Snow Angels

North Dakota has reclaimed its record of the most snow angels made at the same time! The unofficial count is 8,911. We were three (.5) of those angels. It was so much fun! It was great to see the community come out for a little friendly competition.

An article in today's Bismarck Tribune said, "Bismarck established the snow angel record in the Guinness Book of Records in 2002, when 1,791 people showed up to take part. The record survived a few attempts by residents in Syracuse, N.Y., but finally fell last year when 3,784 angels showed up in Houghton, Mich...".

The weather was beautiful (about the 30s) with freshly fallen snow. It has been so cold here lately that it was nice to get outside. What a difference from the minus 29 I woke up to on Thursday morning.

We are looking forward to heading to Minneapolis on Friday to help my brother celebrate his birthday. Chase has a present (think Pez) for him so he is very excited to see his Uncle Todd.

In other news, Chase and I headed to Devils Lake last weekend to get out of the house. We picked up some Vanish toilet tablets yesterday as a result of that trip. Apparently we needed blue toilet water like Grandma!

New obsession - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I stick to our budget better when Chase is not shopping with me.

The Brenden Family

My dear friend, Owen, recently lost his wife, Norma, unexpectedly. She was a very sweet and kind person and my heart breaks for the Brenden family.

Owen was my boss at FEMA - yikes - 10 years ago. He is, by far, one of the hardest working people I have ever met. Since he was retired from the Air Force I asked him why he worked for an organization that took him away from his family every week (he went home to Minot on the weekends - if he was lucky enough to get away). His answer was that his family may not spend quantity time together, but when they were together it was quality time. The stories and photos he brought back from his many trips with his family were proof that the time they had together was quality time.

His dedication to his wife and family have always been an inspiration to me. I know that their strong faith and love for one another will get them through this tough time. www.caringbridge.org/visit/normabrenden

Yo, ho, ho. A pirate's life for Chase.

Chase got a tattoo this weekend. Don't worry, it was gone by this morning. He is still fascinated with anything pirates. Too bad we are land locked. I think he'd enjoy the open water, too. Those of you familiar with KitchenAid mixers will notice that his hook is actually my dough attachment! He commandeered it shortly after I received the mixer as a Christmas gift.

Chase does have a softer side. This morning he helped me make pancakes. His future wife will thank me.

Chase's cousin, Connor, came over for a few hours this week. They had fun re-arranging my furniture, including dinning room chairs, so that Chase's tunnel could be up in the air. I took the opportunity to vacuum under my dinning room table while they played. I may just have to invite Connor back so that I can get some more rooms cleaned!

Lately we are just trying to stay warm. We are getting a lot of use out of our fire place. One night Gary and I were able to enjoy a fire, a whole Dave Mathews Band CD, some reading, and a couple of Sudukos. Chase was watching a movie in the other room at the time. I kept anticipating Chase to come out and swap out my CD for something that had a refrain of "Ei, ei, ei, o". I'm enjoying his independence but I still haven't been able to let my guard down and just relax!

If you give a kid a camera...

Boy, a week can fly by between blog entries before you know it! Here's what we've been up to:

My folks came on Thursday and my dad surprised Chase by picking him up at day care. From there on out he was Boppa's boy. Today he told me that Boppa needs to come back. I agree. It's always fun to see my folks. And even though it was freezing outside, we made our ritual trip to the Cracker Barrel for breakfast. Swimming, retail therapy, grandparents, a trip to McDonald's, it was a good weekend for Chase.

Yesterday, our friends Kathleen and Ryan came over for a visit. Kathleen made her chocolate pecan pie (yep, it's as delicious as it sounds) and I snapped a photo of Chase enjoying a slice, too. Then he got a hold of the camera and filled up the memory card. Here's a sampling of his work:

Kathleen - in frame and in focus, not bad, Chase.

Me - no double chin - I love you, Chase! Great job!

Still life - interesting subject matter. Well, not for Chase.

Close-up - personal portrait. I find a lot of these on the camera.

A Saturday Sundae

Ahhhhh, the benefits of an insulin pump (hint, hint, hint Dad). We took Chase to a soda shop called Mandan Drug - one of our favorite hang outs B.C. (before Chase). It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood and I had a craving for ice cream. I also wanted to do something normal and share a sundae with Chase at 3:00 in the afternoon. It was great.

In other news, I'm really looking forward to my dad and mom coming for a visit this Thursday. I'm especially looking forward to seeing my dad. I pulled our car into our garage yesterday to look into a problem we are having with the windshield washer fluid. Here is what Gary had to say about the issue, "I know what the problem is. I already put duct tape on it." I never got around to looking under the hood. I'm kind of a afraid to now.

Potty Training - So Far(ie), Not So Good

The video above has been placed in our bathroom impatiently awaiting the day that Chase decides he is ready to use the potty. I'm not above bribing him with ANYTHING that will get in out of Pampers! It's called Safari, So Good. But so far(ie) it is still wrapped in cellophane.

Chase has had fun the last two days visiting with our friends that have dogs. Yesterday we visited a co-worker's wife and their new baby daughter. Chase was more impressed with Sammy the Maltese than baby Anna - I'm not surprised. Then today we visited my friend Mel and her daughter Whitney and their Yorkie, Misty. As we pulled up to our house Chase cried, "I want to go to Whitney's house." I'm chopped liver when it comes to a cute 15 year old girl with a dog.

Yesterday we also lent a glucometer to a co-worker of mine. Her 14 year old son is exhibiting one of the major signs of diabetes - excessive thirst. She asked me what are some other signs of diabetes. I asked her if he was irritable or tired to which she replied, "He's a teenager!" I'm hoping that he's just a thirsty kid. I do not want to give any other parent advice on diabetes.

First of all - wooooo hooooo, it's on to the Senate. House Bill 3, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2007, passed the House. Why am I so passionate about this? Stem cell research is currently the only true hope that we have for a cure for diabetes in Chase's life time. It's also the hope for a cure of a host of other autoimmune disorders . I would love to see my parents' neighbor, Judy, be cured of MS. Or my friend Wynn's Grave's Disease go away. Or my former co-worker, Loren, live a life free of Parkinson's. And then there is my friend Kathleen who just finished up a year's worth of chemo and radiation in a brave battle against breast cancer. It's not just about Chase, but a host of other people I know and love.

Following Chase's pump appointment on Friday, I had an interesting conversation with his nurse Maysil. She said that North Dakota has the highest rate of type 1 diabetes in the nation. They think that it may be due to the fact that we are exposed to more cold and flu viruses since a virus attacks the pancreas resulting in the diabetes. I've also read about a lack of vitamin D, which would definitely be a problem up here in the Arctic (current temp, 2 degrees). Because of that conversation, baby #2 is on my mind. I plan to place him/her out in the sun a lot this summer since they will have a 5% chance of developing the disease, too. It doesn't sound like a high statistic, but I know of a mom from Minnesota that has 3 children with diabetes and, coincidentally, Chase's doctor treats a family from Devils Lake that has 3 girls with diabetes.

Speaking of the baby (and to change to happier topics)....we made some major progress with Chase coming to accept a baby moving into the house. We watched a video with a baby in it and he told us that we could have a baby, "Just like that." Granted, we were watching a tape of HIM as a baby, but hey, it's progress.

If it's a girl, I'm naming her Nancy...

Break out the lamp shades, Chase celebrates early...

I received this e-mail alert from JDRF this morning:

Stem Cell Alert--H.R. 3

The United States House of Representatives will consider H.R. 3, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act, on Thursday, January 11, 2007. The newly appointed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made expanding federal support for embryonic stem cell research a top priority for the new Congress. Much has been learned about embryonic stem cells since the current federal policy was established in 2001, and because of our better understanding of how stem cells work, the policy will not be able to fulfill its original intentions. The time is right to update this policy, within strict ethical guidelines, to reflect this new knowledge. H.R. 3 would permit research only on stem cell lines that have been established from excess fertilized eggs that couples who have undergone in vitro fertilization (IVF) have decided to no longer keep, and would otherwise be discarded – where the life and death decision has already been made. Thank you for your efforts on behalf of this important legislation.

Contact Your U.S. Representative TODAY! Important Stem Cell vote on January 11!

8.0

Chase had his 3 month A1c test this morning. The result - 8.0! His last test was 8.2, so this is great news. I told Gary that I could handle the blood draw alone this morning. Boy was I wrong. Chase sure is aware of his surroundings now and he did not want to go to the clinic. He did just fine, though. I'm still recovering hours later.

In other news, the insulin pump is going very well. It has made his in-between-meal snacking so much easier. We normally would limit his carb intake to keep his sugars down between meals. Now he can eat a better variety of food and we can give him the insulin to cover it with the push of a button.

He is also battling a cough and fever which have increased his blood sugars. With the pump, though, his numbers are definately not as high as they'd be on regular shots. So, what I'm getting at is I LOVE THE PUMP! My mom made him t-shirts that have pockets on the inside to hold the pump. He's adapting to it very well and likes his shirts so much so that Gary and I aren't allowed to touch the pump until he hands it to us!

We have 5 more weekly visits to the clinic to make sure all is going well with the pump. It's been a little bit of a pain to be heading to the clinic so much lately, but in the end, it will be worth the trouble. And Chase will be happy to walk right on by the lab next Friday!

My favorite quote from him today as we are walking by the coffee shop in the clinic, "Chasie needs a cup of coffee!" I did, too and that coffee tasted great.

Oh, and it finally snowed!!!