Sweet Stuff

It's Friday and no better time like reflecting on the highlights from the week and embracing another well deserved weekend!

1. I had an amazing Easter with my husband's family (sans my working husband). Full of good Filipino food (hello lumpia!) and the best family! I had so much fun I completely forgot to take any photos so hopefully Aunt Ev doesn't mind that I stole one of hers. 

2. Easter also came with it's type 1 diabetes mayhem. My 5 year old insulin pump broke. It got a little wet during a morning run because my Camelback leaked on it. Thankfully it was working up until dessert. Then I became quite the entertainment for a few minutes with my alarming insulin pump. My pump company has the most awesome customer service. One great phone call and two days later, replacement pump in my hands! Thank you Kenya from Medtronic! Also, I didn't mind a few days doing the insulin shot thing. It was a nice reminder that switching back and forth is not so hard. 

3. The pump broke just in time for my new Dexcom Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) to get here. I was able to learn how to start using with only the tutorial videos and my paramedic husband supervising. I watched TONS of youtube videos including this cutie: Superhero CGM. In case you don't know, this amazing piece of technology measures my blood sugars from the tissue under my skin and sends the information to a receiver I carry with me. The receiver graphs the blood glucose trends. I can see if my blood sugar is rising, falling, or stable. I can track changes and make well informed adjustments.  

In the picture below, it shows a low blood sugar in the red zone in the middle of the night. The receiver's alarm woke me up and I treated the low with carbs. However, you can also see that I actually over-treated the low and immediately had a high blood sugar right after. I would not have woken up so soon for the low or had known that I'd over-treated it because my blood sugar was back to normal in the morning! Just awesome. Maybe a whole post on this life changer in the future, but if you're curious now learn what CGM is here or visit Dexcom's website.

4. Found the best almond butter brand at Whole Foods this week. I don't care for almond butter by itself because it is usually chunky and tastes bland to me. I usually just use almond butter in baking recipes and put it in smoothies. However, this stuff I could eat by the spoonful. Hoping this "Barney Butter" will help wean me off of my peanut butter addiction. Unfortunately it costs almost twice as much as regular almond or peanut butter. I find this brand to be much more satisfying and therefore I haven't been tempted to eat the entire jar or even half as much of it as I normally would. Hoping it slows down my consumption enough to be worth the cost!  

5. Last and best of all, not only is it Friday, it's SPRING BREAK!! Looking forward to relaxing and soaking in some good weather. Waiting patiently this favorite California flower to start blooming, Lily of the Nile. They look like giant dandelions/pom poms.