Sick kids & a day update

Both of my kids are sick right now.

Sigh...  If you have not ever been within 100 yards of a sick kid let me spell out what this means.  This means that there has been more crying and whining in my house today than there has been in like the last two weeks all put together.  Think of how whiny and gripey you feel when you are sick, especially if you are a man, and multiply that by like ten... thousand.  They want you to hold them but without touching them.  They want you to lay next to them but you can't because they actually feel like they are a live convection oven because of the fever.  They want to eat something but whine and cry and fight you the whole time because they can't think of anything that they want to eat.  All in all it's an awesome good time.

I previously had asked for the day off work today because I needed to go see my thyroid doctor in order to get a new prescription of thyroid medicine, and to go to the eye doctor to get a new contact prescription, so this is shaping up to be the most amazing day that I have had in a long time.  I hate when I take time off work and feel like I am busier than when I am at the office.  Call me lazy but I love just chilling at home when I am taking days off work - feels like I get some catch up on rest.  However, that didn't happen today... maybe the next time.   

I always have a lot of anxiety before I go to my thyroid doctor because he always gripes at me about my weight.  Let me start off by saying that I know that my weight is a problem and have finally got to a point where I am ready to do something about it.  We have been on this diet for three weeks on Monday and according to my scale at home, I am down 16.2 lbs, which is pretty awesome!  With that being said, since I started going to see this doctor, I have been in the same weight range.  I have fluctuated up and down because of my normal changes, two pregnancies, and my diet the first round.  Unfortunately, thanks to having no thyroid now for 10 years (this is ridiculous that it has been 10 years) I have to see him at the very least twice a year. 

This time I am vowing to be different.  I told him that I wanted to see him again in 3 months - I got him to agree by saying that I wanted him to monitor this weight loss since I really don't have a primary care doctor.  For the last three years I have used my OB as my primary care doctor since I was either pregnant or immediately postpartum that entire time.  Let's say that I am having a difficult time adjusting.  That is for another post. 

Luckily, he was nice today - partially because of this giant bus crash that we had near his office that was being dealt with at the time of my appointment, and partially because I was able to tell him about my success so far with this diet.  My next appointment is now scheduled for some time in July; we will see how far I have gone with this weight loss at that time.  In three months, I am hoping for 30-45 more pounds down. 

I stopped and picked up Subway at the Lake Worth Subway, which must have searched far and wide for the worst employees ever.  I have been there several times and every time that I go I have awful service.  No one acknowledges you when you walk in.  They have personal private conversations with each other while making your sandwich, and you often have to wait until they finish what they are talking about before they will address any need that you might have as the customer.  It looks like we will be looking for another Subway. 

I really love my eye doctor's office. I see Dr. Stephen Ference with Ference & Assoc.   I hate that it's inside of a mall because I feel like I need to shop when I go there.  He and his wife run an awesome practice.  They are very thorough and offer excellent customer service.  I would definitely recommend either one of them to anyone that I know.  Their office staff is super friendly and I have never been disappointed with any time that I have ever been there. 

All in all it's been a crazy day.  This bus crash is all over the news, my kids are both laid up, sick and whiney, and we are looking forward to our camping trip next weekend. 

Silas's One Year Doctor Appointment

They should really tell you that after all the torture and awesome-ness of pregnancy, labor and delivery that you are up against another un-named number of years of pain in the form of "well-child check ups".  The first one is probably fine because your baby is too young to know any better.  After that first one though, they are wise to it and make it impossible to even go near the doctor's office without flipping out. 

From what I have come to understand, at least at my pediatrician's office, a well child check up consists of these things:

• height
• weight
• head circumference
• doctor's oral examination on you about food(s) your baby is consuming, activities your baby is doing (vocabulary, standing, walking, etc), and other items (how often they use the bathroom, etc)
• doctor's physical exam on the child
• vaccine(s), if you are getting any.  I will advise of my choices regarding vaccines but this is not going to be a vaccine debate and I will never have that debate because I believe that whatever choice a parent has made for their children regarding vaccines is right for their family. 

My daughter and son are those children that are fine in the waiting room and then the second that their names are called a few things start to change immediately.  You can tell instantly that their mood changes and they become anxious.  Isabella begins to try to find a way to escape.  I learned that she can not be trusted to walk around in the waiting room because then you can't wrangle her back in to go back into the back.  Once they get in the back they cry, whine, shake and almost hyperventilate until we get back into the stroller and are ready to leave.  The super crunchy part of me ridicules myself every time for putting my children through this, especially since most of the time we don't get a vaccine. 

Today was Silas's one year appointment.  I left Isabella with my mother because she doesn't understand that she is not the object of the torture for today.  Let me leave a side note right here that I don't perpetrate the stereotype for them that they are going to be tortured at the doctor.  I never joke with them that I am going to give them a shot; I never threaten them with the doctor, and have tried my best to prepare them for most of their appointments in the last six months by likening them to my daughter's favorite show Doc McStuffins.  She loves that show and she loves to talk about what they do at the doctor, but going there still means that you potentially might die while you are there. 

Silas started off the experience right by peeing through his diaper, through his clothes, down his legs and onto my lap while we were waiting in the waiting area.  This was 100% my fault for letting him have a bottle on the way there AND for noticing that he needed a diaper change when we got out of the car and not doing it then.  I love putting him in Fuzzi Bunz when we leave the house because they are a lot trimmer than our other cloth diapers and they fit him a lot better in the legs, however, they don't hold our biggest, thickest inserts and so they can leak if you don't notice the first time that they pee.  So, I had to go to the common area bathroom, change his diaper and change every stitch of clothes that he had on.  Awesome.  On top of that there was also a saucer sized wet spot on the front of my top thigh.  More awesome. 

We were called back while we were having a wardrobe change, so they saw us to the back as soon as I re-entered the waiting area.  And he has to completely disrobe again... for the second time in five minutes.  He was as excited about this as I was about it doing it.  He weighed 23.2 lbs which is 50th percentile for weight and was 30 inches tall which was 60th percentile for height.  Now for the amazing part: 19.5cm for head circumference.  My son is well known for his enormous head.  >95% for head circumference.  I guess you have to be the best at something!  Now he doesn't have like a freakishly cartoonish looking big head.  You would just look at him like a stranger and think "damn that kid has a big head." 

Everything else looks awesome.  He is ahead in speech, ahead to average in capabilities like walking, grabbing for items, etc.  We didn't get a vaccine this time because he has been sick recently.  We had a few conversations about what he is doing, like super sleeping > 15 hours per day, eating everything in the house, and using the cloth diapers because of his potential latex allergy.  He then went through the normal torture activities like looking in his nose, in his eyes, looking in his diaper (not sure what they are looking for), and making sure that his overall body and muscle tone looks good.

Come back at 18 months.  Appointment time: 9:45 back in the car 10:15.