One year

As I listen to the static-y breathing of my almost FIVE year old over the baby monitor as he sleeps upstairs, I am blown away that it has already been one whole year since we started podding (and more importantly, pumping at all)! A year ago, Liam had his last shot of Lantus. A year ago, that second glass of milk meant an extra shot. A year ago, we were tentatively taking the first steps of our journey that scared the living daylights out of us. We were hooking our then 3 year old's body to a device that we expected to keep him alive, a device we expected him to wear, in some form or another, for the rest of his diabetic life. We were scared. We were excited. Hell, who am I kidding? We were up all night cramming over Pumping Insulin, scared that we may not pass our "test."

We were lucky enough to be all of those things with Laura and Nate, who were right by our side as we took that huge step in that training room at Children's. Looking back at those pictures now, the boys look so little. I am always shocked by how much older Nate looks every time I see him, and I straight CANNOT believe that next Monday, Liam will be FIVE. That can't be right.

But then I remember that yes, it was one year ago, days before his fourth birthday, when we intermittently loved the pod or else were threatening to chuck it into the field behind our house. And it was on his birthday that we finally started to see the numbers we were looking for. Cake, bounce house and all!

It has been one heck of a ride. In the last year we have watched as the OmniPod has given Liam more freedom. It has given us back some spontaneity. Some of the "carefree" his childhood was missing on injections. You want to eat snow ice cream at 9:30am? No problem. Pizza? Watch me work some extended bolus magic. It has not always been easy, but not having to draw up insulin and inject him several times a day has removed some of the medical feel his life had taken on. It makes me so grateful to live in a time and place where this kind of technology is accessible.

Our life may be a heck of a lot beepier, but to be fair, it's more often the Dexcom or my neglected laundry/dishwasher/dying phone battery/etc.

Thank you to you all for your support, and most importantly, thank you to Laura for knowing exactly what I mean (most of the time) when I ramble. And also, for reminding me of our one year anniversary and give us a legitimate excuse for the cupcakes we were already going to make today. What?... we're CELEBRATING!