It’s been a day. It’s been a week, honestly, because the Pukes have been making their way through my kids, and it’s been a no-school, workus interruptus sort of adventure with lots of hand washing and flat ginger ale and Pedialyte. My washing machine has earned a gold star this week for un-yucking the very yucky linens. No one has…
New podcasts keep popping up all over the place, and the diabetes world is no exception. Over the last few weeks, I’ve come across several that I’ll be highlighting here, starting today with the Dads and Diabetes podcast. Mark and Alan, the podcast co-hosts, join me today for an informal interview. (All my interviews are informal. 🙂 ) Kerri: Thanks…
Let’s make a list of baby stuff that I’d recommend, because I think it’s a useful post to do. “WHAAAAAT??? No, this is a diabetes blog!” Sorry. I have some baby gear recommendations that I want to have as part of the archive, in part to pass along to other moms (with or without diabetes) and in part because I…
Little Guy, Six months old!! Is what you are. Indeed, six months ago you were all coiled up in my belly like a snake ready to strike into our lives, which sounds super violent but was more super exhausting and super cute than anything else. Hey, run on sentence, there you are. We’re at the point with you where we…
Diabetes’s needs are incessant. WAAH I need to have my blood sugar checked WAAH I need a snack WAAH the Dexcom sensor needs swapping WAAH what do you mean, reorder insulin WAAH chronic illness is forever WAAAAAAAAAAH. This disease whines and cajoles for attention all day long. Over the weekend, I stood at the bathroom counter changing my infusion set…
There’s an excellent, and inspiring, new You Can Do This video centered on parents helping their children with diabetes gain independence. From the YCDT site: “Independence in any aspect of a teen’s life can be a double-edged sword for parents – while parents want their children to be capable, that same capability is the gateway to their separation and evolution…
“My mom? She has brown hair and a red shirt,” said my daughter’s playgroup friend, climbing up the jungle gym. “My mom is over there. She has a pump in her butt,” my daughter pointed towards me and waved, causing me to quickly answer the look of surprise on the other parents’ faces with a brief, panicked explanation of the…
Seven weeks is a long time. It’s a lot of garbage days (I hate, hate taking out the garbage, especially since we have a crew of vindictive raccoons who have made it their agenda to bust into the garbage cans of everyone on our street, spreading trash all over the place and laughing maniacally whilst wearing hats). Seven weeks is…
“So when do we go to the confwence, Mawm?” “In two weeks. And did you know there is going to be a big fancy dress-up ball? Like a big party for princes and princesses?” “Yeah?” “Yeah. And you get to dress up as a princess, if you’d like. Would you like to dress up as a princess that night?” “I…
My Little Orange Bracelet.
Diabetes and Emotions, Diabetes and Family, Diabetes Online Community, Diabetic Mommy, Real Life DiabetesAt the Friends for Life conference, people who are living with type 1 diabetes wear bright green bracelets. Green bracelet’ers are the people who know what my diabetes life is like, from the injections to the blood checks, from the guilt to the successes. They get it. But the orange bracelets go on the wrists of the loved ones of…
Our cat, Prussia (known formally as Prussia the Cat, or PTC) had been ailing for a few months. And over the last week, her decline was fast. “She looks really skinny. And her breathing is labored. Also, I think she peed on the floor over there. She’s definitely getting much sicker. We should bring her to the vet.” But Prussia…
Looking Back: PWD in the Wild.
Diabetes Advocacy, Diabetes Community, Diabetes Online Community, Real Life DiabetesAs the ladies of Team Sparling prepare for our trip to Orlando for the Friends for Life conference, I’m looking back at a moment from last November, when my friend Renza and I were spotted as “PWD in the wild.” * * * We were sitting at the coffee shop having a really nice Melbourne cappuccino (they make the best…
“I’m going to draw a picture of Grandpa.” “Okay, so where do you start?” She put her finger to her lips, pondering. “How about … a head! With two eyes! And a nose with nostrils. And some cheeks.” Birdy pressed her pen against the paper, painstakingly drawing a circle for the head, and then two eyes, and a nose. Her…
I remember being nine or ten years old, on my hands and knees, crawling up the stairs to get to the kitchen, where my mom was cooking dinner. I remember calling out for my mom, but the words lost their form and their letters fell into a heap on the staircase. I remember my mom sitting on the kitchen floor…