Reece and Grandpa

Reece has been in HEAVEN this past week. He has been spoiled rotten by both of his grandparents. My Dad and Reece spent the other night shoveling maneuver. Enjoy the video!

World Diabetes Day

Tomorrow (Saturday) is World Diabetes Day. Benson had an endocrinologist appointment today and while we were waiting I contemplated what we should do for it. Do we celebrate it? Stand on a street corner holding awareness signs? Go to our lil' kids support group and talk about how crazy life can get having a child under 4 with diabetes? I don't know? What do I do? After contemplating all day I decided that the best thing would be to celebrate it!! If diabetes is going to be part of our family, then we should embrace it. We can't hide from it, or kick it in the bum for being unpredictable, or in Reece's words call it "a little stinker".

I've come to realize that my competitive spirit goes well with diabetes. I want to win, and will win, no matter how strong diabetes thinks it is. Lucky for me, Benson is a true champion and doesn't let diabetes get in his way. He could care less about it. Since his dx, he has had approximately 2,520 finger pokes and about 1,930 shots. When I pull out his diabetes kit and ask Benson for a finger, he picks a finger and holds it for me while I poke it and check his BG. So maybe instead of celebrating diabetes, we should celebrate Benson's bravery. His courage to step up to the plate and be a great fighter. He now wears a pager like device with a 23 inch tube which runs down into his bum and has a long needle poked into his bum every 2 days and he still doesn't fuss about it. What a champion. Cheers to Benson for being so great! This world could use more people like Benson. He is a great example to me. I love my snuggle bug who is full of love. He is my little champion.

Pictures of the pump

I know I've been a crazy blogger lately, but I can't stop myself. I have been without a computer for a month and Spencer has been crazy busy studying, and so my blog gets a lot of attention! Enjoy!

I took some pictures of Benson with his pump right before bed tonight. He wears that harness underneath his shirts.

Mary Ann is visiting from Utah!! The boys LOVE her. They can hardly wait to jump on her bed and wake her up in the morning. She has given them a prize every day and today's prize was play-dough. She is definitely the favorite right now!!

It was windy and rainy at the Space Needle but towards the end the Sun showed it's shinny face!

Funny

After last nights post I checked Benson and he was in the 300's. I had to laugh because I totally jinxed myself by saying we had a perfect day. Lesson learned--braging will get you NO WHERE! He was in the 300's for the next 7 hours. I talked to the nurse today and his pump had the wrong basal rate from 7pm to midnight. That explains why we have been in the 300's every night for the past week. I'm excited to see what tonights numbers will be.

Perfect day!!!

Benson had his first perfect day on the pump.
Non-diabetic range: 80-120
Bensons target range: 100-150
Today's numbers (5:00am-6:30pm): 140, 153, 185, 133, 115, 106, 135
This was our first day EVER without going into the 200's or 300's!! YEA!

Pump update

Benson has been wearing his pump for four days and is amazing with it. We call it his "buddy". He is so mature about it. I have been telling my family that Heavenly Father sent me the right kid for the disease. He is so patient with me while I play with his pump and give him insulin doses (called boluses). He doesn't touch his pump nor does he pull on the 23 inch tube that connects from his bum to the pump. My nurse at Children's has been taking extra good care of us. You get some nice perks when you kid is a rare case. She gave us a harness that holds his pump on his chest. We mostly use that although my Mom and I are going to buy some cargo pants during Thanksgiving and sew button holes through the pockets so his pump can sit in his pocket. I think that will be the most comfortable way to wear it.

The first day his numbers were almost perfect. He went into Hypoglycemia around 5 am and so they changed our basal rates and ever since our numbers have been horrible. He has mostly been in the 300's for the past two days. I talked to the nurse today and she was pretty worried about him. I changed his infusion site (I lay Benson face down on my legs and stick a pretty long needle into his bum which gets the tube inside his body) and then we changed his rates again. We have been mostly in the 200's today so I guess we've made improvements. The nurse thought for sure he would have heavy ketones (not a good thing) so I panicked a little until I checked him and found no traces of ketones. I credit that to all the prayers coming from our family and friends for Benson this week. It doesn't make sense for him to have such bad numbers and not have any ketones.

The Lord continues to bless us. It's almost been a year since his diagnosis and we have had countless miracles and blessings that have strengthened our family and testimonies (including experiences with Reece and his respiratory struggles). This has been a great experience for us. We have seen the Lords tender mercies countless times and our testimonies have been strengthened in many ways. One of the biggest lessons I have learned is that we can't control what we are dealt, but we can always control our attitudes. I believe that with each trial we are given, blessings are given to exceed it. That is why I am thankful to have the gospel in my life. I can see those blessings instead of seeing the hardship.

Positives to everything...

There is one day of the year when I get mommy rewards....and that is Halloween. Having one child with peanut and milk allergies and another one with diabetes pays off when they come home with LOADS of yummy chocolate bars that they can't eat!! I am very kind to them and exchange their candies for other treats.

Spencer has a cardiovascular final on Monday and so he is still at school studying. Luckily our good friend Katie (whose hubby is also in med school) joined us for trick or treating! Here are the highlights:

1) In an excited and surprised voice, Reece said, "mom, all I have to say is trick or treat and they give me candy". So cute.

2) At one point there were 5 people taking pictures of the boys. Three of them were the most adorable oriental grandpa's and the other two were girls. Our one second of fame.

3) Watching the boys run to the door when a trick or treater knocked and seeing Benson wave them "bye-bye". Spencer must have been praying for us because the boys were on their best behaviors tonight.

PUMP

This is Benson's trial pump. This gives you an idea of the size. I just spent the whole morning

talking to our insurance companies and Medtronic and we are now scheduled to have the pump Tuesday morning. The most frustrating and stressful part so far has been dealing with our insurance companies. I swear that is the worst part of diabetes. I can handle the disease with a smile, but not the insurance companies.

Benson's trial pump

On Tuesday Benson got his trial pump. It had saline solution instead of insulin so it's sole purpose was to make sure he wouldn't tear it out. I thought Benson would do well with it becasue he does so well with me poking his finger and giving him shots. All I have to say is "Benson come here, we need to check you" and most of the time he'll come and sit in my lap. One of his favorite toys are his syringes. Yes, he plays with syringes...and yes I realize I should break that habit. He hasn't taken the cap off the needle so I'm not too worried about it. Anyway, we got home from the hospital with his pump on and he loved it. He was hilarious. He started running around the house laughing because his pump pak was flopping up and down! He also did great sleeping with it. To my knowledge he didn't play with it because it was in the same position I put it in when he woke up.

Here are some facts about the pump:

* Benson will wear it 24/7. The insertion site is in his bum. He can disconnect the tube to take baths and swim.
* It will help us better control his blood sugar because it acts more like a normal pancreas. It gives insulin every hour according to his needs (we will pre-set the amounts which very according to his hormones, time of day, etc). I will tell the pump how many carbs Benson ate and it will disperse insulin.
* NO more shots!
* I still have to check his blood sugar on his finger. Our monitor will check his BG but it's not totally accurate so I will continue checking him.
* It is the same size as a pager.
* I will change his insertion site every 3 days. I put a needle that has a tube around it into his bum and then pull the needle out so the tube stays in his bum. This is how the insulin gets into his body.

We are scheduled to get the pump on November 10th (our insurance is being SLOW).

Good news: I have had to fight a lot of battles to get the right test strips and insulin lately. The State of Washington and Blue Cross wanted to give us the cheapest test strips that have a poor accuracy rate and I found out today that I won the battle with Blue Cross and the State of Washington and now get the test strips I want and get a months supply at a time (every since his diagnosis I have had to go to the pharmacy every ten days to get more strips).
P.s. I also won the battle with our doctors over our insulin! I have learned that persistence and having all your ducks lined up pays off!

Benson posing for me while I take a picture of his pump. Notice his pants are low rising. It's pretty heavy for the little guy so my Mom and I are coming up with some creative ideas to make it easier for him to carry.I asked him to turn around so I could see his face. Isn't he so cute!

He then insisted on taking a picture of both of us. He put his arm around my neck and pointed to the camera. He knew mommy needed a little hug. Sometimes it's not easy going through change, especially when it deals with you children, but I've noticed that I always have a heaven sent blessing to cheer me up. His hug was heaven sent and I appreciated it.

Reece has been so excited to make his own jack-o-lantern pumpkin. I put the boys in the stroller and walked to QFC and had Reece pick out a big pumpkin and Benson pick out a small one (I knew they would need a distraction while Spencer carved the big one!). So during Daddy's study break Spencer carved a pumpkin, I took pictures and fed them candy corn, and the boys painted.

Spencer looks Hot in this picture!

The finished product.

Are you sleeping, are you sleeping....

Nope, Reece and Benson are not sleeping tonight. They went to bed almost 3 hours ago and are still wide awake.

Preschool Halloween party

Today was our Preschool Halloween party. It was my turn to teach and the theme of the day was "H is for Halloween" so we just had to party! We made skeletons out of noodles and spiders out of oreos. After that we met up with the other group at the community center and made jack-o-lanterns and had a costume parade followed by a potluck lunch. The kids were over stimulated at this point so we went home and took a long nap! Sounds nice and peachy--but we all know the Millers always stir up the party. Shortly after we met up with the other group Benson started screaming uncontrollably (very uncharacteristic of him) and so I immediately thought to check his BG. He was 42 and in desperate need of sugar. I raced to our apartment with him and tried to shove food down his throat. He was so low and crying so hard he couldn't eat. I started panicking (usually I don't panic during these moments--I wait until everything is ok and then I panic) but after many attempts was successful with juice. I am really glad our life isn't boring!! :)

Preschool kids dressed up

Boys ready to run in the rain to the Halloween party.

This is where I found Benson this morning after making him eggs for breakfast.

We go on trial tomorrow...

Hehehe, I thought that would catch your attention. Benson is going on a trial pump for his diabetes tomorrow morning. I have been super anxious but also very excited to get things rolling. He has to wear a trial pump for at least a day (protocol is 3 days but I talked them into 1) and if all goes well they will order it and we should be pumping within a week or so. Hooray! We really need the pump. We are having a lot of problems with his insulin. He is too sensitive for normal insulin, but the diluted insulin isn't strong enough. His average for the last week is 287. Ugh. We are in the middle of the battlefield and the pump can solve our problem (we hope anyway). I'll keep you posted on how everything goes and will also include some pictures.

Life at the Miller home has been relaxing. I refuse to take the kids to church, winco, or pretty much anywhere outside our apartment complex until they get the swine flu vaccination. Spencer thinks I'm ridiculous but I am super paranoid about it. I told him last week I wasn't going to take them anywhere and I ended up going to the pharmacy at least 7-8 times and then to the doctors office twice (they weren't allowed to touch anything and had to stay in our stroller). Serves me right for jinxing myself.

Reece wanted to be a skeleton for Halloween. He is constantly asking Spencer what each bone is called. Another Dr. Miller on the way!

Reece got tested for allergies again. He is severely allergic to milk and peanuts, and also grass and dogs. I'm glad we got him tested because it explains why his asthma was so bad this spring (grass pollinates in spring)

On Sunday we had a hand stand contest. Reece and I creamed Spencer!

Gotta have rain gear if you are going to live in Seattle.

I pulled the camera out and he immediately went to the stairs and sat down. I got him trained!

Little goofs!

I made them try on last years Halloween costums. I was trying to be cheap. You can't tell in the picture but their bums hang out of the pants. Benson will wear Reece's and Reece will be a skeleton.

I must add Spencer's "flavor of the week": Cardiology. He has been studing Cardiology for the past month and LOVES it. Two Saturdays ago he studied Cardiology for 15 hours and wished he had more time (yes he is a nerd and I do love him for it). The Cardiology final is in a week, so we'll see if Cardiology is still the flavor of the week when he starts a different course.

Funnies for the day...

Dad: How you doing Reece?
Reece: I'm good. I'm just reading and singing in here.
Dad: Well, I love you tons.
Reece: I love you tons too Dad. Dad, I didn't give you loves and kisses earlier.
(Dad gives Reece a love and Reece gives him a kiss)
Reece: Dad, you have whiskers on your cheek like Michael Finnegan

(Reece talking to my Mom (blow) on the phone)
Blow: Did you get poked in the hospital?
Reece: Yes, and I cried.
Blow: I got poked too when I went to the hospital.
Reece: Oh and did your band aid fall off and did your owies go away?
(Reece decided when he took a bath last night and his band aid fell off and the blood on his arm from the IV washed away that his owies washed away as well!)

Benson is a serious mama's boy. His latest attempt to become the biggest mama's boy is to put his arm around my neck and play with my hair and rub my neck/ear. He no longer will let me put my arm around him, he must put his around me! Precious!

Another fun adventure...

It's been an eventful week at the Miller home. Nothing to out of the ordinary, but eventful for sure. It's actually kind of humorous how many things went wrong. But it all worked out and everything is nice and peachy! Here goes:

Monday: Reece started joy-school!

Tuesday: Cleaned the house, babysat for a friend, went to a Relief Society activity, and Spencer's bike was stolen. I felt terrible for him. He spent the summer fixing it up for the school year. It's his form of transportation to and from school.

Wednesday: Picked my Dad and Nicole up at the airport, went to the Space Needle, enjoyed a delicious lunch at Mc Donald's (Reece's pick), went to the Museum of Flight Museum, came home and had a quick dinner, and then went to WICKED!! It was indeed awesome. Elphaba was played by the same girl who was the original Cosette from Les Mes on Broadway. She has one of the best voices I have ever heard. We came home after the play and within 15 minutes Reece was having croup symptoms and was struggling to breath. We got him under control but ended up in the ER. I stayed with him for 3 hours and then we were sent home (he was WIRED from all the steroids).

Thursday: Woke up early to take my Dad and Nicole to the airport and lost my phone in the process. By about 11:00am both kids were crying (Reece because he couldn't breath and Benson because he wanted to stretch his mothers limit) and so I used a neighbors phone, called the doctors office and they got us right in. Luckily my friend Traci (our friend who we've trained for Bensons diabetes) was home and so I dropped Benson off and ran to the doctors office. Our pediatrician sent us to the ER because Reece needed some serious help. At this point I was exhausted, running on 3 hours of sleep, no phone or contact with anyone, and Spencer was stuck at school with no way to get home nor did he get my messages because he didn't have reception or Internet access.

On our way to the ER from the Dr's office Reece stopped coughing so I decided we could stretch out our time before going to the hospital. We got some food, tried to rest, and within a couple hours we were back at the ER. At this point we were a little to late. I had waited to long to take him and so he was experiencing an asthma attack. They admitted him and Spencer stayed the night with him.

Friday: I started out the day on the 6th floor of Children's at Benson's endocrinologist appointment. They gave us great news. Benson will start the process to get a pump!! We also found out why his numbers have been so high (our insulin is to old and has lost it's potency). His A1C was good indicating his diabetes is under control and he is doing great! Yeah, relief, I can breathe! It will take about 6-7 weeks to get his pump but it will make life a little easier. Here is a picture of the pump pack I am getting Benson. He will wear it 24/7. Isn't it so cute!





After his appointment we went downstairs to Reece's room. Spencer took Benson and I stayed with Reece. Reece was so sweet, Benson was on his bed and before he left Reece reached over and gave him a kiss good-bye. After they left Reece wanted to sit on my lap. He had to use the bathroom but was wearing a diaper and so I told him to just go in his diaper. He followed orders and the unfortunate thing happened--it leaked all over my legs. So I spent the rest of the day smelling like pee!

Some of the funnies from the hospital:
*Reece has different names for the nurses: thirsty nurse brings him juice, Emily checks his breathing, and the movie nurse brings us movies. He kept saying "I want Dr.Daddy, he's the best"! He also told the Pediatrician that the "Children's Hospitabable doctors are very nice." He has figured out at an early age that hospital food "isn't very good mom".

Spencer came to visit after school giving me a break to get some food. We are in "isolation" because Reece has a viral infection and so I'm not allowed into the family snack room. Anyway, my good friend Lisa who is also in the hospital met me in the cafeteria with a dog game for Reece. It was fun talking to Lisa. She's awesome and it was kind of fun having a friend in the hospital. She's a trooper and has the best attitude about life. Reece LOVED the dog game and stayed up until 11:00pm playing with his dogs! Thanks Lisa!

Saturday: it's 9:45am and Reece is still asleep. We will be discharged this afternoon and will spend the day watching football and finding a bike for Spencer so he can get to school on Monday.

What a great week. It's humerus looking back at all the eventful adventures that took place. This is life and we love it!

OH, I forgot to add that I had to take "stupid mommy" lessons about asthma because I waited to long to bring him to the ER. They kept saying, "I'm sure you know this but....." and "at this point you need to bring him straight to the ER". Ok, I get the point. We reached our deductible a long time ago--no problem!

Randomness

Because I have been terrible at blogging this month, I'll show a bunch of random pictures to get us caught up. We seriously LOVE Seattle!! I find myself over-booking my calender with to many events each day. I had a little meltdown this past weekend and am trying to only schedule one thing per day--so far I've failed. But maybe next week I can do a little better!

Reece's true love are his puzzles. If you want him to be your best friend, just buy him a puzzle. He does them "all by himself mom". He knows he's in serious trouble when I take them away.

This was supposed to be a serious photo-shot for my mom's Christmas card. All I got where two crazy boys running around the room.

Crazy boy #1
Crazy boy #2

Check out his hip. He looks like a serious "punk dude!"

This picture is crazy because we have one that looks almost identical from when we were dating. This was taken on Spencer's birthday earlier this month!

Celebrating Dad's b-day.

For Spencer's birthday I took him to Theo's chocolate factory! They gave us TONS of samples and told us all about their chocolate, how they make it, and then showed us the machinery.

Notice in this picture I look like I am 5 months pregnant. Unfortunately it's not a prego belly--it's just fat from all the chocolate they gave us!

I no longer have the kitchen to myself. My neighbor and I just decided that when we need some space in the kitchen to cook dinner, we can bring our kiddo's to each others house so we can actually get something in the oven. They are great helpers!!! :)

Sweet brothers! They love watching cartoons on the couch together with their soy/milk in sippy cups.

Mathew's beach. We LOVE going to the beach and playing in the water.

That's how we survive hot days without an A/C!

This is Jackie--she is Reece's best friend.

THE END!

OH, one more thing...Benson is now in NURSERY!!! YEA! I was a little surprised when he just walked right in without trying to hold onto me. He is such a mama's boy I couldn't believe he went in with ease. I was a little paranoid sending him to nursery with his diabetes and so I was kind of hoping he would want me to stay. After 30 minutes of stressing about it I soon realized I was ridiculous because I leave him with babysitters for 2 hours at a time and it's no big deal. It's just the initial "letting-go" that is difficult for me. I did the same thing when we left him with a babysitter for the first time. I'm not sure how I'm going to handle "letting go" for school. Luckily I have at least 3 years to stress about it before it actually happens!! :)

Spencer and Reece in school!

Spencer started school September 2nd. We left his car in Boise because it was to expensive to keep in Seattle so he rides his bike to school every day!! It's actually at least 6 minutes faster to ride his bike then drive a car plus we save at least $180 a month! Plus it gives him some physical activity and he looks like a native Seattle dude. We live on a famous bike trail that goes straight to the med school. Seattle is the most biker-friendly city. It's great! OH, I should add that he loves school. It is super busy but his classes are very intriguing. His professors are prominent and well-respected doctors. He always has something interesting to tell me!

Spencer's 1st day of school:

Who needs clothes? Not Reece.

I find Benson doing the most random things. I walked into the living room and saw him on the table putting flowers on his head. Reece quickly showed him that we don't put flowers on our heads, we throw them. He has been doing that ever since.

Katie came and visited for a couple days. We had TONS of fun with her. Reece fell in love at first sight. He couldn't leave her along for more than a second. When he woke up in the morning he said, "Mom, where's my friend Katie."

Seattle Woodland ZOO

I LOVE this picture.

Yes, they still tackle each other all day long. I've decided that's how boys show love to each other. They really are best friends!

Seattle Woodland ZOO

Reece had his FIRST DAY of joy-school this morning. FYI-"joy-school" is much like pre-school except the mothers of the group get together and trade off teaching each week. I offered to teach first. I was a little nervous because I had never taught pre-school before but it ended up being a success. Our theme was "A is for Apple and Ant". We did all kinds of things including: making the letter "A" out of play dough, painting with apples, learned how to write our names and write the letter "A", and I think the favorite was when they became ants! They had antennas, talked to each other through their antennas, each was given an ant job, and then we read a fun book about ants. There are plenty of things I can improve on but we sure had a great time. The kids get along really well. They are all buddies!! YEA!
Joy-School kiddos with silly faces
And nice faces!

Reece & Benson before Joy-school