How many carbs are in that ya think??

I found myself saying that in my head and to everyone else on Christmas eve. Whats the worst thing about yummy Christmas food that other people bring?? That other people made it. Most people don't think about how many carbs are in a serving of whatever dish they are making.. I do. I cant expect everyone to cater to Avery's needs 100% of the time so it was it pretty annoying having to "carb guess" my way through most of the meal. He stayed in the high 100's most of the night so I did a pretty good job. The frog eyed salad was what killed me though! Avery loved that stuff. I make it myself but I haven't in quite a while so I had NO idea what the amount of carbs were in that little dish.. It worked out.

Our first Christmas with Diabetes wasn't as stressful as I thought it would be. Santa left Avery some treats in his stocking and he's been very good about only eating them after lunch or dinner. No fits. No tantrums. Yay! Hes only 3 1/2, but I really think he is starting to understand more and more every day that there are just some things his little body cant have right when he wants it. He knows he needs to be checked and he has been so good about waiting patiently when hes high before he can start chowing down. He still amazes me every day with the way he has been taking all of this. Avery.. You are my hero! He is a great example to me and his dad and of course his little brother Landon. I hope I'm teaching my boys half as much as they teach me every day.

The other day Avery asked me for a sugar free doughnut :) I wish buddy!! He tries to be sneaky like that all the time "but mom, this has no carbs!" (as hes holding a bag of skittles) Cute little stinker. Like I've said before, we are taking it day by day and that's all any of us can do. I hope everyone had a great Christmas! Ill post some pictures soon.

I'm so sikey!!

This is phrase heard all too often at the Cooper house. Avery knows how to say excited just fine but instead he says "sikey". With all of the Christmas decorating and talk of Santa he has been plenty sikey! Who says holidays aren't as much fun when your older?? Pffffff I think its more fun! Nothing is more fun to me then seeing the look on Averys face when I tell him the story of Santa and his reindeer. His eyes get HuGe and he has about a zillion questions. I remember last year having fun getting all his presents and treats in order and being really excited too, but this year is just that much better because he really gets the whole santa thing. Our Christmas traditions will be more and more fun the older they get!

This year we are starting a new tradition that I hope will become our most treasured one. My cousin let me in on this little Christmas tradition that her husbands family does every year and I think its wonderful! Its easy to get caught up in the "commercial" part of Christmas. Santa, cookies, reindeer, PrEsEnTs! Dont get me wrong.. we ALL do it and it is Oh So FuN! But we also all know that Christmas is not just about that. Its about the precious birth of our Savior and the wonderful story of Mary and Joseph in the manjor. So to remind my family of that, before we dig into our stockings and rip open our presents we are going to set up the Nativity scene in front of the tree and talk about the birth of our Savior and what Christmas is truly all about. I hope its a tradition and a memory that my children will grow to love and pass on to their own children one day. Thanks Barry and Rochelle!

So needless to say we are all waiting for Santa and all the fun that comes with this wonderful time of year. Norwegian cookies, lights at temple square, shopping with my mom and sister, Griswolds Christmas vacation, pictures with santa, Christmas cards and all the other fun stuff this time of year brings. Yes... the Coopers are So SiKeY!!

I also have been meaning to post these pictures for SO long. At the end of the summer I was lucky enough to have my friend Kara in town for a day on her way home from Idaho and she was able to take some family pictures. They turned out great and i'm sorry Kara that it took me so long to post some. Merry Christmas everybody!

The start of the HoLiDaY SeAsOn!

It seems like after Halloween everything just goes by way too fast. Since Avery was diagnosed I have been stressing out about all of the holidays. I know its stupid! As soon as one passes i think "Hmm that wasn't too bad" Halloween was the day i was worried about the most. All the kids coming to grandmas right after trick-or-treating and digging into all the candy.. It went pretty well though. All the kids were being really sweet and they all waited to eat their treats until Avery was checked and was OK to join in on all the fun! Avery got sick over Thanksgiving so it was kind of a bitter sweet thing for me. Bitter because its NO FUN having a sick kid, especially with diabetes because it just throws everything with him off for a few days. But sweet because he didn't feel like eating anything but fruit and cereal so i didn't have to worry about any of the carbs in whatever thanksgiving food other family members brought! So that went pretty smooth as well. So now we just wait for Christmas :) Treats in the stocking will have to wait to be devoured at an appropriate time rather then whenever he wants. (which is how it usually is on a day like Christmas!) So i think i stress out and worry about things with him a little too much. He surprises me every time because he takes it so well and its really no big deal. He's 3 so sometimes its hard to say "yes you can have that candy, you just have to wait a little bit first" Most of the time he's OK with that but like I said hes 3 and sometimes he just doesn't want to hear that answer! I'm sure Christmas will come and go and ill say my usual "hmmm that wasn't too bad"

My birthday was the day before thanksgiving so it made things a little busy this week. On My Bday things didn't really start off all that fun because i guess nothing went according to Kendal's plan. My present was supposed to get there on on Wed. and it didn't, flowers were supposed to be delivered that never showed up, breakfast in bed got burnt because he was dealing with the kids. Its the thought that counts right?? So needless to say Kendal was in a bad mood ALL DAY and it didn't even feel like a birthday until we went to dinner. It was so yummy and then i came home to flowers and candy in my room. The crappy day was made up for! Thanksgiving was at my moms on Thurs. and then at Kendal's moms on Friday. Avery had a blast playing with the kids and he was feeling much better on Friday. Every year the Cooper kids put on a play and this year Avery was old enough to be invited. Hes still pretty little and doesn't take direction very well :) So it pretty much consisted of him standing center stage with a stick in his hand bowing whenever anyone clapped. So funny!

After that we went back to my parents house for a bit and Kendal had been waiting all day to give me my present that finally arrived on Friday morning. It was a great surprise and i LoVeD it!! Now its time to start decorating for Christmas and I'm so excited! Avery keeps asking where our tree is so that's probably the first thing ill put up.

Just one more thing... For all you wonderful ladies who have asked if its OK for you to add me to your blog list, please do! You don't even need to ask :) I would love for you to check in on us whenever you'd like and i hope i can do the same with you. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I also posted some random fun pics that i should have put on here a long time ago.

31

31...What a horrible number. I tend to hate any number under 70 or over 250. For all of you Type 1 mommies, you know what I'm talking about. Avery hit 31 tonight.. the lowest he's been since we found out he had diabetes. It was scary for so many reasons but the the worst thing about it was that it happened so fast! He was running around and playing and then literally no more then 20 seconds later he was on his hands and knees and then down on his belly. I looked over at him thinking he might just be playing. He looked up at me and gave me the saddest little face. I hurried and checked him and then his eyes started rolling back into his head. My dad scooped him up and ran him to the kitchen. He was coherent and was able to drink some juice. Within about a minute he was back to normal.

Some days you get a little too used to the schedule you have with a diabetic child and then something like this happens and its like that 1st week of their diagnoses is starting all over again. I take advantage of the good days. I shouldn't. But at the same time while i hate it when these scary moments happen, its nice when its over because I know we can get through it. Avery was OK, i was OK, everything ended up being OK. Hes had diabetes for 6 months now and its still very, very new. I'm pretty sure it will still be very new for a long, long time. So until the day comes (and we all know it will) when they find a cure, we'll take the good days and be grateful and the bad days and be grateful. As hard as diabetes can be on my little man and our family, i know that things could be worse. Today was a bad day.. but its so small compared to our good ones! I know things will get better. I know things will get easier. Diabetes is journey that I never thought we would be on, but we're here and we're in it for life! I know Avery can do it and I hope i can do it ;) Its amazing to see all these other kids, families and mommies going through the same thing. We can all get through the hard days!! Thank you for all the wonderful comments! I hope i can get to know each and every one of you..

New year.. New blog!!

Since the new year is approaching fast, I have decided that its a New year so I'm starting a NEW BLOG! As most of you may know My oldest son Avery was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in May and I have decided to use this blog to the best of my ability. To learn.. to educate.. to comfort and to give myself and whoever else needs it a chance to VENT about this disease and living with or taking care of a loved one with Type 1 diabetes. I have come to have a new respect and a new amount of complete amazement every day when i look at Avery. He has dealt with this whole situation a lot better then I have! He doesn't let it bother him and he is still the same old kid he was prior to all of this.

He teaches me so much every day and I owe it to him to help and educate others about this disease. I have had to come to terms with the fact that his life as well as mine will never be the same again. Until they find a cure (AND THEY WILL) this will be something that we will have to battle with everyday. With his courage and strength, he gives me what i need every day to do what i need to do to take care of him and make this as easy on him as i can. Kendal has been amazing and i cant imagine a better person to have by my side while we take care of our family and try our hardest to give Avery a normal, happy, healthy successful life!

I will be posting links and information as often as i can to help anyone who is interested. Walk to cure is a wonderful way to show your support and i will keep everyone posted on what they can do to help. Team Avery will be joining the next walk and i would love for all my friends and family to be by our side!! My blog will be making some fun and important changes gradually so i hope you stop by often to check it all out.

On a different note.. Landon is getting huge and I'm excited to post some new pics of what our family has been up too!

Its about time!

I honesty have sat down about a dozen times to post this and I just cant ever finish it.. Well here it is. It has been pretty eventful in the Cooper house over the last few months to say the least!

First off Landon was born Feb. 27th at 12:38 PM and is just as cute as can be! He weighed 6 lbs 13 oun. and was 19 in long (huge difference from Avery) He has been such a great baby (except when he's in his car seat) and we just love having this new little member of our family.

Secondly.. We found out on May 19th that Avery has diabetes :( Just when I was getting used to a new baby AND a toddler running around we get hit with this. I have had text message after text message and phone call after phone call from family friends wanting to say they were sorry and find out what all happened and since I know that a ton of people check my blog that don't have one of their own just to see what we have been up too, I thought i would let everyone know on here how it all came about instead of telling the story 100 times..

For the past few moths Avery had been DRINKING and PEEING WAY MORE then any 2 year old ever should! I kinda knew the warning signs of diabetes because 2 of my aunts have it so i was pretty concerned. What made me officially take him into his Dr. was that one afternoon i put Avery down for his nap like i always do and he normally sleeps for about 2 to 3 hours. This time he woke up after only about an hour and his pull up was as heavy as if i hadn't changed him in 2 full nights! A couple days later we went in. They tested his urine and took his blood. Within minutes we got the news that it was Type 1 diabetes. It was a pretty hard hit. Sitting there looking at my sweet happy little boy who had no idea what was going on was so hard! I pulled it together and my Dr. sent us to Primary Children's Hospital that night. We were there from Tues. until Friday. They were monitoring Avery boy and teaching us all they could in 4 days.. Oh hell it was A LOT to take in!

Avery was SO amazing during the whole thing :) To this day he has yet to cry about a shot or a finger poke to test his blood. He is so brave and is dealing with this better then most adults do I'm told. The nurses couldn't believe how happy and just perfectly fine he was the whole time at the hospital. I'm a wreck of course! We have to give him a shot 3 or more times a day and test his blood about 10 t0 12 times a day. It has been a HUGE change of lifestyle but we are dealing with everything 1 day at a time. Avery is acting like nothing is different and that is a huge help to Kendal and I. In about a month Avery is getting on the pump so we will only have to poke him 1 time every 3 days rather then 3 or more times a day. We are so excited and cant wait to get it!

Also, Avery just had his 3rd B-day and it was just what we needed to boost our spirits up! We had cake and ice cream at the park and then headed over to the fire station in Pleasant Grove for a tour. (Avery is obsessed right now with fire trucks) My brothers good friend is the police chief there so he made it really fun. Thank you to everyone that came and made his day so special! Ive put up some pics so you can see what we have all been up too lately.

Ill try my hardest to be better about posting more blogs.. (promise Bridget)
I'm sure some of you might have questions or maybe just want to hear a little more about what happened.. if you do please feel free to call me. Things have settled down a bit and its good to talk to friends and family xoxo