Holiday Festivities!

To kick start holiday festivities, Julian's school hosted the cutest little performance! Julian so excited about the whole thing, but even more so after Maw Maw and Murphy showed up to spend the day with us! On Fridays, we ALWAYS do something special.. rather it be getting a cupcake, doughnut or McDonalds. I told him we were having a treat early, and secretly met my mom and murphy at Pizza hut as his surprise!

 

We had to be at Ju's school for 6:15, and his performance started at 6:30.( our normal dinner time) Jai was not happy about skipping a meal, or having a late dinner should I say. So he fussed most of the play and I stood outside with him. The Tree was huge! But Ju being the BIGGEST kid in his school( height and weight wise) stuck out easily! He was the cutest thing, making all types of faces during the songs.

The Friday following Ju's Christmas Presentation, his class hosted a party. It was all about gift giving, and creating gingerbread houses! Josh was able to stay home with Jai' so I could go spend some QT time with my big boy! It was a lot of fun too!...

 

 

as you can tell, Ju was sneaking some icing lol!! love himmmm!

Picking up where I left off...

Following my birthday came October 23rd. I was laying on the sofa, editing pictures while watching American Horror Story, when my phone rang. It was beside me how it rang in the first place, because it was on 'do not disturb' & was currently being used as a noise maker(rain sounds) for Jai', because the one we'd been using since I was pregnant with Julian, finally gave out. When I got to my phone, I had missed the call, but immediately saw I had 10 missed calls, from my mom, brother, and Ashley Wade. I called my mom back first, because out of the tree, she was the first. The news I got following made my heart stop...drop...roll...my mom on the other end telling that my brother was killed in a car accident. I don't recall much after that point, just know that I was in new Orleans and in the matter of a few hours and the rest of that week was just like chaotic chicken scratch in my brain.

The week following was Halloween, and the weather was indeed not in the southern states favor. Thankfully the sky held up long enough for me and my ninja turtle crew to trick or treat and get home with dry shells.
The week following was all about prepping for our JDRF walk & vacation to GatlinBerg,TN. So much going on in so little time, with editing squeezed in-between as well as my school work. from November 7-17, we were out of town! on Saturday the 9th was Julian's JDRF walk and we had such a awesome turn out! We are truly blessed to have such great friends and family as support! On the 10th, we left for TN at 4:30 am... It was a very long drive, but our boys did fantastic! The drive up the mountain to the cabin was stomach turning, cabin was beautiful, the views were breath taking. Overall, it was a nice get away, but was not quite what I'd call relaxing..haha. The change from 2 children - 5 children is a BIG change!

Coming back to the south- we drove straight back to NOLA, as we had a special package to pick up! The boy's were given the heads up, but truthfully had no idea what we were taking on..
The day following our return to the south, we drove to Raceland to pick up our new family member, Otis' Danford.
He was found by in her neighborhood, and had been posting pictures of him for weeks. Cuter than a button, he tugged my heart strings. After hearing nothing but good report, and having josh on board we decided to adopt him, which turned out to be the best decision we've made(with dogs). Otis' has been a complete angel, and true blessing. He LOVES to ride in the car, is so tolerable with the boys, very playful with them, house broken, rarely barks, excellent listener, doesn't mind his bath's and enjoys getting brushed.. OH & is the best cuddlier. He has totally won our hearts, and became a big part of our family.

my life is like a theme park... Let me take you on this weeks roller coaster ride...

Well for starters.. Monday was Columbus day, so Josh & Julian didn't have school, nor work. Ashley and Addison came over today, so we can show them how to use the dexcom! This was perfect timing, being that today was the day Julian was due for his new one to be put on, so I decided we'd do them together, in hopes of giving Addi some comfort if she felt scared. The visit went great, and Addi was such a big girl getting her dexcom on for the very first time! Bless her heart, she was so excited to have it, and was so proud to show it to everyone.

Tuesday, Ju had school. At this new school, the teacher doesn't communicate with me like at the old school. Some days I don't hear from her at all.. which is a good and bad thing. Good- because I cant play scenarios in my head, if I'm not being told his BG constantly. Bad, because maybe I should be playing those scenarios. Well on this day, I was in carpool, and hadn't heard from his teacher all day long. As I sat in line,  was telling my mom how I worry less and blah blah, yet on days I don't hear from the teacher, I get anxious waiting for him to walk out the door and be walked to my car bc I can tell from that first glance if he's HIGH or LOW. As we are sitting there talking, Julian is next to walk out, and the moment I lay my eyes on him, I know it... he is VERY LOW. He gets in the car and the lady is helping him buckle, and he begin to cry. His eyes have that funny look, and I hand him his meter. I ask her whats he crying about, and she replies that she doesn't know but if I pull up, she'll run inside to ask mrs. kim(his teacher). As she runs in, Julian is checking his BG, 60mg/dl. UGH.. no wonder. When she comes back out she tells me he was flipping out over a sticker... I show her his meter, and explain that these out of character swings are red flags, and good reason to always check his BG. Granted, his Dex hadn't yet alarmed(it can lag a little) but it read 109 with two down arrows. that too is a red flag! :(
We had lunch with daddy shortly after, and which gave my boo the protein he needed. Then we came home to prep for his first baseball game that night! wooohoo!

  

I can not even begin to explain how proud I was of Julian tonight! and his team! they ROCKED IT! THey are soooo good for their age, and sooo freakin precious!

 

 

Wednesday- Julian headed off to school. I wasn't to concerned as I usually am the day after baseball, because to my surprise he wasn't running low like he typically does.(but hey I wasn't complaining, since he wasn't running high either!) Then that day at school his teacher texted that his dex alarmed at 65- so she gave him cookies. at the 15 min post check, she had him check his BG and it read 345. I was like damn, no way he's 345- its the day after teeball.. so I told her to insure he cleaned his finger before checking, otherwise the cookie crumbs would give a false HIGH. sure enough, as I loaded Jai in the car to go up to the school, I got the call saying he was 220. much better. he was probably a little low( around 90 if I had to guess) prior to eating the cookies. Dexcom is sometimes a little off. But good deal, he got to finish his day at school. That night, he stinkin dexcom came off early! DANG IT! we only get 4 of these a month, and they're suppose to stay on for 7 days. yet, this one lasted 3 friggen days!! ugh! So of course that means a no go for school tomorrow, and he'll return Friday, since Josh is heading to school for Donuts with dad & a field trip with him. His next dex will be put on next Monday.

 

Thursday- Well I fought highs all night last night and since Julian's dex is off today, he is playing hookie. Good thing we let him play hookie, he has since thrown u his breakfast and has Large ketones. WTF! his bg's haven't been out of whack.. im not getting it! SO I start praying to god he's not getting a virus! I start trouble shooting..

*insulin-- is good.

*no bubbles in tubing

--so next is pull the pump site off and change it out. AAA-HAA.. there's the issue. his CANNULA was completely bent. I assume I didn't catch it as soon as I would typically, bc he didn't run high like he normally does when his cannula is bent. I am also assuming he didn't run high, because of all the exercise he has been doing lately. So today we will battle vomiting, and ketones. :(

 

are you seeing the tend. Hope you enjoyed the free admission to our life, and the complimentary roller coaster Blood sugar ride! :)

Dragon. Drag-in-my-feet-tonight.

I am incredible, unexplainably, utterly, exhausted. My entire body feels like it needs to go into hibernation in order to recuperate from this roller coaster week. Unfortunately, that is not realistic, and life goes on. But I think after all the support you all have shown, and the amount of love, and concern you all have expressed for Julian, I OWE it to YOU to stay away to write this blog post. You all deserve to know about his day at his new school! It's no secret I was a nervous wreck this morning, despite how good our unexpected, encounter/chaotic meeting was yesterday. Going into school today, right as we walked in the front doors, the director asked us to go into the office. At this point I handed her Julian's 121 form, as well as his registration form. She then went on to tell me, they had searched for my number yesterday, before realizing they didn't have it! Turned out they were hoping to contact me, to tell me they'd rather Julian start on Thursday, however since we were already there... We would just go about the day. Mrs. Linda(the director) took over Mrs. Kim(Julian's new teacher) 's classroom, while we took a walk and went into a separate room to talk, per her request. * ...I was relieved she wanted to have another talk today.* The talk was simply to get the gist of things out on the table, and in writing( I already had everything written which saved us a lot of time) and were able to discuss scenarios and such. After I went to tell Julian bye, and Jai and I went about our day. I wasn't so sure about heading home.. I wanted to stay real close incase I was needed. In which case, Jai and I drove down two blocks to Front Beach, to visit one of our favorite parks! :) we played for a long while, until Jai just plan pooped out on me. This is usually his nap time, and poor baby was completely off schedule. I put him back in the car and we went for a drive around. This is when I got a strange number calling my phone...
Ring a ding ding, .. usually I don't answer calls that aren't logged into my contact book, yet I had a gut feeling it was the ADA. Sure thing! I've come to learn, that the only reason Julian's school cant be held for the discrimination they exerted towards my type 1 diabetic 5 year old, is ONLY because they carry a church/religious name. Evidently, Churches don't have to exactly follow the law, and only have to follow up with the health department code, in order to be able to open to the public. A church can tell a T1D they are not welcome to Sunday service. The preacher can stand on the alter and band a T1(or anyone in that matter) from ever stepping foot in the sanctuary again, and yet never break the LAW. Is it discrimination?? ABSOLUTELY. Why don't many people know this? Well, they don't know it because MOST churches are ran by CHRISTIANS. Non-judgmental, loving, Christians, that want to do the work of GOD. They are sinners, and recognize they are not perfect, so they accept murders, prostitutes..etc. it doesn't matter! They take them in to show them the good of our amazing GOD. To show them someone LOVES THEM. TO give them hope, FAITH, and the love of Jesus! That is what makes this story so compelling. As a Baptist, I know never in my time at any church, regardless to the religion, ever heard of a church turning someone away, let alone kicking them out to the curb.  Infact many times I've served the homeless a meal, at our church. We gave them shelter, and used that time to give the love of the lord. Give them the word of Jesus. And exercised being humble Christians. These homeless people many times would appear in our serves weeks following "Housing the homeless". They began a relationship with God, and housing the homeless, was a springboard to the foundation of their relationship with God. Had we shut our doors in their face? Discriminated against them, because of where they are in life... what they had done in life to end up homeless? etc. Then we would have NOT done the work of God. We would have gave them the impression, why bother with God, if those are suppose to be Gods people?
I am babbling, but trying to make my point very clear. Churches have the option to take in who they want, care for who they want, love who they want, and have the option to act as they want. And as Gods children, I believe our God would want us to act accordingly in his house. The landmark/establishment that represents him, should be the best example of God's work in our lives, the lives of sinners, yet Christians. I believe this preschool has represented that church very poorly. I believe with all my heart, that pastor knows nothing about any of this, and would be very disappointed that his doors are open to all kinds, coming from ALL walks of life. Yet, a innocent little 5 year old boy, who has a condition that requires a little extra attention. A condition that has taken over a huge part of his every day life, and has caused him to have to understand things a child shouldn't have to understand. Feel things a child should never have to feel. And be brave. Strong. all awhile. A child that meant no harm to anyone, Just wanted to be in school with his friends. This innocent child had those same church doors closed in his face forever. I believe our father in heaven too, is disappointed in those board members for the way they treated us, and how they represented him, and they will have to answer to that some day. & THAT gives me peace. No there is not a single thing I can do besides put pressure on them, and hope they change their ways within their selves.

After a long talk with this very nice Attorney, I got a text from Julian's teacher stating everyone had a cupcake, besides him. Again I feel upset, at the thought of my child watching others eat a cupcake. I made sure to tell her in the future he is to also have that, and I will gladly come give insulin. But other than that Julian did great! At carpool, I was car #5 in line, and I was anxiously waiting to see my sweet baby boy cut the corner to walk to my car. Finally he did, being walked with Mrs. Linda. Linda was holding a clip board,  and when she got to the car she handed me a waiver. I thought I would faint, but I was very pleased to see it was my instructions typed on a medical wavier saying these are the directions I gave them, and they have my permission to follow all and administer both INSULIN and GLUCAGON! Come to find out, not only does the direct have T1's in her family, and His teachers niece was diagnosed a year ago at age 2, but ALSO a member of the church board that works with the preschool is a retired diabetes nurse. HUGE relief! I know they will do great, but as of now they are not giving him insulin, I am still coming up to administer it, but its still good to know that they are willing and are just waiting for my call.
Julian was super excited about playing with playdoh and making a new friend named, Luke!
:) that's all folks!Thank you all so very much for the support!!!!