The "Wall Of Change"

The "Wall Of Change" is growing and we are so excited to see the many faces of diabetes. We developed the Wall of Change as a way to bring our community together and to make a statement about the faces and time that these wonderful children and adults have had diabetes. When you look at the Wall of Change and you see someone who has had diabetes for 35 years you are inspired that there is hope for all of us. When you see a picture of a child with diabetes who has only had diabetes for 1/2 a year you are wondering why so many of our beautiful children have to endure this illness.

The Wall of Change brings diabetes awareness to the world. We invite any one that has a person touched with this illness to ask them to participate. We wish to grow this wall so that the world can see the faces of diabetes.

All Change used in the pictures we are asking be send directly to JDRF so that we can contribute to finding a cure for diabetes. We know that all of this change will add up and do great things towards finding a cure for diabetes.

The Wall of Change bringing world diabetes awareness and helping to fund a cure for diabetes. Diabetes awareness in a world where there's hope for a cure!

View the Growing "Wall of Change" http://www.pumpwearinc.com/index.php?page_id=468

When They Leave The Nest

As all of us know there will come a day when our children will move out on their own. For those of us with a child who has diabetes it is much different. In August our oldest Adam moved out on his own with 3 friends. Adam has had diabetes for 6 years now. As you can imagine I was a wreck. Adam was moving really not far at all (around the corner from us) so we knew he had a safe place. The fact that he was rooming with 3 friends also helped to ease our stress level. At the very least they all know he has diabetes and what to do if he needs assistance. Still I worried and when driving by always checked to see if he was in and all was alright.

Now 5 months later he is still doing well, of course they have had the growing pains of getting use to living with each other, but over all they have been doing well. Adam has really grown and is discovering things like, If you work more hours you make more money. Insurance is important and what a co-pay is (when it comes out of your pocket). He's learning how to make his own hair appointment, and what its like to go out at 2 am when your roommate can't get his car started. He's learning how to shovel his car out without a plow and how to clean up after others. We are amazed at all the growing he has done in such a short period of time. As any mother I did not want to see this day come and in all honesty i was secretly hoping he would want to come back home, but no he is adapting, growing and maturing.

We as moms sometimes hate to admit that there will come a day when they don't really need us, Ok they still need us they just don't want us to know it, and that's what I was thinking today when out of the blue don't I get a phone call from Adam, Hey Mom just wanted to let you know that I arrived in Utica ok! He had made a trip with one of his roommates to another friends who is a couple of hours away and one of the things that we always asked was for our children to let us know when they arrived safely when going places. It was such a nice feeling to know that he still thought to call and let me know where he was and that he arrived safely. Makes you just want to hug him!

So as I continue to adapt to our oldest exploring the world of independence I am gratful for our thursday night dinners together and for his warm heart, never afraid to give a hug and most of all for remembering to let mom know he is ok!

Julie

The Middle School! I Thought It Would Get Easier!

Nikki's now 11 years old and this is our first year at the Middle School! If you are like me you probably are thinking how much easier it will be when they reach ths age. After all they are old enought to recognize the signs, test on their own and call you with information, well I Took Nikki to the doctors today for her 3 month check up. I don't know about the rest of you but I always feel that this is my report card. So when the doctor starts to look at her log and see's a lot of 3 and 400 numbers I cringe. I use to think when she got older this would get so much easier, WRONG! I think as they get older it gets harder! I am no longer in total control of this (was I ever really), but now I know that I have lost control! I think I lost it the minute she ventured out into the world of the the middle school! Now that she is at the middle school she has actually started to use all that independence that I worked so hard for her to gain!

Now little Miss Nikki thinks she's old enough to bolus and test without checking in, and oh if she forgets to bolus at lunch and waits 2 hours till the number is off the meter, oh well! Yes when they hit the middle school years, they hit the ground running and we are constantly chasing them, did I really think this was going to be easier?

So how do you go about giving them the independence they crave, yet make sure everything is in order and being done the way you need it to be? I don't have the answers, but I am finding that I have to check and double check on blood sugars, look at the meter myself, and review the logs on the meters and pumps myself why? If you haven't figured it out at this age they have learned the magic numbers, yes I'am 120 , I just tested. How is it all those wonderful magic numbers never appear on the meter when I check it.

Well they are after all kids and they are learning the trick of the trade, so we have to work smarter and be more determined to rein them in! But in a nice way.

So I've resorted to telling Nikki I will give her a dime for every 100 number on the meter at the end of the day! Now some may not agree with this method, but I threw it out there as a way to try and approach this in a positive way, after all the goal is for her to "test more often" remember to bolus" and to correct her highs. And lets face it the child in the desk next to her does not have to resort to all this monitoring and testing, so why shouldn't she be rewarded for remembering to test and bolus.

We've been doing this for about a week and I'am down about $5.00. Not bad for more frequent testing, and better numbers! The best $5.00 I ever spent.

This I'am sure is not for everyone and we still monitor and review all of Nikki's numbers, but I have found by getting her to take an interest in the numbers is really helping (she loves money) and the dime for every 100 number on the meter has given her the incentive to remember! Funny how all the sudden she can remember to pull out that meter and test!

I think its brought all the daily testing into a positive light where she now "wants" to test! after all if she tests 10 times a day and half of those numbers are int he 100's she's made .50 cents!

Julie

2009 Has Arrived!

2009 has arrived and we are ready! We have such an exciting year planned that I thought I would share many of the upcoming ideas you will be seeing!

First our forum has been revamped and now working (fingers crossed) those nasty spammers were hard to gain control of, but we are happy to have this forum back for all of you to enjoy, so please register and use! If you were a prior member you will have to reregister. Enjoy!

Next up you will see lots of new cases coming out. We are so happy to work with Girly Girl Studio and be able to offer you a lot of new cases with matching accessories, so you will truly have the ultimate in insulin pump fashion accessories for your insulin pump, along with stylish meter cases, fashionable pump cases and much more!

Coming soon in our clothing line are some Ladies Nightgowns with pump pockets (ladies you will love these) we've had lots of request for night wear for women and we were listening.

We will also be introducing more in the line of ladies essentials, boys t-shirts (with hidden pockets) and boxers just to mention a few of the upcoming items planned for 2009.

Our Caring and Sharing weekend is also underway, with all the families now notified we are planning all the fun things that will happen for this weekend. These families will have the opportunity to bond with other families with children with diabetes. We are so happy to have the Double H and all our wonderful sponsors that have made this possible. A special thanks to Nada and her gang at Diabetes Health that have helped to sponsor this event each year!

If you are like most of us you are probably happy to leave 2008 behind, for us it was a painful year with the passing of my father.

We are delighed to now be in 2009 and oh so happy with all we have planned.

So take a moment and reflect on a year gone by and take all your energy and place it into 2009 which we know will just be an awesome year!

To all our family and friends we want you to know that all your friends at Pump Wear are happy to help you with all your pumping needs, and we want to provide you with a diabetes community that you are happy with. Take time to view our Pump Wear Forum and tell your friends and diabetes support groups about it.

Happy New Year Everyone!
Julie & Dawn

The New Forum & Caring & Sharing Families Chosen

I am so excited, we have finally gotten the New Forum up and running, those nasty spammers were difficult to get under control but with all the new updates and monitoring we have in place we are hopeful that it will all go nicely now.

Register on our new forum:


http://pumpwearinc.invisionzone.com/index.php?act=Reg&CODE=00


View the Forum : http://pumpwearinc.invisionzone.com/index.php?showforum=3


We wanted this forum available so that our community could unite and bond over common interests and issues. We really hope that everyone takes a minute to register for the forum and let us know what you think.



We also sent out this past month all of the announcements for the caring and sharing weekend. This weekend is really unique in that its totally free to the entire family, the only cost to the family is the transportation to get there. We find that in the diabetes community it is rare for families to be able to truly find a place where other parents of children with diabetes can come together, bond, share and have a stress free weekend totally free of cost and hassle.

Last years event was so much more than we had ever hoped for and we know that this year it will be just as special. We can't wait to meet all the new families coming to the Double H Ranch in Lake Luzerne New York. If you are just hearing about this weekend opportunity don't worry this is our 2nd free diabetes weekend and we hope to announce the information for 2010.

Time To Brag!

Ok I just can't help myself! Nikki has a style that is unique to herself. Since she was a little girl she would insist on matching and selecting her own clothes. Let me tell you that i would cringe when she picked the orange stripe pants with the pink poka dot top! (and i am not kidding). When you have a child with diabetes I sincerely believe that you have to pick your battles and what she wore was not a battle i felt I had to fight. If she was happy wearing these bright, different outfits who am I to try and change her.

Through the years (the past 3) Nikki has done some things that really have made me think that we might just have a designer here. For example, one day I came home to find that she had taken several shirts out of her closet that she didn't care for and cut them up, making them look like tube tops that she than paired with other shirts. (I didn't think these looked like anything I would want to wear) but she soon had her friends swapping out there nice looking cute shirts for her new shirt versions. This is just one of the many creations of Nikki Tyler.

A couple of years ago Nikki expressed a desire to learn to sew, now i can't sew a straight line and I really do not have the knowledge to teach anyone how to go about sewing. Sewing is a lost art, it's become expensive to sew and you have to really love the whole process. Fortuately we have someone who is an excellent seamstress and she offered to give Nikki lessons. Now as many of you parents probably know our children may take lessons for music, band,sewing, drama etc, wheter they ever really end up using what they learn is another story.

Well since Nikki has been learning she made her Halloween costume last year by tracing out what she wanted and her teacher taughter her how to take different parts of different patterns to form the princess costume she had drawn, complete with an insulin pump pocket for her pump.

This past summer we did several shows, one at a local park. Since Nikki knew she would be spending several hours with me at this fair she gathered about 6 of her webkinz, without me knowing it she took one of our bins, put a sheet over it and set up her webkinz all decked out with little shirts, coats and hats that she had put together herself, now were there threads hanging absolutely, where hems uneven? absolutely, but you know what she sold all of the webkinz clothes that she had with her and had enough money to purchases some items at the fair with (she is not a big saver!).

Well I just picked her up from sewing class the other day and she had just finished a top she made, I looked at it and it looked cute, this morning she put it on and I was totally amazed at how really nice it came out. It nice when everything they have been learning starts to come together. She was so proud of herself. Her teacher even helped her do a label that says Nikki, so she proudly stitched this into the back of her shirt so if someone didnt believe that she made it she could show them!

So I now look back at all of those crazy outfits and think, you know what you are right to pick your battles wisely you never know some of the crazy things our kids can come up with might truly be a path they are destined to take!

Nikki Tyler is Stylin!

Here is our darling, Nikki Tyler! Nikki is wearing our new pump pouch,with a matching watch and my New York Sweatshirt!

I recently went on a trip to PA, for our annual shopping trip, (not so much shopping as get together of friends). We do this every year about 80 ladies pile onto 2 buses for our annual shopping trip. We leave at 5:15 a.m. sharp and arrive in reading Pa at about 10:00 a.m. As the store doors open we are all set to tackle the day.

I really enjoyed this years trip, for some reason it really seemed much more relaxed people were so friendly and all willing to share their great bargains. We New Yorkers get the added bonus of "No Sales Tax" when shopping in PA. At about 5:00 we all pile back into our bus and go to the hotel. Where this year we waited for the 2nd year in a row 45 minutes to an hour for our hotel keys. (luckily we got to watch a movie while we waited). We can't figure out why there seems to be an issue with the hotel and hotel keys every year. But even this did not phaze us at all, our groups broke off to many differen eatery's. We decided on a restuarant real close (i won't mention names) because it was close to the hotel, easy to get to and would give us time to get back to use the hot tub (love the hot tub its the best part). The service was not the best, in fact we were all kind of in shock that the waitress was sitting down having a soda with at least 6 unclean tables near by. Actually seemed put out that she had to clean a table for us. Well it was still fun and we did eventually get our food, made it back to the hotel for exactly 15 minutes of hot tub time.

Our next day was another beautiful sunny day, calling home everyone was doing well, dad was holding down the fort! (i do believe Nikki was giving him a run for his money) Patrick is pretty self sufficient so he just did his own thing (It hurts to have them grow up and see that they really can take care of themselves.)

On the way home I found this really great sweatshirt in my favorite color green, i found it at the rest stop on the way back into New York. Well I have not been able to even wear it, Nikki saw it on the table and has been using it ever since. Which is pretty surprising seeing as it is a womens Large. It matched her new pump pouch and when she saw that matching watch (yes you are going to be able to get matching watches to the pump pouches coming out) she loved the look! Now she wants several pouches with the watches to match. Personally I really like the watches myself and i'am using the larger pump pouches for my black berry so we are actually matching each other.

I think I better be prepared for a long road of daughter borrowing my clothes, I only wish I was her size and could borrow her things!!!

Hope you all really enjoy this Halloween week, and Fall Season!

Julie