What he says....so Noah

MOMMA....I go ow-side.

No baby not right now.

Puh-weaz Momma I go ow-side.

No, noah we are not going outside...we are leaving to go to school in a minute.

I go ow-side and I no in and ow.....okay I PWOMISE!

******

MOMMA! because everytime he says this he screams it

Momma...can you turn on da wight in da payroom....cause I a wittle person dat can't weach!"

*****

When you guys come inside I'm going to throw both of you dirty birds in the tub.

No Momma....don't frow us....put us in gent-LY!

******

Momma....I wove you....you da best momma!

What she says....in the hospital room

Upon seeing her sister for the first time, she screamed....

"Where's her legs...she don't got legs...SHE HAS A TAIL!"

After laughing hysterically, we explained that she did indeed have legs, she was just in a gown and wrapped up in a blanket.  She calmed down when I showed her two cute, little chubby legs.

*******

Upon seeing her momma for the first time since having the baby....

"Mom do you got ANUDDER BABY IN YOUR BELLY?"

"No, I just had the baby"

"Well den who is in your belly?"

"nobody"

"Well it sure looks like anudder baby!"

And that my friends is what you call honesty.

The Chaos

Even taking family photos with tikes is chaotic now!  This is the one and only we have of all of us, except for in the hospital.  Partially because as soon as we got everyone positioned in their matching outfits, the camera broke and partially because cooperation from three tikes is never going to happen simultaneously.  It's the way it works here.

Look at the hospital pictures if you don't believe me...chaos at it's best...that's how I would describe life now, good chaos.  These are our two family photos, I LOVE them.

 

Life really isn't bad, I mean it as chaotic as all get out, and still as crazy as this post, but not bad....it's good old fun chaos.  In fact I decided to change things up a little bit since Margot has come around.  Like my ass never hits the sofa anymore during the day.  And as you can tell from my blogging, it hardly ever hits the computer chair.  I do sit here often  and play bejeweled blitz, my biggest vice.  Mainly because I can do it with one hand while nursing and because Margot loves to watch all the bright colors moving so quickly.  It has nothing to do with my addiction to it at all...it has everything to do with nursing and Margot.

Other things I have started doing is making the bed!  I know, I now have three kids to get out the door on time, 2 lunches to make and I all of a sudden decided I cannot leave the house without the bed made.

I read two books and joined a book club.  I am sleep deprived and exhausted, but yet I stayed up very late several nights in the last two months to finish two books, The Help and The Castaways.  Both books I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend.

I also had someone plants tons of shrubs and bushes in my backyard that I am now have to water daily.  Just a few more living things, depending on me to take care of them.  I suck at gardening and anything green.  I am taking bets on how long these plants will live. 

I stay on top of the laundry or as on top of the laundry I can.  It is a never ending process and I never see the bottom of the basket, however everyone is always wearing clean underwear these days and not turning them inside out.  I've also enlisted the help of my children with this....hurry and run to call the child labor agencies on me.

I accepted the invitation to join the Junior Auxiliary. I think it is a wonderful organization that does wonderful things for the community. I added one more thing to my very full plate.

I once again, like the ladies on Wisteria Lane, am in the garden club. It hasn't helped me one bit in the past with my gardening skills, maybe this will be the year it does, if not I will go to the meetings and eat bon bons, like all the other stay at home moms.

I developed a new method for letting one know their gas tank is empty. I didn't find the light that most car manufacturers install to let one know an effective method at all.

I decided to tackle potty training my two year old.  It's a slow process and I am not doing so well....neither is he.  I'm going to blame it on the diarrhea.  Yeah that sounds good doesn't it.

I've decided the 8lbs of baby weight that won't fall off  looks good....I'm loving it.  My gym won't let me drop off Margot in the child care room until she is 6 months old.  I am currently scouting out places to get her a fake ID.

I have taken up the practice of letting people cook for me and my family and then devouring every last bite.  It went on for at least 5 weeks after Margot's birth.  I am so damn blessed to have such fabulous friends. I'm considering a 4th baby just so that I won't have to cook for 5 weeks again....kidding Joshua!

I now have a wake up time of 4:30am.  I'm not complaining because at least I'm not setting an alarm to wake my baby up like I was having to do.

I have taken up "spending time in doctors waiting rooms" as a hobby, I do it at least once a week, here are two of my favorite people doing it with me. 

I am becoming very well versed in the the condition of congenital hypothyroidism.  It has been many a topic of conversation around here lately.

I dispense medication like I have an RN behind my name instead of an SLP.


I enrolled my tikes at 2 different schools, because I thought waiting in two different car lines all the way across town from one another would be awesome...it's overrated, but they are both loving their schools and teachers, so I am confident I made the right decision for each of them.

I ate lunch with an adult friend with no kids for the first time today in well over 2 months.  Then I had to rush out and pick up kids at 2 different schools, but it was a nice change of pace to only have to worry about feeding two people instead of 4 and having an adult conversation while doing it.  **I realized after publishing this and talking with the friend I had lunch with, that I counted eating with just Margot as eating by myself.  Yes one child feels like being alone, three feels like a damn circus.

I let my kids take responsibility for putting on their own shoes in the morning.  Sometimes we go to school like this.  Yes, we both knew they were different, it's just what he chose to wear.  He is expressing his sense of style and creativity.  I was picking my battles.  Roll with it, I did.

I've become addicted to sister schubert's yeast rolls....they are so not helping my 8lbs.  But I cannot resist buying them in the grocery.  At least I've contained myself to only fixing them every other night!

I let my kids have a lot of say in what they are wearing these days.  Call it lazy, ridiculous, absurd or you can just call it smart parenting like I do.  His sister picked the outfit, he picked the hat, and I picked the lime green crocs to go with it.

I've also let them start fixing their own hair....it helps on days when we got like 30 seconds left to get out the house before I miss the car lines at both the schools.  And if I miss them I would have to get out and walk them in....in my pj's.....that is my motivation people....CAR LINES!

 

So that is an update on me I promise to give one on each of the kids this week too.  And here is one of my butter bean, because she is too cute for words.  She is literally growing right out of her bouncy seat.  I stinkin' love it!  Although she is getting way too big too fast!

A milestone

Yesterday my Noah reached a milestone, a big one.  He pooped on the potty, for the first time.  Awesome!  He got his beloved "tree" truck that he had been eyeing at our local toy shop.  The tree truck that he had been talking about for weeks and debating as to whether or not it was worth putting his little cheeks on the toilet seat to make some poop.

Well yesterday he did and he was handsomely rewarded with this....

And last night as I was tucking him and his tree truck into bed, he proclaimed...."my twee twuck is my best fwiend"  and who is one to argue with that.

And right now that tree truck may be his best friend replacing Hiro of the Rails for the time being, but this little girl comes in at a close second.  I know because he also lets her play with the tree truck too.

Notice I said he pooped in the potty yesterday.  Then last night he came down with an awful case of diarrhea and it has been running its course all day.  We haven't pooped in the potty since the first time.  I guess now we will now have to start all over.  And he already has his sights on a new "horse truck" to match his "twee twuck".

Congential Hypothyroidism

Do you know what that is?  I didn't either when Margot was born.  In fact, I had never heard of it at all until she was 9 days old.  That is when her pediatric endocrinologist gave us her diagnosis.  It's been a whirlwind adventure in her sweet 8 weeks of life, but we are finally adjusting and headed down this new path.

When Margot was born she was a happy and healthy 8 pound baby girl.  Everyone commented on her beautiful coloring and how sweet she was.  When we left the hospital she had lost a few pounds like all babies do, but I wasn't concerned at all.  When we went for her two day post hospital weight check and she had lost even more weight, despite nursing well, I knew right away something was very wrong.  Call it mother's instinct, but I knew, I just didn't know what.

Eight days after Margot was born, we had taken the big tikes to my mom's house to go swimming.  Margot and I stayed inside and rested while Josh and the kids had a ball, it was just a normal, fun, relaxing day.  When we got  home from the pool about 3pm. our little world was turned upside down.  We had a message on our answering machine from a pediatric endocrinologist office regarding Margot's appointment.  I was confused....endocrinologist...Margot....what the hell.  I think those were my exact words.  My heart dropped, because that mother's instinct kicked into full gear....I had known something was wrong, it was like a sixth sense.

The message was as follows....and yes I can repeat it, because it is a message I'll never forget....

"Hi this is the Dr. M's office calling from the Children's specialty clinic, I was calling to set up Mar-"gots" appointment (really no one pronounces it Margeaux....it's always mar-got, yes mom you were right, but still I don't care, I love the spelling I chose.)  You have an appointment tomorrow (Thursday) at 11:00am, if you cannot make that I have also set one up from Friday at 1:00pm, but the doctor feels it is imperative that you be here tomorrow if you can.  Please call us back to confirm at this number..."

Can you say I was freaked out, confused, scared and everything wrapped into one.  Margot had not seen her pediatrician or anyone else with MD behind their name except her dad, since we left the hospital when she was 2 days old.  She had been continuing with weight and Bili checks, but we had not seen any pediatricians, so needless to say we were more than stumped as to why we needed to suddenly see a specialist.  No clue. 

The first thing we did was call the specialty clinic to see if the appointment was really for my sweet, perfect baby.  It was.  We then asked why?  The receptionist said for her thyroid.  We asked if she was sure it was for Margot, because we were not informed about any thyroid problems.  She said yes. 

We then called our pediatricians office.  Dr. B was out of town.  Her office did not have a clue why we were being sent 2 hours away to see a specialist.  There was nothing in her chart.  We got no where.  Josh did find out which pediatrician referred her, and after many tears and phone calls, Josh realized she failed her newborn screen for hypothyroidism.

The tears started flowing.  I was so ignorant when it came to congenital hypothyroidism.  I knew nothing about it.  I had no clue and was so afraid of google.  I called a friend of mine and the tears started flowing and even though I couldn't even talk to tell her what was wrong, I didn't need to.  She just cried right along with me, until I calmed down enough to explain things.  Sometimes you just need a good cry first.

We headed up to see the pediatric endocrinologist that will now follow Margot throughout her childhood.  She was only 9 days old and already in a waiting room for a specialist, never what you want to have to do with your newborn or any child for that matter.  After waiting about two hours we finally saw Dr. M.  He walked in and explained that based on Margot's newborn screen she was being diagnosed with congenital hypothyroidism.  Apparently a normal THL number for her thyroid would be 0.8  and hers was about 178.   He didn't even repeat blood work to make sure, he immediately started her on a daily thyroid medication that she will require for the rest of her life.  He also explained that this occurs in 1 of 4,000 babies and predominately in females.  He also explained how nothing I did or did not do during my pregnancy caused this  to happen, it just occurs during fetal development.  It didn't relieve the guilt that I had inside, not even one tiny, little bit.

He gave her the first dose of medication right there in the office, it kind of took me by surprise.  Shouldn't we do more testing?  I mean look at my sweet baby, she was perfect!  Medication, daily, seriously.  I couldn't even wrap my head around this a little bit.  I was scared, I was confused, I was in denial.  Because although I was sitting there in the room, with a specialist, listening to all the information, part of me was still thinking this was not real.  The test results were not hers, this was just a mistake or a really bad dream.  This didn't happen to me, this happened to one of the other 4,000 families. Dr. M just kept talking, I caught bits and pieces, I listened as he explained how very important taking this medication is, and how important it is that she get this medicine daily and at the same time every day and how it needed to be taken on an empty stomach. And there I had something more "tangible" to worry about.  An empty stomach, how in the hell do you give a newborn who is nursing every 2 hours and not really on any type of schedule medication on an empty stomach at the same time daily.  I finally had something smaller to wrap my head around.  I didn't need to worry about hypothyroidism or the long term effects, or if it would cause problems during her pregnancies one day, or how would she do taking this medication as an adolescent or in college, or if it would affect puberty or if she would fight obesisty.....  I could worry about the here and now and how in hell I was going to get this medication in her and on an empty stomach.

He also explained how taking this medicine daily and at the right dosage is especially critical in the first three years of life for normal brain development.  And that we would closely monitor her dosage this year due to how rapidly babies grow this first year.  And then he explained how it is also important for the rest of her childhood for normal growth and development.   And in my head I was still thinking about getting it in at the same time on an empty stomach....would 9am work best or 4pm or 9pm....I was in denial.  After going over all this with Dr. M, we headed home with our new prescriptions, samples of medication, a return appointment to recheck her levels, a headache and a heavy heart.

Margot is now two months old, we have been back to see Dr. M for her follow up and have received some very good news.  Her THL numbers are now normal, her thyroid levels are within normal limits, we are doing the best we can with getting the adult pill crushed in water down her and on an empty stomach, she is reaching age appropriate milestones on time, and she is getting chunky.  I cannot tell you how very blessed I feel about all this good news. 

So yes, throw all that on top of being the momma of three tiny tikes and just trying to survive the day and it is enough to drive you insane.
All that being said, I am now in a better place.  When I got the letter from Dr. M Friday letting me know her levels were all normal I felt like the elephant that had been parked on my chest for the last two months had finally got off of it and I could breathe.  It hasn't been easy.  I've thought about getting on medication myself.  I've been in a constant state of shock, denial, heart ache and very anxious.  But I've gotten better and feel like I am not returning to normal or to my new normal...I'm still adjusting to three, but it is good.

Life threw us for a loop, we are going down a slightly different path than the one we set out for and planned for with our baby girl.  And while the path is not better or worse, it is only different, it is still taking some navigating to meander through.  I know I am very fortunate, and that this could have been much worse, I hate hearing those words.  I'm not sure why.  I hate that Margot will need to take a daily medication forever and yet thankful that such a medication exist.  I hate that she needed to go to a specialty clinic at 9 days old and yet I am thankful they caught it so early.  I hate hearing that at least what she has is treatable when I tell people her diagnosis and yet I am so thankful that it is.  I hate when people say I told you everything would be okay when I tell them our recent good news and yet I am so thankful things are turning out to be okay....actually they are more than okay, I am the mother to three beautiful babies and I'd say life is pretty damn good.  I'm not sure why I hate those things....I just do and I'm just being honest.  I'm getting it off my chest along with that elephant.

So there is an update Internets.  It's been a long two months.  Lots of ups and downs and somersaults in between.  I'd love to share some updated pics, but in true third child fashion I really don't have any of Margot.  And it's not because my day is too busy to snap a quick photo although most days are, it is because my camera is broke.  And because I can't find my other one.  I promise to get some of her on here soon, because she is so damn cute.

I also apologize for my abscense...again.  It took me a long time to get this post up here.  There is so much I wanted to say about it, but at the same time so much I didn't' want to say.  I was wanting to make sure I was in a good place first and finally I am.  Rejoice with me in her good news and I promise now I am back.