A D.A.D

OH MY GOODNESS!!!  How could I possibly have forgotten to mention one of the biggest things that is happening to our family???  I was just looking back at the old posts and realized I haven't mentioned my D.A.D.  Nope, not my father D.A.D, but my Diabetes Alert Dog D.A.D!  After having Wyatt my blood sugars got to the point where I can barely tell when I'm dropping because it often happens so quickly.  A typical diabetics blood sugars are supposed to be between the numbers of 80-130.  My perfect area is to be in the 70's.  Many other diabetics would start to get nervous with a blood sugar of 70 and correct it with juice and a snack.  I guess my sugars have just gotten accustomed to being lower.  My lows are often in the 20's or 30's.  To explain how low those numbers are is tricky because most diabetics have never even seen numbers that low...ever.  And I have them at least once a week.  "Take less insulin, eat more," sounds easy enough right?  Not really.  If I take less insulin (even one small unit less), my sugars are high.  I am so sensitive to insulin.  I'm glad I'm still so touchy with it because you would think after being a diabetic for 26 years that it wouldn't work as good as it does still.

Back to my D.A.D...  sorry, got off track there for a second.

I was online talking to some people in a diabetes group when one lady mentioned how both of her sons are Type 1 Diabetics and she is so thankful for their D.A.D Delta.  I was shocked that a dog could help smell out blood sugar changes, but what I was more interested in was how one dog could be a service dog to two different people!  I sent her a private message asking how that worked.  Within about 30 minutes of sending messages back and forth I was in awe of what these dogs could do.  I mentioned them to Nick who asked a few questions about them and how they work.  I was curious the price of them so I decided to call the company that she had gotten her families D.A.D through to get more information.  I still wasn't even thinking about getting one for me, I was just really curious about them because I had never heard of them before!  I called Warren Retrievers up and spoke to the President of the company.  He answered every single question I had while being super friendly.  Never ONCE did he ask me if I wanted to place my down payment.  He wasn't pushy at all!  It was so nice to finally talk to a salesman who wasn't pushing his sales.  It worked, three weeks later we called back and placed our down payment of $1,000.00.

Let's just post a few of the amazing things these dogs can/will do by the end of their two years training, shall we?
* Cost is $19,500.00
*Trainers are flown to my house every 3 months for the first 2 years
*Trainers push us to take the dogs out and do our daily routine with them even though it might be uncomfortable in the beginning.
*Each dog has top knotch health clearances including: Centro Nuclear Myopathy (CNM), PennHIP, OFA ratings of good or excellent, Canine Eye  Registration Foundation (CERF) certified, Optigen Progressive Retinal Atrophy, and Exercise Intolerance Collapse (EIC).
*Dogs are bred through state of the art in-vitro fertilization.
*Puppies are temperament tested at 7 weeks of age.
*Dogs are bred from highest championship bloodlines and championship sires.
*All dogs are mico-chipped
*Dogs smell the changes in our blood sugars (high and low) and alert us to these changes when they are out of range.  The dogs can smell the changes in our blood sugars by parts in the trillions.  Technology such as continuous glucose monitors measures parts in the millions.  These dogs are on average 20-40 minutes faster to detect an oncoming raise or drop of blood sugars than any modern day medical device can.
*The dogs are trained to alert by various means: barking, paw up for high blood sugars or paw down for low blood sugars, yawning, etc.  We train the dogs to alert to what best fits our families needs.
*The dogs will alert to another family member if I am not listening to him/her.  This is amazing because so often I will not get juice or milk when I'm low.  To have the dog alert me, then someone else if I need help is amazing.
*The dogs are trained to get juice for me if I am low, or any of my medical supplies if needed.
*By the end of the two year training the dogs will be able to call 911 in case of emergency.  The dogs have a special device that is attached into the phone line.  A button on the outside lets the dogs press it easily.  If you want more detailed information on how these devices work just ask!
*Research has shown for every 1% reduction in the A1c, the risk of micro vascular diabetic complication (kidney, eye, cardiac, nerve disease) is reduced by 40%.  

We paid our down payment for my D.A.D in late January.  It is a 6-8 month wait now!  As of today, May 15th, 2012, I have raised almost 10K for my dog!  I am selling t-shirts and silicone bracelets.  I also have an online auction coming up that I am really excited about!!!  I will be selling things on my facebook account that have been donated from companies and friends!  I cannot wait for my dog to be paid off!

If you want to read my story (which was published on one of the top 10 worldwide diabetes blogs that belongs to a great friend of mine Moira), please go to:
http://despitediabetes.com/2012/03/13/guest-post-once-a-kid-now-a-wife-and-mom-why-she-needs-an-alert-dog/

If you want more information on the company I am getting my D.A.D through, please go to:
http://www.warrenretrievers.com/index.html

And...if you want to help fund my dog, please donate at:
http://www.guardianangelservicedogs.org/
Once you donate you will receive an email back within 48 hours asking who the donation is for.  Just write my name back: Krista Middleton!  Thanks for reading, will post more soon!

Here is a picture of the front of the shirts I am selling!

Here is Cooper and I wearing our matching shirts for Mothers night at his school:

Wyatt is Officially a Big Boy!

Last week Wyatt woke up in the middle of the night.  We could hear him crying in his bed so Krista went and got him.  She tried to rock him to sleep for quite some time but he wanted no part of it.  Eventually she put him back in his bed to fall asleep on his own.  A few minutes later while laying in bed we hear a very strange sound: bang.  It was Wyatt's bedroom  door.  Funny, since he sleeps in a crib  ;)  A few minutes later we hear "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy..." and its getting closer...and closer...and closer...until he is in our room beside our bed.  Sigh, yes, he hopped out of his crib.  The next evening we switched his crib to a toddler bed by putting the special side onto it.  He loves being a "big boy" but still hates going to sleep.  We have put a gate up onto his door so he doesn't run wild at night haha!  He has done surprisingly well though!  (Well, as long as its not nap time...he STILL hates naps...!)

 Yes, this is how he fell asleep....with a pillow over his head.  We have to check him constantly to make sure he doesn't do it again or we will have to take his pillow away!  What a kid!

Silver Dollar City

We have some really close friends that we have known for years!  Kristi and I were best friends in middle school and the beginning of high school, and her husband Mark was in classes with Nick in high school.  Many years later we are both married and have reconnected after college.  The past two years we have taken a family trip with one another and its always a ton of fun.  Last year the Ferguson's came here to Texas and we went to Great Wolf Lodge (which was amazing, and we highly recommend it!).  This year they asked us to go to Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri with them.  We love mini vacations and road trips (especially when its with such a great family) so we instantly accepted the invite!  It was a 7 hour drive from our house.  We left really early Friday morning and was arrived into Branson around 2 that afternoon.  The Ferguson's arrived not long after us so we settled into our hotel and caught up with one another for a bit.  Then...we talked the husbands into taking us to the outlet mall.  :)  Kristi was pregnant with their third child and needed to get the new baby some clothes while I wanted new clothes for the boys.  After some shopping we went to a great seafood/steak restaurant.  It was pricey, but hey, its always okay to spend money on vacations right?  We went back to the hotel to let the kids swim in the pool before going to bed.  We had a busy day ahead of us!

The next morning we got up early, got ready, ate breakfast at the hotel, then waited for the shuttle bus to  take us from our hotel to Silver Dollar City (it was less than a mile from where we stayed).  We weren't sure what to expect when we got there and were pleasantly surprised.  We had bought our tickets in advance and went right into the park.  It is an amusement park/little shops/mini city that is built into the mountains of Branson.  If you have ever been to Branson you know that it is ridiculously hilly!  The whole thing is covered with trees and is just beautiful.  Everyone who works there is dressed in costume to resemble the 1800's.  SO COOL.  They had every kind of mini shop from glass blowing, to handmade lotions and  soaps, to old photography booths, to a blacksmith shop.  Once you enter the park all rides are free which is amazing.  You just pay for goodies and food.  I loved that.  So many amusement parks today make you buy stupid tickets and it costs a fortune!!!  We got to ride all the rides we wanted all day long.  Also, when we bought our tickets it was a "buy one day, get one day free."  We didn't think we would have enough to do there for two days, but in all honestly we didn't get half of the things we wanted to done!  The rides were great, the food lines were terrible, and the weather was perfect.  I got tons of great new pictures with our brand new camera (the Sony A77).  

Mark and Kristi's oldest child is Luke, who is 6.  He kept asking me to take him on roller coasters.  I am a chicken when it come to rides but how could I say no to such a cute kiddo?  Nick took  Cooper on the rides, and I switched with Mark taking either Luke, or their daughter Kendall who is 4.  Since Wyatt was too young for most of the rides Kristi watched him (since she couldn't go on the rides being pregnant).  It really worked out quite well for all of us!  Cooper determined pretty quickly that he does NOT like roller coasters and Luke kept promising me it wasn't a scary one coming up...I got scared though, (shiver).  The little kids LOVED those big swings that go around in the air.  Cooper and Kendall wanted to go on it over and over.  Luke LOVED the big roller coasters.  The Daddies took him over and over and over.  We all got crazy sunburns, but it was so worth it!  We went out for pizza that night, then a bit of swimming before going to bed to wake up and do it all over again!  The next day we bought sunscreen too...

On Sunday we showed up  to the park as soon as it opened.  The Daddies went RUNNING to the biggest ride there: Wildfire.  It...was...insane.  There were no lines since it was so early in the  day so they rode it at least 5 times in a row!  I got some great pictures of them!  There was a spot to stand to watch everyone on the ride.  So cool!  We left Branson about 3 that afternoon.  It was a really, REALLY long drive home but we had such a great time!  I wonder what next year has in store for the Ferguson/Middleton vacation???  (Quick update:  Baby Claire was born on Friday, May 11th!!!  Congratulations Ferguson Family!!!)

Our family at the park entrance...

The Ferguson Family

Cooper and Krista on the train ride.  All the kids loved this one!  

Nick is at the bottom in the bright blue shirt!

Happy kids!

This is Wildfire! (Part of it, it went way off to the right and the left of this picture too)

There goes Nick and Mark!

Yes, they are upside down...

In the ballpit...

They loved the swings!!!

There was a full kids ride section too!

Beautiful sunset on our drive home!