Attention Auntie Lauren!!!

Here is a picture of their shoes!!!

First Day of School

It is here...the first day of school!! Ryan was very excited (he woke up at 5:45) and Cale was like "oh yea....school is starting" (I know he was excited too).

Here are some pictures....

Ryan's first day of kindergarten!!!

The third grader and the kindergartener

Do we have to go to the bus stop now?????

Is the bus coming soon Mommy? (I heard this several times)


Cale helping his little brother and our little neighbor girl onto the bus for their very first times

Ryan waiting to go into his room (looking a little apprehensive I think)

Ryan and Karolyn (our neighbor) checking out the turtle

Ryan found his "lillypad"

I'm not gonna lie...I had tears. Cale is so big now and Ryan isn't a baby anymore (although his "baby" blanket looks very lonely right now) and I am all alone. I know I couldn't wait for this time to come, but why so fast and now what??????

By the way...I didn't get to see Ryan get off of the bus, but I was told by a friend that he jumped off and said "that was awesome!". Thinking back...I think Cale did the exact same thing. Must be the shirt, they both wore the same one for their first days of kindergarten.

Last day of summer....

Although the calendar says differently...today is the last day of summer for the boys. School starts tomorrow!! Cale is staring the third grade and Ryan is officially in kindergarten!!! Today, we will be going to the school to attend the Kindergarten Open House so that Ryan can meet his teacher and see his classroom. He is excited even though he already knows his teacher (same one that Cale had, she is GREAT!) and has been in his classroom several times already (they have a turtle and a Guinea pig). He spent a lot of time at the school with me last year when I would help out in the cafeteria and with recess duty. The kid knows the school inside and out. He doesn't seem nervous at all and maybe that is why! He really can't wait to ride the bus!

So our last day all together. Kinda bittersweet! I know I talk about going out of my mind with them all day (they do fight A LOT!!!!) but after tomorrow, it is just me for over 7 hours...ALONE...what to do, what to do....I guess the house will be clean. If only I would get one of the jobs that they keep posting at the schools. That would be ideal!!!!

So, at 7:30 tomorrow morning, the boys will be getting on the bus, I will be following and making sure Ryan gets to his room ok. Then I have quiet time until 11:00 when they get out and then we are off to CoCo Keys, the indoor water park here in Rockford. If it is how I think it will be, we should have no crowds to deal with. Then comes Tuesday, full day for both!!! I have a feeling I will be calling/texting several people all day until I come to grips with really being alone!!!

We have upgraded!!!

We now have the new and improved PDM for the OmniPod! It is so much easier to read than the old PDM. This screen is larger, in color and very bright!! The old one was usable, but very hard to see in the middle of the night. It was hard to read even with the backlight turned on. The new PDM also has the capabilities to download to the computer AND there is a light for the test strip! Another plus for the middle of the night testing!

I would say that the only drawback is that the buttons on the bottom are tiny and take some getting used to. The old ones were very easy to use, but the more I use the new ones, the easier they are. Good luck to Pat and anyone else with larger fingers!!!

It's so pretty!

And the award goes to....

Andrea for Mother of the Year!!!



Here is why....I was working at our school on Wednesday and Thursday filling in for our regular secretary who was having fun at the fair with her cows. My in-laws were very kind to watch the boys both days. AND I was very fortunate that my father-in-law came to the school each of those mornings at 8:30 to pick them up. (Thank you Papa!!!)



Wednesday went fine. We pulled into the parking lot, the boys jumped out of my car and into his. Off they went for a fun day. Fast forward to Thursday, same thing happened, out of one car and into the other. Nice and smooth right???? Guess again!



Two hours later, I receive a phone call from my mother-in-law...do I still have Cale's backpack with all of his diabetes supplies? I run out to the car and sure as s&*t...there is was in the backseat. So Papa drove the 45 minutes back to the school to pick up the backpack. Then he drove the 45 minutes back to his house and got there just in time for lunch. Thankfully, it was a beautiful day and he brought the convertible and had the top down. He had a nice birthday drive (did I mention that it was also his birthday?? Absent minded daughter-in-law of the year award coming soon!!) all alone.



It's been two years since Cale was diagnosed and we have been using the exact same little black backpack the entire time!!! It goes everywhere with us! I swear, one of these days I will pull my head out of my butt and take a nice deep breath!

Two years ago today...

had to have been one of the worst days of our lives. August 6, 2007 was the day that Cale was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. All of our lives (his the most) were changed in one single blood test. 4 days were spent in the hospital learning more than I ever wanted to know about carbs, 2 different types of insulin (thankfully that has been brought down to one), timing meals (a thing of the past), fiber, protein, ketones...you name it. The first day was the worst. How do you explain to a six year old that he can no longer just eat anything he wanted whenever he wanted? How do you explain that he needs to check his blood all of the time by poking himself in the finger? How do you explain that he will have to have several shots a day? How do you explain to him that this needs to be done to keep him not only healthy, but alive? How will we all get through this?


Fast forward two years, Cale has been amazing! Sure he has his moments when he gets very "down" about having diabetes, who wouldn't? But he has been so responsible it is a relief yet saddening at the same time. He NEVER eats anything without checking with us first or without checking his blood sugar. His endocronologist praised him up and down during his last visit for being such a good boy. The 6.9 A1C result that he received at that visit just showed that we are doing everything that we can for Cale. After his diagnosis, his A1C was elevated at his first visit but it has done nothing but come down since. (Enter big sigh and smile here) Cale is even doing great counting carbs and adding everything up for us. 6 months of being on the pump has improved everything tremendously and I believe has given him more self esteem in regards to the diabetes.

That day 2 years ago was pure hell, and trust me, we have had our "bad" days since, but overall, things couldn't be going better. Let's just keep Hoping for a Cure!!!!!