Langston Family Blog

If anyone knows me, one of my traits is persistance. After Ochsner informed me that I would not be able to see an endocrinologist until June, I fought until they fit me in for an appointment...tomorrow!! See how persistance pays off?! I am going to try to get whatever tests I need scheduled as soon as possible. I will keep everyone posted. Thanks for all the nice well wishes. I am sure that everything will turn out fine. Finding that I have thyroid problems explains a lot of symptoms that I have had....everything happens for a reason......I truly believe that!

Today we spent the day at English Turn watching the Zurich Classic - great fun! Hot as hell but fun!! It was Gavin, me, Chrishelle, Dave and my cousin, Mike. We had a great time and we all got nice tans! I had to buy the hat beacuse I could not see a thing with the glare! Thanks to Chrishelle and Dave for scoring us 5 free passes between the two of them! I would have taken pictures but no cameras allowed in!

Saturday night we attended Valerie and Chris' wedding. It was really nice and Valerie looked beautiful!! Most of her bridesmaids were nurses on our unit (or used to be). Everyone looked great and the dresses were lovely :) It was at the Four Columns on the westbank. Congratulations Valerie and Chris!
Pictured:
1. Valerie and Chris
2. Jeanne, Therese, Kamille, Michelle, me
3. Kelly, me, Rochelle
4. Kelly and Kerry (getting married 5-13-06)
5. Obviously- the cake!

I hosted a "Girl's Afternoon" for my friend, Emily. Her wedding is next weekend. It was a really nice afternoon. We had great food, margaritas and wine. It was relaxing and very "girlie"! We played a few games and everyone wrote Em a message and gave some marriage advice. We are so excited about the upcoming wedding - I know Em and Jason are ready being that they should've been married 6 months ago but, due to Katrina, that did not happen :( We wish them all the happiness in the world!

By the way, the cake was sooo good - it was done by "the cake lady" in Kenner. I don't know her name - she just goes by the cake lady. She makes fabulous cakes - if anyone wants her number, let me know.

We were at Sam's and I could not help but take a picture of this lady. Let's set the scene - it's election day in Kenner for mayor between Ed Muniz and Phil Capitano. The campaigns were pretty cut-throat. This lady rode past the truck in her motorized scooter smoking a cigarette with a Phil Capitano sign on the front of her scooter. You can kind-of see it if you look close enough!

Gavin loved this Minnie chair

Well, I know you all saw on the previous post that I had been to the doctor. Since last week, I have been having some dizziness and just feeling bad in general. I had some lab work done and the results came back that I have an overactive thyroid gland. The normal low range for my blood test (TSH) was 0.4 - my result was 0.010 - so it is very low. My Free T4 result was 1.73 (high). Not good. It is confusing but when you have a low TSH and a high free T4, it means that your thyroid is OVER active. I spoke to an endocrinologist that I used to work with and supposedly, the next step is to have a scan of my thyroid to determine if the cause is hyperthyroidism or Graves' Disease. For the test, you have to take a dose of RADIOACTIVE iodine. I hope there are other testing options but this is what I was told. It could also be thyroiditis. At any rate, The scan is what I will probably have to do next. Not fun...I will keep you all posted!

Gavin II had to come with me yesterday to my doctor's appointment which, I'm sure, was quite boring for him. The nurse who took my blood pressure was talking away to Gavin. Well, while the nurse was taking my pressure, Gavin turned to me and got red in the face and started straining. I knew what he was doing. When the nurse left the room, I changed him but had to put the stinky diaper in the BIOHAZARD garbage can. By the way, the exam room was pretty small. Despite the closed lid, you could still smell the diaper. Then the doctor came in..he was a stern, older man and did not even aknowledge Gavin's presence. I am not sure but I think maybe he was a little offended by the odor! :)

Gavin II loves Fudge. Unfortunately he is an outside dog. Tonight, Fudge stayed by the back door because there was thunder and lightning. Gavin II was very concerned because Fudge was whining and he knew that Fudge was nervous. He was really worried about him....He sat by the back door and talked to him. I think they both felt better! :)

Here are a few pictures of Gavin from this morning.
1. In the first pic, he is holding his new toy from McDonald's. It's one of the animals from "The Wild" movie. He loves the koala bear on the commercial and that's the toy I happened to get yesterday.
2. Cici (Chrishelle) gave Gavin II this soft lunchbox. Isn't it precious. Today was the first morning we used when we sent him over to Pappy's for the morning. He loves it and carried it around all morning. Thanks Cici!
3. Mouth full of cookie (which he is eating in picture #2)

Today, Gavin II asked if we could go to the train store (like he asks every day) and I told him not today. He wanted to know why (of course!) I told him that Mommy did not feel very well today (I really didn't feel well). He said "Oh, mommy, you don't feel well? That's ok...that's ok....maybe a little grape juice will help make you feel better". It's funny because whenever he hurts himself, he says "maybe some grape juice will make me feel better"...and it always does!

Last night, we went to the grocery and Gavin bought the ingredients for Jambalaya that he wants to make this weekend. When we got home, I was putting Gavin II in his pajamas and we heard a crash - the whole bottle of VINEGAR broke in the dining room. Poor Gavin wiped it up and the smell permeated through the whole house!!

If you don't already know, Gavin II loves the Black Eyed Peas' song "My Hump". He knows all the lyrics (which is not a particularly good thing). He always tends to start singing the song in public and he always starts with "What ya gonna do with all that junk, all that junk inside that trunk...I'm a gi gi gi get you drunk, get you love drunk off my hump". Yesterday I was checking out at Sears and he started singing it - the girl behind the counter started dancing and singing along. It was really funny. I really should take it off as my ring tone!!

Here are some updated pictures on Gavin's grandmother's house. It is about 90% complete - still needs counter tops, sinks and appliances and then it will be complete!! Gavin has done a wonderful job on everything. He installed the cabinets and vanities in the bathroom (both are pictured). The absolute last thing will be the fence and the backyard clean-up. We are really excited and hope that it sells fast!!

Here are some pics of the family....
1. Cousin Michael and Gavin II
2. Scott and Jenn
3. Juju and Michael
4. My dad listening to the LSU game (as usual)!!
5. The Fam

We headed over to Lacombe for Easter today to my Aunt Linda's house. It was so much fun and a beautiful day! The uncles set up the water slide thing for all the kids to play on - Gavin II loved it. He loves water! By the way, he's wearing Clifford Swim pants - my brother, Scott, thought those were his regular diapers...

Doesn't Juju look like she is enjoying that wine?! She barely ever has a picture where she is smiling - she's always making a face!

Someone brought the chocolate fountain - what a hit that thing was! Everyone crowded around it eagerly waiting for their turn!!

Juju and Pappy bought their new bar-b-que grill today. Mom was cooking up some chicken and stuff for Easter to bring to my aunt's house for our get together. Juju loves to bar-b-que!! She really wanted one because she said that when she grills, she feels like she is in Waveland. We always grilled for Easter in Waveland and all summer long! And, since Waveland is not an option this summer, this is the closest she will get.

Gavin II had his first easter egg hunt. We stopped at Juju and Pappy's and, while waiting for Scott, Jenn and Jack, we had our hunt. I told Gavin II that the Easter bunny had gone by Juju and Pappy's and hid some eggs for him to find. Since he cannot have a lot of candies, I filled the eggs with money. Honestly, he would prefer money over candy anyway! He had such a good time looking for the eggs. He was really excited because one of the eggs had a $5 bill in it - he immediately drew the conclusion that he had enough money to buy a new train...

My brother and Jennifer are in town with Jack for Easter so we got to hang out with them for a while today. Jack is so big!! He is beautiful - smiling and laughing. He just learned how to lunge/crawl. Gavin II is much more interested in him now that he is active!! It's nice to get my baby fix when they are in town!

Jack had his first taste of Casey's snowballs today. He took a few tastes of Scott's and LOVED it!! He kept grabbing the cup while Scott was eating it - then he went after Jenn's!

I made Gavin II some sugar cookies this morning. I also made the royal icing for them. Royal icing is the kind of icing that "hardens" and has a matte finish. The icing came out great. The pink icing that I used to decorate did not turn out so well. Anyway, after all was said and done, Gavin preferred the plain sugar cookies without the icing. He really doesn't go for icing at all - I should have saved myself the time.

Let me tell you - Cookies that are wheat-free, egg-free, soy-free, diary-free take a lot of time to perfect!! He loved them so that's all that matters.

I made Gavin II chicken and rice for dinner. He loves rice and eats a ton of it! Well, he did not want chicken tonight. When I peeked at him, he had taken all the chicken out and put it in one of the high chair compartments. Gotta love kids!

Mommy found this Thomas and Friends comforter and pillow at Wal-Mart. Gavin II was with me so I certainly could not pass it up once he saw it! He loves it!

When we stayed with Gavin's Aunt Melba & Uncle Billy during Katrina - he attached himself to a comforter that she had that had hearts and flowers on it - it's also mostly pink. He LOVES the blanket and he calls it his "favorite blanket". We have been trying to transition it out of his bed but he would never let us. When he got the Thomas comforter, I was certain it would not be a problem - wrong! We did get it out of his bed but not without a lot of questions from him!!