Growing up Grant

Well it's another month gone by! Our little fella turned 5 months old on Thursday. He seems to know his name now. He absolutely adores his sissy. I'd have to say that she is his favorite thing right now with his bouncy seat running a close second. He also loves car rides and trips out and about. He's been pretty curious about food too. Since he's nearly sitting up on his own we thought it would be a good time to try some cereal. So tonight he finally got to try some oatmeal! Much like his sister he loved it and would have definitely eaten more had we let him😍 A little sad about how fast he's growing up but excited for all the milestones.

What no more?😔

Four Months!?!

I know I say it every time but I can't believe our handsome boy is four months old already. Sometimes it feels like it's still September. He's growing so fast and mature just like I remember London being but so different too. He's growing into his own personality now. He's so easy going most of the time. He adores his big sissy who likes to call him Bubba. Mommy calls him Olive a lot as he has such a pretty olive complexion. He is very interested in his surroundings now and wants to see everything that's going on. He tries to scoot or army crawl when he's on his belly. He's holding his bottle now too! He seems to really enjoy "school" and is a favorite with his teachers with his sweet flirty smile. Four month birthdays also mean going to see our favorite pediatrician Dr. Cheng. He cried and cried after his shots but soon forgot all about them. Here's what his four month stats looked like....

Four months:

17 lbs 4oz    75%tile

26 inches     72%tile

The Honeymoon

Well we've been diabetic now for 7 weeks and I say "we" because it really takes all of us to manage. There is actually a name for us- we are "type 3 diabetics". Dennis and I are carb counting insulin giving experts by now (sort of), Grant waits patiently while we tend to his big sis (usually) and I field phone calls from her school daily to determine her insulin dose (call me doctor mom:). The last few weeks have been full of ups and downs or in our case highs and lows. With diabetes of course lows are the scariest and can lead to lots of sleepless nights for mom and dad. We've entered what is referred to as the HONEYMOON phase of type 1 diabetes. Now that London is receiving artificial insulin (6 times/day) through injections her pancreas is not under as much stress and the few beta cells that are still alive are producing insulin which wreaks havoc on her insulin regime. It seems almost cruel that we haven't come up with a way to save those cells and reverse the process and ironic that this is a honeymoon. Yet I am thankful EVERY.DAY.FOR. INSULIN. Since London is making insulin it is a constant guessing game as to how much insulin she needs for the carbs she eats and how much baseline insulin is needed. All in all things are much, much better. We don't know how long the honeymoon will last research says up to one year. Each day I pray for a cure but in the meantime our singing dancing little girl is back and that is a blessing. We are still learning to navigate eating out and birthday parties and are hopeful that getting a pump will simplify things. Doneva and Kingston came to see us last weekend and Dennis and I even got to go out to eat ALONE(babysitter's are no longer an option). It was WONDERFUL! It's the little things:) Thanks everyone for your support and continued prayers.

Happy Three Months Bubba!

The Chosen ONE

December 5th, 2013 is a day that we will never forget. It's the day that we'd feared and the day that changed the course of our lives. It's the day that left us feeling hopeless and scared. The kind of day you pray never happens. On December 5th, 2013 we got the news that our perfect princess had type 1 diabetes also known as juvenile diabetes and insulin dependent diabetes. The day we knew our daughter was in for a lifelong daily fight. In what seemed like an instant a drop of urine sent our world spiraling out of control. December 5th, 2013 was also the day we found out how strong we really are, how strong our faith in God is, how blessed we've been and still are and that true heroes come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Since that day our life has been turned upside down. Normal three year old things have been replaced by new normals like finger sticks, carb counting, insulin injections, corrections and so on. Slowly we are finding our way-tantrums and battles are lessening. The tears are mostly a memory. Our vibrant outgoing princess is reemerging and we are finding our footing.  I don't know why this happened to our little girl but I do know we are ready. God has prepared us. We will take this challenge one day at a time and write a new story for ourselves. 

We are especially grateful to all our FAMILY and friends who reached out to us, prayed for us and continue to do so. 

Special thanks to the Kiprotich family for being there when no one else could, Megan Sebek the trailblazer for your words of wisdom and advice, Jessica Kamrath for reading my crazed texts that morning and caring, Michelle Quintela for coming to brave the day to day with me and providing solace, Kairo and Jonathan for making sure we were taken care of in the hospital, and our dear neighbors for all you did and do and to everyone who's listened.