Sticky Jewelry and Give Away

Sticky Jewelry

(aka StickyJ)

 

Ella's Medic Alert was getting old and a bit tight thanks to the 10 pound weight gain since diagnosis (we finally hit the 50 lb mark - Yahoo!)

 

I was just thinking to myself that I needed to order Ella a new Medic Alert when I got an email from the owner of a personalized and medical jewelry company called StickyJ offering to send some samples for me to review.

 

The girls and I jumped on the computer and started looking at the website and had such a hard time picking out what we wanted because there were so many styles to choose from! Beaded, silicone, leather, sports, even macramé bracelets, tons of medic alert necklaces and numerous styles of ID tags (even shoe ID tags!) offered in different shapes and colors.

 

I really liked that many of their stainless steel medical children's bracelets are made of 316L surgical stainless steel which has increased resistance to chloride corrosion because Ella spends half of her life in the pool or bathtub and never takes her medic alert off.

 

I was also impressed with how reasonable the pricing was. For example, my daughters LOVE glow-in-the-dark bracelets. I saw this one on StickyJ's website for $22.95 which is almost identical to one offered at $44.95 elsewhere.

 

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With prices like these, I can afford to order the girls bracelets to match any outfit as well as one for every holiday! And yes, I absolutely ordered one for Halloween that we found in the clearance section!!

 

 

 Customer Service was awesome. I sent in my order as well as the girls' actual wrist sizes. Thank goodness for Pat in Customer Service because she reviewed my order and then recommended different sizes for the bracelets as well as different shaped Medic ID tags that would better fit my daughters' small wrists.

 

I placed my order Sept 12th. Customer Service emailed me within 2 days and the complete order was shipped to my house by September 20th.

 

The girls were beyond excited to open up the package and find their jewelry in a pretty little red bag. I was impressed with the quality of the jewelry and the engraving. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the engraving came already filled in black.

 

How cute is this one? Found it in the Clearance section, too!

 

Livie's ID bracelet not only glows-in-the-dark but also has mood-changing beads!

The back side has her name and our cell phone numbers.

Sure beats writing your cell # on your kid's arm with a black sharpie when you go to Disneyland!

 

 

 

 

Ella picked a blue rubber bracelet with sterling silver hearts

Blue for diabetes and hearts because, well, she's a girly-girl.

 

 

 

 

I will absolutely be placing more orders through StickyJ in the future. I had such a wonderful experience getting to know the owner of the company as well as working with their Customer Service department. The quality is great and it's offered at a very reasonable price.

 

Plus you get free shipping on orders over $50 in the United States.

I'm a sucker for free shipping.

 

SO...now the good stuff.

 

The Give-Away

 

One lucky reader will win a $50 gift certificate to Sticky Jewelry!

 

Since writing this blog is about as high-tech as I get, here's how it's going to go down:

 

1. Leave a comment with your favorite StickyJ item, get 1 entry

2. Like StickyJ's facebook page, comment that you did, and get another entry

3. Send a Tweet about @StickyJewelry, comment that you did, and get another entry 

 

 I'll leave it open until Friday at which point I will throw all of your entries into a jar and let Ella pick a name. I'll probably even throw a blind fold on her to make it official.

 

In the meantime, head on over to StickyJ and check out all that they offer - there's so much more than just Medic Alerts!

 

Best of Luck

 

Thanks to StickyJ for the opportunity to review the jewelry! So glad we found each other.

Summer 2013

I've been derelict in my blog-writing duties all summer.

So here's a quick snippet to get you caught up, with lots of photos to keep you interested.

ELLA...

Got a new Rock-Star room for her birthday...

Was a flower girl in Aunt Jessie's wedding...
(Yes, Livie was one, too)

 

 Went to Diabetes Camp ALL BY HERSELF...
(she SURIVED!!)

Cabin one Rocks!

Came home having had brushed her teeth twice and her hair once...

Got corn rows for the second session of camp...
(I know, I know, she'll kill me for doing this to her in about 5 years)
...with strict instructions to apply sunscreen and BRUSH TEETH daily...

 Caught her first fish while visiting Grandpa John & Grandma Suzie in Oregon...



 

and started THIRD GRADE!!

(Those are fashion glasses, not real glasses..a girl's gotta keep up with the trends)

 

We are still LOVING the Animas Ping. The ability to disconnect during all-day swim sessions is awesome.  Ella even tried a new site - her ARM!! - which helps us avoid rashes with more places available to rotate.

 

 

LIVIE...

 

Discovered the delicious joy of sugar-free taffy at Diabetes Family Camp...

 

Enjoyed being spoiled rotten as an "only child" while Ella was a Diabetes Camp...

 

 

Tried fishing...

 

but decided it was more fun to snuggle with old Grandpa John instead...

 

And started 5 days-a-week, 8am to 3pm Preschool

(Can I get an Amen from the Mommas?)

I'm also thrilled to report that, despite her autoantibodies and abnormal OGTTs, her A1C is still rockin', her 2 hour postprandial numbers are well within the "normal" range and her fasting BG below 100.

 

Livie's Endo has told me to STOP WORRYING...

To only test if I suspect something and to do yearly blood labs.

We've completely quit TrialNet because it was too stressful and it's the best decision I've made since hearing the news.

 

DOMESTIC DIVO AND I...

 

Relished in how easy it was having an only-child while Ella was at Diabetes Camp the first time...

and then finally got smart and dropped Livie off with the Grandmas during Diabetes Camp Session Two and headed out to Palm Springs for a much-needed, adult-only, sleep-and-drink-and-food-and-love-filled getaway...

 

 

And while we didn't catch any fish in Oregon, we did manage to catch Bend's Annual Brewfest! 

 

Cheers to another "Screw you, Diabetes Summer o'Fun" !

 

 

Allergies to adhesives suck

Our woes with rashes to adhesives started about 3 months after Ella started on the Omnipod.

 

It started with a small little rash once I removed the Omnipod.

It quickly progressed to a red, inflamed, itchy rash that would develop within 24 hours of a new Omnipod.

So, we quit the Omnipod because I wasn't about to do Omnipod changes on a daily basis and Ella's skin had taken a serious beating.

 

We've been plugging along with Animas ping for a few months now.

We do site changes every 2 days and full (insulin & site) every 4 days. 

That seemed to work swell.

Every once in a while she'd have a rash after 2 days but it cleared up quick with a low-dose corticosteroid.

 

But now that it's summer and she's swimming every day, I noticed she develops a rash to the site very quickly.

So we're having to do DAILY site changes.

 

So imagine how thrilled I was when, after having done a site change at 7am on Monday, Ella tells me a mere 12 hours later that the site is itchy and she needs to pull it.

 

I think I pouted like a 3 year old and said, "FINE - PULL IT!"

And slammed a new site on her tooshie.

 

But when I pulled the little plastic inserter gizmo thingy off, I noticed the fat part of the site, where the little insulin connector thingy plugs in, hadn't stuck all the way down and I could see underneath the site where the cannula was in about 3/4 of the way.

 

So I did what any responsible Type 1 parent would do: I pushed it down and then I texted my T1D Mommas to see if they thought it would work. The consensus was it could go either way and they all wished me luck.

 

I know you're dying to know the results, so here's the play-by-play:

 

7 pm: Insert new site. BG 96. Looking good.

9 pm: BG 160. Hmmm....could be the pasta she ate for dinner. Small correction.

11 pm: BG 170. Not bad. Still could go either way. Small correction.

1 am: BG 230. 0.3 blood ketones. Crap.

 

I pulled the site.

Cannula was completely bent over.

 

 

Freaking Skin Allergies.

 

 

 

Ain't nothin' but a G4 thang, baaaaabay!

One, two, three and to the fo'
UPS man is knockin' at the do'
G4 ready to make an entrance, so back on up
[Cause you know we 'bout to rip 'betes up]

Gimme the receiver first, so I can get it charged

Dexcom and Omnipod together, now you know we livin' large
Ain't nothin' but a G4 thang, baaaaabay! To make this Momma go craaaaazay!

 

Our Dexcom G4 Platinum arrived Monday.

Ella ripped it open like a package on Christmas Day

And immediately named it....Tickles...after its color "Tickled Pink."

 

I have yet to figure out how to make this appropriate in public.

 

Example:

"Mom....Tickles is vibrating and I feel high"

 

Yeah...

 

Anyhow, as soon as Tickles was charged up, we slapped the new transmitter on her and anxiously waited 2 hours for Tickles to go through her wetting phase...

 

Yeah...

 

 

Some of you will remember that we tried out the Dexcom7 (aka G3) but very quickly learned that we didn't work well together. She was wrong...a lot. Which lead to more blood sugar checks. And Ella was always leaving her here or there so she always gave me the "out of range" reading. I think we used her for about 2 weeks before we packed her up and put her out of sight.

 

So obviously I had reservations about paying $399 to upgrade to the G4, but I figured I had 30 days to try it out and return it if I didn't like it. Plus once Ella saw they had a pink one, she was "tickled" - nice marketing scheme, Dexcom.

Too bad you don't offer it in lime green or I might get one for myself just cuz.

 

We've been bonding with Tickles (Yeah...) for about 5 days now and I have to say I am in love. 

 

Here's my top 5 reasons why:

 

1. Accuracy - Other than some minor drifting that was happening around 8pm at night, Tickles has been darned accurate when Ella's in-range or high. There's still a lag when Ella's in the hypo range, so we set the hypo alert at 90 which is working better for us.

 

2. Range - Ella was HORRIBLE at keeping the G3 within 5 feet, which is probably why it was always so inaccurate. Tickles can be left on the kitchen counter and Ella can wander through the house and it will still pick her up. Right now I'm downstairs and she's sleeping upstairs and I'm watching a post-pizza high come down rather nicely on the color screen. G4 range is 20 feet, we've had it still working at around 50 feet when in an open area like at a park or outside.

 

3. The pretty ring tones. Seriously. I love that I know if Ella's high or low based on the pretty ring tone that either goes up or down.

 

 4. Size - the G4 receiver is much smaller and far superior to the egg-shaped G3 receiver. But would someone PLEASE make a rubber cover for Tickles (Yeah...see what I mean???) so I don't live in fear of Ella dropping it on the tile floor?

 

5. Ella loves it because it's pink and it looks cool...like a nano. Which makes me less likely to have to nag her about where it is.  

 

It's like this and like that and like that and uh
It's like that and like this and like that and uh
It's like this, the G4's the CGM with the most.
So jus' chill, 'til the next blog post.

 

PS - I blogged about my love affair with the G4 all on my own. I wish Dexcom would pay me for this...or at least send me a few free sensors on the side.

 

PPS - This is just our own unique experiences with the G3 and the G4. My results were not obtained via a well-designed and statistically significant clinical trial and most certainly would not qualify for a peer-reviewed scientific journal article. If you're interested in real results, I suggest you start here.  

 

PPPS - My sincere apologies to Snoop Doggy Dog and Dr. Dre

Tegaderm for Cheap Shoes, Dexcom G4 & Pump Peelz

Tegaderm + Cheap Shoes = Heaven

 

I was cruising through K-Mart the other day and found some super cute shoes for $7. Yeah, you heard me right. SEVEN BUCKS. They just happened to have one size 6 left.

 

 

I wore an outfit today that provided the perfect opportunity to wear these. The problem was that when I put them on and walked around, the back of the strap was rubbing my ankle. I was about to pop matching yes-I-bought-cheap-shoes bandaids on my ankles when all of a sudden it dawned on me that I had something better: TEGADERM!

 

I cut one in half, popped one half on the back of one ankle, the other on the back of the other ankle and I walked around ALL DAY LONG in complete comfort in my $7.00 shoes. I got several compliments on my cheap-o shoes and, thanks to tegaderm, nobody knew how cheap they really were.

 

You know the best part? If you're a size 9 and act fast, you, too, can own these for $3.99! $3.99?? Are you kidding me?? Don't forget the Tegaderm!

 

Dexcom7 G4: I'll give it a chance

The other great thing that happened today was that I found out Dexcom finally got FDA Approval for G4. My love affair with the G3 didn't last long. Why? Here's my top 5 reasons:

 

1. The 5 foot radius. Ridiculous. We spent more time out of range than in range, which I believe probably contributed to reason #2.

2. Inaccuracy. That thing was > 20% wrong > 75% of the time.

3. More finger pokes. Because of Reason #2.

4. More nagging. Because of Reason #1. I was constantly saying, "Ella - where's Dexa?"

5. More, rather than less, time managing/thinking about diabetes because of all of the above.

 

So I basically have a BRAND SPANKIN' new Dexcom G3 sitting in a box with a 3 month supply of sensors. So why the heck would I pay the $399 for the upgrade to the G4? Top 5 reasons:

 

1. 20 foot range

2. 19% improvement in overall 

3. 30% improvement in accuracy in the hypoglycemia range

4. Pretty color choices

5. 30-day trial

 

I placed my order for a pink one and I'm hoping we like it better than G3.

 

And really, if I continue saving money by buying cheap shoes, I'll eventually be able to pay it off. 

I suppose I'll have to wait a little longer for Hatsy. Sorry neighborhood kids. No snow cones for you.  

 

Pump Peelz

And finally...last, but not least (I just had SO MUCH to talk about today!): Pump Peelz.

 

Denise at My Sweet Bean and Her Pod posted about Pump Peelz.

We used to bling out Ella's pod with rhinestones and quickly learned her hair got caught in them. Then we moved on to stickers but they always fell off.

Then we started having issues with the pod sticking so now we wrap it in leg and arm bands.
Because of this issue, pump peelz aren't something we could use on a regular basis, but we can use them on special occasions!

Like Halloween. How cute would this be with Ella's Midnight Fairy Costume?

There are lots of other Holiday and Every Day Pump Peelz to choose from, so head on over and shop!

Remember: A Naked Omnipod is a Sad Omnipod.
 

"Screw you, Diabetes" Summer O'Fun

When Ella was first diagnosed, I was afraid to leave the house. It's a lot like having a newborn again where simple things like going to the grocery store or to a friend's house for a playdate suddenly become complex, daunting and a little scary. I remember asking a friend:

How am I ever going to take her to Disneyland?

How will we do trips to the lake?

How will we do overnight hotel stays somewhere?

How am I ever going to handle taking her on an airplane ride?

How do I take her on road trips?

And her answer was:

You'll figure it out.

I know from having a newborn that the "firsts" are always the scariest. The first bath. The first car ride home. The first time they sleep in their own room. The first trip to Target. And once you finally do something for the first time you realize it wasn't so bad, the second time is usually much easier and you gain a sense of confidence that you CAN do this. I figured diabetes had to be the same way and so I set out trying to get as many "firsts" out of the way as quickly as possible. Thus was born our

Screw You, Diabetes Summer o'Fun

Some of these "firsts" technically occurred pre-Summer, but Spring & Summer o'Fun just doesn't have the same ring to it.

First trip to the Zoo

First weekend away from home in a hotel



First Birthday Party



First trip to the Lake Mohave house (long car ride - check!)

First Dance Recital

First Airport & Plane Adventure (LAX to Orlando, FL for Friends for Life Conference!)



First Night Swimming (we CAN rock diabetes while not on a schedule!)

First Cruise (where we were in the middle of the Atlantic ocean with no cell service)

Also my first time swagging it up - pizza & chicken nuggets every night!

First Diabetes Family Camp - we LOVE Camp Conrad Chinnock!

First trip to the Fair (includes first corn dog, cotton candy, swirly ice cream cone and gooey cinnamon roll - holy insulin dose!)

First trip to Bass Lake

Has it all been perfect? Heck no! I've seen some crazy high and low blood sugars. We've had canulas pop out in the middle of the airport (first time bolusing for basal in the Orlando airport!), we've had pods fall off at the most inconvenient of times (mid-dinner dose...ummm...how much insulin do you think she got? half? some? all? none?)

But you know what? We had a BLAST. And Ella will never look back on her first summer with diabetes and say that diabetes held us back from one moment of fun. And I can confidently say that I know that I can do this. It's not as easy as it once was. It takes a lot more planning and there is a bit more worry involved but it has not, and I will not allow it, to take a moment of joy away.

"Firsts" still left on our list:

• First trip to Disneyland
• First Halloween Candy Fun
• First Water Park Adventure
• First Christmas Cookie Eating
• First trip to the snow/ski school

Any other "first" suggestions we should add?

 

Delectable, Delicious & Diabetic Friendly

We have a lemon tree.

The lemon tree is full of lemons that never get used...one family can only use so many lemons.

The girls think it's great fun to pick the lemons, clean & squeeze them.

I think this is great fun because it keeps them occupied for at least an hour.

Picking, Cleaning, Drying, Piling, Juicing. 

And since one family can only drink so much lemon juice, we almost always end up having a lemonade stand.

This particular day, we packed up our lemons, squeezer and Splenda and headed over to Ella's Best-Friend-Forever's house to peddle our lemonade. We decided that since the lemons were home-grown we could market it as "Organic"

How could you NOT buy a glass from these cuties??

and since it was made with Splenda, the carbs were nominal so the girls came up with this little catchy jingle (while waving pom-poms):

Get your lemonade! It's delectable, delicious and diabetic friendly!

Apparently the jingle was a smashing success because the girls sold $8 worth of lemonade in about an hour including 3 glasses to the local firemen.

(Domestic Divo may or may not have received a call from his wife alerting him to the cuteness happening in his sector)

Watching the girls with their lemonade stand reminded me of the following 3 things:

1. Childhood is too short. There will be a time when picking, cleaning, drying, piling, rinsing and juicing lemons is no longer considered fun. There will be a time when she will be too cool to stand on the sidewalk in a bathing suit with pink pom-poms doing cartwheels and singing silly jingles. I need to cherish these moments.

2. If you don't have time to stop and buy a glass of lemonade from the local neighborhood kids, you are too busy...and probably miserable.

3. Don't drink the lemonade



CGMing Cuz I'm Cool Like Dat

Most people I chat with think the worst part about my kiddo having diabetes is dealing with the pokes.

Oh - she has diabetes? But she's so young. Poor thing. Wow - I don't know how you do it...my kid hates shots.

There are a MILLION things I could say in response to this but I'm trying to stick to the subject here so I'll stay on task.

For me, the worst part about diabetes is not the shots or the pokes or the lack of sleep or the massive amounts of medical supplies that have taken over both my bathroom cabinet space and my purse.

My worst part is that even if I follow all the dosing rules and calculate her carbs down to the gnat's ass, I still have no clue what the ultimate result is going to be. There are times when I have fed her chicken and green beans and she's in the 200's and then I feed her a cherry icee, corn dog and cinnamon roll from the fair and she's 130. Go figure.

I cannot tell you how often I think, "I wonder what her BG is right now." I restrain myself on a daily basis from poking her precious little digits every hour...and not necessarily because I'm worried that she's high or low but just because I have this need to KNOW and CONTROL.

(I'm Type A if you haven't figured this out already)

I truly believe if left unchecked, I would require some form of intervention for CBSC (chronic blood sugar checking). And while a week at a rehab clinic in Malibu hangin' with Lindsay Lohan or Amber from MTV's show Teen Mom sounds fantastic right now, I just don't have the time.

Enter Dexcom

 Today was the day we slapped the GCM on Ella. She was so excited. I think she was mostly excited about the new hot pink SPIbelt I got her to wear Dexa in (Dexa = Ella's name for the Dexcom receiver...it's a girl, of course). She thought the SPIbelt was super cool. I think it's pretty cool, too. Like a cool fanny pack (who knew this existed?). I might order one up for myself. Cuz I'm cool like dat...I'm cool like dat... 

The insertion went so much better than expected.

That was it? I didn't even feel it!

And then I had to wait 2 hours to enter the calibration blood sugars to get Dexa going. This was torture...like waking up early on Christmas morning to see all the presents under the tree but you have to wait for your Mom to take a shower and put on make-up so she looks pretty for the photos. And just when I think I can't take it anymore...

MOM! Dexa fuzzed against my stomach!

(Ella speak for Dexa is vibrating to alert us that it's time)

I've never been so excited to do a finger poke in my life. 2 in a row, enter into Dexa and watch the magic.

84...is it 84 going up or 84 going down? Oh, Trend Arrow - how long will you take? Again with the waiting!!! And just when I thought I would burst at the seams with anticipation...

There she was. That beautiful trend arrow.

Dexa was pretty much spot-on all day long with her blood sugar readings and I was in blood sugar data heaven. Until 8:00 at night when Dexa was reading her 2 hours post dinner at a steady 145 (completely reasonable after 30 carbs of pizza for dinner) and Ella said, "Mom - I feel low."

A quick blood check confirmed Ella at 88.

Oh, Dexa - why must you disappoint me so in our first 24 hours of knowing each other? I know, I know - patience, Krissy, patience. She's only 6 hours old! Ella and Dexa are still getting to know each other...still workin' things out...

Patience is a virtue, but it's just not one of mine.

So I re-calibrated Dexa, tossed Ella 3 cups o' popcorn and 2 hours later she was 122 per Dexa, 128 per Accu-check Aviva.

Dexa + Ella = the beginning of a long, wonderful friendship...provided Dexa remains Cool Like Dat.

 Sleep in heavenly peace, my sweet Ella.

Disclaimer: I am most definitely not as Cool Like Dat as Dese Cool Cats:

Meeting Bret Michaels

The local fair is in town and I LOVE THE FAIR.

I love the food. I love the rides. I love the feeling of being a kid again.

Every year when the fair comes to town,

I obnoxiously sing The Templeton & Goose Song from Charlotte's Web - At the Fair

The fair is a fairitable smorgasbord...orgisborgd..orgisbord...

It drives Domestic Divo nuts.

This year, Bret Michaels was playing at our little old county fair.

Bret Michaels was diagnosed with T1D when he was 6.

I am part of an amazing group of local T1D families and us Mommas decided we were going to see if we could get Bret Michaels to meet with our kids. After numerous emails, we finally heard back...

Ella & Bret - T1Ds Stick Together!

We didn't have a lot of time with him, but he was so nice and told our kids to stay healthy and to keep their blood sugar in good control.

 He said that he works really hard at it and that they are all in it together and that diabetes will never hold them back!

Pretty cool, right? I mean, I remember rockin' out to Poison in Jr High at 6th grade sleep-overs!
Every Rose Has Its Thorn!

But if you were to ask Ella her personal favorite moments of the evening, she would tell you:

1. Eating Cotton Candy for the first time since diagnosis

2. Winning a gold fish

3. Eating a swirly cone

4. Downing a Quick Stick because Momma seriously over-estimated the carb count on that swirly cone!

All in all, a wonderful night.

Bret - if you ever read this - THANK YOU!!!!