Challenge Accepted

I have accepted the challenge of being a parent to 2 amazing child, Aly (8) and Joel (2), but believe me parenting is not all Unicorns, Rainbows, and Glitter. 

No parenting is hard 24/7/365 never ending work. For at least 18 years and then many more you are attached to your children through the good, glad, ugly, and disgusting times. 

Most parents would never change that they became parents and still will do everything in their power to raise the best, productive, honest, courteous, amazing adults that they can.

I accepting the role of parent at the young ripe age of 20 and definitely have different parenting styles now with my son than I did with my daughter. I have learned more and had a lot more practice parenting when my son came along.

Like I said though parenting is not all glamorous even though we would all love to think it is. Parenting is never ending even once they grow up, are married, and may loves miles and miles away. We are still their parents and are there for them if they need us.

There are a few things that challenge me in my parenting skills even to this day like

What behaviors should I punish and which ones should I let go?

We as parents have probably heard the saying "Pick your battles wisely", as most of you know my daughter Aly has Type 1 diabetes, when a Type 1 diabetics blood sugars are out of whack either high or low this can lead to temperament issues and disobedience, not always intentional. 

So I am challenged with when her blood sugars are not in range what behaviors do I punish and which do I let slide because of her diabetes? When is the appropriate time for those punishments? Will she really get the lesson from what I am trying to teach her by receiving punishment since she is not feeling food? If her numbers are in range and she gets scolded, did she do it because she was spiking upward quickly or plummeting to a low blood sugar quickly. 

There are just so many what if, why nots, and how comes in punishment.

Getting my children to eat all their food.

Meal time for me is not easy some days with both of my children like many households across the world. For my daughter Aly I have to count every angle carbohydrate that is going to go through her body and give her the appropriate insulin amount to cover those carbohydrates BEFORE she eats! This can cause issues on days that she decides that she does not want to finish her meals because she either doesn't like what is on her plate, gets full, or just wants to go play. On days like this I have to be the evil mommy and make her sit there until all food has been consumed in a timely manner.

Aly is a picky eater like myself so I have sworn to myself that with my son Joel I will introduce him to more foods than I ever did with Aly even though I don't even eat most of the foods I give him to try/eat. Now Joel is not a Type 1 diabetic but I still want Jim to just like his sister eat everything on his plate. Now if you are a parent you know how lets call it "fun" that it can be to try and get a 2 year old to listen.

I work on this challenge daily!

Cleaning

Cleaning in this household is a fight! My daughter HATES to clean and will throw hour long fits when cleaning comes up, she hates it and refuses to do it. She has excuse Ayer excuse as towhy she won't do it  .. I didn't make the mess my friends did, my brother made the mess, I don't want to, I don't care if it is messy, and the list of excuses goes on.

My son Joel now he is another story, he will help clean up in a heart beat. 

I will admit that I am not the best housewife out there but I work on this daily to better myself and my daughter. Cleaning is something that is never going to go away for her or myself so my challenge to myself in parenting is to teach her that cleaning is a necessity and must be done without a fight.

Now I know I am not the only parent out there will challenges thatI face in regars to parenting ... What are some of YOUR challenges?

Challenge accepted! Today is Day 3 of #A4Amonth carnival. The prompt is: write about challenges you face as a parent, caregiver, or advocate

Favorite Things

#A4AMonth

August 22 

Day 2: These are A Few of My Favorite Things Post

List time! 

Write 5-10 of your favorite things about your loved one. Celebrate their uniqueness and be sure to tell us why those are your favorite things. 

So this week I am participating in the WEGO Health Advocating For Another Blog Carnival, today's topics is 5-10 of my favorite things about my daughter Alyse.

There are so many things that I love about my daughter and her personality but I will narrow it down a bit.

 The first thing that I love about my daughter is that she never lets anything hold her back. When she sets her mind to getting something done she gets it done. (now she is only 8 so some days this is better than others)

I love that my daughter is coming out of her shell with children her age. She usually is a shy child and will not stick up for herself in situations. This year she was placed in a class with a girl that she had issues with last year, Aly talked to the girl the 2nd day into school and explained that her pump site had a metal needle that is in her at all times and when the girl would push her it hurt. The girl apologized and said she never knew. While the girl was in the wrong for pushing Aly last year I was proud of my daughter for talking to this child and explaining how she felt.

Aly is the best big sister around. She is always looking out for her little brother and most of the she tries to include  him in the things that she is doing

Another favorite things is that's he tells me that my cooking is better than all the restraurants. She loves her mom as cooking

My last but not final favorite thing about Aly is that she is my fighter, my daughter, the reason I am the person that I am today. She looks like me, talks like me, acts like me, and well is just a mini me all around and she is my hero. 

These are a few of my favorite things :)

Bombed Job Interview

DSMA Blog Carnival for August.

The question has been raised:

"Your pancreas is in a job interview and totally bombs the question about ____."

Well in my situation my pancreas works just fine so it would pass with flying colors and be offered the job ... My daughters pancreas on the other hand would fail the question about job experience.

My daughters pancreas decided to take a forever vacation starting on January 20, 2007 after only two and a half years of on the job work. 

I am not aware of any job where you get to only work for two and a half years and then get to take a never ending vacation from while still hitching a free ride, do you?

I am sure her pancreas would try to come up with excuses as to why it decided to take this never ending vacation and some may sound pretty awesome, who can turn down sitting on a beach with a Mai tai in hand?, I certainly wouldn't turn it down

Some day we hope that researchers find out how to take her pancreas off vacation and produce insulin again but until then it gets to enjoy its vacation and free ride

Portrait

#A4Amonth 

August 21 

Day 1: Portrait Post

Write a descriptive portrait of your child/ren. Share qualities that make them, them – and include an image!

 (A photo or creative work of them!) 

Alyse Evangeline is an 8 year old artistic 2nd grader who was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at the young age of 2 1/2

Aly has many qualities that make her my daughter, my fighter, and my reason why I advocate for diabetes education and awareness to the general public and support for families already affected by diabetes

Aly's qualities that make her her include but are not limited to:

• Very Caring
• Very Sensitive
• Artistic
• Loves to play with her friends
• Love to play dress up and do her make-up
• Smart
• Never defeated by her diabetes
• Fighter

Aly is a true fighter in my opinion. I was blessed with good health and her being my child makes it my obligation and job to make sure that she gets the best quality life and support that she deserves.

Aly is the portrait of perfection :)

A charity you should know about

Out there in the Diabetes non-profit world there are a ton of non-profits out there specializing in different things from research, to support, to helping with cost of supplies and so many more. 

The 2 most known non-profits would be JDRF and the American Diabetes Association (ADA), but me personally I love supporting one of the smaller non-profit organizations here in Kansas City, Kids with Courage, that was started by another mother who's daughter was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. 

Kids with Courage is a 501(c) (3), not for profit foundation that recognizes, encourages and honors the courageous children and young people living with Type 1 diabetes.

Kids with Courage currently has 3 initiatives that they are working on

Crate, Full of Courage: Being diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes is devastating and can be overwhelming. For these children (and their families), being courageous involves being fully aware and accepting of the threat of immediate medical emergencies and their long term health concerns. Empowering families, by encouraging education, awareness and advocacy is essential. Courageous behavior consists of taking responsibility and being pro-active. Benefits of being courageous include personal integrity and thriving in the midst of normality. Newly diagnosed children and youth, receive a crate (age appropriate), filled with educational and resource materials, comfort and support items designed to encourage children and families.

Team Courage: Children and young people with Type 1 diabetes are invited to join "Team Courage". We consider those with Type 1 diabetes as the Most Valuable players (MVP's). Our philosophy is to encourage our MVP's to become "champions" and get the most out of their opportunity of life. Being a champion is about doing your very best to achieve your goals, despite the difficulty and challenges that type 1 diabetes brings.

Scholarship Program: To date, we sadly have been unable to secure donors for this program. It is our intent to begin a Scholarship Program when funds become available.

You can find out more about Kids with Courage online at www.kidswithcourage.org

Keep an eye on their website and find them on Facebook to stay in the know about Kids with Courage upcoming events and to support their organization.

Lows Suck

Aly was dead sleep when I checked her blood sugar and she was 41 :/. Never fun forcing juice down your child esophagus at 10pm  Duck Fiabetes.

First day of 2nd grade

 Before School

Today was Aly's first day of 2nd grade. 

Her blood sugar started off low in the 60's at wake up but rocked in the 80's the rest of the day. Not bad for the1st day of school.

She started off her morning with a breakfast of a Strawberry Struesel Waffle and 2 pieces of sausage. We have found that the protein helps Aly focus better in the class room.

I hope we can rock these awesome blood sugars most days during the school year.

Here's to the first day with many many more to come

 After School

New school year

Today was the day that I had a meeting with our new school nurse to make sure that we are ALL on the same page for Alys diabetes care. We do not have a 504 plan for Aly at this time and as long as this nurse does as I say then I will not enforce one, but believe me the minute she tries anything this momma will scream and I will scream loud and to everyone!

We got everything set for when she will test during her school day and luckily this year she will not have to miss any class time for testing. It is all going to be done during transition times like before recess, lunch, and after her 2nd recess. This will be helpful for Aly because she also has ADHD and sometimes has a hard time stays focused as it is without the disruptin of bgl testing. 

We will have the same nursing assistant that we have always had which makes it nice because sheiks the one that I deal with 95% of the day in regards to daily numbers.

I know this year will go great in regards to the school taking care of my daughter while she is in their facility. 

We met Alys teacher tonight and she's is a very sweet lady but is going to be a good fit for Aly because she's used to be a special Ed teacher so she can help Ay with her ADHD while being strict enough which is what Aly needs.

Here's to 2nd grade and another fabulous school year. 

A mothers wish

As a mother we always have hopes/dreams/wishes for our children. We have hopes/dreams for how their life will become, who they will grow up to be, what they will do in their life, how they will handle situations, and the list goes on.

Here is a list of 10 wishes/hopes/dreams that I personally have for my own 2 children.

I hope that they learn from their mistakes. We are all humans and my children just like everyone else in the world will make mistakes, I just hope that they learn from those mistakes and change for the better.

I hope that they will do well in school. As an adult now I can look back and see how important school was, I now realize that I should have put more into school, so my hope is that Aly and Joel both do well with their academics and care about school.

For Aly I hope that her diabetes will not hold her back from doing almost anything that she wants in her life, she is a fighter, she can over come pretty much everything.

My wish for my children is for a life full of love, peace, joy, happiness, confidence, success, balance, and contentment.

I wish them Love. I want them to know that no matter what their parents will always be on their side, even when it seems that they are all alone.

I wish them Peace. I hope that they will Accept who they are and be proud of themselves

I wish them Contentment. I hope that they know that where they are is exactly where they are supposed to be. Life changes so fast. There is nothing wrong with striving for better, but don't forget to enjoy the now. I hope they look around be proud of their accomplishments.

I wish challenge for my 2 children ... an age appropriate learning context complete with obtainable challenges so they can experience the confidence that engenders true accomplishment.

I hope they get to experience everything in life that their heart desires and not let world hurdles stop them from these experiences

I hope/wish/dream for a CURE for diabetes. I hope some day that Aly can again see the world without having to count every carbohydrate, check her blood sugar 8-10 times a day, worry about stress affecting her blood sugars, the financial constraints around the disease and many more. I hope/wish/dream for a cure for my daughter and the millions of others who suffer from diabetes. 

I wish all of this and so much more for you my childre. You both are my heart, my life, my greatest accomplishments.

Confessions

Confessions from the mother of a Type 1 Diabetic

5 years and 7 months ago my then two and a half year old daughter Aly was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. When my daughter my diagnosed on January 20, 2007 our lives as a family changed and my role as a young mother (I was 22 when she was diagnosed) were changed forever.

My 1st confession is that I felt guilty, I felt that I had done something wrong during pregnancy or the first few years of her life to cause my daughter to have this lifelong disease. 

4 years and 9 months ago my then 3 year old daughter was diagnosed with Reactive Airway Disease, this is a form of asthma. 

My 2nd confession is that by this point I was not quite 23 and I was sure even though everyone told me I did nothing to cause either one of these diseases I again felt very guilty and like a bad mom. I must be doing something wrong, right for my child to now be diagnosed with 2, not 1 but 2 diseases by the age of 3. 

When Aly had just turned 5 (she was premature so she had made the deadline with her birthdate but would not have if she was born on time) we put her in Kindergarten, she did ok through the year but not great academically, by the end of the school year we had decided that she was going to need to repeat Kindergarten to help her catch up to where she needed to be

My 3rd confession is that again in this situation I felt that I forced my daughter to work too hard and that I signed her up for school too early and felt like a bad mom. I should have known that she wasn't quite ready but obviously I didn't. She redid Kindergarten and did awesome.

My 4th confession is that I try to please everyone all the time and I am finally realizing that I can't. I cannot please everyone all the time because you can't ever please everyone, it is just doesn't happen. Someone is always going to be upset, disturbed, whatever by something that you say. It is just how the world works

My 5th confession is that I live for diabetes education. I may not understand all the clinical side of it at this point, nor may I ever since I am not in the medical field but I LOVE educating people about diabetes, both Type 1 and Type 2. Diabetes affects 200 million people worldwide and I want to educate the general public about this disease. I hope someday I can be out there giving lectures and classes and support to the general public as well as individuals/families dealing with Type 1 Diabetes.

My 6th confession is that I would die for my children. I want to protect them in every way possible and God forbid an instance ever came about I would rather die myself and save my children then ever lose a child.

My 7th confession is that I am me, I am who I am and I will not change. No matter how much you nag, complain, whatever. I am who I am and I like myself. The negative Nancy's out there won't break me. I am strong willed, caring, dedicated, passionate, truthful, interpersonal, and most importantly I am ME!

My 8th confession is that the Diabetes Online Community is my obsession, I think about the DOC all the time and how I personally can help others in the DOC that are like myself, affected by Type 1 Diabetes in one way or another. 

My 9th confession: I am NOT a girly girl at all. I am a t-shirt and jeans kinda girl. I wore my 1st dress that wasn't in a wedding for the first time in probably well at least 10 years during the AADE conference in Indianapolis. I felt awkward and almost naked because my legs were showing and I could sit cross legged. 

My last confession is that I have anxiety like no one can believe, I cannot take confrontation, it makes me want to physically get sick. Riding in a car is no bueno also because all I think about is the car accident that could happen, I also get very nauseous in the car. Heights, oh God heights and I do not get along at all!, even watching heights on the television make me sick to my stomach. Bad all just very bad. I hate anxiety but I deal with it EVERY day all day and I do not know how to make it go away. It continues to get worse and worse as the days go on. 

I know we all have confessions out there in our lives, those are just a few of mine.

Thank You!!

I was excited to find out a few days ago that thanks to the help of you all I am a finalist 1/15 that are in the running for a scholarship to the Mayo Clinic Social Media Summit. 

There are 2 members from the Diabetes Online Community that are in the running for 1/3 slots open for the scholarships. I want to wish all of the other contestants the best of luck and I hope that either I or Scott Johnson are able to be there to represent the Diabetes Online Community. 

Thank you all again for your help

Katrina

http://socialmedia.mayoclinic.org/2012/08/10/finalists-for-patientcaregiver-scholarship-contest/

What is it like...

To be a teenager with Type 1 Diabetes

I feel like it has been a long time since I continued this series. I have just been so busy outside in the diabetes world that my blog got a little neglected.

So here we go again. I had the pleasure of email interviewing Brooke who is a 19yr old T1D who was diagnosed in 1993. Here is what she has to let you know

Q: First Name and Age:
A:  I'm Brooke and I'm 19

Q: When were you diagnosed and at what age?
A: Diagnosed in 1993 at the age of 10 months

Q: What do you remember about your diagnosis?
A:  No recollection as I was too little!

Q: Are you on an insulin pump (if yes what kind) or are you on multiple daily injections?
A: Currently on injections but looking to move to a pump in the near future

Q: How comfortable are you managing your Type 1 Diabetes?
A:  It’s something I've always had and known so pretty comfortable but Mum is always such a great person to turn to when things get tough

Q: What is the hardest aspect of your diabetes management?
A:  Trying to always keep sugar levels at the right levels, especially when out with friends and such

Q: Do you have a Diabetes Alert Dog, if yes how does your D.A.D help you with your diabetes management?
A:  Never heard of them! But they sound like a good thing especially if you've become less aware of hypoglycemia

Q: Are you friends with any other Type 1 diabetics in your area?
A:  Not really, I know of people in my hometown with it though

Q: Do you talk to other Type 1 Diabetic children/teens via facebook, twitter, or chat rooms? If yes:  Does that help your diabetes management and understanding of Type 1 Diabetes?
A:  I sure do and it’s wonderful to have others who know exactly what you go through to share things with and talk to

Q: Besides a cure what 1 thing would you like to see researchers working towards and why?
A:  Not sure, a cure is the best thing that we need

Q: What tips or advice would you give to other newly diagnosed Type 1 Diabetic children/teens?
A:  Take it one step at a time, never ever be afraid or think it’s silly to ask for help, you've always got people there to support you and if things get tough it’s okay to have a whine every now and again :P

Keep checking back for more interviews :)

So much to think about

I want to start off this blog post thanking the Diabetes Hands Foundation and Manny Hernandez for granting me a scholarship to have the amazing experience in coming to the American Association of Diabetes Educators conference in Indianapolis.

This was an amazing experience getting to learn more about diabetes from the clinical side as well as meeting so many amazing members of the diabetes online community in person.

This experience also taught me that I need to refocus where I put myself and where I focus the majority of time in regards to diabetes awareness.

I learned that some people feel that members of the DOC need to go slowly, build relationships, and earn respect before going into diabetes advocacy and education full time head on. I know that we can never please everyone but these are interesting concepts to me because personally I have nurtured relationships and become very good friends with many people in the DOC but apparently have not done enough in some peoples minds

This experience makes me want to work harder, focus more on support for families and PWD and educating the general public.

This was a good experience to see the DOC members in action giving the CDE's the knowledge of how social media can help their practice and their patients with emotional support

I look forward to growing my online presence on twitter and nurturing all of my connections.

I leave for home at 7am in the morning and ready to get back home and hug my babies and hubby

Great convention, great time, lot learned, and more to come