Mommin' It Up!

August 2, 2012

Just as I suspected.

As you all suggested, I went to see a real doctor regarding my thyroid.

And just as I suspected, everything came back perfectly normal.

Whee! Nothing is wrong with me!

Oh wait, I still feel like crap.

And I am still 100 percent convinced that my endocrine system is to blame. Shockingly, I have become ~~extremely~~ somewhat obsessed with researching this on the internet. My favorite site is called StoptheThyroidMadness.com. It’s chock full of reasons why diagnosing thyroid issues isn’t as easy as relying on a blood test.

Just for a second, pretend you’re interested in what I’m saying and read this quote from WomentoWomen.com:

In publishing new clinical guidelines in 2002, the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists fairly dramatically formalized a reversal of its previous doctrine, establishing a narrower “normal” TSH margin of 0.3–3.04. At Women to Women, we have used the TSH thyroid test for many years as a screener. And in our view, a woman’s TSH level should ideally be less than 2.0, but she should also be thriving and free from hypothyroidism symptoms. If she reports symptoms, or shows a TSH level greater than 2.0, she may have subclinical or clinical hypothyroidism.

So let’s recap – 3.04 is technically the upper limit of the normal range, but in their opinion, the level should be less than two. Mine is 2.9. Perfectly normal? Or causing the 18 thyroid-related symptoms I exhibit?

My doctor recommends a shot of B12, which did come back low on the blood test, and a sleep study. She probably has a point there, as I had one probably 10 years ago that came back inconclusive. My sister has narcolepsy and my dad and Jenny’s mom (and dad too, but we’re not genetically related. I don’t think. But in our families, it’s always a possibility) have sleep apnea. And since I can’t think of anything I’d rather do than sleep, it’s safe to say there might be something going on there.

But, I feel compelled to continue to pursue my other symptoms, too, which are at the least mimicking hypothyroidism.

Any experience, advice or suggestions? I’d love to hear them. (This means you, Dr. Almost-Cousin Mackenzie.)

August 1, 2012July 26, 2012

Pin For the Wednesday: Summery Fruit Punch

Welcome to Pin for the Wednesdays!

As Emily mentioned, a few weeks ago we threw a baby shower and I was in charge of beverages. Very important! Naturally, I went to Pinterest to find a good punch recipe. And there were lots to choose from, but in the end I went with this one:

fruit punch — Photo by ItsJoelen on Flickr, from the original pin

And it….was…delicious! I was skeptical because it called for ginger ale and I dislike ginger ale. However, that mixed with pineapple juice and cranberry juice cocktail and slices of lime and orange…mmm!! Couldn’t have been any tastier. Well, maybe it could’ve. The recipe called for orange juice, too, but I was a dummy and left the orange juice at home. However, the punch was still amazing – light, refreshing, sweet but not tart – it was everything you want a summer punch to be. I was rather pleased with this pin!

That’s my winning pin for this week! What have you been pinning and putting into practice? Let us know and leave your links below! Don’t forget to link to your original pin and back here to this post. Can’t wait to see what you’ve got!

July 31, 2012

Taking the Scenic Route

See that gorgeousness pictured above? It’s the Buena Vista Overlook, a little stop on the side of the Blue Ridge Parkway, very near my parent’s house in Virginia. If you take the nearest highway to go through the Blue Ridge Mountains, you’ll blow right by it. You’ll miss this and so much more. But if you exit the highway, and take the gorgeous parkway instead, you’ll see beautiful overlooks and majestic views like this mile after mile. There are safe places to stop, take photos, and picnic. One of our favorite picnic spots off the Blue Ridge parkway is Otter Creek, where my kids look forward to playing and picnicking every summer:

Also along this “Scenic Route” (one of my mom’s favorite expressions) is a true wonder, an amazing rock formation known as “Indian Rocks” . You’ll find it at the “Indian Gap” stop off the parkway. This giant formation is truly beyond description, and also very hard to capture in a photo. We go see it every year because sometimes you find yourself questioning if it’s really REAL or not, and you have to be reminded with a return visit.

Before you get up the mountain to the Blue Ridge Parkway, if you exit the highway even earlier, you will come about the picturesque historical town of Lexington, Virginia, home of the Virginia Military Institute, Washington & Lee University, and the Stonewall Jackson House. It’s a lot of fun to walk around and shop in Lexington. But one of our favorite places in the city is a little further out – an amazing park called Boxerwood that has a separate children’s park. Our kids beg to go back every year, and we’ve been a couple of times with Emily’s kids, too.

The point is, there is much to be seen in our country on a road trip. And if you’re like me, those are the only kinds of trips you take as a family. So, once in awhile instead of blowing by America at 70 MPH, it’s nice to exit the highway and experience a slice of nature off the beaten path! To this end, Toyota and the National Audobon Society have started an “Exit the Highway” initiative aimed at helping us discover “those hidden natural gems just beyond the turnpike”.

Visit the Exit the Highway website and you can take a pledge to Exit the Highway, take the scenic route by downloading one of dozens of itineraries available to help you find some great places to explore, or even upload photos of your Exit the Highway adventures to their site, or via Twitter and Instagram using the #exitthehighway hashtag!

And for pledging to exit the highway and uploading photos, you can multiple entries to win a Prius V from Toyota! Now that’s something I’d like to take the scenic route in! Visit the Exit the Highway website to learn more.

What are some of your favorite stops when you are taking the scenic route?

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Disclosure: I was selected for participation in the TWIN community through a program with Clever Girls Collective. I did not receive any compensation for writing this post, or payment in exchange for participating. The opinions expressed herein are mine, and do not reflect the views of Toyota.