Grouchy Cake and Bunk Thyroid

The last week has been incredibly busy. I couldn't get through to the doctor's office, so I paid a visit to them in person and stood in their long lineup. Most of my tests from last week were back, and the results demanded another visit, so I booked for Thursday (yesterday).

In the meantime, I did really important stuff, like baked an Oscar the Grouch cake for a friend's birthday:
I went to the craft store and stocked up on yarn, finished a few large orders (and shipped them, I detest the post office ughhhh), took the kids shopping for Valentine's day stuff and cleaned, cleaned, cleaned the house. Cailin was not impressed about going home from shopping, so we stopped by the office and saw Papa on the way home (and daddy too!)

Valentine's Day was pretty lame for a few of us. Cailin got a snazzy set of Hello Kitty pajamas that she basically has lived in since (yay!), Carter got his six month shot (boo!) and Nana got a root canal (huge boo to the hiss! aka LAMESAUCE).

Wednesday, Cailin's friend Olivia came over to play. The girls were so cute and they play together so nicely. They watched Tangled downstairs by themselves on the big screen. (OMGosh, did I mention we got a huge 3D TV for downstairs? Guess I just did).

Wednesday night was not a good night. Cailin woke up several times in the night and got up at 4am. She also got Carter up, who was on his maiden voyage sleeping all night in his crib for the first time. He did wonderfully by the way. He's been napping in his crib for a while now, and he slept stretched right out as much as he could stretch.

Cailin in the meantime, just simply hasn't been sleeping. She didn't feel good for a week, did a week of antibiotics, cut two molars and now is working on two more. She has slept through the night a whole three times in the last month. Poor girl! We're all getting a bit tired around here.

That didn't stop her from stealing a hat off the counter and running around the house laughing like she had the holy grail or something. What a goof! We've been having such good days playing and laughing. Yesterday the lack of sleep must have caught up to her. She was such a pooper in gymnastics that she had to sit on the side until she would participate properly. On the other hand, she allowed the teacher to lift her up onto the bar! Making progress in leaps and bounds.

Last night she cried for two hours before falling asleep, despite having had an Advil. Those rotten no good teeth! She's pretty sick of teething (frankly so are we). Two more teeth and she's done til she's six.

Cailin loves to sing. I'm not sure where she got 'Twinkle, Twinkle' from as I don't sing it, but she's been singing it as she runs around the house. Of course, once she runs out of words she knows, she makes them up. She uses "tractor, Jeep, Ranger and Papa Ray" mostly as substitutes for the real words, but still sings in tune to the song. Cute!

Carter finished night #2 in his crib with no issues at all. He loves having all that room. His wee basinet was getting a little snug. He did really well with his six month shot (only one needle this time!). He scrunched up his face and let out a mad squeal, then immediately sat straight up in my arms, mesmerized by the little bell the nurse was ringing. No tears! It was a wonderful change of pace. They are so caring and understanding in that clinic in Beaver City. Cailin tried very hard to take a bike home from the waiting room.

Yesterday I went into the doctor's office convinced that my diagnosis was Hemochromatosis. I was prepared for it. It meant a lifetime of maintenance to keep the iron levels in check, but I was prepared to deal with it. Imagine my surprise when the actual iron levels came back normal. Normal levels, normal binding. Normal white blood cell count (no infection). My ferratin level is still sky high (which is why Hemochromatosis was suspected) and my liver enzymes are slightly elevated. The ferratin is an indication that something is wrong and we have to find out what. But the kicker was the thyroid levels. My pesky little thyroid seems to be overactive. The doc went through a checklist concerning thyroid symptoms and I was surprised to have most of them. Some of them overlap with Hemochromatosis as well. Shaking hands, feeling tired, dizzy, being anxious, agitated and irritable, a sore throat (I've had that for such a long time I ignore it completely) and being unable to withstand heat (HELLO! Right here!); I have all of those. What I really want to know is, why aren't I skinny with this overactive thyroid thing? Feeling this awful should come with a few perks I say!

Seriously though, this should be an easy fix once we figure out what's going on. I got up at 6:45 this morning and wandered off to the lab for yet more bloodwork. My gosh, the size of the needle they stuck in me today.... I almost got squeamish. Almost. These tests are for checking liver function, diabetes, cholesterol, and thyroid stuff. I was also super surprised to get a call from the ultrasound lab telling me they could fit in a thyroid ultrasound scan today. So I'm taking control of my health and getting this all done way faster than I imagined. By next week we should have a better picture of what is going on with me.

Cailin also insisted the doctor have a look in her ears and throat while we were there. She sat very still while he checked and followed his instructions to a tee. She's good to go!