Sweet Summer Gone

summertime 042, originally uploaded by Audge3.

I knew summer would fly this year with the birth of Aliza. Isabelle started school yesterday and now rides the bus! It went really well which I'm thankful for and she gets to stay on the same all the way to school no switching! I''m not too excited about her having math homework every night on top of the reading books and now spelling. Good grief, 1st grader people!!
The kids are obessed with mario brothers and they often pretend that Isabelle is mario and Christian is luigi. Before school Chrisitian said to me, "Peach?" (I somehow am peach) " Yes Christian?" " no say, what Toad?" He was Toad yesterday I guess. " Yes Toad?"
" I'm going to miss Mario"
Aliza has become a very wonderfully easy happy babe. She has started going to bed at 8:30-9 and waking up at 7am. She has also started napping longer, no weird cat naps and a hodge podge of a day. It was really frustrating me but I thought she sleeps through the night, the naps will come give the kid a break and seemed like once I quit trying to force things she did it herself. Thank you Lord. :)
In other news my thyroid is a little low. I felt edgey lately and it felt off, they didn't put me back on my alternating dose of 75 mcgs and 50's after the baby they just did 50's which I questioned but you know how that goes. Anyway I guessed my TSH would be 2.94 I feel best at around 1.5 anyway it was 3.94 on the high end of normal which means lower thyroid. He was going to keep me on the 50's but I plead my case through many obsticles and finally he agreed to go back. I started breaking out in hives last week and my hair loss tripled. I read online it could be thyroid for the hives or postpartum hormones. Either way the edgeyness should get better. So that's that for now, Click on the pic for more and pics of the baby as well.

Update

So I've still been having problems with arm achiness. Both arms at different times and it's disrupted my sleep 3 nights this week. I'm pretty sure I have carpal tunnel in both arms. My ob referred me to a physcial therapist and I go next week. I also called them and said I struggle with sciatic nerve pain AND I had a referral from way back in August for TMJ from the dentist. So they're going to see what they can do. On the days I have no pain I think well maybe it's done or going away but then it will hit again and it's so frustrating!! I limped around the morning of my birthday my hip hurt so bad, I would get this shock of pain that almost makes you want to crumble. Mitch keeps telling me this is my last pregnancy, and I really don't have a leg to stand on to argue... esspecially the leg with the sciatic issues. ;)
In other news, my thyroid levels are back to normal TSH 1.67 which is very optimal and I tend to feel very good at around this number.
I also found out our deductible was half the price I was planning on for the baby so that was also a positive for yesterday!!!

Some of the details.

(18 week belly) a plethora of typos and missing words in this post, blame pregnancy brain, fatigue, being spent and doing this at the end of a long day.
Gone for a almost 2 weeks, we came home to an allegedly vandalized from storm door that won't close now and a leaking sump line which could've been worse but it still gave me a good mess to come to. Wet floor, my carpet patch in the laundry room, wet cardboard boxes, some containing keepsakes and stored kid clothes. So lots of clean up and sorting and laundering, oh the LAUNDERING, I am so tired right about now, I've been organizing and doing these mountains of laundry, fighting with boxes, getting down the bottom of 5 stacked high and going through them, oh yeah and I took the christmas tree down. But I did find a tv antenna I had been looking for. Anyway not too fun to come home to Saturday when Friday night I slept horrible with an anxiety attack and didn't really get all relaxed till... 7:42 am so I slept from about 9am to 11:30 am the day we needed to leave. Good thing I didn't know what I was coming to. :) I think it hit because of having to travel the next day and I knew my mom was not feeling well on the couch, she feels grody from time to time with hormones and my mind just kept racing all night along with my pulse. I kept seeing the game Acquire when almost sleeping. Not fun but I kept telling myself that while this is not the best thing for my body in the long it must be the best thing for my soul. It pulls me back to remembering that I am weak and dependant on the Lord and that He carries me. I slept like a ROCK Saturday night to say the least. 8 hrs now pee break which is rare these days.
In other news, baby's moving a lot. Mitch got to feel a kick last night. I asked him, "how does that make you feel?" He paused, "fine". You have to know my husband to appreciate this. He isn't a gusher on the outside, although he has said he's seen many things be born but seeing a person with a soul being born is pretty amazing. One more week and we find out what gender the baby is, then the battle over names will begin. ;)
I didn't even actually give details on our trip back home, bawled like a baby when leaving as usual, good time with family and friends. Oh yeah my thyroid was a little low and I found right before leaving and my dose went up to 100mcg levothyroxine. I get checked again in a couple weeks. I WAS feeling a little edgey and tired but nothing too severe... unless you ask the people on the other side of my rage. ;) Thank the Lord for people who forgive.
Laundry beeping...

Update

9 weeks pregnant today, I'm improving, my stomach doesn't hurt AS bad. I have slept two nights without my a.n.b. :) I was able to function almost normally yesterday... almost.. I get pretty beat come late afternoon and feel gross but improvements....I've been able to exercise once a week and am hoping to get up to 3 times this week, I really don't want to lose my muscle strength, what little I've worked so hard to have. My belly is pooching, not just oh looks like you're bloated, but looks like I'm pregnant, I need the dr to tell me I'm not having twins so I'll believe it. I will have to take a picture soon. I want to chop my hair off I keep going back and forth, chopped to me will be no shorter than shoulders but if anyone has opinions let me know... maybe this is better fit for a facebook status update. :)
Oh yeah my thyroid tests came back in normal range so that's great, I haven't heard from endo yet on it though, so I'm guessing that's good. Next dr visit is in about a week, hopefully I'll get to hear the baby's heartbeat!!
I feel like the kids have said funny things lately but I can't seem to remember them....

Thyroid Update ( girl menstrual cycle talk, beware)

Today I went to the endocrinologist again. It had been six weeks since I was there and we started alternating between 75 mcg doses and 50's. I can tell I am feeling better than I was. The edge is taken off for sure and it has reflected in my monthly cycle. I was reading more about basal body temps and how your luteal phase should be lasting about 14 days and mine was only lasting 10. This month it lasted 13 days and my period lasted a little bit longer than it had. 3.5-4 days vs 1.5-2 days. My blood draw from last Friday reflected it. Normal range for TSH is .3-3. ( the lower this number the higher the thyroid and vice versa) T4's range is .8- 1.8. This Feb when I wasn't feeling right, they had called and Mitch took the call and relayed my levels were within normal range. I called back to find out just what the numbers were. TSH .87, t4 1.6. I felt they were on the high end of normal. I have been on 75 mcg, 50 mcg and back up to 75 and now alternating. I actually asked my endo last april from the university if it would help to alternate, he didn't think it would make a difference... but I think he wasn't a seasoned endo because he always had to have another endo double check his work. ANyway so back to my levels now. TSH 1.53, T4 1.08. And I feel the difference amazingly enough. Nothing drastic but like I said, the edge is off and the cycle has improved. And my heartrate has been around 64 bpm. Quite the change from the bad days of 136 bpm.
So I am so thankful!! I really didn't think this would fix things for me but it sure seems to. THank you Lord!!
Also it really pays to be your own health advocate, know your disease and read up on it and listen to your body and get the numbers. Had I just accepted " normal range" I would've not been living as healthy as I could be. In the book The Thyroid Solution it talks about how different people have different normals. What feels fine to one person may not feel right to another. Listen to your body I've learned. It's annoying to have to keep going back and switching doctors or getting referred to specialists etc; but you can't depend solely on your doctor, the patient plays a large role in their health care and treatment. This endocrinologist gave me the option to switch to synthyroid, the brand, because sometimes generics don't have the same consistent purification process or I could try alternating doses. I was the one who chose. I chose to alternate and stay on the levothyroxine because I had heard from my cousin's husband who worked for a pharmacist and my dad is friends with one, both said if you start on one or the other, don't switch because your body will have problems adjusting even if you go back to what you started with. Synthroid or Levothyroxine.
So that's my update, maybe it will help someone somehow, gotta get myself to bed now.

A Quick Thyroid Update

I went to see my new endocrinologist up here, last Tuesday. We are going to try alternating doses of levothyroxine. 75 mcgs sun,mon, wed, fri, and 50's tues, thurs, sat. I seem to be inbetween the two doses. So we'll see what happens. I've just been beat lately. Nothing like the early days but tired lately. I think it could be lots of different things combining. But I'm hopeful... I feel like the true test will be my hair over time and my periods lasting a little longer. So we'll see...

Chuck E Cheese

Mitch's boss was out of town for a week and he gave the guys Thursday and Friday off paid last week. Mitch wanted to take the kids to Chuck E Cheese. The last time we were there was August of 2006. We all had a great time!! An amazingly enough, nobody is sick from it...yet . :)

But let's back up to the craziness of last week.

Wednesday was major cleaning, I usually clean every week but this was detailed cleaning in case we had a showing of our house. I was so TIRED after that! I believe this was also the day I stupidly decided to get our house craigs list, I say stupid because I was up till midnight.

Thursday was chucky cheese for 3 hours then groceries. Need I say more. Friday was Mitch working on his car I can't remember exactly what he was doing but whatever it is, saved us lots of money. I did paperwork and budgetting. Lots of running numbers with the possible move etc; Saturday was getting up and getting the house ready for a showing at noon. After that, lunch, Mitch went to o riley's to get a sensor that the van needed and replaced it. I was beat. I think my thyroid is too high, and I had a headache because I've been clenching my jaw shut a lot lately and Mitch says he hears me hitting my teeth together at night. So I'm trying to be more mindful of that during the day. I just clench it when I'm focused on something. So I lay down on the couch to take a much needed nap as the kids watch the little mermaid. We get a call from someone new wanting to see the house and we ask for 15 minutes before they come to straighten up. Mitch also surprised me with the Twilight DVD!! We watched it that evening after the kids were in bed. Next day Sunday, it's Randy's birthday celebration and we are to be in Winfield at 12:30, it ends up being 12:50. :) We leave around 5:30 and decide to drive through washington for the heck of it and by this house we are considering. We get home at 8:00. I get carsick with a headache in washington and end up having to drive home. Ugh so beat!! We had a productive, enjoyable time, but it was crazy.

Our realtor is trying to set up a basement guy to look at this house this week. That's what we are waiting on. We've heard no more on our house, so we're just , especially me, trying to not over think things and really Proverbs 3:5-6 it. :)

March 31st I go to see this new endocrinologist. Which I should post some pictures of my hair that I'm bringing with me to the dr!!!! Another reason I know things can't be right is my monthly present only lasts about a day in a half. I feel like my eyes look worse in pictures as of late. But I'm hopeful since I'm getting to see this dr.

April 8th Christian is 3, April 12th is EAster, April 14th is Christian's 3 yr dr apt and Isabelle will get 2 shots. April 23rd is kindergarten round up. May 4 is Isabelle's birthday and I'll need to schedule her dr's apt. And house stuff possibly mixed in all this, I'm clenching my jaw just thinking about it... STOP!!! I don't do well with busy but I know the Lord will carry me through each day as pretty much I can't help or cut anything out that is going on at this point.

Educational Info/Grave's Saga

Pregnancy and Thyroid Disease.
I thought this was very interesting. I was always told, should we decide to have another child someday, to let the endocrinologist know right away. But now I have more questions in light of this statement. Ideally, hypothyroid women should have their levothyroxine dose optimized prior to becoming pregnant and should have their thyroid function tested as soon as pregnancy is detected. What does "optimized" mean? slightly higher than I would normally like it? Or just make sure it's good and normal...? Just a random thought...

My Grave's Saga Part 2

About 6 weeks have passed since Christian's birth. They weren't easy, he was a fussy eater ( still is) and I would get so exhausted when he wouldn't latch on in the middle of the night, he'd pull my hair. I remember not caring, just letting him struggle, crying, (me too) I was overwhelmed. ( he could latch on but wouldn't if he was gassy and it was so frustrating to me) I remember bringing him to our bed all swaddled and plopping him down at my wit's end. I adored this little muffin but at times I could get so angry, if he wouldn't sleep, I would think and sometimes even say I hate you. ( I was exhausted from the disease, let alone having a child who just turned 2 and a newborn) And I hated myself for it. Such a cycle of anger and regret. I would think what kind of a mother says this? All the while, loving him, snuggling him and I was so proud of him. I don't want to freak anybody out thinking I was pshyco because most of the time there was nothing but motherly love but I did have some moments.

I started seeing an internist who would get me officially treated. No more PTU to supress the thyroid, we were going to kill it through Radioactive Iodine. ( the thyroid is the only organ that aborbs iodine, and everyone needs just he right amount of it, or they will be either hyper or hypo) Here's where that dr's office started screwing up. I scheduled my uptake scan and the nurse called me and told me to be off my PTU for a week. Ok I do that, as you can imagine, now I didn't even have my small dose to help me in even the slightest bit. I have to go early in the morning, you have to go in and take a small about of radioactive iodine ( I think) then go back a few hrs later and see how much your thyroid is absorbing it , they take scans of your thyroid. So I have Mitch stay home from work in the morning till my sister in law Katie can make it up there to watch the kids. I go in to the hospital, you know, check in here, check in there, wait here, wait there. So finally the dr comes out. He's double-checking ok so you've been off the PTU for a week. Yes. And you've been off your multi vitamins? no. *@$@##@! The nurse NEVER told me she NEVER told me about being off them. Many multivitamins contain, iodine so that's a problem. I am so angry and I'm fighting off tears. I reschedule for next week. More time for my thyroid to have at me no holds barred. I go back the next week, I can't remember the numbers but I recall something like this, you're supposed to only absorb 25% of the iodine and I did 85%. I have to pump and dump for 3 days. (nursing)

We schedule the RAI ablation. I will have to quit nursing. I can't be close to the kids for 7-10 days. I can do a quick hug but no prolonged time close. I plan on going to my parents and staying over the 4th of July so mom can take care of the kids. I get this card to put in my purse in case I need to board a plane and they think I'm a bomb. I cry at the thought of not being able to hold and snuggle Christian. Isabelle was such a little go getter so I knew she would be ok with quick hugs. :)

to be continued.... :)

I put that picture up because I think it's just adorable and it was smack dab in the middle of this time in June. Isabelle had just turned 2 in May and Christian was 2 months.

A Blogging Spaz

Well the other day I was definitely a blogging spaz, so, sorry if it was overkill. I just had a lot on my mind. I called the dr's office yesterday to request a referral to my endocrinologist. It was her day off so I'm waiting to hear. I feel a little better knowing I'm taking some action to look further into my thyroid issues. Since my higher dose as look back a few things have slowly been changing that I just kinda pushed to the side, I really hate having to deal with all this, I want to move on from it but that's just not the case.
In other news, I cancelled the home phone and we are officially in the fast lane with high speed internet and it's a whole new world!!!! It's awesome. We also paid off the van yesterday with some of our tax return and that feels good too. So there are some good things happening too. We are going to go through some homes down south a week from this Saturday so that will be interesting to see what happens or doesn't. Freeing up the budget from the van payment certainly gives us a little more breathing room than what we have. What's weird is, we're in better shape financially than we have been for about 3 years, because I actually started cracking down big time last January. It's a challenge to cut corners but the Lord has been really gracious in allowing us to slowly climb out of the mess we (I) got ourselves into.
Kid news... Christian has been saying things like " are you serious?" And yesterday , " I have phylum Izzy" Today he asked me with an ornery tone " are you stupid Mommy?" I had to tell him that wasn't being nice. As for the phylum comment, he has caught Isabelle's phylum hack, which is pretty bad so I knew when he got it was going to be really bad. Christian is a cougher, the kids can get the same cold and he will cough and she won't with some. If Christian has a phylum cough, he cough/pukes phylum up. If he has a dry cough, he coughs till he pukes up the food in his stomach. Last night he was coughing/choking on mucus. So GROSS, he was flailing his body trying to catch his breath and at one point ( this is going to be gross) This big bubble of phylum came out along with nasty mucus. His air couldn't get through it and he seemed to be having problems clearing it and breathing without the rattle. I got scared and I wondered " is this going to be our first trip to the ER?" So I took him out on our deck wrapped in a towel, me in my robe (thankfully it was probably in the 40's) to breath some fresh cool air. That really seemed to help him. I was really worried he would have a horrible night of choking and phylum-puking but God was so gracious and he slept through the night without a problem and that is not typical for him.

What Grave's Was Like For Me

I've always wanted to document my whole Grave's situation. What is was like, what my experience was and where I'm at now. I had pushed it to the side because I had some time to feel like a normal person again but since I've been feeling not so great the past few weeks ( it would have to start AFTER my dr's apt) it's brought it all to the surface again and I feel like spewing about it. ( the pics above are me pre graves with Isabelle, then pregnant with Christian where I look like death, then shortly after my RAI treatment with my thyroid still raging, I can a see difference can you??)

First of all, once you have Grave's you always have it. Check out more info here.

When this all started is slightly sketchy. We are not sure if it started before I got pregnant with Christian or if the pregnancy triggered it. I remember starting to feel tired and I quit exercising prior to the pregnancy. I also remember going from 124lbs to 121 lbs, yet my wedding ring got tight. Was this my thyroid? I'll never know. My first symptoms that made me think what is wrong with me was at the beginning of the pregnancy 6 weeks maybe I started to feel really tired, my legs trembled going upstairs, I drank almost a gallon a water a day. My hands trembled. The laundry piled up on the steps, to the point that MITCH started doing laundry and Linda would do some when she came over. I called the dr's office at around 13 weeks pregnant because neither one of our mother's thought it was normal for me to be this tired. I described my symptoms, tired, legs fatigued, shaky hands enough that my best friend and husband noticed and drinking so much water. I told her I wondered if something was wrong with my thyroid since my mom had a low thyroid in highschool and my aunt had it during one pregnancy. The nurse was very nice, she said it could be that just the pregnancy and having an 17 month old was just tiring me out. She said we can test your thyroid but if it comes back abnormal it may not be till after 16 weeks. Because you make more thyroid hormone at the beginning of pregnancy for the baby as the baby's thyroid is not functioning yet so it could appear to hyper thyroid but not really. This reason I learned through my own research. So I went on my merry way and around 16 weeks I thought maybe I was starting to feel slightly less tired so I kept on and we headed to KS for thanksgiving 2005. At this point I was 18 weeks. My parents were concerned and my aunt Diane noticed my eyes like they did. My parents talked to my cousin who is a nurse. I did not look good out of my eyes but they didn't want to worry me. It was mild weather and I remember just burning up in my sweater that day. For a while I had grown increasingly irritable and ANGRY. I would get enraged at Isabelle, I remember laying on the floor crying pleading with her to just obey. (something 1.5 year olds are so good at :))We went back home and I was excited to find out what our baby was, I had felt from the beginning that it was a boy, so did my mom and best friend. At the ultrasound the tech noticed that Christian's heartrate would go up and down, 150, 183, 215bpm. The doctor said she wanted to check my thyroid and see if that was the cause of the tachycardia. The tests came back and my TSH was undetectable. Hyperthyroid and very much so. Next came a very low dose of PTU. very low, my TSH did not improve but the dr said my t4 came down a tiny bit, enough to lower Christian's heartrate. Meanwhile my blood pressure was around 148/98 with a pulse rate of 136 bpm. The average person's heartrate is 60-80. A blood test confirmed I had Grave's Disease. Normally I would've gone through the tests and treatment to get it taken care of but since I was pregnant I had to wait and I couldn't take enough meds to bring my levels back to normal since it crosses the placenta and they didn't Christian's thyroid being affected. I had multiple ultrasounds to check him and they also once checked to make sure he did not have goiter. So my life was an exhausting existence. We ate out all the time, months would go by and I wouldn't do the budget or balance the checkbook, I couldn't, I so beat. I would yell at Isabelle, get angry at everybody. Then feel like a jerk for being that way. I went around hot, sweaty, shaking hands, legs, bug eyed. My eyes hurt so bad in the mornings and I wore sunglasses even when it was cloudy. I felt ugly and self conscious for so many reasons, I felt like my body was neutral yet flooring the gas petal at the same time, my mind was scattered and I felt shaky on the inside too, almost like I was observing myself. I felt misunderstood, I felt like nobody except for my mom and Mitch really understood that was freaking SICK. I couldn't function like a normal person at any capacity. I remember getting ready to go grocery shopping with Mitch and the getting ready alone wiped me out and I would lay down on the couch and sleep and he would end up going himself. ( I remember I couldn't stand doing my eye makeup because I just wanted to scream just something about it seemed tediously torturous and I wanted to jump out of my skin, weird yes) That man did so much during that time, taking care of a kid, cooking, or buying food :) etc; I felt like a worthless wife and mother. My biggest regret is not drawing upon the strength of the Lord as I should have but being so exhausted physically and mentally made that hard to do, not impossible though and I wonder how many blessings I missed out if I would've turned more to the Lord during this time than I did. It's all for my learning though and before I was a, get it together, shape up or ship out person. I didn't have a lot of compassion, I was very black and white. Then I fell hard, so there have been some beautiful things that sprang up out of this thorny mess. Things I prided myself on whether I wanted to admit or not, having my ducks in a row, having a good memory, having self control, looks, were stripped from me at that point and haven't all and may never will be fully back. I learned a lot about how much I took credit for what I had. So all of this babbling is therapeutic and yet I haven't even told my whole story...

So I continued throughout the pregnancy,weak, hot, frizzy-haired, wild eyed, angry and scattered, feeling like someone else.

I've always wanted to list all of my symptoms so here's break to enjoy the list... haha.

Recessed eyelids, dry eyes, bug eyed look.

Hot, sweaty in the Iowa winter.

Thirsty and Hungry

BM's 2-3 times a day.

Insomnia

Splitting nails and swollen fingers,

Frizzy dry hair and tons of it in the shower.

Shaky hands, I found a father's day card to Mitch after Christian was born the handwriting is so bad

Weak thigh muscles

Enlarged thyroid

IRRITABLE

high heart rate and blood pressure

exhaustion

trouble concentrating

horrible memory

messed up you know what drive (sad but true it's a effected by the thyroid too)

Back to my Audrey grave's saga:

37 weeks pregnant rolled around. The night before I went into labor was scraping drywall mud off the bottom of the downstairs shower, Mitch had been doing some household projects here and there. Mom would be coming to stay after the baby was born and I knew I needed to get that bathroom and downstairs ready for her. I was so tired I remember thinking, well if this doesn't send me into labor, nothing will. I never expected it to as Isabelle was 4 days late. I didn't know that my thyroid problems put me at risk for miscarriage, preterm labor and a small baby. You have to educate yourself I'm finding out. That night I woke up in th emiddle of the night, feeling gross and I couldn't sleep, I got up and took a bath and I was worried I was in labor, I didn't want to go in the middle of the night. The feeling subsided and I was able to sleep later. The next mornign around 11 am I lost my mucous plug and contractions remained steady. Christian was born around 4 am the next day. He would've come sooner but I waited for 3 hrs to be checked as they wanted to make sure I was not having preeclampsia. Then I had to walk to make sure I was progressing to even be admitted and have my water broke... so we got there at 7pm and I was walking at midnight, water broke around 2:30 am. And I had really hoped this time not to have missed a whole night of sleep the same as with Isabelle...so Christian is born at 37 weeks, techinically I was 37 weeks and 3 days but the nurse said she was putting him down as 37, she thought he was just barely 37 weeks. He was 6lb 1.5 oz and was 18.75 inches long. And healthy. He was out with 4 pushes and the Lord was so gracious and I only had a 1st degree tear and healing was much easier than with Isabelle.

So this concludes my part one of my grave's story. The next part will be my treatment begins and so does my new dr's office screwing up along the way.

random info. In 2004 my uncle philip also developed Grave's disease and had the RAI treatment. And after I was diagnosed with my disease my Dad found out he had Hashimoto's Disease, another kind of thyroid disorder. My aunt Denise has a low thyroid and their mother had a goiter, so it's in our family.

Kinda Freaking Out

Ok remember way back when I was concerned about my hair thinning?? I went to the dr (my fam dr, our cruddy united healthcare insurance will only let me see my endocrinologist unless I get referred and they aprove it, that may have to happen) my levels were this, TSH .87 norm is .3 to 4.2. My T4 is 1.6 normal is .6-1.8. I was on 50mcg till last April and my TSH was on the higher side of normal, so my dose was upped to 75mcg. My TSH was around 1.06 this summer. Anyway, my point is, for the past year my ponytail keeps getting smaller and smaller, it's half the size it was and now for the first time my hair is actually FINE, when I lose it in the shower, it's a wad of fine hair. I've been losing truckloads of hair since 2005 when this whole Grave's thing started and I didn't care since my hair got super frizzy and dry and it annoyed me anyway. The only time I noticed not losing lots of hair in the shower was when I was totally off the medication for 4-6 weeks and I went from high thyroid to low ( after my RAI treatment) long story the dr who was treating me had me on too much medication, wanted me to kill my thyroid AGAIN because they screwed up and didn't realize they had perscribed me meds yada yada, I switched docs, quit the meds till I saw my new dr. So as I was coming from high to low, that was the one time I didn't have all this hair in the shower. So I don't know if I need less of a dose or switching to a different thyroid medication, since some people on this medication levothyroxine lose their hair. GRRR cause I need one more THING!! Anyway so I'm ultra edgey lately, feeling tired and out of breath... I thought it was pms but I don't think that's supposed to last for 3 weeks. Anyway I feel that only my endocrinolist is fit to help me with this as they are into the details of the effects of thyroid disease. So feel free to pray, and let me know what you think of this freaking huge part/baldspot on my head.
oh AND I noticed my eyes looked bigger in pictures since this summer vs pictures taken prior, like Christmas.. Christian's birthday etc;

Organizing

If you can believe it, I "organized" my blog posts, I went back and skimmed and put appropiate labels on them so they would be easier for me (or anyone else) to refer back if you were looking for something specific. I had been meaning to do this for a while and Kari spurned me on wanting to know about my makeup and chemical free beauty obbession. :) Also since she asked, I thought I may as well give an up to date list of what I do use and why. Not everything I've ever blogged about buying have I loved, but most I am very pleased with. So a list is to come one of these days...today I have a way overdue thyroid check. I was supposed to check in october but life got in the way.

Is July really almost over?

What a busy summer... hence the lack of postings....I've been online looking up info on a hotel in chicago for flying out to Tom's wedding and my options aren't pretty we're limited to midway airports and we have to have a shuttle, the rates go down the day after we need one...sometimes you just have to bite the bullet I guess! I want to have all our travel plans done by Aug 2nd for Trevor's wedding so I can just enjoy knowing all I have all this other stuff figured out. I think we can get a rental car for5 days for 126$ in TX, so that's good, other companies were charging 200+ for the same thing. I went to Alamo and they had a 15$ off coupon too. So that's a plus. Carseats are 10$ a day per seat!!!!! So I'm buying a cover with wheels for 25$ and bringing Christian's seat which is also made for airplane rides. And we'll just throw in Isabelle's booster for carryon. 100$ saved! ok or maybe 75...

I am finally (hopefully, they're uploading right now) getting the ks pics up. I can't think of any major kid updates.. Christian shows absolutley no interest in potty traing.... looks like I'll be packing diapers for the trip in sept. And he is still thrilled with his farting abilities....but at least I can get him to say "exuse me" and he puts his hand over his mouth, I don't know where he learned that. Isabelle is pretty happy with herself in her mariokarting skills as she can now get to the podium at the end all by herself. I'm impressed that she can turn it on and set the tv right to get it on. :) They're also really into gum right now and Christian was chewing some in church last week and he was doing good no swallowing it for a long time then I could tell he just had swallowed it and looked at me and said "more guuUM" He keeps on talking and talking, Mitch thought he was talking more since he had seen him for 3 weeks.

Oh, I got my thyroid tests back after being switched to 75 mcg of levothyroxin and my levels are normal again, hopefully they can stay normal on a dose, for say maybe a year or more....my anxiety attacks seem to be improving, it's rare if I can go 4-5 weeks without one BUT if it's just one a month that only bugs me for an hour or two, I can deal with that. Every night that I can go to bed and feel peaceful is such a gift from the Lord! It's really hard for me to not have all my lose ends tied up, I'm the type of personality where I can't relax unless all is in order around me, but that isn't always possible and I just have to focus on what I can get done in one day and leave the rest. I keep reminding myself of Matthew 6 ( I think) about how the Lord takes care of the birds, how much more will he provide for me, the Lord knows I need (blank) ( a rental car, hotel, our ends to meet etc;) sounds simple but for me it's a struggle, I want my ducks in a row, all the time. :) (ok it's the day after I posted this and I had some sentences to correct that did NOT flow or make sense, that's what happens when you've got kids interrupting you every 2 words...)

Also I finished the book Don't Make Me Count To Three. I loved it, it was practical, biblical and heart reaching based. It brought to light so many things I was doing that I thought were just fine that actually were wrong. It addressed scolding, one of my favorite parenting tools...so really that is wrong, in essence you're supposed to calmly instruct your children and deal with their disobedience accordingly. More details in the book. Also ANOTHER thing I tend to do is vary my discipline on my mood, and energy level. Kids need to know that when they step outside a set boundary that the result is always the same. It's unfair to let them go and then BAM, let them have it because I've had it!!! I'm so guilty of that.... I love the way this book is not about behavior modification but she talks about keeping your child's heart tender for the Lord's leading and their conversion to truly know the Living God through His Son Jesus. It also has a chapter about leading your child to the Lord BUT what I like is that she balances it, knowing that you can get any kid under 10 years old to pray the prayer and which can give kids a false assurance. It's an easy read. So what I'm saying is, I highly recommend this book!! :) Ok, I'm tired, hungry and my chigger bites on my hip are itching me so I'll end with an encouraging verse.



Galatians 6:9 " Let us not become weary in well doing, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up"



" You reap what you sow, you reap later than you sow, and you reap more than you sow" good ol Ginger Plowman

May Updates

Here are some MORE pics I took of our beloved lilac bush. :) And of the kids in their stylin' new sunglasses.

They had them 2 for 5$ at The Children's Place. Today Isabelle had her 4 year old check. Her stats are 39.25 inches tall and 34 lbs. Both 50%. The dr said her 5 year apt will be 3-4 shots, blood test for lead. It's going to SUCK!! The past 2 years she has thrashed enough they have to redo her flu shots. She trys to be strong up until that last second. So I don't know if anything short of a straight jacket is going to work for 3+ shots. Looks like Daddy will be along for that one. Other cute kid updates Christian has been singing Jesus loves me and today he did all this " Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so, little ones to Him belong..." He can sing all the parts but usually he can't do them consecutively. And the potty training, ha ha ha YEAH gave up there for now. I kept catching him right after or right before. He says ow every time I put him on his winnie the pooh seat... if I asked him if he should go potty he said " again??.. oh boy"

We have fun things coming up this summer. Trevor (Mitch's bro) is getting married Aug 2nd and Mitch and I are going to meet Bethany ( Dan's girlfriend) in Chicago and stay at the marriot downtown for a night since she will be there for business training the week prior in June. We also get to meet her sister Kari who's husband goes to the same seminary our Pastor went to, she works there too (Al Mohler's). We'll be without the kids so that will be a fun little get away. We are looking forward to it!!!

Other random updates I keep forgetting, my thyroid was a little low in April so they upped my dose to 75 mcg. I felt like I put on a couple lbs I shouldn't have and they have finally come back off... I also had one small anxiety attack one month from when I had my last one. I felt kinda weird and less tolerant that evening but it was short lived. I'm not sure why. I held onto Mitch's arm in bed and prayed and tried to just focus and pray for my loved ones. I thought I am going to fight this!! I knew my mom could have them and they not last all night. So why it didn't last that long, I'm not sure why but I'm thankful for God's grace. Also just like last time, I was half-way through my cycle and the next day had some cramping which doesn't make sense since I'm on the pill. I also read in my book, Intended for Pleasure ( ha sorry discreet people) about pms and anxeity attacks being one of the symptoms and most women's worst pms is in their late 20's early 30's. I'm 28 so that makes sense. Anyway I am so thankful that they seem to be tapering off! It's random this verse has encouraged me lately If we are faithless, He remains faithful, He cannot deny Himself 2 Tim 2:13. It's easy to forget as time goes how much we need Him and things are going alright. Also random, last week I was thinking of the song My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness, I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholely lean on Jesus name, on Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand, all other ground is sinking sand. I know it's referring to salvation but it still means a lot to me in my daily life, a reminder of where my strength and hope to get through life's issues is supposed to come. I find myself weaning my self from close close communion with the Lord when life gets back to "normal" again. Such a natural thing to do just like another hymn says Prone to wonder Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love. The Christian life is a struggle to keep our eyes where they need to be. It's so easy to get caught up and fill my life with things that will burn and won't amount to anything in the end. Anyway back to the solid rock song I was thinking on last week, well the following Sunday we sang it in church. I love those special little bonuses from the Lord.