Thankful Thursday.

The week is just slipping through my fingers here and I cannot believe it is Friday tomorrow. It is time to give thanks for all the good things we have.

This week I am thankful for the schools our children are attending. I am thankful that they help us in educating our children and that our children are so happy there.

I am thankful that Steve has just about finished our new laundry.

I am thankful that I have more time with Joseph. We went to the pool today and out to the park on Tuesday and Wednesday. Tomorrow will be another visit to the park for his exercises.

Our new car is not here yet. They had to get it from overseas because we want a white one. I am still thankful that we have it coming though.

Thanks for dropping by. I am also thankful for friends that come and visit.

Therese.

Wordless Wednesday. Joseph doing his exercises

First day of school

Today was the first day of school for SA and it was a pretty good day.

Last night, I spent a lot of time making sure I had everything everyone needed to look after their diabetes. I only forgot one thing and that was to get Amelia Muesli bars to eat before she goes out for sports. I went and spoke with her teacher this morning and they didn't have sports today so it wasn't a worry.

Joseph had a pretty good day with me at home. We were in and out a bit so he didn't really have a chance to miss Christopher too much. Tomorrow may be quite different. We will see how he goes.

Christopher was pretty excited about going to school. He seemed to enjoy his day and cope really well with it.

Tom had his first day at high school and it went well too. He seems very enthusiastic about Visual Arts and has spent a lot of the afternoon working on his cover picture. Maybe we have a budding artist in the family.

Amelia enjoyed her first day of year 6 but wasn't too impressed with bringing more school work to do at home even though I told her she would have it.

The older girls seemed to have a good day too.

I hope it continues for the rest of the term.

Therese.

Christopher's new wallet

This is my third design attempt. I found a tutorial and thought the wallet looked just like I wanted.
http://www.noodle-head.com/2012/06/open-wide-zippered-pouch-diy-tutorial.html
This is the link for the tutorial. Really easy to follow.

Tom's new backpack.

I made this tonight. It only took me just over a hour and I am really pleased with it. Tom will take his diabetes things everywhere in this bag.

Seven Quick Takes.

-1-

This week has been a bit quieter for Steve and I. Madeline has been in Sydney at Campion College and Brigette in Adelaide with my girlfriend. Tomorrow they come back. It has been nice to have just the younger 4 and Sam home. I have more petrol in my car and haven't been taxi driving nearly as much. 

-2-

On Sunday Steve and I are going away for a weekend alone. The following weekend is our 22nd wedding anniversary and we wanted to have a getaway for it. 

In October, we went to Endilloe Lodge for one night. It was a great getaway and we thought it would have been even better to get away for two so this time we are going back there for 2. It is close enough that if there are any emergencies at home, we can get back quickly. 

-3-

I have started making little bags for Tom, Amelia and Christopher I started with the glucose monitor bag yesterday. This is my first attempt:

It is okay but it only fits glucose meter, strips and finger pricker. 

I really wanted them to fit the ketone meter in as well. The ketone meter can check blood sugar levels as well but the meter here, communicates with the boys pumps so we have two meters. I have a few ideas in my head to make them bigger and also a bit more attractive so will draw up patterns this weekend while Steve and I are away. 

-4-

Steve and I have been car hunting for a while now because we are not driving around as much as a whole family. We thought it would be good to get a bit of a smaller car so have been looking around at a few different SUV's. 

We looked at Holden Captiva, Nissan Dualis and Ford Territory. At the start of the month, we approached a couple of car dealers and told them what our price range was and what we are interested in. 

On Wednesday we put in an offer for a Nissan Duallis and it was accepted. It has to be ordered in and delivered but hopefully in a couple of weeks, we will have a new car. I am pretty excited about getting it. 

-5-

Having three diabetic children does have some advantages. This week we were helping pack up the crib at church and Christopher dropped his ketone meter out of it's box. We didn't realise till later that afternoon that we didn't have it when his bsl was on the higher side. Fortunately, I had two other ketone meters to choose from until we could get back and pick it up. 

-6-

One other thing I need to do is get some kind of wallet organiser for the children's cards and prescriptions. They all have 3 prescriptions each, a ndss card, health care card, medic alert card and wch appointment card with their url number. We also have a family member's card for Diabetes SA. It can be hard to keep track of who needs what and where I have each child's card so I thought I would get something that keeps them all together. 

I was looking around for an organiser like a passport one. I found a couple online but was a bit hesitant to buy online and find it wasn't suitable. 

I decided to look around for a tutorial for a card holder/wallet. I came across this one: 

Bi-fold Wallet. 

I will need to make it a bit bigger to fit their scripts in but I think it is just what we need. 

-7-

Tomorrow is 2 weeks with 3 diabetic children. I am getting into routine and maintaining most things. I hope it will continue once school goes back. 

For more 7 quick takes visit Jen at Conversion Diary. 

Happy Birthday Tom

I am a day late for this. Yesterday, Tom turned 13. We have another teenager in the house. That makes 4 teenagers total. One already through the teenage years and 3 more to come.

For his birthday Tom got a remote control helicopter and mobile phone. Since he is going to high school, I want him to be able to text bsl to me at lunch and recess time so that I know he is looking after himself. High school is so different from primary school with them moving from teacher to teacher and not really having one teacher in control of it all.

Happy Birthday Tom. Dad and I love you very much and hope you have a great year being 13.

The new normal.

Yesterday it was a week since we found out Amelia had diabetes too. It has been quite a week but we are all getting use to the new normal. 

I have made a few changes to things to keep up with everything I need too. 

I have labeled all their bsl meters, ketone meters and finger prickers. I am also going to label a penmate for each of them and get different coloured medic alert bracelets. 

We can now get sports bands with different themes. It will be easy to tell which one belongs to each child this way. 

I have been intending to make the boys some bags to carry all their supplies in but hadn't got around to it before Amelia's diagnosis. I bought the pattern for this little purse

I am going to make one for each of them to carry their bsl meter, bsl strips, finger prickers, ketone meters and ketone strips. I am also going to make them a draw string bag to keep their pump supplies in and hopefully a back pack for the boys each to keep both their purse and drawstring bag in along with hypo treatment.  Amelia was given a backpack from JDRF so she won't need one. 

We have two weeks of holidays left so hopefully I will get a purse each and drawstring bag each done before school goes back. I also want to make a few other things. 

Last week I finished this top:

I have some white fabric with pink flowers that I also want to make the same top with. I also got my bebe dress pattern and want to get it done before school goes back. 

If I have time once these are all finished, the boys could do with some new shorts too but at this stage, I think I will just buy them a few pairs each from Big W. We will see how much time I have and how we go with all the things I have on. 

What are our days like?

6.00 I get up and do the first bsl for the day. Our target range for the children is to have them between 4.0 and 10.0. This morning Amelia was 11.2, Tom was 5.3 and Christopher was 9.2. Christopher can have an adjustment and be given insulin because the pump can give small doses. Amelia needs to wait till she is eating to have more insulin because 1 unit would bring her down too much without food.

At about 7.30 the boys get up. Every three days I need to change their pumps. I check the pumps and see who needs changing. Once pump changes are done, we get breakfast. For breakfast, Amelia needs to eat 45 grams of carbs. Since the boys are on a pump, they can eat more or less carbs. Because they don't have a background insulin, they don't have a minimum or maximum of carbs. The pump has a bolus wizard and works out how much insulin is needed when we put it their bsl and how many carbs they are eating.

To work out the carbs, we weigh or measure everything that is carby. For breakfast they usually eat a bowl of cereal with a glass of milk. This is around 30 carbs. Amelia can then have one piece of toast as well. If she still wants some more to eat after the toast and cereal, we usually would go with some free foods. Just before Amelia eats breakfast I give her lantus and novorapid. lantus is the background insulin and novorapid is the fast acting one. Amelia needs to have novorapid with every main meal.

At 10.30 it is snack time. Amelia needs 15 grams of carbs which could be a piece of fruit, fruit bun, savory biscuits or ice block now that it is warm weather. The boys don't have to eat carbs if they don't want to but usually do want something. We do bsl and put them in the boys pumps and the amount of carbs they are eating again. Amelia won't need any insulin. Snack time is just to make sure her sugar level doesn't drop too  much by lunch.

1.00 is time for lunch. We do another bsl and work out carbs again by weighing food. Amelia will have some more novorapid and the boys will put their bsl and carbs into their pumps. We will do the same around 3.30 for afternoon tea and and again at tea time (usually between 5.30 and 6.00). At tea time, Amelia will have another dose of novorapid.  The children all go to bed around 8.00 just before this and straight after family prayer, we will do a bsl and have supper. Again Amelia needs 15 grams of carbs to get her through the night without a hypo.

At 10.00 I do the final bsl check for the day. If anyone is lower than 6.0 or higher than 13, I set an alarm to get up and check them at midnight and again at 3.00am. Last night everyone was inbetween 6.0 and 13 so I did get a full nights sleep. With three of them, I think these nights will be few and far between though.

3 children with diabetes.

On Saturday, Amelia said to me, I am so thirsty all the time. I decided to check her sugars and she was up at 32.3. I rang the WCH and they advised me to get her straight to the hospital. We got her there just in time. They found glucose and ketones in her blood and that they were climbing. She was started on insulin and turned around almost immediately.  If we had stayed home longer, she would have been more dehydrated and had higher ketones. Today she has moved onto the ward and we will get her insulin regime worked out before she comes home. I never thought we would have 3 children with it and I really hope none of our other children get it.

2013

It is the start of a new year and we are all making new resolutions and hoping that 2013 will be a great year for us all.

Today is also Daniel's 21st birthday. He was born at 5.50 in the afternoon. Because he was born on new years day, a lot of people ask me if he was the first baby born for the year. Being born so late in the day though, I think he probably didn't even make it into the first ten babies born. Happy Birthday Daniel. We are really proud of the young man you have become. 

So back to new years resolutions. Over the last couple of years, I have picked out a word that I want to be my word for the year. :Last year I chose simplicity and the year before hope.

Both last year and the year before, I didn't spend as much time really reflecting on either of my words. I find with a lot of things that I make some choice (like a word for the year) and it is front and centre for a few days in my life and then it takes a back seat. This is pretty typical for me. Any kind of new routine or discipline usually lasts for a few days and then becomes less of a commitment the longer I do it. With this in mind, I have decided my word for this year is to be consistency. 

I want to be consistent with prayer, the different therapies my children need and my day. I want to do everything I need to with consistency and regularly. 

I am looking forward to the new year with all the changes we have made. I know that only 18 months ago, I was totally overwhelmed with all that I had on. Last year wasn't as overwhelming but still pretty full on. This year I am really hopeful that I we will have a nice balance with all the different activities we have on. 

I hope 2013 will be a good year for us and for you.

Therese.