Just Another Day.....

The Raven Award and Horrible Hair Day!

2010-03-11T17:13:00.006-06:00

A few weeks ago at the 4th Six Weeks Awards Ceremony, Luke received The Raven Award out of all of the kids in his class. It is given each six weeks to one student for excellent behavior. We are so proud of him that his teacher picked him for this special award!!!

Luke posing with his teacher, Mrs. Knapek! Even though he does not look like it, he was very excited to get this award!

Then on another note.....Kindergarten recently had a Horrible Hair Day. So, Luke wanted his hair to be spray painted green. He looks like an unhappy Jolly Green Giant, but he was excited to do this to his hair even though he isn't smiling for the picture! Don't they do such fun things in Kindergarten!!! :)

Happy Birthday To My Sweet Eight Year Old!

2010-02-17T17:46:00.019-06:00

On February 12, our sweet little girl turned 8 years old. It just seems like she was just born! Where has the time gone? It is so sad to me, that in 8 more years she will be driving and then two more years from that, she will be going to college and no longer living with us. It is almost like half of her life under our roof is already gone! I can't even write that without starting to cry!

I thought that I would list 8 great things that I love about Emily on her 8th birthday!

1. She has such a loving heart!

2. She is SO brave!

3. I love to hear her giggle and how she laughs so hard sometimes at the silliest things (like her brother).

4. She is such a talented gymnast!

5. She is so smart and cares so much to do so well in school!

6. She is MY girl!

7. Even at 8 years old, she still has to have her "baby" with her when she sleeps and she doesn't care who knows!

8. And last but for sure not least, she has such a Godly heart and wants to know God and have Him in her life!

Here is a recap of all of the birthday festivities!

First, we celebrated at school the day before her actual birthday with cupcakes. You really can not tell in the picture, but they were chocolate cupcakes topped with pink, yellow or purple icing and were placed on the pan to look like 3 different flowers. We could not do it on her actual birthday due to all of the Valentine Parties!

Then later that night, we went to eat supper with my family and had everyone over to our house for presents and cake! As usual, no holiday for Emily is complete if there is not ALOT of American Girl items .........

AND Barbie things!!!!!!

This year she wanted an Ice Cream Cake from Baskins Robbins. She wanted it to be a pink purse with green polka dots. I thought that it turned out so cute and needless to say it was very yummy!

This year instead of a birthday party, Emily decided she wanted to invite a good friend of ours to a place called Sweet and Sassy in the Woodlands. They have a condo in Conroe where we were able to stay Friday night. Emily was so excited about the condo because it had stairs!!!

We left after school on Friday and headed to Conroe. Friday night we had dinner at Macaroni Grill and then went to see the movie The Tooth Fairy. Then we went back to the condo to try and get some sleep before the exciting day of pampering began! For those of you that don't know about Sweet and Sassy it is the coolest spot for little girls! They do anything from hair cuts to pedicures......all for little girls!

First, the girls began by soaking their oh so tired feet before their pedicures! I really don't think they knew what to think.

Then while their feet were soaking, they began their facials. It made their little faces softer than they were before!

Next it was time for a pedicure........First, she had her legs scrubbed and massaged and then had her toes painted. Emily decided that she wanted her toes to be painted hot pink with a clear glitter top coat! Then they painted on a bright green heart on each big toe. She even got a green flower toe ring! I thought that it turned out really cute!

Now it was time to wrap their faces and clean off the facial mask! Don't they look cute smiling underneath the towels!

Next it was time for a manicure.....Emily had hers fingers painted the same bright hot pink as her toes with the glittery silver, plus green dots on her thumbs. She also got to pick out a fancy butterfly ring to wear.

A day at the spa would not be complete without an Up-Do! Emily got to chose how her hair was going to be fixed. Each hair station had a little TV for the girls to watch movies on as they had their hair fixed. Very Fancy!

I think that it turned out too cute!

Then it was finally time for the long awaited ride in the PINK limo. This was one of the main reasons Emily wanted to celebrate her birthday at Sweet and Sassy! They even rolled out a Red Carpet for them to walk out on to get into the limo! We got to cruise the streets of the Woodlands for about 15 minutes in so much style!

I had to share one of the videos I took of our day. This is the girls playing in the limo! At first they were unsure about what they were to do, but they quickly warmed up to the idea and enjoyed it to its fullest.....even waving to all of their "fans" out the window!

After the limo ride the girls got to make their own Ice Cream Sundae Shower Scrub topped with sprinkles and also some Glittery Lipgloss! So much fun!

Finally, the girls got to choose some candy powder to fill their plastic candy tubes to enjoy later! You can see the machine behind Emily that they got to choose their candy from......there were LOTS of flavors to choose from.....and of course, I think Emily took a little from each one to fill her tube!

Well, I think the day and her birthday was such a success and one that hopefully both the girls will remember. It was so much fun to be able to do this with her! I know I will remember it forever!

Our Weekend and Some Good News!

2010-02-01T20:10:00.013-06:00

Our weekend started on Saturday morning waking up looking and feeling a little like this......

because our heater in our house was broken. Not a good time for not any heat. It was REALLY cold. We had some people come look at it to see what was wrong and were told that it could be fixed, but not until Monday when they could get the parts. So, we packed up and stayed the night at my parents house. But right as we were getting ready for bed......my parents got a call ...... with this news..........

Caroline Ann Fay was ready to be born!!!!! Yes, I have a new little niece. My sister, Laurie, was suppose to be induced on Monday, but sweet little Caroline had her own agenda and arrived at 4:28 Sunday morning weighing 7 pounds 2 oz. She is very healthy and could not be cuter, don't you think? She has the blondest hair I have ever seen on a little baby and so much of it! Mommy and baby are all doing great! Emily and Luke LOVED her and could not get enough of her. Emily loves that she has another girl on my side of the family and can not wait for her to get a little older to play with her. She already has many fun things planned for the two of them.

After returning home on Sunday night from Dallas, we decided to brave the cold and stay at our own house to make getting to school a little easier on Monday morning. So, we layered up the kiddos in their pj's, moved their mattresses to our room, heated their beds with a heating pad, and tucked each of them in under about 5 blankets. We closed the door to our room and turned on the bathroom heater and let that heat our room. Surprisingly, it worked really well. Maybe a little on the trashy side, but it worked. Granted it is something that I would not want to do every night, but it worked for one night! It made me really thankful for something that we take for granted. It made me really sad to think about families that do that every day with no hope of the heat ever coming on. We now have a heater that is working and boy do I feel blessed!

UPDATE: Also, today the dr called and told me that the biopsy came back fine. It was some kind of cyst and it was nothing to be concerned about! No cancer! Praise God! Thank you for all of your sweet thoughts and prayers!

A Few Prayer Requests, Please

2010-01-27T16:45:00.013-06:00

Well, I was hoping I would never have to write this post, but unfortunately we are finding ourselves in an all too familiar situation. As most of you know, our daughter has had diabetes and has been living with it for almost two years now. Soon after she was diagnosed, the pediatric endocrinologist suggested that we have a few tests done on our son Luke to see if he too would some day develop diabetes. Well, two years ago we found out that, yes, unfortunately, he too would some day develop diabetes but we just did not know when. One child suffering from this horrible disease is enough, but to have BOTH of your children deal with it is TOO MUCH!!!!! Over the last two years, we have done a few more tests that have indicated that his body was starting to slowly struggle in dealing with his sugar intake. Again, something we did not want to hear. They told us that he could stay in this stage he is in from anywhere from 6 months to 20 years, but that he would probably develop it around the same time Emily did (which was late in her kindergarten year). Well, all of that to say, we are starting to see alot more signs that his diabetes is probably starting and he will soon need insulin. Before Christmas, he started drinking more and pottying more than usual. So, we did his blood sugar and it was higher than what it needed to be or really had ever been before. We contacted the dr. and he said that we just need to watch him closely and continue to do his blood sugars every so often. It is tricky because since we are catching it so early, we really can not start insulin yet because since his body is still producing so much of it and us giving him insulin could REALLY hurt him. Since that time, we have taken his BS off and on. Some days are good and some days are bad. We have started taking his BS at school on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I am sad to say that this week his numbers have been really high. The dr told us to contact him again if we have three BS readings in one week that are above 150....well this week we have had two that are right at 150 or over it. We are going to contact the dr and see what is next. They have indicated that we would probable go to Temple and they would do some more tests and maybe start him on an insulin pump because it can give such small doses of insulin that his body would need right now. It breaks my heart. A time I was praying would never come, has come too soon. He is too young. He has been VERY cooperative so far with the finger sticks, but I dread the day we have to give his first shot. At that point, his attitude will change and it all becomes a different ballgame. Are there any blessings in this right now???? YES, we know what to expect. We have walked down this road before. No, we did not want this day to EVER come, but it is drawing closer and we, with GOD's HELP, will get through it. It is a blessing that both of my kids' attitudes are so great about all of this. It is scary and makes me so sad that both of my kids will have to wear something/ hanging off of them for their rest of their lives in order to stay healthy. But they deal with it so much better than what maybe some adults even could. It is a blessing to me that it is JUST diabetes. It could be alot worse. It is a horrible way to live, but they are ALIVE and will continue to be and obviously that is the best blessing. There are so many parents today, right now, that are dealing with so much worse. So.......with all of that said, please pray for Luke and the days to come. Please pray his attitude will stay positive especially when we have to start insulin. Please pray for him to understand this disease as much as a little five year old boy can understand a disease like diabetes. Please pray that he will be in tune to how his body feels, especially for him to feel when his body is having a hypoglycemic episode. That is one of the scariest parts about diabetes. He has to be so in tune with how his body is feeling AND be able to tell us about it so we can help him. Please pray for Jeff and I, we will need them. Please pray for strength. Maybe we will not have to start insulin soon. Maybe he won't have to start wearing an insulin pump just yet. But regardless, we need your prayers and know it is the only way we will get through the days ahead.

On another note......as some you also know I have had skin cancer....about 15 years ago. I was lucky because they were able to remove all of it and it had not spread to the borders of what they removed from my side. I was told I got the best kind of cancer to get if you were going to have to get any. No further surgeries, no radiation and no chemo. Well, I guess it goes with the territory that once you have had cancer, you become alarmed anytime you see a new spot/bump or lump. Over the years, I don't know how many things I have had cut out. All of which have come back ok. Thank God! Anyway, on Monday night I found another bump on my leg that looked like exactly what was cut off my side many years ago. So, today I went to the dermatologist and they went ahead and cut it off and sent it off to be biopsied. The dr. did not think that it looked bad, but thought that it was a good idea to go ahead and send it off just to be sure. We should get the results in about 5-7 businesses days. It is a scary time. So, if you don't mind, if you will keep me in your prayers as well as we wait for the results and that the results will be benign.

Thank you for your prayers, we sure need them right now. We will keep you posted!

Christmas 2009

2010-01-04T20:35:00.012-06:00

It is hard to believe that Christmas 2009 has come and gone. Overall, I guess you can say we had a great Christmas! As it is with all of us, it is an extremely busy time of year full with parties, presents, family and yummy treats.

The kids both had Christmas parties in their classes at school. This year I am the Room Mother for Luke's class. I have been Emily's class room mom for the past two years and wanted to now do it for Luke since it was his first year in school. So, I was responsible for planning the party for his kindergarten class. We arranged for the class to have a special treat. Santa came to visit before the party and handed out small goody bags to all of the kids.

Luke receiving his bag from Santa.....I don't think that he really knew what to think!

The kids enjoyed pizza and participated in an book exchange as well as made a Reindeer Ornament. I wanted to take a picture with Luke and his ornament and then at the last second a few extra kids jumped in the picture...what ya gonna do! Just smile! :)

Then after Luke's party, I ran to Emily's class and helped out with her class. It was a little different not being in charge, but none the less I enjoyed helping out where I could. Emily's class also had pizza and snacks and colored a wooden ornament.

As much as I love the class parties, I am always relieved when they are done and the Christmas break officially begins. However, a few days after getting out of school Luke got really sick. We spent two of the first three days going to the doctor's office trying to get him well. He was diagnosed with pneumonia. He was running a 103.7 fever and was not doing well at all. The first antibiotic did not really do much for him so after another trip to the doctor's and another prescription, he finally started to feel a bit better. So, since he was still running fever on Christmas Eve we were not able to go to some of our normal festivities that we participate in. By Christmas Eve night, we took a risk and went to my parent's house to exchnage presents with my parents, sisters and their families.

Emily is VERY much into anything that has to do with American Girl. After last year, I thought that some of her passion for all of that would fade, but she still wanted to get more of it this year.

Here she is opening up her Julie American Girl doll. So excited.....

Luke getting his first bow and arrow from Aunt Robin. He just can not wait to go and shoot it!

After my parent's house, it's back home to await Santa's arrival!

Finally, Santa had come and showered the kids with many presents. Emily getting more American Girl stuff!

And a few Barbie things......

Luke loves LEGOS. He will work for hours putting them together!

Luke very excited to receive his Space Ship!

Emmy being goofy....

The day after Christmas we went to Canyon. Because of all of the snow that area had received on Christmas Eve it made it difficult to get there because of all of the snow on the roads. But we got there and enjoyed our visit with Jeff's family.

More American Girl!!!!!

Luke taking in all of the fun!

Emily LOVES the snow, Luke not so much. I think that she is eating it in this picture, yuck!

Luke playing in the fort just built by Jeff's dad!

Emily and Luke enjoying a fun, friendly game of Candy Land with the triplets!

Every Christmas is filled with too many presents, food, and lots of visiting with family! At times it seems more than hectic, but at the end of it all I treasure every moment because it all just goes by too fast and one day I will desperately want the mess, those early Christmas mornings, the excitement children add to Christmas and the craziness it all brings..... back again!

Awards and Guns!!!

2009-11-22T23:26:00.013-06:00

Friday was a special day at our house! Early in the week we were notified by both Emily and Luke's teachers that they were both going to be receiving a Special Recognition Award at the Awards Ceremony at school on Friday morning. Emily received hers for being a "Super 2nd Grader" and Luke got his for "His Enthusiasm for Learning and Always Doing His Best". Only three kids received awards from each class, so needless to say, we were very proud of both of them.

(Sorry about the hand in the picture !)

(Luke was excited about getting his award even though you can not see his face.)

The proud kiddos with their awards at home! Alot of missing teeth in this picture!! :)

Then on a completely different note......something that I thought would never happen.....YEP..... MY daughter LOVES deer hunting! VERY hard to believe, I know. I have even tried to get her to feel sorry for what they are killing, but it has not worked yet. So, since it is deer season right now and Jeff and Luke have been to the deer camp hunting and shooting their guns, Jeff thought it would be a great time to buy Emily her own PINK BB Gun. She had been wanting one for awhile and it just happened to be the perfect time, so Jeff went ahead and bought Emily her pink BB gun. Needless to say, she was beyond delighted!

Halloween 2009

2009-10-31T23:24:00.008-05:00

This year for Halloween Emily was a Gymnast and Luke was Darth Vader. For many months now, Emily had been saying she wanted to be a gymnast for Halloween. I thought that when it was actually time to buy costumes she would change her mind, but that was truly what she wanted to be. She wanted to wear her competition leo and warm ups that she wears to meets along with some of her medals she has won recently. It could not be simpler and that was fine by me!

It was an easy, but fun evening. We went Trick or Treating to my parents house and to Aunt Robin's. Then instead of Trick or Treating at neighbors' houses or going to carnivals around town, the kids wanted to go back to our house and hand out candy to the many Trick or Treaters that stopped by.

Also, this past week Luke had to take a decorated pumpkin to school. We made a Mummy. It was rather easy to make and I think it turned out ok. We first painted the pumpkin black, glued the goggly eyes on and then wrapped strips of this stuff called Quick Wrap around it. To make the strips you dip them them in warm water and then place it on the pumpkin. Then when it dries it is very hard. It was our first time to use it and worked rather well for what we needed.

Kindergarten Fairy Tale Day Parade

2009-10-22T23:30:00.012-05:00

Luke's class has been studying fairy tales at school. As a culminating activity, all of the kids are to dress up as a character from a nursery rhyme or fairy tale and participate in a parade through the halls of the school with all of the other kindergartners while all of the 1st-5th graders watch. So, Luke dressed up as Pinocchio. He has never been a kid that likes to dress up in costumes, but he really enjoyed being Pinocchio. I think he is the cutest Pinocchio I have ever seen!

Another Fun Gymnastics Meet!

2009-09-27T21:03:00.009-05:00

Today we went to Tomball for another gymnastics meet for Emily. We had to be in Tomball at 7:15, so that meant I had to get up at 4:00 this morning in order to get myself dressed and to have enough time to fix Emily's hair and eat breakfast. For her meets, it is required to have her hair in this gymnastics style bun. The bun takes me about 30 minutes to do and when finished fixing it, I have to sew it together with embroidery thread and a needle to secure it to her head. Crazy, I know!

Regardless of the early start this morning, Emily had another great meet. She got a 9.0 on her floor routine which was the highest on her team. All the girls at her level all have to do the same routine to the same music. It is always fun to watch her perform! We are so proud of how well she did again! Here is the video of her on the floor......

I also thought I would post her on the vault. The vault has always been very hard for Emily because of how short she is. At this level, the girls don't use the actual vault yet, but instead do the required skill by landing on a mat. The mat they have to land on is as tall as Emily, making it a little bit harder for her. Next year they will start using the actual vault and that will make me very nervous! But regardless she did well on the vault today...here is her video! Enjoy!

Emily's Gymnastics Meet

2009-09-14T19:44:00.005-05:00

This past weekend Emily competed in her second gymnastics meet. She did so well and we are so proud of her. :)

Overall, she had the second highest all around score on her team. She had the highest score from her team on the vault. But even better, she got the highest score on her beam routine out of all of the girls on her team AND out of all of the girls her age there competing against each other. WOW!!!! These meets are the real thing with real judges and everything! One of the judges was a Nationally Ranked judge that had even judged at the Olympics! We have learned they just don't hand out good scores, the girls really have to earn them.

I know as parents we are all so proud of our children, but as we watched her perform her routine I sat so amazed and so unbelievably proud of her. She had worked so hard and her hard work was paying off and it all showed in her routine. Jeff and I were so nervous for her!! I have a hard time just walking across a beam, but Emily is so confidant and performs as if she is just standing on the floor! I think she looks so graceful as she is doing it. To me, the beam is one of the hardest apparatus' in gymnastics. Just one little wobble, she could fall and all of her hard work would be for nothing.

Anyway, I have included her routine for you all to see! The filming is not the best because we were far away from her, but you can at least see what she is doing. (Please ignore the music in the background that is for the girls that are competing on the floor and all of the people screaming. There were some loud people there!)

Pretty good, huh......

The Big Day .... Kindergarten and 2nd Grade!

2009-08-24T20:19:00.021-05:00

Well, the countdown is finally over, school has officially started. Luke started kindergarten and Emily is a big 2nd grader. How could I already have two kids in school? It is so hard to believe that our preschool days are over.

The kids had a great first day. I knew Emily would be fine. For her, it was like just taking up where she left off in May. But I was anxious to see how Luke would do. Well, he did great!! So, grown up!! In fact he even told me, "Mommy, you are going to miss me so much. You are going to be so lonely now when you go to the grocery store without me." As hard as that is for me to hear, I am glad he is confidant and ready to start this next stage in his life.

Emily and Luke were both eager to go this morning. Jeff and I were both able to go and drop them off together. We all got through the morning with no tears. I knew I would miss them, but I was excited to come back and get them to hear all about their day. Luckily, I did not have to stay away long because Luke's teacher asked me to come back at 10:45 to help out with lunch. That was a great way for Mommy to gradually break away from her little one.

It has been our tradition on the first day of school for my mother to come with me to pick up the kids and then go get ice cream. We walked up to get the kids and they were both so excited to tell me about their day.

It was so sweet to hear all of the things that both Emily and Luke wanted to tell me. I know that Luke had only been away from me for a few hours, but he seemed so much older now when he was talking to me. His expression, tone and thoughts were no longer that of a preschooler, but one of a BIG kindergarten kid. I guess I had already forgotten how much growth is made during the kindergarten year. I was not overwhelmed with sadness this morning when I left him, but honestly tonight my heart is sad. Don't get me wrong, I am delighted my little boy had a terrific day, but as he talked non-stop through supper tonight to me and his daddy about his day, I realized how much he grew up today and will continue to do so throughout the next year. It just reminded me once again our preschool days our over. For the last eight years, my life has been dedicated to being a stay at home mom. But now, those words mean a little bit different to me. Gone are the days of dirty diapers, bottles and naps and I will admit that it does makes me sad. My house is now quiet throughout most of the day and those sweet little shadows that were once so closely behind me are growing up and are sitting in desks in a classroom. When I was in that preschool stage there were days that I thought it would never end. But I would be lying if I said I don't miss those days of a baby crying over the monitor as they are waking up from a nap or sweet little hands needing me to help them feed them. Yes, my kids still need me but in a different way now. I guess the realization of that finally hit me tonight as I sat and listened to Luke describe his day. I will never have those days back. They will spend most of their day with someone else and I can just hope and pray when they come home they will not forget to tell me the most important points. I know this is a great time in both of their lives. I am excited to see how they will grow both mentally and physically throughout the next year. Hopefully, there will be tons of good days with just a few bad ones here and there. But I am proud to be Emily and Luke's mom and am honored to be able to experience this next stage in their life with them.

Here a few pictures from our morning!

Update on Luke

2009-07-26T12:03:00.012-05:00

As most of you know, we went to Temple again on Friday to meet with the pediatric endocrinologist to discuss the results from Luke's IV Glucose Tolerance Test he had last week. From what the new nurse told us last week on the phone, we knew that his numbers were worse than last year and his body was not doing as well as it did then. Of course, this was something we did not want to hear for Luke.

Well, Jeff and I went prepared with many questions and wanted to hear the doctor's explanation of the test results. After the doctor explained what the test was suppose to show, he then told us that Luke's results were not any better or not any worse than what they were a year ago when we last did the test. WHAT???? That was not what the nurse had told us at all! Basically, what the doctor was telling us was one of the scenarios that Jeff and I were praying for other than he never becoming a diabetic. Luke's body was still hovering in the normal range thus allowing him to not need insulin right now. The doctor still emphasized that in his opinion, Luke will still become a diabetic at some point, but we just do not know when. It could be anytime, anywhere from a few months from now to 20 -30 years. The doctor is hoping that Luke's body can hold off long enough until there is a cure!

All of this was great to hear! We were a little frustrated that the nurse would have given us her explanation of the test results when they were obviously not exactly accurate. We understand that she is new, but it would have been better for her just to say that she really just did not know what the numbers meant and that it would be best to wait and hear what the doctor had to say about it. It was just so emotionally draining what she had put us through. But in the end, that really does not matter! We were just so happy to hear the real test results and to know Luke is still doing fine.

Yes, unfortunately, Luke will develop diabetes at some point according to the doctors, BUT his body is still functioning as well as it was a year ago when we last did the test. Really that is all we could ask for right now! This is great news to Jeff and I. We are so thankful to God that he is still allowing Luke's body to function so well without the need of insulin. We are trying to be strong and remain hopeful that Luke can go many, many years without insulin. We know that the doctor thinks that Luke will eventually need insulin at some point in the future , but GOD is the only one who knows the outcome of all of this and our faith and hope rests in Him. God is good and will see us through what ever the future holds!

Thank you to all of you that have been praying for us! We could not have gotten through this without your many prayers and sweet thoughts.

A Visit From the Tooth Fairy!!!

2009-07-23T20:54:00.010-05:00

A few days ago, Luke announced he had a loose toof (that is how he says it). We really did not believe him because he has said this before, but they were never the least bit loose. But this time it was. I could not believe it! I know from past experience what a HUGE deal loosing a tooth can be to a five or six year old. I can remember when Emily was in kindergarten her world was just about to come to an end because EVERYONE BUT HER had lost a tooth. But ofcourse, she did finally lose one and five teeth later she is still loosing them! So, I guess since Luke had to watch Emily loose so many teeth, he too thought his time would never come to loose a tooth. However, I am glad to say on Wednesday after ALOT of wiggling on Luke's behalf, he has lost his first tooth!

Even though he does not look like it, he was really excited to loose his tooth!

Here he is all tucked into bed waiting for the tooth fairy to come. His tooth is in the little red treasure chest!

The Story of a Little Boy and His Pumpkin

2009-07-20T16:35:00.005-05:00

Yep, you read it correctly, this post is about a pumpkin! I know that it is July, but for the last few months our house has had a lot of excitement centered around a pumpkin. I guess it all started one day late in the Spring when Jeff and Luke went to Lowe's to get some things for our garden. Not only did they get somethings for our garden, but Luke ran in the house to show me his $0.99 pumpkin seed they just bought. The growing plan as described on the cup was to plant it in this little bathroom size cup and keep it in the house until it starts growing and then move it outside and plant it in our garden. I thought this all sounded great in theory, but did I actually ever think it would grow a pumpkin, absolutely not.

Well, after a few weeks of Luke watering it, talking to it and watching it on his bed side table, it FINALLY started to grow in the cup. So, Luke and Jeff transferred it to our little garden. Again, I thought for sure this would kill the pumpkin. Because seriously this 99 cent pumpkin seed would never make it from the cup to the garden and eventually turn into a pumpkin, would it?

I don't think that a day passed over the next few months that Luke did not care for his pumpkin plant. And then, one day Luke came running back into the house and was jumping up and down screaming he could see a green pumpkin on his vine. We all ran out to see it and sure enough, there was a little green pumpkin on the vine that was about the size of a golf ball. None of us could believe it!

Over many days and weeks, the little green pumpkin grew and grew and eventually started to turn orange. Yep, Luke had done it! He had grown a PUMPKIN!!!! In the end, Jeff talked Luke into cutting it from the vine because it was starting to get soft on one side. So, they cut it and Luke enjoyed having the pumpkin back inside the house with him for a few days. He would even sleep with it on his pillow, too sweet!

Finally, over the weekend, Jeff thought it was time to carve our pumpkin because it was starting to turn bad. So, we spent our July Saturday night carving a pumpkin. I did not know how Luke would take it seeing his pumpkin being cut open, but he did ok.

Needless to say, this little 99 cent pumpkin has brought a lot of FUN to our family. Hope you enjoy the video!

Not Good News!

2009-07-17T21:46:00.012-05:00

The nurse called late yesterday and told us that Luke's test results were back and the numbers from the test were worse than last year. Basically, to simplify the meaning of the test, they were looking at how his pancreas responded to large amounts of glucose and sadly, his pancreas did not do well. Which means he will become a diabetic. That was not what we were wanting or praying for.

She started referring to him as a diabetic and not as pre diabetic anymore and that really upset me. HE IS NOT A DIABETIC UNTIL HE IS ENDURING ALL THAT EMILY DOES!!!!! It is hard to be hopeful at this point that he is not going to be a diabetic, but I know that God can change any of this. I am very bitter, angry, and sad. It really irritates me when people have told me over the course of the last two days that you all are going to be fine. That it is going to be easier this time around because you will already know what you are doing because you have already done it before with Emily. Yes, we will be fine, but NO, it does not make it easier. Why would it be? Yes, we will take care of Luke and do everything we have done with Emily for him. But it is because we have done it before with Emily, that makes it so much harder knowing everything that Luke is going to have to face. Plus, Luke has seen all what Emily does and know how bad it can be.

Why should both of our children have to have this horrid, life changing disease? We try to not let it manipulate our lives, but diabetes controls everything. There is not a minute, day or night, that you can let your guard down. There has been some peace knowing that for right now that Luke is ok, but hard to hear that time is passing quickly. They have told us to expect that Luke will probably develop diabetes just like when Emily did. Which means he WILL be a diabetic within the next year, after he turns six. It just breaks my heart.

The nurse told us that the doctor wants to meet with us to talk about Luke and the test results. So, we will go back to Temple once again next Friday to meet with him. I got really upset when she said he wanted to meet with us because I immediately thought that he was going to start Luke on inuslin. But the nurse said he did not mention anything like that. But if I remember correctly, they have told us that they could start him on insulin before his pancreas completely quits. I just hope they will not recommend that just yet. Please let him get a little older. He is just about to start kindergarten and is so excited about that. I just don't want that excitement to be spoiled and taken away because of diabetes.

We did tell Luke about the results. Poor little one! He noticed how upset I was and asked what was wrong with my eyes. We decided we were going to be honest with him. I told him we got the results back from the test we did the other day and that his body is going to be like Emily's one day and that we will eventually have to do with him what we do with Emily. He immediately started crying so hard. When Jeff got home he picked Luke up and gave him a big hug. Luke looked at Jeff and said, " I am scared Daddy". It just broke my heart! We assured him that God would take could care of him and he is not alone in this. We will be with him and that God is always with him and that HE has some plan as to why he has choosen you to have this disease. We are praying that the day Luke will need insulin will be many years from now. Please, God, let him be a little older. Please, God, please find a cure for diabetes!

Luke's IV Glucose Tolerance Test

2009-07-14T20:32:00.008-05:00

Well, I know that it has seemed like I have been posting alot about diabetes, but it seems right now that is what our world is consisting of. Anyway, today we went back to Temple to do a IV Glucose Tolerance Test on Luke. As most of you know, we were told two weeks after Emily was diagnosed with diabetes that Luke, too, had 2 out of the 4 antibodies for diabetes.

At that point which was a year ago, our current dr. wanted to perform an IV Glucose Tolerance Test on Luke to see how well his pancreas could tolerate LARGE amounts of glucose. Luke hated the test and it was extremely painful for him. They had to put an IV in each arm of his little body. They used one set IV's to push high levels of glucose into, while drawing out blood from the other set of IV's. He was only 4 at the time and hated every minute of it. It took Jeff laying on top of him to hold him down, while two nurses pushed the glucose and drew his blood, while I held his hands down. Needless to say, it was the worst thing he had every gone through and a very traumatic experience for him. Unfortunately, at that time, his pancreas did not respond as well as we had hoped. His little pancreas did not handle the large amounts of glucose well. It was explained to us that just meant that the onset of his diabetes would probably be sooner than later according to this doctor. He recommended we repeat the test again in about a year to see how his pancreas would respond. That doctor has thankfully moved on and our new dr left it up to Jeff and I as to whether or not we wanted to repeat the test again. After much thinking and planning, we decided to do it only if they would agree to put Luke asleep to do the test. We were not going to allow him to have to go through something like that if we was going to be awake. He has not forgotten about it and may not ever. Plus, Jeff and I did not want him to be so anxious about dr's, needles and shots. Especially, if for some unGodly reason he is to develop diabetes soon because his little world would be dealing with all of these things alot.

Well, the drs agreed that we could put him to sleep to do the procedure, but we would have to do it in the PICU in Temple because they did not have the capabilites to put him to sleep in just the drs office. It sounded extreme, but we did not care as long as he did not know what was going on during the procedure.

So, we left this morning at 6:45 to be in Temple by 8:45 for his appointment. The dr in charge of the PICU met us outside of the PICU unit and was perplexed as to why we were wanting to put him to sleep for this kind of procedure. We attempted to explain our last experience and told him we did not want him to go through that again. Plus, we emphasized that we were told that was why we were at the PICU in order to have the option of putting him to sleep. If we were just going to attempt all of this again without some sort of sedation, we could have just done all of this at the drs office. I don't think he was real pleased to be messing with us, but we had to do what would be best for our son. After discussing our range of options from doing nothing to giving him oral sedation of vercet (Sp?) to a shot that would completely knock him out, we deceided on the oral sedation of vercet. It was not going to really make him completely asleep, but it would just make him feel very relaxed and really not care what they were doing to him. So, the dr led us to a treatment room luckily not inside the PICU. I was nervous about seeing all of those very sick kids dealing with alot worse than what we were. :(

They hooked Luke up to all of the machines and the dr gave the medicine to Luke and told us he should start feeling it in about 15 - 20 minutes. Well, Luke never really fell asleep, but he was DEFINTILY relaxed. He was very silly acting and very talkative to the nurses. He was very intrigued by the little red light that was on the tip of his finger that measured his pulse. I think that was the medicine kicking in! :)

It takes two nurses to do the test and to start all of the IV's. They first tried starting the IV in his hand, but were unsuccessful and had to do them in his arms. Luke was definitely aware and even cried a little, but it was nothing like before. So, that was an answered prayer and a blessing. After the IV's were in place, they began the tests of pushing the glucose and drawing the blood. Again, Luke was very aware of what was going on, but just very relaxed through it all. He actually kept the nurses and Jeff and I laughing with all of the silly things we was saying. Here is a picture of him with all of the IV's in his arm. :(

And a picture of one of the nurses drawing the blood.

It makes me sad to look at it and think about what his little body had to go through. He is just too little to have to endure something like that. But all in all, it was a successful day and Luke did great! Praise God!

Anyway, we do not have any test results back yet. I think that we should get the first set back at the end of this week and the rest of them a few weeks later. So, please pray that it has not progressed any further or EVEN MAYBE HAS IMPROVED, which is a possibility! I know GOD CAN DO ANYTHING!

Emily's Insulin Pump

2009-07-10T14:17:00.012-05:00

Well, we survived the first part of Emily's training for her insulin pump. We went on Tuesday to meet with the pediatric endocrinologist nurse and the Medtronic pumps rep. This was the nurses first training on the pump because she was new to this department, so that is why the pump rep was there. The nurse really had studied all of the information and did a great job presenting it all to us, probably even better than the pump rep.

It was a three hour meeting filled with ups and downs and TONS of information. For the first 2 1'2 hours we reviewed all of the features offered on the pump. Extremely overhwelming! For the past week or so, the pump has been set in a practice mode so you can play with all of the features and play like you are giving insulin without it actually doing it. I asked alot of questions and it frustrated me because the rep really did not want to deviate from what she wanted to talk about. That is just not really that good for me. If I have questions, I am going to ask them. Especially when the questions and answers are related to my daughter living a healthy, SAFE life.

The bad part of the visit was when the nurse and rep realized it was 4:30 and it was soon quitting time. We had not even started talking about how to connect the pump to Emily or fill the pump with insulin. That was the main reason we were there and they only wanted to devote about 30 minutes to it. That was when I got really frustrated. Plus, the device we needed to use to insert the needle and tubing into Emily was not working the way it was suppose to. And the rep just kept telling me it is fine and just keep going. I am not ok with that. Finally, we switched out the device and it worked the way it was suppose to. At this point, I was so confused. There are about 15 steps to put the needle and tubing into Emily and because it was not working the way it was suppose to, I was not sure how we were going to do this when we were at home by ourselves. Then they showed us how to fill the insulin reservoir. Again, something the rep just flew through that required about 10 steps and did not really want to devote to much time on it. Thank goodness Jeff was there. Because I knew once we got home, between the two of us, hopefully we could do it.

Then the time came to actually connect it to Emily. She is allowed to wear the pump in any of the places she would normally get a shot - either her tummy, her arms, her bottom or her legs. She hates getting shots , but prefers them in her arms. So, that is where we decided to do it. She was so brave and did not even cry. I think that it hurts more than a shot, but since we only have to do it every three days it will be better than the 7 shots she gets each day.

So, now she has her insulin pump. For the first week, we are only using saline solution as we practice using the pump. This is the safest thing so that as we are learning, if we do make a mistake it is really not that big of a deal because she is only getting saline. Next week when we go back to Temple we will start using insulin. That makes me a lot more nervous. Because with the wrong push of just a few buttons, we could give her too much insulin and make Emily very sick.

We have to replace the tubing and needle every three days. So, Jeff and I had to replace it for the first time today. It was confusing and did not go as smoothly as we wanted, but hopefully it will get easier over time.

She has to wear the pump all day, every day. We just have to disconnect the tubing from the site while she baths or is swimming. I think that she is excited. She either keeps it in her pocket or we have a clip that we can use to clip it to her pants. She even has to sleep in it. I was really nervous the first night she slept in it because I wanted her to be comfortable while she was sleeping. As she and I were talking about the best place to clip it to her pajama pants , I just kept asking and asking was it ok and was it comfortable. She finally just looked at me and said, "Mommy it is just a clip. I will be fine". So sweet! I just had to smile. Yes, it is new and scary, but it helps that my sweet little girl has the kind of attitude that she does. Such a blessing from God to help her to have peace about all of this.

Emily and her PINK pump. When we saw that there was a pink pump, we knew that was the one for her!

The tubing that comes out from the end of the pump, we thread under her shirt, and out of the sleeve of her shirt to the needle that is inserted into her arm.

A BIG Change....

2009-07-06T23:21:00.011-05:00

Tomorrow is a HUGE day for our family. We will be going to Temple to take part in the three step process for our daughter to get her first insulin pump. We all have alot of emotions going into this new phase of our lives. We are all excited, scared, anxious, nervous and the list could go on and on. We will go tomorrow and have them teach us how to put the pump into Emily. Jeff and I have spent the last week reading , watching DVD's, listening to CD's and rereading everything we have to do in order for this to be successful. We will start the pump with only saline solution while we learn the process of operating the pump and attaching the pump to Emily. Then we will go back next Tuesday and the following Tuesday to have them start the insulin part of the pump.

It has taken us about a year to all be on board for getting the pump. In the beginning, when the doctor's mentioned about getting Emily started on the pump, it was almost not possible because of the horrible health insurance we had at that time. Basically, we were going to have to pay in full for the pump (about $6000) and then about $450- 500 a month for the supplies to operate the pump. Our insurance just did not have good coverage for someone with diabetes. However, we are very fortunate that Jeff is one of the partners and owners of his engineering firm that we had the opportunity to choose a different insurance plan (one with better diabetes coverage) when it came time to renew it. After his company started looking, they found a new plan. It was almost to good to be true. But basically after we pay a $600 deductible, everything for Emily would be covered 100% including her pump and supplies. WOW! What a blessing from God. He saw our needs and met them beyond our wildest dreams. But regardless of money or an insurance change, we would have still gotten the pump for Emily a year ago if she was ready for it, but she just was not. We always told her we would never force her into it. Emily biggest concern was that she did not want to have something hanging off of her body for the rest of her life. I wish that I could tell her that would not be the case, but in all reality, that is what it is. We explained it that if we told her three years ago you would have to have 7 shots a day to stay healthy you would not want that either. But that is what we now have to do. It is just like what the pump. It will help manage your diabetes now and in the future. Plus, with the pump, she will only have to have one shot EVERY THREE days to insert the site for the pump instead of 6-7 shots EVERY DAY that she now receives. We will have to still check her blood sugar for the time being, but the shots have always been the hardest thing for Emily, as they should be. Once we get use to the pump, we will then be able to start using a Continuous Glucose Monitor (another sensor that will be given like a shot) that will monitor her blood sugar every 5 minutes and display her blood glucose level on the insulin pump monitor. It will reduce the number of times we have to do a finger stick to check her blood sugars from about 12 a day to about 3. Again, something very exciting to look forward to for Emily.

There are so many NEW things that we will have to do with the pump in this diabetes world we now live in. Please keep us, especially Emily, in your prayers over the next few weeks. This is something we know that will better control her diabetes. But let's face it, is a scary thing and there is ALOT of things that could go wrong with it. Yes, it will be hard for Jeff and I as we learn everything in great detail about the pump, but it will be the hardest for Emily. I will try to post about our experience tomorrow with some pictures for you all to see what we will be doing with her and her new pump. Please pray for a successful and smooth transition for us as we start Emily's new insulin pump.

Vacation or Not!

2009-06-28T23:41:00.027-05:00

This past week we took our family vacation to San Antonio. We had planned for this just to be a fun, relaxed vacation; unfortunately, it turned out to be anything but relaxing. We left on Wednesday morning with plans to stop at the Alamo before checking into our resort. This was Emily's one request this year on our vacation. She loves anything having to do with history. While eating lunch, we decided to see a documentary on the Alamo at the IMAX theaters. This was a change of plans, but we thought it might help Emily and Luke understand some of the history behind the Alamo. While Jeff and I enjoyed the movie, Luke wanted to know why were those men were being so mean to each other and Emily wanted to know if those were the real people that fought at the Alamo. I do not think that they got it! After the movie, we walked to the Alamo. It was a mere 102 outside, so we did not stay long admiring the Alamo.

Then we drove to our resort, La Cantera. We had stayed there two years ago and enjoyed it. It is one of the nicest places we have ever stayed.

However, this time it seemed that the air condtioning was not working in our room. We just thought that it was because it was so hot outside and the air had not really been turned on before we came in the room. So, we decided to change into our swimming suits and hit the amazingly, pretty pools.

There is a small slide the kids really enjoy. While we were swimming, the hotel staff was making S'mores at the firepit for the kids to enjoy. It was getting late so we decieded to go back to the room, change clothes and get something to eat for supper. Unfortunately, when we went back to our room, it was still pretty hot. So, we decided to call the front desk and let them know that there must be something wrong with the room's air conditioning. So, we were moved to another room. As a side note, our first room was on the top floor . A few days before leaving, we received an email asking if we wanted to upgrade our room for a short fee. We decided to take advantage of the offer because it allowed us to recieve free breakfasts, drinks, and snacks while we were staying there. The hotel did not have any other rooms on the top floor , so they moved us to another floor, but still allowed us to take advantage of the upgrades that came with the room on the top floor. Needless to say, the second room was not as nice as the first and the kids were a little disappointed because it did not have a walk out balacony. I am not sure why they liked the balcony so much, but for them it was just so much fun to go out there. You can tell my kids are not use to staying at hotels because they were so impressed with the phone in the bathroom and that there were two sinks in the bathroom. I just love that! However, the room was not as nice as what we were paying for, so we talked to the front desk once again. We were so over joyed with their kindness. They told us they would move us to the Casitas. They are these EXTREMELY nice rooms a little bit away from the main hotel area. It was definitely the nicest place we had ever stayed. The kids loved it because we had our own swimming pool and hot tub right outside our back porch. These little houses are not near the hotel, so they give you your own personal golf cart to use to get around the resort while you are staying there. That was a lot of fun, especially for Jeff. I think that was his favorite part of the vacation!

Here is a picture of the swimming pool and hot tub at our casita!

Finally, we were ready to go eat. As we were leaving, I noticed I had two missed calls on my phone. One from my mother and then one from my sister. At first, I did not think much about it. I thought that maybe they were just calling to check to see if we had gotten there safely. I called my mother back and from the minute she answered the phone, I could tell by her voice something was wrong. She immediatley said she needed to call me back. She quickly called me back and said that my grandmother was in the hospital and just had had a stroke. She started filling me in on the details. Needless to say, I was beyond sad and worried about her. She was not doing well. At this point, she was not able to walk, talk clearly or remember anything. Ofcourse, I no longer wanted to be in San Antonio. Jeff said we could get our things and go home, but my mother was against us leaving and said we should stay and she would call me if anything changed. For the next 6-7 hours I stayed in contact with my family via texting and calling. Throughout this time, they had decided to fly my grandmother by helicopter to Temple to see a specialist that was going to attempt a procedure to stop the stroke. It was a risky procedure because of her age , which by the way is 89. They were going to make the final decision once the specialist saw her in Temple. My parents, along with my aunts and uncles all drove to Temple while my grandmother was being flown to Temple. My dad called me at 2:00 in the morning and told me that after the new dr's evaluation they decided to not do the procedure. It was just too risky and she was not bad enough to take that risk. I tried to get some sleep that night, but it was really hard to relax.

After talking to my mother on Thursday morning, we decided to stay unless things got worse with my grandmother. So, we got ready and went to Fiesta Texas. This was our second time to go with the kids. Not much has changed since the last time we were there. It was beyond hot and nothing too special. I think the kids enjoyed the rides, but by 2:00 we had seen and done all that Fiesta Texas has to offer.

So, we went back to the resort to cool off in the pools. This was one of my favorite moments of our vacation. The water was so refreshing and the staff was there around the pool to wait on your every need. I loved the Strawberry Smoothie they brought to me!

After swimming, we got dressed and did a little shopping at this little place near the resort. It has all of my favorite shops. However, we did not get to stay long because we had told the kids we would take them to play Putt- Putt. We were going to go to this little place not too far from the resort that we had played at before the last time we were there on vacation. We were not inside the establishment more than 5 minutes, when we heard over the loud speaker, " Would the owners of a Black Chevy Tahoe please come to the front desk". It did not sound good and indeed it was not. Upon seeing the manger of the place, he informed us that our car had just been broken into. We immediately went outside and looked to see how bad it was. They had used a screw driver to break the lock in order to get in. Needless to say, they destroyed the lock and driver side door handle to get in. They destroyed the inside of the car by opening up the center console and glove compartment looking for stuff. They did not take much other than some of the accessories that go with my iphone. The bad part was just the thought of someone violating our personal space and going through all of our stuff. The manager said that they had them on the security tapes. It appeared that there were two guys and then one girl that waited in the car. All of this happenend within about 20 seconds and it continued the whole time the car alarm was going off. How good are the car alarms???? Fortunately, it seemed that they stopped not because of the alarm going off, but because another employee that worked at the Putt- Putt place was taking out the trash and noticed the alarm and saw the guys at my car. Once they made eye contact, they jumped in their car and sped away. I guess we were lucky because they really did not take much especially since Jeff's set of golf clubs were in the back of the car. I guess they got scared off before they were able to take them. After filing a police report with the SAPD, we were assured that we would probabaly not hear anything else. It appears that car burglaries are not high on their priority list in San Antonio. Obviously, we did not feel like playing much putt - putt at this point. So, we went to Target to buy some stuff to clean up our car. Not a fun evening and nothing I really wished our kids had to be a part of.

Of course, this post would not be complete without a picture of my car! :(

Finally, on Friday things started to seem to get better. Jeff was able to play golf at one of the Resort Golf courses that is super nice. Then after some more swimming, I was able to have a massage and a pedicure. I really enjoyed it considering all that had recently taken place. We had a semi nice evening eating supper at Papasitos. The food is always good, but the service was not great and the manager noticed it and gave us a $25 gift card for our next visit to their restarurant. At this point, we did not even really care that the service was not good. We were just glad to be eating a good meal and appreciate that nothing bad had happenend that day.

On Saturday, we checked out and started back home. Jeff and the kids were kind enough to let me do a little shopping at the outlet mall in San Marcos.

All in all, was it all that bad? I guess that is up to you and how much one can tolerate. Thankfully, we are back at home. My grandmother has been released to a rehab facility back in town. Her stroke was on the left side of her brain which controls her memory. She is doing ok physically, but struggles with remembering. Please keep her in your prayers.

FINALLY, Luke's 5th Birthday Post !!

2009-06-13T00:05:00.017-05:00

I am so embarrassed that I am just now posting about Luke's 5th birthday. I almost thought about now even doing it since it has been sooooo long, but since I use my blog as somewhat as a online scrapbook, I just could not leave it out. So, here goes ( I hope I can still remember all of the details)......

We had his party at Mt. Aggie. We had been to several birthday parties there in the past and have always loved it, so he was very excited to have his party there. Luke is not a real sweets lover, so we did not do cake and ice cream, but instead got a cookie cake. Regardless of the cloudy weather and the storms earlier that morning, I think that everyone had a great time!

(I know I always do all of my pictures in slideshows, but I can not ever decide on which pictures are my favorites!)

Luke

2009-04-28T23:06:00.007-05:00

Luke recently turned five. (I will post about his birthday party soon.) So, in celebration of his first few years, I have put together a slide show of some of my favorite baby pictures. It is hard to believe it has already been five years. Notice the cheeks!!! What a sweet baby boy! I miss those days. Hope you enjoy it!

Our Easter!!!

2009-04-19T22:37:00.007-05:00

We had a great Easter. It is one of our favorite family holidays. We are all at home and got to spend alot of time together as a family. On Good Friday, we went to the park and had a family picnic. Then we went home to dye Easter eggs. Fun for everyone. Then on Saturday, we packed up and went to my parent's house to pick flowers. It is a tradition in my family to pick flowers to use to make an Easter nest for your eggs. (I did not realize how cool it was outside and my kids had shorts on. So, they had to borrow very old jackets from my mother to wear while we were picking the flowers. So don't look at their jackets.) Then we hunted for Easter eggs and had an Easter dinner with them. Once we were home we made the nests. I think that the kids enjoy it. Then on Easter morning, the kids woke up way too early. They were very eager to see what the Easter bunny had brought them and to hunt for the eggs he had left them. Once we are done, we got ready and went to church. I thought they looked so cute. Then we get together with more family for Easter lunch and hunted for more eggs. It is so much fun and we always enjoy all that comes with Easter.

Luke and T-Ball

2009-04-16T23:35:00.009-05:00

Luke started playing tball a few weeks ago. So, far he really loves it and is doing rather well. His team is called the Rivercats. He is the youngest one on his team. Most of the kids are 6 or 7 years old, but he is holding his own. At this level, they have the coaches pitch for the first 5 pitches and then if you can not hit it, then you get to hit it off the tee. He has gotten several good hits when the coach is pitching. Some of them have even gone over the pitcher's head into the outfield. He is learning how to play the game and has enjoyed it so far! We hope he will stick with it and continue to play because it is a good team sport for him to be involved in.

What a throw!!!!

Taking it all in!!

Down and Ready!!!

Getting ready to run!!!

It is going to be a great season!

Have you seen this?????

2009-03-14T17:22:00.016-05:00

I have been meaning to post this skit for awhile. It is to a song called "Everything" by Lifehouse. WOW!!!! It truly is an amazing piece. I do not think there is a time that when I watch it that it does not bring tears to my eyes. Hope it touches you in the same way it has touched me.

Growing Up!!!

2009-02-18T23:30:00.014-06:00

After Emily's birthday, I started looking at pictures of her as a baby. Boy, time sure does fly by way too fast. It made me want to put together a slide show of some of the pictures I love so much from the first few years of her life. Enjoy!!!!

Happy Birthday Emily!

2009-02-15T18:10:00.029-06:00

It is hard to believe that it has already been seven years since I had the most precious, sweet little girl enter our lives. Over the past week, we have had a great few days celebrating her birthday.

It started with a life changing experience of getting her ears pierced. For years, Emily has been asking to get her ears pierced and I told her when she turns seven she can get it done. She was soooooo excited to be FINALLY getting to do this. Because of her diabetes, the Dr requested us getting it done in a STERILE place. I had gone and talked to several places and finally found a place that I thought would be best for Emily and her situation. I made an appointment so there would be two people working that day so that they can each do an ear and Emily would not have to endure the pain two different times. So, we went one day last week after school. I have not seen Emily so excited about something in a long time. It was so refreshing to see her so happy! Well, as many of you moms know, this is a life changing event for little girls , so daddy, brother, grandmother and of course mommy were all there to watch this glorious event taking place.

So, Emily sat down and the owner starting explaining what she would be doing. She got her little marker out and marked the spots on Emily's ears were we wanted her ears to be pierced. She called the other girl over to help do the other ear. They both got their piercing guns and prepared to start to pierce her ears. THANK GOD my mother was there. I was so caught up in the moment and thinking about all that goes with this that I had not realized that the owner had not STERILIZED ANYTHING. My mother stopped her and commented on it. The owner started wiping off her ear in all of the places EXCEPT where the earring was going to go. So, I asked her to clean that area as well. She did not want to because it was going to wipe off the marker and she was not going to be able to see where to pierce it. I told her that area had to be cleaned, it was the most important area. She really did not like it, but too bad. So, they now were ready to pierce her ears. They counted to three and pierced her little ears.

One girl took her hand away, but the owner could not because she had PIERCED HER LATEX GLOVE TO EMILY'S EARS!!! Yep, not only did Emily have a new earring hanging on her ear , but she also had a nice latex glove hanging from her ear. How in the world could this happen??? So, the owner got some scissors (I am sure they were not sterile) and attempted to cut away at the glove. She could not do it, so she handed the scissors to Jeff and asked for him to try. How bad is this???? Well, Jeff finally was able to cut it away.

Unfortunately, the owner missed her spot and did not pierce her ear on the right spot. She had pierced Emily's ear too close to her face. So, needless to say it was not great looking. It was just horrible. This was something that Emily had wanted for so long, why could it not just work out? After much thinking, I knew something had to be done. I called the pediatrician and he said we needed to have her take the earrings out , let her ears close up and then pierce them again in about a month. Emily was heartbroken, but she agreed she did not want them to be that crooked her whole life. So, if she is still interested in a month, we will give it another try. (If you look close, you will notice her new little earring studs.)

On the actual day of her birthday, we took her Chick-Fil A and ate lunch with her at school. This year the first graders are not allowed to celebrate their birthdays at school. You can bring a treat for all of the students to take home and enjoy it after school. I made chocolate covered pretzel sticks. It was the first time I had ever made them. Some were covered with white chocolate then rolled in pink and green sprinkles and some were covered with white chocolate that I had colored with pink food coloring. They were really pretty easy to make.

After school, we went and got ice cream. Then later at gymnastics, the girls on her team have this tradition for the birthday girl. Everyone but the birthday girl chalk up their hands and get in a line from shortest to tallest. Then one of Emily's coaches grabbed her, lifted her into the air and spun her around about 10 times. Needless to say, she was beyond dizzy. Then Emily had to crawl between the legs of all of the girls. As she did that, each girl chalked her bottom by patting her bottom as she crawled through. EMILY LOVED IT! She was all smiles! (Sorry the picture is blurry. Emily is the one in the blue leotard being spun around by the coach.)

This year Emily had an ice skating party. We had about 25 kids there and I think most people had a great time.

Most kids had been ice skating before and could skate rather well. Emily has been one other time and loved being out there on the ice.

This year Emily wanted an ice cream cake. It was delicious!!

After the party, Emily said it was her favorite party she has ever had!! Other than the ear piercing tragedy, it was a great few days. Happy Birthday Emily!!! We love you so much and can not wait to see what great things you will do in the next year of your life!

Update on Luke

2009-02-01T21:25:00.037-06:00

I wanted to give all of you an update on our last dr. appointment we had for Luke. As most of you know, Luke was diagnosed soon after Emily for being in the early stages of diabetes. One of the first tests that they did on Luke showed he had some of the antibodies that attack your pancreas which in turn eventually make you become a diabetic. But fortunately the antibodies have not yet attacked it enough that he would need the care and attention that Emily requires. Thank God!

Anyway, we went last week to meet with our new pediatric endocrinologist. Our last dr has moved and we were really not too sad to see him leave. He was not the most positive or hopeful doctor. When you are dealing with something like diabetes, you need hope and receive care from a dr. that offers you hope in a situation that sometimes is anything but hopeful. Our new doctor that we met with on Wed. was really positive and really seemed to care what would be best for our children. We were meeting to see if we wanted to repeat the IV glucose tolerance test that we did on Luke back in May. It was the worst thing that we have yet had to do with him. They put an IV in each arm and shoot large amounts of glucose in one IV while drawing blood out of the other IV continuously for about 45 minutes. Well, Luke HATED it and did not respond well to it. It is important for us to do the test because it gives us information on how well his pancreas handles such large amounts of glucose. The last time they did the test, the results were not good, not good at all and it showed that he would probably be needing the same care that we are doing now with Emily sooner than later. Well, of course that is not what we wanted to hear.

Well, it is time to do the test again to see now more than six months later, how his pancreas responds to the glucose again. We talked to the dr about our concerns and just did not want to make Luke go through all of that again. We wanted to see if they could do anything for Luke that would make this not such a traumatic situation for him. The dr said that we could wait until this summer to do the test again to see if Luke would do better because he would be a little older. I told him we could wait thirty more years and Luke would never calmly want to go through that test again. So, the dr. said that they would put him in ICU in Temple, put him to sleep and repeat the test under the superivision of the staff at the ICU. I know that it may seem a little extreme, but this is the best thing for Luke. Hopefully, we will get to be in the room with him and he will not have to endure what he had to last time.

I wanted to share something very positive that the dr shared with us. He said that Luke could stay in this phase he is currently in right now from anywhere from 6 months to 20 years. We are already past the 6 month part! :) So, please pray that he will have many, many years free of diabetes. Unfortunately, he has two out of the four antibodies that make you have diabetes, AND has a sibling with diabetes. So, that is why he thought it is a good idea to repeat the test so we can see how he is doing. The dr. said that his numbers could have gotten better , stayed the same or have gotten worse.

We are planning on doing the test in a couple of weeks. We will let you all know when we schedule the test and what the results are once we receive them.

So, please be prayer that Luke's body can tolerate the glucose and that his numbers are better than the last time or at least have stayed the same. I know that God can do anything! I know that he can heal Luke and allow him to never have a life filled with the stress and problems that comes with diabetes.

Are you giving your child what they want for Christmas?

2008-11-20T17:12:00.002-06:00

Are you giving your child what they want for Christmas this year? Well, unfortunately, we can not. Let me explain..... This afternoon after school, Emily told me, "Mommy, I know that special surprise that you and daddy are giving to me for Christmas this year." Of course, I started thinking, great, she has somehow figured out what it is. So, I asked her, "What do you think that it is?" Emily then said with such a big smile on her little face,"You found a cure for diabetes, didn't you? And you are going to give that to me for Christmas." My eyes filled with tears and told her, "Sweetie, I wish that I could give that to you for Christmas. But if I had the cure for diabetes, I would give it to you now and not make you wait until Christmas." It just breaks my heart I will never be able to make her wish come true.

As many of you know, Emily's school just concluded their "School Walk for Diabetes". Thanks to our great family and many friends, Emily was able to raise $965 towards helping someone find that cure for herself and the many of millions that endure what her little body does everyday. It meant so much to Jeff, Emily and me that so many of our friends and family would donate their money to help in the fight to find a cure. I pray and try to believe that someone, somewhere will be able to give my little girl her wish. And with everyone's donations we are all helping Emily's wish come true. Thank you!

Halloween, Deer Hunting, and Gymnastics!!!!

2008-11-09T18:51:00.008-06:00

We have had a few busy weekends!

First, there was Halloween. This year Luke obviously dressed up as Spiderman and Emily as a sweet, good witch.

The kids really enjoyed Halloween and all it offers, but it was cut short this year. Luke and Jeff left our trick or treating fun to go to our deer lease with my family! This is one of Luke's favorite things to do with his daddy and cousins. It was a weekend full of nothing but boys, dirt, rocks, deer, spotlighting and of course playing with his cousins. Luke thinks that they are the greatest thing ever! He can not wait to go back!

Then this past weekend, Emily competed in her first Gymnastics Meet!!

She did very well and we are really proud of her. She can not wait for the next one!!

What Could Have Been????

2008-10-22T17:21:00.003-05:00

Well, this was ALMOST the scene at our house last night. THANK GOD it was not though. Let me explain.....

I had just starting cooking supper and had put some potatoes in the oven. About 20 minutes later, the entire house smelled of gas. I had mentioned to Jeff last week that I thought that our oven might be leaking gas, but this time was worse than the times before. This time I could smell the gas all over the house and not just in the kitchen. So, I called Jeff. He looked up the gas company's phone numbers on their website. But it stated, IF YOU SMELL GAS, CALL 9-1-1. At this point, I was not really sure what to do. Did I really need to do that? So, when in doubt it is always best to call your mother. So, I called her and told her I think my oven is leaking gas. She immediately said, get the kids and get out of your house and call 9-1-1.

Emily of course was very obedient, but Luke was taking a nap and really did not want to be awakened with mommy letting him know that we have to get out of our house because there was an emergency.

So, we went next door and used the neighbors phone to call for help. I think that this is my first and I hope only time that I have had to call 9-1-1. After stating my emergency, they informed me a fire truck was in route to my house and to obviously to stay out of the house.

Within about 5 minutes, many, many MANY sirens filled the air. It was very scary to think that they were all coming to my house. The ambulance was first to arrive, followed by 8 HUGE fire trucks, two police cars, the Battalion Chief, and MANY spectators. I was taken back by the number of people that were at my house. It was quite the scene to see about 10 firemen all dressed in their uniforms, oxygen masks in all, carrying axes and picks ready to enter my house. It was a scene I will never forget. It reminded me of the movie Backdraft!

At about this point, Jeff made it home. There was a police officer directing traffic at the end of our street and he had to let him know that he lived at the house where all of the fire trucks were. Later he said to me, that he never thought that he would have needed to say that sentence to come home.

Firemen soon started to exit my house. One of the men made his way to me and said that they could not detect any gas in the house. I knew what I had smelled gas and even had my neighbor confirm it that she had smelled it as well before I called 9-1-1. I asked them did they turn the oven back on. But obviously they could not, due to the risks.

After some time, the firemen entered my house again and were going to try and turn the oven on. They have an air monitor that would detect if there was any gas in the air. A few minutes later, they came out and said I was right and that there was a GAS LEAK. They had turned the oven back on and as it was heating up their air monitor quickly detected gas in the air. They figured out that one whole side of the oven was not igniting once I would turn the oven on and instead was spilling out gas. So, needless to say this could have been a catastrophic situation. The gas company also came out and looked at everything and confirmed what the firemen had said.

We are SO lucky!! Before calling 9-1-1, I was about to turn the stove on to start the rest of my supper. Thank God, I did not. I can not even think about what could have happened. My dad informed me, just something as simple as the phone ringing, could have made enough electricity in the air to blow our house up. Very scary!

But in the end, we are ok. Luke got to hang out with the firemen and ride in their truck. They were great. They also told me, that my potatoes were probably not going to be done tonight. :)

Since, I was not going to be able to cook we went to eat at Double Dave's. As we walked in, some of the same firemen were there. It was really funny to see them again!! Emily and Luke were glad to see them again and to be able to tell them thank you for saving our house. They were such a great group of guys! I do not think that any of us will ever forget this experience. It could have ended up so much worse than it did. Even though there were no flames to barrel through or doors to kick down, the firemen were ready, ready to save my house. I will always think of firemen a little differently from now on. We were so thankful for everything that they did and were prepared to do. They truly are a special group of people!

It's Soccer Time !!

2008-10-06T13:34:00.001-05:00

Luke had his first soccer game this past Saturday! His team is called the Sharks. There are four girls and one other boy on his team. His daddy is the coach and they both seem to be enjoying it so far!!

First Day of School!!!

2008-09-29T16:50:00.001-05:00

I am finally posting Luke's first day of school pictures! He is excited to be back at school, but is counting down the days until he goes to kindergarten. It is hard to believe a year from now he will be in kindergarten!

I'm a Big First Grader!!

2008-08-29T13:32:00.005-05:00

Here is a picture of E the morning of her first day in first grade. It is hard to believe that she is old enough to already be in first grade. She was really nervous, anxious and excited. But she really likes being a first grader and getting to do more big kid things! I think her favorite part so far is getting to have her own desk!!

However, we have had a really hard week controlling her diabetes. To put it into perspective for you, she should never have too many lows (low blood sugar). In fact, the doctors have advised us if she ever has three lows in a week we should contact them in order to change her care plan. Well, starting the night before school started and for the next 36 hours she had 5 times were she was low. Not good and actually very dangerous. We have contacted the dr. twice this week and have changed some of the things we are doing. Stress and anxiety can make her blood levels low and obviously have done so. We are hoping that by next week she will be more comfortable with everything and her levels will start to normalize. We hate that it has been this way for her this week, but know this is just a part of the fun diabetes game.

Even though we have had rough few days, we are looking forward to a great year and getting to see and experience all of the fun things E will get to do and learn this year.

Our Disney World Trip

2008-07-17T23:59:00.007-05:00

We recently returned home from our week long stay at the magical and oh so wonderful world of Disney. Great memories were made for a lifetime!

Little Boys!!

2008-06-17T23:07:00.004-05:00

Tonight as we were getting L ready for bed, he found a microscopic scratch on his knee. Of course, he immediately requested a band-aid. At the time of his discovery, we were working with him on his counting. We told him as soon as were done, we would get a band aid.

Well, he was no longer interested in counting and ran out of the room. Counting is not nearly as exciting as a new Diego Band- Aid.!! All of a sudden we heard the toilet flush and his bedroom door SLAM shut. (A definite clue L was up to something.) So, J and I went to his room and L was in his bed sitting there with big eyes and a peculiar look on his face. So, we asked him did he get a band - aid. He said he did not! Well, when we started to lift up his PJ bottoms to see if the evidence was there, he quickly tried to push our hands away so we could not see it. Yep, you guessed it, underneath his pant leg was a band -aid. He got a small swat on his leg and we left the room leaving him to think about what he had done!

Shortly there after, L reappeared with a very sad look on his face and said, " I do not have the band - aid anymore. I flushed it in the toilet." J and I then talked to him about lying and that even though we may not like what he has done, he should always tell us the truth.

J tucked L back in bed and said, "Daddy, I will never lie again." How sweet! We hope he has learned his lesson, but the reality of it is, is I am sure that there will be a few more "band-aid" episodes in his little life!

My Little T-Baller

2008-04-05T22:04:00.008-05:00

Saturday was a big day for us! My daughter started her t-ball career. She is on a team called the Grasshoppers. :)

First, we had team pictures bright and early Saturday morning, followed by the leagues opening ceremonies and finally her first t-ball game.

She played great! She hit the ball every time the coach pitched it to her when she came up to bat and did a great job of stopping the ball while playing pitcher. I think that mommy was more nervous than the little athlete.

It was a fun day for the family! We were very proud of her!!

Enjoy the pictures!

Will it ever end?

2008-03-17T22:15:00.001-05:00

I realize that my last post was about the kids getting sick and here I am about to write another one about the same thing AGAIN!! But lately, that is all that we seem to be dealing with. Since my last post, my daughter has gotten back to normal, but my son has just not been able to get any better. We are almost going on three weeks of the same thing. So, here is what has been going on......

Several days after he first got sick, I took him to the dr. He had a double ear infection. So, they prescribed him antibiotic #1. Nine days later he is no better. So, I end up taking him back and the dr tells me he still has fluid behind his ears and the infection that is in both ears is not any better. So, they prescribed him antibiotic #2. Having him take medicine has never been easy, but this time it was absolutely miserable. He has to take it two times a day and these were never fun, easy times in our household, but he would finally take it.

Today was the first day back to school for both kiddos. They were both really excited to get back. After we took my daughter to school, we came home to attack his morning medicine routine before it was time for him to go to school. Soon after the fight of taking the medicine, my son runs to me with his shirt lifted and says ,"Mommy look !!!!". I could not believe what I saw. His little tummy was covered in red, whelping, hives. He was itching his tummy which I am sure made everything look alot worse. I immediately start to freak out because that is my nature and what I am suppose to do, right? I am allergic to alot of medicines, so I figured that he must be having an allergic reaction to the medicine. I call my husband and expect to hear that he is just as shocked and worried as I am, but he says, "Oh, yeah - I saw that too after I gave him his medicine last night". (I wish that I could be so calm and collected like my husband.) Then, I call my mother to get her advice on what to do. It is always good to be able to bounce things off of her. She agrees and thinks he is having an allergic reaction to the medicine. She freaks me out even more by telling me to watch him closely so that his throat does not start to close up and that he does not go into anaphylactic shock! Boy, that calmed me down.

So, I call the nurse at the dr's to see what they wanted me to do. After about thirty minutes waiting on hold, I finally talk to the receptionist. She took my message and said that the nurse would call me back soon. Five hours later, the nurse calls and also agrees that he has had an allergic reaction to the med. I told her I thought that it was odd that it would start up so many days after he initially started it. She told me that sometimes the allergic reaction will not show up until they are finished with the entire round of medicine. She said that sometimes it just takes that long to build up in their systems. (I thought that I would pass that along to all of you moms out there.) She then talks to the doctor and calls me back again to let me know they are going to start him on ANOTHER antibiotic. Just in case you have forgotten, this will be antibiotic #3.

So, we have started it tonight. He will only have to take it once a day. Thank God!! I am hoping that he will get better with this one and that we will not be visiting the doctor again anytime soon!

What are the chances??????

2008-02-28T14:51:00.004-06:00

As some of you may already know, we have been in the process of buying a new car. This past Saturday, we loaded the kids up and went to Houston to search for the new Tahoe that I wanted. After about nine hours of searching, we finally found the one that I wanted, but it was 300 miles away. So, the dealership offered to let us take one of their NEW 2008 Tahoes back home and when our new car arrived we could come back and get it. So, that is what we decided to do.

On Wed., my new car arrived at the dealership , but we were not able to go and get it because my daughter was at home with 104.3 fever, an earache and possibly strep throat. She was still running fever this morning , so she stayed at home again with me. Since she has been sick, she really has not been eating much. So, today for lunch I offered to go and get her anything that she wanted as long as she would try and eat it. She said that she wanted Schlotzky's. So, me and the kiddos got in the NEW car and off we went.

On the way there, my son fell asleep in the back seat. That really did not surprise me because he had gotten up three times in the middle of the night. (That should have been a hint to me that something was not right with him because he never wakes up in the middle of the night.) On the way home, he suddenly wakes up and starts to cry very loudly. I tried to calm him down as I am driving, but it was a lost cause. I am looking at him in the rear view mirror and he stops crying long enough to start throwing up all over the car. Let me remind you throwing up in the car that is brand new and is not ours. I am not one of those moms that deals well with kids throwing up, even if it is their kid. I could tell based on the sound, it was not alot. So, I thought maybe it was not too bad. I could not even finish the thought when suddenly he REALLY starts to throw up. My daughter announces she doesn't feel well. I tell her to not look at him and to just look out the window. So, now the car that use to have that nice, new leather smell is now filled with a sour throw up smell. I call my husband and ask him to meet me at home to help out.

By the time that we got home, my daughter had survived and my son had not thrown up anymore. After cleaning off the buckle to his seat, I got him out of the seat and into the bathtub. By this point, my husband had arrived and is frantically trying to clean up the car. Thanks to Lysol, paper towels and ALOT of Febreze, I think that it will be ok. Thank goodness it is a nice, windy day and we can leave the window down to help air out the car.

What are the chances that this would happen? First, that my kid would throw up in the car. In the six years I have had kids, neither one of them have ever thrown up in the car. And secondly, the time that they would throw up it would be in a nice new car that is not ours. So I ask, what are the chances ...........

2008-02-25T20:34:00.000-06:00

Well, I have finally joined the world of blogging. It is a relatively new concept to me! I never knew how many people blogged. Lately, I have really enjoyed reading and viewing other peoples blogs and just thought that I should join in the fun. I have to admit, it really becomes quite addicting! I am not sure how often I will post because I really do not think I have much to say. Maybe I will surprise myself and have more to say than what I realize! Let the fun begin.......