Speaking of the babies . .

I just happened to check my email and SIL (sister in law) Amey has nearly finished the nursery!! This is just a glimpse but the walls of the nursery are done in a mural starting with this tree house in one corner, progressing to the sky full of hot air balloons and planes, then to outer space with planets and spaceships!! It's absolutely darling!!

"A lot of love in this house"

Each day Roy and I are so thankful for the way things have worked out for us over the past year. It was such good fortune that I got accepted to a medical school that allowed satellite programs in 3rd/4th year, that the real estate market was down so we could make a good investment, that my dean (on his way out the door) called in a favor so I could live in Lexington, and that Roy loves his job!! If any one of these things had gone another way our lives could be dramatically different (for those of you who remember we are supposed to be in Ann Arbor this year).

Each day we catch ourselves blurting out some little phrase expressing our happiness with these endeavors. Roy, nearly every day, says "i love this little thing called life". Usually on his way out the door, lunch in hand, with Oliver trotting after him (for those of you who appreciate visual images). Its one of my favorite things about being married to Roy. . . he constantly expresses happiness. (Yesterday Ed and I heard him say at least 100 times "this is such a beautiful day").

On Sunday we were goofing off in our guest bedroom, dancing, wrestling, and laughing when Roy popped out a new one, "there is so much love in this house". This little expression is my favorite thus far!!! Roy and I may disagree on the temperature of the house, how much food Oliver should get a day, and the precise location of the dirty laundry hamper; but through it all there are way more laughs than arguments and much more love than frustration :-).

Yay for Twins!!!

This is my sister in law, Amey Severson, (affectionately known as Dr. Amey by her pediatric patients) who is 27 weeks along with twin boys!!! I was unable to attend her shower last week (she lives in Minneapolis, MN) but here is a picture her sister-in-law sent us!! The boys are due in January but may come as early as Christmas (twins usually come earlier because they get so cramped :-). We are so excited for the first Lowdenback grandchildren!!

Pumpkin Picking

I LOVE FALL!! Roy and I woke up on Sunday and realized we had yet to make it to the pumpkin patch!!! So around 2, we headed out to pick the Great Pumpkin. We picked 5 pumpkins and had a carving contest with Roy's parents and Aunt Mari. The top picture is my pumpkin (the winner) and Ed's pumpkin (old school carving). We had such a great time!! Mari's pumpkin was actually the best (it was a free carving of Oliver's face) but the detail didn't shine through so I won by default :-). Happy Fall!!!

Welcome to the world Collin Wilson Moore

Look at this handsome thing!!! My childhood BF Sarah Elizabeth Roberts Moore has given birth to her second happy, healthy boy!! Collin was born on October 3rd, 2008 (I was chatting with Sarah while she was going into labor while getting my nails done for Megan's wedding :-). We're letting Momma Sarah get settled but I cannot wait to hear all about this handsome thing! Big bro Christian is no doubt going to be missing all of momma's attention! Sarah is a miracle - she now as two children under 2! Whew!

It's all about the HDL

Working in FP I pretty much see hypertension, diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, and geriatrics. In each of our patients we do a cardiac risk assessment (based on the Framingham studies www.framingham.org), and talk a lot about "good" cholesterol vs. "bad" cholesterol. Surprisingly, many of our patients have okay bad (LDL) cholesterol levels, but instead have not enough of the good (HDL) cholesterol. LDL is slightly more easily treated because of statin drugs and diet control. HDL, however, does not have a magic pill. Yes there are medicinal treatments, niacin being the most studied, but they are not as easily tolerated. On my search for ways to raise HDL levels for my sensitive patients who were not interested niacin (which causes an allergic type reaction with flushing and itching when taken) - I found an old article in Men's Health. Although I don't know the science behind their suggestions I figured most of them were reasonable and decided to include the list here:

• Weight loss - for every one pound lost you can raise your HDL by 1%
• Exercise - especially before a meal. Exercising before a meal will hike your HDL levels better than after. MH recommeds at least 4 thirty minute sessions weekly.
• Eat the "right" fats - Monosaturated fats are key (olive oil, nuts, cold water fish). Avoid meats, dairy, margarine, crackers, and snack foods with trans-fatty acids. There is a new prescription called Lovasa that is concentrated fish oil. If you are going to go to the trouble of taking fish oil you should get this Rx because you have to take between 30-40 OTC fish oil supplements to equal the amount of active ingredient in one Lovasa tab. Seriously? Yep, concentrate your cash.
• Cut down on simple carbs and focus on your complex carbs. Complex carbs are slower burning (increase saiety and prevent blood sugar spikes).
• OJ and tangerines. Drinking 3-4 glasses of OJ a day for four weeks raised one groups HDL by 21% (flavonoid hesperidin gets the credit for this). The catch to this is that fruit juices have insane amounts of added sugar. My advice: go for the plain fruit and eat it like dessert (to prevent blood sugar spikes. For more on which foods cause blood sugar spikes read up on the glycemic index).
• Dietary Fiber - whole grains (not wheat bread- this is an important difference), bran, fruits, veggies all raise HDL.
• Red wine and dark beer - Any alcohol should work but these two also have the most antioxidants (cancer fighting).
• Large doses of Vitamin B or Niacin (hence prescription strength medications enhancing the same).
• Stop smoking (no explanation necessary). If you are worried about the weight gain then stop smoking first (take Chantix, Wellbutrin or both if needed); then if you cannot lose the weight on your own you can get prescription diet pills. I am not a huge fan of these because I'd rather have patients that are gym rats than pill dependent. But I think there is a specific place for them in medicine.

I forgot to mention my specific interest in this topic . . . my father-in-law showed me his lab work on Sunday and he has an HDL of 29 (yikes!). This guy better be around when we have grandchildren so I have been on his back :-). Normal HDL levels should be above 40 and if they are above 60 your doc will be thrilled! There is a direct link to high HDL and increased longevity. In fact, one doctor has called an HDL of over 100 "Methuselah syndrome" (Methuselah is the oldest person mentioned in the Bible; he lived to be 969 Genesis 5:7).

So friends, please keep your LDL below 100 and your HDL above 50. I like you all, I want you to live for a very long time :-)

SIX YEARS!!!

The other day I was working at the Family Practice Clinic listening a patient drone on and on about their allergies. (I do sympathize - its just the season). As I was writing out my preceptors favorite allergy cocktail on the prescription pad (5 days of Allegra D, followed by 21 days of Allegra, and an abx to hold if interested), I wrote 10/22/08 at the top of the pad and had a moment. Six years ago between the Lamb and Kappa Delta houses Roy asked me to "be his girlfriend".

Looking back over the past years we have had SO many funny times (some we laughed at then, others we can only laugh at now). Thank you to all of our family and friends for being a part of our journey - its been a wild ride! I've never been more honored to be Roy's wife than now. :-)

Our Little Man . . .

For those of you who have yet to met our little man - please meet Oliver! (Sir Oliver XVIII according to the AKC). I have always grown up with pets (Great Danes, Cocker Spaniels, American Saddlebreds, cats, hamsters, etc. etc. etc.). Roy, on the other hand, grew up with turtles; he'd never had an animal that was 100% dependent on him!! So we entered into puppyhood with significant hesitation. We tried be well researched (hours were spent on the AKC website, wandering around PetSmart interviewing people with their pups, and chatting it up with anyone in our active neighborhood with an animal over 5 pounds). Then it came to me - a quiz! There had to be a quiz on the internet that could tell you what kind of dog to purchase!! So we found a survey and decided to rig the answers to give us the lowest maintenance pup . . . thus came our English Bulldog!

With MORE research we found a reputable breeder in Southern Kentucky and decided to spend one pretty Saturday driving down to check out her facility. We walked in and found a 4 day old puppy that resembled a rat and fell in love. Now nearly 5 months later we couldn't imagine one day without our little guy!! Please check out pottersbulldogs.net if you are interested in a little love of your own!! We highly recommend them!!

Here we go . . .

So, Roy and I decided that we would start a blog in order to share our life in hopes we can share more in our friends lives in return! Easier said than done my friends - over the past 24 hours I have googled "blog", "personal websites", and a variety of other search terms that yielded some interesting results (note: don't ever type "personal" on a search bar). A plethora of results returned and I, wanting to make "a good blogging decision" have spent time exploring all of them!! Now, after many hours of search - have decided that this blog is the easiest to use (and FREE!). So, without much more ado, lets get started!!