Cabin Fever

The Lady stayed home from school almost all this week. We started the week on Monday morning in the pediatricians office with all three kids. The Lady had some sort of cold/cough combo with a fever. The Little Lady had a much lighter version of a cough and cold and as it turns out QT is suffering from an ear infection.

When the doctor told us about QT both my husband and I said "oh, good" not because we want him to suffer but because we just wanted to justify rolling up three kids deep at $25 bucks per kid and not walking out of there with the doctor telling us that everyone just had a cold.

Because the Lady was homebound this week so was everyone else. The Little Lady made it to school two days but for the most part they (and my poor babysitter) were stuck inside all week. Things started unraveling quickly, although not during the day when the sitter was there, but at night as soon as I walked in the door.

QT was clingy, the Little Lady was whiny and the Lady was. . . well let's say bitchy, um. . . grouchy? Yes, let's say grouchy.

The lady wore the same pair of pajamas for three days straight. This morning we tried to get her in the bath.

Why didn't you try to bathe her last night Bean?

What's that you ask? Why didn't we try to get her in the tub last night? Well, I was radioactive and quarantined to my room, which meant that I tried to stay in my room and clean out my top two dresser drawers that had somehow turned into our filing cabinets while QT pushed his way into the room, tried to climb up my leg and then spent 10 minutes emptying my out my purse and slamming the top down on the new filing system I was trying to put into place.

Also, the Lady was so grouchy that it totally wasn't worth it. Well, I thought it wasn't worth it until this morning when my husband had both Ladies in the tub at 8 am after bribing the Lady that he would drive her to school if she took a bath and then proceeded to lose it when the bubbles started flying in his general direction.

That is when I gathered up my bags and crept out of there. I think the sitter thinks we are crazy. I am also pretty sure we are going to have to change up our morning routine. Here's to hoping everyone feels better soon!

Blog A Day 'Til Baby Comes (BADTB) Post 2: Momma's Got the Fat Feet, The Ladies Never Listen All Day

It has been a long, hot day. My feet are looking pretty Barney Rubblish. My husband told me last night that he didn't think they were that bad. I would just like everyone to know that he did not marry a woman with fat feet. I guess it is better that this is happening during the last week or so of pregnancy and not the last month or so, like it did for both of the Ladies.

This is what my feet look like.

The Little Lady and I have been out of the house for most of the day since we dropped the Lady off for her second to last day of school.

We ran a few errands including the bank, Dunkies (obviously), dropping off a health form at the doctor's office for the Lady's summer school program and hit up the acupuncturist. I could kiss that woman on the mouth. She is just so amazingly nice and in addition to pushing those needles in tighter now that I am closer to my due date, she also gave me some herbal remedies to get things started. We will see how it goes. I am willing to try anything at this point.

There were highs and lows to most of the day. The Little Lady took an early nap, which was a high considering that we had afternoon plans that could have been very hairy if she skipped a nap (well, it was still a little hairy, but not as bad as it could have been.) However, she will not just get into the carseat and sit. She insists on "jumping in" the seat herself, which is a ploy to sneak either into the way back or the front passenger seat, only after she has pushed the button to close the automatic sliding door. Normally, this wouldn't be that big of a deal, but my belly is too big to squeeze into the more confined spaces of the mini-van and I end up yelling at her while she laughs at me from an unreachable distance. Ugh.

Both Ladies were pretty well behaved at the sibling tour at the hospital though. We were there with three other very preggo moms who each had two other kids. To say it was a bit overwhelming might be an understatement, but the kids watched a silly video, we got to see a very sweet and tiny newborn and everyone left with crayons.

Unfortunately, we had to go straight from there to my doctors appointment. I never take the Ladies to anything where there is a waiting room involved if I can help it. The Little Lady was great at the acupuncturist in the morning but we were only there for about 40 minutes and she sat very quietly in the stroller, and was also able to play with some of the toys they have there. The wait at the OB/GYN didn't go as smoothly. It consisted of me bribing them with two Dum-Dum lollipops each and the promise of DQ after the visit. None of which did anything to stop them from trying to open the cabinet with the used "instruments" in it, jumping on the scale and having me have to get up (pants less) from the table to bring them to the bathroom (yes, I put my pants back on for that) and corral them into submission.

Finally the doctor came in. The Ladies were able to hear the baby' heartbeat and although it seems like things might be moving in the right direction (I will spare you the jargon that includes the word "softening"), nothing is really happening at this point, so it looks like I will be taking herbal remedies and blogging yet another day.

When All the Pharmacy Doles Out is Pain

Yesterday started out pretty well. Well, it was sunny and both the Ladies slept until after 8 am. I guess when you are given that gift of a few extra minutes of sleep that it has to be balanced out by a time-suck that not only thoroughly wastes your time and energy but leaves you wishing that the kids got up at 5am and you never had to venture out of the house.

The Little Lady has a cough. It started to sound more like a bark. My plan was to bring her to the walk-in hour at the pediatrician, but since she slept through that hour, I called them at 9:15. I could take her in at 10. I have been pretty lucky with both the Ladies and we haven't had too many sick visits. We have had a few trips where I brought the Lady in and they were basically like "Thanks for your co-pay there is nothing we can do for you." So, unless there seems to be a change in their symptoms or their behavior that is pretty apparent I am not one to rush to the ped, but I had a feeling that the Little Lady's cough was more than just a cold.

In another small victory that should have foreshadowed the eventual swing of the pendulum, I was able to get the Lady dressed and ready to go with minimal opposition. Granted this included allowing her to put on some eye-makeup and rummage through my jewelry box, but after I was able to wipe off the mascara from her nose and pry the baby blue Tiffany's bags out of her hands, we were good to go.

We got to the Dr. on time. The Ladies were well behaved both in the waiting room and in the examination room. The Little Lady has some sort of viral infection that moved to her lungs. Bronchiosaurus (or something like that--we have been watching a lot of Dino Dan at both our house and the Wild Man's. I am glad the Lady has an interest in dinosaurs and not just Princesses but the kid on the show is super annoying and kind of a know-it-all and my head is clogged up with a ton of dinosaur names.) Anyway, the only treatment for the bronchiosaurs is albuterol, which is an asthma medication. So we hooked up the Little Lady to a nebulizer and hoped for the best. The Lady covered her ears because it was too loud, and although initially receptive to the device, the Little Lady disconnected the tubing twice from the mouthpiece and I ended up wrestling with her for the final 5 minutes of the treatment. Overall though, it wasn't that bad of a visit. We ended up raiding their supply of stickers, made an appointment for a recheck next week and were in the car, with our own rental nebulizer, to pick up the prescription at 11 am.

I hate inefficiency. Also, did I mention it was 11 degrees outside? Luckily, I was able to get a parking spot in front of the pharmacy. I put the Little Lady in the stroller and we all piled out into the freeze. I made my way to the counter at the pharmacy and they said they didn't have the prescription in yet. No worries I thought, we just left the Dr's. office, we will hit the Carters next door and check out the clothes. I picked up a cute dress for the Lady for $7.99 and after letting her run around the store for about 10-15 minutes we went back to the pharmacy and waited online. Still no prescription. The Ladies were getting restless. It was then that I realized that part of the reason we were able to get out of the house on time was that neither one of them had any breakfast. I rummaged through my bag and found a bag of fruit snacks for them to share. The Lady, however had eyed the candy counter and had focused in on the Skittles. The nagging began soon after that.

Here is where I started to lose it. The pharmacy assistant was less than helpful and kind of had an attitude. She told me the pharmacist was checking the messages on the phone. OK, but the Dr. said she was going to fax it in. The Lady has the Skittles in her hand, then she put the package in her mouth. The Little Lady wanted out of the stroller. This was pretty easy to do, since she was only strapped in on one side due to the fact that she was wearing 500 layers and I couldn't close the straps. She ended up on her back on the floor crying. The Lady decided to stand on the thin ledge beneath the candy display, she too ended up on the floor, crying. I made my way down the aisle towards the front door, the Little Lady in one arm, pushing the stroller with the other and trying to convince the Lady that she was not getting any Skittles until after we ate something healthy for breakfast. And it was clearly time for something to eat. I decided that I wasn't going to open a box of Pop Tarts from Aisle 1 but instead hit the Starbucks on the other side of the strip mall, because we had a gift card and I knew they had yogurt. Before we left though, I let the pharmacists assistant know I would call the Dr. and see where the script was.

We hit Starbucks and I spent a good $25 off the gift card on an egg sandwich and some healthy snacks that they both devoured, we ventured back out into the cold and once again found ourselves at the pharmacy counter. The assistant who had been helping us earlier was no longer there. This, I like to think was a minor victory. The prescription was ready for the Little Lady, thank goodness. I also had to pick up my prescription of prenatal vitamins. After hunting it down, she handed me the bag and told me it was $94. Yes, $94 for vitamins. I handed her my special coupon card that the ob/gyn had gave me and she informed me that they were now $74. I informed her that the last time I filled this prescription, I paid $11.54 and I wasn't paying more than that now. I then realized that our pharmacy coverage had changed. I should have remembered that since I spent over a half an hour at the same pharmacy a week earlier trying to get a prescription for my husband. Luckily, this woman was actually helpful, she checked the computer and was able to not only give me the vitamins for $11.54 but did it in a pleasant way that made me not one to jump over the counter and knock off each individual pill container from the lines and lines of shelving behind her. Oh, she also rang up the bag of Skittles for the Lady and a bag of plain M&M's for the Little Lady. The time was12:35 pm.

We made two more quick stops at the bank and the post office. The Lady ate the entire bag of Skittles and the Little Lady passed out in her carseat. I'd like to say that this was the end of it, but after putting the Little Lady into her bed, I had to go back out to the car and get the nebulizer, the new dress, my purse and the bag of medicine. The Lady insisted on going with me, then insisted that I carry her up the stairs. It is really hard to explain to a 3-year old that you can't carry them up the stairs because they weigh too much and your hands are full of bags and you are carrying another baby in your belly. It is also hard to explain to them that they should walk up carrying their sippy cup that has been in the car since Saturday, when clearly they only want to be held. After a few minutes of whining and yelling (on the Lady's part), I walked up the stairs to let her have her little tantrum. I checked a few e-mails and called my sister to bitch about the happenings of the previous 3 hours. When I went to the top of the stairs to check on her, the Lady was laying on the bottom landing, up against the first stair, on a wet, dirty doormat in her jacket and hat, fast asleep. I gave her a few moments then went down to retrieve her. Yes, I was well aware that in the end she got her way, and I had to carry her up the stairs. Unfortunately she woke up soon after, yelled for a little while that she wanted to sleep on the bottom of the stairs and then got herself undressed, wrapped herself up in her nonnies, snuggled comfortably on the couch, while I fantasized about winning the PowerBall, having a house with an attached garage, a pharmacy with drive-thru service and children who listen.

Here is a photo of the Little Lady on the nebulizer. Three seconds after this photo was taken she didn't look so content.

Mommy Mind Melt and the Bathroom in Aisle 13

My week started when I arrived five minutes late to a 9am doctor's appointment for the girls to get their flu shots.

Turns out I was actually 6 days, 23 hours and fifty-five minutes early (is this math right? I am not sure, but you know what I mean) to the appointment. It was scheduled for this coming Monday.

Ugh. So now I have to pack them both up again, bright and early, and take them to get shots. Good times. Good times.

We did go out for pancakes after our failed visit. So, I guess there was a bit of a silver lining. However, I had to escort the Lady and the Little Lady into a tiny restaurant stall for a pee break, which would have been fine if the Lady hadn't insisted on putting her hands behind her on the toilet for balance. Granted, I couldn't really hold her up, because the Little Lady loves all things bathroom related and it was in my best interest, and hers, that she be constrained.

We then hit up the Stop&Shop for some early morning grocery store excitement. We had to get the car cart again, but this time it was more of a truck. The Little Lady lasted about 5 minutes, we didn't even get through the produce section before she was sticking her head out the side and trying to climb out. Needless to say she was put in the basket seat where she ate about three pieces of white American with an abandon I have not seen since the days of the "temptation challenges" on the Biggest Loser.

We almost made it out of the store when the Lady had to make yet another bathroom stop. So we parked the cart outside of the bathroom and headed in. The Lady is partial to this bathroom. Not only does she know that it is at the end of aisle 13, but there is a small sink in there that is just her size.

So after six trips up the stairs with babies and bags of groceries we finally got settled back in the house. I guess it wasn't a bad day for getting out and getting things accomplished. If only I didn't have to head back to the doctor on Monday morning. Maybe this time we will make it on time.

Momma Called the Doctor and the Doctor Said. . .

I took the Lady to her 3-year-old check-up at the doctor's on Monday.

It was a cold, blustery morning and I was only able to make it out of the house and on time to the appointment with the help of my husband, who was at that point late for work.

I have settled into a routine at our pediatricians office, having been there at least once every three to six months since the Lady was born. We walk in, I have my co-pay check all written out, we look at fish, we hope we are called quickly, we go to the room, the nurse comes in and takes all the vitals, we wait for the doctor, he leaves, the nurse comes back with a shot or two (immunizations--not vodka, although, after the shots are administered, vodka seems like a good idea to me.)

Monday was seemingly no different. I kept the Little Lady in the small umbrella stroller, because quite frankly she needs to be restrained and we headed into the back. First. we had to do a vision test on the Lady, which I thought she would be okay with. So, the Lady, me, the Little Lady in an umbrella stroller and a nurse all walk into basically a closet and try to get comfortable.

The Little Lady starts to cry. I am not sure why, but maybe she is getting claustrophobic. The Lady refuses to wear the pirate eye-patch, the nurse has more than a hard time attaching the electrodes to the Lady's head with some gross white goo, that I know will only cause a tangle in her hair that I will have to battle through at bath time. Finally, the Lady is convinced to wear a butterfly sticker over her eye and the test begins. There are animals and catchy music. There is also the Lady going "NO" and turning her face away from the screen. This means having to start the whole thing over in order to retest. The already close walls starting closing in a bit more.

Finally, we were done. The Lady was promised stickers after her appointment and that got us out of the closet. The nurse then brought us to another area, which I had never been too. Apparently, once these kids turn three they are no longer measured with measuring tape on a piece of tissue paper covering the examination table or weighed on that deli-counter style scale. Now, that the Lady was three she was taken into a holding area and forced to go on the big-girl scale. Oh, you grayish/brown contraption of fear--how I dread you so! But before we were to be weighed and measured we were asked to give a urine sample.

The Lady didn't think this was a good idea. The three of us rolled into the bathroom and the Lady basically refused to pee. She did however want to wash her hands with the soap that had the pink top. We made our way back to the "holding area" where the Lady happily stepped on the scale and stood against the wall to be measured. I told the nurse we would try the bathroom again before we left.

I guess I don't blame the Lady. I am all about the shy pee when it comes to the doctor's office. Throughout both of my pregnancies, I was so worried about having to provide the mandatory urine sample that I would drink a ton of water before each visit. This didn't always produce the required result though and sometimes I had to wait until after the exam to go, then once I left I had to pee about four hundred times from that point on. Anyway, I understand the inability to always pee on demand.

So we headed to the examination room, where the Lady was pretty well behaved the doctor was able to get her on the table and overall everything went fine. When the doctor left the Lady told me she didn't want a "booster" that she was just fine in her big-girl seat. Unfortunately, Lady, we were talking about a booster for the flu shot, not a booster seat for the car. Can you say screaming three-year-old?

Needless to say, the urine sample did not happen, I got sent home with a little plastic container in hopes that I will find the time to collect said sample and drive it back to the doctors office with the Ladies in tow. The Lady found a Princess Tiana sticker on the bottom of the sticker bowl and the Little Lady seemed pretty satisfied with the cat-dressed-as-butterfly-sticker she was given by her older sister. At least that is until she started eating it in the car.

Did I mention the Lady has given up napping? Yeah, fun day had by all.

Do I dare make a dentist appointment?

When Well Visits Make You Sick.

The Little Lady had her six month check-up yesterday. Here is a rundown of our visit.

10:43 a.m.: Pull into the parking lot for a 10:45 a.m. eye appointment and an 11:00 a.m. doctors appointment.

10:44 a.m.: Circle the parking lot looking for an open space that is not taken up by piles of snow or that is not a handicapped space.

10:44:30 a.m.: Pray that the spot we pulled into is legal and unload the Ladies from the wagon

10:47 a.m.: Fumble in the diaper bag for my checkbook, while the Lady climbs a chair to look at the fish and we wait for the person at the counter to make a follow-up appointment

10:50 a.m.: Check in and get notified that our copay has gone up $10 and that we have to pay an additional $15 for past appointments.

10:52 a.m.: The Little Lady gets called into the office for her eye exam. We are taken to a room not much larger than a closet, where I am supposed to fit me, the Lady, the Little Lady and a nurse. Luckily, the nurse finds a spot for the infant carrier outside the room.

10:53 a.m.: The Little Lady has three electrodes affixed to her head and a pirate eye-patch over her left eye.

10:53:10 a.m.: The Lady stands next to me in the corner, head down, hair covering her eyes, pouting because she wants to do the eye test. Giving her a pirate eye-patch does nothing to stop the pouting.

10:55 a.m.: After switching the eye-patch to the right eye, the Little Lady is done. All of us exit the tiny room and move into an exam room down the hall.

10:58 a.m.: The Little Lady is stripped down to her diaper and proceeds to spit up all over my sneaker and the floor. The Lady finds a Blues Clues book to read, but complains about wanting this to be her Drs. appointment. I find a wipe, clean the Little Lady, my sneaker and the floor.

11:05 a.m.: The nurse comes in and does the Little Lady's measurements. She is 15.2lbs and 24 3/4 long.

11:08 a.m.: I check my phone because I got a missed call from my brother. The Lady wants to color. I sit her in a seat with her princess coloring book and some colored pencils. This lasts for about 3 minutes.

11:10 a.m.: The Lady wants a snack. Luckily I brought the fruit snacks.

11:15 a.m.: The Little Lady is still nude and I am trying to distract her with some toys, she wants the Blues Clues book that the Lady is back to reading. This isn't going over well.

11:20 a.m.: We play I Spy. The Little Lady drools all over me and the floor. I was unaware that something this little could produce so much saliva.

11:30 a.m.: It is getting hot in here. Have they forgotten us?

11:40 a.m.: I check my phone again. Really? Really? We have been in this room for over a half hour waiting. Things are starting to come apart.

11:41 a.m.: The doctor finally arrives. The Lady refuses to say hello to him and plays shy. The Little Lady seems to tolerate the exam pretty well. I get my questions answered and told that the Little Lady will need four shots and an oral vaccine.

11:54 a.m.: The doctor leaves.

11:58 a.m.: The Lady is breaking down. She opens the door and tries to escape to the waiting room to see the fish. This results in her laying on the floor outside of the room, crying. I put the Little Lady in the carseat, and try to scoop the Lady off the floor.

12:00 p.m.: I give the Lady a juice box, which she squeezes and spills all over her. I try to towel her off. Did I mention that we have people coming to the house at 12:30? Ugh.

12:03 p.m.: The nurse finally arrives.

12:05 p.m.: The Little Lady is screaming.

12:06 p.m.: The nurse takes the Lady to get a sticker. I start packing up.

12:07 p.m.: The Lady comes back with a Ni Hao Kai-Lan sticker.

12:09 p.m.: The Little Lady is getting cranky, she starts to cry again. I throw the Lady's jacket on, grab all of our crap and follow her out the door. Apparently, she needs another sticker.

12:10 p.m.: We sift through the basket of stickers by the door, the Lady takes two more as I try to usher her out the door.

12:14 p.m.: Everyone is strapped in and we head home, an hour and a half after we arrived. I am sweating, covered in spit-up and drool, and super anxious that we are not going to make it home before the people coming at 12:30 arrive. Deep breaths. Deep breaths. Deep breaths.

Cough. Cough. Mommy, I'm Sick

So both of the Ladies are sick.

The Lady woke up on Friday, feeling a little warm and with a cough. We decided to skip ballet and headed to the doctor, only to have her immediately perk up, name each individual fish in the fish tank, and have the doctor tell us that there was nothing wrong with her. She then refused to leave the office, wanting only to play in the horribly germ-infused play area.

I was annoyed about the ballet, but since we were going away for the weekend, I was pleased that there wasn't anything really wrong with her. Fast-forward to the next day, when we were at the beach house with a ton of their cousins and both of the girls were hacking. Needless to say, it wasn't a pleasant night sleep.

Now, the Lady's cough is still hanging around, but she is pretty much her normal self. She keeps on telling me that she wants everything she sees on TV, and would also like to go to Chuckie Cheese, a place I have never been and hope to never see the inside of.

The Little Lady, however, is still sick. The coughs coming out of that tiny body make me so sad. Her little eyes are watery and I was unaware that much snot could come out of a five-month-olds sneeze. I am debating going back to the doctor though. I always feel like an idiot when I bring my kid in and they are like, "this is a cold--call if she gets a fever," but I feel so helpless when there is nothing I can do to make them better.

I am lucky, because I can count on my hand the number of times the Lady has been sick in the past two and a half years, but because of that I am hyper aware of when she is not herself. I hope this clears up soon, because the last thing I want to do is be stuck inside with the two of them coughing on each other, plus I don't want to miss anymore ballet!