Pillow Pen Pals

This post was originally published a couple of weeks ago, but we are enjoying this activity so much that I decided it was a perfect post to bump up and share on WFMW!

The kids and I have recently become "pillow pen pals".  I got the general idea from a post on Pinterest, where a mom posted the journal that she and her daughter share... and said she got the idea from another blogger, who got it from another blogger, and so on.  Obviously this is a fun idea that's making the rounds in blog-land!

I loved the idea, so I put my own spin on it: simply using two notebooks from my school supply stash and hiding them under the kids' pillows for them to discover the first night.  It turns out that my kids have loved it!

For my daughter, age 9, I write a short note each day.  I try to end it with a question for her to answer when she writes back.  She quickly picked up on that and starting ending with questions of her own for me.   I'm surprised by the things she asks... what exactly I do all day at work, for example. Who knew that she even thought about that?  :)

For my son, age 6, I keep things very simple.  I print one or two lines each day asking him an open-ended question.  (I use simple words but his sister usually reads his to him anyway.)  I'm trying to encourage him to practice his writing.  Sometimes I get a full sentence or two, and other times I get one-word answers.  Since he is not one to share a lot, I'm finding that sometimes his answers surprise me... like the night he write that the thunderstorm was "scary", even though he never said a word while it was storming

 I refuse to correct grammar or spelling in these notes, because I don't want this to feel like a school assignment.   It's become a lot of fun for all of us, and reading their sweet notes to me has quickly become my favorite part of the day.

Share your own 'Works for Me Wednesday" tip HERE.   

 

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What will your kids eat at school?

Every year about this time I get interested in Bento lunches and all the fun things I could be sending my kids in their lunchboxes.  I love, love, love to look at pics of interesting Bentos.   In fact, I've got two Pinterest boards going... one for those fancy Bentos I just love to look at, and one that's more realistic in terms of things I might actually make for my kids' lunches.

Our school does not serve the best lunches, so we plan to let the kids eat there one or two times a week, and the other days they will bring a {healthier} lunch from home.   That worked out pretty well last year with DD-- she was happy because she got to eat the crap they serve what her friends were eating some days, especially on Fridays, when they get pizza from a local restaurant.   I can live with that once or twice a week.

Today the kids and I bought and bagged up snacks... both will need one a day, plus whatever we use in lunches, plus something for the days they go to our babysitter's house after school.  Apple straws, cheddar sharks, pretzels, and some low-sugar fruit snacks are all ready to go.  Of course we will also do grapes, cheese sticks, orange slices, etc., but it feels good to have something ready in the pantry to grab and go.   I plan to make some homemade goodies (granola bars?) to freeze and use for snacks, as well.

Next up: tackling the pile of uniform shirts that need patches ironed on-- yuck!

.....................................  Have you heard? I've started a new blog, The Sugar Sharks, all about our life with Type I Diabetes. ..................................... This post may contain sponsored reviews or affiliate links.  You can read my policy here. I always provide my honest opinions.

Lightening!

I've always loved to watch lightening.  Storms relax me, especially at night in the summer.  I have never really felt a fear of a thunderstorm.  (Now tornado-strength winds are another story... but I'm talking about lightening and thunder here.)

Photo by bjj

I may feel differently now.  Our house was struck by lightening yesterday.  

We had gone to DD's softball end-of-season pizza party for lunch, and got home around 3pm.  Around 3:45 or so, the rain started.  It wasn't a loud storm or anything- in fact, I think I only heard about four cracks of lightening through the whole storm.  Right around 4pm, I was sitting here at the computer when a VERY loud crack of lightening hit so loud that I literally jumped up out of my seat. 

Our power went out.  We still didn't realize we'd been hit- we figured the whole neighborhood was out.  DH went out on the porch to look around, and noticed the strong smell of smoke.  The rain had already let up by then, so we started checking out the house, but couldn't find anything.  We came back in and were hit with the VERY strong burnt plastic smell.   We checked the entire house, attic and all, but didn't find anything.  The power came back on, and that's when we realized that several things were fried.

We lost a majority of our electronic "toys"-- TVs, cable boxes, video games, phones, garage door opener, etc.   Things that were hit seem to be really random-- one item on a surge protector might be toast, but the other three things are fine.   We were told that this is normal for a lightening strike- that it seems to take random things. 

We don't yet know what will and won't be replaced by insurance, as we spent most of today trying to figure out exactly what was fried and what wasn't.   Thankfully, no people were hurt.  Our air conditioner and major appliances all seem to be working fine.  We're trying to keep that in mind as we deal with the bills and insurance over the next few weeks.  

I don't think I'll ever enjoy watching lightening quite as much again!

..................................... Have you heard? I've started a new blog, The Sugar Sharks, all about our life with Type I Diabetes. .....................................

A Good Day

Yesterday was a big day at my house!

First, my "baby" boy turned five.  After months of counting down to his birthday, it finally arrived.  We had his family party Monday night (grandparents, aunts, cousins) and then it was just us at home on Tuesday.  He has enjoyed playing with his new toys all day.  Next weekend we'll go see the Cars 2 movie that he's been looking forward to, so his birthday celebration will really be stretched out for a week.  He's happy with that.

Second, DD started wearing her CGM.  (For those outside the diabetes world, this is a small device that automatically reads her blood sugars constantly throughout the day.)  DD has really not wanted it, and we've been walking that fine line between forcing it on her and allowing it to be her choice. 

And here's the best part.... she has been the one watching the graph and the trends on the CGM receiver.  She has been the one getting excited when it alarms and I'm able to adjust her insulin pump to bring her back into range.  She actually told me around bedtime last night that not only is the CGM much better than she thought it would be, but she actually "loves" it.... of course this was right after she had gotten an extra snack because the CGM alerted us that her blood sugar was crashing.  :)

Of course I know that it won't be all sunshine and roses with the new CGM.... but our concerns were about just getting through the first day.  So far, so good!

This post may contain sponsored reviews or affiliate links.  You can read my policy here. I always provide my honest opinions.

RIP Grandma

My beloved Grandma passed away early Sunday morning.  

In many ways we had already lost her... the last few years had been hard on her.  She successfully fought Uterine Cancer, but her health was never good after those treatments were through.  These last couple of years she suffered from Parkinson's Disease with tremors and dementia, and she had mostly lost her voice.  She had loving care provided at a local nursing home.

That's not the Grandma I'll remember, though.  I'll remember the woman who used to crochet Barbie outfits so fast you couldn't even see her needles moving.  I'll remember the silly elephant cookie jar that was always full of homemade cookies.   I'll remember picking apples and watching her and my mom can vegetables from the biggest garden I've ever seen.  And I'll remember her devout Catholic faith and the big black rosary she had hanging in her kitchen. These, and so many more things... that's what I chose to remember. 

Revelation 14:13     Blessed are those who have died in the Lord;

let them rest from their labors for their good deeds go with them.

Since my last post, I've...

• gotten to see Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly on their Bold, Fresh Tour.  I'm more of a Beck fan, and DH is more of an O'Reilly fan, so it was the perfect show for us.  DH had splurged and gotten us great seats, right on the floor in the front section.  We never do things like that-- too expensive-- so this was a real treat.   The kids spent the night with my sister since we were in her city, so we went out for our favorite wings afterwards- it was a great date night!
• gone on a mini-vacation with the family for the weekend.  We picked the kids up the next morning from my sister's and carried on with our fun weekend. We toured a cave, tried a local restaurant, and spent several hours at a kid's place with a 3-story indoor climbing area & go-karts. Fun times!
• celebrated my baby boy's 4th birthday.  His choice: family lunch at a local fast food place with a play area.  Future post on the last-minute frugal themed cake to come soon! 
• spent some time with our neighbors.  Their 3 year-old was just diagnosed this week with Type I Diabetes, the same as my daughter.  We've talked a lot about the theory that something in the environment triggers this disease.  :(   I'm hoping our family can be a real help to them as they work their way through this scary new world. 
• worked.  A lot.  Among the time-consuming things at work: we threw a luau for the residents two nights ago.  They loved it. 
• with all of that... on top of normal life... I've just had no time for blogging or reading blogs. I'm trying to do some catch-up today since it's so hot outside! 

This post may contain sponsored reviews or affiliate links.  You can read my policy here. I always provide my honest opinions.

Memorial Day: Please Do Remember

We spent Saturday morning at the local Veteran's Cemetery, planting flags on many of the 35,000 soldiers' graves there along with scout troops from all over this area.  It was really something to see so many identical stones and flags, representing just a fraction of the brave men and women who have given their lives in service to our country.  I hope that this Memorial Day everyone will take a moment or two to remember... this is not just a day for cooking out, or a day for general cemetery decorations, but a special day to pause and remember our fallen heroes.

 

20 Minutes in the Life of a Mom

Why is it that everything must happen all at once?

Within a twenty minute period yesterday afternoon:

1. got a call from the school clinic about DD's crazy low blood sugars-- I told them I'd come pick her up rather than putting her on the bus
2. got a coat & boots on the less-than-happy three year old
3. walked out through the garage towards the car, where the three year old promptly vomited all over himself, me, the garage floor, and the driveway
4. stripped both of us of our coats and shoes in the garage
5. ran upstairs, grabbed several towels & clean clothes for DS, got both of us cleaned up
6. quickly drove to school, hoping I wouldn't be the last parent there
7. sat in a very long line of cars.... I could see DD, but she couldn't see me, and I could tell she was getting upset (normal for a low blood sugar, let alone the stress of standing there waiting for me when she normally rides the bus)
8. finally yelled loud enough & waved my arms so that DD could hear/see me, at which point she promptly broke into tears... and we were holding up the orderly car pick-up line as I hugged her and calmed her down
9. got home, got both kids settled in front of the tv
10. washed the garage floor, driveway, and got our coats/clothes going in the washer

And within the hour, everything was calm again and you wouldn't have known of our "adventures" if you walked into my house just then.  ::sigh::   Who says motherhood isn't exciting?

It's Cookie Time...

... and I'm finding it hard to believe

that my daughter is old enough for this:

when it seems like just yesterday that she was enjoying this:

I am attempting to post daily in January for NaBloPoMo's theme of "Best".

Frugal 4th of July Fun

graphic courtesy of Gone Country

One of the things I love about the 4th of July is that it isn't an expensive holiday... we might make some special food, but there aren't gifts to buy, long trips to take, etc. It's a pretty laid back, low stress holiday for us every year- just the way I like it!

My family enjoyed a parade this morning (free); the kids and I delivered red, white and blue popsicles to the residents at work this afternoon ($4 per box, and we only needed one plus a few from the second box); and then this evening we'll watch fireworks (free)... that's IF the rain cooperates. (It's been drizzling on/off all day here. Plan B= watch the fireworks on tv.) For lunch we packed sandwiches from home, and for supper, we're grilling burgers.

Next on my frugal agenda: download some free Patriotic Music at Amazon, and then maybe I'll finally get around to trying this tutorial I've that had bookmarked forever on how to convert songs into free ringtones (by Bargain Briana). After that, the kids & I are going to bake some cookies to take to the guys at DH's police station tonight before the fireworks- they're working their tails off this weekend, and I know they will appreciate them.

Overall, it's a been a frugal and fun 4th so far... I hope yours is the same!

Where do babies come from?

The birth of my nephew a few days ago has prompted that dreaded question: "Mommy, where do babies come from?" We've been through this before, and up until now, our six year-old has been satisfied with our blanket answer of "God puts them in the mommy's tummy".

Now, though, she's starting to question things. When I tried that answer again on Saturday, she said that she knew that, but she didn't understand exactly how that happens, because on Jon & Kate Plus 8 she heard them talking about the doctors helping them get pregnant. (Note: before the recent scandals I always considered Jon & Kate Plus 8 to be an appropriate family-friendly show that we often watched together. I don't remember them talking about how they got pregnant, do you?) ::sigh::

So, now what? DH and I don't want to give her more information than she's ready for, but we also don't want to avoid answering her questions. We plan to answer her questions honestly... but the exact words haven't come to us just yet. Any advice? Good books you can recommend?

A Diabetic Halloween

I'm experiencing Halloween from a whole new perspective this year. It's been just over a month since my daughter was diagnosed with Type I Diabetes. We've learned so much in this month... in fact, I'm at a point right now where I've had to take a break from reading and learning any more about the disease, because I feel like my brain just can't absorb any more medical data right now. (Those of you who know me know that's how I cope with things- I set out to learn everything I can about it!)

One thing has really been hitting me in this last week... so many holiday celebrations focus on the food, and for kids, this usually means candy. We skipped my daughter's school festival tonight, because the main focus there is a giant trick-or-treat hallway with tons of candy. We've been hard-pressed to find any fun children's Halloween activities that don't focus on the candy. It's not that my daughter can't eat any candy, but she has to have it in moderation and rationed out at certain times of day in balance with her insulin injections.

Of course everyone should be eating candy in moderation... but it's just another reminder of what this disease changes for my daughter. She's FIVE. She won't be able to come home and spread out her trick or treating haul, happily munching on her favorites... instead she'll have to wait for us to calculate the carbs in each piece of candy, then choose one or maybe two treats to eat that night. I have to go with her to friend's birthday parties, watch every bite she eats, and then sneak into the bathroom for a quick injection before she can play with her friends. And it breaks my heart that my five year-old goes through the grocery store picking up things and asking me if they have too many carbs. (Not to mention the stares from strangers who no doubt think I have my tall and thin daughter on some sort of crazy diet.)

I know in my heart that I should be grateful that it's treatable... that these inconveniences are nothing compared to what some people face... but still, tonight I'm just in that place where I'm really hating this disease and the simple little pleasures it takes away from my daughter.

Don't ya just hate it when...

real life gets in the way of your blogging? LOL! This past week or so I've not had much time online- here's what I've been doing instead:

• DD's last soccer game of the season was last Saturday, and afterwards we went to our city's pumpkin festival. Good times!
• Tuesday morning I went to a new women's group at my church. It's not exactly a Bible study, but we have lessons, homework, and Bible readings to do before we meet, which is every other week. I'm not sure exactly how I feel about this yet... I think I have some differences in my faith from the rest of the ladies. We'll see how it goes.
• DD's soccer team had a pizza party/awards banquet on Tuesday night. Her really great coaches pooled their money and bought each kid a little trophy- very sweet!
• DH has been sick all week, the poor guy. Not sleeping, feels generally rotten, really sick.
• Wednesday and Thursday (today) I worked all day. Yee haw. Things are crazy busy at work right now, and I'm coming home ready to crash for the night.

Ok, so, that's about all the excitement around here... you're all caught up now. I'll be back to your regularly scheduled blogging soon!

Has it only been six days?

Whew. What a week. We have been on a roller coaster ride of emotions, too stressed to sleep, too tired to think, too confused to have coherent conversations. Yesterday we started to try and get back to some semblance of normal life. Tomorrow I'll go back to work, which seems like a giant leap into the so called "normal" world. Thanks to all of you who have left comments and emailed with kind words and prayers- it means a lot to us!

DD- hospital update

It's been a long and draining weekend for us- we spent it in the hospital with DD, age 5. We're home now and she should be able to return to school in a few days.

I'm sharing here most of a letter I just sent out to family and friends via email-- names and minor details changed for internet privacy. Your prayers are greatly appreciated.

Dear Family & Friends,
As some of you know, we have spent the last 48 hours in the hospital with DD. Over the last few weeks we had noticed an increase in her thirst, frequent trips the the restroom, and weight loss. On Friday afternoon our fears were confirmed when she was diagnosed with Type I diabetes. She was immediately hospitalized. (For those of you with some diabetes knowledge- her blood glucose was over 500, she was throwing ketones in her urine, and she was treated for ketoacidosis.)

Type I means that her body produces no insulin-- it has nothing to do with anything she ate or anything that we did. There was nothing we could have done to prevent it. DD will require four or more insulin shots a day for the rest of her life, plus 5 or 6 daily AccuChecks (DD calls these "finger pokes"). She will continue to eat normal foods, but now we have to balance everything she eats with the proper dose of insulin after each meal. Each dose of insulin is measured based on how many carbohydrates she has eaten, so you will notice that our conversations are suddenly full of carb counts.

It is our desire to continue life as normal as much as possible. We ask that you not refer to DD as "sick" or "poor DD"... for her, this is simply a change in lifestyle. Soccer, school, birthday parties, trick or treating... it will all go on as usual after these first few weeks. If we are going to be eating with you, rest assured that she can eat anything she likes- you don't need to make special foods- we will just need to control her portion sizes & give her a routine injection afterwards.

Your prayers as we all adjust to this new challenge are appreciated. We are exhausted and overwhelmed, but confident that we will soon learn to take this as just another part of everyday life.

Amy & Randy

P.S. Please feel free to pass this information along to any family or friends we might have missed.

Labor Day Labor Stories

In honor of Labor Day, Shannon @ Rocks in my Dryer is asking about those other kinds of labor.

How long were your labors?
DD- Four days of on/off contractions and doctors telling me I wasn't in labor- I "just had a bladder infection". Finally at 2am I was in such pain that DH took me to the hospital. This ended when quite literally after about six hours in the hospital DD's foot emerged, and then the nurses freaked out and she was born by emergency c-section about ten minutes later. (For the record my beloved doctor wasn't there- she arrived just about the time the foot emerged and immediately whisked me off for the c-section. Since the nurses were so sure I wasn't in labor, they had just had a hospital resident keeping tabs on me.) DD was born at 33 weeks.

DS- I was in premature labor & the hospital numerous times with him. But, the final deal- I was bleeding when I woke up, had contractions at home all day, spent about seven hours in the hospital with all sorts of interventions trying to stop my labor, and finally, he was born around 10pm by emergency c-section. He was born at 30 weeks.

How did you know you were in labor?
DD-I really didn't, until the foot appeared. I thought I was, of course, but I had a team of medical experts telling me that the monitors weren't saying the right things, so this wasn't true labor. This was my first baby, so I trusted them. Plus I was scared to death that if that wasn't labor I'd never survive the "real thing".

DS- I'd been in premature labor so many times with him that I recognized the mild contractions immediately.

Where did you deliver?
Both at the same local hospital.

Drugs?
Yes. Large doses, as I had to be completely knocked out for both c-sections under the circumstances. No time to wait for epidurals or anything else.

C-section?
Both. Emergency. Not the way anyone wants to go, but, I'm thankful that both the kids and myself made it through, safe and sound. With DS there was a huge risk that I wasn't going to survive.... I'll spare you the gory details, but when a doctor comes out and tells your husband that you've had guardian angels, you know it's bad.

Who delivered?
Two different doctors, but both from my OB/GYN's office. There are four doctors there and you get whoever's on call at the hospital for the day.

A little extra info... both of my kids spent several weeks in the NICU, but both were fairly healthy and strong considering their prematurity. DD hasn't had any lasting effects that we're aware of so far. DS had several developmental issues, but after a more than a year of therapies (physical, occupational, and speech), last month we were happy to learn that he is now on target in all areas of development. :) We are very blessed!

Want to share your own labor stories? Head over to Rocks in the Dryer!

Off to Kindergarten

I am officially the mother of a kindergartener now. DD was quiet this morning and kept saying she didn't want to go, but when the bus pulled up, she practically hopped up the steps, grinning and waving. :) She was the only student on the bus and her bus driver, Mrs. Pat, was very friendly, even offering to see if the stop can be moved closer to our house.

Hopefully DD is having a great time right now meeting all her new classmates. As for me, I'm going to enjoy my quiet house for a few minutes while DS naps, and then I think I'll bake a cake to celebrate. :)

Just call us the Fudds

Last night we had a family chipmunk-hunt in the garage. DH and I were armed with brooms, and the children were safely (ha ha) perched on top of the lawn tractor keeping an eye out for the chipmunk. After about an hour of making loud noises, poking various boxes and toys with our brooms, and using the leaf blower to try and shoo him out from his hiding place, we finally gave up. (I'm sure the neighbors think we've lost our minds!) DH caught a glimpse of him as he started to exit the garage, then got spooked and hid again. And it turns out that what we figured was a chipmunk is actually a baby bunny instead. A baby bunny who, by the way, may or may not still be hiding in the back corner of our garage behind some shelves, since we haven't found him, but we also never saw him leave. ::sigh::

Home Sweet Home

I've been gone since Thursday... did ya miss me? LOL, probably not, since I don't like to announce to the world when we'll be out of town, even though DH wasn't able to go with us. (It's in his contract that he can't take off on 4th of July weekend due to a city festival.) We spent the long weekend in Alabama/ Tennessee for my cousin's wedding, then drove back home yesterday, finally arriving home around 9pm.

The wedding was lovely... don't you just love seeing couples start out on their new life together? The bride was glowing, and the groom (my cousin) was so happy that he was actually tearful at the reception. They didn't have any bridesmaids or groomsmen, just a simple ceremony in a small church that was literally a few feet inside Tennessee, in a town split in half right on the Alabama border. The newlyweds released butterflies on the church steps after their ceremony, which was very pretty. (Apparently you can have butterflies for release FedEx-ed to your house-- who knew??)

It was fun to hang out with some extended family over the weekend. The driving, though? Ugh. It will be a long time before I'm up for another long road trip! :)

P.S. I'll get some crafty posts up later, including the card I made for the wedding.

My baby turns two on Saturday!

I can hardly believe that DS, my little miracle baby, is turning TWO already! As I sit here tonight, I can't help but replay the day of his birth in my mind. He was a full ten weeks early, and I'd been on bed rest and in premature labor numerous times in my pregnancy. Still, the day he was born, we really weren't expecting him. I was in labor again, which by that point wasn't too out of the ordinary. But this time, none of the drugs worked. Not even the awful one... I can't think what it was called right now... but it made me feel hot and dizzy, and then, to help it do what it was supposed to, they had to lower the head on my bed and raise my feet, so I felt like I was standing on my head. Ugh!

All that time I just kept praying over and over that DS would not be born that night.... all I could think about was the article I'd just read that said at 30 weeks the baby's lungs aren't quite done forming, and I was scared to death he wouldn't be able to breathe. Just typing that now brings tears to my eyes- it still gets to me. I think maybe on some level I knew this hospital trip was going to be it.

Well, it turned out that God was very definitely watching over us... he just didn't answer my prayers in the way I thought he would. My doctors were out of options for stopping my labor, and they'd decided to transfer me to another hospital with a higher level NICU for DS. At the last moment, my doctor suddenly changed his mind and decided that he needed to do an emergency c-section (I had to have a c-section anyway) right then and there. As it turned out, had he not done it right then, both DS and I would have died within the hour. (I'll spare you the gory details!) The doctor came out and told DH that we clearly had two guardian angels watching over us... one for DS, and one for DD, who had been a preemie three years earlier.

And now, two years later, that tiny baby has grown into my sweet little boy. We've had a year of therapies (PT, OT, Speech) and he's made so much progress that I think he'll soon be out of the programs completely. To look at him now, other than being small, you'd never guess that he was once a tiny preemie. He is a true blessing!