40th Year

Matt is 39. Yup he is old. It doesn't seem possible that my husband is that old. But he is. I stopped enjoying birthdays when I turned 30. I hate getting old. I hate grey hair. I hate that my brain doesn't work like it used too. I hate that I can't remember where my cell phone, car keys, or purse are a little too often. The only comfort I have in getting older is that my sweet husband Matt is always way older. It sounds mean but I enjoy this very much. I love to tease him. My sister in law,Anna, does as well. When Matt turned 35 we joked that he was in his late 30's. Now that he is 39 she informed him that he is actually in his 40th year. Well Matt live it up. The real 40 is just around the corner.

School...Glorious School

It finally came. The day I'd been looking forward to since June 6(the day school got out). I say that only half kidding. I love lazy summer days but I much prefer structure and schedule. I'm the type who has every minute of vacations planned out too. This year my boys were very excited for back to school. Dawson got Mrs. Oliver for 1st. grade and Parker got Miss Terney for 3rd. grade. Mrs. Oliver has class pets (which excites Dawson) and she is a looping teacher which means we will have her for two years. (which excites me) Parker got the teacher he really wanted and she is "cool" in the 3rd. grade world.

I was also excited this year because my boys let me put them in matching first day of school outfits again. This year the shirts were different colors but the same shirt. I think they look so cute. I know the day is coming very soon when they won't let me do this so I'm just going to live it up while I can.

The school bus came. Both boys jumped on. Neither looked back or said good bye with tears in their eyes because they were so sad to leave me.(which probably means they were looking forward to this day as much as I was) So yes I had to peak my head in the bus and tell them to have a great day. That shouldn't have embarrassed them too much!(next year I bet they'll say good bye)

"Seek Failure"

As I mentioned in a previous post, the best thing that happened to our family this summer was definitely attending the Children With Diabetes Friends for Life Conference. The CWD Friends for Life conference in Orlando is filled with parents who care. With kids who pump and who know the carb content in their favorite breakfast cereal. With grandparents who can proudly program a pump, or siblings who know how to treat their brother or sister's low blood sugar. It's also filled with some of the diabetes medical community's finest. One of the conference speakers was Jay Hewitt. He is a type 1 diabetic who competes in iron man competitions. Jay encouraged the kids to set goals and take control of their lives.
"Make the bad things that happen to you the best thing that happened to you. Seek failure. Think about failing. Set goals that have failure potential. Failure is not a bad thing. If you've never failed, you aren't trying hard enough."

I started thinking about Jay's comments this week because it is so easy for me to feel like I'm failing as a mom. With so many "big" things to do on my daily list I often over look the little things. Its the little things that make me feel like a failure. Little things like when its your kid who forgot his water for football practice(again) or your daughter has no shoes on at the grocery store. When I remembered Jay's comments about failure it made me realize that I'm trying my hardest and failure is not a bad thing. So I want to encourage all of you to "Seek Failure".

P.S. Check out http://jayhewitt.com/. Jay is pretty darn handsome. Maybe that's why his inspirational message resonated to my very core!

A Day at the Ballpark

This weekend we finally made it to the new Washington Nationals Ball Park. It is amazing. Every year we try to make it to a couple of games per season. We were so excited when we heard that the Nats were going to get a brand new stadium because the old RFK stadium had seen better days. I have to say that the new stadium is even better than Camden Yards. There wasn't a bad seat in the entire park. The area surrounding the park is getting better and this new stadium will revitalize this part of the city which is great. The seats were great, the food was really good(but expensive), and we had a blast.

This baseball game was also really special because it was a Starlight Great Escape. Starlight is a foundation that we were first introduced to when Dawson was in Children's Hospital for his initial diagnoses. Starlight buys all the video game machines and other entertainment for Children's hospitals. They also have a Great Escapes program for seriously ill children not currently in the hospital. They hold several events throughout the year that sick kids and their families can attend. The kids get to meet other kids that are also struggling with health issues and parents are able to meet other parents that are going through similar situations. This organization is all about families. It is really an amazing organization that we are so lucky to be a part of. Our entire family looks so forward to the Starlight events. Its a fun time for everybody and one of the best things that has come to our family since Dawson's diagnosis. Thank you Starlight.

http://www.starlight-midatlantic.org

After the game the kids got to run the bases on the field. What a fun time this was. It was so cool to see the dugouts and to actually be on the grass. It was a great day. The boys loved it but as you can see Reagan was also really excited!

Journey into the City

Today I took the kids to downtown D.C. We went to see the new 3-D movie "Journey to the Center of the Earth". It was playing at our local movie theater but if you drive into the city you can see it on an IMAX screen. It was a lot of fun. 3-D has come a long way since I was a kid and we used the red and blue glasses.

After the movie we went to China Town for lunch. We picked a Mexican place to eat...go figure. I think Reagan's burrito was as big as her.

It was a great day. If you haven't seen the movie give it a try. It was a lot better than the book we all had to read in high school.

DKA

Tuesday Night
I had a really fun activity planned for the kids and I. Matt was out of town so I was going to take the kids roller skating. Everybody was excited. Parker and Dawson raced out onto the rink as soon as they could tie their skates. Parker took it slow the first couple of laps to get the hang of it. He didn't leave the outer ring for a while. Dawson got on the rink going top speed. Reagan waited until she liked the song that was playing and then proceeded to skate up and down the carpeted hall instead of the rink. I laughed just watching all of them. They are so different. We all had a fun time skating. When we started the drive home Dawson's pump started beeping that he was having a high blood sugar. This didn't surprise me because Dawson always runs a little high when he is exercising and his adrenaline is raised. I gave Dawson insulin when we got home and sent everybody to bed. I put Dawson in my bed so I could monitor his numbers. At midnight his number was still over 300 so I gave him more insulin and set my alarm to check him in 2 hours. At 2:00 a.m. his numbers were finally back into normal range but Dawson woke up not feeling good. That's when he started throwing up. It happened three more times that night and I knew he was in trouble. I got out Dawson's new blood ketone machine and tested Dawson for ketones. I was shocked when I read the results. 3.7. Normal is 0. Dawson was in DKA. DKA is defined by Wikipedia as "a life-threatening complication in patients with Type 1 Diabetes. Near complete deficiency of insulin and elevated levels of certain stress hormones combine to cause DKA." Okay. But what does that mean. So I pulled out my book that I call diabetes for dummies that the hospital gives to newly diagnosed patients. It said "ketones + vomiting = emergency room."

Wednesday Morning

I took Dawson to Mary Washington Hospital and my parents met me there to pick up the other two kids. They determined that he needed to be transferred by ambulance to Farifax Children's Hospital.

Thursday



Dawson is so brave. He always had a smile on his face. After two days in the hospital Dawson was finally ready to come home.


Friday Morning

Dawson wanted to bring his brother and sister back something from his "trip". Hospital pajamas for both of them. We are glad to have Dawson home and feeling better.

Why Whitney?

Since the eighth grade I have always loved this song because of the lyrics.
Tile :Whitney Houston - One Moment In Time
Each day I live I want to be
A day to give
The best of me
I'm only one
But not alone
My finest day Is yet unknown
I broke my heart Fought every gain
To taste the sweet I face the pain
I rise and fall
Yet through it all
This much remains
I want one moment in time
When I'm more than I thought I could be
When all of my dreams are a heartbeat away
And the answers are all up to me
Give me one moment in time
When I'm racing with destiny
Then in that one moment of time

It is a song that gives me hope and helps motivate me. I do believe that the finest days for the Duff family are yet to come. We have our ups and downs but if I have learned anything about my family it is that we are so much more than I thought we could ever be. Day in and day out we are struggling to our goal of being an eternal family one moment at a time.

P.S. I promise you won't have to hear this song every time you visit our blog.

Recent Orlando Pictures

I finally did it!

My sister has a blog, my sister-in-law has a blog, my best friend has a blog, everybody has a blog and now I have a blog. I have to admit that when my sister, Heather, first started her blog I didn't even know what a blog was. I have always loved reading their blogs but I always questioned where they find the time to blog. My excuse when asked why I don't blog was always "I don't have the time." Well like everything else in life you have to make time. It wasn't until 2 weeks ago that I decided that I needed to have a blog for my family. My family recently attended a conference called "Friends for Life" in Orlando, Florida. The conference was organized by Children with Diabetes. Among many things I learned at the conference, I learned that I have a voice and that my voice matters. I am an advocate for my family and all that my family represents...and hence this blog is born.