Heart Check

Today was L's 4-year check-up. After arriving ON TIME to our appointment with our favorite pediatrician in the group (which we had to wait weeks for...), I find out that they forgot to call to reschedule as Dr. Justice was on vacation today. Let me just tell you that this has happened before to me and to a friend of mine very recently. Long story short, I was all ready to pack our bags, take our records, and find a new office...until I looked over at my L who had already been asking about the shots he was afraid of getting. He had made his peace with the shots and was playing bravely. I couldn't do it to him...make him wait for another appointment with a strange doctor in a new place. So, I agreed to see the nurse practitioner (something I ususally don't do b/c my insurance is paying for a doctor...I'm paying for an MD...I want someone whose put in the long hours at med school, who took gross anatomy at school, who did peds rotations and possibly extensive internships...and has serious malpractice insurance if they screw up with my most precious treasures...just kidding on that last one).

I was most impressed with the nurse who did the orginal work-up. She came right in (she's our usual nurse when we come for sick visits with Dr. Justice), and made sure I was ok with seeing the nurse practitioner, spoke with the office manager on our behalf etc. Now that I vented to her, I was fine. L and C were playing well, we were making it. L wasn't even too stressed about the shots. C was all ready for her turn on the table (sinus infection won't dissapate, even after 2 weeks of antibiotics); we were cool. Then, to make matters even better, the office manager comes in, makes instant friends with C and waives our co-pay. Then, after hearing our story, does some internal research and finds out that the person who does the scheduling ( and happens to be on vacation this week, too ) didn't enter the doctor's vacation day correctly, those allowing us and others to be scheduled today. I get it, you know, mistakes happen and I was cool...and I liked the NP that did the exam a lot. She was thorough and great with the little ones.

I say all of this to set the stage for the moment that I was taken to my knees by the little guy. While having his exam, he's being more than cooperative and follows all the directions given to him by the NP. He's seeming to enjoy himself, you know, showing off for his little sister, etc. Then, the np has him lie down on the table to listen to his stomach and his heart again. As she's finishing up his tummy, she tells him that everything sounds good in there and she'll be listening to his heart again while he's lying down. Then, my baby boy says, "Oh, you're going to hear Jesus in there. He lives in my heart, you know." Enter the swell of my heart and the lump in my throat. God, does he really know you like that yet?? I pray it's true! Oh, what a day!

The shots (4) were awful, and came after the finger prick which sent blood spurting onto me, him, the nurse, the table and his little sister who was sticking her nose all around. (My kiddos tend to spurt blood on those finger sticks, like their Mutha!) But he quit crying sometime during check-out with some sticker support and cajoling by our new best friend, Debra the office manager. And...of course the promise of an icee and a new toy, a $20 Mater at Target...oh, well...at least the co-pay covered it!!
He told everyone at Target that he was very brave when he got his shots and he got 4 baseball sticker (round dot band-aids) on his arms. What he failed to say was that he got one shot on the table...with me strong-arming him enough to get one shot in, the second shot was given mid-air as he was trying to slide off the table...our nurse is good. The last 2 were given with me seated in a chair holding him in front of me with my legs wrapped around his legs and both arms holding him into position, and finished up with a nice hard smack to me on my leg out of his sheer frustration when it was over. Let me just say that C was poking her nose right in the way, chattering as if this whole wild, crazy scene was so ordinary. I also must point out that L is extraordinarily strong...especially for his little size (15% height at 38 1/4", 20 % weight at 34#). Whoa!

Another tidbit...the NP told me that L seemed pretty well above the norm in his cognitive abilities for his age...and that C seems extremely advanced (that chic's been talking in complete sentences since 18m...I kid you not). Well, of course! ;)

By the way, C is now on her nebulizer 3 times a day...let me just say that this is not fun!It's actually about 25 minutes of torture...for everyone in the house while said procedure is taking place. She doesn't like it after one treatment.

But, by far the highlight was what L said on the table about Jesus...I mentioned it to our children's minister at VBS meeting this afternoon. She told me that he may truly be getting ready...and that it is an answer to the prayers we've prayed for him to know Jesus at an early age.

Thank you, Lord, for my precious boy!

Joyful

Tonight, I'm just joyful. I'm sitting up a little after 1 am on our first day back home in our home after a wonderful family vacation to Disney World and then on to our lake house for the Memorial Day weekend. You know, it's funny, I have suitcases to unpack (mostly clean clothes as I washed all weekend at the lake), mail to sort, a few bills to pay, VBS calls to make tomorrow, and just stuff in general to catch up on, but my heart is so happy as everyone is in their places here in our sweet home. I had such a wonderful time with my precious family. I don't think it would have mattered if where we went with the kids...anything can be wonderous still at this age, but hubby and I are so glad we went to Disney. Oh, my goodness...I felt we're officially adults (saying goodbye to my twenties this summer anyway) as we pushed that stroller around Disney World. I just kept thinking that this must be how my parent must have felt pushing me around in my stroller. You know, it was like a welcome to parenthood seminar...even though we've been doing the parenting thing for 4 years now! I just felt so excited to be putting aside my old Walt Disney World routines (from my millions of visits my mom and dad spoiled me with growing up) to do exactly what L and C wanted to do. If we rode Splash Mountain a million times, complete with socks stuffed in L's shoes to make that last 1/8th of an inch, and getting soaked (something I never really liked to do until I did it on a "date" with my 4 year old son), to riding Buzz's SpaceRanger Spin 4 times, to just riding the monorail...I mean even the tram ride to the parking lot was a blast for L and C. Oh, and my hubby was so wonderful and found a fabulous hotel/villa with kitchen and 2 bedrooms and a washer and dryer! So awesome!

My little man is growing up so fast. This weekend, he's overcome his fear of going under the water at the pool at the lake. He was jumping in, swimming around, etc. He's also eaten his first hamburger with meat! You see, he's been requesting "hamburgers wiss no meat" in his speech for a while. This weekend, per the advice of a been-there-done-that mom, we made a thin L-sized burger for him to try. And, try he did, and ate it and another full sized burger and another the next day. Way to go, my man! He also got a sunburn on those precious shoulders! I felt bad! I'm going to have to reapply every hour I guess, rather than every 2...Also, I asked him what made him be able to swim and go under without getting so upset (Mothers Day weekend entailed a huge screaming fest complete with him almost ripping my bathing suit top off as I made him go under...as per our swim instructor encouraged)...his answer that God answered his prayer to be brave just about sent me to tears. Of this little man, I am so proud!

C, oh, man, do I have my hands full with her. She's full of sass and love all at once. Her time-out session today included her screaming, "I don't like you right now! This is not fun!" for the entire 4 minutes (I know it's only supposed to be 2 minutes, but I spent the first 2 minutes replacing her in the time-out spot.) She just has to learn not to walk up and hit/kick/scratch/pinch her brother. She spent the weekend telling us that she doesn't want to go under and that she doesn't like "sunscreep."

In Disney, she prayed to thank God for the pretty "thunnah" and the "spah-klee" fireworks. She related everything fireworks wise to balloons popping or thunder. She also loved meeting Cinderella. While we were there, she'd tell us everything was her "fave-rite." We found her some Cinderella gloves (no more socks on her arms, now) and a Jessie doll. She's thrilled.

L loved to talk about the bad guys in Disney. He told us that his T-ball "teamages" would help get the bad guys. He found his favorite Lightning McQueen (Crusin' McQueen...with the "white tires" just like his buddy Evin's) in Disney, and was thrilled. He also got a Woody doll from Toy Story 2...

On Sat. before we left for Disney, L had his last T-ball game and a party at a jump zone place where we had lunch (pizza). C had a blast and was especially thrilled that CFAi nuggets were provided for the non-pizza eaters! L was thrilled to get a trophy. (It's a cute bobble-head trophy.) He's so proud of it.

I'm so proud of my husband for many reasons, but for most of all, being relaxed and making sure I was the entire time in Disney. It was so nice just to be the 4 of us. I just fall in love with him all over. Coming up on 7 years!!!

Ok, well...gotta get to bed! Night!

Really?

I am a Snapdragon What Flower Are You?