In Which I Toot My Own Horn

I've been busy lately--that nesting instinct has expressed itself in the following ways, and I thought I'd document it for posterity.

First, we found out on Sunday that The Eldest's Primary teacher wants her to start bringing scriptures to class. And if you have scriptures, you MUST have a scripture bag to carry them in.

The Eldest wanted a monarch butterfly on her bag. I thought I was going to have to paint it, but then I remembered I took art in seventh grade for two weeks. By copying a line drawing of a monarch and using a Sharpie or two, we came up with this very acceptable substitute to stenciling.

The Eldest thought her bag should have her name on it too, so we employed the Sharpie once more.

A good friend of mine decided to go and have her first baby, and I just couldn't leave her unequipped for the adventure. So I made her a diaper changing pad (which also wraps around to hold diapers and wipes--thanks to my sister-in-law H---- for the idea!), a baby blanket, and a clutch ball. So the kid will be clean, warm, and entertained, if nothing else.

Then there's today. We received a birthday party invitation in the mail yesterday at 9pm (I may have checked the mail late...). The Eldest was invited to a classmate's party for THIS Saturday, so we had to get busy. We embellished a bag we just happened to have lying around, made a kerchief for the classmate (the green one) and one for The Eldest (the blue one), three barrettes, and a bookmark. Good thing we know this little girl likes pink!

We wrapped it all up and tied it with a bow--The Eldest picked out the ribbon! A handmade birthday card was affixed to the present, and now it is waiting next to the front door to be taken to a fairy tale birthday party.

This concludes this portion of our craft tour. There have been many, many other things, such as an afghan or two, a book cover, some tissue paper flowers, and some crayon rolls for Sunday use, but I didn't take a picture of them, so you'll just have to imagine the crafty fabulousness for yourself. In fact, please take a moment and do so. I'll wait.

And now I'm putting my horn away before my head gets any bigger.

Update on Living with Diabetes

So it's been a little over two months now since Miss Bubbly was diagnosed with diabetes and I thought it was time for an update.

We had our diabetes education class on August 10th, which helped us remember what we'd been taught in the hospital and expanded on what to do when Miss Bubbly is sick. Mostly, it was along the lines of "If you can't figure it out, call the nurse." Since there's at least one nurse on call 24/7, I'm good with that!

We're still working on adjusting Miss Bubbly's insulin. She hasn't had any scary lows in a long time (knock on wood), but it's rare for her to have a day when all her blood sugar values are in range (between 80 and 200). After messing with Miss Bubbly's insulin a couple of times and not seeing much progress, I finally called the nurse, who reassured me that getting Miss Bubbly's insulin dose correct is really difficult at her age. Between the growth hormones racing through her body, the cortisol (also known at the "stress hormone"), and her various activity and emotional levels, it's just impossible to settle on any one dose that will work for her. So we're left with doing our best.

Miss Bubbly has been a pretty good trooper through all of this. Occasionally she'll balk at getting an insulin shot--she REALLY hates getting them in her rear, for some reason--but the threat of getting plain toast for a bedtime snack instead of ice cream usually makes her very cooperative.

Side note: A nurse told us that ice cream is the perfect bedtime snack because the proteins in the dairy help her sugar stay more in range during the night. It's the ONLY time of day she gets ice cream, trust me. And the rest of us too. We're taking more family walks to balance things out--or at least, we're trying to.

In the end, from nine weeks out and counting, diabetes has changed our lives, but it hasn't. We're more aware of what and how we eat, and we're definitely on a stricter schedule, but that's been for the better. We're in even better control of our finances than we were, to be able to work Miss Bubbly's medical supplies in, and we've seen some great blessings as a result--breaks in our financial obligations elsewhere that make it possible. The Lord truly has His hand in our lives, making the small changes we need to get ourselves through this trial. I can honestly say that I welcome this trial and its challenges--I'm a better person because of it. Looking at the other trials in my life, I should probably try to apply that perspective to them as well. It makes my burden lighter.