I love this kid

It is sure entertaining to be Josh's mom. He recently lost one of his front teeth. It took several days to fall out, despite his constant wiggling and turning and pulling. He even let me have a go at it several times. One day, he came up and showed me how he could practically turn his tooth completely around inside his mouth. I knew it had to go. I got a good hold and yanked. No blood, no foul. He was glad to have it out. Here are some pictures of his new smile.
He also recently brought home a little book that he made about me for Mother's day. (He forgot to bring it home FOR mother's day). In it, he described his view of me. I thought I'd share some gems:

My mom works at home and earns $30.00 every day. I love her best because she cleans the house while I'm at school. My mom is 5.13 feet tall and probably weighs 71 pounds. Her eyes are green (they are blue). My mom's hair is long, curly, and brown. The best present I could give my mom would be a heart of love.

Her favorite sport: baseball. (no)

Her favorite color: red (blue).

Her favorite pet: none (correct)

Her favorite food: veggies (not really)

Her favorite TV show: Heroes (I finally finished watching last season)

Her favorite dessert: ice cream (correct)

Her favorite book to read to me: One from her writing group (true!)

Her favorite game to play with me: Ticket to Ride (correct)

For fun, my mom likes to: SLEEP. (I laughed out loud at this one -- so true!)

If my mom had a million dollars, she would buy: 'house keeping'.

Nothing gets past Josh -- except maybe my eye color and my apparently anorexic status. He truly is a joy to have in our family, even if he was patient zero for our recent round of the stomach flu. We'll take him and his smile any day!

The shoe dropped

Hey everyone,

So, over the past several months, life has been pretty smooth. I've had several family and friends who have gone through unexplainable ordeals, and I've felt blessed that I was able to help them however I could. In the back of my mind, I've sort of been waiting for the shoe to drop, knowing that my life couldn't stay all peaches for too long. I know, it is sort of a pessimistic attitude. But, I did try to keep it in the back of my mind.

Well, yesterday, it dropped. I went to my thyroid doctor, and he let me know that I officially have Diabetes. As of now, it is Type II and we are treating it as such -- oral medication, diet control, increased exercise, testing my blood sugar twice daily, etc. He did mention that there is a 'newer' type of Diabetes that I might have -- Type 1.5. It is diagnosed in adulthood as Type II, but after 4-5 years, progresses to Type I, which will require daily insulin injections. I hope it doesn't go there, but honestly from the research I've done, it seems more likely that this is what I have. I don't really fit the poster child for Type II diabetes. I'm not overweight (though my doctor told me it wouldn't hurt to lose 5-10 pounds.... ouch), I exercise regularly and eat (somewhat) healthy. I have low blood pressure, etc. All these symptoms fit the Type 1.5 diagnoses.

There is also a strong correlation between my Thyroid disorder (which is immune related) and developing the immune-related Diabetes -- Type I. My doctor felt either it was genetic (which I have NO family history of at all) or immune related. The only way to tell is to treat it as we are doing and keep an eye on various markers throughout the months.

It kind of serves me right -- in a way. I'm in love with carbohydrates. My life philosophy has been "Exercise to support your eating habits". I have never had any sort of will power to go on a diet. So, now, all of a sudden, I'm supposed to severely limit my carb intake, drastically increase my exercise, and watch what I eat, 24/7. So not what I want to be doing. But, whoever said life is fair. I always knew life wasn't fair, I just made sure I had a supply of Sour Patch Kids to help me deal with the unfairness. Now that is taken away from me as well....

So, if you have any tried and true and delicious diabetic meals, snacks, even desserts -- send them my way. If not, I'd appreciate your prayers and support as I tried to change my eating habits overnight.

Eat a piece of toast for me, or a bowl of cold cereal, or a bagel with cream cheese, or a piece of chocolate, or a bowl of ice cream, or pasta, or a baked potato... I'll just go chew on a stick of celery.