Diabetes

As many of you know Meeks has Type 1 Diabetes and due to the increased likelihood of our children having it we have always kept a fairly close eye on the boys. Earlier this week Mitch started exhibiting some of the classic symptoms which are frequent urination and needing to drink lots of water. Meeks did a blood glucose test yesterday and he was higher than normal although not long after it had returned to a more normal level. This morning we did a test before breakfast and it showed a much higher level than it should have been after not eating for 12+ hours.

As a result we have spent the day talking to various doctors and the last 4 hours or so in the children's hospital. At the hospital, the blood glucose test they did returned a normal result which is good. They took some blood and will do a bunch of tests to find out what is going on. In the mean time they gave Mitch his own glucometer and we will need to test him about 4 times a day over the next week or so to see what is happening with his blood sugar levels. His normal reading in the hospital indicates that he is not 100% certain of diabetes, but is a borderline case. Either way it is very good that we have appeared to have caught it early.

It has been a very stressful and teary day as we have been considering the consequences of having an (almost) 4 year old with insulin dependent diabetes. Certainly there are worse medical conditions to have and he will still be able to lead a long and largely very normal life, but it is a chronic lifelong condition with no cure. Mitch is only 4 so certainly doesn't understand the consequences and impact on him, but he does understand that something is not right and having Mummy and Daddy do pin pricks on his fingers for blood glucose tests is no fun at all. We are trying to get him interested and involved, but at the moment he just wants us to leave him alone. He loves attention but when that "attention" involves pricking his fingers to get blood, he'd rather not have it! We get the blood test results next week and will keep you updated.

Keeping up

Sam has decided he has had enough of watching Lucas crawling around and he started doing it himself this afternoon. Good boy Sam. I'll have to get some footage soon!

It has been a "fun" week watching Lucas crawl around. His favourite things are the wine rack and the dishwasher. First thing in the morning he will always head to the wine rack to play with the bottles. That potential disaster is averted by placing the bean bag in front of it. If you're in the kitchen and you open the dishwasher shortly afterwards you hear the slap, slap, slap of Lucas' little hands as he crawls towards it. Interestingly Mitch was exactly the same (scroll to the bottom of this post). Lucas also likes going to visit Mitch in his room which is very cute. This morning while I was having a shower he crawled down pushed open the door to see what was going on. It will be interesting to see whether Sam and Lucas will follow each other around or crawl around doing their own things. They have been forced to share each other's company for the first 10 months of their lives!

Crawling

Lucas started crawling this morning. Before breakfast he couldn't do it. After breakfast he decided to crawl around and see what Mitch was doing in his play area. He wasn't quick and I don't think he realised what he was doing but one minute he was in one place, the next he was going around the corner. Sam just watched him go. The rules have changed again! :)

Update:
A video! (here is a direct link)


Sam is not totally static he manages to get around the floor, just not really crawling.

More photos

I took a bunch more photos of the little boys today, just playing around at home. I have uploaded the set to Flickr and you can see it here. Here is a slideshow for you! (if the slideshow doesn't work click on the link)

Created with flickr slideshow.

Another one of Mitch

Another shot of Mitch eating a chocolate biscuit. A suitable reward for sitting still while I took photos of him. Do you think he enjoyed it?

A new trick

Lucas and Sam have learned to hold their bottle by themselves.

 

 

This is a great time saver for us because we can just give them their bottles and they drink until they've had enough and then they put their bottles down. Unfortunately, they still haven't learned to roll over and crawl yet so they kind of just lie there until you sit them up so they can burp. Speaking of crawling they're getting closer, but still not quite there.

Mitchy

Mitchy is very rarely willing to sit and let me take photos of him, so when he does, it's a real treat. Here are some from today.

 

  

  

There was a bunch of funny faces too!

He's growing up so fast. He is at Pre-School 2 days a week this year and loves it. Yesterday he came home in his "spare" clothes because his first set of clothes were covered in mud (which did not come out in the wash). Apparently, "dirt cars" is his favourite game and after all the rain we have had, "dirt cars" became "mud cars".

Bathing baby boys

We took a few snaps after Sam and Lucas had had a bath today. They are very cute little boys :)

Lucas (and me)

 

Sam