Unfolding Dreams

Sometimes I would say to myself, my kiddo(s) can make some big messes. But that's just typical kid behavior, right? It's my job as the parent to teach them how to clean these messes up. So, I did the usual. Organize the toys. Label them. Give up and give them a big storage bin they can just toss the toys in. I helped them clean up. I tried to show that working hard and cleaning up could be fun. We sang the cleanup song in many variations. I played music as we worked. I got chore charts.  We cleaned a little at a time with many breaks in between. We saved the big cleanups for the end of the day. I asked many times.  We made games out of it.  I offered reward coupons for excellent behavior I had noticed throughout a day or week without prompting. We cleaned up first to earn whatever special activity or show we were going to do/watch for the day. I made sure to praise. I tried to lead by my own example. I explained to them to only make messes the...

What we know so far is... 1) My thyroid is enlarged.  July 2016 - 4 months postpartum. 2) My thyroid antibodies are very high. September 2016 - 6 months postpartum. 3) I do not have postpartum thyroiditis. I have Graves Disease. January 2017 - 10 months postpartum. 4) I can not get pregnant while on anti-thyroid medication. They can cause birth defects/miscarriages. 5) My body is responding to the anti-thyroid medication. 6) I would be considered a high-risk pregnancy and require seeing a fetal medicine specialist. 7) 10 mg dose of anti-thyroid meds for 3 months made me go hypo. March 2017 - 12 months postpartum. 8) I need to be on a lower dose of anti-thyroid meds. Now on 5 mg every other day. Last Edited: May 10, 2017

So yesterday (1/24/2017) I posted my thoughts on the tooth fairy, and here we are less than 24 hours later, my oldest child finally lost her wiggly tooth around 12-1 pm in the afternoon after taking a bite of an apple. I also had just posted asking how other mamas celebrate the loss of a first tooth when you are in between tooth fairy and celebrating. I didn’t get a chance to receive much feedback as my husband, and I needed to plan what we were going to do for this new milestone.  Our final thoughts were there is no harm in celebrating and having a little fun with it. However, the focus would primarily be on promoting health and healthy habits, whenever possible.  So I rushed to the store (Wal-Mart) that very night to surprise my daughter with whatever I could find. I also snagged an extra tube of toothpaste, as a small sibling gift to help avoid jealousy with my toddler. Gifts to promote healthy habits: - Dental Picks Holder for Kids - Kid Tooth Paste - M...

I know many people do the Tooth Fairy and some feel this is lying. My husband and I are in between the two and on neither extreme really. I get some parents want to find a fun way to celebrate with their children, these passed down ideas for example. I love celebrating the milestones with my kids too. I don’t actually believe these parents view themselves as liars or lying to their child/children. I certainly don't view myself a liar for not correcting my children when they say, "Santa must have brought this for me" as they are tearing through some Christmas gifts. But I don't jump to say, "He certainly did" either. I am careful with my answers because I do not want to burst their bubbles. My older kids are 6 and 3 after all. They can believe in Santa a little longer. If they still believe in Santa as an older teen or adult, we can talk.  For me personally, I do not go out of my way to tell elaborate stories of the Tooth Fairy, as children TV shows an...

Question:  What BBT thermometer do you use? The BBT thermometers I have used are the  Veridian ( Veridian 08-365 Basal Digital Thermometer)   and  Mabis  (Basal Thermometer, Digital BBT Thermometer)  from Amazon.com. I used my Veridian from 2012-2015. I am no longer using it because I have misplaced it somewhere in my house. I started using my Mabis in 2017 when I was almost 10 months postpartum after my third pregnancy. These are simple BBT thermometers. They do not have fancy bells and whistles but get the job done. They have the basic memory of your last temp and standard beeping when the temperature is complete. To avoid losing temps, as sometimes these flash on the screen too quickly before moving on to take the new temperature, I recommend writing it down on a list with a pencil or pen and paper or inputting your temperature right away into your fertility chart. This will help avoid accidentally erasi...

- Thyroid on the low end of the normal range - Results Aug  2014 (Obstetrician / Gynecologist) FT4  0.92 (normal 0.71-1.85) TSH 0.63 (normal 0.45-4.67) Vitamin D 21 (normal 30-80) ng/ML Vitamin B12 1358 (normal 345-1485) - Thyroid levels off - Results Jul 2016 (ER Doctor) FT4  2.23 (normal 0.71-1.85) Results Sept 2016  (Endocrinologist) FT4  2.05  (normal 0.71-1.85) FT3  11 (normal 2.4-4.2) Thyroglobulin AB 266.8 (normal 0-14.4) Thyroid Peroxidase AB 1516.2 (normal 0-3.9) TSH <0.01 (normal 0.45-4.67) TRAb 12.38 (normal  <=1.75) - January 17, 2017 - Diagnosed with Graves - Results Jan 2017 (Endocrinologist) FT4  1.04  (normal 0.71-1.85) FT3 3.6 (normal 2.4-4.2) Thyroglobulin AB antibodies  359.8 (normal 0-14.4) Thyroid Peroxidase AB antibodies 1890.3 (normal 0-3.9) TSH <0.01 (normal 0.45-4...

My Thyroid Suspicions  Those who follow my blog, may remember I had done my TSH and Free T4 in December 2014 before becoming pregnant with my third child, where my thyroid was within normal ranges and fell on the low end of normal. In fact my OB did not want to do further testing, because the findings were normal. My midwife felt there could be some thyroid issues, because I always had low BBTs (basal body temperatures) when trying to conceive my second and third child. She was able to see that my BBT was low  from my fertility charts. My temperatures seemed to hoover around 96-97 degrees Fahrenheit pre-ovulation. Below is my fertility chart confirming my second pregnancy . How Often Does This Happen? In the article,  Postpartum Depression & Breastfeeding Challenges: The Connection , from Postpartum Progress.com, " As many as 5% of women will develop a thyroid imbalance postpartum. And some studies have found a link between ...

My Visit to The Emergency Room One fateful evening in July 2016, I went to the ER for a swollen neck. I was unaware until I was admitted into the ER and given a physical exam of my neck that something was seriously wrong. The ER doctor’s findings revealed my thyroid was enlarged. A small goiter began protruding from my neck. How had I not noticed? How long has it been that way? What does it mean?  As I sat bewildered surrounded by my three young children, I tried to remain strong. The doctor wanted to run some labs. The labs revealed the levels for my thyroid were off. I also had to do a Cat scan of my neck.  Eventually, I was sent home several hours later with the recommendation to go to see my primary doctor with a copy of my labs. Unknowing to me this was just the beginning. Last Edited: December 15, 2018

What Do I Think Of Gender Swaying? I don't know that I believe in all of these things per say that is said about swaying, but they are fun to examine. Preseed is said to sway boy. I've used preseed when  trying to conceive   while breastfeeding my second and third child, and they are both...boys! My oldest is a girl, and we never used preseed. It's interesting, to say the least. Last Edited: January 4, 2017

Question:  Can you have a period without ovulating? According to ConceiveEasy.com women can have "anovulatory bleeding - a  period-like bleeding during a woman's cycle even though she is not ovulating and her body is not releasing an egg"   in the article, Can You Have a Period Without Ovulating ? Dr. Christine Lee explains, "It is called an anovulatory cycle when a  woman’s body does not release an egg during her cycle (ovulation is not occurring). Technically, if a woman is not ovulating or releasing an egg, she should not have any bleeding at all.  The bleeding is called anovulatory bleeding. Even though it is like a regular menstrual period, it is not the same thing and should not be confused for a normal period.  It can be very difficult to know for sure if you are ovulating or not, especially if you are not tracking and charting your cycles each month" (2013). Bibliography Lee, Christine, MD. "Can You Have A Period without Ovulating?...