A birthday I will always remember...

Yesterday Blake was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. Not a great way to spend my birthday. On Thursday night he had his lab work done.  I laid awake all night, I could not sleep because in my gut I knew he had diabetes. The constant peeing every 10 minutes, always thirsty and hungry, belly aches and dry hands. On Thursday afternoon I checked his blood sugar with Brooklyn's meter he tested 244, I checked him two hours later he was 390. I checked for ketones, he had none so he wasn't in any immediate danger. The first person I called was my sister in law Amber, her son also has diabetes. She understands the worry and stress that comes with taking care of child with diabetes. She cried with me on the phone, because we both knew what this meant. I was trying to convince myself he did not have diabetes, I thought maybe it was just a fluke and he had two bad readings. The next morning  I met with Brooklyn's Endocrinologist to go over Blake's lab work that we had done the night before. The minute I walked in she hugged and me and I started crying again! She sat down with me and said he did in fact have diabetes. I kept thinking I shouldn't be this upset, I know how to manage diabetes.  But this time is different, now that I have taken care of Brooklyn's diabetes for almost 1 year I know how emotional and hard it is. It almost seemed worse this time. Taking care of 1 diabetic child can be really hard. The thought of having another child have this disease is overwhelming. I realize there are worse diagnoses then diabetes, but it's still a really challenging disease for a child and parent that you never get a break from.

When I picked up Brooklyn and Weston from school yesterday I was really sad.  Brooklyn asked what was wrong, and I told her. She looked at me, her eyes all watered up and said "Mom, the scientist have to find a cure for Blake, they don't need to give me the cure but Blake needs it. He's too little have to have diabetes".  I starting crying again, what a special little girl I have. The rest of the day, she kept trying to make me happy for my birthday. She said something else yesterday that made me smile, she said "Mom, I know how much work it is for you to take care of me, so I'm going to start making my own lunches in morning for school. I will measure my own food, count the carbs and write them on the post-note for the school nurse. I will learn how to change my own pump site too. Then you will only have to take care of Blake and not me." Tears again! 

So we are on day #2 with starting Blake on insulin shots, counting his carbs and him being a on a schedule of when he eats. It will be hard for a 4 year old, he is a snacker and loves to eat. He won't be able to just go grab something in the pantry anymore without asking. He has been pretty brave with the shots, not as emotional as Brooklyn when she was first diagnosed. So that's been nice. When I check Brooklyn's BG at 2:00am she sleeps right through it, I checked Blake's last night and he woke right up. Gosh, I hope he doesn't wake up everynight. It took him 10 minutes to decide between a "Cars" bandaide or "Toy Story".  I laid awake all night thinking about Blake and how the next few weeks will be for him with all the changes. It will be hard for him. He asked this morning when he can can get a pump like Brooklyn, I said not for a while. Brooklyn pipes in and said he can use mine! I will go back to shots:)

I miss the days where I could send my kids to bed and all of us could sleep through the night worry free. My sleep and Rich's sleep has not been the same for a year, the worry of Brooklyn and now Blake going low in the night makes sleep not as enjoyable and not as sound. 

It always helps me to count my blessings when I'm given challenges that seem too hard, I have been blessed with so much.  Blake will still be the happy goofy kid that adds so much personality to our family and Brooklyn will have a new diabetes buddy right at home, she's not alone in this anymore. It will be good for them to have eachother. 

Blake with his Rufas Diabetes Bear

Brooklyn teaching her little brother everything she knows.

Our Valentine's Day

We started off our Valentine's by doing Brooklyn's hair in this heart shaped pony tail.

While Brooklyn and Weston were at school having fun at their class parties, Blake and me made Valentine cookies.

When the kids got home from school Samantha found their chocolate and ate A LOT of it. There were lots of tears, next year the older kids will have to find better hiding spots for their candy. 

For dinner we made heart pizza's. 

At this point I was TIRED and ready to sit and eat my own pizza.

This first picture I asked all the kids to smile nice, Blake doesn't know how to do that. 

So I ask him again to give me nice smile, this is what I get. Sami thinks he's nuts.

I tried one more time, and this is the face he pulls. He is such a goof ball.
Rich ate his heart pizza late that night we he got home, he missed out on all the fun. We promised not to do gifts this year, he cheated a little and brought me home a Lemon sorbet from Coldstone. It was sweet of him. I'm very lucky to have him in my life.

JDRF activity to the bounce house

Brooklyn is apart of of a little JDRF group in in Albuquerque, every couple of months JDRF gets everyone together to do some kind of activity. This activity couldn't have come at a better time as Brooklyn is getting more and more emotional about dealing with Diabetes everyday. She's the only kid at her school with diabetes, so she feels a little alone with this. Lately, she has been asking for a break from diabetes. I wish I could give her that break. Today was fun spending time with other kids and parents that deal with what we do each and everyday. I was speaking with another mom and her daughter was diagnosed when she was 3 and she's 6 now.  She showed me the tips of her daughters pinkies, they were totally black from being poked too much. I really admire these kids and all they do, they deal with challenges each day that we all take for granted. Brooklyn had so much fun today, and it's always good for her to see that there are others out there just like her. When we ate as a group everyone was whipping out their meters, insulin pumps and shots. I think it's good for Brooklyn to see that. Brooklyn had a low blood sugar right before lunch because she played so hard. Before I got out my meter and juice another mom walked by and said "Oh, I'm sorry your daughter is low".  She smiled and rubbed my arm.  It made me feel good that I'm not alone in this as a parent too.  

Blake turns 4

Blake turned 4! We drove all night from Utah on the the 2nd, and got home around 2:00am on the 3rd. Blake wakes us up at 7:00am and asks for his #4 breakfast pancake, oh man were we tired! We roll out of bed and made him his birthday breakfast.  I usually have some time to think about what kind of cake I want to make, but I had no idea what I was going to make that day. I knew I was to tired to spend hours of time on a cake. So I went and bought a dump truck and a box of brownie's. So easy, and he seemed happy.  He's been wanting a pillow pet for over a year now, so that was his gift from us. My friend Jenny gave me her kids old "Cars" set that her boys don't use anymore. So we gave that to him too, he loved it. Blake is the comedian in our family, he's completely goofy and full of energy.  We love him to pieces. Happy Birthday Blake!

Christmas and New Years

This year we spent Christmas in Idaho and New Years in Utah.  We had a great time with our families. We did lots of fun things in Idaho. Our kids loved going sledding behind the 4 wheelers. We also went icescating in Rigby,it was a man made rink and the owner of the home fed us homemade french fries and hot chocolate:)  They let youth groups and FHE groups come for free, they were very nice. We also went to Big Judd's to eat their giant hamburgers. One hamburger fed my whole family.  On Christmas Eve we had a nice program at Kelly's house we had bread bowls and soup and had a cousin gift exchange. My cousin Jill made Holly and her kids quilts out of all of Nate's favorite t-shirts, I'm sure Holly and her kids will treasure those blankets. On Christmas morning we opened presents and went to church. My brother got ordained an Elder, it was neat to be there for that. Afterwards, we all went to see Nate's headstone that just got finished. It's a beautiful tribute to him.   Christmas Dinner we had at Holly's, Kelly made her famous Coconut Cream pie. We played some fun win-it-to-win-it games with all the kids and played Just Dance on the Wii. We had a great time with my family, it was really nice for all of us to be together. 

In Utah we visited Rich's family, our kids loved going to the bounce house with their cousins. We had a lot of fun visiting with Ryan and Stacie and meeting their new baby Payton.  We stayed with Rich's parents for a couple of days, Grandma took my boys out for their birthdays. We were able to see Amy and Devin's house in Eagle Mountain. We had a Sunday dinner at Grandma Stowes house. We also had fun visiting with Aunt Allie and her family too. Alli made a special sugar free pie just for Brooklyn, I thought that was so thoughtful of her to do that. We spent News Years with Crystal and Jason, they threw a fun party and they let us stay with them for a few days. Thank you! On Sunday we visited our old ward in Saratoga Springs, it was so good to see our friends. I got to hear my good friend Shellee teach in Relief Society for the first time. She did awesome. Our friends Julie and Adam had us over for lunch after church, it was really good to visit with them. We have missed them a lot. We took the kids to see the lights at temple square, that's always fun.  Before we left Utah we made sure to visit Cafe Rio, it's been two years since we have eaten there. It was delicious as usual.

It was a fun trip, we were ready to come home to our own beds but not ready to leave family and friends. We are looking forward to this new year and being closer to everyone. 

Happy New Year! 

Landon fell asleep while he was sledding:)

My sister Kelly and my brother in law Josh. 

All of us.

My brother and sisters.

My niece Grace. I love her chubby cheeks. 

My nieces Emma and Riley trying to see how many candy canes they can balance in 1 minute.

My sister Lauren and Blake

Trying to unwrap candy kisses with gloves on.

All the cousins.

My sister's Kelly and Holly

Caroline and Lauren

HUGE!

My nephews, Mason, Parker and Joshua

Weston and Blake with their cousins Landon and Ethan

My sisters Kelly and Lauren, and my brother Steven.

My sister Caroline and her husband Nick.

Holly and Grace.

Blake picking is nose, nice.

Brookyn took her role as Mary very seriously. 

My niece Katelyn