All posts by ihatehardware.

Dear Diary

Aliya has been writing in a book called Junie B Jones’ Top Secret Personal Beeswax, and she gave me the go-ahead to share some of her entries:

Three words that describe my mom are:
1) buetiful  2) polite  3) ausome

Three words that describe my dad are:
1) smart  2) funny  3) cool

One thing I don’t like about my family is:
I’m not the boss of the house.

3 rules I would change:

1) I’de do watever I wanted wenever I wanted to.
2) I can stay up as late as I wanted to.
3) I could wake as late as I wanted and still have a fancy breakfist.

4 new school rules I would make are:

1) Only skipping in the halway no walking.
2) have candy instede of work.
3) Girls bathroom would have a spa and hotub and manecuir and peticuir.
4) extra reces every day.

If I could change one thing about my house, it would be:
I’d make it into a manchine with a smoothie bar.

Things That Make Me Nervous!

1) The first thing is talking stuffed animals.
Here’s why: wen talking stuffed animals run out of bateri they sound lik there gona kill you.

2) Mouse traps.
Here’s why: cause if you step on a mousetrap you hurt your foot

3) Badguise
Here’s why: cause if a bad gui comes in your house evrything will be gone.

4) Clowns
Here’s why: cause there lips are much to red and I’m not very happy with how big there feet are.

5) Geting chili poured on me.
Here’s why: I don’t think this one needs explaning.

Grown-ups Are Weird Because:

1) They never have fun they only work and never play on playgrounds and who the heck would’nt want to play on a playground I’m asking you.
2) And they make no sense at all because ones my grandma Ginny asked me if the cat got my tonge and that just sounded like the groses thing I ever heard.

Grown-ups Are Fun Because

1) because they give you big hugs and kisses and that is alote of fun wen your my age.
2) they can drive and they can bring you werever you wan’t to go even to the zoo.

Some Things That Make Me Sad, and Why:

1) When I don’t get what I want because I love getting what I want.
2) When Mommy and Daddy argue but Mommy said that all parents argue sometimes.
3) When by aksident I be notty and then I have to go to timeout.
4) When my brother brakes something and blames it on me.

If you had a generous genie, what 4 wishes would you choose?

1) My first wish would be wourld peace cause that would do use good.
2) My secante wish would be that my family was the richest family in the univers.
3) My third wish would be that we were a family of wizards.
4) My last wish would be in high school J***** would be my boyfriend.

What else do you want to say?

Well I just want to say this that my mommy and daddy will probable never understand or now how very very very very very very very much I love and care about them but that is sord of my fault cause I act up alote around the house.  Plus also I love making homemade cookies and bronies but thats hard with a 3 year old sister and a 5 year old brother and I mean super sometimes I really wish I was an only child other times I love my family egsactly the way it is.

Lumpdate

We went back to Children’s Hospital today to check in with Norah’s endocrinologist, record Norah’s stats, and introduce Ben to the doctor.  Because Dr. Fleisch is a “fellow” (a doctor who is learning more about endocrinology), we also meet with whichever attending physician is there when we are.

Today the attending was Dr. Spack.  It seems like we learn a little more about Norah’s condition at each visit, so maybe someday we’ll know it all.  Maybe not.  Aliya was with us, so Dr. Spack took one of Norah’s arms and one of Aliya’s and told all of us to feel the difference.  Norah’s skin literally feels like a brand new baby’s skin.  It’s another symptom of hyperthyroidism – her skin is constantly regenerating.  Everyone’s skin cells die off and are replaced with new cells, but like everything else in her body, Norah’s skin is exfoliating at high speed.

Dr. Spack also said that Norah’s thyroid is swollen to at least 4 times it’s normal size or more.  It’s hard to know because typically your thyroid is not visible.  He said that because her thyroid levels are so high and she has a “storehouse” of hormones in her lump, it could be a while before we see her symptoms resolve completely.  I asked him to give me a guesstimate and he said 4-6 months.  He said that when her levels are back to normal we’re not going to believe the difference in her behavior.  He said that the most obvious physical differenc we’d see would be the change in her eyes.

I have to say, it’s validating to hear that Norah is more active than a typical 4-year-old and comforting to know that she might eventually calm down.  I can only imagine what her academic capability will be once her body slows down.  When I heard the 4-6 month timeframe I asked if he’d give ME a prescription, but I guess I can tough it out.  The current plan is to check Norah’s antibodies (Norah thought the doctor said, “Norah has an ant-body.”) in 2 years and see if she can be weaned off the medication.  If she can’t, they may recommend thyroid ablation when she is around 10.  We’ll play it by ear.

I went back through a bunch of old photos to try to pinpoint when the lump arrived, and it looks like it started swelling at the end of December.  Looking at it now, it’s hard to believe I didn’t notice it because it’s so obvious.  There are other photos that don’t show anything – I don’t know if the swelling goes up and down, or if it just wasn’t noticeable in certain positions.  Here’s the progression:

Click here to read the next post about Norah’s thyroid.

Click here to start at the beginning and read the first post about Norah’s thyroid.

West Hartford Children’s Museum

When we went to Florida last summer we bought a membership to a science museum down there because it only cost a little bit more and the museum had reciprocal agreements with other museums.  We have gotten free admission to so many museums with that membership!  Most recently, we visited the Children’s Museum in West Hartford, CT.  The kids really liked it, and there was a planetarium show which they hadn’t been to before.  For a minute, Norah thought we were really going up into space!

It was definitely better than sitting around listening to them bicker all afternoon.

Here’s the slideshow:

[slideshow]

And the same photos in gallery view:

OSV with the Steeds

I’ve got a lot of catching up to do so I’m trying out a new method for posting photos.  We recently spent a day at Old Sturbridge Village with our friends from Texas – the Steeds.  We only see them once a year when they come for their annual vacation in Maine (here’s a post about our 2007 visit), and we missed last year but the kids got reacquainted right away.  It was a great day and the kids are bummed that they won’t be able to see each other again until next year.

Here’s a slideshow of our day at OSV:

[slideshow]

And in case you want to see the description (hover over thumbnail) or a larger image (click on thumbnail), here’s a gallery of the slideshow photos.