In honor of make me laugh Monday and my new career as a “bodybuilder” – I say that with some trepidation and I do not know why, I must linky link for Jenny on the spot this timeless Jim Carrey piece. He is playing his character “Vera De Milo” the Bodybuilder from the classic In Living Color.
Enjoy

Well – I guess it’s funny in hindsight – or telling others about the neverending rollercoaster that is diabetes.  A few weekends ago we went to a hotel for my neices birthday party.  We stayed overnight which also included alot of swimming.  Swimming and pump sites – always a great combination.  In the AM, after two lost pump sites I was out of supplies.  It was are day of departure anyways so we got all of our stuff ready and headed out.  That all sounds organized I know, but add SEVERAL children, tons of hotel stuff, swimming up until 15 min before departure time, one puking cousin and a baby into the mix and it is CHAOS!!!  We get ourselves home (1.5 hours away) and go to change the site  an hour after the EMLA cream had sat on the spot and I start digging for the pump.  I KNOW I REMEMBER PUTTING IT IN THE BAG.  4 Torn through bags later it is just not there.  You might be able to see where this is going……  Call the hotel – yep – there it was sitting on the bathroom counter.  So mom, who at this point wants to pack up all the snacks in the house for the trip (but is training for a bodybuilding show) makes a protein shake, brings the phone and catches up with friends for the trip down and back.  For some reason Joshua’s numbers stayed low (he had dosed right before he the pump fell off) hallelujia!!  We made it through another Diabetes folly!!  Woohoo!! And another story to add to the collection that is our life?

Look at that Jenny – I even put your whole blog name right in my title. Now that is some great blogging. So Jenny – my esteemed blogging friend from the great state of WA is having a drawing at her site. All you have to do is head over there at:

http://www.jennyonthespot.com/2009/02/hes-just-not-that-into-you-cd-and-hoodie-giveaway/

and give her a shout out. She will put your name in the list for the “He’s just not that into you” soundtrack and a cool hoodie!!
Love the giveaway Jenny!

It has been a very long time since I wrote a family Christmas letter.  It seemed like a good time for an update.  In keeping with my character, all of my Christmas cards are ready to go out the door, it’s three days before Christmas and here I am – at the computer.  I have always worked best under pressure. 

I remember when my children were babies and people with older kids would say: “just wait, it get’s busier”.  I just didn’t believe them – how could it feel busier? Well, now I get it!  Baby time was busy as in I’m holding a baby and cooking dinner at the same time, and I don’t sleep.  Now life is busy like “get in the car, we gotta go, hurry up, were late, basketball, baseball, football, snowboarding, dances, friends house, go, go, go, hurry up”  There just never seems to be enough time and life is moving by at an alarming rate.  It seems so cliché, but it is so true.  How did my boys get to be 12 (Erik), 10 (Josh) and 7 (Lucas), when only a while ago I was at the pond throwing rocks with them and giving them rides on the four-wheeler or snowmobile.  Now they are riding the four-wheelers to their deer stands, shooting their first buck (Erik + plus 2 does), and as soon as the snow is on the ground, the snowmobiles are packing it down.  If there is an untouched piece of snow on our property – these three are not happy about it.  Being 12 this year, Erik will be our third driver which will enable us to take some longer snowmobile trips. 

Rodney spent another fun season of coaching football for Erik’s team with another undefeated season.  We also got to watch Joshua as he is finally old enough to play the sport he was born to play!   Both Erik and Joshua competed in the Punt/Pass/Kick competition and both took home 1^st place.  It was nice that they each ended up with the same size trophy – not that there is any competition.  We are now into the basketball with Rodney coaching the 6^th grade and Joshua playing 4^th grade we will spend the next 10 Saturdays in different cities.  Lucas has made the concession stand his favorite sport, and we are waiting patiently for him to pick up the basketball as well.  He is the tallest kid in his class and one of the youngest. Lucas is now in 2^nd grade which is okay, but he would so much rather be at home with his mom.

Besides Coaching as his volunteer position, Rodney has been busy growing the Rockwell Industrial Plant Services group from 2 people working out of our shop to now over 40 employees.  He manages it all very well and when you don’t find him in dress pants and shirt you will find him with grease up to his elbows, probably buried in a snowmobile or a car that he is restoring.

The past year also brought us a challenge.  On March 31^st, Joshua was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.  Many of you may know that Type 1 diabetes is an Auto-immune disease and his pancreas will no longer produce insulin.  Joshua uses an insulin pump to manage the disease and his Glucose Meter is never far away at any time.  This has been an epic roller coaster ride to say the least but as a family we rise to the occasion and will help and support Joshua to live a very long, active and healthy life.  And as all Type 1 Diabetics, we are hoping and praying for a cure. 

As for me I continue to be the chauffer, chef, accountant, laundress (sounds better), and the Queen of this Castle.  Any time I start feeling like life is crazy I do manage to get a few hours in here and there at St. Mary’s walk in mental health Crisis Clinic as a therapist.  I am always assured when I leave that indeed we have a very healthy family and we are not very crazy at all.  I have found a love for blogging and social networking (facebook) and would love to keep in touch with any of you that way as well. 

I must quit now – as you can see I have never been one short on words. 

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!!

Love,

The VanBaalen’s  (vanbaalen5@msn.com)

Rodney, Lisa, Erik (12), Joshua (10) and Lucas (7)

Oh yeah, and I am for sure doing a bodybuilding show. AGGGGHHHH
Super scared to death. May 16th (or 17th).

So Tuesday was the big visit to the pediatric Endocrinologist. We go every three months to check in with him, see how things are going and have Joshua’s A1C’s ran. A1C’s are kind of like a report card. They are the average of your blood sugar over the past three months. A person without diabetes has A1C’s under between 4 and 6%. Lower A1C’s directly correlate to less long term complications. Joshua had great numbers in December. We were very excited to see his A1C.s and were sure that they had dropped a bunch. We were too optimistic. Although Dr. Miller says we are doing a Fabulous job (he used the word Fabulous, not me). It only went from 7.9 to 7.8. So, we plug along and try to continue our roll of good numbers hoping to see that A1C continue to come down. Next update will be in April. I never liked report cards!!
Mom

If children were meant to live in groups.  What if they are  meant to live only with adults and not interact daily with SIBLINGS!!!  Maybe somebody made a  big mistake along the way and thought that they were supposed to have more than one child, hence sibling.  Maybe they are just supposed to reunite when they are old enough to manage and negotiate a complex relationship….you know things like…. “HE THREW THE COMPASS IN MY CEREAL”, or “HE HIT ME IN THE KNEE WITH HIS BACKPACK AND NOW I CAN’T WALK”   While limping as if clubbed with a 2×4.  I don’t know, it’s a mystery to me. There must be something about the chaos and interaction that they love because they just will not leave each other alone – it’s certainly not like they ignore each other. 

It just seems to me if there was somebody really bugging me, in my space, I would probably try to avoid them.  That’s why I’m thinking that this might be that “brotherly love” that I have heard about.  Maybe a poke in the side is really like a hug for a brother.  They do this stuff to each other and then as the older brother is leaving the middle brother says “have a great day Erik” and the youngest brother gives him a hug goodbye.  It just must not be all that bad – maybe I just don’t understand being the only Queen in this CASTLE!!

The past few weeks I have finally re-ignited my passion for Eating Clean and working out.  I feel like I stumbled through the summer and fell into fall.  I love having that feeling that nothing can take me down, sticking to my meal plan is easy and training for  a bodybuilding show would not be a question. It is just that I know my alter ego is just waiting there, evil, hiding for just the right moment to stick her foot out there with a plate full of  Christmas cookies and take over once more.  If this were not to happen…reaching my goals would have probably already happened.  Let’s see how long we can keep her locked up this time!  Get down on your knees and pray for me PEOPLE!!!  Or does she have you locked up with the Christmas Cookies!