal question. Here he is with his booty.

After all the diabetic kids get their mounds and mounds of gifts, they call for all of the other kids to come up. They also receive treat bags, and quite honestly, get almost as spoiled as their insulin challenged siblings.

Lorelei is not too impressed with the music and refuses to partake in any "kicking up of the heels."

But, wait! Just then, she sees brother participate in something that somehow represents some small piece of the alphabet song that she loves so much. Here Ashton is executing a nearly perfect 'A.' (Take that Shawn Johnson.)

Lorelei is all in now: "Let's do this!"

Great job, everyone!

Is she Vogueing or doing the Hokey Pokey?

Already working on those white boy moves.

A Nice View of the Parking Lot

Today was the day for our annual walk for JDRF. Ashton and Chadd drove separately from me and Lorelei because Chadd had a later engagement in a suite for the Lions game. As I was following Chadd down the long winding road into the park, he quickly pulls over onto the grass. I quickly pull over as well and run back to his car. Ashton had thrown up and Chadd was doing a glucose check. Ashton was high, but not unusually so. We decide to finish heading back to the walk and park the cars.

Ashton insisted that he was fine and that he was hungry, but he kept spitting up small amounts of vomit. We could not figure out what was wrong and Ashton said, "Oh, I forgot to tell you, my tube came out." So, the kid was not getting any insulin and even though his blood glucose wasn't extremely high, he was spilling ketones (when there's no insulin to provide cells with energy, the body burns fats that spill acids into the blood stream) and it was making him sick. So we kicked into emergency plan. No walking today, we needed to head home. I put some numbing cream on his belly, gave him an insulin injection, and finally a new pump site.

We've been coming to this event for 6 years and this was the first time that we didn't get to walk. And in all of those years, we have had beautiful weather. It poured for this walk so it's not like I was too broken hearted over heading home early.

Here are the pictures from this years non-walk. They're pretty exciting if you've never seen cars parked on grass before.

And just in case you've seen cars parked on grass before, here are pictures of the kids:

Catch Up

As always, a little behind, but I am very excited to get to blogging on my brand new computer! I've done some updating on the kids' pages and there's a new page devoted to our life with diabetes and the constant state of confusion surrounding raising a child with special needs. I am keeping the subject, for the most part, as a separate page because I don't always like talking about it, but writing does sometimes seem to help. Plus,this way you can click on it from time to time or ignore it completely.


We are having a good summer, but it is going by too quickly. I'm sure that Ashton is excited to be getting back at school, but I could use another month. Of course, if I was given another month, I would probably be saying that I could use another month. Oh well. Here are some pictures from our week in Oscoda.

Summer Vacation

Over the week of July Fourth, we headed out to Oscoda as we usually do. We couldn't stay at the place we usually stay and had to rent somewhere different this year, and though we were nervous about it, we were ready for the adventure. However, the place was so filthy that mom and I stayed up until 1 a.m. trying to make the place habitable for just one week (we would have left when we first got there except that it was way too late and the children were too tired to be dragged around).

We couldn't get the place clean and mom and I were such wrecks the next day that we packed up all of our stuff and just drove down the main strip hoping to find a vacancy. We found a great place that was super clean and right on the beach!!! We debated just heading home because this place was more expensive than the spider-fest we had just left, but my mom said it was worth it to stay when the boys let out huge yells of happy when they found out that we were surrounded by sand and super close to the water.

We have been vacationing in Oscoda for the last 4 years. Every year we take pictures of the kids (Trenton, too) in front of the Oscoda sign.

This picture is funny because it's true. Cell reception is really hard to come by in Oscoda. But if you stood really still on the balcony you could sometimes make a call. So Ashton had to call someone (Connor, I think), so he grabbed the Buzz Lightyear cell and stepped out onto the balcony. It looked so real it was funny.

Every night the boys fell asleep together. They would end up in the craziest positions. See that hand under Trent's chin? It's Ashton's.

This guy was ultra cool. It was really windy the week we were vacationing and this guy had this huge kite-like contraption that he held onto and the kite pulled him through the water while he was strapped on something that looked similar to a snow board. I have no idea what this is called. He did all kinds of flips and stuff- he was so awesome. My mom and I are going to start training so that we can do this next year. However, we have yet to begin training.

When we go on summer vacation it is usually just me, my mom, and her grandchildren for the week. Chadd and my dad come up on the weekend. When they showed up that Friday, we went straight to lunch in hopes of getting through town before the 4th of July parade started. We beat the parade on the way there, but got stuck behind it going back to the condo. The cool part was that we were the first car behind the parade. That guy in the orange vest was our personal escort. The kids loved it because they waved to the crowd and the crowed waved and cheered back. It was worth the long, slow drive through town because the kids really thought we were part of the parade.

Here are the children waving to their fans.

That night, the last night of our vacation, Chadd and my dad took the kids down to the beach and my mom and I finally had some quiet! But then they were all being so cute that I had to go down there to take pictures. Our condo was closest to the beach and the view was awesome. The fireworks over the water were great and it was the first year that all of the kids enjoyed them. But Lorelei was way over tired and she just wanted her papa.

Our vacation started out pretty rocky but it ended up being really nice. We're thinking that maybe we should start taking the kids to vacation other places every year, but the idea of staying in another mystery place is a bit discouraging. We shall see.

Home security

Here are some statistics according to the Brinks Home Security website:

• The FBI reports a burglary occurs every 14 seconds.
• A home without a security system is 2-3 times more likely to be burglarized.
• 90% of police believe home monitoring alarms help deter burglary attempts.
• Over 2 million home invasions occurred in 2006.
• 63% of residential burglaries in 2006 took place during the day.
  

These statistics can be quite intimidating. Would you feel more comfortable protecting your loved ones with a home security system? Would you like the ease of knowing that your belongings are safe while you are away from your home? Would you like knowing that a home security system could alert the police to possible criminal activity so that the bad guys can be captured and thrown into the county jail?

Well, that might be too bad, because many home security systems are way too expensive to even consider. Plus, I watch TV. I know that there are times when the inept husband has snuck downstairs for a midnight snack only to trip the alarm and, in his clumsiness, cannot remember the procedure or code to quiet the freakishly loud alarm, thus waking the entire household and some nosy neighbors.

That is why I came up with an alternative to an electronic home security system: I hired Super Heroes.

Batman, Spider man, Spider girl, and Superman have formed a home security business that is safe, reliable and affordable. They have great moves to thwart any bad buys (check out the action shots below), they are incredibly reliable since Spider girl and Superman have taken up residence here, and Batman and Spider man are based right next door. And you can't beat their prices! A box of macaroni and cheese, a movie for Spidey and Supe, and a nap for Bats and Little Spidey.

They are a fierce, fearless, phenomenal force of power! Put the picture of the four of them at you front door and bad guys everywhere will steer clear! Call today to book you super hero home security system.*

*They need to check with their moms before they commit to an event. They are not allowed to stay in the home without adult supervision. They do not perform at parties. You must provide popcorn and Capri Sun Roaring Waters with the aforementioned movie.

Get off my back

Ok, here is the updated blog. I know that it has been a while, but it is now back with a vengence. I mentioned before that I don't know how often I will post, but I will try to block out some time. Maybe I will do that whole TV as babysitter thing for Ashton so that he will stop talking long enough to write. Seriously, he talks nonstop and it is way too hard for me to type while his voice is competing with the voices in my head.

Anyway, Jillian has offered to watch my kids so that I can keep this thing updated. I know that she commented in jest, but I am seriously going to hold her to it. Thanks, BFF!!!