It's all in the timing!

I think I might have finally recovered from our latest road trip.  We had a great visit with my family.  It's so much fun to bring our kids to the big family functions.  My family is HUGE!  Seriously.  I think I've mentioned before that I have 6 siblings.  Between those siblings, there are also 16 nieces and nephews.  It's amazing how 2 people can become that many more after 50 years!  One of the best things about being around my family is that there's always someone to play with, someone to watch, someone to hug, someone to listen, someone to talk.  Incredible and so comforting!  Lily and Leo both enjoyed having so many playmates to occupy them and it was great for Lily to see her aunties testing and programming into their insulin pumps as well. 

It took me a few days to get around to writing this post simply because I was so touched by the responses to my last.  I see my husband dealing with everything and yet it still escapes me how frustrating it would be to not know what our daughter is feeling when her blood sugars are off.  Your responses made me choke up and shed a few tears.  When Lily was first diagnosed, I searched and searched for a book that talks about all the unique problems and situations that come up when you have a pint-sized (aka: toddler or preschooler) diabetic.  There was nothing.  Really.  I played around with the idea of writing a book about it myself, and it's still a thought that comes up every now and then.  But I'm not sure I'd know what else a parent would want to know!  Anyway, thank you so much for your comments!

On to tonight's topic...per request of Just Plain Me, I'm going to talk quick about road trip snacks.  To be honest with you, we don't do many road trips in the usual course of life.  We visit my family several times a year, which is a 5-hour drive.  For those trips, it's all about the timing.  A typical road trip day for us starts with a quick breakfast, followed by packing, loading the car, getting the kids dressed, and a morning snack.  Usually something fairly filling, like string cheese, nuts, milk...protein-based foods.  We always time our leaving after morning snack in the hopes that the kids will nap.  Leo almost always does, Lily very rarely.  There's a decent-sized town about halfway through our trip, where we stop for lunch.  Not many options, but we usually pick Arby's or McDonald's.  Back on the road for a couple more hours and we're there, usually before Lily calls for a snack.

Nothing ever goes exactly as you plan it though, right?  So, even though we don't snack in the car much, I do pack snacks.  You never know.  My children are both half fruit-bat, half-rabbit.  Car snacks for us are usually prepared, fresh fruit.  Gets a bit sticky sometimes, but I know my kids will eat them and they're healthy.  So, I rinse and core strawberries or pull grapes off the vine and pack them into Tupperware to bring with.  We usually stay in a hotel and will make sure we have a refrigerator available for storing the food and using it for snacks during our stay.  In addition to the fruit, I'll pack some trail mix, nuts, or string cheese.  Those individually packaged sticks of cheese come in handy on the road!  If your kids are old enough, peeled carrots work well too (Lily loves these, Leo is too young yet though!).  I just get the whole carrots and peel them myself.  They taste better!  Long answer short...sometimes you have to get creative.  Kids change everyday and what they love one day, they detest the next.  You just have to look at what they currently like and pick the choices that work best for you as far as convenience and carbohydrate-levels go.

One more quick tip for road trips.  I let Lily go barefoot in the car.  You wouldn't believe how much easier it is to turn around and poke a toe for a blood sugar check while the car is still in motion than to have to pull over and do it!  Don't worry, my husband drives and I do the checks!