Posted by bassgiraffe in bassgiraffe-linkups | 1 Comment
Wednesday GIVEAWAY link-up 03/05
Welcome all. Thank you all for linking-up. Please pass the linkup on to others.
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Current Giveaways
ALL bassgiraffe’s Thoughts giveaways use RAFFLECOPTER!!
ENDS FRIDAY!! Tepamine HCL pills- March 7- US/CAN
Reverse Charades, Hollywood Edition- March 14- US/CAN
Missy Mila- Twisted Tales Volume 1- March 21- US/CAN
National Geographic Kids Ultimate Bugopedia prize pack- March 21- US ONLY
#disneyside prize pack- March 28- US/CAN
JORD wood watch- March 28- US/CAN
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Every Wednesday I will host a link up for your giveaways. Please post direct link to your giveaways only, no links to blog main page. This link up will start every Tuesday Night and will close Wednesday Night at 11:59PM EST. Each week a new link-up will be posted.
Please as a favor follow my blog- bassgiraffe’s Thoughts
Thank you for visiting.
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Posted by bassgiraffe in diabetes | 0 Comments
One year with Type 1 Diabetes
WOW!! It’s been a year since our little rainbow was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes (T1D). A year ago we almost lost her. I live that day over and over in my head. I try to think of what I could have done differently to help her. I think, I should have seen the signs way sooner, save her from how sick she got. My heart breaks thinking about it all.
March 4, 2013, 9:35 AM EST-
I pick up the phone and call her doctor. The secretary answers.
secretary- Dr M office, K speaking.
Me- Hi, this is Erica calling on behalf of my daughter. I think there is something wrong with her but I don’t know what.
secretary- What symptoms is she showing that make you think that?
Me- She’s not eating, she’s drinking a ton of water, she is peeing randomly and it’s so much even her hair gets wet, she is sleeping 18-20 hours a day, I am starting to see her ribs and spine, she complains that her tummy hurts and she is having wild mood swings.
–I think she is going to say, “I’ll talk to Dr M and see what he says.” or “Can you come in later today or tomorrow?
secretary- (a sigh and a pause that seemed like an eternity) How soon can you get here!
Me- (my heart pumping faster and harder then I ever felt it before, something was really wrong with my little girl) I can get there is 45 minutes.
HANG UP PHONE. I then have to call Chris, he has the van. He is on his way. I have to try to change our girl, she fell asleep while I was on the phone and she peed again. She won’t wake up. Chris gets here and carries her out to the car. On the way to the doctor I watch her the whole time.
March 4, 2013, 10:20 AM-
We arrive at her doctor’s office. The secretary immediately asks us to get a urine sample from our child. And within 15 minutes of walking into the door we see the doctor.
Doctor M- Tell me the signs that your child was presenting that lead you to call me.
Me- I repeat what I told the secretary
Doctor M- She has very high sugar in her urine and with what you have said I think she has type 1 diabetes.
My mind shuts off (Dr M is talking but I can’t hear him). I cry. My baby, is she going to be ok? What’s going to happen next? My heart is racing. Is she going to be ok? My mind turns back on.
Doctor M- I need you to head straight to the hospital, don’t go home for anything, go straight to the hospital.
Within an hour she is in a hospital bed, two IV’s in her arms, heart rate monitors hooked up to her, oxygen levels being monitored and tons of blood tests happening. My little 3 year old girl should not look like this, she should be outside running, laughing with her sister.
She spent 6 days in the hospital. The first two days we were told she should be in ICU but they put a nurse in our room so she could stay in the room she was in. We found out her blood sugars had been high for at least 3 months prior to us coming in. We also spent the next 6 days learning about what t1d is, how to take care of it and what to expect for the rest of her life.
A year ago our lives got turned upside down. A year ago our 3 year old had to grow up faster then most kids. A year ago we were all scared.
When your child is diagnosed with t1d you learn about the disease really fast.You learn you knew nothing and now you know too much, more then you ever wanted to know.
This is our brave little girl today. She is managing her diabetes extremely well and has come a long ways health wise. This is a battle she will have to face for the rest of her life but she is facing it so strong.
In the past year so has gone from screaming and begging us to not check her blood sugars to testing it herself (with supervision of course). She has gone from scream and begging us to not hurt her when giving injections ( from us even having to sit on her) to rolling up her sleeves for a shot and even reminding us that we need to do one. She is ready to receive a insulin pump. She’s scared, but I know she can do this next step in her journey. She’s proven to me time and time again how amazing and brave she is.
When I wrote this I originally was going to write, “Celebrating One year with Type 1 Diabetes” as the title. I’m not sure if it’s a celebration, maybe in the sense that we are happy she is alive and thriving, but really We’d be happier if t1d didn’t even enter her life. It’s so hard sometimes to think about it all. T1D is part of her now, I can’t hate it, it would mean I don’t like part of my child. At the same time, I wish it didn’t have to be like this for her. So I left “Celebrating” out of the title.
I’m adding this photo because in the past year I can’t even count how many times I’ve heard “At least it’s not cancer”. I get at least one email or message after a diabetes post saying that. So I’m going to say this-
Diabetes SUCKS!! My 4yr old has to have her blood sugar checked 6-12 times a day. That means poking her finger that many times. She has to get insulin injections 4 times a day. I’ve been told the insulin burns a bit going in. She has to wake up in the middle of the night often to drink a juice box because she has a sugar low. She’s only 4 and has to face more then most people do. She has to do this for LIFE to LIVE. She’s my brave girl who is battling Type 1 Diabetes everyday. So please think before you tell me to be happy it’s not cancer. I’m glad she doesn’t have to face it but she is facing a different battle. Thank you.
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I’m ending on a good note. First with a song my dad wrote for our little girl, we made a video of her life to show that T1D effects anyone, even the most normal looking child. And second please follow my husband’s new blog, it’s T1D from his prospective.
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Thank you The Princess and The Pump for the quote/photo.
Posted by bassgiraffe in Canada, food, health, review | 2 Comments
Vega One protein shake- review
My Thoughts-
I want to start off by saying this is not a sponsored post, this is a “I found a really amazing product that I just had to talk about”, post.
I heard of the company Vega from a few of my friends. They talked about how great it tasted and the benefits from drinking it daily. So I decided to try them out. My plan was to try the chocolate but the store was all sold out so I went with their Vega One- Natural. I was excited to read the top label and see all the nutrients one serving held.
I’ve really wanted to find a shake that would not only give me the protein I needed but also the vitamins I needed. Vega One contains 15g of protein, 6g fiber, 1.5g omega-3, 3 servings of greens, 2.7 cups of antioxidants, 1 billion probiotics and 50% RDI of vitamins/minerals. That’s a lot of nutrients in one shake.
For my shake I added 1 cup unsweetened almond milk, 1/2 cup of frozen raspberries, 2 TBSP natural peanut butter and 1 banana, all added to the scoop of Vega One. This tasted amazing. I was worried about the Vega One being natural that it would taste grassy or bland, but it was so tasty. We did try the chocolate later and didn’t like it as much, I think I need to figure out what would taste great with it and then we could have more variety of flavors. I noticed the other day they have some amazing recipe ideas, I plan on checking them out soon.
I try to drink one shake a day. On the days I do have a shake I notice my energy level is up and I feel fuller longer. On the days I miss my shake I tend to feel sluggish and want to snack more often. Therefore I try very hard to get a shake in a day.
If you’re looking for an easy and quick breakfast in the morning I would totally recommend Vega One. You can even use a shaker cup and mix it with your favorite milk, or milk alternative. If you have Vega One on hand, you’re less likely to come up with the excuse to not eat breakfast, it’s simple, quick and so good.
FIND it-
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Posted by bassgiraffe in I am Beautiful | 0 Comments
Last week of “I am beautiful, I am Me”
I’ve been doing a lot of remembering back to my childhood. I’ve been having fun looking through old photos and remember all the good times I had. While looking through those photos I found a poem I wrote about myself in the third grade. Some of it is trivial but other parts of it made me sad to read. My heart would break if my kids wrote this (I know it did to my parents when they read this). I asked myself, why did I feel this way? I know some of it is what other kids would say about me. ANd some of it was just small words from my parents and/or brother would say. It all made me think about how I talk around my kids, how I talk about them and how I talk about others. I know I wrote about being careful on how we talk about others around our kids, but I think it’s important to meantion it again. Here is a photo of me in 3rd grade. I look at it now and see a cute/beautiful kid, I remember not feeling so pretty or liked back then.
Now here is the poem I wrote. Notice I open up with my “ape like arms”, I then go into my freckles. I end with no one caring about me but my cats. It’s quite a sad poem for a 3rd grader. (I’ll put the typed up version at the end of this post, just in case you can’t read what I wrote.)
I think we should reflect upon what we say, how we say it. Not only about our kids or those around us but also about ourselves. I know many times I heard my mom talk about herself in a negative way, “I’m fat.”, “I’m ugly” are words I remember hearing. I wonder if my 3rd grade self took those words and looked in the mirror and thought the same things as her mommy did, because she heard her mommy talk like that. I know my mom didn’t say those things to hurt me or to give me a negative self image. But I do wonder what impact they had on me as a kid. And now as an adult I have caught myself many times saying those same phrases and other negative things about myself, in front of my kids.
We/I need to STOP the negative self talk. Even in the private of our own room, it doesn’t matter, STOP the bad talk about yourself. It’s a horrible cycle we have gotten ourselves in. Generation after generation hear the negative talk as a kid, then grow up doing it to themselves. I’m sad by it and I really hope I can teach my kids to love themselves, no matter what.
I also think we need to work harder on teaching our kids to be kind to one another. Kids can be mean sometimes. They call each other names, some of them are horrible. It’s not ok to call someone a bad name or tell them they look ugly. I remember a song kids would sing to each other, “U.G.L.Y. you ain’t got no alibi, you’re ugly, yeah yeah you’re ugly. M.A.M.A. how do you think you got that way? Your mama, yeah yeah your mama.” UGH… Even typing makes me feel horrible and I know I said it as a kid, sometimes to join in with other kids or sometimes just to be funny. Either way it wasn’t ok. I hope my kids never do this, it’s an easy thing to fall into. One kid does it and everyone laughs so other kids follow.
I wore pink yesterday to show my support in the anti-bullying campaign. Calling each other bad names is bullying, hitting each other is bullying. It’s not just a kid problem either, adults do it too, which in turn makes kids think it’s ok.
Please be KIND to others and please be KIND to yourself. Remember YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL!!! You are you!!
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“About Myself-
My arms look like a ape.
I have frekles(freckles) on my arms and my face.
I go to Lincoln School.
I like my techer(teacher).
I have a lot of frends (friends).
I suk(suck) my thum(thumb).
I go to sleep at 8:00.
I have a small room.
MY BROUTHER(brother) IS A BRAT.
My brouther(brother) hits me a lout(lot).
No boty(nobody) cears(cares) about me but the to(two) cats that I have cears(cares) about me.
My birthday is Jan 11.”
