We had such a great time this year making costumes. I told the boys they could choose anything they wanted, but we weren't spending money this year! So, these are their homeade costumes....total $3 spent on some duct tape. Everything else was cardboard and things we already had around the house. The boys were SO cute!
*slideshow below*
Friday, October 31, 2008
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
HAPPY 6th BIRTHDAY, BRADY!
Today is Brady's birthday and it's such a joy to be his mom! We woke him up to a room full of Balloons, he got his traditional kolaches and donuts for breakfast and then has gotten presents from each family member throughout the day. He's been so cute and has had so much fun celebrating.
5yr update: Brady easily described? - a mini- Jim Carrey! I so wish that weren't true but it SO is! He makes up his own jokes ALL THE TIME that really make sense, has the funniest faces, can do interesting things with his body, LOVES to pretend and imagine and is to say the least - VERY SILLY! The only time he is really serious is when he is building his Lego creations or drawing. Then he's in deep thought and contemplation! Needless to say, we have alot of talks on the appropriateness of "when" to be silly! hehe Brady has a very sweet nature and still loves cuddling up to a good book and getting hugs. Of course, Brady is still very smart and keeps me on my toes with homeschooling. He "officially" started Kindergarten this year but all his homeschool curriculum books are 2nd grade. That's just where he is at so we keep moving forward...and we're even moving pretty slowly! :) He's doing very well and loves his Homeschool Enrichement program too that he attends 2 days a week. He and his brother constantly amaze me as they start talking to each other with the Spanish words they learned that week. Brady also has no fear of heights (like his mom!) and has reached the top of all our climable trees! I'm so glad we live in a very tall 2 story home with no entry points! He's also very social and rarely meets someone he won't start a conversation with. Brady brings so much laughter to our home daily and constantly reminds me to "loosen up", take a break and have fun! The past year some of his accomplishments are learning to tie his shoes, play the piano, has become a "master level" reader in his reading program, rode a BIG roller coaster, can dribble a basketball and shoot, can jump rope and play hop scotch, and has voted for our next President (well, he pushed the Cast Ballot button!). :) I'm sure there are tons of others, but that's a good start. We love you Brady bug!!! (stay tuned from pics of today)
5yr update: Brady easily described? - a mini- Jim Carrey! I so wish that weren't true but it SO is! He makes up his own jokes ALL THE TIME that really make sense, has the funniest faces, can do interesting things with his body, LOVES to pretend and imagine and is to say the least - VERY SILLY! The only time he is really serious is when he is building his Lego creations or drawing. Then he's in deep thought and contemplation! Needless to say, we have alot of talks on the appropriateness of "when" to be silly! hehe Brady has a very sweet nature and still loves cuddling up to a good book and getting hugs. Of course, Brady is still very smart and keeps me on my toes with homeschooling. He "officially" started Kindergarten this year but all his homeschool curriculum books are 2nd grade. That's just where he is at so we keep moving forward...and we're even moving pretty slowly! :) He's doing very well and loves his Homeschool Enrichement program too that he attends 2 days a week. He and his brother constantly amaze me as they start talking to each other with the Spanish words they learned that week. Brady also has no fear of heights (like his mom!) and has reached the top of all our climable trees! I'm so glad we live in a very tall 2 story home with no entry points! He's also very social and rarely meets someone he won't start a conversation with. Brady brings so much laughter to our home daily and constantly reminds me to "loosen up", take a break and have fun! The past year some of his accomplishments are learning to tie his shoes, play the piano, has become a "master level" reader in his reading program, rode a BIG roller coaster, can dribble a basketball and shoot, can jump rope and play hop scotch, and has voted for our next President (well, he pushed the Cast Ballot button!). :) I'm sure there are tons of others, but that's a good start. We love you Brady bug!!! (stay tuned from pics of today)
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Brady's SIXTH Birthday at SIX FLAGS!
Brady decided he wanted to go to Six Flags this year for his "6th" birthday instead of having a party. He had such a great time and was fascinated by everything. NOTHING scared him and thankfully he was too short for most of the rides or he would have been on them with his brother!! Unfortunately, they were both tall enough for Tony Hawks Big Spin that left me sick the rest of the day! He had a Blast with his Grandma, Grammy, and Uncle Mike and even Corban got to ride some rides. We actually went in mid-September to avoid Six Flags Fright Fest but we saved the pics to post now since it was actually for his birthday! Enjoy the slideshow of fun pics!
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Pumpkin Patch
This year we ventured to a new Christian Pumpkin Patch. It has a 6acre corn-field maze that the boys were SOOo excited about. Plus it had a zip-line, mini corn-field maze, little train ride and petting zoo. We all had a great time. Unfortunately our camera died at the end when we visited the pumpkins! :) We'll get more pumpkin pics in soon. OH, and yes - that is a pig eating Corban's hands!! He had a good hold on them and didn't want to let go!
Enjoy the slideshow below: click anywhere on the slideshow to see them bigger.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
My journey to Hypothyroidism - UPDATED!!
So the short story - for the last 6-9 mo or more I have been battling with alot of ailments - hair falling out, painfully dry skin, exhaustion, memory loss (feeling stupid!), gaining weight WHILE actually trying to loose it!, freezing, weird emotions, and other things but the strangest ailment arrived in the past 3 months - overwhelming dizziness and nausea. I just assumed the other ailments were typical of long-term pregnancy recovery and being a mom of 3 so I didn't even mention all those other things to my doctor.
I have been going round and round (literally) to doctors trying to figure out why I am so dizzy and nauseas. I started off in the ER with a CT scan one night because I really thought I was dying - nothing showed up. Then on to my normal doctor for EKG's, more blood tests and other testing with negative results. Then went to an ENT to have my ears checked out - I DO have a hole in my eardrum - funny! And he referred me to a Hearing & Balance specialist to rule out Meinere's Disease. In the mean time waiting for that appt. I say my my OB/GYN to have my thyroid checked - FOUND OUT I have HYPOTHYROIDSIM. While waiting a couple weeks for an appt. with the endocrinologist for that, I had my appt. at the Hearing place and spent 2hrs being tested in every possible position and undergoing every possible hearing test to find out that I do not have Meinere's and that I only have a little loss of hearing high pitches in one ear.
SO, next stop - the endocrinologist!! AH, the relief and the joy that talking to that man has brought to my life. My appt. was today and I begin meds tomorrow to get my thyroid back in order. Come to find out, yes - most of my ailments I attributed to being a tired homeschooling mom of 3 active boys where indeed NOT normal! I am so THRILLED to know that I'm really not loosing my brain. I am usually "naturally" very structured, detailed and I tend to think pretty fun person. For the past several months, I have been structured by incredible force of myself to make it happen, detailed by LOTS of post-it notes with reminders everywhere, AND fun only by the grace of God making me so - neah, really not so fun! I cannot wait to be MYSELF again!! I'll be checked every 6 weeks to monitor my thyroid levels until they are back to a good level and then every year after that probably forever.
But God is SOOOO faithful in bringing our family closer together through this. Hearing my boys/husband pray for me before/after appt.'s and on the bad days of dizzyness have been one of the sweetest joys I've experienced. They have all been so patient and loving through these months - especially my dear husband who has had to deal with my crazy emotions! Thank you also to all my friends and family who have gone through this journey with me!! I am so thankful for all your encouragment and prayers!! ok, so that was the long story - ooops, sorry!
10-22-08 Probably one of the top 3 worst feelings of my life!! I had a severe reaction this morning to the medicine the doctor prescribed which lasted all day. So bad Brandon came home from work and I stayed in bed most of the day. So I will be starting over. My endo doctor would not discuss natural possibilities with me so I will be seeing a new doctor that does traditional/natural and other methods to solve thyroid issues. I look forward to meeting with her on Tuesday and talking through possibilities.
UPDATE 2 - 11-10-08 Today, after having all kinds of blood tests ran on me over a week ago, I met with my new doctor for a Lab review to go over all the results. She tested me for pretty much everything you can test for by blood! My results were a little overwhelming to say the least and I am still processing most of it. (Praise God though!!) Come to find out, I have pretty much NO progesterone, almost no testosterone (which yes, is important for females too!), my adrenals are very low functioning (adrenal fatique), My TSH levels for Hypothyroidism is still high and the thyroid chemical that turns T4 into T3 is WAY off and not doing what it is supposed to do. My Vitamin D is off the charts low too which plays a significant part in that chemical working. She is assuming my reaction to Synthroid is because I have adrenal fatique and Synthroid can make everything way worse if your adrenal is messed up. (go figure!) OH, and ontop of my hormones being horribly messed up, it has caused an elevation in my cholesterol too! (which hypothyroidism can do) So, the plan right now is to work on my adrenals, to get my prosterone levels back to normal and create Vit D in my body through natural progesterone cream (which I used to conceive Corban and throughout pregnancy - AMAZING stuff! - now I know why it took me 10yrs to conceive!), very high Vit D supplement and Fish Oil with Plant Sterols. I'll go back in a month to review symptom improvements and will have everything wrong retested in 3 months to see how things are going. OH, and get this - I am supposed to get 9hrs sleep a night!!! Yeah, and she was adament about that! She also homeschooled all her kids back when it was really hard to do and was very encouraging that my kids would survive if I needed to put some things on hold for now. I was really encouraged by her listening, going through ever peice of labwork with me (and making me a copy!) and then step by step going through what everything meant and steps to make it better. I've never met someone like her! I am so thankful for the Lord leading me to her. She said that I should be feeling remarkedbly different in about 2-3 weeks. Oh, wow - I wonder how that is going to feel -it's been so long since I haven't just had to push through being tired and create emotions for being excited about everything. Oh for them to just come natural again! I'm trusting God that we are at the end of this very seemingly long journey!
I have been going round and round (literally) to doctors trying to figure out why I am so dizzy and nauseas. I started off in the ER with a CT scan one night because I really thought I was dying - nothing showed up. Then on to my normal doctor for EKG's, more blood tests and other testing with negative results. Then went to an ENT to have my ears checked out - I DO have a hole in my eardrum - funny! And he referred me to a Hearing & Balance specialist to rule out Meinere's Disease. In the mean time waiting for that appt. I say my my OB/GYN to have my thyroid checked - FOUND OUT I have HYPOTHYROIDSIM. While waiting a couple weeks for an appt. with the endocrinologist for that, I had my appt. at the Hearing place and spent 2hrs being tested in every possible position and undergoing every possible hearing test to find out that I do not have Meinere's and that I only have a little loss of hearing high pitches in one ear.
SO, next stop - the endocrinologist!! AH, the relief and the joy that talking to that man has brought to my life. My appt. was today and I begin meds tomorrow to get my thyroid back in order. Come to find out, yes - most of my ailments I attributed to being a tired homeschooling mom of 3 active boys where indeed NOT normal! I am so THRILLED to know that I'm really not loosing my brain. I am usually "naturally" very structured, detailed and I tend to think pretty fun person. For the past several months, I have been structured by incredible force of myself to make it happen, detailed by LOTS of post-it notes with reminders everywhere, AND fun only by the grace of God making me so - neah, really not so fun! I cannot wait to be MYSELF again!! I'll be checked every 6 weeks to monitor my thyroid levels until they are back to a good level and then every year after that probably forever.
But God is SOOOO faithful in bringing our family closer together through this. Hearing my boys/husband pray for me before/after appt.'s and on the bad days of dizzyness have been one of the sweetest joys I've experienced. They have all been so patient and loving through these months - especially my dear husband who has had to deal with my crazy emotions! Thank you also to all my friends and family who have gone through this journey with me!! I am so thankful for all your encouragment and prayers!! ok, so that was the long story - ooops, sorry!
10-22-08 Probably one of the top 3 worst feelings of my life!! I had a severe reaction this morning to the medicine the doctor prescribed which lasted all day. So bad Brandon came home from work and I stayed in bed most of the day. So I will be starting over. My endo doctor would not discuss natural possibilities with me so I will be seeing a new doctor that does traditional/natural and other methods to solve thyroid issues. I look forward to meeting with her on Tuesday and talking through possibilities.
UPDATE 2 - 11-10-08 Today, after having all kinds of blood tests ran on me over a week ago, I met with my new doctor for a Lab review to go over all the results. She tested me for pretty much everything you can test for by blood! My results were a little overwhelming to say the least and I am still processing most of it. (Praise God though!!) Come to find out, I have pretty much NO progesterone, almost no testosterone (which yes, is important for females too!), my adrenals are very low functioning (adrenal fatique), My TSH levels for Hypothyroidism is still high and the thyroid chemical that turns T4 into T3 is WAY off and not doing what it is supposed to do. My Vitamin D is off the charts low too which plays a significant part in that chemical working. She is assuming my reaction to Synthroid is because I have adrenal fatique and Synthroid can make everything way worse if your adrenal is messed up. (go figure!) OH, and ontop of my hormones being horribly messed up, it has caused an elevation in my cholesterol too! (which hypothyroidism can do) So, the plan right now is to work on my adrenals, to get my prosterone levels back to normal and create Vit D in my body through natural progesterone cream (which I used to conceive Corban and throughout pregnancy - AMAZING stuff! - now I know why it took me 10yrs to conceive!), very high Vit D supplement and Fish Oil with Plant Sterols. I'll go back in a month to review symptom improvements and will have everything wrong retested in 3 months to see how things are going. OH, and get this - I am supposed to get 9hrs sleep a night!!! Yeah, and she was adament about that! She also homeschooled all her kids back when it was really hard to do and was very encouraging that my kids would survive if I needed to put some things on hold for now. I was really encouraged by her listening, going through ever peice of labwork with me (and making me a copy!) and then step by step going through what everything meant and steps to make it better. I've never met someone like her! I am so thankful for the Lord leading me to her. She said that I should be feeling remarkedbly different in about 2-3 weeks. Oh, wow - I wonder how that is going to feel -it's been so long since I haven't just had to push through being tired and create emotions for being excited about everything. Oh for them to just come natural again! I'm trusting God that we are at the end of this very seemingly long journey!
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
Grandparents Day - Boys school
Monday was Grandparents day at the boys homeschool enrichment program - a day for the grandparents to meet their teachers and to spend time with their grandchildren at school. They had snacks for them and got to work on things with them. Nathans class was first where they got to help him trace his hand, cut his hand and glue it on a grandparents poem poster. Then we were off to Brady's where they helped him fill out his family tree. Brandon's parents were out of town so this time it was just mine -Grammy/Granddaddy. Brady & Nathan loved showing off their new school!
Nathan was the clipboard carrier
Nathan was the clipboard carrier
Nathan during his computer class - they were SOOO cute!
Brady very excited to see Grammy & Granddady!
Giving him his picture craft and working on Family Tree
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