Our Cause

Diabetes.

• Something that I never really paid attention to or cared that much about until I met my husband.
  

• I was drop-kicked hard and fast into a life of learning all about this cruel but manageable disease when my baby was diagnosed.

I am requesting prayers for what doors this disease has and will continue to open for us.

We are always drawn to volunteer work in this area but my heart is really leading me to do more. We do the JDRF walk every year, we help JDRF when and where we can, we have mentored families with newly diagnosed children, and we are volunteering for the Tee Up to Cure Diabetes Golf Tournament on the 13th.

I want to do more. I want to be strong enough to become an ambassador family for JDRF. I want to be able to stand in front of congress and fight for juvenile diabetes research funding to not be cut, to do whatever needs to be done. I want to be an example for my son and fight for a cause with all you have inside you. Right now what is holding me back is knowing that I can still not tell my story to others without crying. I cannot explain how I still wake in the middle of the night and run into my child's room and shake him into startle because I am afraid he has died in his sleep. I cannot talk about how sad it makes me that my child has to deal with the in's and out's of this disease every day of his life. They tell me that crying is okay, it shows that we are human and how drastically it has affected our family, but that is hard for me to do. Pray for our family as we are led to what we are suppose to be doing. We are all here for a purpose. We all have a story to tell and this is a big part of ours.

Saturday we will spend the morning at the JDRF kick-off meeting for the 2009 Walk at Cliff's Amusement park. We get to meet other families in our shoes, hear stories of hope and get motivated to do our part in finding a cure. The afternoon is filled with rides and fun! Trey says that our yearly JDRF Cliff's trip is an awesome benefit of having diabetes. That is my son, that positive one!

Date night with the sweetest guy under 4 foot tall

Once a month the kids get a special date night. This month it is with me and next month it is with dad.

Tonight Trey and I went and finished some Christmas shopping and picked up 2 gifts for birthday parties tomorrow. We had dinner while we were out and they headed to Blades to go ice skating. It was so good to get some much needed one-on-one time with my son. Since Audrey's birth, our time together has been as a family. The time we have had as a family of 5 has been great but we also really needed some time to re-connect individually. Both Trey and Devyn really thrive on special time with Dante and I and it reaps so many rewards for our family. Overall behavior is better and they just seem more happy.

Last Friday night Devyn and I went to dinner, My Little Pony Live, and to Starbucks for hot chocolate after. I didn't tell her what we were doing until we got there. I told her to get dressed up and we were going to have a special night. She was so excited once she figured out where we were. :) She is such a sweet little girl and our night together was very special for both of us.

Here are a few pics from our night out:

I am so sad I forgot the camera tonight when we went skating. :(

Trey has been dx with ADD

He was placed on Ridalin last night and today marks day 1 of treatment. He will have weekly follow-up for a while with his pediatrician.

And really, if one more person asks me "Are you sure it isn't just him acting like a kid or being a boy??" I am going to kick them in the @#*&*$ teeth. Medicating was a very big decision for us and no, we didn't make it lightly. We are not idiots, yes, we have done our research, any other questions???

I hate the stigma with ADD and the misdiagnosing that has placed such a stigma on the kids that have it. His evaluation ruled out "Bad behavior", defiant disorders, depression, bipolar disorder, and learning disabilities. I feel confident that we are making a decision to help our child's future. I am sorry if "you" do not think he needs to take "one more medication" or have one more "thing wrong with him". I don't love it either but I am pretty hip on him being able to focus in class, follow instructions, do well in school and finally make some friends.

I am too damn emotional over this to deal with people's judgy-ness right now.

/vent.

Parent teacher conferences 2007

Devyn - Kindergarten:

"Your daughter is just precious. No really, she is just a precious, precious person. We love her to pieces." That is what her teacher told me. Of course I know that, I am her mother. But when someone sees in your child what you see as a parent, it is wonderful. She really is a sweet, sweet, kind soul. My God, she is so much like me as a child. She is really quiet and reserved if she is not 100% comfortable with people. She is loving and strives to do well. She is a "people pleaser" as her teacher says. This can be good and bad. She loves school and tries really hard to do well but it also means she doesn't take risks in her learning. She doesn't not want to be wrong and that may mean not speaking up and taking the chance. Again, so me as a child. She has grown leaps and bounds in a matter of a few months. She is reading really well and according to her teacher, her abstract thinking is beyond the Kindergarten level. **mama beams**

Trey is an amazing boy and truly, he is a brilliant witty child. He is so smart. My goodness, you never know what is going to come out of that child's mouth. LOL. But man, it is really nice going into a conference and hearing, "your child is doing great, no areas to work on, no behavior issues".....with that segway, I will move on to my little man.

Trey - 2nd grade:

I have to say, this is the first year where he has actually said he really enjoys school. He teacher is exceptional. Her class is so calm and controlled and you can see the gears spinning in her students minds when you walk through the door. She has been such a blessing in Trey's eduction. This however, is the third year in a row that I have heard how Trey has a difficult time focusing and he is not finishing his work on time. He does not do well in writing workshop and has a hard time get his thoughts onto paper. Those comments are always followed with how smart he is and how well he does in Math and Science. He thrives in discussion type learning because he can vocalize his thought amazingly well. He aces spelling tests and his vocabulary is way above level.

So where do we go with that?? His teacher has talked to the site OT about him and unfortunately, because he is making progress every year he is not eligible for assistance at school. So he is struggling, but not struggling enough??? Gotta love a public education. I have made appointments with his pediatrician as well as a private OT to have him screened to see what is going on. It could be anything from ADD to sensory issues. Daniele (my cousin) is an OT and she is doing a screening for us and has also been giving me a lot of advice on refocusing strategies for him to use in class when he is feeling like he needs it. So were are working in the right direction at least. I am finally realizing that this is less of "boys will be boys" and more of we need to take care of this issue while he is young.

I am heading out here in a few minutes. I am going to see Annie with Trey's class today at the Kimo theatre. I am excited. Annie was the first real play I saw as a child. I saw it at Popejoy when I was 5 or so. I loved it (and still do). It should be fun!! If it is good I am going to take Devyn to see it sometime this weekend. I have forced the movie upon her and she has conformed, rightly so, into an Annie fan. LOL

It feels really good to be writing again. Really Good.