the fear...

her fear will go away at some point from all this. changing the site for her pump is the worst. i can take off the old and prep everything for the new but attaching it to her body is her fear right now. and it breaks my heart. especially when she tells me she doesn't want this thing hooked up to her body. i get it in with a lot of crying on her part then yelling at me that she wants to go back to shots. i hate that i have to do it at all. the tears thankfully don't last for long. by the time we had to suspend it for her to get in the shower she tells me the site looks like a boat. i am so thankful that she can find humor in it! marlee's blood sugars have been great for the first week of being on the pump. it has freed us of constant shots. i still think of how young she is and how much she has gone through in 8 months. soon my little sweetie will be 5. i feel she was robbed of some of her 4th year and has been forced to grow up quickly. and often i know that God made her with such sunshine in her personality that he is going to do big things for her because of diabetes.

day 2 on the pump

so, the night was a little rough with a low of 65 and 86. had to give marlee a juice box 2x during the night but she didn't remember a thing. i checked her blood sugars five times between 10pm and 6:45am. long night for mommy but great #s this morning. the whole day was really good with the pump. a few lows but our educator helped me adjust the pump numbers to marlee's needs. i just have to say what a blessing this is already. there is so much freedom and the shots will be rare. i have to tell you the best part of today was punching in marlee's carbs on her insulin pump then placing it back in her pouch and having her ask me "mommy, don't you need to give me a shot?" and my response being "NO, i just have to push a few buttons" and having her face light up with a hugemongous smile and saying "oh, cool" how awesome is that! and i say pretty awesome... i love this little girl. God sure made her with much joy in her heart!

pump life

7 months since diagnosis and we are now live on the insulin pump! it seems like forever ago and just like yesterday. i can still remember life before diabetes. it was so uncomplicated. just have to hope and pray that the pump will uncomplicate marlee's life more. so amazed at how well she takes this all in stride. i learn a lot watching her live so happy!

a new beginning...

so, we are on saline on the pump since last friday. amazingly it has gone really well. the most awesome thing is that marlee absolutely LOVES it. even with the saline. she is bummed that we are going to take it off for a few days until we get the insulin for it in a week and a half. we are still doing her shots but she has already become attached to it! praise God for that! He has blessed marlee with such an amazing attitude and a sweet spirit to deal with all this. and it is going to be so much easier and accurate-gotta love that. i am just excited about this. i am not fearful which is pretty amazing-and how could i be with a 4 year old so looking forward to this:) God-You are so so good...

12.12.12

just a cool date. i had to post something...

heaven

i did church at home with the kids yesterday. in our discussion we talked about how our bodies are not perfect but when we get to heaven they will be new and perfect. no more diabetes, no more cracked hands or feet, no more 2 colds(which is what marlee calls her cold today), no more headaches. we talked about how we are living in our eternity here on earth and how we need to live each day with God being in the first place in our hearts, actions, and thoughts. well, a little while later marlee comes up to me and tells me she wants to die. it took me a minute to process, then she said because she wants to go to heaven so she doesn't have diabetes anymore. i wasn't quite sure what to say and i know i need to have further discussions with her. diabetes stinks but she has this for a reason. some reason that her smiling, beautiful personality will be made stronger and she will be able to somehow use this experience to help someone else out. i love her and i know God is running the show. i still wonder "why marlee?" but i hope to help guide her to where she and i can be a blessing to others through diabetes.

christmas baking

today was a wonderful day. marlee, naomi, levi and i went to my mom and dad's for some baking. my sister in law and her kiddos were there too! it was great to bake with the cousins. it did bring on its challenges with a 4 year old with diabetes who likes to lick the batter and try a piece of everything we were making. i can't even remember how many shots i gave her for whatever she put in her mouth. thank heavens she doesn't complain about the shots. i tell her "you will need insulin if you want to try this" and she looks at me and says "just give me more insulin, i want another cookie." the pump will be easier when we get started the end of the month. i then will just have to push a button!

forgetting

the other day i was getting marlee (and everyone else) ready to eat-i put the needle on the syringe figured out how many carbs dinner was then took the needle off and dispensed it before i even gave marlee her insulin. i was in a blur. this seems to be happening a lot to me lately. my mind is in a blur of busyness. mostly good but at times feeling like i have lost my mind.

a lot

so much has been going on here. in the beginning of september our family (other than daddy) got hand, foot and mouth disease.

intro to pump...

today was our intro to pump day for marlee. we have much information from kev's mom about the insulin pump and know that it is a much easier way to handle insulin so we have been moving as quickly as possible with the goal of getting marlee on the pump. levi has been pointing to this day on the calendar saying "pump". marlee came with us to the appointment. we talked through much of the information with our nurse and then she attached the pump to marlee. she showed us how to place the port in her and then how to attach it. for now it is empty. this is just a trial to see how her skin does with the adhesive and also how she does having it on her all day and nite. when she first got the needle put in she did great. a few seconds later she looked like she was going to start to cry and said she didn't want it on anymore. we then talked to her about how this is a practice one and her real one will be pink and sparkly or however she wants it to look. when we got home getting her down for a nap with it was a little hard at first. she came out crying saying how she didn't like it (i thought it was the whole thing) but she only wanted it to be pink... you gotta love her fashion sense:) she has never liked sticky things on her-especially in the ER. so, i hope she will start to have some understanding that having this will help us stop doing shots every time she eats something. so, after swimming and time for shower marlee wanted the port off again and naomi totally took her mind off it by talking about princesses and fairies and they played in the shower. in that time together naomi also talked to marle about how the pump works and how it will give her the insulin a little at a time (as naomi learned how it works from grandma). naomi just floored me tonite as to how much she loves and cares about marlee. it is one of those moments when i looked at naomi and was so thankful for the wonderful little girl she is. she knows how to comfort marlee and is a natural caretaker. so, we will do the pump but now until october or november as they want you to wait about 6 months after diagnosis. marlee also starts preschool and we don't want to many new things at once. so we will keep doing what we are doing and take each moment as it comes...

trusting

oh Lord i put my trust in You... raising children is not an easy job. i take my parenting very personally which is not always a good thing. we raise them with good morals and teach them what we believe. letting them make choices and suffer the consequences is part of life. the part i struggle with is why did you make that not so smart choice in the first place. i raised you better than that. but, they will grow and continue to make bad choices. i am learning again a lesson of trust. i don't understand why children make bad decisions as i don't understand adam and eve's sin in the beginning of creation. God knows the big picture. i am a small part of it. all this while i need to remind myself that i make not so smart choices yet too and i am an adult-role model-mom. i praise you oh God for i am fearfully and wonderfully made. and this is the face i may want to make when bad choices are made. but you can't beat the way levi does this one...

mad at diabetes

i think i am going through the anger process of marlee having diabetes. right now i think every bit of it sucks. from taking her sugars all the time. making sure she isn't getting low if she plays for too long. listening to her 4 year old voice saying "i don't want you to check my sugars again mommy." constantly pushing her to eat all of her meal so she doesn't feel sick from not eating the amount of food we gave her insulin for. the shots-they feel neverending-almost 300 needles now. the carb book. figuring out how many carbs and how much insulin to give marlee for a meal. sometimes forgetting how much insulin i just gave her and hoping it was correct. writting all the numbers in her journal which i have often forgot until the end of the day then trying to remember from notes i have all over and numbers on the glucometer. taking time from the other kids because i am trying to make sure i have each of her meals figured out. not being able to let her go to bible school or a movie without us being there to make sure nothing goes wrong. i am just feeling that so much of her freedom is gone. she will always be dependent on insulin-shots or soon the pump. i know there is so much good that will come from this too but right now i am having a hard time looking beyond it. feeling like i am doing pretty good and then having this anger pop is catching me off guard. i thought i was handling it pretty well. and my word trust pops in my head as i am writting this. that is what it is all about for me. ok, thanks God:) this is not my battle to handle, it is His. thanks God. these photos were taken in april-about a month before her diagnosis. i want her to always feel as free as she was here. she is so wonderful, so beautiful, so loving, so happy, and such an innocent child. i love you marlee girl...

she...is simply a treasure

yeah!!! i am back to pictures once again! these are totally blown out and blurry but they are so marlee! she is my trooper, my sweetie, my little treasure. oh what a joy she brings in our lives!!!

brave girl

it has been 4 weeks since marlee's diagnosis of type 1 diabetes. we have almost gone through a box of 100 needles, a couple hundred test strips, and many emotions. marlee is now pinching her own finger and squeezing out her blood to test her sugars. she chooses where she wants her insulin shot and doesn't flinch. she is learning how many carbs are in many foods. there are times when she doesn't want her insulin and i don't blame her. it is the new routine of counting everything and testing her sugars before she eats and making her wait to eat until she has her insulin. i am learning to not fight her on taking a bite of food. trusting myself with her care is getting easier.