Jade

So it has been a couple of weeks since I've blogged due to all of the activity at work and home.

At work, the current executive staff has all been let go and a new company strategy is being put together for us to follow. I've been given the task to help define the direction of the company. There are two major factions on what we should do which makes it very interesting.

On the home front my daughter was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes 10 days before her 2nd birthday. At times I still think I'm going to wake up and and all of this would be just a bad dream. Unfortunately I don't think this is going to happen :-(.. Jade handles everything very well, even when I go into her room in the middle of the night and turn on the hall light she sticks out a finger for me to stick for the blood test. She does not exactly care for the shots but she is getting more used to it.

The diagnosis was very interesting because we caught it so early. I think that her blood sugar was out of control for about 3 to 4 days and noticed some of the signs. So being diabetic myself I decided to do a blood test on her and sure enough her blood glucose was over 600. My initial thought was this must be a mistake. I did it again in a different place (a toe this time) and sure enough it was over 600 again. We called the doctor immediately and decided to go to the hospital. We really did catch this early compared to most diabetics. She only had trace keyatones and was still generally happy. The hospital did not even believe this, they almost wanted to send us home. She did not fit the profile from a wellness standpoint nor from an age standpoint (Apparently most children who are diagnosed with Diabetes are either at birth or from the ages of 8-13).

It really sucks that she has this and we are having to adjust but we are up to getting her in as best control as we can. We have a doctor appointment on Thursday but the doctor is very pleased with the progress we have made without much help from the doctor.

So where to now??? We are hoping for a cure more than ever now. Our short term plan is to get her one of those insulin pods as soon as humanly possible to help with the shots and to keep our fingers crossed for a cure.

One of my fondest memories of Jade

The picture below actually contains two of my favorite memories of Jade (or possibly two of my favorite things she does). First when the camera comes out she always strikes a pose. If she even sees the camera she wants us to take a picture. The second thing in this picture is her blanket "JuJu", Carolyn has written about Jade's "JuJu" over on her Blog... Every morning when I'm driving her to school she always asks about "JuJu" like she is asking if she can take it. It's really funny when I go to wash it and tell her that it needs a "bath" she gets all excited and then sad that she cannot have if for an hour or so. Lately I've had to sneak it into the wash or wash it by hand then place it in the dryer.

My Favorite Charities

Here is a list of some of the Charities that Carolyn and I have worked with / donated to. There is a website called "Network for Good" that has information on all of these charities. I've placed a link from this site for their donation page. You can get all of the charity financial information from links on that page.

1) Cystic Fibrosis Foundation

2) Cystic Fibrosis Services of North Texas

3) SPCA of Texas

4) American Diabetes Association

5) Habitat for Horses

6) North Texas German Shepherd Club

Favorite TV Shows...

Since I got such a nice note from my wife tonight I think I'll shock her and post for a 4th time in 3 days... I think it's pretty funny to take a point in time and list all of the TV programs that you watch then look again within 5 years and see the number that are no longer there or that you still watch. Here are my favorite 10 shows right now (not in any particular order).


1. Lost
2. Chuck
3. Law and Order SVU
4. How I Met Your Mother
5. Big Bang Theory
6. Cold Case
7. Gary Unmarried
8. Criminal Minds
9. Chelsea Lately
10. American Idol

One of my fondest memories of Branson

My fondest memory of Branson is when he was about 4 years old and he loved (like he still does) to be the center of attention. He used to dance around to songs just to get noticed. When we would laugh he would dance even more. We have some video of him doing this and it always makes me smile.

One of my fondest memories of Kyler

Over the next couple of days I'm going to put some of my favorite memories from my kids. Tonight it's Kyler's turn....

One of my favorite memories of Kyler is last year when he started baseball. During practice he started out like most kids, he was a little scared of being hit by the ball when the pitcher threw it for him to hit. Also during practice he had issues really staying in the batter's box and giving it a good swing, hence it was very hard to make good contact with the ball.

Just before the game I told him that he needs to visualize staying in the batter's box and hitting the ball. He closed his eyes and said that was picturing it then.

Kyler was batting at the very bottom of the batting order and on his very first at bat in the game he got a base hit. He got the first hit and first run scored of the season for his team. He actually ran to second for a double. The best part was how excited he was. He was on cloud 9.

Every time he now mentions that he does not think he can do something I remind him of the visualization that he did on the hit and he always closes his eyes and says that he can now see it.

10 Things about me...

Ok... So it's been like 6 months since I've posted. I was tagged by my wife to do a blog about 10 things about me. I kind of like this idea of people giving me blogging ideas. So if you want to post in the comments ideas to blog about I'll work the suggestions into blog postings. Enjoy.....

---------------- 10 Things about Paul ----------------

1. I like movies, especially ones with happy endings. I am not a big fan of tragedies.

2. I normally go for the underdog.

3. I always wished that I could sing better and play instruments.

4. I am the middle child of 5. I have three sisters and a brother.

5. My favorite car is the classic Mustang. I've owned several.

6. I was diagnosed with Diabetes when I was 11

7. I don't mind doing yard work. (Funny when you consider that I've not mowed our lawn for at least 8 years).

8. I would love to run for a public office. Go figure, at times I feel as if I could do a better job than most politicians.

9. I am left handed

10. My wife is my favorite person in the world. Some of the qualities that I admire in her (to prove my point) are: She's... intelligent, thought provoking, inspiring, sexy, funny, hot, cool, caring, supportive, loyal, consistent, persistent, persuasive, animal friendly, a supermodel, a rock star, adventurism, loving, and of course most of all, she puts up with me :-)