Can’t believe it’s the last day of 2017… yet another year has flown by. This year brought us the blessing of our baby boy Benjamin! Brad went up job stat wise! There were plenty of not-so great things too. Brad lost his Dad on my birthday back in March. I had an infection after birth that kept me in the hospital for 3 days in April.

I got my labs done for my thyroid and other various levels too. Thyroid levels look awesome so no change! Found out my ferritin (iron storage) is a little over 10! That’s why I have no energy, ever. I think that’s been my main problem for YEARS. Back when we did some labs in 2013 when I started my thyroid meds my ferritin was only in the 30’s and I still had energy problems. If I wasn’t taking other vitamins I would be way worse off than I am. Not sure how I didn’t think about the ferritin levels the last few years. So my goal for 2018 health wise is to finally get my energy back so I can exercise again. I love to exercise… it is my way to de-stress and get pumped up but I can see why I haven’t been able to with such low ferritin. Not sure what it was before pregnancy but I would guess in the 20’s, maybe. I’d like to see it in the 70-90 range actually. No wonder I lost so much hair a few months ago. And I also feel pretty irritable often, even though I sure fight it. Gotta get this straight! Of course I don’t have the best absorption so I’ll have to see what supplement works best. My regular blood iron level is low normal.

Benjamin turned TEN months on the 28th! He is getting his 2 top teeth too.

Katie goes back to school this Thursday and Brad goes back to work Tuesday.

It is COLD COLD COLD outside… and is gonna be this way for the week. BRRRR.

Praying we can find a HOUSE before March since our lease here will be up. Either find a house or stay, again. We really, really need another room for Benjamin.

Another goal for me is to *maybe* get BRACES. That would mean everything to me but we’ll have to see If we can fit that into our budget.

I can’t believe I was pregnant this time last year! Cheers to an awesome new year in 2018! I pray for everyone to have love, health, and happiness! I will fight to get my energy back and then set some other goals into motion!

Highlights from lately…

– Benjamin had his 9 month check up last week! He’s doing super!!! Almost 21lbs! LOL. He didn’t get shots… shew but! They wanted to test his blood to make sure he wasn’t anemic. Get this – they don’t do the simple finger prick anymore like they did when Katie was a baby. We had to go down to the lab and I had to hold him super tight so they could stick his little arm. WTF. That was not a good afternoon. Katie was a super brat and then I had to do that with little man. He got SUPER MAD and was sweating. I’m not doing that again.
– I bought little man a starter sippy cup this weekend and he tried it out first time yesterday!!! After a few minutes he realized it was different lol but hopefully he’ll do great with it. He has his 2 bottom teeth! He can stand sometimes without holding on in his crib too so we’ll be practicing walking soon! We’ve been trying more solid foods and he is not so sure LOL. He makes major faces and gagged on the more chunky baby food but we’ll work on it.
– Brad has been doing awesome with his job and getting all kinds of bonuses lately! My early x-mas after we got back from his Mom’s for Thanksgiving- not sure if ive said this- was a 32inch computer monitor! I LOVE IT. However, my computer would not work this weekend so Brad had to work on it and got it to finally come back up. He used his other computer parts… replaced the CPU and motherboard and that worked for now, but he thinks it might be the power supply that might mess with the motherboard or CPU again and if that happens then I’m getting a new computer. We thought about getting a new one but then he got this one to work again. Brad got the Nintendo Switch and 2 games for his early x-mas. Well, actually 4 games. Mario Odyssey, Mario Kart 8, Skyrim, and Just Dance (the new one). We have loved playing the new Mario Kart together.
– Gotta get my thyroid labs redone whenever they send me the lab requisition for it and also get my teeth cleaned and one tooth fixed.
– We don’t have our Christmas tree up yet, lol.
– Our good friend Gatlin and 2 of his friends are coming to stay the weekend so they can go to some event in the area so that will be fun to hang out with them!
– Yesterday was our TWELVE year wedding anniversary!!! Hubby said he was bringing me home an anni present tonight!

Have a great week!

Weekend recap time! Friday evening we went out to DD’s Discount to look around and bought a few things then headed to Wal-Mart for random groceries and finally got Ben a highchair!! Saturday, we went to a Christian store and I bought 2 new shirts, key chain, and Katie got a little gadget too. We hadn’t been to church in a few weeks but I got up early yesterday morning and got everything ready to go for church but Brad woke up later than expected so had to rush a bit. Overall, great Sunday but didn’t seem like as many people. Brad was nervous about teaching the men’s class last hour but said it went well! Ben needed some diapers and I needed almond milk so I went back to the store yesterday before dinner.

I need to make a dental appointment to get my teeth cleaned and one of my teeth fixed and then this afternoon is Benjamin’s 9 month check-up! Which means… shots. Ugh. He is being such a good boy playing in his crib right now.

Thankful, grateful, blessed. Have a great week everyone!