Where Have I Been?

Holy Moley Batman! It's been a while since I've been able to get on here. I've got A LOT of explaining to do...hahaha!

Well...for starters....it's called W-O-R-K! Yep, I said it! The "W" word! I've been substitute teaching so much lately and nope I'm not complaining one bit. I LOVE being at Kacey's school. I LOVE the atmosphere there. I LOVE the teachers. I LOVE the principal. LOL...you get the idea! I'm lucky enough to be able to work at the same school Kacey is at and they keep me as busy as they can. So I'm very greatful! Unfortunately when I work, I'm exhausted when I get home and I end up wanting to go to sleep when the girls do so that leaves my blog a bit neglected.

On Wednesday 12/9, I was asked to go Christmas shopping with one of my besties, Jill. She and I went to the same high school but she graduated 2 years ahead of me. We both played softball together though so I've known her....ummmm.... about 18 years now! I've always done Christmas shopping alone since I could go during the day and wipe it all out and then hide it all without having the kids with me. This year, Jill invited me to go and I happened to be off that day so I said "YES!" to some adult Mommy time without kids. That morning, it was pouring rain. When I say pouring....I mean the rain so hard when you run from the house to the car you're soaked kind of rain. I told Jill that I would meet her after I dropped Kacey off at school and we were NOT going to let the rain stop us. As I was getting in the car to take Kacey to school, my foot slipped in the mud along the side of my driveway and I hit my forhead on the corner of the door. I immediately saw *S*T*A*R*S*!!! I managed to get in the car and when I took my hand way from my head....blood! CRAP! Kacey was frantic because she thought I cut open. As I examined myself in the visor mirror, it was a surface scrape but I had a goose egg that was already coming up. Great! Just great! I drove Kacey to school with a napkin pressed to my forehead because of the bleeding. When I got there, I went right to the nurse...LOL! The bleeding had stopped and I got ice for it but it looked horrible and I had an instant headache! Did that stop me from shopping and enjoying my day? NOPE! It's now over a week later and I've still got a small knot...LOL! Just call me "Grace"!

Last Sunday 12/13, I had my very first annual Cookie Exchange party. I'd been planning for it for 2 months...had 12 people confirmed coming....then in the 24 hours prior to the party, several got sick and so it ended up being 7 of us. On the way to the party, I was so bummed about the cancellations and told Kayleigh this would be the FIRST and the LAST party. Well...when I got there, we ended up having so much fun!! So there WILL be another one next year and I've learned what to do at the next one.


On the diabetes front, Kacey's still having tons of highs. Is it the cold? Is it the sinus infection she was battling? Is it another growth spurt? Is it the excitement of the holidays? Who the heck knows?!?!?! All I know is we're back to adjusting again! I started with making a midnight basal change to see if I can get her lower in the mornings. Right now, she goes to bed between 120-140 and at 2am she's hitting the 300's and then by 6am she's only down to mid 200's. It's times like this that I wish we had a CGMS :( Then I could see what was happening without having to prick her finger 6 times through the night.


Both girls got their progress reports. Kacey got all S's and Kayleigh got Honor Roll :) I couldn't be more pleased with their progress this year. Have I mentioned how much I absolutely adore Kacey's teachers this year? She has a team of 3 and they are just AMAZING!! She's doing unbelievably well compared to last year. Most parents see the "change" in their children around 3rd grade. They seem to just "get it" by then. Well I think last year, Kacey had so much to deal with on the diabetes front that she didn't have time to really focus on school and learning...or even having fun for that matter. This year, I've seen such a change in her. She's still so responsible but she's actually taking in the things shes learning. She knows how to focus when shes running high...and if she can't focus then she tries pretty dang hard! Kayleigh has surprised me with how well shes doing in Spanish 3...her hardest class! Shes keeping a B in the class and really has become fluent. She's becoming more "social" and actually making friends outside of her small circle. I've always been worried about her limiting her friends. I did that as a teenager and I had 2 friends that I was best friends with in school and now I only catch up with them a few times a year. I wish I had been more social and talked more. So I've always had to give Kayleigh a little push when it came to that. Kacey on the other hand, would talk to a stump...just like her Daddy! LOL! They're so opposite! :)


Kacey had her Christmas party at school. Can you say E-X-C-I-T-E-M-E-N-T?!?! The day started with me being called to sub in the office at her school on my way to driving her to school. Thankfully I was prepared to work anyway because of the situation I knew was happening in there. So we arrived at school bearing teacher gifts and hurrying around to make sure everything made it to the right classroom. I know I've said this before but this group of teachers are just amazingly fun and outgoing! It's exactly what Kacey needed this year! One of her teachers taught my husband when he was in 2nd grade....and he's gonna be 42....if that tells you how long shes been teaching. LOL! Kayleigh had her and she was the only teacher we've ever had a personality conflict with. So when Kacey came along, I wasn't sure how well they'd mix? She now happens to be Kacey's favorite teacher! Although in all fairness to the other two, she loves them all but she jokes around with Mrs. B much more than the others. For instance...about 2 weeks ago, Mrs. B saw Kacey take her purse off and put it in her cubby. Kacey's purse carries her test kit, supplies, glucose tabs, glucagon...everything she'd need for testing or emergencies. This purse is a Vera Bradley hipster so it's not too little but not too big either. Well when Mrs. B saw Kacey take it off, she got scared and asked Kacey if she could speak to her in the hallway. She told her she had to ask her a silly question. Kacey laughed hysterically when she asked her....Why did you just take your insulin bag off? Don't you have to stay connected to that? HAHAHAHA! All this time her teacher was thinking that Kacey's pump was in that purse!!! So Kacey showed her where her pump was and they went back into the class laughing. When Kacey came to me that afternoon, she was laughing so hard and told me what happened. So I told Mrs. B that I was stay some extra time and show her the pump. We went in the office and I showed her the pump, where the tubing connects to the site and then....I nearly scared the woman to death when I showed her it disconnected!!! HAHAHA!!! She screamed and put her hands over her mouth and asked me if Kacey would die if I did that. Ummmm....you think I'd disconnect her if she was going to die? LOL! So I explained she could disconnect for up to 2 hours, she disconnects in the bath and she'd be just fine during that time. She was fine after I showed her everything and we still giggle about it. So ever since then, Kacey's played little "tricks" on her...just to keep her on her toes! It didn't surprise me when we were out shopping and Kacey saw a gift that was perfect for Mrs. B. It was perfect! Back to the morning, Kacey took Mrs. B her present. A nice red satin box with a bow. She handed it to her and I had my camera ready. She thought something was going to jump out but once I assured her it wasn't, she opened it. Inside was a small, red felt drawstring bag. As she opened it, she started to laugh because she knew what it was......COAL! Kacey gave Mrs. B some coal (plastic, of course)!!!! She could not stop giggling and she hugged Kacey and told her that was something Frankie would have done to her. Too funny! So we gave her the real present and went on back to the office. It just makes my insides smile that Kacey is so happy in school this year. We struggled so hard last year and it's so much more relaxed this year. Not that we didn't love Mrs. M last year, it was just so much on Kacey with her diagnosis and she struggled hard. I dread for this year to end! I'm going to take in every moment of the next 6 months!

I also got my first few Christmas cards! THANK YOU Meri, Tracie & Shamae! Something about getting a Xmas card from my fellow D-Mom friends just made me smile! Kacey was excited to see the pictures too! I'll be sending mine out today since I've been so busy and havent had time to get them out.

To my Secret Santa Family.... I'm not sure if you got my message on elfster but the package was mailed on Tues :) so it will be arriving soon!! I won't say much more so I don't give myself away ;)

THEN..... our SECRET SANTA PACKAGE ARRIVED!!! The girls haven't opened it yet because I was making them wait but they can hardly stand it much longer so since we're having bad weather today, I might let them tear into it :) I'll post pics and do a proper thank you in a post this afternoon but I wanted our Santa Family to know .... WE GOT IT!!! THANK YOUUUUUU!!!

I think thats about it for now. Gosh, I feel terrible for not keeping this updated but between work and battling this cold, I just can't stay awake past 8pm. Now that the girls are out for 2 weeks, I hope to be back everyday! I've got A LOT to talk about ;)