Change is here!

I took Sam to his Children's checkup on Thursday. His A1C was 8.4 which was way better than Bart or I had anticipated. It was still in the "action suggested" area. This just means we need to make some changes. His ideal target range is 7.0 or lower. We have really slacked with Sam's management since my kidney stone trouble and Sophie's illness. To be brutally honest, we didn't even think about Sam's diabetes. WE just went about our day with as little thought about it as possible. I think we have been in a rut also. We have both slacked and given him things more often than we should that are not great for him. I think it is just to feel normal for a little while and pretend we do no have much to deal with.
Anyway, as of Monday night we will be switching to Lantus insulin. I am extremely nervous because when Sam was diagnosed, we had a week to learn. Thursday I got a 30 minute lesson and was sent on my way. YIKES! There is a lot more freedom to come with this schedule, which will be great for our family and hopefully our social life. Change is hard but exciting! I keep reminding myself that the Lord will not give me more than I can handle. I am just afraid the Lord might think I can take on a whole lot and I am not ready for that! Then I think of Matthew 11:28 and I love how the message lays it out......" Come to me. Get away with me and and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me- watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy on or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly. "
I am in need of laying it all down at Jesus feet and resting with him. We can do this. I just pray it is an easy adjustment. Sam is a little nervous too about the new insulin. The doctor told him that it could sting. I think he has asked me ten times today about it and keeps telling me he does not want that. Please lift us in prayer as we begin a new chapter in our life with diabetes.

List of funny comments from kids

Yesterday the kids found a toad in the backyard. They brought it up to the garage and kept it in a rubbermaid container all day. At the end of the day I told them they should let him go because we had no food or water for him and he would eventually die. So, Sam decided to let him go (my tender hearted child). He let him out on the driveway and the toad just sat there. This is bad new with three little kids running around. Gracie wanted to ride her bike in circles around the toad and Charlie wanted to hit it. So, I explained to them that it was scared and they could accidently run over it if the toad decided to jump. So they decided to ride up and down the driveway next to it. As Gracie rode off, she said "bye bye froggie. Happy Mother's Day!" How random but funny!

Today Bart made the kids lunch and I made their drinks. I made them some strawberry kool-aid and when Charlie tasted it he said, " mommy, you are the best drinker in the world!" I usually get " you are best cook in the west." He is such a cowboy at heart. I love his sayings!

Then later in the day Gracie was asking me when we could go see sadrun again. I had no idea what she was talking about. After asking her probably ten times and her repeating the same sadrun word over and over. She finally expanded and said the big star in the sky we saw at Lost Pines! Then I realized she meant the planet Saturn. HAHA! The hotel had star gazing one night and they showed us the planet Saturn. Gracie loved it!

YUM! Green Beans!

Since Sam has diabetes, it is really hard to get the kids to try new foods. Food is the ONLY thing Sam has control over, as far as what he is going to put in his mouth. So, the thought of making my kids one plate of food and letting them go to bed hungry if they didn't eat dinner is out the window because Sam has to eat and has to eat a certain amount of food at each meal. I have become really frustrated by this and trying to figure out how to get them to eat healthier. So, Bart and I came up with a way to make them at least eat one bite. The new rule is you have to eat one full bite of everything on your plate before you can leave the table. It has been working and sometimes they actually like the new food. I think we are on our way to some variety!!!!!!

Now they have a new idea as well. They hold their noses while they eat the things they are not fond of. It works great and we are all happy.

HILARIOUS COMMENT FROM SAM

We decided the other day to let Gracie decide where we were going to eat. She is in love with quesadillas since discovering them at Taco Cabana on a vacation recently. We do not have a Taco Cabana so we took her to Taco Bueno. We were in the drive thru and we hear Sam in the background trying to pronounce a word. FInally, he said , hey I know what the name of this place is.... it is called "fuh jee tas". We laughed so hard! There was a sign on his side of the car introducing fajitas and he thought it was the name of the restaurant and that it was pronounced fuh jee tahs. It was really funny. We still laugh when we see the word fajitas.

VBS - June 3rd 2009

Summer is here and Vacation Bible Schools are popping up. I love this and want my kids to really be involved in VBS. I have so many amazing memories from these events. I usually stress about time table and snacks at these events with Sam. Well, once again, the Lord has blessed us with people who go above and beyond. Mrs. Rhonda went to Cosco and bought snacks for the event and she thought about Sam and his needs and got a snack that fell into his 20-25 carb count and then bought Crystal Light to drink. It was amazing to tell him to go to the snack table and pick out which annie bunny bag he wanted. Then he could go and get his own drink. FABULOUS!! It was a good night. There are not words to describe the joy this brings me when I do not have to offer an explanation for why he cannot have something or why it is not time for his snack. Then there is usually the explanation to the other kids on why they have to wait to make it fair to Sam, which we did not have tonight. It was just a good night. Thank you Rhonda.

Tomorrow I take Sam to his routine Children's check-up to see where his A1C falls for three months. It will not be good. He has been all over the place lately. He is up and then an hour later he will be low. This makes for a crummy A1C. (A1C is the average blood sugar number over a three month span) We will be switching to a new insulin in a few weeks. It is called Lantis. I am excited and nervous all at the same time. Please pray all this transition is a smooth one. I will update tomorrow. Nite all.

Blah!!!!

Well, here I am at 2:00 am and I just finished checking Sam. His blood sugar was 115 at bedtime snack so we thought he would go low during the night. He was in fact low with a blood sugar of 60. This is so hard for many reasons... 1) we have to wake him up to have fifteen carbs of sugar 2) we are now putting sugar straight on his teeth and then sending him back to sleepy land. This really bothers me. What happens when he loses all his teeth because we had to fix his blood sugar so much during the night? A small price to pay for life I guess. He handles it amazingly well. Half the time, he never really wakes up. He just eats what we give him and lays back down. AAHHHH! It just breaks my heart to sit and watch him eat four glucose tablets with his eyes closed; just chewing away. I am thankful it has become easier than it was when he was two. I have to find those positives! Well, I am exhausted and going to bed now. Just wanted to let you know what we Millards do in the middle of the night. Sweet dreams.