Swim Meet

Saturday was our first swim meet of the season. We swam in Walnut Creek, as is normal, it was cold and dreary there, until the meet was over, then the sun came out. Because both of our teams are big, the kids only swam two individual events. They all swam Free and Fly. Yes, our kids are all alike.






Sandra conferring with Coach Serge before her fly. She popped her time by 2 seconds.


And looking cute before her relay.

Kyle's fly race. The boy has speed. He also popped his best time by two seconds.

(Kyle is in Ln 4, with the gold cap)

Mindy's cool dive.









Other than the cold, it was a good meet. I rewarded them all for their hard work with a trip to Crepes A-Go-Go, for a yummy lunch. I hope we have more Walnut Creek swim meets.

How to legally torture a child, aka, TrialNet Phase 2

We got the results of Cammie's retest for the TrialNet study and she definitely is positive for the GAD Auto antibody. We now had the option of saying that is nice and leaving it at that, but no, I opted for choice number 2, which was to enroll her in Phase 2 of the study. Because of course my kids are great and they will have no problem with me choosing to have them poked and have lots of blood drawn.


For this part, Cammie had to be fasting overnight, then go in for several hours to take a glucose tolerance test, you know that horrible test you have to take when you are pregnant and drink that gross gross disgusting super sugary pop. Fortunately for her, she only had to have about 4 oz. Unfortunately for Cammie, she had to give lots more blood, every thirty minutes for 2 hours, and 3 draws before drinking the gross stuff.



To prepare we bought a special bottle with built in straw for drinking the special stuff.














After patiently waiting for a long time while paperwork was filled out and equipment was readied, she had a hep-lock inserted. Luckily she had a good vein and the first try was a winner. Sadly though it was in her right arm, so she wasn't able to color through the rest of the day.

Cammie was great for this part, she just barely flinched once, and was a bit tense until they pulled the needle out. She actually had to watch, despite me trying to distract her. After the IV was inserted the blood draws started.

For this phase of the trial, they retest for the auto antibodies, they test for insulin in the blood, they test for c-peptides (which is a way to measure the amount of insulin the body makes itself), they do a genetics test to look for a protective gene that some people have which greatly reduces their risk of ever developing Type 1, and they test the blood glucose levels.

These are all the vials for blood, after the first round was over, in which they took another 4. 25 in all. Lucky girl.

After being there for over and hour and totally starving she finally got to have her special drink. She said it was very good.

We took books and a portable DVD player to keep Cammie entertained. She also got a few toys at the beginning. She patiently watched her movie and tolerated being bugged every 30 min for them to suck a little more blood.

At the end she was rewarded with a trip to the prize box and a water bottle full of little treasures.

We also got these fantastic t-shirts for everyone in our family.

After it was over, she said she wanted to do it again, and was wondering if it could be tomorrow. I think we will definitely go on for Phase 3 in which she gets to go every six months for the same testing to monitor any changes in her body. The nurse in charge said she was the best 4 year old she had ever had and she was better then many of their older kids.

Yeah for kids who like to give blood for a good cause.

Back to real life

Last Sunday, Kyle was ordained a Deacon. This Sunday he had his first experience passing the Sacrament. It was a bad Sunday for this, as our ward had a double Missionary Farewell happening, so there were tons of people there, and extra sections of overlow opened up. Some of the deacons just didn't know how to work it, so they were wandering all around, once two guys sent trays down the same row at the same time. It was a bit sad. Sometimes I want to go explain to them how to read and follow the little passing chart they have. Some of them just don't seem to get it. I wanted to take a picture of Kyle passing, but seeing as how freaked out my kids were when I took of picture of them in the foyer at church, I decided I better not. Also I think it may be frowned on to take pictures during the Sacrament.

Sandra and I made our yearly trek to this wonderful place. Shriner's Hospital in Sacramento. We got some good news, sort of. She has extremely good functionality in her arm and hand, so unless something develops, they don't think they will ever have to do any correctional surgeries in her joints. However, we will need to continue to watch as problems could develop during puberty, and there is a very high likelihood that she will need some cosmetic surgery as a teenager. We don't have to go back for two years. Shriner's is great because we don't have to fight with our insurance to go there. They have some of the top doctors in the area working there. And they don't treat you like an idiot for wanting to know and understand what is wrong with your child.

Cammie decided one day, that it was too much work to carry her baby the normal way.

Mindy and I went to the Stake Activity Day program. She had a great time with her friends and was so excited to finally meet Claire's cousin who was visiting. She also enjoyed the classes.

The boys went on a campout. For the first time Andrew did not go, as he was needed at home to care for the litte girls while Mindy and I were gone. The boys had a good time and survived.

Travis had his quarterly Endocronologist visit. His Hba1c went down significantly. This is great news. He grew over 1 1/2 inches and has now surpassed me in weight. Cammie had her second blood draw at the same visit for the TrialNet Study. Now we have to wait six weeks for the results.

2nd Formal Night

Andrew deciding caviar is better as fish bait.

My favorite pictures

Easter Sunday

We were on the cruise for Easter. I was a little bit sad all day because I was missing my kids get their baskets, and do the Easter hunt, and seeing them in their new clothes for the first time.

The ship had this really cool Easter display. The chocolate eggs were huge (bigger then my head). We wanted to abscond with one, but they were guarded, so all we could do was bask in the yummy chocolatey smell and dream.

Easter was also the first formal night. Here we are at dinner.

Tortola, BVI

We woke up the last day of the cruise, docked on the island of Tortola. The water there was the most beautiful I had seen.

The beach at Brewers Bay had decent waves. We had heard that it had good snorkeling, but when we got there, the waves were too rough for snorkeling. However they were just about perfect for body surfing, and this made Andrew's day. (if you look hard you can find him in the surf)

I actually managed to catch a few and get a good ride. I think this was the first time in my life I have successfully done it. I also had one of my most embarrassing moments and am still hoping that no one related to me actually saw it.

The beach even came complete with cute little critters, and wild chickens.

Sadly for Andrew, it was a short port day, and being the last, all the women decided they wanted to get back early to do some last souvenir shopping, so he didn't get to spend as long as he wanted in the waves, but it was a nice finish to the trip.


(the donkey you were supposed to pay to get pictures of, but I snuck one while walking by.)