Saturday, October 31, 2009

Happy Halloween!!!

From left to right.....Gemma, Gracie's friend Kara, Marshall, Gracie and Luke. Oh, and our dog, Daisy!

Luke the "Ghost"

Marshall the "Tigger"

Gracie the "Gypsy"


Gemma the "Cowgirl"
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Vitamin D Results

We just had all our Vitamin D Levels checked and unfortunately, based on the latest research, we are all too low! We ordered the test through http://www.lef.org/ and had our blood drawn at LabCor. Since we have such high health insurance deductibles, it was cheaper for me to pay the $47 to LEF than to have the test done through our doctor's office! Although I still plan to go over these results with our Dr. and give her a copy for our medical records. Your doctor should be able to recommend how much D3 to take on a daily basis to get your blood serum levels into the optimal range. If they can't, I encourage you to research this yourself because the information is easily accessible!

The Vitamin D Council recommends maintaining a blood serum level of 50-80 ng/ml and Dr. Joe Mercola recommends maintaining levels between 50-65 ng/ml for optimal health in ALL AGES. Both of these sites give very specific dosage guidelines. These are two sources I trust but again, I encourage you to do your own research!

My level was 32.7. Down from 38 on 6/5 of this year!
Gracie 43.2
Gemma 38.1
Luke 29
Marshall 29.9
Scott is having his bloodwork done next week.

Now that we know our levels, we can increase our supplementation of Vitamin D3 for the next 2-3 months, at which time we will have levels re-checked. We had already begun supplementing with D3 about a month before having this test so I would hate to see what our levels were before!

So what's the big deal about Vitamin D anyway?? Well people think of the most common risk of Vit. D deficiency as being soft bones or rickets in children, but research is linking low blood serum levels of vitamin D to a whole lot more! Osteoporosis, muscle weakness, fractures, common cancers, autoimmune disease, cardiovascular disease, depression, childhood asthma and eczema, frequent colds, flu and respiratory infections, multiple sclerosis, diabetes and more.......all now being linked to low levels of Vit. D.

With my history of asthma and allergies and poor immune function I have taken a special interest in this topic; not just for my health, but for the sake of my family's health. Scott was the only one in our family not supplementing with vitamin D when he recently came down with a terrible case of the flu. Although he didn't get checked for H1N1, it was possibly the sickest I've ever seen him. I was more than braced for the worst but after more than two weeks have passed and no one else in our family has come down with the flu, I can't help but wonder if the vitamin D has something to do with it!? I will continue to blog about this as we progress through the winter.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

School Photos

Gracie-4th Grade (9 1/2)

Luke- Preschool (almost 5 when this was taken)

Gemma-2nd Grade (7 1/2)

Marshall (18 mo.) There was no gettin' this guy to smile!
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Ultrasound

This was taken at 12 weeks. I will be 16 weeks on Tuesday. It still amazes me that at only 12 weeks there is a completely formed little human in there! Luke thinks this profile shot looks like a girl because he sees "long hair"!
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Friday, October 23, 2009

Saturday, October 17, 2009

"Berrrrrrr"!!!......

So Luke says to me, "Mommy, do all the months say "Berrrrr" now because it's getting so cold outside?" At first I didn't understand what he meant so he expalained it to me. SeptemBER, OctoBER, NovemBER, DecemBER!!

Thursday, October 15, 2009

One Room School House


As part of the St. John Lutheran School 125th anniversary celebrations, the school is having "One Room School House Day" today. The kids will be combined (K-8) into one classroom. Obviously there will be several of these combined classrooms but all siblings will be together. The girls were really excited to try and dress the way a girl might have 125 years ago.



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Marshall is 20 Months

Marshall is 20 months old today!

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Sunday, October 11, 2009

Me and My Prince

Came across this scanned photo from our wedding proofs. ......oh be still my heart!
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Thursday, October 1, 2009

Trip to Dentist

Took all 4 kids to the dentist today. Our 9 year streak of being cavity free in all four kids has come to an end. Luke had a cavity that had to be filled. The good news is that it was just a tiny spot on one of his baby teeth so I can still say we are cavity free in permanent teeth!

Luke is feeling no pain here below after getting the "bubble gum laughing gas"! It was hilarious to hear him giggling uncontrollably. He's watching a Disney movie playing on a flat screen in the ceiling.
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