The Holidays

Our biggest adjustment was the holidays. I love baking, and I honestly believe everything in life can be learned through baking. What was I going to do now? I usually go all out for Thanksgiving and Christmas. This was going to be a learning experience for our entire family. The doctors and nutritionist in the hospital told me not to stop our holiday traditions, to keep our life as "normal" as possible. Halloween came we dressed up and went trick or treating. The JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) put out a very helpful guide for Halloween for kids with type one.

Halloween wasn't too much of a headache this last year. I thought I handled it pretty well! Yes, Duncan's sugar was up to the 400's, and I found out that night, that no matter how much I watch him, he is going to find a way to get what he wants. If he knows he's not supposed to have it, he will sneak it.

Thanksgiving was a little different for us this year. I still did most of the baking I usually do, I cut it down, and made one or two more "low sugar" pumpkin pies than I normally make. Our Dede is a type two diabetic so we're pretty used to making "low sugar" pumpkin pies. Duncan's blood sugar was really high during Thanksgiving, in the 400's and 500's at times. He wasn't feeling very well though and I realized when he's sick his blood sugar will spike, no matter how well I keep track of his carbs.

Christmas was a learning curve for us this year. Santa didn't fill stockings with as much candy this year- A little chocolate for the older boys and sugar free candies for Duncan. There were more toys and games filling their stockings and the boys loved every minute of it. I thought this year Christmas was going to be harder when it came to the sweets, but my boys seemed to understand the importance of Duncan's condition. My 7 year old gets really upset when he sees Duncan eating anything. He has decided he is the "food police" and will come in and make sure whatever Duncan is eating is something an adult gave him, even if it's just a carrot stick.

I think the hardest thing about the holidays is getting together with family. 2015 was our first holiday season dealing with Duncan's diabetes I was still learning how to count all the carbs I was anticipating him eating, as well as counting all the carbs he actually did eat and I had to teach it to family as well. We made it very clear to everyone we came in contact with that they were NOT to give ANYTHING to Duncan unless they had permission from me to do so. My mother in-law is very strict with that rule. She knows she can give him cheese and meat, but she still made sure to ask me before letting him have anything to eat.

My husband comes from a family of 6 children.  There are now 4 spouses and 7 grandchildren with one more on the way.  We all got together this year for Christmas and it was a mad house.  Of course my first priority is Duncan and what he's putting in his mouth, but when you have that many people in a room and a lot of chaos something is bound to happen, and sure enough Duncan found some popcorn and started stuffing it in his mouth.... needless to say his sugar was up in the high 300's low 400's that night. 

I now know the holidays are going to be the trickiest to deal with. My husband and I don't usually keep candy and junk food around the house because we know how much of a temptation it is for us, let alone our children. The holidays are different though, it's hard to get through them without baking my traditional Autumn Harvest Pie or cookies for Santa. I know by next year we're going to be experts... but this year I'm just hoping we can get Duncan through Valentines Day without him going into a sugar coma.