in a pinch, just a list

A quick list is all I can manage.  Each day I've looked at my poor, lonely blog and each day I scamper thru the day full force until my head hits the pillow.   I know I owe a post about our last full day of vacation, as well as a review of our Amtrak Auto Train experience.  I will, I will.  Someday.  Until then, another list.  I've been making lots of lists lately.  Christmas gift wish lists, which holiday cookies to bake lists, and lists about my other lists.

But for today, a quick catch up list of all things happening at  Casa de Lopresti:

• We had a fabulously quiet and cozy Thanksgiving holiday at my Mom and Robby's.  It truly was quiet this year, since my brother, SIL, the twins, and all my stepsisters were elsewhere.  Family friends came from the Eastern Shore of MD and we spent the day enjoying some mighty delicious food.  Always such a treat to spend time together. Thanksgiving is such a wonderful holiday. All the togetherness of Christmas, without the added pressure of gift giving.

• Every spare moment I've had, I've been on Amazon.com piling my shopping cart with gifts galore and really trying to knock out the bulk of my holiday shopping.  I'd love to get it done and just sit back and enjoy December and all the upcoming parties and events.  We've decked our halls and have enough cookie exchanges, potlucks and holiday parties to make a girl giddy.

• Logan has completely healed from his tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy.   He started back to taekwondo tonight and even got a new uniform, since his old one had become capri pants.  We think he is snoring less and as time goes on, we hope his quality of sleep will improve even more.  However, what we did learn this week is his iron levels (directly related to his Periodic Limb Movement Disorder) are still very, very low.  His ferritin (from blood drawn last week) level is now at 23.   In August, his ferritin level was19.   In order to 'cure' his PLMD, his levels need to be at 80 to 100.  So we have a long, long way to go.  He's been on a very concentrated form of iron twice daily supplement for three months, and we thought at his follow up appointment this week, his levels would have gone up much more.  Not only does he not eat a lot of iron rich foods, his body just doesn't seem to absorb any iron he does ingest.  He eats a TON of cereal, which is loaded with iron, but he never wants to eat it dry, always with milk. And calcium prevents your body from absorbing iron, as I talked about here.
  
  So we'll do another three months of iron supplements, and he'll have more blood tests done mid-February to see if his ferritin levels are increasing. Then about three months after that (sometime in May??), we'll likely do another sleep study and see if his apnea and restless legs are more under control.  As always, all in an effort to help his moods and behavior.

 

• Somewhere in between all of this, we decided to wish ourselves a Merry Christmas and buy all new furniture for our family room.  This time last year, we painted the family room, rearranged the furniture we had, and bought a big, new entertainment center and TV.  This year we're finishing the 'revamp' by adding a leather sectional, leather chair and a half, two giant leather ottomans and some new tables.  Photos to come soon!