Playdate in Orlando - February 23

At the end of February Keri, Olivia, Mia and I traveled to Orlando to meet up with some of our FSU friends and their kiddos. It was a chaotic, wonderful time spent catching up and chasing the children around. We've all come a long way since our Seminole days.

Nikki and her daughter Madelyn with Katelyn.

Christine showing Mia the teeter-totter.

Miss Olivia and Mr. Logan taking it all in.

Mia checking out the playhouse.

Somebody couldn't get enough of this thing.

Katelyn and Nora playing in the sand.

In limbo

I seem to have misplaced my camera port. I'm on a mission to find it because I have some really cute pics to share. Mia is feeling so much better this week. She is so awesome.

Wow. I need to update this thing more often.

We've been sick for approx. 2 weeks. A virus from Mars invaded our home and stole all the fun right out from under us. Mia had a fever, runny nose, cough, etc so I took her into the pediatrician - he discovered she also had an ear infection. She's still taking the antibiotics, and feeling a lot better already. Her diabetes has also been somewhat out of control as a result from all of this. We're still working on getting those numbers back to "normal."

I have a few pics I'll try and post tomorrow of before the plague hit. And hopefully we'll get out and do some picture-worthy things this week. I think the Pottery Barn Kids sing-along and Farmer's Market are on the agenda. Oh and gymnastics! We haven't been in 2 weeks.

And I just have to share - Mia, my 19-month old, can count to 10. I'm not kidding. She does it all the time for us. I need to get this on video. And she probably has at least 100 words in her vocabulary? Maybe 200? I can't keep count. The kid says ketones. Diabetes is NOT slowing this little one down.

Random moments from the last couple weeks

This is the right way to eat spaghetti and meatballs.

I found spaghetti down the back of my shirt that night.

At Ballast Point park on President's Day. I love her shadow!

One pic at the zoo last week before my camera died.

Another day at the Aquarium - we do lots of fun stuff!

Chasing the fish back and forth with her pig tails.

Valentine Playgroup

Last Friday we went to Jenny and Addison's house for a fun Valentines-themed party. Mia had a great time with all her buddies. Thanks J + A!

Trying to get 6 toddlers to stay still for a group picture - lol. Yeah right.

Mia loooooooved this cart.

Still trying for that group picture!

Bad Hair Day

Mia got into a fight with a bobcat at some point in the middle of the night.

Or maybe she took a joy ride in a convertible Mustang?

Or maybe, just maybe, she's related to Gary Busey...?

Anyway, I think she looks super adorable.

Happy 18 Months, Little Monkey!

I can not believe she is 18-months old. You've gotta be kidding me.

Quick update - things are going well. People ask if she is stable, or if things are under control. It's hard to explain but diabetes doesn't quite work that way. Mia will have a string of good days with good numbers, and suddenly several days of crazy highs or surprising lows where we are shoveling cake icing into her mouth, trying not to panic.

All the while we try and keep the same routine, the same items on the menu, but really there are so many factors that come into play with her health - even the weather, to the people and places she visits, affect her blood sugar. So it can be impossible to keep her diabetes under control sometimes. We just manage it the best we can and keep a really close eye on her.

Some days what normally works doesn't work whatsoever, if that makes any sense. So Pete and I are constantly redoing things and analyzing and measuring every little detail. There is no just handing her something to eat without weighing out the effects and consequences of every bite. It can be frustrating and exhausting, but the way we see it, it's much better to be diabetic than many other things. For this we are very thankful.

Our Little Ham

Having a B-L-A-S-T at the Gasparilla Kids' Parade.

Helping her Daddy vacuum the playroom.

Copter!!! Her new favorite things are planes and hellicopters, and some of them flew pretty low over the crowd. Way cool.

Baby Livie had one too many bottles of milk at the parade.

She's got her Daddy's cheeks.

Took Chili, Kenya and Mia to Petsmart. The dogs needed a spa day. We were quite the sight walking in - toddler in the cart along with the Boston Terrier and 110 lb. mutt on a leash, dragging all of us to the back of the store. Luckily no one was hurt, lol. I'm not sure if I'll ever do that again though.

Yep, we're putting her to work already.

She loves her accessories. First Mommy's headbands, now Daddy's sunglasses.

My 2 favorite people at the park on a perfect day.

Love her so much.

I love this pic

She looks so grown-up! Mia loooooves to wear my headbands. She puts them on and smiles in the mirror. So funny.

She totally loves the swings now.

Does anyone else read this blog? Lol.

Sometimes I wonder if I'm the only one here. Either way, I bet Mia will get a kick out of it when she is older. Anyway, today we went to our first toddler gymnastics class at the Seminole Heights Athletic Center. Boy did she have a blast! I'd day her favorite was the tumble track trampoline thing. She probably ran up and down that thing 2 dozen times. Oh and the ball/germ pit was a great time. Little Miss Organize Everything was busy throwing the balls out. And the parachute ride at the end was phantabulous. We're going every Tues now at 9am. Mom and Dad especially love it because it cost $25 for 7 weeks. So take that and shove it, Gymboree.

Random pics from last weekend.

Christmas

Ok, so not all of these presents are for Mia. But that super cool red kitchen and a few others are.

Like this wooden push duckie with leather, flappy feet.

And Elmo, who Mia calls Elmu.

Mia wanted to make hot dogs for Christmas breakfast.

Here she is figuring out the knobs turn and click.

Somebody woke up from her nap with major 'tude. Look at that face she's shooting over at Daddy!

Grammy and Grandpa show Mia how to rip into her presents. Have a feeling next year she'll be a pro at opening EVERYONE'S presents.

Showing off her new pots and pans from Uncle Corey and Aunt Liz to Abuela.

Chili being the ever so gracious host.

Helping mom sweep the floors after the party.

Mia was not feeling so well that day. We could hardly get her to eat anything - she was running a mild fever. We think this all could be chalked up to the 3 canine teeth she's getting at once. But not eating is a bad idea for a diabetic. We monitored her blood sugar throughout the day, which was low, scary low for us. Christmas ended up being pretty stressful.

It's so hard having a toddler with diabetes. Yes people say it's almost better that she won't ever know anything different, but at the same time, she's so young and does not understand her condition or how important it is to eat. And she certainly doesn't understand why Mom and Dad keep sticking her and giving shots. I think today was the first day she actually started to get upset at us for that. You can tell she's starting to wonder about things.

I posted this picture because, aside from the fact it's adorable, you can see Mia's right eye is slightly more closed than the other. Daddy has this same problem when he's had one too many beers. In Mia's case I've noticed this almost always happens when she is running low. We tested within a few minutes of taking this pic and she was 53. But still grinning.

Our goofy monkey.