Dr. Endo... and Rocks?

The morning of Seth's appointment was rushed!

My husband was working until 10am. I needed to drop off my two oldest in a neighboring town to spend the day with friends. Doubled back, dropped off the next two to spend the day with their grandmother and picked up my husband... Did I mention I had not had my coffee? I picked up some on the go at some point, but it just wasn't the same as my home brewed! :)

With all children settled into their places for the day, we left with a good 90 minutes to get to our appointment which was only about 60 minutes away. All was well!

Or so we thought!

We got so into talking, we missed our 2nd exit! Had to turn around and get back on track.... THEN, I managed to send my husband the wrong direction, which I realized quickly, thank you Lord! At this point, we knew our extra time was dwindling and we were both concentrating on signs!! But!! The turn my directions said to take... wasn't there!! We ended up in some town well south of our destination... I was a nervous wreck & started crying... after all, we had waited three weeks for this appointment and most offices only give you a small grace window! According to my clock, we had 15 minutes to get to the office... and we weren't even certain of where we were!

I phoned the endocrinologist office and explained our situation, and, PTL! they give a 30 minute grace window! I ran into a dollar store for a cold drink and chocolate (!) and directions (!) while my husband diapered Seth and started feeding him. We switched places and he started driving! We arrived 35 minutes late, but those dear kind ladies took us right on in!!

Right in... as in... neither of us had a chance to take a bathroom break, no time to change Seth's dirty diaper, no time to fill out the paperwork!! Now that's efficiency!!!

The doctor was a sweet lady with a great personality for working with children... and their parents! Michael and one nurse took Seth to get weighed and measured while I stayed with the other nurse to finish paperwork and answer her questions. When the doctor came in, one of her first comments threw me off... "Well no worries about his weight! But he is short, so let's run a check on his thyroid."

Now, let me recap... Seth's weight dropped from the 56th% down to the 5th% in less than 4 months! His height was similar. The pediatrician sent us to the endocrinologist because of his WEIGHT.

I quickly questioned her! She showed me that Seth had just weighed in at 24.9 pounds.
WHOA! Wait a minute! Only 3 weeks ago, he weighed 18.9 pounds... THAT's a 6 lb gain in only 3 weeks for a child who hasn't gained that much in the last 5 months!

Back to the scales!! This time, it made more sense... 20.9 pounds :) and 28 inches.

Another odd thing I questioned... for Seth's 1 year check at the peds office, he was listed at the 4th%... using the same numbers and date, the endo office listed him at the 14th%! The endo office say they use a 'much more accurate' chart. The peds office say they use the only chart out there... I don't know! But I'll take the weight gain! :D

Two more labs were run: growth hormone and thyroid. Both came back 'Perfect!' :D

So, we wait to see how he is growing at his next WCC in October.

After the crazy, stressful morning, my husband treated me & Seth to Olive Garden. Oh.My.Yumminess!

We then picked up our two little redheaded boys from gramma's and started for home... all was well again...

'KAPOW!!'

What was that?!?! No cars around... what WAS that!?  Oh lovely... someone threw a rock at my windshield and it cracked (only had this van 2.5 weeks!) ! I pulled over shaking like a leaf! Mike was in his car behind me and he stopped too... When he came over and asked what was wrong, I could not talk, I just pointed with my whole arm shaking. I am so thankful that the Lord kept me steady! If I had jerked the wheel, our high profile van on hilly roads with deep ditches, would have wrecked- with me and our three youngest boys. My husband drove back around to look for whoever it may have been, but saw no one (it was a LOUD crack, I believe they took off running and hid!). We did file a report with the Sheriff's office... 'just in case' and the boys got a mini tour of a cruiser :)

Three days later,  our insurance had our windshield replaced :)

Talk about a roller-coaster of a day!

I am happy to know that my God has it all under control for me! :)

Mix It Up, Baby!

A different type of post today... A recipe post!

Earlier today, I took time to make up two 'master mixes' for my pantry. It's an effort to save both time and money. It's also a way of taking control of the ingredients that go into my family's bodies! I've really been focusing on ridding our diet of the artificial junk... it's even hiding in things that you would think is healthy! It's crazy! Artificial colors (found in more than you would think!), artificial flavors, and artificial preservatives... outta here! (I'm no expert and I've recently started this journey, but if you want, I'll gladly point you to my sources, just leave a comment)

I posted a blurry cell phone pic onto my Facebook page and had several comments and requests... so, I decided to share with you!

The first mix was the most important: Brownies! It's a recipe that I wrote from a magazine maybe 9 or 10 years ago (Wow! Where did the time go!?)

Basic Brownie Mix

(yields about 5 batches)

5 cups sugar

3 cups all purpose flour

1 can (8 oz) baking cocoa

1 tsp salt

*Mix thoroughly. Store in airtight container.

To Prepare:

2 cups of brownie mx

1/2 cup butter, melted

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 TBS water

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

*Mix well. Pour into greased 8x8 baking dish.

Bake at 350 degrees. 25-30 minutes.

9 servings.

Enjoy!

Customize it to suit your family... add nuts, maybe add some dried cherries... have fun! Enjoy!

The next master mix was a homemade 'Bisquick'. Tonight is my first time using this recipe, but I'll share two links. Both call for shortening, but you could easily use butter instead. Just grate the butter (like grating cheese!) and then cut it into the dry ingredients. NOTE: Shortening is considered shelf stable, and many store the mix in the pantry. HOWEVER, if you use butter, store it in the fridge!

The recipe I used also calls for powdered milk. I happened to have some that needed to be used which is why I used this one over at Food.com. You can also find recipes for pancakes and biscuits on this site to make with your mix. The other recipe I seriously thought of using was over at Smockity's. Very similar, but hers does not call for powdered milk. She also has some recipes to use for your mix. I'll be trying her recipe next time I make the mix.

I strongly urge you to take more control over the ingredients in your food by making your own convenient mixes. The Internet is a wealth of recipes! Taco seasoning, onion soup mix, cookie mixes, you name it, it's out there! It may take a couple of tries to get the right recipe for your taste buds, but it will be worth it!