We made it on Circle of Moms again!

Yippee! We made it on Circle of Moms website again!
Click here to see the story.

YAY!

 

Celebrate! 

Because of you, we got a spot on the Circle of Moms Round Up! 

Thanks for all the votes! 

More to come this year... Onward! 

Click here to see the post! 

Darcy

 

Click here for tonight's post(s). I hope my friend is doing well so far! 

future

Here is an oldie but goodie! Click here. 

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!

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. 

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! 

National Diabetes Awareness Month Day 29

We won!!! 

Ok, so we didn't come in 1st place. No worries. We just had to make it to the Top 25 to be featured on www.circleofmoms.com!! Thank you to everyone who took time and energy out of their days to help me get to the top! I really appreciate you sharing the link and being so invested with me!  I hope you had as much fun with the "everyday highs and lows" of it as I did! It was a nail-biter to the bitter end. 

I wanted to share with you all of the great things that have happened because you voted!  

Because of you, I gained 45 more likes on the Everyday Highs and Lows Facebook page! Now these folks will be notified in Facebook whenever there is a new post. If you would like to be notified too and have not yet "liked" our page on Facebook. Please, click here.

Because of you our blog gets featured on the Circle of Moms website! They have a readership of over 6,000,000 moms! 

Because of you, I received 25 new comments. Comments fill my bucket! It makes me feel loved and heard! 

Because of you, I get to put this super cool looking badge on my blog. It is like "street cred" in the blogger world. 

Because of you, I got a job as a freelance writer with a local newspaper! This is truly a dream come true!

Because of you, 3,500 more people have read Everyday Highs and Lows.  It's a whole new group of people that I would have never reached! 

Because of you, people in over 42 countries are also reading Everyday Highs and Lows!

Because of you, I may get to write for the Circle of Moms! I will let you know if that happens. 

Because of you, and this is the most important one, over 6,000,000 moms will now have access to the symptoms of Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. 

Because of you, a life will be saved. 

So you see, because of you, I did win.  

The boys and I humbly say...

This was their thank you card for their first birthday! I love the toes! Haha! 

Here is the official letter from Circle of Moms.

Hi Shari!

Congratulations on having your blog voted into the Circle of Moms Top 25 Family Blogs by Moms - 2012!

We look forward to showcasing your blog in our Top 25 Family Blogs by Moms - 2012 official Top 25 list, which will be promoted on Circle of Moms next month.

To help us best promote your voice and writing, we'd love to include an interview, photo, link to your blog, and a few of your favorite blog posts.

We're also excited to share with you your Top 25 badge! You can copy and paste the code below to add your badge to your blog. The badge is also available when logged into your Circle of Moms blogger profile.

Congratulations again on making it to our Top 25! We look forward to giving you the spotlight on Circle of Moms.

Warmly,

Julie and the Circle of Moms Team

You all are amazing!