It's late and I'm tired and lazy and nobody told SB that we're supposed to get an extra hour of sleep tonight. :) That being said, here's a short and sweet report on our 2009 Halloween:
--Candy: 18.56 lb - 747 pieces based on back-of-the-bag numbers. Only 1 bowl (maybe 40 pieces) left after 2 hours.
--Absolute Favorite Costume (that wasn't on my own kid :)) - a 3-ish year old boy dressed as the UPS guy--brown shirt w/UPS logo, brown pants, hat, and he even had a cardboard box in which to carry his candy! His mom said he picked it out himself.
--2nd Favorite Costume--a 13-ish guy in all black with an upside-down cardboard U around his shoulders. It was painted black and then ends were red and had little yellow chicks on them. Chick Magnet. Get it?. Nice.
--I love my neighbors because: they would call out the lazy teenagers trick-or-treating without serious costumes. I mean really. You know you're too old to do this. At least put a little effort into the costume.
--I love my neighborhood because: there were dozens of military cops walking and riding bikes through the neighborhood. They even had the firetruck out roaming around just for fun again! It's like trick-or-treating in Mayberry! I kept offering them candy to help keep their energy level up but they always declined. :)
--Funny Kid Comments --
--a 4-ish year old boy after I put 2 pieces of candy in his bag (younger kids got 2, anybody over about 11 got 1 and I usually made sure it was the crappy candy--Now & Laters, Starbursts, Nerds, etc.) "Give me another piece." He looked me straight in the eye and didn't even say please! His parents were horrified.
--as a kid and mom were walking up the kid noticed Fredo sitting under my chair. "Look at that fake dog!" kid says. Mom says, "That dog's not fake! He's real!" Fredo licks himself. Kid says, "WHOA! That dog IS real!"
--"Do you have a trash can I could use?" Apparently someone was giving out styrofoam cups of hot chocolate with "God loves you!" written on them. The girl handed me 2 empty ones and I carried them all the way inside for her. I am a sucker.
--Disappointment of the night -- I saw another Abby Cadabby! AND her costume was an actual store-bought one! She had the perfect dress and the wings and her yarn pom-pom pigtails were even a more perfect shade of pink than SB's! She didn't need a nametag! I was only temporarily sad because my kid's costume was much cuter. Hers may have been more easily identifiable, but we won the cuteness contest hands down.
SB was a pretty awful trick-or-treater. She enjoyed carrying her little bag but once we walked up to people she wouldn't say a word. We only went to the 4 houses closest to us and then she stood outside with us for a while watching us give out candy and smiling as I pointed out kids wearing costumes she'd recognize (dog, cow, UPS guy. Since I am constantly ordering ribbon/bow supplies we see a lot of him these days. :)). She did get to eat some chocolate. My neighbors gave her a bag of Raisinets and I was thinking, "Come on! Raisinets?!? Nobody actually likes those!" Well, I forgot that regular raisins are like crack to SB. She LOVED the Raisinets. They saw how much she enjoyed them and walked over and slipped her another bag. :) They may have ruined her for regular raisins forever. She also ate a fun size Nestle Crunch Bar. The mini bag of Raisinets and the Crunch bar together amount to the most chocolate intake she's ever experienced in one day. Surprisingly enough, she went to bed easily and on time--helped by the fact that I had a football game and Mark had a baseball game to watch so nobody wanted to let her stay up. :)
Halloween--Fun. :)
Carolina/Tennessee Football Game--Awful :(
They balance out for a pretty OK day. :)
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Musings from Las Vegas
--How does one become a "Blue Man?" Do you need a performance background? A percussion background? Just giant crazy eyes?
--Speaking of crazy eyes, does the makeup/crazy-eye combo wreak havoc on their vision long term? Ick.
--Casinos are sad at 10:00 AM. I guess I should say the people who are in casinos at 10 in the morning make me sad.
--"Dry heat" or not, 108 is just plain hot.
--I wonder if the "sirens" dancers think wistfully about what their lives would have been like had they actually gotten into Julliard. Instead they're just showing their bums on a fake pirate ship 4 times a night.
--Ford Mustangs are fun at first, but they are most definitely not built to be driven by a 5'2" girl. Most. uncomfortable. car. ever.
--Las Vegas is the land of the 24 hour breakfast menu. This is a plus.
--I wish I had bought Sarah Beth the shirt that said "My aunt is what you'd call a hottie."
--Motion-sensor-activated sinks were created to humiliate me. They see my soapy hands and laugh in defiance.
--What is the life of a Cirque du Soleil performer like the other 22 hours a day? Do they eat? Do they hang out with each other? Do they stretch all day? Are they all French-Canadian?
--All the casinos really are the same except for the carpet, lighting, and outfits for the coctail waitresses.
--Cocktail waitresses make me a little sad. Cocktail waitresses who are over about 35 make me really sad.
--Where did all the simple slot machines go? I wanted to just stick a dollar in and pull and lever. Now they all have 10 buttons and look difficult. I'll just save my dollar.
--A hot dry breeze + contacts = Emma blinking like a crazy person all day long.
--Penn of "Penn and Teller" is a libertarian and his crazy political rants made me want to stand up and shout AMEN a little.
--Speaking of crazy eyes, does the makeup/crazy-eye combo wreak havoc on their vision long term? Ick.
--Casinos are sad at 10:00 AM. I guess I should say the people who are in casinos at 10 in the morning make me sad.
--"Dry heat" or not, 108 is just plain hot.
--I wonder if the "sirens" dancers think wistfully about what their lives would have been like had they actually gotten into Julliard. Instead they're just showing their bums on a fake pirate ship 4 times a night.
--Ford Mustangs are fun at first, but they are most definitely not built to be driven by a 5'2" girl. Most. uncomfortable. car. ever.
--Las Vegas is the land of the 24 hour breakfast menu. This is a plus.
--I wish I had bought Sarah Beth the shirt that said "My aunt is what you'd call a hottie."
--Motion-sensor-activated sinks were created to humiliate me. They see my soapy hands and laugh in defiance.
--What is the life of a Cirque du Soleil performer like the other 22 hours a day? Do they eat? Do they hang out with each other? Do they stretch all day? Are they all French-Canadian?
--All the casinos really are the same except for the carpet, lighting, and outfits for the coctail waitresses.
--Cocktail waitresses make me a little sad. Cocktail waitresses who are over about 35 make me really sad.
--Where did all the simple slot machines go? I wanted to just stick a dollar in and pull and lever. Now they all have 10 buttons and look difficult. I'll just save my dollar.
--A hot dry breeze + contacts = Emma blinking like a crazy person all day long.
--Penn of "Penn and Teller" is a libertarian and his crazy political rants made me want to stand up and shout AMEN a little.
Friday, July 3, 2009
A blog in the style of Facebook status updates:
Emma Wuertz...
--is thankful for her new fancy jogging (and by jogging I mean really fast walking) stroller after pushing around the beast of a Graco all day at the zoo.
--is watching High School Musical 3 tonight.
--loves that when Mark tried to get Sarah Beth to say "bison" when they saw a bison at the zoo, she said "yummy" instead.
--is irritated because her sunburn is at the itchy stage.
--is addicted to babycheapskate.com and buying stuff she doesn't really need just because it's a fabulous deal.
--is losing the war against roly-polys for ownership of our first floor.
--is looking forward to her first Independence Day spent in 70/80 degree weather (instead of sweating in the 90s) but will be crazy sad to miss the annual "Party Til the Cows Come Home" with the trifecta.
--is a little discouraged and frustrated with how much (or I guess how little) Sarah Beth eats.
--loves to read other peoples' blogs and wishes she were better about updating hers more often. :)
--is thankful for her new fancy jogging (and by jogging I mean really fast walking) stroller after pushing around the beast of a Graco all day at the zoo.
--is watching High School Musical 3 tonight.
--loves that when Mark tried to get Sarah Beth to say "bison" when they saw a bison at the zoo, she said "yummy" instead.
--is irritated because her sunburn is at the itchy stage.
--is addicted to babycheapskate.com and buying stuff she doesn't really need just because it's a fabulous deal.
--is losing the war against roly-polys for ownership of our first floor.
--is looking forward to her first Independence Day spent in 70/80 degree weather (instead of sweating in the 90s) but will be crazy sad to miss the annual "Party Til the Cows Come Home" with the trifecta.
--is a little discouraged and frustrated with how much (or I guess how little) Sarah Beth eats.
--loves to read other peoples' blogs and wishes she were better about updating hers more often. :)
Monday, June 29, 2009
What now, Dr. Morton?
Today we had Sarah Beth's 18 month checkup. As I've always been concerned with her physical growth, I was excited to see how her weight/height measured up since she's seemed to be chunking up lately. Apparently I was wrong. :) She was 30 3/4 inches tall (yay) and 20.6 lb (boo). I think that was the exact same weight we got at her 12 month checkup, actually. This was a little concerning to the doctor since her height and head size are on track with where they've been for about 9 months (percentiles in the high teens) and her weight fell from the 21st to the 4th percentile. whoops. The frustrating thing is that we've been feeling so good about how she's been eating lately! I told the doctor that since she was so small to begin with, for the first year of her life my main concern every hour of every day was "GET FOOD IN THE BABY." Once we established that she was growing physically at a healthy rate and was at or ahead of where she needed to be developmentally (without even accounting for her prematurity), we started to relax about the food. She eats a wide variety of healthy foods, but we were a little more laid back on the forcing her to eat part. We figured, "She's happy, she's growing, she's healthy. She'll eat when she gets hungry enough, so we're not going to wrestle with her over cleaning her plate." Sometimes she eats EVERYTHING ALL DAY LONG. Sometimes she seems to get by on oxygen alone. Also, she eats HEALTHY FOOD! I guess I shouldn't be surprised that she can't gain weight when her average dinner is grilled chicken and steamed veggies with no butter. :) She doesn't get cookies or ice cream--her most exciting treat is vanilla wafers! Today in an attempt to help her fatten up I gave her her very first taste of a peanut butter (full fat!) and jelly sandwich for lunch. She rejected it and ended up eating handfulls and handfulls of fresh pineapple for lunch. How you chunk up on pineapple alone I'll never know.
Bottom line is that according to Dr. Morton, we should go back to wrestling with her about food and forcing her to eat. Well...we tried that at dinner.
It did not go well.
She went at the green beans like they were going out of style, but as soon as I jammed a few pieces of cheesy potatos in, it all came to a screeching halt. The 3 bites that I forced her to eat plus the one bite of pork tenderloin that I jammed in took about 40 minutes in total because she cried and let the food sit in her open mouth for 10-15 minutes at a time before finally gagging herself and accidentally swallowing it. fun.
Now, I'm not what you'd call tenderhearted--I have no problem listening to her cry for hours if she's just throwing a fit and being disobedient (if she's genuinely hurt and crying, however, I get so worked up that it makes me cry. Ask Mark's parents--the only time they've ever seen me cry was when she and I fell down the stairs and she bit down on her lip so hard that she earned herself her first ER visit.). We view tantrums as acts of defiance and discipline her accordingly, but how do you discipline her for refusing to chew? Seriously? That's not a rhetorical question, folks! I have no problem forcing her to clean her plate if that's what it takes, but I think we'd sit at the high chair all. day. long. if that's what it came to. I'm open to any and all suggestions, friends! :)
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
My child is special because:
--She decided she didn't like watermelon, so she'd rather let a chunk of watermelon sit in her open mouth for 35 minutes than chew it up and swallow it (yes, I timed it. I'm actually writing this blog while she's whining in her high chair a few feet away, so if the blog ends abruptly, it just means that she finally swallowed the watermelon and naptime began).
--She reminds me that things like, "Don't eat rocks!" do need to be said aloud--apparently I thought that one was understood.
--When I attempt to get up early to get things done before she wakes up, she knows just what time my alarm is set for and wakes up exactly 12 minutes before it goes off.
--She refuses to poop into an already wet diaper and consistently holds it until I have JUST changed her in order to do her business in a fresh diaper. Because they grow on trees.
--She spends the entirety of "infant song & sign" class standing in the middle of the circle and staring at the teacher while she plays her guitar and teaches us funny hand motions. She never claps, dances, or sings during class. When we get home, however, she won't shut up or be still.
I may add more to this list later if additional things come to me. Right now I'm going to have some mercy and bail the child out by digging the semi-chewed watermelon out of her mouth and putting her to bed. It's been 47 minutes and I keep having to clap loudly and wake her up. Apparently "You can't go to sleep with food in your mouth" is another rule that actually needs to be spoken aloud.
--She reminds me that things like, "Don't eat rocks!" do need to be said aloud--apparently I thought that one was understood.
--When I attempt to get up early to get things done before she wakes up, she knows just what time my alarm is set for and wakes up exactly 12 minutes before it goes off.
--She refuses to poop into an already wet diaper and consistently holds it until I have JUST changed her in order to do her business in a fresh diaper. Because they grow on trees.
--She spends the entirety of "infant song & sign" class standing in the middle of the circle and staring at the teacher while she plays her guitar and teaches us funny hand motions. She never claps, dances, or sings during class. When we get home, however, she won't shut up or be still.
I may add more to this list later if additional things come to me. Right now I'm going to have some mercy and bail the child out by digging the semi-chewed watermelon out of her mouth and putting her to bed. It's been 47 minutes and I keep having to clap loudly and wake her up. Apparently "You can't go to sleep with food in your mouth" is another rule that actually needs to be spoken aloud.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Product endorsement :)
I bought a Ped Egg today. Yes, seriously. I stopped and admired them earlier this week in the "as seen on TV" section of Bed Bath and Beyond, but they looked painful and I didn't think my problem was that bad. Well, folks, after taking a look, I can confirm for you that my foot problem really is that bad.
Since I've lived in flip flops year round for years, I've just accepted the disgusting condition of my feet as a symptom of their continual exposure to the elements and ignored what was going on down there. My move to Ohio and the sudden onset of constant coldness has left me wearing socks for the 23 hours and 50 minutes of the day during which I am not in the shower, so that has further cemented the lack of concern for the appearance of my feet. Well, yesterday after my shower I did a thorough foot examination and was horrified. I quickly broke out some fancy foot lotion I got for Christmas (both my mom and my mother-in-law gave me foot care products. You'd think I'd have taken the hint by now.) and slathered it on. Today I headed straight to the foot care section of Meijer to look for a pumice stone (I've been given them several times in the last few years by the same mother-in-law and I would consistenly use them for a few weeks in the shower. Inevitably the same thing always happened--I got lazy, they got slimy and gross, and I threw them away.) and there it was...the Ped Egg! It was on sale! :)
I laughed and rolled my eyes and pushed the buggy a few steps further down the aisle. With every step, however, I thought about the coming spring and the chance to bring my beloved Reef flipflops out of hiding. My curiousity eventually won and I tossed it into the buggy along with some new nail polish for which I had a $1 off coupon. :) (I can rationalize the frivolous purchase if I have a coupon for the polish and the Ped Egg was $2 off this week. :))
Dear friends, I have scraped. I have filed. I am amazed. My feet are nowhere near baby's bottom yet. They're not even close to the condition of Mark's beautiful soft girly feet. They are, however, better. It didn't hurt at all! I think I'm going to re-lotionize and use my new polish and then let them rest for a day or two and then break out the egg again and see if I can get a habit going. :) I'll be ready for sandals in no time. :)
I am not going to post a picture of my feet. I'm not quite there yet. I will, however, post a picture of the results of my first Ped Egg treatment. Those of you who have seen the commercial (I'm sure you can youtube it if you haven't seen this gem on real TV) have seen that part of the Ped Egg's charm lies in the fact that the dead skin that you slough off gets trapped in the bottom of the container so you can toss it in the trash instead of having it go all over your floor. This part of the commercial always made me giggle because of the cartoonish amount of icky skin the girl throws away. Ladies and gentlemen, it is not cartoonish. It is real life. The following picture is not for children or any adults with high blood pressure or a sensitive gag reflex.
Seriously. You are warned. It's gross.
Since I've lived in flip flops year round for years, I've just accepted the disgusting condition of my feet as a symptom of their continual exposure to the elements and ignored what was going on down there. My move to Ohio and the sudden onset of constant coldness has left me wearing socks for the 23 hours and 50 minutes of the day during which I am not in the shower, so that has further cemented the lack of concern for the appearance of my feet. Well, yesterday after my shower I did a thorough foot examination and was horrified. I quickly broke out some fancy foot lotion I got for Christmas (both my mom and my mother-in-law gave me foot care products. You'd think I'd have taken the hint by now.) and slathered it on. Today I headed straight to the foot care section of Meijer to look for a pumice stone (I've been given them several times in the last few years by the same mother-in-law and I would consistenly use them for a few weeks in the shower. Inevitably the same thing always happened--I got lazy, they got slimy and gross, and I threw them away.) and there it was...the Ped Egg! It was on sale! :)
I laughed and rolled my eyes and pushed the buggy a few steps further down the aisle. With every step, however, I thought about the coming spring and the chance to bring my beloved Reef flipflops out of hiding. My curiousity eventually won and I tossed it into the buggy along with some new nail polish for which I had a $1 off coupon. :) (I can rationalize the frivolous purchase if I have a coupon for the polish and the Ped Egg was $2 off this week. :))
Dear friends, I have scraped. I have filed. I am amazed. My feet are nowhere near baby's bottom yet. They're not even close to the condition of Mark's beautiful soft girly feet. They are, however, better. It didn't hurt at all! I think I'm going to re-lotionize and use my new polish and then let them rest for a day or two and then break out the egg again and see if I can get a habit going. :) I'll be ready for sandals in no time. :)
I am not going to post a picture of my feet. I'm not quite there yet. I will, however, post a picture of the results of my first Ped Egg treatment. Those of you who have seen the commercial (I'm sure you can youtube it if you haven't seen this gem on real TV) have seen that part of the Ped Egg's charm lies in the fact that the dead skin that you slough off gets trapped in the bottom of the container so you can toss it in the trash instead of having it go all over your floor. This part of the commercial always made me giggle because of the cartoonish amount of icky skin the girl throws away. Ladies and gentlemen, it is not cartoonish. It is real life. The following picture is not for children or any adults with high blood pressure or a sensitive gag reflex.
Seriously. You are warned. It's gross.
Ok, Kerri and Keri. You wanted a new blog post, you got it. :)
Monday, March 16, 2009
Dear Dancing With the Stars Judges,
Thank you for finally calling Julianne out on making dances all about her while her partner just stands there and provides a pole for her to twirl around. Welcome to the program. Can we talk about why you gave such harsh (but warranted) criticism and then turned around and once again rewarded her with 7s? No? Ok.
Your faithful friend,
Emma
P.S. Could you please tell her to use some double-stick tape next time? The glittery thong that peeked out as the pants slipped was an unnecessary costume embellishment. thanks.
Your faithful friend,
Emma
P.S. Could you please tell her to use some double-stick tape next time? The glittery thong that peeked out as the pants slipped was an unnecessary costume embellishment. thanks.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
My new favorite website!
Friends, this morning we made a wonderful discovery here at the Wuertz house. I found Sesame Street! I was curious as to whether or not it was still on TV (it is!), so I checked the cable menu and Sarah Beth and I watched it (well, she watched the first 10 minutes and then lost interest and resumed climbing all over a cardboard box). When it started, she was transfixed! She was in the middle of one of her DOZENS of laps around our big rectangular coffee table and she stopped, looked up at the TV, held out her hand and started babbling at whatever strange looking muppet was on the screen talking about what makes a triangle great! It was hysterical! She's never paid that much attention to anything on TV--it was like she looked up and saw the blue-furred little guy and went, "Hey! This is for me!" :)
She watched with serious interest for maybe 10-15 minutes then went back to playing. I, however, watched the whole thing and loved it! I had no idea how hilarious Sesame Street has become! The highlight of my day so far was watching James Blunt sing a duet called "My Triangle" (to the tune of his song, "You're Beautiful") with a muppet. My sweet friend Sarah (a preschool teacher) clued me in on the wealth of fabulous celebrity videos that can be found on sesamestreet.org and I've spent the last 20 minutes watching videos and wondering how these people do this with a straight face. Here, for your personal enrichment, are my favorites:
James Blunt singing "My Triangle"
http://www.sesamestreet.org/video_player?p_p_lifecycle=0&p_p_id=videoPlayer_WAR_sesameportlets4369&p_p_uid=df4a889a-157a-11dd-9bc7-777dea8a73e7
Dixie Chicks singing "There's No Letter Better Than B"
http://www.sesamestreet.org/video_player?p_p_lifecycle=0&p_p_id=videoPlayer_WAR_sesameportlets4369&p_p_uid=19fde7fd-1575-11dd-bb51-597ab51d2e81
Anderson Cooper (my "Silver Fox Crush") broadcasting from Oscar's trash can with "Dan Rathernot" and "Walter Cranky"
http://www.sesamestreet.org/video_player?p_p_lifecycle=0&p_p_id=videoPlayer_WAR_sesameportlets4369&p_p_uid=86730c18-154b-11dd-8ea8-a3d2ac25b65b
Ken Jennings (from Jeopardy) wins a date with a pineapple
http://www.sesamestreet.org/video_player?p_p_lifecycle=0&p_p_id=videoPlayer_WAR_sesameportlets4369&p_p_uid=72ed3da9-156a-11dd-bb51-597ab51d2e81
She watched with serious interest for maybe 10-15 minutes then went back to playing. I, however, watched the whole thing and loved it! I had no idea how hilarious Sesame Street has become! The highlight of my day so far was watching James Blunt sing a duet called "My Triangle" (to the tune of his song, "You're Beautiful") with a muppet. My sweet friend Sarah (a preschool teacher) clued me in on the wealth of fabulous celebrity videos that can be found on sesamestreet.org and I've spent the last 20 minutes watching videos and wondering how these people do this with a straight face. Here, for your personal enrichment, are my favorites:
James Blunt singing "My Triangle"
http://www.sesamestreet.org/video_player?p_p_lifecycle=0&p_p_id=videoPlayer_WAR_sesameportlets4369&p_p_uid=df4a889a-157a-11dd-9bc7-777dea8a73e7
Dixie Chicks singing "There's No Letter Better Than B"
http://www.sesamestreet.org/video_player?p_p_lifecycle=0&p_p_id=videoPlayer_WAR_sesameportlets4369&p_p_uid=19fde7fd-1575-11dd-bb51-597ab51d2e81
Anderson Cooper (my "Silver Fox Crush") broadcasting from Oscar's trash can with "Dan Rathernot" and "Walter Cranky"
http://www.sesamestreet.org/video_player?p_p_lifecycle=0&p_p_id=videoPlayer_WAR_sesameportlets4369&p_p_uid=86730c18-154b-11dd-8ea8-a3d2ac25b65b
Ken Jennings (from Jeopardy) wins a date with a pineapple
http://www.sesamestreet.org/video_player?p_p_lifecycle=0&p_p_id=videoPlayer_WAR_sesameportlets4369&p_p_uid=72ed3da9-156a-11dd-bb51-597ab51d2e81
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Just me and Oprah...
Apparently Oprah has recently come out and told the world that her thyroid gland is ruining her life. Since I don't usually watch (unless you count the clips of screaming women they run on The Soup) I don't know what her deal is, but I feel somehow emboldened by her courage and want to confess to the world: I too have been held hostage by this evil dictator of a gland. Seriously. Who knew such a little buttface of a gland could wreak such havoc? Well, besides sweet Dr. Persons, and his Holy Spirit "hunch."
Though I wasn't having any weird symptoms originally, he threw in a bonus thyroid panel in labwork that was run a few days before everything else went haywire and I had a somewhat dramatic induction and early delivery of Sarah Beth. The results were majorly wonky, but other things were wonkier at that point and the thyroid took a back seat for several months. The watch-and-see-if-it-goes-away-on-its-own (it didn't) approach lasted through the summer, then Dr. Persons finally washed his hands of me and sent me to an endocrinologist to get straightened out. Two weeks before we moved I was able to get into an endocrinologist who told me that my thyroid had become overactive (when I asked why/how all I got was a shoulder shrug...apparently it just "happens sometimes.") and the most effective course of treatment was to "shut it up" using radioactive Iodine treatment. Pretty much all that entailed was swalling a carefully calculated dose of a medicine that would get me tackled by airport security if I traveled too soon afterward, which would basically kill off (permanently) a portion of my thyroid gland. The most complicated part was that I was supposed to keep out of "close contact" with others for about a week...which is tough to explain to an 8-month-old who just wants to be held. The upside is that it's a one-time, usually foolproof way to turn off the hyperactivity. The downside is that they almost always kill off a little too much which eventually make you hypo-thyroid (underactive this time) meaning you get to take meds to bring you back to normal every day for the rest of your life. Awesome.
OK. So treated with Iodine in August. I was told it usually takes a few months to work, so as long as I wasn't having any major symptoms, I should just have labwork done in 2 months after we'd moved to Ohio to check and see how far the levels had fallen, and at that point they'd decide whether or not to put me on the drugs. Labwork was run in October and the result was that yes, my levels were falling (and rising--there are several different hormones they look at and some rise and some fall and I can't remember which is which) so we knew the treatment did its job, but they liked to have at least 2 data points to compare before they start dosage of the synthetic thyroid drug--I had to have it rechecked in a few months and if it was pretty close to what it was in October then we'd know it was pretty much done shrinking, whereas if the 2nd blood draw showed a significant difference one way or the other we'd need to keep watching-and-seeing before we could determine a correct dose because things were still working themselves out. That was the longest sentence in America. Sorry, ya'll. It's late and that's just how I type. :)
November 2008: The Funk arrives. All of a sudden, here come the symptoms of hypothyroidism that I had blessedly somehow avoided up to this point. For the last 2 months, The Funk has taken over my life and made some interesting changes to include:
--fatigue. Now, up until this point I never answered the "fatigue?" question with a yes because I figured that all new moms were just constantly tired and that my particular tiredness could mostly be attributed to the stress of moving coupled with staying up too late playing on the computer. I have now reached the point where I know the difference between normal, partially self-imposed tiredness and chemical, can't-physically-make-it-through-the-day-without-a-nap fatigue.
--muscle weakness. This was also a bit of a shocker for me because it's advent coincided with the purchase of a set of "The Firm" workout dvds which I actually enjoyed doing. :) My favorite was the strength one because I was always sore afterward, but it was the good sore where you know you worked hard. However, even on days when I didn't do the workouts my muscles would still feel tired. I knew the DVDs were working, though, because after a few weeks, they got easier to do (I was getting stronger). We traveled for Thanksgiving and I didn't work out for over a week. During that week I started noticing that even though I hadn't used my muscles in the same way, they were still really tired--like I had to take a break and let my arm dangle halfway through brushing my teeth because my shoulder couldn't hold my arm up and sustain the pressure needed to adequately press the toothbrush onto my teeth to scrub. OK, so this wasn't "wow, that workout was so awesome that I can't raise my arms" tired--this was "wow, my shoulder got so tired that I just had to take a break while blowdrying my hair" tired. Not normal. I had a few close calls with slipping and falling down the stairs because my legs were a little unsteady (our new house is 2-story), which is scary when carrying an infant. I now go granny-slow up and down them while white-knuckling the handrail whether I'm carrying anything or not. My back muscles tire and ache (I'm guessing just from the stress of supporting my frame) when I stand or walk anywhere after about 5 minutes. Again, not normal.
--cold intolerance. This one is funny for several reasons. It's funny (and normally could possibly be explained away) because it also coinciced with fall/winter and a move from Florida to Ohio. It's also funny because up until November I was ALWAYS HOT. ALWAYS. I was thrilled to move to a cold climate because I thought maybe then there would be a few months out of the year where I wouldn't sweat like a horse. All of a sudden it was like a switch flipped and I was ALWAYS COLD. ALWAYS. It's one thing to be cold because it's really cold outside. It's another for Emma Wuertz to be sitting here typing this in a house where the digital thermostat reads 70 degrees--and I'm wearing a long-sleeved shirt, a fleece pullover, the fleece lining out of my new winter coat that I got for Christmas (YAY!), fleece pants, socks, and a have a heavy blanket over my lap. Seriously folks. My flip flops haven't seen the light of day in months. The bonus here is that I've bought myself a whole new sweater wardrobe, which is fun because all my life I've been too hot to wear sweaters! :) The downside is that our gas bill for last month was $161 (because if we lower the thermostat any lower my teeth will chatter) and that I'm constantly scared I'll roast my child to death because I dress her as if she's as cold as me when she's probably comfortable in our 70 degree house in just a long-sleeved onesie without the fleece hoodie. :)
--loss of appetite. This one has been the most shocking. I have never in my life voluntarily skipped meals. My problem has been the opposite--even if I wasn't technically "hungry," I'd eat just because it was lunchtime or I'd finish the fries just because they were sitting there. The genuine lack of hunger coupled with the fixing-and-eating-lunch-would-cut-into-my-precious-naptime attitude of late means I'm down to 1, sometimes 2 small meals a day and zero snacks. The super sucky part of this classic symptom of hypothyroidism is that it almost always comes with a precipitous drop in metabolic rate--meaning even though I'm eating less than I ever have in my life, I'm not losing a single pound. Double awesome. Here's a serious confession to prove my point: I love mint M&Ms. I love them. As they're only around at Christmas and some years are hard to find, I tend to hoard them and stock up when I see them because I'm sure that they'll soon disappear and I'll have to wait til next year to taste their minty goodness again. Last Christmas I'd buy a bag or 2 every time I went to the commissary, you know--just in case they ran out...well they never did. At one point in January I went through my china cabinet where I had them all hidden and counted over 2 dozen bags. I was nusing/pumping/sleeping almost never at that point and I'd eat them to stay awake at all hours of the day or night (several of you can attest to seeing/smelling me eating them to stay awake in church :)) and I would literally go through a bag a day. Gross, I know. This is me being transparent. :) Well I've been trying to "do better" so I haven't amassed quite that many (I'd count, but that would mean I'd have to get out of this chair and leave my little warm bubble, so that's not happening :)) or eaten them with such gusto, and I have a bag opened and stashed in my side table, but that particular bag has been open for over a week. A week! I know NORMAL people can actually make candy last that long, but even on my best "dieting" days that was basically an impossibility with me. Bottom line: eating W-A-Y less (and better for me food!) than ever before in my life while managing to slowly regain almost all of the 28 lbs I put on while pregnant--and then lost the first week and a half after delivery. Definitely not awesome.
This brings us to today. Today I had another thyroid panel run and it seems my levels have finally evened out so tomorrow I get to pick up my drugs!!! I am SO EXCITED!!! It feels like between The Funk and moving and post-baby junk and blood pressure junk and being pregnant that I haven't felt "normal" in a year and a half...and I LONG to just feel NORMAL! So, while I don't usually get all transparent and open on the internet (as a blog-stalker myself I can attest to the fact that you don't know who reads this stuff! :)), here's my plea for all of you, whoever you are. Would you please pray with me:
--that the Lord would use this medicine to bring back the "normal" so I can be a better mom and wife than I have been in the last 2 months specifically.
--that He'd do it quickly :) as Mark's going TDY for 2 weeks pretty soon and mommying with The Crud is hard enough even when I have him around to help for a few hours every day. Doing it without him for 2 weeks will definitely take the Lord's strength, which I know He'll give--partially in the form of a visit from my sweet mama to help out. :)
--that if/when He brings me out of The Crud, He'll help me remember when necessary what it feels like to be totally dependent on Him to get through the day and that I will be thankful for this time and that it taught me that truth. This has been a hard lesson to learn, specifically for a girl who NEVER asks for help from ANYONE, :) but He knew that I needed to be physically shut down in order to remember what true reliance on Him looks like and I praise Him for using this time in my life in that way.
Sorry, ya'll. :) I know it's disappointing that this post contained neither humorous fluff nor cute baby pictures. :) I'll do better next time. :)
Though I wasn't having any weird symptoms originally, he threw in a bonus thyroid panel in labwork that was run a few days before everything else went haywire and I had a somewhat dramatic induction and early delivery of Sarah Beth. The results were majorly wonky, but other things were wonkier at that point and the thyroid took a back seat for several months. The watch-and-see-if-it-goes-away-on-its-own (it didn't) approach lasted through the summer, then Dr. Persons finally washed his hands of me and sent me to an endocrinologist to get straightened out. Two weeks before we moved I was able to get into an endocrinologist who told me that my thyroid had become overactive (when I asked why/how all I got was a shoulder shrug...apparently it just "happens sometimes.") and the most effective course of treatment was to "shut it up" using radioactive Iodine treatment. Pretty much all that entailed was swalling a carefully calculated dose of a medicine that would get me tackled by airport security if I traveled too soon afterward, which would basically kill off (permanently) a portion of my thyroid gland. The most complicated part was that I was supposed to keep out of "close contact" with others for about a week...which is tough to explain to an 8-month-old who just wants to be held. The upside is that it's a one-time, usually foolproof way to turn off the hyperactivity. The downside is that they almost always kill off a little too much which eventually make you hypo-thyroid (underactive this time) meaning you get to take meds to bring you back to normal every day for the rest of your life. Awesome.
OK. So treated with Iodine in August. I was told it usually takes a few months to work, so as long as I wasn't having any major symptoms, I should just have labwork done in 2 months after we'd moved to Ohio to check and see how far the levels had fallen, and at that point they'd decide whether or not to put me on the drugs. Labwork was run in October and the result was that yes, my levels were falling (and rising--there are several different hormones they look at and some rise and some fall and I can't remember which is which) so we knew the treatment did its job, but they liked to have at least 2 data points to compare before they start dosage of the synthetic thyroid drug--I had to have it rechecked in a few months and if it was pretty close to what it was in October then we'd know it was pretty much done shrinking, whereas if the 2nd blood draw showed a significant difference one way or the other we'd need to keep watching-and-seeing before we could determine a correct dose because things were still working themselves out. That was the longest sentence in America. Sorry, ya'll. It's late and that's just how I type. :)
November 2008: The Funk arrives. All of a sudden, here come the symptoms of hypothyroidism that I had blessedly somehow avoided up to this point. For the last 2 months, The Funk has taken over my life and made some interesting changes to include:
--fatigue. Now, up until this point I never answered the "fatigue?" question with a yes because I figured that all new moms were just constantly tired and that my particular tiredness could mostly be attributed to the stress of moving coupled with staying up too late playing on the computer. I have now reached the point where I know the difference between normal, partially self-imposed tiredness and chemical, can't-physically-make-it-through-the-day-without-a-nap fatigue.
--muscle weakness. This was also a bit of a shocker for me because it's advent coincided with the purchase of a set of "The Firm" workout dvds which I actually enjoyed doing. :) My favorite was the strength one because I was always sore afterward, but it was the good sore where you know you worked hard. However, even on days when I didn't do the workouts my muscles would still feel tired. I knew the DVDs were working, though, because after a few weeks, they got easier to do (I was getting stronger). We traveled for Thanksgiving and I didn't work out for over a week. During that week I started noticing that even though I hadn't used my muscles in the same way, they were still really tired--like I had to take a break and let my arm dangle halfway through brushing my teeth because my shoulder couldn't hold my arm up and sustain the pressure needed to adequately press the toothbrush onto my teeth to scrub. OK, so this wasn't "wow, that workout was so awesome that I can't raise my arms" tired--this was "wow, my shoulder got so tired that I just had to take a break while blowdrying my hair" tired. Not normal. I had a few close calls with slipping and falling down the stairs because my legs were a little unsteady (our new house is 2-story), which is scary when carrying an infant. I now go granny-slow up and down them while white-knuckling the handrail whether I'm carrying anything or not. My back muscles tire and ache (I'm guessing just from the stress of supporting my frame) when I stand or walk anywhere after about 5 minutes. Again, not normal.
--cold intolerance. This one is funny for several reasons. It's funny (and normally could possibly be explained away) because it also coinciced with fall/winter and a move from Florida to Ohio. It's also funny because up until November I was ALWAYS HOT. ALWAYS. I was thrilled to move to a cold climate because I thought maybe then there would be a few months out of the year where I wouldn't sweat like a horse. All of a sudden it was like a switch flipped and I was ALWAYS COLD. ALWAYS. It's one thing to be cold because it's really cold outside. It's another for Emma Wuertz to be sitting here typing this in a house where the digital thermostat reads 70 degrees--and I'm wearing a long-sleeved shirt, a fleece pullover, the fleece lining out of my new winter coat that I got for Christmas (YAY!), fleece pants, socks, and a have a heavy blanket over my lap. Seriously folks. My flip flops haven't seen the light of day in months. The bonus here is that I've bought myself a whole new sweater wardrobe, which is fun because all my life I've been too hot to wear sweaters! :) The downside is that our gas bill for last month was $161 (because if we lower the thermostat any lower my teeth will chatter) and that I'm constantly scared I'll roast my child to death because I dress her as if she's as cold as me when she's probably comfortable in our 70 degree house in just a long-sleeved onesie without the fleece hoodie. :)
--loss of appetite. This one has been the most shocking. I have never in my life voluntarily skipped meals. My problem has been the opposite--even if I wasn't technically "hungry," I'd eat just because it was lunchtime or I'd finish the fries just because they were sitting there. The genuine lack of hunger coupled with the fixing-and-eating-lunch-would-cut-into-my-precious-naptime attitude of late means I'm down to 1, sometimes 2 small meals a day and zero snacks. The super sucky part of this classic symptom of hypothyroidism is that it almost always comes with a precipitous drop in metabolic rate--meaning even though I'm eating less than I ever have in my life, I'm not losing a single pound. Double awesome. Here's a serious confession to prove my point: I love mint M&Ms. I love them. As they're only around at Christmas and some years are hard to find, I tend to hoard them and stock up when I see them because I'm sure that they'll soon disappear and I'll have to wait til next year to taste their minty goodness again. Last Christmas I'd buy a bag or 2 every time I went to the commissary, you know--just in case they ran out...well they never did. At one point in January I went through my china cabinet where I had them all hidden and counted over 2 dozen bags. I was nusing/pumping/sleeping almost never at that point and I'd eat them to stay awake at all hours of the day or night (several of you can attest to seeing/smelling me eating them to stay awake in church :)) and I would literally go through a bag a day. Gross, I know. This is me being transparent. :) Well I've been trying to "do better" so I haven't amassed quite that many (I'd count, but that would mean I'd have to get out of this chair and leave my little warm bubble, so that's not happening :)) or eaten them with such gusto, and I have a bag opened and stashed in my side table, but that particular bag has been open for over a week. A week! I know NORMAL people can actually make candy last that long, but even on my best "dieting" days that was basically an impossibility with me. Bottom line: eating W-A-Y less (and better for me food!) than ever before in my life while managing to slowly regain almost all of the 28 lbs I put on while pregnant--and then lost the first week and a half after delivery. Definitely not awesome.
This brings us to today. Today I had another thyroid panel run and it seems my levels have finally evened out so tomorrow I get to pick up my drugs!!! I am SO EXCITED!!! It feels like between The Funk and moving and post-baby junk and blood pressure junk and being pregnant that I haven't felt "normal" in a year and a half...and I LONG to just feel NORMAL! So, while I don't usually get all transparent and open on the internet (as a blog-stalker myself I can attest to the fact that you don't know who reads this stuff! :)), here's my plea for all of you, whoever you are. Would you please pray with me:
--that the Lord would use this medicine to bring back the "normal" so I can be a better mom and wife than I have been in the last 2 months specifically.
--that He'd do it quickly :) as Mark's going TDY for 2 weeks pretty soon and mommying with The Crud is hard enough even when I have him around to help for a few hours every day. Doing it without him for 2 weeks will definitely take the Lord's strength, which I know He'll give--partially in the form of a visit from my sweet mama to help out. :)
--that if/when He brings me out of The Crud, He'll help me remember when necessary what it feels like to be totally dependent on Him to get through the day and that I will be thankful for this time and that it taught me that truth. This has been a hard lesson to learn, specifically for a girl who NEVER asks for help from ANYONE, :) but He knew that I needed to be physically shut down in order to remember what true reliance on Him looks like and I praise Him for using this time in my life in that way.
Sorry, ya'll. :) I know it's disappointing that this post contained neither humorous fluff nor cute baby pictures. :) I'll do better next time. :)
Friday, January 2, 2009
2008 In Review
Sarah Beth went from this:
(early Jan 2008 - 4-ish lbs)
(early Jan 2008 - 4-ish lbs)
to this:
(mid Dec 2008 - 20-ish lbs!)
and from this:
(early Jan 2008 - finishing a 1-1.5 oz bottle was a triumph!)
to this:
(she eats pretty much anything, but her favorites seem to be peas and ham--she gobbles them up like I'm going to take them from her any minute!)
and from this:
(sleeping ALL THE TIME)
to this:
(She still sleeps well, but when she's awake she's standing on her own and almost walking and therefore NEVER sitting still :))
WHEW! :)
We can't wait to see what 2009 will bring! We are so richly blessed!
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