Coke, Candy, Chocolate (This is Less Hormonal?)

Well, I'm better. And less hormonal. It just wreaks havoc with my system (and adds at least five pounds to my middle)!

I got to sew a tiny bit today and got one pump pouch made. I need to make a couple for two other girls. I can't decide which fabric for them, so I'm frozen in indecision. I'll get there, just tired, and my brain isn't functioning so well. A week of sick Ethan, not too much sleep (as he wakes coughing and wants company), and ongoing days. There is so much to do, and I dare not start a list, or I'll hyperventilate! There are things to get ready for girl scouts-scrapbook preparations, and a questionnaire, and pump pouches (which I find fun and relaxing, and rewarding-they bring joy to sweet kids who deserve a little something special), and groceries, a couple of birthday gifts, etc.

I updated the group I started for Mary Claire's JDRF Walk Team on facebook, and added the latest research. I receive their publication, Countdown to a Cure, about every three months, and sometimes don't read it till I have a pile of three or four! I caught up on all the latest research (you can skip it if it seems like TMI):

Newest Info (April 29, 2009):
Connection: About 15-18% of children who were exposed to the rubella virus in the womb develop type I diabetes by age 18. The data suggests that rubella exposure in utero potentiates an underlying partial genetic susceptibility for type 1 diabetes.

Hygiene Hypothesis: An exposure to an appropriate amount and variety of bacteria, viruses, and other microorganisms may be important to living a healthy life, and that type 1 diabetes and other autoimmune disorders may actually be a result of lack of exposure to these agents (like when we over “gel” the kids hands, and are general clean-freaks, yep, this is us)….When raised in a germ-free environment, mice developed severe diabetes.

Real Clinical Trials: There aren’t enough volunteers to participate. Unbelievably. Sign me up! Three currently: Protégé-to see if a drug, teplizumab can protect the insulin-producing cells in newly diagnosed patients. Defentd-1: testing effects of otelixizumab, to treat early in diagnosis to preserve beta cell function (in pancreas). And Prochymal: preparation of adult “mesenchymal” stem cells, collected from the bone marrow of healthy adults. Patients receive three intravenous infusions.

SmartInsulin: designed to release insulin only when glucose levels are high-okay, this could change our lives! : ) It’d deliver near normal blood sugars, and prevent dangerously low blood sugars! A half-miracle. : )

Life For A Child: title of a new documentary coming out about the program (lifeforachild.org) that funds insulin for children in developing countries. It follows the journeys of children amid mountains and streets of Nepal, experiencing their life or death struggle to survive. It will air on the Sundance Channel in 2009.

Ok, back with you now...
I am most excited about the SmartInsulin-this would change Mary Claire's life. Really. She'd probably go to injections only, so no pump attached to her body, and then she could eat those carb-y foods like pizza, cake, muffins (you know, all the Healthy Stuff!), and not go high. Woohoo!

Ches is going to be working ALL day tomorrow (correction: in Meetings all day), so yuck. He's usually here on Fridays, so I'll be missing him. The good news? It's the last day. He'll be out for about a month-till summer school starts. We should be able to finish up the landscaping around the pool. I want to get some really big planters full of color for the deck, pool, and porch. I'm ready for spring! I hope we have a few nice days of sunshine, so that spring can really start. It's like Arkansas is just behind. And I thought the globe was warming?

My funny moment today (well, one of them):
Ethan got a bowl of rice chex cereal, and then, as if it just occurred to him, asked, "Where Daddy?" and when I told him daddy was gone bye-bye to work, he got all dejected, let his bowl drop down a little, and some chex fell out-I yelled, "No!" so that he'd stop, and he totally poured them all out (promise it'll get funnier in a minute) all over the kitchen floor. I told him to go to the Naughty Chair, and he did. I calmed down, continued to unload the dishwasher, then had him come back to clean up. He did, but took a few over to the Hearth Room, and put them on the carpet in front of his Tonka tractor/ride on toy. He pushed it forward, and it swept up the cereal! (funny part!) He'd cleaned up! You'd have to see the toy to understand, but there are rubbery fins that sweep up toys as he pushes/rides the tractor. He'd actually figured this out, and was "cleaning" up his cereal (well, after laying it out on the carpet...)! Then, he brought the cleaned up bowl out, dumped the whole thing, and ran over it repeatedly to try to get it all, and therefore crushed rice-y bits into my carpet. Least fun part: vacuuming up the bits that migrated all over the place! (but I DO love those fresh, clean lines in my carpet!)

We had cookies as a special treat for snack tonight. It's the night we change her pump site, so it'll keep her from going low. She's been going low on the site change night, but high on the other two. It's so hard to find a balance!

Ok, kids are tucked in, and I have to head to bed. I have to get sleep so I can function tomorrow. There's still a lot to do, and I can't have a repeat of today: Coke, candy, chocolate, snack, in an effort to stay awake. Must. Get. Sleep.

I do, however, have a date tomorrow night! Which will work wonders on my attitude and focus. Out of the house alone (without kids!) for the first time in a while! : )