Friday, June 26, 2009

Moving

Yes, we're moving in about a week. I am so excited to be getting back to our house. I hate packing though. I hate how I am confronted with just how much junk we've managed to collect, even when we've tried not to do that very thing. It's not all quite ready to go yet, but most things are in boxes.

Ryan is excited about our move. When we told him he wanted to go to our "new house" that very minute. He often asks if our tenants have moved out and when I tell him they haven't he says "tell them to go, mom!"

Basically, our tenants found a new place with more room, which is good becasue they now have five kids. When they moved into our three bedroom house they had four girls. The older girls shared one room and the younger ones shared the other. Then baby Noah came along and he's been sharing the master bedroom with his parents for about a year now. They really need more space.

I'll be going back to work. I'm going to be taking care of two other boys along with my two. I'm excited and have daycare lesson plans already worked out for a few weeks. I'll see how these ideas work out and then we'll move on from there. The extra money and potentially two full days off with Adam will be wonderful. The four children will be a challenge, but I'm sure I'll find my groove.

I did miss the boys the last two days, though I must admit, I enjoyed my time alone. I got to sleep in past 6:30, which was awesome and I got to do things without worrying about bottles, sippy cups, diapers and changes of clothes. It's nice to be able to be around them again, even if I can't hug and kiss them. Just a few more days and I'll be able to enjoy those hugs and kisses again.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Radioactive Woman

Adam is calling my radioactive woman today because I received my radioactive iodine treatment today for my messed up thyroid. My morning experience left me wondering if I'd made the right choice, but it's too late to change things now.

I was up early with the boys and gave them lost of kisses and hugs before I left for the endocrinologists office. I won't be able to give them kisses for a week :( They then left to go to Manchester with Adam where they will be away from me until tomorrow night. The doc said the first 48 hours are when the iodine is most concentrated, though I will have to follow some precautions for the rest of the week.

Anyway, I made it to my appointment in the rain (will it ever stop?) and was brought into a little metal room where the doctor opened a metal safe and took out a metal canister. Inside the metal canister was a vial of one horse-sized pill that I had the joy of swallowing. I was then escorted out the back door. I felt a little like a leper.

It's okay for me to be around other people, but I can't share food or drinks and I should limit my time with pregnant women and children for the next few days. I had a nice relaxing day. I went to Borders and looked at tons of different kids of books... even read some magazine articles. I walked around the mall and had a pedicure. Yay for pedicure. I have pretty feet now ;)

Tomorrow I spend the day visit my regular doctor for a follow up, picking up prescriptions for both Ryan and myself (he started a script for GERD and broke out in a rash from it so we have to change the med) and then I get to go to a movie with my friend Jenni. This has been a nice break from the kids, but I do miss Adam and the boys a lot. It's soooo quite here without them. I am getting a lot of reading done!

In six weeks I'll have some blood work done to see how things with my thyroid are progressing. In most cases, people end up hypothyroid after this treatment and have to take thyroid replacement drugs for the rest of their lives. Some end up having their thyroid work like normal again, but that percentage is really low. The blood work will let them know how much replacement drugs, if any, I will need.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

I love my kids

Some days Ryan can be a handful. There are days when I'm so ready to pull my hair out because he's cried all day about nothing. Yesterday wasn't too bad, but he did have a few moments where I could feel my blood pressure rising.

He was up late waiting for his daddy to come home. He's always wanted to be with his daddy at bedtime since he was little. He'd just wake up at the time Adam was supposed to be home and wait. He was so excited to see Adam last night. I love how they get when they're together.

Anyway, at bedtime, Ryan was playing with these magnetic balls and sticks and Adam made two microphones and started singing. I love how Ryan gets into the music and tries to sing. He sways from side to side and bops his head and sings the lyrics a bit late. I couldn't help but laugh last night because he has this little southern drawl when he sings. I'm not sure where he gets it from, but it's funny and cute at the same time.

I also love how Ryan will say "uh huh" when he doesn't know the answer to something and the default color of everything is green. We have these Brain Quest flash cards that we sometimes play with Ryan. I'm always surprised and humored at the answers he gives us. Last night was no exception. There was a picture of a mouse yawning and it asks "what should you do when you yawn." Ryan's response was "go night-night." Then there was a card with the letter "R" on it and we asked if he knew what it was. He said "uh huh" and we try to help him by saying it was the letter his name starts with. And he then goes, "Oh, it's MY letter." We kept trying, but only got answers like "it's my name letter." Of course we told him what it was and then moved on, but I just love these moments with him.

The other day at the grocery store he attempted to pay for the groceries with an expired LL Bean gift certificate. How cute! He wanted to pay with his money because he "eat(s) too."

All of these moments make up for those days when he's most difficult. They make me smile when I think of them and I'm trying to write as many of them down as possible so I can show him later just how cute he was.

Of course, Tim is also a lot of fun these days. He's my little talker and yesterday when we were leaving the park he started crying and pointing at the park and saying "park" in his little Mainer way. He's doing so much right now and it's a lot of fun. He's walking and trying to do everything Ryan does like jumping on the bed.

So while there are days where I feel overwhelmed, I love that I have days when they are angels and we have tons of fun together and they just make me laugh.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Photos and an update

The guys playing TMNT... I think.
The girls outside Shain's.

Can you see his chocolate ice cream mustache?


I love this photo of my boys. Right before I took this photo, they were all sitting in a row.
My update is that I will be having radioactive iodine treatment on my thyroid on June 24. The endocrinologist said this would be his best suggestion, though we did talk about going back to PTU (really not good long term for my heart) and surgery (not very cost effective and does have some risks). I knew my options because I had the same ones about three years ago. I took the PTU option because I wanted to be sure we could have a second baby. Adam and I had both decided that when the options were put on the table this time, we'd go with RAI and get life back to normal. I'm so ready for that, even if it will take 1-4 months to feel like a regular person again. Because I will not be able to hold the kids for two days after the treatment, Adam will be taking two days off with me and hanging out with the boys. I'll be packing to move back to our house, which we do the weekend of July 4! (that's some big news I haven't yet blogged about).



Tuesday, June 09, 2009

beach time!

Tim really didn't keep the hat on, but we tried!
Katy would have wandered right into the ocean if Sarah wasn't watching her. She loved it!

I love this photo!


Isn't she a cutie?



Ryan would not let the sand get on him. He stayed on the towel the entire time. Tim was covered in sand, went crawling in it, ate it... he had a blast!




Friday, June 05, 2009

Five minute photos

Yesterday, I went to the nuclear department of the hospital and swallowed two pills which were in a plastic bottle and the plastic bottle was in a metal vial. The pills contained a trace amount of radioactive iodine... Adam called me radioactive woman all day.

Today, I had photos taken of my thyroid. I lay in this thing that looks like a CT scanner with a cone-shaped camera while four photos were taken. Each photo took five minutes. Five minutes of only breathing and swallowing. The weird thing is that my nose, neck, chin and other parts of your face itch when I have to sit still for five minutes at a time.

I also had a test in which this robotic arm looking thing tested how much radioactive iodine was in my body versus the amount in my thyroid.

I am awaiting test results (which the nurse at my doctor's office says she'll let me know as soon as she does!) and I see the endocrinologist next week. I bet this week will drag on, but that's okay since Kyle, Sarah and Miss Katy are in town.