October!

I can't believe we are already in the middle of October. One of my very favorite months, not only because my birthday is the 2nd but it means Halloween, candy, costumes, pumpkins and FALL. I had a wonderful birthday. The girls planned a shopping trip to Lubbock the weekend before my actual birthday. We shopped, laughed, ate and just had a wonderful time! I have said this before but I TRULY have the best friends and family. They made my day so special. The best birthday gift of all had to be my little monkey singing me "Happy Birthday!" So precious.

Last year for Halloween Hudson was the Fruit of the Loom Grape! So adorable, even with the banged up face from face planting on the slide at Fiddlesticks Farm :( Still one of the most scary accidents we've had.

                                         Audrey Hepburn (Cameron) Grape and Bam Bam (Deacon)
                                                                        Halloween 2011
I've never been one for store bought costumes. They are over priced and the kids normally wear them a total of 3 times and it's a waste of money! Hud's first Halloween he was Handy Manny because he was OBSESSED with the cartoon and kinda looked like Manny :) That was a cute costume but even for a 1 yr old, I think I paid almost $40. But it was such a cute costume ....

                                                                   Handy Manny 2010

This year there was no doubt about Hud being a DINOSAUR! He loves them. He knows almost all of the names, what they eat and all kinds of information. He's always pretending he's a dinosaur. So then I started thinking "how in the world am I going to make a dinosaur costume?" There are some cute ideas, thank goodness for pinterest and google. I found some cute ideas but then decided to look around online for kids dinosaur costumes and one of the first websites I went to had the most adorable...I mean SCARY costume. I had to get Hud's approval first. So I went home and showed him and asked if he wanted to be this dinosaur for Halloween. There was no argument, he LOVED it!!! $30 with shipping and everything, so I can't complain. And he wants to wear it alllllll the time

                                                                       Dinosaur 2012

        So excited to take Huddy trik-or-treating this year! Already have some ideas for next year's costume!

Thyroid:
I've been feeling pretty good. Besides the fact that the stomach bug hit our house last week. Hud got it early Saturday morning. Bless his heart, he has only thrown up 1 other time before that. This was allllllll day Saturday. Couldn't keep anything down. Finally Saturday night we were able to give him some 
phenergan (anti-nausea) crushed up in juice. Worked like a charm! He slept the whole night and had his appetite back. Sunday, I started feeling icky and it hit me Monday morning. BOO
We are all back on the healthy train! I have really been trying to keep track of what I eat and make it healthier. I've laid off coffee for a while, which is BIG for me. I love coffee. But it wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be to give it up. I've substituted green tea and it's actually pretty delicious. I've been taking Greens, a product by ItWorks! since late September and I love them. Gives me the servings of fruits and veggies that I need and alkalizes my body. I can't tell a huge difference in energy but my body knows when I haven't taken them. A common side effect of the medication I'm on is itchy skin and that just started a couple of days ago. I have been using extra virgin coconut oil (yes, the stuff you cook with) as a moisturizer for the past 6 or 7 months, since it is all natural and great for your skin and it eases the itchiness. So far that's the only "side effect" I've had. I go back to the endo November 8th for blood tests to make sure my levels are ok. I've been keeping up with a friend who was also diagnosed with Grave's who had her thyroid removed  a couple of weeks ago. Taking it day by day :)



HOW VAST A MEMORY HAS LOVE- ALEXANDER POPE

.....................

I met with the endo on Thursday and he gave me the results of my scans and tests.....He confirmed I have Graves Disease - Graves disease is an autoimmune disorder that leads to overactivity of the thyroid gland (hyperthyroidism). Sounds terrible but it just means my thyroid is over producing hormones. I had three options, 1) Take medication twice a day for almost 2 years (it takes a while for the medicine to kick in and it's not 100%) 2) have the thyroid removed by surgery. Of course there are the risks that come with any surgery. 3) Swallow a radioactive iodine pill that attacks the thyroid. (I would pretty much be quarantined for at least 3 days and the pill is not 100%, no thanks!!! So I opted for the meds! Of course I googled and SHOULDN'T have. I started taking them on Friday. So far I haven't had any side affects. I can tell that my heart rate is slower and I haven't noticed any palpitations. Which is a good thing because when your thyroid is HYPER, it means your whole body is running a marathon 24/7.Graves Disease is actually way more common than I thought. I have had a few people reach out to me saying they too, have Graves. CRAZY! GD is more common in females from age 20-40. I have a friend (who I had no idea was struggling with the same thing as me) who is having her thyroid surgically removed on Wednesday! If you get a chance, say a little prayer for her. She is going to get back with me and let me know how it goes. Surgery was just too drastic for me. I thought I'd at least start the meds and if I didn't have any issues on them, just continue with them. I go back in 6 weeks for a blood test. One of the side effects if the medication lowering your blood levels. SO if I'm good to go, we'll continue on the same dose. Hopefully I can continue taking these and they will ease all the symptoms I have from Graves' and in the long run they thyroid will cure itself and stop producing as much hormone. The endo did suggest we hold off on getting pregnant. We were just getting ready to start trying to have another child and all of this happened. And thank the Good Lord that it did. If I hadn't gone for my yearly, I would have never known about any of this and I could have gotten pregnant and had complications. So when the dust settles and I'm in the clear, IT'S BABY MAKING TIME :)

Thank you all for the thoughts and prayers. I don't know who all reads this stuff, its mainly just my way of venting and writing things down and a keepsake for Hudson when he is older. But thank you all, it means so much!