Santa!!!

I just got home from taking the girls to the ENT. Well Baby girl had a a followup appointment and Lil Bit tagged along. After a little kicking and a lot of crying Dr. N saw Baby girls ears looked great! While we were there Dr. N says "Wow Momma! is your neck always that big?" And the rest of the conversation goes like this... Me: well today it does seem a little swollen but I just had a radiation treatment about 6 weeks ago for hyperthyroid. Dr. N: Ooohh! And how long have you had that? Me: About 9-10 years. Dr. N: And they are just now doing something about it? Me: For a couple of years I was prescribed PTU but for the last 3 years I have taken nothing. Dr. N: Hhmm So how have you been feeling? Me: Most days, ok. But then there are days that I am very tired. Dr. N: I hope all goes well for you. We have a family friend that is in her early 20's and she had this as well. She was a college student attending on scholarship. She gained a lot of weight and then lost some weight and then she gained some more weight. She was so tired and weak that she started missing classes. Her hormone levels were like a rollercoaster, up and down and all over the place. She ended up losing her scholarship over this. It has now been about 3 years and she is finally leveling out. Me: O wow! Well I'm glad she is finally feeling better. I hope to not go thru all that. I go to the doctor next week to get my levels checked so i guess we'll see. During this conversation Baby girl has gotten out of my lap and Little Bit was now sitting with me. So I ask if he had a minute could he check her right ear. She has been saying it was bothering her. So he kindly looked for us. Little Bit is very good at the ENT. You see she has practically been raised with people looking in her ears for either infections, followups, hearing test, or check ups. This time was no different. She was very good. Dr. N said the tube in her right ear was still in place and the ear drum looked good although had considerable scarring. As for her left ear the tube was angled and appeared to still be in tact but he could not see past the tube to the eardrum. He also mentioned she had titanium tubes and had asked when and where she had them put in. I told him she has had them a little over a year and had them put in at Children's. I also asked if he knew of any headway for correcting enlarged vestibular aqueduct. Unfortunately he said no. But I will continue to ask in hopes that one day there is a fix! So the girls got suckers to go and I dropped them off at daycare so they could join class time, lunch and nap. I can't wait to pick them up. Tonight we are going to see Santa or as Baby girl calls him "Sanda". After Santa they have open house at dance class and we have invited my Mom to come watch with us! I LOVE watching my girls dance! I think I will go take a nap now to prepare myseld for tonights events! And I know I haven't mentioned Peanut lately but he is doing fine! He is ready for Christmas. He has been lifting weights in off season football and he is getting so big. AND so handsome! If I had to guess he is probably about 5'6" so that would make him bigger than me!!! Man how time flies. Seems like that kids was just born.

Cupcakes

Today we made cupcakes.....

Are they done yet???

Then we decorated them.....

And ate them!!!

Soup!!!

Here in Arkansas we have a lil German restaurant located in the small city of Altus named Wiederkehr's. It is a peaceful drive off the interstate thru yards and yards of grape vineyards. The restaurant is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and for years has been voted "Most Romantic" and "Best Ethnic" by the readers of Arkansas Times magazine. Baby J and I go there every year for our anniversary. I love that place! I usually order petite sirloin, with German potatoes. MMMMMM my mouth is watering! Every meal is served with a a loaf of bread, salad and soup. This restaurant should be known for its soup! It is like no other! I was given this recipe by a co-worker and thought to myself, there is no way this could even be close to the real thing but it actually is! So I wanted to share it with all of you! I do believe it is missing something, I just can't figure it out. So if you know, be sure to tell me! Here it goes....

4 Tablespoons Butter
1 small onion chopped
4 or 5 Beef Bouillon Cubes
6 Tablespoons Flour
5 Cups hot water
salt & pepper
Swiss Cheese
Melt butter in saucepan. Add onions and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly so mixture does not scortch. Blend in flour. Then add water and cubes. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Adjust seasonings to taste using salt & pepper. For thicker soup use less water. In each serving bowl put about 2 tablespoons shredded Swiss cheese and pour hot soup over it.

I only use four cups of water, 5 bouillon cubes and not quit that much flour. This is the closest thing to Wiederkehr's soup I have ever had! Hope you enjoy this recipe and let me know if you find the "missing" ingredient!

Love of my Life

Another Day, Another Dollar

Thank goodness it is almost weekend. It has been a long week for some reason. I worked today and at lunch went to eat pizza with some friends. We went to a new restaurant we have here in town called Larry's Pizza. I was shocked to find out I had to pay $9.41 for a pizza lunch buffet! The pizza was good but I only ate 4 pieces...a pepperoni piece, deluxe, veggie and chocloate chip piece(which by the way was heavenly)! I know, I'm a piggy! But for that price I want a whole large pizza. Needless to say I won't be eating there very often. Tonight was the city Christmas parade. It wasn't as long as it normally is...it only lasted about 45 minutes. It also wasn't near as cold as it has been in years past. It was around 45-50 degrees. The kids really enjoyed it. Now it is nearing 10 o'clock and I am exausted!

Thanksgiving

After Baby Girl was born I decided to start a tradition of our own and start staying home on Thanksgiving. You see at the point I realized I have 3 kids....a 10 year old, 2 year old(who does not like to ride in the car) and a newborn, I no longer wanted to pack a bag of clothes, bottles, pacifiers, formula, diapers, wipes, Tylenol(you never know), and snacks. And not for one kid but 2! My parents went to NWA to be with my Grandparents. My little brother was scheduled to work today so he wasn't able to go with our parents. He got off work at 3 and came to eat dinner with us! The girls were so excited! Baby J and I got home from work last night and cut the onions and celery needed and boiled eggs. This morning he had to work till 11:00 so I got the stuffing started and deviled eggs made. We finished all the cooking together and had turkey, ham, stuffing, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, gravy, macaroni n cheese, black olives, rolls, and deviled eggs. After dinner we all watched the movie Santa Paws. After dinner settled we had a bowl of French vanilla ice cream and apple pie. Peanuts favorite of the meal was the turkey, while Lil Bits favorite was the deviled eggs and Baby Girls was the stuffing. Hope you guys had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Follow up

It has been 2 weeks now since my treatment. As of last night my thyroid started to swell. Tonight it is swollen to point it has been hard to swallow. I called the clinic and they have prescribed me Prednisone and Prilosec to reduce the swelling. I have an appointment tomorrow with the doc so he can check it out. I was really hoping for all this to be simple and go smoothly. I do believe that this can easily be taken care of and I can carry on from here!
Update:
Just got back from seeing Dr. N. My blood pressure is good but my weight is up about 5 lbs but....I do have on boots and a jacket so I'm sure that is why :) The swelling has gone done some but not completely. He did say swelling is normal but usually not to the point it effects swallowing. He said to finish the prescriptions and come back in December. So I guess all is good. After my appointment I treated myself to lunch at PF Chang's and then stopped at Rue 21 and bought a new watch! So ya I'm good now!!!

Awesome!

Peanut made honor roll in his first nine weeks of Jr High! We are soo proud of him. His football team finished the season undefeated (10-0) as well.

He also plays the trumpet in the band which received perfect scores at the past marching contest! Way to go bub!

Radioactive Iodine I-131 treatment

It has now been 12 days since I have received the radioactive iodine I-131 capsule. That should make me around 31% radioactive still. The first 7 days I did not get to see the kids at all. (Children are more susceptible to the radiation than adults.) I spent most of those days sleeping. I was sooo tired and nausea. Thankfully the last couple of days I have felt really good. Day 8 I picked the kids up from daycare, gave them quick hugs when we got home and then spent the evening in the bedroom. At that point I would still have contained @ 56% and didn't feel comfortable being around the girls yet. Baby Girl had a very hard time. She stood at the door and cried most of the night. Since then I have spent a little more time with them everyday. I have yet to hold them and rock them like I want but I should be clear of radiation by this Friday...or so I understood. So Friday night will be spent with lots of hugs and rocking!
The purpose of this treatment is for my overactive thyroid - hyperthyroidism. The thyroid is a gland in your neck that produces hormones that regulate all aspects of metabolism and the chemical process of converting food into energy. Since my thyroid has been overactive, it has produced to much hormone, accelerating metabolism. This dose of I-131 is absorbed into the bloodstream and carried to the thyroid gland, where it destroys the gland. I have an appointment with my endocrinologist in December. At that time, I will be prescribed a replacement hormone based on the level of hormone(if any) shown in my bloodwork.
I pray for little to no weight gain in this process. I hope for this to be the cure so I can live to have a long healthy life with my family.
Have you had this treatment or know of anyone that has? How did it go?

Trick or Treat!

Happy Halloween from Dorothy and Supergirl

Happy Birthday Lil Bit

Little Bit is 5 years old today
When people ask how old you are, you quickly tell them you will be 5 on your next birthday.

You wear a size 4T.
You wear a size 9 1/2 shoe.

You are 3' 5" tall.

You love headbands. I use to always put your hair up, pulled back or in a pony tail, with a bow. That is no longer allowed by you. Headbands are now staple items.

You enjoy playing with your dolls and barbies. Not necessarily playing dolls with your sister tho. You sing to them, make them talk talk to each other, line them up and read to them and play school.

You still attend the same preschool you have since you were 4 months old. You seem to enjoy it there. You say you have have a boyfriend but your daddy says that is not allowed!

You have come a long way in your speech since last year. I am so proud of how well you are doing.

You love to eat McDonald's. Some days it hamburgers with sprite and some days it chicken nuggets with Hi-C. You also enjoy just about any junk food you can get your hands on but you also could put away a whole 6 pack of Danimals(yogurt) if allowed.

You LOVE to sing and dance. This is your 2nd year in dance class. This year your sister has joined you in class. Your favorite song is This Little Light of Mine and All The Single Ladies(Beyonce)!

You are usually always smiling although you do throw a fit from time to time. You fight with your sister more often than I would like but if she is not around you miss her greatly.

We all love you dearly. I cannot scoop you up enough times a day to kiss those sweet cheeks of yours!

Photo Contest

The winners of the photo contest have been announced! The kids didn't place in any category :( But thank you to all of you who voted!

VOTE!

It is time to vote! Go to www.ewingphotography.com Click on the annual black & white contest. The kids are in 4 different categories. Baby girl is in the 13mo-2yr, Little Bit is in the 3-5yr, the girls are in the sibling category together and peanut is in the 9-12yr. They are #3836. Please vote once per day per email address! Thanks a bunch! Results will be announced May 25!

Vegas - Day 1

March 31 Waiting to be picked up at the airport
On the strip
Dinner at Toby Keith's bar

UPDATE

Happy Valentine's Day, Happy St Patrick's Day, Hope you had a good Spring Break, and Happy Easter. Now I think we should be all caught up! Since I last wrote Peanut had a birthday and turned 13! Yes I am now the mother of a teenager! That has been very hard for me to believe. Baby J and I spent a week in Las Vegas for my birthday. We spent most of that time eating and sleeping! I will have to write a post on that later. Now we are preparing for Mother's Day as well as the next pageant. Followed by Little Bit's dance recital and Baby Girls 3rd birthday. I promise to do better in keeping you informed!

Pictures!!

Well actually no pictures in this post but the girls are going to have thier pictures made this morning to be entered into a photo contest. You will have a chance to go online and vote for them in a few weeks. When that time comes I will let you know the website with more details! Off we go for pictures!!!

What Are You Doing?

Little Bit had been in the bathroom longer than I thought she needed to be so I yelled "what are you doing?" The response was "I'm poopin" So after a few more minutes I thought I should go check and this is what I found....She had been into Mommy's makeup!!!

Dancin, Dancin, Dancin

Little Bit has her first Ballet class tonight!

My Favorite Stuff

I have let Peanut barge in on my blog...so here it goes!

My Favorite Stuff
Hobbies
Skateboarding, playing football and video games
Teams
New York Giants and LSU Tigers
Athletes
Rob Dyrdek, Eli Manning, Danny Way and Peyton Manning
Bands and Singers
Michael Jackson, Offspring, Metallica, Aerosmith, Linkin Park, Tenacious D, Tupac, Ludacris and Sean Kingston
Tv Shows
Family Guy, Robot Chicken, ICarly, King of the Hill, Andy Millanakus and The Clevland Show

For Christmas I got:
DC shirt and beanie, Battleship game, Skateboard, Titanic movie, MP3 player, Reflex XBox 360 game and Skate2 and an extra controller