type 1 diabetes

Being Brave: BritMums and Type 1 Diabetes

In June 2015 I attended the BritMums Live conference for parenting bloggers. I have been many times to the event, and have transitioned from nervous new blogger to being relaxed and excited to catch up with friends and discover new brands. I have spoken at the event in previous years, and gained valuable experience in public-speaking. I have even read a blogger keynote speech before – a funny one that gave me the satisfaction of a few audience laughs. This year though, I was brave. This year I spoke out about what it means to suffer a life-changing event in …

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Diabetes: Being a better mother

A letter to my children on being a better mother. Dear kids, I’ve been your mother for over ten years. I’ve been your mother in the sense that I became pregnant (eventually), gave birth (hastily), and navigated you (anxiously) through your early years. I’ve read, and cooked quite well; I’ve fixed grazes, temperatures, and broken buttons passably; I’ve tolerated craft activities and role-play, barely. But it’s only recently that I can really say I am a good mother. Of course, I’ve always loved you. I would do anything to protect you, though I’ve always made sure that you rely on yourselves. A drop down the behaviour …

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Modz Angry Birds blood glucose meter review

The Modz Angry Birds blood glucose meter has clear and colourful graphics

  Type 1 diabetes is not a cheerful subject. It’s even less fun when you’re a child; and certainly no fun at all when you’re a 10 year old who has to prick her finger before she can eat. Nor is it nice waiting for the result of that finger-prick blood test. GG has been known to cover the screen of her meter as she tests, slow-revealing the result so as to lessen the blow. So anything that makes the whole daily slog of managing diabetes as a child will always get a massive tick in our house. Modz Angry …

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Dear Coleen Nolan, diabetes is not my fault

Stupid questions your mum will ask about diabetes

Having to take insulin injections is not the worst thing about having diabetes. Having to prick your fingers before you can eat or exercise is probably worse than needing to inject a synthetic hormone into your body, but it’s not the worst thing about having diabetes. Working full time (and it is full-time) to keep blood sugars under control, and the sense of deflation when all that hard work doesn’t pay off, is one of the worst things about having diabetes. But it’s not the worst. Public misperception around diabetes is the worst thing about having the condition. I struggle with …

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What Santa said to the Tooth Fairy

What Santa said to the Tooth Fairy

I know we’re well into January now, and by rights I should be posting recipies involving brown rice, or decluttering tips. Heck, it’s even too late for New Year resolutions now! Which it just as well, because I didn’t make any… I’m terrifically tardy, but I’m going to bend your ear about Christmas, because really, this is one conversation I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to share. What Santa said to the Tooth Fairy Prologue A week before Christmas, the wobbly tooth began to feature. Apples and carrots were requested, not to store up for the reindeer, but to force …

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Type 1: What my girl would like to say…

I wasn’t going to write about World Diabetes Day. This is a family blog. It’s a happy space, where I record the things in our lives that I want us to remember: the holidays, the letters to Father Christmas, the amusing anecdotes about funny toddlers that will make guests at their weddings laugh. It is not a blog about diabetes. But as I think about my daughter, about all she has had to come to terms with in the 3 months since her diagnosis, I know that I can’t let the occasion pass without some comment. I was going to …

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Diabetes: Wot so Funee?

Type 1 Diabetes - how a child is coping

Now I know what you’re thinking. What could possibly be funny about diabetes? And you’d be right. It’s not funny at all. Every single aspect of it is just bloody awful, and the fact that it is occurring to a child makes it infinitely worse. But you know what? She is doing it. All those fingerpricks, injections, snacking at odd moments, not snacking when she wants to – she is beginning to take it in her stride. And she has found things to laugh about – oh what a joy it is to see her infectious smile still there, to …

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