Christmas Traditions

I haven't had professional photos taken of the kids in a few years so I thought I would do it this year. Mike was less than thrilled with my project of outfitting and photo purchasing. So, out of respect for him, I will get as much mileage out of these photos as possible and you can expect to see them as your Christmas cards for the next three years.

I don't care- I think it was worth it.

Christmas is coming!

Katie had to get a tooth pulled today. She was such a trooper. Tommy and I were hoping the wacky gas would make her act really silly and we could put it on Youtube. She was just mellow though, but I videoed her later anyway. Here you go:

I love Fall!

Here are some pictures from our trip to Utah for Fall break and then Halloween. This was Tommy's first Halloween since the Diabetes diagnosis. I wasn't sure how things would go. He was excited to get a costume but he did tell Mike that he wasn't sure if he wanted to go trick-or-treating. What would be the point? Mike and I told him we would buy his candy. That got him really excited. Mike took both kids trick-or treating and they had a great time. Our neighbors on both sides were amazing. One family gave Katie and Tommy toys instead of candy. So thoughtful! The other family gave Tommy a bag of sugar free candy- all his favorites like jolly ranchers and ring pops. I thought it was so kind.
Some other neighbors down the street made a haunted house in their garage. It was so good! I hate scary stuff because I am a huge wimp. I change the channel if a preview for a scary movie comes on. So Mike made me go to the haunted house anyway. At first he shut the door and made me think I would have to go through it alone. Then, as I was leaving, a guy with a chainsaw was in the backyard. I was trying to get out and Mike held onto me so I couldn't run. My hero. I made it though and Mike said I was only slightly more hesitant and scared than the kids.
Our neighbor girl went trick-or treating with them and came over afterward to buy some of Tommy's candy. His prices were a bit outrageous but was willing to negotiate.
The Fall pictures are from our drive through Butterfield canyon in Utah. So beautiful!
I am so excited for Tommy to be a cub scout! He loves it too. Doesn't he look cute?
The snow pictures are from a storm last week. We are having another one today. I love snow days!
By the way, the eggs never hatched. I guess we'll just color them for Easter.

And then there were four...

Four eggs and counting. Stay tuned...

End of Summer- birthdays, school, fair, etc.

Here is Katie's first day of Kindergarten. She woke up early that morning and excitedly told me it was the first day of school. She couldn't wait to get there. You can see how her excitement faded a little when she actually got there. I think she was intimidated by the large class. She is really enjoying it now though. She told me one day, "Cindy said we could bring our guitars". I asked who Cindy was. She said her teacher. I just laughed- I don't even call her teacher by her first name. I'm scared for parent teacher conference.

Reality is setting in... We're homeschooling Tommy this year. Mike teaches him history and science. So far it has gone pretty well. I was nervous at first but it's pretty fun. There are days when I have to threaten to send him to the Principal's office but he knows I'm bluffing. I was scared to tell his diabetes nurse because she really wants him to live the same life he lived before his diagnosis. Tommy really wanted to do home school and I think diabetes was only a small factor. The thing I need to be more proactive about is having his friends over to play. If I could just make them promise not to tell their mothers how messy my house is, it would be a lot easier. He does stay active in karate, scouts and piano lessons.

The kids had their own birthday parties this year. Katie's was at Chuck E. Cheeses and Tommy's was at our house. They were both really fun and I was so happy the weather held out for Tommy's. My mom came out to visit us the past couple of weeks so I could work. She was such a wonderful help that I didn't want her to leave. Mike and I are very lucky to have great mothers who are willing to come out and help with the kids. Mike's mom comes out once a month so Mike and I can work our reserve weekends. They are awesome! My mom took the kids to Home Depot to make helicopters. They had a blast. There are also some pictures from my wing family day that we have every year. The Velcro bouncy was our favorite. We also took the kids to the fair. The next time we consider that I think I'll just eat a stick of butter and flush $100 down the toilet.

Here's Katie dunking one of our Security Forces troops. She wasn't scared.

Tommy and Katie's Karate class has a tradition called "birthday torture". On your birthday, the different colors of belts get to have you do different exercises. You do one repetition for each year. Katie was so excited for this. She told her instructors it was her birthday so she could do it. Here are some videos of the push-ups she did. It's pretty impressive. I am so proud of my tough little girl. She and Tommy both do very well in Karate.


We got parakeets back in April. They are a bonded pair but want nothing to do with us. I guess all that food in their cage just magically appears and I am a terrible person. Seriously, it's a bit annoying. Anyway, the girl recently laid three eggs. We're hoping their babies like us more than the parents do. By the way, we gave her plenty of nesting material, she chose to push it all aside and lay them on the wood. I'm sure she know what she's doing.

Summertime

Just a few more inches and she can touch the pedals.

Our neighbors invited us to go camping with them at a Lake near Denver for the 4th of July. I wanted to make sure the kids could swim so they took lessons early this summer. They had a great time and can't wait to take their next class.
Gooshy knows how to spend a long drive...

Love those camping breakfasts!

Words cannot express...

We caught three frogs and a tiny fish. I'm glad we didn't catch any of the giant carp that were here. We saw them jumping and everything but I'm not sure what we would have done with them. I loved just walking to the edge of our campsite to fish each morning.

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No frogs were harmed in the making of this photo (the one that was accidentally killed is not pictured here).

They loved riding on the boat and the tube!

And the moral of the story is...I really need a new camera.

School's Out for Summer!

What a busy two weeks we have had! We learned Tommy had diabetes, and are learning how to take care of him. The kids earned their purple belts in Karate on Tuesday. It was a neat ceremony. They have both worked so hard and we are really proud of them.

Katie had her field day. She chose a snake for her face painting and played outside all day.

Wednesday was Katie's last day of preschool. Here she shyly poses by her cubby...

Seriously, how do you get a child out of their shell?

She will miss her friends.

Tommy had his field day too. It was his first day back to school after the hospital. I went and tested his blood sugar at lunch and then ate lunch with him and stayed for field day. These last weeks of school have been difficult because of all the parties and treats. I'm sure he feels left out but he has been a great sport about everything. I made him sugar free cupcakes so he could have a treat too. Luckily he loves the sugar free jello, popsicles and cupcakes. Some sugar free foods actually have the same amount of carbs so it doesn't help a whole lot. We're still learning.

Goodbye 1st grade class!

Tommy and his two friends earned the Three Musketeers award for teamwork.Goodbye friends. See you next year!Last 1st grade lunch.And now for a random nap. Katie used to fall asleep pretty much standing up all the time. She hasn't done it for a while though so I had to take a picture of this.Playing at the park. Hopefully it will get warm sometime this summer.Our yearly tradition of butterflies. We'll probably set these ones free tomorrow.

Tough news

Here is Tommy and Katie at Karate about a week and a half ago. He is a super active boy but he hasn't been very interested in food for a long time so he is quite thin. The past couple of weeks he has been extremely thirsty all the time and having to pee all the time. Occasionally he was even really hungry. I searched the Internet and most things I came up with said that it is common at this age for the child to grow more quickly than their bladder so they have to go a lot more frequently. I called my mom and my sister to confirm that this is just a stage. They both recommended I get him checked out. I made an appointment and did some more digging on the Internet. Of course Diabetes was in the back of my mind and when I finally got the courage to look at the symptoms, I realized he had almost every one. I was so scared. I prayed so hard that this would not be what was happening.

We took him to the doctor Monday morning, I was happy they could get him in so quickly when I called the Friday before. When we got there, they didn't show an appointment for him. I guess the person who booked it didn't do it right. No one else could see him either. We had to wait one more day. Knowing what I know now, I would have taken him to the emergency room that Friday when I made the appointment.

We were finally seen the next day. They tested his blood and it was 56. Normal range is 70-170. The doctor said if anything it was a little low and we didn't need to worry about Diabetes. What a relief! She talked to us about some other techniques to help with the frequent urination and did a check on his urine just to be sure. It was super high for sugar. They repeated the blood test which had obviously been wrong and saw that it was 500. The doctor was very kind and kept saying she was sorry but he most likely did have diabetes and we would have to go to the hospital right away and admit Tommy for a couple of days.

I didn't want to look scared in front of Tommy. Kind of like the time he had an allergic reaction to a cat and his eyeball was swollen. Not the eyelid, the eyeball. It freaked me out but I calmly told Mike to come look. He freaked out. Not this time though. We were both calm. We went home and got what we needed for a hospital stay. We fed Tommy lunch because we knew we would have to process through the emergency room and everyone knows that takes forever.

When we got to the emergency room, we waited of course but then they took him back and gave him a bag of saline. I couldn't believe he was dehydrated. He drank all the time. He also peed all the time and his cells weren't getting nutrition from anything he took in. His lips have been really chapped lately and after he had his IV for a while, they were soft again.

He was so thirsty but could only have ice chips. Little sister had ice chips too. He was so brave as he was poked so many times. We tried to explain to him what Diabetes meant. The words, "for the rest of your life" couldn't quite find their way out of my mouth just yet, but they would later.

Katie was amazingly good. What healthy child wants to spend 6 hours in the hospital? She was a great sport and was finally rewarded when Dad took her to dinner after we were checked into a room.

Tommy had his pillow pet that aunt Kathy bought him and his baseball blanket that grandma made him on his bed. I spent the night with him. He didn't get scared or anything even though the nurse had to come prick his finger at 2 am. When I asked him if he had slept through it, he said he woke up a little and then pretended to be asleep. All of the nurses were so nice. We were assigned a diabetes nurse and she is awesome. In addition to stabilizing Tommy, the purpose of the hospital stay is to educate Mike and I on his care.

The first time I gave him a shot, I was so nervous. I hovered just next to his arm with the needle for a few seconds. I told the nurse if it was someone else's child I would be done already. I finally did it and Tommy said I did a really good job. He still says it doesn't hurt when I give him shots.

Our wonderful friend offered to come pick up Katie that first night we were in the hospital. She is so sweet. She watched her on Wednesday so Mike could spend the day at the hospital. Mike has been amazing. He is so supportive of me, so patient and kind to both of the kids and I could never get through this challenge without him.

Tommy asked me what food he could never have again. I told him he could still have just about anything, just not in the amounts we did before. We have to count every carb we give him and feed him on a regular schedule. We still call the nurse to get the dosage for his two shots per day but will eventually calculate it ourselves.

Tommy is actually healthier now than he has been in a few weeks. He looks forward to eating now. I think because his body was literally starving before. He is really active. It was cute that he missed Katie while he was in the hospital.

Mike and I would trade places with Tommy in a heartbeat if we could. I'm sure all parents would take away any pain from their children. Even though this is a dramatic change and one that will affect the rest of his life, we feel blessed to be together, to have good insurance and are hopeful for advances in medicine that will make this easier and one day cure him.