Dinner

I have a famliy who doesn't like vegetables. Reagan is the worst and Joel isn't all that much better. As a picky eater myself, I don't have much room to talk, but at least I eat my vegetables...

Tonight when I got out the broccoli, Reagan said "oh, no - can I please not eat broccoli for supper?" My reply was "Sure, Reagan - that's fine. You don't have to eat it tonight."

This is a picture of my family eating supper. Don't they look happy?
What you can't see is my smug, self-satisfied smile. Because hidden in their BBQ pork sandwiches is a steamed & pureed half-head of broccoli.

This might not work next time because Joel reads this blog, but for now at least - I won.

Ledges

On Sunday we took the kids to Ledges State Park.

Ledges is a fun park because there are four low-water crossings that you can drive through. It was warm & sunny and we brought a sack lunch and the kids swimming stuff.



Reagan and I found a little frog.











By the end of our visit Reagan was waving at the cars to go faster so they would splash her. :)

Joel was splashing and making a "sprinkler" for Reagan to run through while she waited for more cars to drive by.

And a picture of Riley who actually spent most of her time in the stroller. :)

We got the kids ice cream to eat on the ride home. I tried hard to keep Grant awake so he would take his nap at home, but I forgot about Reagan.

Baby's First Cereal

We decided to wait and try again later...

Summer Fun

Riley's Baby Mohawk


There were three in the bed and the little one said...

Thanks a lot Mom - now I'm going to get Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease.

I Might Have Known

On Tuesday, it got to 94 degrees here. We had a thunderstorm that cooled things off and when I sent the kids back outside after it, Reagan thought it was "c-c-coooold" so she wore this:
I thought it was funny so I took her picture.

It wasn't until later that I checked and found she had a temperature of 104. After a sleepless night and a trip to the clinic yesterday, I learned she has Hand Foot and Mouth Disease. (Which was a relief to me since I spent the night worrying she had Lyme Disease, West Nile Virus, or Swine Flu.) I think she's got a pretty mild case, but to hear the crying and whining you would think she was dying.

In hindsight I think Grant was the one who got it first. I like to think I would have noticed his high fever and sore throat, but since he isn't the dramatic type Reagan is, I only noticed his fatigue and extreme irritabliity. And since he didn't ask to wear his winter coat in June, I didn't think much of it.

Summer Fun

My big parenting struggle right now is how to make Reagan and Grant like each other. It seems like I break up at least 20 fights a day and still I'm never sure of how much to intervene or how quickly. Sometimes they play nicely, though and then I am compelled to get out the camera.

When my sister Sarah was here, we rode the bus to the mall twice just for fun. It was fun for the kids and while I enjoy a good bus ride now and then, it was also character building for me. I was thankful for the help! :)

Heaven

Some of my most thought-provoking conversations with Reagan happen at bedtime. In particular, the part of bedtime when the lights are out, both are tucked in, and I'm standing with my hand on the doorknob impatiently awaiting my sweet release.

Reagan tries to stall my departure by asking questions that don't have simple answers. She's smart - it works. A couple of nights ago it went like this:

Reagan: "Mom, do you know about Heaven?"
Me: "Some, yeah. God tells us about in the Bible."

Reagan: "Where is it? Is it a long ways away?"
Me: "Um, I don't really know where it is. We can't see it right now, I know that."

Reagan: "Will I see you there?"
Me: "Yep - we'll get to be together and we'll know each other. It'll be fun."

Reagan: "Will we meet God there?"
Me: "Yep. We'll get to meet Him and we'll get to stay with Him forever."

Reagan: (kicking excitedly and acting silly) "Yay! I'm sure gonna loooove dyin'!"

Summer Fun

Anyone going to count how many times I use that title throughout the summer?

My sister Sarah has been staying with us this week with her son Silas while the other boys are at camp. Among other things, she's taught me how to sneak vegetables into my kids' food, how to be more flexible in my daily schedule, and how to play Webkinz. (Yeah - seriously. I really like it.) Its been fun to have her here. :)

Today my sisters and I all met at Brookside to take the kids to the splash park/wading pool. Having all 4 sisters together is one of my all-time favorite things and today was no exception. My pictures are terrible, but I am thankful just to have remembered the camera this time. :)

10 years...

"10 years..." That's how I have it written on my calendar -- though its not written there because I'm afraid of forgetting.

June 11, 1999 was a warm and sunny Friday. I took the afternoon off from work and had lunch with my sister and my mom. I had a Subway Club and a medium Mt. Dew. I had a doctor's appointment at 2 o'clock and then I planned to go home and pack to leave for the weekend.

By 3 o'clock, my life had changed forever. Joel had been at his new job less than a month when I called him from the doctor's office. My voice was shaky and through my tears, I said "Joel, I have diabetes. Can you come help me?" I don't remember what he said, but he was there within the hour.

By 5 o'clock, my entire family was there. (Even my sister who was only 2 days away from having a baby :) I left the clinic with a blood glucose monitor, several bottles of insulin, syringes, and an appointment with a Diabetic Educator for the following Tuesday.

They had me test my blood sugar on my own and do my first injection before they let me leave. Ever given yourself a shot in your stomach? It was a scary thing and took me several tries before I was brave enough to do it.

Joel and I were supposed to go up to his Grandparents' cabin in Lansing to spend Saturday & Sunday water skiing, playing cards, and spending time with family. We stayed home in our ISU Married Student Housing apartment instead. I woke up on Saturday morning with a blood sugar of 300 and more energy than I'd had in a month.

Fast forward to 2009. I haven't used a syringe in eight years -- I use an insulin pump. I even have a Continuous Glucose Monitoring System that tests my blood sugar every 5 minutes and shows me a graph on my pump screen. My Blood Glucose Meter "talks" to my pump and my pump is programmed to suggest doses of insulin (taking into account my carbohydrate intake and my current blood sugar reading).











Having diabetes isn't easy. There are no vacation days -- I always have to pay attention and I will never go another day without insulin. Its not as scary as it was to me ten years ago, though. Being a diabetic has turned into an annoying background noise - like someone who left a fuzzy TV on too loud. Its always there but many times I just tune it out.

10 years ago I wasn't sure what my future would look like. Would I die? Would I still be able to have kids? When would my feet be amputated and how long before I needed dialysis and lost my eyesight?

It was a scary day 10 years ago. June 11th. As it turns out, all my worrying was for nothing. What God had planned for me in these 10 years was better than anything I could have asked for or imagined -- I'm alive and healthy, I have a husband who loves me, and three healthy kids. There are many non-diabetics who are not nearly as blessed as I am... :)

Swimming!

What you can see from this picture: The sun is over my left shoulder as I ask the kids to look at me and smile. There are more toys (and sand) than there is water in the pool and Grant is still wearing his clothes.
What you can't see: It is about 65 degrees outside at 10:30 in the morning. The pool is filled with rainwater (we got 2" Saturday-Monday) and the neighbor's dog went swimming first.

4 Months

~Riley having supper with us~

My sweet baby is 4 months old already!

She's moved up to the larger bottles and eats about 6oz at every feeding. She sleeps from about 9pm until 6am. Her 4 month appointment will be late (big surprise) so I don't know how much she weighs.

She took her first vacation this last week and I'm still trying to keep her little for as long as I can.

I've been saying for a long time that she is the sweetest baby I've seen and this morning I took her picture to prove it :)

I set her down on the play mat so I could make banana bread and she started fussing before I finished. She never actually cried, so I just left her there while I finished mixing and when I went to pick her up this is how I found her.

Mom!

Mom! I can't get Grant to go in the sprinkler with me. Can you please go get your swim suit on and play in the sprinkler with me?

New Pictures

When we visited Sarah last weekend, she sent us home with all kinds of toys and baby stuff. (thank you!!) Most of them were for Riley, but no one told Grant.

His favorite is the Bumbo chair. On Monday, I left it sitting on the dining room table and while I wasn't looking, Grant climbed up onto the table and into the Bumbo seat -- he was very proud of himself. :)


Lastly, this is a picture of Riley wearing her first pair of jeans. She'll be 4 months on Friday, and hasn't worn jeans yet. Why dress her in jeans and mess with socks, when she can wear her comfy pjs all day?? So today, just for fun, she's wearing 'real' clothes...

A Fun Week

On Thursday we took the kids on a vacation to Wisconsin to visit my sister and her family... We stayed until Sunday and I think I did more in those 4 days than I've done since Riley has been born :)

My favorite part was on Friday when we took a trip to Dubuque and to the Mississippi River. We got Wendy's Frosties for all the kids and ate them up near the bike trail, we played at Eagle Point Park and then had pizza for supper at a river overlook. Grant learned to say "boat" and was really happy each time he saw one. :)

Another fun day was Saturday when Sarah and Mike made a fire and we had s'mores. I think Grant at 8 marshmallows before we noticed what he was doing. :)

We got to swim at the hotel every day, see Alec & Zech play baseball, and Joel got to use power tools to help with their deck. :) It was great just to hang out with all the Mundys and to visit them at their house and in their own space. Overall, it was relaxing, tiring, and fun to have all of us spending time together!

By the end of the long weekend, the kids were exhausted. They were asleep before we even left town on Sunday, and Grant took a 4(!) hour nap on Monday. :)