"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?