Somebody wasn't so sure how he felt about his Halloween costume...

 

Wait, now he's got it...

 

He hated it.

(But he looked so freakin' cute.)

Olivia at four

 

 

happy birthday, baby girl...

Happy Easter

 

 

 

 

Olivia: "Momma, I think that the Easter Bunny is going to come in our house, clean our kitchen and hop on down the bunny trail."

Bring it, bunny.

Santa delivered on the pony.

 

Merry Christmas!

Someone thinks she's getting a pony for Christmas.

 

Good-bye, NaBloPoMo...hello, Christmas!

 

O waiting patiently for Daddy to bring in the tree

"And what are you thankful for, Olivia?"

"Mommy and Daddy and Sawyer. Oh, and fairies and princesses. And reindeer."

Wait...what's this?

 

Changing clothes?

 

No, just adding an extra pair of socks.

 

We actually spent the better part of the day making snowflakes.

 

It was pretty awesome.

 

The run-up to Halloween this year had a new intensity. Olivia has developed a different relationship to sweets now that she has had more exposure. Not a day goes by that there isn't some mention of cake, or perhaps some cake and ice cream, or maybe just the ice cream. Treats are still treats; we don't eat them daily, but she would like to. By now, she has been to enough birthday parties to know that she has never met a cupcake she didn't like.

 

Thankfully, in the end her excitement yesterday was more about the costumes and the decorations and the trick-or-treating. She had a great time and paid no attention to what was in her bucket until she got home. Marc and I did some quick editing and she ate a couple of Dum-Dums and saved some for today. She's been clutching one in her hand since about 8am, asking incessantly when it would be time to eat it.

 

And Sawyer? He doesn't care at all about sweets yet, but he was the yummiest peapod ever.

 

 

 

peas in a pod

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Father's Day!

One thing about having a two-year-old...she certainly won't let me wallow in self-pity or stay down for long. O received two helium balloons for Valentine's Day, a heart-shaped one from Marc's mom and from Marc a GINORMOUS one with monkey faces on it that plays...I kid you not..."I Got You, Babe." These two balloons have followed O all over the house for the last day and a half, bumping into door jambs and spontaneously bursting into song. This morning, I woke a bit early, intending to get some stuff done on the computer before O got up, but her spidey sense told her I was awake. I didn't hear her door open, but there was no missing her approach...she came running full-tilt into the dining room, huge smile on her face, balloons streaming out behind her, and a full head of crazy blond bed-head bouncing to the unmistakable tunes of Sonny and Cher. It was a great way to start my day.

Given the opportunity, I would take '07 back and do the whole thing over again, making the one change that would change everything. Instead, we just keep moving further away from that day, taking with us what we've learned, how we've grown, and the blessings that have found us.

Despite everything, Olivia thrives. As difficult as her illness is on her, I have come to realize that she will never in her life be as unaffected by it all as she it right now. Right now, we do the worrying for her. It hurts my heart to know that it won't always be so, but for now, I love that she is such a happy (albeit napless) kid.

Marc and I have weathered storm after storm and have a relatively unscathed marriage. It isn't perfect, but it is stronger.

I continue to miss NYC and fantasize about life in the city, but if we were still there, we wouldn't be here with our families and I honestly don't know what we would do without having so much family so close. It's beyond nice having two grandparents, seven parents, and seven siblings within a day's travel from home. (If you need for me to diagram this for you, just let me know. It's only complicated until you hear the explanation.)

Friends have offered to learn how to care for Olivia so that we can have some time to ourselves; a certain someone has even taken a class. We've made some new connections here in our neighborhood and Olivia loved the weekly playgroup that we went to for several months before the holidays got too hectic.

We have two extremely helpful women in our corner, constantly helping us out with the day to day of diabetes care: our nurse practitioner at the endo's office and our pharmacy tech at the local pharmacy. I can always count on them to go the extra mile and do what they can to make things run smoothly.

All in all, when I think back on this year, these are the things I think about. I am nostalgic for the year that could have been, how different things could be, but I am not sorry for the way that we have dealt with it all. Symbolically, I am glad to see 2007 go, for the feeling of having something new coming up. I hope beyond hope for new advances, for a cure.

So, onward to 2008...

 

Happy New Year!

The 12 (or so) Days of Christmas

I fear O might be confused about how this whole Christmas thing works, seeing as how we have been celebrating for about a week now. We've had dinners and get-togethers with multiple combinations and permutations of our Extended Re-Mix Family and there have been presents and goodies at each one. Needless to say, she's had a great time, playing with all of her uncles and aunts and cousins and grandparents. We took a bit of a break today and just chilled out with her new kitchen, but things will start back up again tomorrow when my step-father's kids visit from Nashville.

So, while we are done with the carols and the over-indulging in treats, the tree is still up and there are still a couple of presents to be opened. Things are still merry and bright around here. Hope yours continues to be a wonderful holiday as well!

Getting into the spirit

Making cookies...

 

Waving to Santa at the parade...

 

Finding the perfect tree...

 

And hanging every ornament on the bottom third of said tree...

 

Blogging's been hanging over my head today like a test I don't want to study for; the best I can do is a list of nothing particular in no particular order.

- We've got lots of family still visiting, scattered across the city at various relatives' homes, eating different kinds of leftovers. We are going from house to house, having some turkey here and some stuffing there.

- O's napping is on some kind of abbreviated Holiday Schedule.

- I feel sated, but not stuffed and grateful that it is actually close to cold. When we drove past the riverfront on Wednesday, most of the people working on the preparations for tonight's Grand Illumination were shirtless and in shorts. Sixty plus degrees at Thanksgiving would have been depressing.

- This time last year, O was the only diabetic in our family, but this year several members have been diagnosed with type 2, so I found myself having lots of diabetes conversations over the last few days, pointing out some of my on-line resources and finding out how much they were learning from their MDs about heart health, A1cs, etc. Worrisome.

- Olivia has not only learned about candy and cake this fall, she has also been turned on to the whole Santa Claus thing. So now, everything is SANTA CLAUS. She wants to see him, she wants to see him now. I have a feeling that when she actually does see, it's going to be Scream-Fest 2007.

- I apologize in advance for what I about to say. There is little that is more dispiriting and blech than a bunch of people sitting around a TV watching football. There. I said it.

- Marc is in the bathroom cleaning out the shower and this makes me feel slightly elated.

- We're going for a walk tomorrow and I intend to find the Perfect Autumn Leaf. I know that it is out there.

That is all. Carry on.

I have so very much to be thankful for...my heart feels extremely full this morning.

We had very good news from a very good friend who had a very bad scare.
O continues to adjust and thrive.
We are blessed with family and friends.
Marc is learning and growing at work.
There are exciting things lining up for next year.

The list goes on and on...today, as everyday, I am grateful.

And I am grateful to you guys for being out there, for reading and commenting, and getting excited about bunny slippers and sympathetic about stubborn lows, and offering suggestions and encouragement. It means so much today and everyday.

Happy Thanksgiving...

We are still several months away from the first anniversary of Olivia's diagnosis, but as we get closer to the holidays I have started thinking about it more. I think that it is because it's painful for me to think about last year's holidays now that I know that Olivia was sick and feeling so badly and we didn't know it.

I look at photos from last Christmas and in a lot of them O looks exhausted, with bright red cheeks and circles around her eyes.

I found this picture today.

 

It was taken a year ago, give or take a few days and in it, Olivia is wearing her hair exactly as she is wearing it right this minute. She's changed so much - that is what I would be saying about this photo, if diabetes hadn't arrived, but what I can say now is that everything has changed so much. We had no idea what was just around the corner when this photo was taken.

So Halloween was a lot of fun.

 

I repeat: a lot of fun.

 

One of the more interesting moments was when Miles went to answer the door with me, and a bit foggy on the details, screamed at one of our little friends on the porch: "Trick or treat! Give me back that candy!"

 

O mostly thought that the candy was just for carrying around. We switched most of her stuff out for little toys and glow sticks and made a big deal out of a special treat: a Dum Dum.

 

She could not have been happier.

A Halloween preview....

 

Scary spiders are on the move...