Pump Victory

After a long month of pump trials I finally received my very own insulin pump. I've been using a loaner pump from my endocrinologist while waiting for an approval from my insurance company and the shipment of my very own pump. It's been a bit of a rough road calculating costs vs. benefits but in the end we have been blessed with the ability to order a pump of my own. Today I had a doctors appointment and was able to pick up my new pump. Wahoo!! I've really enjoyed having a pump, its made it extremely easy to get my insulin without giving myself up to 4 shots a day. The insurance company didn't approve the use of a Glucose Monitoring System so I'll still have to prick my finger before and after meals BUT I was given a new glucometer that wirelessly transmits my blood sugar levels to the pump for easy tracking. It's so cool! Technology is amazing, such fun tools that help with such a not so fun disease.


The baby seems to be growing on schedule and very active inside my tummy. All of my appointments seem to give reassurance that everything is going as planned. I (we) feel very blessed that the Lord is watching over our new little one and has blessed us with wonderful doctors and technologies that assist with the development of our baby. Thanks to all for your continued love and support!! We truly are blessed.

Labor Day Weekend Festivities

I hope that everyone had an enjoyable Labor Day weekend. Our weekend was packed full of activities for the whole family. Saturday we spend most of the day cleaning and organizing the master bedroom. In preparation for the baby, we are rearranging several parts of the house to make room for his nursery. We are turning the office into the baby's room but that means we now have to find room for all of the office stuff. We decided to start with our room and Lexie's room so we could move furniture out of the office into areas that were already organized and clean. It's been a big job, and even though we didn't get it all done it was nice to have some dedicated time with Josh to do some good cleaning.

Saturday was also the first BYU football game. Which at our house, is a MUST WATCH. Thanks to Josh's friends we were able to watch the game Saturday evening at their new home. (We don't get "The MTN" channel from Dish Network so we have to watch all the games elsewhere) Josh and Lexie went for a swim in the neighborhood pool, we had a nice Mexican dinner, and the boys watched the game while the little girls played and the big girls watched TV upstairs. We all had a great time!

Sunday morning Lexie woke up with a full blown cold. Her nose was running and she was coughing so I decided to keep her home from church while Josh went and substituted in Nursery. Lexie was sad she didn't get to go with her Dad but I didn't want the other kids getting sick. We had planned on heading up the canyon Sunday afternoon to join Josh's family at the cabin in Kamas for the remainder of the weekend. We knew that the weather wasn't going to be great so we debated long and hard before beginning our journey. We arrived at the cabin around 4pm Sunday afternoon. It had been a beautiful day, just a little windy. However, as the afternoon went on the clouds rolled in and so did the rain. It rained most of the evening, into the night, and the next day. Fortunately for us, we were blessed to get a comfy bed inside the cabin for the night and didn't have to worry about setting up or taking down a tent for the rainy evening. Lexie was excited because she got to stay in the trailer with Grandma and Grandpa. We had a yummy dutch oven dinner Sunday night that Grandpa had prepared in the rain (what a trooper). After dinner we laid Lexie down and watched "The Prestige" with Josh's parents. I love that show. The trailer had sprung a leek so Josh and Tom spent most of the movie standing with a towel soaking up the water as it dripped inside the trailer. Monday morning was a balmy 38 degrees. I think that everyone was ready to get out of the rain and head home for the day. Nate and Amy had already left around Midnight the night before because they had rain dripping inside their tent and didn't want to risk spending the night in cold misery (not that I blame them). We all packed up shortly after breakfast and headed for home. We went to Grandma and Grandpa's house for lunch where we could rest in comfort and warmth. We spent the afternoon relaxing and watching "Clean House" while Lexie took a nice long nap. Later that evening we headed for home and I did laundry for the next several hours. Sounds like fun huh? We certainly do know how to cram in as much stuff as we can into one weekend.

In the end the weekend was a success. Josh got to watch his football game, I accomplished some much needed cleaning and organizing, and Lexie got to go to the cabin and be with her grandparents, uncles, and aunts. A great weekend was had by all!

Pump Trials

Last Thursday I was given an insulin pump, by my endocrinologist office, to see if it will help better manage my diabetes (I've had type 2 diabetes since 2004). I've always been afraid of the word "pump", not really knowing much about what it does or really even how it works. After 2 hours of online tutorials presented by "pump school online" and then an additional 2.5 hours in the endocrinologists office with the medtronic educator I think I have all my initial concerns/questions resolved. Who knew it would take 4.5 hours to learn how to operate a pump correctly.

As it turns out, insulin pumps have been clinically proven to reduce complications in pregnancy for diabetic women. My OB has been asking me for months to switch endocrinologists because he wanted me to give the pump a try, or at least find out more information about it. I finally scheduled an appointment with the new Dr. to make the switch. The N.P. I met with during my initial visit immediately scheduled me for an education session and a trial/loaner pump. Surprisingly it hasn't been as bad as I expected, its been kind of fun to see what abilities/benefits the pump has to offer. Instead of giving myself 4 shots a day I only have to change my pump site every three days. In addition to the pump I have a blood glucose sensor that I insert near the pump site every 6 days. The sensor constantly monitors my glucose levels and allows me and my physicians to see patterns/trends in my glucose levels constantly throughout the day. Prior to the pump I was pricking my finger 6-8 times a day, now I only test 3-4 times a day to calibrate the sensor readings during my trial. Hopefully in the future I'll only have to do 1-2 finger pricks a day. I was so nervous that the two site inserts would be extremely painful but to date I have experienced no pain. I'll agree to trade my two site inserts for all the shots and testing I've done in the past. The pump is actually the same size as a pager/cell phone so it doesn't really cause me much grief to wear. And, surprisingly, the tubing doesn't get in the way as much as I had feared. I really thought I'd feel like I was "tied" to the pump. So, for now, I'll give my pump trial two thumbs up. Now, if only my insurance will approve an insulin pump purchase of my own. More to come later . . .

Quick thoughts: Wednesday edition

Hard to believe that it's almost September! And while I look forward to more mild temperatures, it also means that time is fast approaching for our little one to come to us. I can't belive it's only about four months away; we are definitely in "nesting" mode, trying to shuffle things around to turn our office back into a bedroom/nursery. We're keeping the classic Mickey theme, and will add things to it. Stacie wants to paint our crib black, which would match the chair rail and curtains, but I am hesitant. What say you? Please vote on the poll to the left!

Lexie is very excited for her baby brother. We can't walk through the store without her seeing something that is "really cute" and that she wants to buy for the baby. She is constantly giving her mom's belly loves and kisses, and keeps telling me that all three of us can hold the baby together. She certainly doesn't comprehend everything, and probably has no idea how much things are going to change when she has to share Mommy and Daddy, grandparents, etc. with someone, but I am excited to see her interact with the baby. When she says her prayers at night, she always remembers to bless the baby, and loves to tell people that "we are having a baby". I've seen a lot of change from her lately...I think that the "terrible twos" are starting to diminish a bit, and Lexie is starting to mature. We still have our moments (she left Wal-Mart on less than favorable terms the other night), but all in all, I think that she's getting ready for our family to expand, and to be a good big sister. I just hope that Stacie and I are ready!

Quick thoughts: Thursday Edition

I went into Lexie's room this morning to get her up...she was already awake and as soon as I opened the door, she froze in her bed. I started to ask out loud where Lexie had gone, and how I thought that she was in here. She started giggling as quietly as she could, thinking it was SOOOO funny that she was hiding. Of course, I started tickling her, and she couldn't take it anymore, so she sat up and I "found" her.

Something else I always do is ask her how she slept. Normally she says, "Good", but today when I asked her, she said "Not good", with her sad face on. "How come?", I asked. She proceeded to tell me that the dinosaur had eaten the gum and turned into a cow. Ah...that makes sense! I immediately thought two things:

1. If you could just mix a vampire or a werewolf into that dream, you could sell a LOT of books.

2. Three-year olds aren't immune to bizarre dreams either.

Tree Trimmin' Time

In our backyard we have the most beautiful Willow tree that provides such nice shade in the summer time. However, each summer we are confronted with the task of trimmin' the tree. Neither mine nor Josh's favorite task. This year we put off the task longer than usual but we finally made time to head outside last night and get 'er done. I have been harping on Josh for the last several weeks that we need to get it done so I was really happy when the task was complete. Lexie and I watched as Josh cut off branch after branch. The branches get so big and heavy that it hangs over into all of our neighbors yards (which makes it that much harder to trim). My job was to observe and identify the branches that needed to be eliminated. When we were all done and I was finally happy with the tree Lexie chimed in and started telling her Dad what else needed to be removed/fixed. Boy, kids really pay attention, too bad she was watching me, the bossy one, and not her Dad who was doing all the work. I don't remember exactly what she said but it was something like "it looks good Daddy but I think those few branches there need to come off still". Ah, what an example I am . . . LOL.

Thanks to Josh (aka Daddy), the tree looks beautiful. Next year I think we'll hire a tree trimmer. The thing is just getting too big!!

Quick thoughts: Tuesday edition

Since we now hold the awesome power of a blog in our hands, I hope to post short thoughts or stories, especially concerning Lexie, so that we can record some of the funny/amazing/frustrating episodes of our lives. With that said:

I was changing Lexie yesterday morning from pajamas to her clothes, and she was helping me out. She has struggled in the past to take her shirt off, and while we try to teach her how to pull one arm out, then the other, her patience often runs out and she starts to get mad. But yesterday, she did it perfectly...one arm, then the other, then over her head. I congratulated her, and told her that I was proud of her. Then I had a thought: when do I stop being excited about her ability to take off her clothes? Shouldn't I be encouraging her to keep her clothes on instead of praising her for her ability to shed clothing? I suppose that as long as we don't get her this for Christmas, we'll be alright.