9 minutes of sleep

The best sleep I get is from 6:51 to 7 every morning. Jason kisses me good bye every morning around 6:45, and then Seth's alarm goes off at 6:51, and he hits snooze. At that time I know both are ok and I can sleep peacefully until my alarm goes off at 7. 9 minutes of peaceful, unworried sleep every morning. I never thought I would be  thankful for 9 minutes of sleep. Of course, I get more sleep than that, but none quite like it. So if I look really tired some days, now you know why. 9 minutes is not much, but it's what gets me through some days so I can help my guys KDA.

A drawer full of cheese

Cheese has become a staple in our house the last 7 months. Virtually no carbs, it makes a perfect snack. A week or so ago, I bought cheese at Costco. Lots of cheese. It should last about a month.

A whole drawer in the fridge is dedicated to cheese, right below the drawer of insulin. 

They eat cheese plain, but they have also come up with some other ideas for low carb snacks.  One of the favorites is chipless nachos.  Sliced cheese with a jalapeno slice, baked at 400 for about 7 minutes. Yum! The inspiration came from this blog.

Cheese, meat, eggs, sugar free jello....those are about the only carb-free foods, so we keep plenty of all of those on hand.  Veggies are mostly low carb, but even some veggies with dip require an injection, depending on the veggie, the dip, and the amount.  All fruits require an injection. So I try to keep plenty of carb free snacks on hand.  Growing boys need lots of food, and shouldn't always have to take a shot to eat it.  Carb free snacks help my guys KDA every day!

Don't forget the milk??

Several people have asked me to write about how things have changed since 2 diagnoses of type 1 diabetes in our house. It's hard to think of changes all at once, so I will write about them as they come up. This one struck me yesterday: we have expired milk in the house. Never, in 22 years of marriage and almost 20 years of having children, have we ever had expired milk. We were the family that could buy milk on the day it was marked to expire and STILL never have expired milk in the fridge. Seriously.  We were a 5 to 6 gallon  per week family. Then diabetes hit. Why did that change things?  After all, type 1 diabetics can still eat whatever they want, in reason. Healthy diet is the key, and milk is healthy,  right? Yes, milk is healthy,  and they still COULD drink milk. They just don't consider it bolus worthy,  at least not in the amounts previously consumed. Also, what is the main food that goes with milk? Cereal. Cereal is incredibly difficult on blood sugar levels, and Seth (our main cereal eater) decided it's just not worth the trouble. So I am trying to retrain myself to buy ONE gallon of milk per week, rather than 5 or 6.

Sick again

The pukes hit our house again today. I went down to the nurse's office for something this morning and Seth was in there.

Me: What's wrong?
Seth: I threw up.
Me: Want me to call your brother to come get you?
Seth: Yes, please.

After I called Josh and signed Seth out in the office, I texted Jason the grocery list. We already had ramen, chicken noodle soup, sugar free popsicles, etc. Here's the rest of the sick day list:

Yep, when a type 1 is puking, you need regular and diet of everything. You never know if they'll go low or high!

The puking has stopped, but I know there are lots of extra blood sugar checks in the next day or 2, along with some ketone checks. Hopefully we can avoid the wicked lows he experienced last time he had a tummy bug. Insulin will probably have to be reduced for a few days.  Who knows for sure??? Nothing with d is normal. Nothing. But we fight on and KDA!

Take that, diabetes!

This weekend, Seth competed in Destination Imagination for the 7th year in a row. His blood  sugar stayed in range during competition, but was slightly high that evening. The stress and activity of competing could have caused his numbers to go high or low.  Neither would have been a real surprise.  But in range? What a blessing. He was able to focus on his competition and not worry about his numbers.

His team placed 3rd in a cutthroat category. I'm so proud on so many different levels.  He KDA every day!