A Few Answers

• Yes and no to the night-light question. I do glow in the dark but not that can be seen with the naked eye. I have seen it while at the hospital and it is a bit weird.


• Regardless of the situation it can make for some pretty good jokes. The doctor told me yesterday that I had basically swallowed Chernobyl. I guess the dose was relatively large compared to last years.


• I also cannot go into any federal facilities. Apparently the radiation sensors are super sensitive and I would set them off. I was told possibly as long as two months. I thought it would be a fun experiment, the doctor laughed and said "yeah until you find yourself face down, spread eagle, in handcuffs." Good point, I do have documentation I can carry with me that explains my condition.


• Keisters -Primanti Brothers is off the list, remember the deadly potato allergy? But the game is a go. We have TV up and down and I have already planned my nap so I can stay awake for the BIG GAME! I have never seen my kids so excited for a game. Kurt talks about it every day and they all left the house in full Steelers gear today.
• Speaking of food....Right now it all tastes like it is laced in poison. The radioactive iodine runs through the excretory system and is pretty nasty. I have to suck on sour candy to keep my salivary glands from getting clogged. I don't generally eat much sugar, the combination is upsetting my stomach. I can really only tolerate just one, maybe two meals a day at this point.
• Janene you need to invite me onto your blog, I keep forgetting to ask so I hope you read this.
• All -in - all things are good. Although I don't feel as horrible as last year, I am still without much energy. I have lots to read and that seems to be the most satisfying thing to, I really hate to watch TV, and it seems the more I read the less I like TV. I am not reading anything with substance which is intentional, sometimes it is nice to just read fluff, I'm in a fluff mood. A friend from church must share my love of mystery and intrigue since she brought me a book by one of my favorite authors. I will start it today.
• I will do my best to update this as regularly as possible. Thanks for your prayers.

My Cancer Update

For the last month I have been in "prep" mode for my cancer testing. No medication, and a low iodine diet are part of that "prep". I had my tests this week and yesterday we got the news that it is not gone. This is NOT a surprise, we were told to expect it. It is rare for thyroid cancer that has spread to the lymph nodes to be eradicated the first year. Since treatments are only done once a year, tests are also done just once a year. When I had my blood work done in August it was testing positive for thyroglobulin, there should have been none, I didn't know that. I figured it was due in part to my thyroid medication. I still have a lot to learn. I guess last week my thyroglobulin levels were actually in the "normal" range. That shocked me because not only do I not have a thyroid, I haven't had any thyroid medication for 3 weeks.

On the positive side, there is less cancer than last year. I no longer have any showing up in lymph tissue in my chest. The doctors are pleased about that. What shows up in my neck is not significantly different but apparently that is not a big deal, just a bit disappointing.

To make a long story short, I am back in isolation and have been given a full treatment dose of Radioactive Iodine. For all you scientists out there the dose is 143.o2 mcu. I am at home in isolation. With a little convincing the doctors have allowed me to lock myself in our basement. My sister Steffani is here and our ward is fabulous about checking on us and bringing in meals.

Thank you everyone for your prayers. If you have questions I would prefer you email them or ask them in the comments section of my blog. I don't really like having to answer the same questions over the phone, I am exhausted and talking on the phone is draining. If you want to call, great just tell me something funny or great about your day. Thanks. I am really looking forward to a hamburger next week! Anyone want to join me!?!

Lost My First Tooth, and Second, and.....

Some kids just like to do this all at once. Elizabeth lost her first tooth the week before Christmas. She has now lost 3 more and has two loose. I guess she is in a hurry to get this done and over with. Reid and Lexi are also helping to keep the tooth fairy busy. I think she has been here at least 7 times over the last month.

Catching Up!

I have had some complaints that I have not been faithfully updating the last couple of months. I will do a not-so-quick catch up here and maybe you will understand why.

• October 22nd, my uncle died. After celebrating Kurt's birthday on the 25th I took off the next morning for Salt Lake and the funeral. After the funeral on the 29th I took a red eye to get home for Jacob's Birthday!
• October 30th, Happy birthday to my wonderful husband. I am sorry you were playing daddy and mommy on your week off, which included being my replacement at a preschool Halloween party. Thank you! I am also sorry that after having an allergy attack on our lunch date I then fell asleep for most of that day. I think both of us would like to forget our birthdays this year.
• October 31st, Happy Halloween. Here are a few Pictures of the kids.

At the Church's Trunk-or-Treat

Ready for Trick-or-Treating

The girls school had a Halloween parade.

Here is Elizabeth as a Steelers Cheerleeder. She loves this outfit!

Lexi as Elizabeth in "Pirates of the Carribean Dead Man's Chest"

Kurt in front of the "Biggest Pumpkin in Pittsburgh" winner. I wish I could remember how much it weighed.

• November rolled around and I can honestly say I don't remember the first two weeks other than I was doing some seriuosly deep cleaning in order to prepare for the company we were expecting. I also started making my girls Christmas dresses, not because I am awesome. I promised Jacob I would not buy dresses and I already had the fabric which worked out great.


• In a 6 weeks stretch we will have had company 6 times and have been company once. You do the math. I wish I had remebered to take pictures of each group but I failed, I can't imagine why. So here goes:
• My cousin Caroll came through twice with her 4 kids. We are about the halfway point between her home in Michigan and her parents in Maryland. We had not seen each other in about 6 years so we stayed up way too late playing catch up, but I wouldn't trade it. I hope she uses us as her resting place in the future.

• My brother Sean, his wife Kirsten, and their son Matthew came in between Carolls visits and were here for Thanksgiving. We had a blast and enjoyed lots of game playing, but failed to get a picture, how did that happen?



• We spent the first weekend in December attending the blessing of our niece Lucy Hannah in Philidelphia. We didn't tell the kids that Grandma and Grandpa would be there so they were shocked and thrilled when Grandma greeted them at the door. I did get pictures, here they are:

The boys love to hang with Grandpa, even if he is trying to sleep!

Playing games at the Franklin Institute.

Does this constitute cheating or is it simply team work?

Did you know that the first Museum of Natural History is in Philidelphia?

Baby Lucy's big day!

• Our friends the Runyans came to Pittsburgh for a residency interview and we had a wonderful time showing them the sights. Here are a few highlights:

The Rite Aid Celebration of Lights is a must see if you are in Pittsburgh at Christmas. This is an amazing drive through display. I have been through twice and I think it is amazing. It was rather magical to drive through while it was snowing.

The kids enjoyed the newly opened T-Rex vs. T-Rex exhibit at Carnegie Museum

The Chruch Christmas party included a little service, music, dancing, food, and a visit to Santa. Here is a tribute to service.

Meet Chief, the Runyans dog. This is a long story but I will try to sum it up quickly. Cheif ran away the week before the Runyans were to visit. They got him back but, not in time to take him to Deanna's mom before coming here. I suggested they bring him. He ran away here the night before the Runyans had to leave!! The Runyans went home minus Chief. Needless to say, everyone was traumatized by his disappearance. After hours of searching, praying, posting lost posters, talking with police departments and animal shelters, Chief was found.............

.........HERE. A picture speaks a thousand words.

It had been 4 full days of no Cheif and we celebrated despite a bad eye infection, dehydration, and malnutrition. Chris and Deanna returned the following weekend to pick him up and as much as we love Chief we were thrilled to see him back with his family.

We are grateful that the Runyans don't seem even slightly jaded towards Pittsburgh after the Chief incident. Thank goodness.

• Amongst all these visits we were able to squeeze in Christmas wich I will post seprately.
  
• After Christmas Jason, Cherie and kids came for a fun visit and once again we had a ball. I won't post a picture since we have one from Lucy's blessing. We also celebrated Elizabeth's 6th birthday, which I will also post seperately.


• We have one visit left and it has yet to happen. Our friends the Hagerdon's are coming on New Year's Day and we looking forward to that as well.


• I nearly forgot we are not yet finished..... My sister, Steffani is arriving sunday to stay for an undetermined amount of time. I guess until she is no longer needed, or we get sick of one another, or something else. We'll see the current plan is several months so I guess I consider that more of a move in rather than a visit. Sounds fun.

I think maybe now you can see why I haven't been blogging. There are still many things missing from this very long post and I will do my best to give them justice in the next week or so. I am trying, just be patient.

Happy 4th Birthday Kurt

Kurt turned 4 on October 25th. Kurt holds the distinction of having a brithday in-between his parents our brithdays are October 20th, 25th, and 30th, weird. We had a couple of families from church over to help us celebrate and it turned out great.

Here is the big boy so pleased with his "Diego" cake.

Under the broom is a favorite at our house.

Blowing out his candles one at a time.

Happy Birthday to Me!

I'm 32, soooooo old as one friend so kindly pointed out! I am not one to get upset about my age, I have earned every one of those years and don't you forget it.

October 19th 11:43 pm, not quite my birthday, I wake up with a jolt to the wretched sound of retching. Poor Lexi once again had the flu (4th time in 4 weeks). At 12:05am on October 2oth I looked up from cleaning the trail between Lexi's bed and the bathroom and comment to Lexi that this is not my idea of a very nice birthday present. She cried, I felt guilty, then she lost it again, thankfully into the bowl I had given her. I spent another 45 minutes cleaning the floor. I sure miss hardwood floors.

The rest of the day was spent keeping Lexi comfortable, answering many Happy Birthday calls (thank you!), and baking bread (I never bake bread, we were out and I was desperate). It is normally a day I would have gone grocery shopping, but alas the stars were not aligned. I think Jacob may be secretly wishing our other kids will get sick on grocery day, he loves homemade bread, too bad I don't love making it. However, I did enjoy kneading, maybe I should say beating, the dough into submission. It wasn't necessary, my Bosch could have done the job, I just "kneaded" a little therapy.

My sweet friend Alisa was the last call of the day and asked if I had enjoyed my birthday and if Jacob and I were going to do something fun. Having the day end was my idea of fun. Do you ever wish you could be a kid just for your birthday, when the day was just about you? I do. Oh well.

Thank you Alisa for going shopping with me for fun, on the 21st! It made the 20th easier to laugh about, and I'm doing just that as I write this post!

Exercise

I have tried to find an affordable form of exercise that I actually enjoy with little success. I have instead turned to productive exercise so, here is my new exercise regimen:

1. Let Kurt ride on my shoulders up to the bus stop each day. We go up the hill four times each day so it's quite the butt burn, and Kurt loves it.

2. Run up and down steps no matter what your carrying, including laundry baskets full of laundry. A bit awkward, but effective non the less.

3. Rip out ugly railing along front walk. This includes the use of a sledge hammer......also great for venting frustration. I have included picture of the ugly railing.

4. Move retaining wall away from fence (about 4 feet). Whovever put in the retaining wall apparently had no intention of using the gate because the wall blocked the gate. I have been digging out the six bushes and dirt to then replace the wall in sections. What you can see of the wall on the right used to sit directly against the fence on the left. The bushes at the back of the picture still have to be removed.

I have decided this is the most rewarding exercise I have ever done. I highly recomend it! The down side is that the neighbors find it entertaining to come and watch.