Our Summer So Far

Playing with best friend Sophia for her birthday

Her Big Girl Bike

Dancing in our second new pool

Sleeping with her ceramic black dog she named John

Taking pictures at the aquarium

Feeding turtles at the aquarium

Touch tank at Tulsa aquarium

Stingrays at Tulsa aquarium

In shark cage with Aunt Stacey showing me her mean shark face

Tulsa aquarium

Birthday girl

Birthday playdate with friend Sophia

St Louis Zoo with best friend Sophia

Following the hippo tracks at St Louis zoo

St Louis Zoo- love this picture

Brave enough to touch stingrays at St Louis zoo

I love medicine

Ok that title was mainly to mess with some people who prefer not to fill their bodies full of all kinds of extra chemicals and preservatives. Silly people. ;)

So for a while I've been wondering if I had a hypothyroid problem- not so much because of the weight thing (I'll take full credit for that problem all on my own) but for other things like extreme fatigue. Here's a list of things that an underactive thyroid can cause.

• Fatigue- triple check
• Weakness- check
• Weight gain or increased difficulty losing weight- check
• Coarse, dry hair- check
• Dry, rough pale skin- eh
• Hair loss-dude.. this one is not even cool....
• Cold intolerance- I have noticed this weird one
• Muscle cramps and frequent muscle aches- check
• Constipation- never did have a problem with this one- always been more the other way if you know what I'm saying
• Depression- check check check
• Irritability- I'm never irritable :)
• Brain fog - holy cow...this is a bad one
• Memory loss - and...check...

I had pretty much every symptom on the list so got myself checked out. Last fall she said I was "borderline" and that everyone feels better at a different level so they would watch me and see if I crossed the "now we treat" line. Well, I crossed it so she put me on thyroid medicine. For anyone that cares- this is just a synthetic version of what your body would normally produce anyway. 

It's been about 3 weeks now and I think it's actually kicking in! I am feeling WAY better than I have for a long time. The overwhelming desire to stay in bed and not get out every day seems to be fading away, the ridiculous fog that would sometimes roll into my brain hasn't been seen in a while, and I actually seem to have energy again! Woo Hoo! Let's hope this continues as we start preschool and school again. Cause dang- that was brutal, feeling like that. Most days I was struggling to remember to do things, I would carry things around the house and lay them down and forget where I put them, I haven't felt like myself in a long time, I had no energy to do anything aside from what just HAD to be done, no patience for the dog, etc etc. It was SO frustrating feeling like that all the time! So I am really hoping that this new medicine plus some relief from some major stress will have me feeling better and more like myself in the coming months.

Auntie Amber once again

"Only an Aunt can give hugs like a mother, can keep secrets like a sister, and share love like a friend.”
~ Spanish Proverb

I'm dusting off the "Auntie Amber" title given to me so long ago by my nephew Josh! My sister is expecting and I can't wait to pay my sister back for all the spoiling she did hold that sweet little baby! :) I am SO excited to have a little tiny sweet smelling soft little thing to snuggle again. I miss MY baby being a baby. Don't get me wrong- I love the 4 year old more than I ever thought possible...but there's just something about a baby. :) Maybe I can see how many smiley faces I can fit into this post. :) Sorry, but I really am just excited!

I'm rather put out however about the lack of neutral colored baby items available these days. How's an aunt to buy stuff before we know what we're (like how I put myself right in there) having? I guess I'm going to have to fall back on the pretty little cream colored blankets and stuffed animals. I keep searching for the exact right gift cause I want the first thing I buy to be special (of course!) and just haven't found the right thing yet. Probably by the time I do we'll know what she's having after all. :)

woo hoo babies!

Molly

How do you like the new background? I was sad to log back on and realize that for some reason they changed blogspot and my old background didn't work anymore. However, I do like this one- I think it's pretty! I need to change the pictures also since I have no new ones of Anna on here.

So, on to the actual subject of this post... our new demon dog. I mean... our new dog! That we love so very much! Well... Anna loves her. My feelings change depending on how recently she's pottied on my carpet. Adam pretty much hates her all the time. Here's a picture. Don't be taken in by her cute little freckle face. :)

Actually, you can't see the freckles on her face in that picture but that's the cutest one I have of her. Notice how I think the cutest picture I have is of her sleeping? Ha! So far I have failed to potty train her.... failed to teach her how to come when I call her.... and pretty much failed to get her to do anything but what she wants to do. Not sure what I'm doing wrong ... but I'm getting ready to call Ceasar Milan!

Here's a picture of her freckles. She's actually a really pretty little dog. Esp in the sunlight. Her white fur looks so clean and shiny. And the freckles on her face are so cute! You almost forget that you've been reduced to begging a dog to take a poop outside....

Here's a picture of what I see alot these days. Ok I'll admit to liking having her just a little. She's a funny thing- she can leap up higher than you'd ever believe a small dog can. She leaped completely over the back of the chair when I tried to use it to block her in the living room so I didn't have to chase her all around the house. She has a bad habit of grabbing whatever the most important toy of Anna's that has been left out and running around the house with it until you finally scream loud enough to convince her to drop it. It's super fun when Anna gets involved cause then you have a crazily running dog, nails scrambling on the kitchen floor, me screaming (and sometimes begging) her to drop the toy, and Anna crying because she has her most favorite toy!

We are determined to get her to love the water. She pretty much hates it right now.

She has actually learned to do most of her tricks (when you give her food anyway). She can sit, lay down, roll over, shake, come, and stay. Again... the promise of food must be there... She also almost never barks- which I will forgiver her a lot of things for. I hope that trait stays around. Every once in a while when she gets really worked up she will bark in this funny hoarse little half bark which is pretty cute and funny. She is learning to sit quietly with me and "be a good girl" but that's tough going. She has so much energy that when she gets excited you can hold her underneath her front legs with your arms held out completely in front of you and she just wriggles back and forth as fast as her body will go. She's a pretty huge pain in the rear end but if you're wondering why I keep her....here's why....