Shot

I was taking my shot for dinner today when my son pointed at me and said, "shot."

We have been working lately on making sure that he knows that he can point at Mommy's medicine but NOT TOUCH IT. And, while explaining this, we apparently use the word "shot" a lot. And since he's in that 18-month-old learn-five-words-a-day phase, it makes sense that he picked it up so easily.

And, you know, he knows probably knows 75 signs, 15 or 20 spoken words, and...oh, several hundred animal noises. But I don't know. It still all feels like "first words" right now.

And I never thought "shot" might be one of my child's first words. Funny how diabetes can creep up on you and surprise you like that.

Another day, another time I almost forgot to post

Ugh. Ten days since I posted here.

I have been enjoying getting back to normal after the holidays. I've been able to play outside more with James, which is really nice for both of us. I've been cleaning house like mad to get ready for the fact that I might not get to do it as much after this Friday comes. What's this Friday? It's the first day that I'm officially "nannying" for a 6-week-old baby boy.

So hopefully I'll get to blog a few more times before then, since who knows what the level of chaos will be in my house after he starts coming over here several days a week.

Oh, and I also... started a new blog. Crazy, I know. But I wanted to keep a record of what books I read this year, and what I think of them. You can check it out if you want to. Or not. Whatever.

And hopefully I'll be back soon with more info and more pictures! Sorry for the long absence.

Perfect Explanation

Just a light and fluffy post today. Wanted to share a really great piece of information about what diabetes is like.
When you click on it, scroll down to "The Airplane Analogy." This is about the best description I've seen of the daily uncertainties of living with diabetes, as well as a good picture of what it takes to achieve "good control."
You can read the earlier stuff as well if you'd like, the basic summary of Type I v. Type II diabetes, etc, but that is more standard stuff that I think you could find in a lot of places, whereas The Airplane Analogy is bright, shining perfection.
I don't know him, but thank you, Scott Hanselman, for sharing your moment of brilliant insight. And I hope my family and friends enjoy your analogy as much as I do.

Guidelines for 2008

As we all know, New Year's Resolutions are famous for being left in the dust by the time February or March comes around.

So I'm trying guidelines this year. Wish me luck!

Category 1: Food and Eating
1. Pay attention to portion sizes.
2. Pay attention to feelings of hunger and fullness. Heed them!
3. Plan out weekly menus every Saturday, go grocery shopping every Sunday. Stick to it!
4. Find some great low blood sugar treatments that don't wreck my diet.
5. Don't eat anything I wouldn't feed my son. Or at least, don't eat it in front of him.

Category 2: Exercise and feeling good
1. Do yoga or stretching every day.
2. Walk at least 3 times a week, for at least 3o minutes, rain or shine. (Seem familiar? This is the tune I was singing right before Thanksgiving, and also right before the Month of Crazy. Didn't happen yet....but tomorrow is, as always, a brand new day.)
3. Meditate at least once a week. Maybe I can get Ben to take James out of the house every Saturday afternoon or something. Don't forget how much peace of mind this brings me!
4. Make time each week for writing just a little. Even if it's just blogging. Don't forget how good this makes me feel!

Category 3: Other diabetes-related
1. Log every day. Don't give up on it.
2. Find a good endo around here, call my new insurance, and actually go!
3. Take less insulin. Then check more. Constant vigilance!
4. Find some way to get a pump. At least look into it more.

Category 4: Organization and cleaning
1. Forget about it.