Letter from TeriLyn – February 2024

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The last day of February, my nanny said to me, “I can’t believe tomorrow is March.” I looked at her in shock, because I thought we were still in the middle of February. So that sums up my month.

Family

We kicked off February with the flu. Thomas got it first and it was honestly really scary. His fever was over 104 multiple times for multiple days. Then I got it, also with a 104 degree fever and insane chills – and a couple hours where I don’t remember anything, which is scary to think about. Then Charles and Tommy got it, but thankfully their fevers never went above 102. (But if you ask Tommy, he got it the worst.) I used Blueberry Pediatrics multiple times a day, every day for almost the entire time we were sick. And we were sick for a solid two weeks and then the boys and I followed it up with a week-long stomach bug. It was awful… but I think we’re finally on the mend, other than a cold that Charles and I now have. Oof.

When I say that I LOVE Blueberry Pediatrics, I mean I REALLY love it. I used that service NONSTOP in February. We have a great pediatrician, but we don’t like to go into the office often since we always get another sickness there and our co-pay is $150 (seriously). And our peds messaging service or nurse line often takes hours to get a call back during the sick season (especially over the weekend). Blueberry Pediatrics is an app where you can message pediatricians about anything with your kiddos. They usually called me back in 20 minutes and often messaged or called back the next day to check-in. And it’s $18/month. It’s such a steal and if your kids are prone to sickness, I cannot recommend it enough. This is not sponsored; I just legitimately love it.

On another note, both boys are growing up so much lately. Charles is starting to walk and babbling SO much. Thomas is talking talking talking and just says the funniest things. Last year, I started emailing myself when he’d say funny things and then I put a couple pages of Thomas quotes in our monthly chatbooks. I think my favorite quote from February was, “You’re super special and I super special. Daddy is a little special and Charles is just a little special.”

Thomas is also getting back into golf, which we are super happy about. He LOVED golf when he was 2-3 years old (like obsessed), and then he was uninterested until a few months ago. He got his own golf bag (so cute and little!), and we all go to the golf course a few times a week as a family. I love it, and I know Tommy does too! He’s also starting to have playdates, which is crazy that he’s big enough for that! He’s big into matching outfits, and he lovesssss cleaning and organizing, which is great. Keep it up, kid!

Health

On top of sickness, I’ve still been dealing with excruciating breast pain. I saw a breast specialist at the end of February, and that was honestly the least helpful appointment I’ve had thus far. (“Huh, I don’t really know what’s going on. Let’s try antibiotics again.” Great, thanks.) But, I did finally have my appointment with Robinhood Integrative Health (RIH), which I made back in October when I had my crazy flare.

Between making that appointment and actually going in, Function Health reached out and offered me free testing. I’m going to do a full blog post about Function because I am so impressed with the service, but that bloodwork identified a few major deficiencies that could be contributing to my ongoing pain. The nurse at RIH helped me choose the right supplements to add in and the right amount to try to bring those back up. I also finally got APNO, which I think is helping too. And, I went to a different PT who specializes in athletes and breastfeeding is a sport. Just kidding, kind of, but this PT works with a lot of baseball and basketball players, so she is very familiar with how to treat issues around the shoulders, pec, and scapula. So I think I’m on the mend to some degree, but I don’t think the cracked nipple (which is pretty severe.. more than a simple crack) will heal until Charles is done breastfeeding.

All of the mammograms, ultrasounds, and MRIs came back normal from what they could tell. My breast tissue is EXTREMELY dense — every provider I’ve seen said it’s the densest they’ve ever seen — so it’s hard to read. I do have a swollen lymph node (and a small, not-concerning cyst), so they’re doing another ultrasound in a few weeks after the antibiotics and APNO have been in my system to see how things look. And I’ll likely have mammograms and MRIs annually going forward.

Thankfully, the joint pain I struggled with for all of 2024 is mostly gone since I cut out gluten. I’ve had multiple rounds of bloodwork that show a positive ANA. (High levels of ANAs are often found in autoimmune diseases like systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, and Sjögren’s syndrome.) But further testing has shown it’s likely not any of those. Some autoimmune diseases are somewhat easy to diagnose – like celiac disease or type 1 diabetes – but others are very hard to diagnose or misdiagnosed for years (which happened with multiple of my brothers and their autoimmune diseases). I don’t want to go on a witch hunt, but I know something is off, and I’d just like to know what it is, ya know?

Work

On a happier note, despite being unable to work for most of February, I had one of my best work months ever, revenue-wise. I credit that big-time to how I’ve built my business and that it can be somewhat passive, even when I can’t be in front of the camera. That, and Hannah (my content manager) to stay on top of things while I’m out.

We had a few partnerships, which I’ve listed below. I’m always so grateful when you shop with the brands I partner with because my performance (including clicks and purchases) impacts if I get future partnerships. Here’s who I worked with in February.

And my favorite non-sponsored content is below!

Instagram

Blog:

Hannah goes on maternity leave in a few months, which is so exciting and also a little nerve-wracking (I’m sure for her, too, ha!). But Salem will come on full-time in April, so we’ll have plenty of time to cross-train! It will be a big transition, but I feel so blessed that the Lord has put both of these women in my life when I needed them– and I don’t take it for granted that they are both amazing.

Another thing I tried in February was removing work apps from my phone. I deleted Instagram, ShopMy and LTK since I found myself checking them nonstop throughout the data (mostly looking at analytics), which is just unnecessary. I had an older iPhone that I kept when I upgraded to my current phone last year (because sometimes it’s nice to shoot video and pictures at the same time from two different angles) that I now use as my work phone. It doesn’t have cell service, only wifi, and I try to keep it in my office. I get behind on Instagram DMs a lot more now, but it’s been good for my work-life balance and for focusing when I need to do non-phone things at work (like write!).

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Alright, I’ll wrap this up and start working on digging out of my inboxes!