Fall is arriving... slowly but surely!

Today was Julian's last day at Portsmouth Endo Clinic! His A1C is pretty much the same, 8.4. Wish it would have come down some, but his doctor things that its okay where it is. He still is wanting us to pursue getting him the pump, believing this will make a world of a difference for his A1C. Since Julian's insulin amount has increased.. he now is getting his shots via Novalog Flex pin. We are still going to be using needles for correction factor(because the flexpin does not come in 0.5 units). We are very excited to be using the flex pen, its known to not be as painful, and it is much easier to use! I know this will help with teaching family members. They dont have to worry about not being able to see the little lines on the needle, and withdrawing too much or too little insulin. :)

My favorite time of year is here, and im trying to enjoy it before we leave.. FALL! It certainly wont fallish in NOLA yet, so trying to soak it all up! The last two days it's been in the 70's, cool breeze, and soooooooo nice outside! The leaves are already starting to fall & change a little. We been trying to spend alot of time outside.. and leaving our house windows open!

look at my boy's beautiful eyes!

chalky hands...( notice his fresh hair cut!!)

haha-- juju kisses && doggy kisses for mommy

Look how handsome!!! what a million dollar smile on my sweet boy! :) :)

thats all for now! Xoxo

take me out to the ball game!!!

it's time to get a routine again!!! i am slacking, not only on blogging- but on EVERYTHING! life has me by the tail.. and im so ready to have this move behind us, and our new life with family near!!

Julian's birthday is in a month && i have yet to begin doing anything! this is SO unlike me, but like i said-- i have been consumed, and absorbed in the craziness of this whole "up rooting" again.

Anyhow...
Julian is doing pretty great. He is talking his little butt off. Can't get a moment of silence from the moment he opens his eyes, until is little head rest for nap time & bed time! His vocabulary has grown so much over the last few months, its amazing to me! Julian also knows most of his shapes now- he knows there are some "gons" in there but gets hexagon and Pentagon confused-- which still pretty sweet even if they are confused being he is not even three yet!! :) makes his mommy so proud!
Just tonight he yelled out the LSU chant && i took it upon myself to then teach him the entire saints chant, at which he caught on to mighty quickly!

my newest tackle for Julian, is to figure out how to get him to stop pee'in his bed every night. He is still in diapers/pull ups at night.. but he still always manages to pee through them. I tried cutting his liquids and making him pee before bed- but nothing is seeming to work. Of course his if his blood sugar is running higher he pees more on some nights- but even on normal nights.. we are still finding he is a heavy wetter. I simply am at a loss. I have been putting him in his diaper and pull up and putting gerber plastic pants on over it as a cover. it helps seal any leakage. but i know it cant be comfy, so im still on the hunt for another fix. Maybe i'll try XL cloth diapers, and double up on inserts? I am just not sure. Being he is a boy && a danford boy at that.. i don't think it would hurt to invest the money in cloth, bc from what i hear this problem may go on for quite some time.. :/
By the way, i am open to any suggestions. i realize it is a developmental thing for kids to recognize to wake and potty- that is not what im trying to fix..lol im just tried of cleaning sheets on a daily basis!!!!

Anyways- while on here I should tell about Julian's first baseball game! It was a blast, and worked out better than I could have ever dreamed! Josh surprised us with tickets to go to Harbor Park, to watch the Norfolk Tides! Julian was totally engaged with the game up until the 7th inning- which was so cool! He would laugh hysterically at the mascot and the silly things it would do in between each inning. He would cheer and chant with the music, and the hard core fans that sat around us! His favorite was when they played a certain tune, and then yelled.. " CHARGE!!!!"
The weather was absolutely pleasant! Low 80's with a nice cool breeze coming off the water.. the sky was clear and the moon was big and bright! The surprise was such a treat for us, and a fun, memorable experience. However, the best part about it was.. for the night, we did not have a diabetic child. Yes, i know what i just typed. I have no clue- some might call it a freak accident, but i like to think it was a gift from god. a break for our sweet boy to enjoy himself, and for me and josh to enjoy ourselves with out worry! As always, we checked Julian before giving him anything to eat.. but his blood sugars were always FINE, perfect! never did he need a correction, and being that we didn't know exactly how many carbs he was taking in we would wait a little bit after he ate to check him to see where he stood. never once did his blood sugar elevate after eating. i was blown away, i kept thinking.. maybe his meter is wrong, or his strips are no good? There was no way my son ate peanuts, ice cream, snowball, and cotton candy and never need any type of medication. no way his blood sugar could stay normal, i mean for peets sake- his pancreas hasn't worked in MONTHS! Yes, it was slightly warm, and he was sweating some, but was not running around to be burning as many carbs as he was taking in! It was such a blessing for all of us!

venting.

so the last few days have been pretty rough on me as a mother. I noticed Julian's blood sugar patterns take a turn for the worse and despite my education, experience, and mothers tuition- i could not make his numbers improve. Finally, after staying awake til 3 am fighting Julian's blood sugars, tears, and mommy GUILT- i called his doctor. I knew his insulin was good- and i was doing the math accurately, even over treating him in hopes of it keeping his sugar lower, nothing helped. I sat on the computer and did research on diabetes- natural ways of helping control it. I came across some things i am willing to try in the future such as a Asian melon that natural has insulin. Many diabetics drink the juice of this melon once a day and it helps keep their blood sugars in a healthy range. Also many people swear cinnamon has can help control and regulate blood sugars. I am willing to try anything that for sure wont harm my son- but could potentially help him. After reading the book, Daniel's gift, then I sat down with josh to watch John Q(for the first time) then reading about this poor baby, Tripp- i am thankful that Julian's only condition is one that is (for the most part) not painful and can be controlled.
However, after being rejected for the time because of his disease, does not let me forget how serious it is, nor how scary it can be for others who do not understand it. It hit a never- the spiked a deep sadness in me...

Julian's insulin intake has increased- a good bit. and so far so good! But my mommy guilt pressed on. I try my very best to help Julian to lead a normal life, and moving back down to Louisiana is opening so many new doors for us. I decided i wanted to enroll Julian into preschool for a few days a week. It was only 15 dollars a day, two days a week- from 9 am- 2 pm. Everything was going great until I mentioned he was a type 1 diabetic. After those simple three words- the teacher/owner of 30 years may as well slammed the phone down and left me talking to a dial tone. She completely shut down- telling me she was unwilling to take him, it was too much, and she had no time to learn it. That in all her years she had never had a diabetic etcetcetcetc.
My heart crushed. My heart felt the same way it did a year ago when he was first diagnosed. Alone, angry, afraid. Afraid, that Julian would never be accepted. Afraid things as simple as sleep overs with grandparents- best friends, boyscout camping trips- wont be possible for my sweet child, who deserves to experience his life to the fullest. Alone because, no matter what I can not make people learn how to take care of my baby. I can not make people understand how important it is for my family, and how it will effect the enjoyment and life of a innocent child. I want to teach everyone about diabetes.. May sound crazy- but i think just as everyone should know CPR- they should know how to DO SIMPLE MATH-FOLLOW Formula's- and give a shot! Diabetes is a growing disease that is/ and does not go away.
After getting over the slump of emotions I looked online to see which celebrities were diabetics...
here i found...

Halle Berry- type one..( i think we all know her!!!)
Victor Garber..type one( played captain on Titanic & many other films)
Randy Jackson type one.. ( we all know him to- judge from American idol and music producer.
Elizabeth Perkins..type one..( actress from one of my favorite tv shows- WEEDS)
Kenny Duckett.. type one...( Wide Receiver for the NEW ORLEANS SAINTS!!!!!!!)
Nick Jonas.. type one...(we should all know him as well.. singer for the Jonas brothers)

I then realized, i'm not alone. and the show will go on. My son will grow to be what ever it is he wants- and be able to do anything you & I do. I know the day will come when he hates himself for his condition- and he'll question God "why me??" and he will slam his bedroom door- screaming at me for not letting him go to a friends house, infear the uneducated parent will not know what to do in emergency, or no inforce him to treat himself. Blaming,myself for limiting what he can do, Not because he SHOULD be limited- but BECAUSE OTHERS REFUSE TO BE EDUCATED ON DIABETES!
I hope us moving home will encourage others to learn more and become more involved- so THEY can be more involved with our son.

thanks for letting me vent! :)

Museum!!

Well here is a small update with some pictures!.. Last weekend we headed to downtown Portsmouth, to bring Julian to the Virginia Children's Museum! Julian had a complete BLAST-Josh and myself, however, were disappointed( new Orleans one is much much better).

There was plenty there to keep him busy for a large part of the day! After we left we walked the streets, and shops. I, unfortunately had to go to work, so we left so that i could have time to get dressed and such.

in the picture below- Julian is learning about air blowing..and how powerful wind/air can be.


here we were learning about pulleys/ levers


oh Joy- they had a theater. Once again, Like father- LIKE SON.. Julian was so loving being on a stage, and putting on a show.

on our way out we stopped to see the fire truck

...

As you can see... Julian is literally Josh's mini-me. They even sleep the same..... lol Boys had lots of fun at the museum, and completely zonked out on the way home!

movie night on the beach! :)

Okay. So.. My heart has been struggling with the whole working thing. Not because i'm having to work...not because i work weird hours, but mostly because i feel like im missing out on so much fun stuff with Julian & quality family time!
So today while Josh was at work, I planned something special and fun for us to do as a family- it was a surprise!!
So after work Josh had captains cup, me and Ju went watch-- and after that it was about dinner time so we headed to the beach to grab some grub! :)
Julian of course stole his daddy's cup-- hehe.



It was a beautiful day at the ocean front! Nice and breezy- mid-high 80's! mm' PERFECT!

After eating... we began to stroll towards my little surprise! here it is!!!

YESS! We pulled out a blanket- snacks, and were going to be watching a movie..in the sand..on this beautiful night on the shore of Virginia beach! how cool!!!??? We were going to be watching Monsters Vs. Aliens!They had a scavenger hunt set up for the kids-(more for adultsLOL).. we had to travel a 5 block radius to find a ALIEN. Answers to questions would lead us to him!

Sadly, we didnt win a trophy.. but we did however, win a metal!! :)

We were having such a great time, but it was still to bright outside to start the movie-so we brought Ju down to the water and played. the tide was coming in so we didnt play in it to awful much- but he still had a complete BLAST!

CANT YOU TELL?????

A nice lady offered to get a picture of us all together. Julian was not happy because this took away from his play time. lol..

Finally the sun went down and the movie began. We maybe got to watch 15 minutes of it before Julian threw a complete fit. he was acting like he was afraid of the big tall girl( on the movie). which is completely weird, because he use to watch this movie al the time at his grandma's house. we chalked it up to him being completely exhausted and decided to head on home( by time this it was already 8:55< explains alot huh?)

Either way..this event was totally free! and such a nice outing- Josh, Julian and myself had such a great time! This is one thing i will truly miss about VA beach-- the family oriented atmosphere!!

anyways...i got camera happy- and took a crap ton of pictures. but hate the way it has to be loaded on this thing. so this will have to do for now! Watch for more to be posted on facebook!

enjoy xoxo