Little Animals

A $1.00 fish bowl find a rummage sale yesterday turned into an additional $10.50 for a fish, fish food, and bottle of water treatment. The newest member of our family went through a few names, such as: Sharky, Hulk, Thing, Batman, Doc Oc, Carnage, Venom, Dr. Doom, Wolverine, etc. After about the 15th name, Chase said, "How about Davey Jones?" to which Gary and I wholeheartedly agreed should be (and remain) his name.

Meet our Beta fish, Davey Jones...

The fish is Chase's (he wanted to take it bed with him), but Leah is my animal lover. She especially likes cats - real or not real.

Chase is finally on the mend from a week and a half of clostridium difficile colitis. He fell asleep on Tuesday at 5:30 and didn't wake up until 10:30. He was sleeping upright for part of that time!

His appetite is back and his blood sugars are finally returning to normal. We had a few scary low numbers since we wasn't digesting his food properly. His doctor said that clostridium difficile colitis is rather rare in our community so where he picked it up from has us scratching our heads. Leave it to Chase!

101

Grandpa Art celebrated his 101st birthday yesterday. I feel a little guilty having missed it, but we did get to see him the prior weekend. He's a pretty amazing guy. Happy 101, Grandpa!

In other news, on Saturday I took part in the Great American Bike race. I ended up raising $235 to help families buy adaptive equipment for their children with cerebral palsy. My team had so much fun that we are already planning what we will do next year! Hopefully, my butt will have recovered by then. Funny how just 25 minutes on a stationary bike can equate to three Tylenol later. I don't normally like to post pictures of myself, especially if I'm all sweaty and red faced, but this is proof for my friend Jackson that I didn't use his $20 donation to go and buy coffee. (Starbucks had a booth with free coffee, henceforth, I'll be doing this again next year.)




On Sunday we took time to appreciate the unseasonably nice weather. Here is Leah in the sandbox for the very first time. Chase was concerned that she'd eat the sand, but I told him that my mom let me eat dirt and she says that is why I'm taller than my sister and her. Since somebody asked recently if Leah was 6 months (she'll be 9 on the 16th), I figure she should eat a handful.

We also took part in our diabetes support group on Sunday. The group meets twice a year and it has been great for Chase to be around other kids that wear insulin pumps. He was still talking about the kids today. Below is Maysil, his diabetes nurse, who just recently retired, but luckily for us, is still taking part in the group.

"Do it for the kids!"

I've been meaning for over two years to help raise money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. I even had good intentions of participating in the Minnesota chapter's walk in January but as it always does, life got in the way.

So I actually surprised myself a few weeks ago when a co-worker asked me if I'd like to participate in the Great American Bike Race and I said, "Yes!" I feel blessed to have 2 healthy children and I've been looking for a way to show how grateful I am for my munchkins. And, as an added bonus, it is sponsored by Medcenter One which has the best pediatricians hands down!

The GABR raises money for kids with cerebral palsy. It is estimated that 1 out of every 500 babies, and one to three premature babies, are affected to some extent. A family who has a child with even a mild form of cerebral palsy has many expenses that are above and beyond what their insurance has already covered.

My team is called "Team Jose" in honor of our co-worker Yvette's little guy who has CP. She adopted Jose, who was born premature, from Guatemala when he was an infant. He is now three years old and uses a walker to get around (quite well to hear his mom talk!).

Each team member is asked to raise $50. Maybe it's the competitive nature in me (Scrabble anyone?), but $50 seems too low. Our team would like to raise $1,000. If you're interested in contributing, here's a link to our web page: http://www.firstgiving.com/susanstockert.

I'll keep you posted on how we did. The race is on the 12th of April and I've already raised $135 to date!

Mobile baby

Grandma Diane was able to get Leah to finally crawl this weekend (and then Grandma promptly left for home). She was doing a pretty good job of getting around by scooting on her butt, though.

Leah uses her new power for evil. I realized a long time ago that if I had a superpower I'd use it for evil, too. I guess that comes from watching Spiderman a lot around here. Oh, the trouble I would get into if I could shoot webs and scale tall buildings.

Here is the trouble Leah found herself in going after a ball...

And Daddy's guitar looked enticing, too...

Stop!

Apparently I didn't stop at the stop sign at Target today. From the back seat I heard, "Mom, you're suppose to stop at stop signs." And then there was Sunday when I heard him utter, "Move it people!" on our way to church. I got a look from Gary. Hey, in my defense, Bismarck drivers ARE slow.

7.5

Chase had his 3 month check up today. His A1C came back at 7.5 which was good news. The only "bad" thing during his visit was that we had to say goodbye to his diabetic nurse, Maysil. She is retiring and we are going to miss her. If it wasn't for her, I don't know if Chase would be on an insulin pump since she was instrumental in getting him approved. As she was giving Chase a hug goodbye, she told him that he was blessed to have such wonderful parents. His parents were equally blessed to have such a wonderful nurse.

And then there were none

We've taken a break from the blog world to all take part in the stomach flu. It started with Leah, then transferred to me, Gary and lastly, Chase. Luckily, Chase got sick last and recovered the quickest. We had a few days of some scary low blood sugars since he was not interested in food. At least he was able to keep his sense of humor through it all.

Mini break

With temps nearing 60 degrees on Saturday, we took the opportunity to hit the road and go to one of our favorite destinations - Medora. There is something magical about Medora. I find that I do a lot of sighing while in the little town - from breathing in the sweet smell of sage to taking in the amazing views.

I enjoyed the nature hike, dip in the swimming pool, relaxing in the hot tub and soaking in the whirlpool tub. What did Chase enjoy the most?

Was it......

Not looking out of place wearing a cowboy hat?

Bubbles in the whirlpool tub?

Spending quality time with his family?

Playing at the playground?

Scaling the buttes?


Or the fact that our room had the Cartoon Network?

New T's

Chase bought Gary a Batman t-shirt- with my Kohl's charge card. Luckily, I had a 15% off coupon for him to use. I wonder what I should do with the bill when it comes in the mail?

And guess which set of grandparents were able to find a pink Farmall onsie?