goodbye 2012... hello 2013!

Phew! What a year! 

Thank you so much for reading about our little life with diabetes and twins. This little life that can sometimes take over a whole room full of people. Sometimes because of low blood sugars and sometimes because of crazy, seven-year-old boys! Ha! 

Thank you also for voting for our contest! I can't believe that just with love from my family and friends and your family and friends that we we were able to get 1893 votes! I am humbled and blessed. Thank you. It was fun, wasn't it? Although on the last couple of days, I was either going to need Valium or defibrillator! 

Thank you for sharing our Facebook page, Twitter account and our website with your friends. Your kindness is amazing. It has helped us spread the word of diabetes to so many people that would have otherwise never known.

Don't know about you, but I am fulfilled! If not a little exhausted...

I'd like to share good news with you since you helped build it. 

The exciting tallies for the year are as follows:

We reached 50,000 hits this year! Actually just today. Thanks! 

We have over 200 likes on our Facebook page. 

We completed 30 days of posting during National Diabetes Awareness month. Raising awareness to over over 8,000 people. 

We are currently reaching about 7,000 people per month.

Finally, the best of all, we were able to share the signs and symptoms of Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes with over 6 million moms!! In hopes of saving one little life, of course, could be the most important thing.  

But, we are not done yet! 

I have big plans for 2013. I have created a list of "All Year Resolutions" giving myself 365 days to complete them. Putting them down on proverbial "paper" makes them real, doesn't it? Here goes...

1. Publish my book called Blueberry Juice. That is how this whole blog thing started in the first place. I wrote a book during my infertility years. It is real, raw and funny. I was in my 30's when I wrote it and it is basically a diary of going through the darkest time of my life for five years. It contains much more daring writing than my blog which people have told me helps them get through their infertile days. I have been holding onto it for almost ten years now and have only let my close friends and family read it. I never wanted to throw it out there haphazardly because I knew one day if it found the right publishing house, it could help thousands of woman get through their darkest days. Now I know I am ready. I am going to find a great agent and publish it. Finally! Of course, as soon as I get any information, I will share the news! 
2. Figure out Pinterest. I need to just take some time and see what it's all about. It seems super fun! 
3. Advertise. Great news! We got accepted to have Target advertise on our site! They will send out special weekly deals that you can only get on the blogs where they advertise. So, I need to figure it all out and bring you guys the deals! So far, I have seen 50% off a Canon SX 150 14.1 MP camera! Look for great deals all year long from Target and other great retailers. 
4. Get a puppy! I miss having a dog in the house and since I am not having any more babies, this is the next best thing. I promise to get a super cute one and send lots of pics. 
5. Get at least 100 freelance writing jobs! I love doing freelance. Putting a number out there like 100 pushes me to network within newly discovered channels. I hope to write something for Parents magazine. I love that one. I am also going to submit tons of stuff to Circle of Moms in the blogger section and the Round Up! Any time one gets published, I will attach it here also. 
6. Learn how the big dog, bloggers do it. I have to read, read, read. There is a whole world out there that includes branding, guest bloggers, back links, vlogging, HTML codes, hashtags and twitter/Facebook advertising. I have research and decide what is best for us.

So, that's it. Therefore, I am putting out the "gone fishing" sign.

I will be back in about two weeks with some of the above stuff figured out. I will definitely get to the Target deals for you, some posts on Circle of Moms, and the Pinterest stuff. Probably not the puppy yet and hopefully the agent! 

Please allow me a couple of weeks to recoil and research. Once I return, I will have great posts of all the fun! However, I will take the lead from the television industry. I will post repeats each day of posts from the past year.  If you haven't been reading Everyday Highs and Lows since last year, they will be new to you! If you have been thanks for reading EHLs. I will post on our Facebook page first once we are back. If you haven't already liked the actual Facebook page and you want to know when we come back online, just click here www.facebook.com/everydayhighsandlows and press the  "like" page button. 

I hope you all have a Happy New Year! Stay safe and designate a driver. Thanks again for an amazing year!

Diabetes 201

Well, another holiday season has come and gone. Click here to see last year's post.  I didn't get everything I wanted off of last January's list. Click here to see that list! But I  can say with satisfaction that this year diabetes didn't "get us". It kind of just blended into the scenery. We had a couple of highs after some "let the kid be a kid" moments with high carb foods. We also had a couple of lows with Rocco playing too hard in the snow or with his cousins. But, nothing really was too high or too low for too long. For this, I am more than grateful!

This year was about being normal but vigilant, mixing with family and friends and mostly doing a good job in maintaining Rocco’s blood sugars within a reasonable (but not always perfect) range. Fingers crossed. I hope this sets the tone for the New Year.

With diabetes now being in the background of our days and not the forefront, it got me thinking. I think we can check Diabetes 101 off the list! Since most of my days feel like "been there, done that" instead of "HOLY CRAP! WHAT DO WE DO NOW?" I feel like we can truly say that we’ve arrived at a more advanced “Diabetes 201” phase.

Now, I know I will still need to contend with raging growth hormones, "starving" pre-adolescents, playing video games while mindlessly eating junk food and the odd teenage addiction to slurpees, but I figure that is more like Diabetes 301. No rush!

I wonder what Diabetes 401 is? Probably "letting go" for the college years. Ugh... Makes me want to snuggle my little guys right now, thinking about those days ahead. Wonder why it is so hard to appreciate the moment? Another thought for another day...

For now, I will concentrate on routine Diabetes 201 living, such as watching Rocco’s blood sugars at basketball practice, when he’s playing with Zeke in the snow and after eating treats at school parties.  All the while ensuring that both Rocco and Zeke feel secure and normal.

re-gifting... cheap or genius!

Raise your hand if you have ever re-gifted! 

I have! I think it is fun. If I haven't opened it and I see that one of my friends would like it better, I give it to them! I don't do it a ton. Maybe just one time each holiday season. But why not? 

By the way, if you have re-gifted something to me, don't worry! I think it is juuuust fine. 

I also like to garage sale and Craigslist. I kind of subscribe to the idea of "one man's trash is another man's treasure". Does it mean I am a junk collector?  No way! I only buy the expensive stuff. I am a label snob at the garage sales. My favorite is Pottery Barn! 

Anyway, one year I did however make a fatal mistake! I re-gifted food...

Let me tell you what happened. 

I received an apple from a client. I thought it was very sweet that she bought me something. When I got it though, it was not a normal apple. It was one that looked like this. 

It was so impressive that it was intimidating! At the time, it was just Michael and I. We hadn't had the boys yet. I had no idea how I was going to eat it. It was from Nordstrom and it was wrapped so beautifully. I noticed the end of one of the ribbons was a little worn. I laughed and thought she probably got intimidated and re-gifted to me. 

It sat in my counter for four days. Michael and I both kept deciding it was too pretty to eat. We decided to spread the joy and bring it to my mother-in-law for Christmas. As soon as she saw it, she said, "It's beautiful but how in the heck do you eat it?" We laughed but I never revealed that I had re-gifted it. She never did open it and share it with the group. 

A week later, we went to Michael's grandmother's house. I looked over and saw the same damn apple on her counter with a new bow on it! I asked her about it and she said, "Your mother-in-law gave it to me but it was so huge and beautiful, that I thought I would bring it to my sister's. But the bow looked yucky so I replaced it. Do you think she will know?" 

Michael and I looked at each other and just started laughing!!

We explained our story and the whole room started laughing! 

We joked about the fact that the apple was probably two years old just going from house to house! 

So, the moral of this story is re-gifting is ok as long as it is not food! 

Don't forget to like us on Facebook! You'll get updated when we post! Click here. Www.facebook.com/everydayhighsandlows 

Rat on a snowboard

The boys got a Target gift card from a nice, family friend for Christmas. They were thrilled! I made them use half of it to buy gifts for their brother for Christmas. 

I did this for two reasons. 

1) It made them feel more like it was "their money".

2) It made giving better than receiving.

3) I knew they would buy the exact same thing for each other so it was just like using it for themselves! Ha! Ok, I admit. Sometimes, I use the twin thing to my advantage! 

So with the rest of the money, we trucked off to Target the day after Christmas in a snow storm. I know. What was I thinking? But the money was burning a hole in their pockets and they wanted to get just one more Skylander. Ugh...

Once we got there, Rocco saw a snowboard. He was smitten. He has been playing a game lately called Rat on a Snowboard and he loves it! 

So as soon as we got home, he wanted to go outside and try it out. Zeke preferred to play the game inside. Zeke is more my style! Ha! 

Even though by now it was dark out, my boy was determined! 

But... Here he is coming in because it really was too dark. Ha! 

As I put the boys to bed I told Rocco, "You know learning to use a snowboard might take some practice. Not many people can just jump on and do tricks like rat on a snowboard." 

I just knew he had dreams of jumping on and doing flips right away. That is the reason I love him! He always sees himself bigger than he is. Unfortunately, usually this ends in a very disappointed little man when the reality of his limitations hit him. I have seen him disappointed too many times. Sure enough, his response was, "Well, I might!"

To which I replied, "I hope so but just know you may have to practice for a little while before you can do a flip." 

To which he replied, "Mom. It's Jesus's birthday. So he is in a good mood. So he will give me good luck." 

I laughed and kissed him super hard! 

This morning he woke up and right after breakfast got dressed in his snow suit all by himself and ran out in the snow. 

Jesus must have stayed in a good mood because do you know that little boy strapped that snowboard to his feet and away he went down the hill!  Just like that. 

He ran up to the house and peeked his head in the door wall and said, "See! I told you!" 

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

 

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! I wish everyone good health and happy families! 

To all my mommies out there, take a minute and congratulate yourself on another successful year of lies and fancy footwork to keep that magic alive! Not sure about you, but I am exhausted. Keeping up "the story" is a lot of work, isn't it? Anyway, put those kids to bed and pour yourself a tall glass of wine! You deserve your Christmas cheer now. Well done! I am sure your houses all looked fabulous, your kids all were dressed in their best, your grand meal was to die for and the presents all had awesome bows on them! If not, eh, there's always next year... Ha! 

Oh, and one of these...

Hahaha! 

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night! 

another stupid school party! grrr!

People with Type 1 diabetes can eat sugar. Sometimes, Type 1’s like Rocco even need a big hit of sugar when their blood sugar goes low.  But most times, eating fast-acting carbs like frosting, juice and candy spikes Rocco's blood sugar well beyond the normal range. If he doesn't exercise after eating these treats, like at a school party, his blood sugar will usually rise out of sight.

As you might gather, school holiday parties are just not my thing.

First, there was the Valentine's party last year. Click here to read how that went.

Then there was the Mother's Day party. Click here...

So, having a twin with diabetes is challenging when it comes to school parties.

So this year, I finally listened to my friend, who also has a son with Type 1 diabetes. "I just don't give anyone a choice. I sign up to be the food mom for every party. Then I plan the menu and assign the snacks to each of the other moms."

She doesn’t care that she seems like a control freak, which has always been my worry. I never want to be the mom who requires that everyone else must cater to my requirements. My brave friend doesn’t worry about these things. She jumps right in and does whatever it takes to care for her son. I was inspired by this, so I decided to do the same for this year’s school Christmas, opps! I mean holiday, party. I signed up to be the food mom, planned the menu, assigned healthy snacks to the other moms and assigned myself to bring the sweet treats, so I would know ahead of time exactly how many carbs were in each treat!

Here are the two things I brought.

I know! Cute, right?

Each of these snacks has only 10 carbs. These snacks are peanut-free (we have two peanut allergy kids), politically correct and low carb! Go me!

To the other mothers, I assigned fruit kabobs (10 carbs), cheese and crackers (10 carbs), a veggie tray (0 carbs), and mini waters (0 carbs – no 24 carb Capri Suns). I know, it seems lame, but I had to do what I had to do! The Capri Suns could wait until the kids get home.

So, the total for everything on the table was about 40 carbs per kid if they took one each! Yay! I felt so proud. 

As the party started, I looked over the food table as I did my calculations. Yep, everything was right on track! I was so excited, I decided to tell Rocco, "Hey! You can have one of everything on the table!"

He got the biggest smile on his face then said, "YES!"

Then he got so excited he told his best friend, "I can have one of everything on the table!"

His best friend said, "YES!" and they high fived! It was sweet. He has nice friends.

I was feeling proud of myself until one of the moms, who came late and had never answered any of my emails, added these to the table!

Plus juice and a bag of pretzels!

Um, helllooo mystery mom who never reads her emails! Do you not understand that I am trying to raise a kid here who shouldn't eat your high carb, fast acting treats? I know I am being mean and I am sure she had no idea what she had done, but I was so excited to have it be just right and in one fell swoop, it was ruined! Grrrr!!! 

I felt deflated as I looked over at Rocco. He was having so much fun. I brought him aside and asked him if we could make a plate with the original snacks and bring the super-sugary treats home to have later.Tears welled up in his eyes and he said, "But you said I could have one of everything on the table..." I was suddenly realized he was genuinely going to start to cry in front of all of his friends. 

So....I caved. "All right. Go ahead." 

This, of course, pleased him no end and he ran off to play the next game.

While he was playing though, I got mad. I grabbed a plastic knife and cut the pieces of that chocolate cake into the smallest slivers you have ever seen! Was that appropriate? No! Was it fair to all the other kids? No! But I didn't care! They can have all the sugar they want later.

Nobody ever said that a mama bear had be polite while protecting her cubs! 

In the long run, I am not sure anyone noticed my secret attempts at a fun but low-carb party. None of the kids ever did complain about the size of the cake servings. But one little boy did keep coming back and asking for more fruit kabobs. Ha ha!

As for Rocco, at one point I looked over and saw him happily eating two treats at the same time.

He had a good time, although his blood sugars ran from 300 to 400 for several hours. Ugh..

Look at these cool ideas! Hope I remember them for next year! 

Ok moms tell me, please. How did you handle these stupid parties with your kids? I would love some advice because I have two more parties this year! Help! Please, leave it in the comment section below. 

Christmas cookies with sissy!

This year, I was super excited to do something that I have never done before! I have never made Christmas cookies. Sure, I have made one dozen at a time but never lots of cookies. I called my sister and we made a date. After the year she has been through, I wanted to treat her to a fun day! It almost got cancelled by three, unforeseen, kid mishaps but we were so excited to be together, we just made it happen. Well, kind of...

The first batch were some pumpkin spice ones. Yum! 

Well... Until The second tray needed "just a couple more minutes"! Then we sat down, started talking about the kids and "Crap!"

These would have looked good if the were molasses but since they were the pumpkin spice... Oops! 

Next were the peanut butter balls. These are my BFF's mom's famous recipe. They are so delicious and are both of our favorites! We were sooo excited to make them until we realized we needed a double boiler... Um... Next! 

Peppermint cookies. We cheated on these and used the pillsbury tube. 

 

So, they shooouuullldd have worked out okay but we rolled them out so we could use our cute candy cane cookie cutters and then they did this..

Then, my sister tried to do this. 

And this..

Then, we both did this.. 

Thus, the blurry picture! Haha! 

They definitely did not look like this.

 

They did look like this.

In the long run, we did pull off the Russian Tea Cakes  and the Peanut Butter kisses. We had the best time. Next year, we will try this at night, drunk and see if it works out any better. 

I love you, sissy! Thanks for a great day! 

Is Santa real?

  

Warning! If you have young children that read this blog, go turn on the Disney Channel for them and then return to this post. Go ahead. I'll wait. Oh, and on your way back, grab some Kleenex. 

Okay ready? All set? Okay. I will kind of talk in code in case you have one of those nosey, little children that is always asking, "What mom? What?" when you are trying to keep them from something. I am sure you will be able to keep up. 

So the boys were told by "someone who shall remain nameless" over the summer about Santa (wink!). We were driving back from summer vacation when I heard, "Mom, is Santa real?" Of course, I did what every parent does when their child asks them a question they aren't ready to answer, I lied. Actually, we were in the car and Michael was the first to panic and yell out the lie. I, actually, hesitated and thought to myself, "YES! Now I can just buy them one big thing like iPods so I don't have to deal with the rouse, the shopping, the wrapping and the massive amounts of toys that clutter my house anymore!" I seriously considered it for about 10 seconds when Michael shouted out his answer. Darn! 

So, I asked one of my amazing friends who is doing a great job raising her teenage children about how she handled the situation. She told me of a letter she wrote to her then eight-year-old son. I thought is was seriously the best letter I have ever read!  I asked her to let me share it and she said yes. Without further ado, I bring you the letter that I hope goes viral and gets passed around the world. It's just such a great answer and way to present it! Hope you enjoy! 

To my doubting son:

 

Is there really a Santa Claus?  I guess that all depends on how you look it at.  I believe with all my heart and soul there truly is.  I think of him more like a ghost or a spirit, like in the story the Christmas Carol.  I think he is like Christmas past, present and future all in one. 

 

I tell people that I hate the holidays.  The reality is that I love them so much it breaks my heart to know that they come and then they end. It is sad to know that strangers have the potential of being so kind to one another, but only live up to that potential for a brief time each year.  Remember that you have Christmas kindness and charity in your heart all year. 

 

Always remember to enjoy the holidays.  I mean this.  Stop every year and absorb the smell, sights and sounds around you.  You will treasure the memories especially as you get older.  The memories are priceless and all of the money in the world couldn’t buy them.  These are the gifts.

 

Santa is the magic of the way Christmas makes you feel.  As you get older Christmas with be wrapped with memories and those memories are the true magic.  You will remember the way the house smelled when cookies were baking.  The way the tree looked lit up in the window of your childhood home.  You will remember your Grandmother’s dinners and the way everyone laughed around the table.  You’ll remember smells, songs and special people.  30 years from now you will remember only a handful of actual presents that you got for Christmas.  You will remember the great gifts you gave people and the way it made you feel when they were pleased.

 

I know that you know Christmas is about Jesus’ birthday and that is the true meaning, but it is hard to remember that with all of the commercials and focus on Santa and the presents.  I just want you to know what the most important presents really are.  You and Megan give me the greatest gifts that I could ever get and you give them all year.  You give me the gift of laughter, pride and purpose.  Even to worry about you is a gift.  It reminds me that I have very important responsibilities in my life and a wonderful reason to be here.  There is nothing that could go under a tree as valuable as that.

 

Yes, there is a Santa.  You are Santa, I am Santa, every person with a giving spirit is.  It is that spirit that keeps the tradition alive year after year.  You have a very mature responsibility not to spoil the idea of a jolly elf in a red-suit for younger kids.  It is a brief and exciting time for little ones.  You also have the huge responsibility of carrying on the tradition of giving.

 

It makes me a little sad that you don’t believe in the red-suited elf, but never doubt what Santa symbolizes.  The magic is always in the giving, not the gift. 

 

 

Love, 
Mom

I hope you liked it! She is an amazing mom. I am still holding up the lie for at least one more year but I am also holding onto this letter! 

If you would like to keep up with Everyday Highs and Lows in the new year,  just like us on Facebook. Click this link  and press "like". If you are a tweeter, our twitter name is @hisandlos! Follow us. Whenever I put up a new post I tweet it and put it on our page. 

Tune in tomorrow for my funny experience baking cookies with my sissy! 

yoga pants

My friend Darcy was over the other day. I was sitting on the floor with her three-year-old. So, she joined us and she laid down on the floor like this. 

 

As she propped her head up with her hand, she raised her arm up and her shirt rolled up like a window shade, exposing her "after the baby belly". It was so obvious that I had to make fun of her. We poke fun at each other and ourselves but it’s all for laughs. She of course laughed, rolled her eyes and said, "I'm so far gone that my muffin top is a scone!" I said, "At least your belly is only from seven months ago. Mine is from seven YEARS ago!"  We both got the belly giggles! Ha ha! That's the kind of friends we are. 

After our gigglefest, she told me she liked my yoga pants. These pants are, of course, a standard mommy uniform. These were my best pair. They were from the Gap. 

She said, "I like the way that they have a full leg, because I hate the way the ones that hug my knees and then go into bell bottoms below the knees.

"I know,” I said, “and then the fabric bunches up on the thigh because it gets caught on the knee, which then makes you have floods and exposes your comfortable-but-not-so-stylish shoes. It is okay when the pants cover the whole shoe, but not okay when the ugly shoes are fully exposed in the light of day!"

We belly giggled again.

Then we discussed holiday parties. We both said we had one that we were excited to get dressed up for. I think the difference between working moms and stay-at-home moms is that stay-at-home moms get excited to get out of yoga pants and into heels, while working moms get excited to take off the heels and put on the yoga pants. The grass is always greener!

So we discussed going to Black House White Market for something cute and festive. We talked about the fact that an outfit can be so expensive. She said, "It's too bad our parties are on the same day. Since we are the same size and have the same taste, we could otherwise buy one outfit and share it!" Genius!

She said her party was her husband’s work party, and she was excited to remind her husband that she had a sexy side after he watched her nurse their son for the past seven months. She said she had thoughts of getting dressed up and practically peeing on her husband at the party to mark her territory! She was bummed out that she didn't have a way to lose 10 pounds to make her plan even more sweet. I mean really... they can put a man on the moon but they STILL haven't come up with the "lose-ten-pounds-in-one-day-so-your-husband-notices-you" pill? People, I am telling you, if you build it, they will come!

By the end of our visit we decided until our magical pill comes out, we can either stop eating the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches we make for our kids or stick with the full-legged yoga pants. Our vote was for the yoga pants. They’re just so comfortable!

real, grown up Christmas tree!

When my husband and I bought our house, we moved in at the beginning of December. I remember, because it totally stunk moving in freezing temperatures.

 

But I also remember walking into my new house and being excited. It was the biggest house I had ever lived in! I remember feeling very grown-up. I made myself a promise right then to get a grown-up Christmas tree like you see in the Better Homes and Gardens magazine. The thought of the giant grown-up tree made me giggle.

So, I did like every 30-year-old, new home owner does. I ran right over to Kmart to get some ornaments. Whaaaaattt? I just said it was a big house. I couldn't very well afford both the mortgage payments and Tiffany ornaments!

Once there, I saw a Christmas ornament set that I absolutely loved! It looked like this.

However, in my memory, it was sparkling with the angels singing above me!

It was Martha Stewart's Home Collection. It was silver and blue. I bought the whole lot of it; garland, snowflake ornaments, runners, tree skirt, beads, stockings and an angel for the top of the tree! We bought a huge tree and I decorated it! It was beautiful, just like I imagined!

 

I had a party for co-workers that year at my house, and I felt so adult-like with my grown-up tree!

As the years past and the kids came, I started collecting other ornaments, like these.

 

Each year, when my little boys would come home from pre-school, kindergarten and first grade, I would show off additional kid ornaments that they had made or was purchased. As I put them on the tree, it seemed some of my adult ones would come off and be stored away in the box. I eventually turned the white lights into colored lights. Now seven years later, there are no more silver or blue snowflakes on the tree. I only realized it this year, after I finished decorating and looked down at what was left unused on the floor.

I once again giggled when I realized that actually NOW I have real grown-up, beautiful, perfect, Christmas tree. Except this tree is the type found in Parents Magazine and not Better Homes and Gardens!