At the end of the day two days ago I sat in my recliner, nursed Emma, and thought to myself "Wow, I don't know how I do it either." The days are long and short all at the same time. They are tiring both physically (you try carrying a three year old, one year old, car seat, and groceries downstair during nap time!) and mentally. How many times a day I say ELEANOR ANN, I do not know.
I decided to take all four kids in for their physical all at the same time. There is a tremendous amount of isolated thunderstorms in our area right now, so you are either cold and wet or hot and humid. Our appointment was at 4:00 and we took up the entire hour with all four kids all in a row. I'm just setting up the scene for ya folks, hang with me. I knew that this was going to be an interesting affair since I wasn't going to take in the sit and stand nor put Emma in a sling since when we arrived at the clinic it was 3:49 and pouring rain. For the first time, I was early with all four on my own. Granted Eleanor had no shoes on but that's the norm for us.
We have a pep talk in the minivan before we show the clinic what they are in for.
Crazy woman with all those kids: LISTEN UP. We are going to go see the doctor.
Ernest: We coming home with a baby, mama?
Crazy woman with all those kids: Nope, we are going to have a checkup. He's going to look you over, make sure everything is working fine, then we'll be done. Easy! No screaming, yelling, or running in the office! THIS IS A WORK ENVIROMENT, NOT THE PARK. Does everyone understand?
Everyone nodds in agreement.
Crazy woman with all those kids: Be respectful of the workers and other sick people here, got it?
Everyone nodds in agreement.
We commence unloading. Eleanor is unbuckled and stands on the edge of the door while I unbuckle Ernest and get Emma's carseat out. Eleanor is not trustworthy of staying close to me and will most likely dart into traffic like a scared deer. Ernest has enough commonsense to not run around but will jump with excitment about being anywhere but at home, thus scaring nearby drivers which I am happy about because they all drive too darn fast in the parking lot anyway. Ethan mozy's on out. Hold Eleanors hand on the left, carry Emma on the right, Ernest and Ethan are holding hands, here we go.
Ernest: Mama, we go to da doctor? Whhhhhhhy?
Crazy woman with all those kids: To make sure everything's working correctly on your body. We don't want you to fall a part.
Ernest: Oh. (Serious look) Why?
Crazy woman with all those kids: Look Ernest! There are fish in that water!
Questioning almost-three-year-old is now fixated on fish, I am now able to not have to answer yet another queestion. Whew.
I am now standing in a way too long line in a hot and humid lobby with Eleanor trying to put on her shoes, Ethan asking what type of fish there are, Ernest screaming "Mama look! LOOK! A baby fish!" and Emma is starting to move around. Why is there NO AIR CONDITIONING!?!?
After fifteen minutes of "Here, sign here date there and promise not to sue for anything" I haul them all down the warmest hallway ever while carrying Eleanor (with still no shoes on), Emma in the other hand, Ethan carrying Eleanor's shoes, and Ernest running up and down ahead of me. "What did I say in the minivan? No running!" and he smiles his little smile and says "Ok mama" as he gallops off.
Ok, now I'm too tired to type. In the end, Dr Jensen is holding Eleanor on a hip, the nurse is giving out stickers and books, and Emma fell asleep. I'm hot. I'm sweating and sticky from this humidity. Something smells like poop. And I'm going to bed. After I take a shower, do the dishes, wipe off the table, and make a trail to the bedroom. It's just a season?
Note:
We have stopped immunizing our kids for the moment. As in, let me get a better feeling about what I'm doing to my child before I take any further steps. I don't mean to cause waves in the medical field, I do believe the majority of our nations doctors are doing what they feel is best for everyone. That said- we did not poke anyone today.
I decided to take all four kids in for their physical all at the same time. There is a tremendous amount of isolated thunderstorms in our area right now, so you are either cold and wet or hot and humid. Our appointment was at 4:00 and we took up the entire hour with all four kids all in a row. I'm just setting up the scene for ya folks, hang with me. I knew that this was going to be an interesting affair since I wasn't going to take in the sit and stand nor put Emma in a sling since when we arrived at the clinic it was 3:49 and pouring rain. For the first time, I was early with all four on my own. Granted Eleanor had no shoes on but that's the norm for us.
We have a pep talk in the minivan before we show the clinic what they are in for.
Crazy woman with all those kids: LISTEN UP. We are going to go see the doctor.
Ernest: We coming home with a baby, mama?
Crazy woman with all those kids: Nope, we are going to have a checkup. He's going to look you over, make sure everything is working fine, then we'll be done. Easy! No screaming, yelling, or running in the office! THIS IS A WORK ENVIROMENT, NOT THE PARK. Does everyone understand?
Everyone nodds in agreement.
Crazy woman with all those kids: Be respectful of the workers and other sick people here, got it?
Everyone nodds in agreement.
We commence unloading. Eleanor is unbuckled and stands on the edge of the door while I unbuckle Ernest and get Emma's carseat out. Eleanor is not trustworthy of staying close to me and will most likely dart into traffic like a scared deer. Ernest has enough commonsense to not run around but will jump with excitment about being anywhere but at home, thus scaring nearby drivers which I am happy about because they all drive too darn fast in the parking lot anyway. Ethan mozy's on out. Hold Eleanors hand on the left, carry Emma on the right, Ernest and Ethan are holding hands, here we go.
Ernest: Mama, we go to da doctor? Whhhhhhhy?
Crazy woman with all those kids: To make sure everything's working correctly on your body. We don't want you to fall a part.
Ernest: Oh. (Serious look) Why?
Crazy woman with all those kids: Look Ernest! There are fish in that water!
Questioning almost-three-year-old is now fixated on fish, I am now able to not have to answer yet another queestion. Whew.
I am now standing in a way too long line in a hot and humid lobby with Eleanor trying to put on her shoes, Ethan asking what type of fish there are, Ernest screaming "Mama look! LOOK! A baby fish!" and Emma is starting to move around. Why is there NO AIR CONDITIONING!?!?
After fifteen minutes of "Here, sign here date there and promise not to sue for anything" I haul them all down the warmest hallway ever while carrying Eleanor (with still no shoes on), Emma in the other hand, Ethan carrying Eleanor's shoes, and Ernest running up and down ahead of me. "What did I say in the minivan? No running!" and he smiles his little smile and says "Ok mama" as he gallops off.
Ok, now I'm too tired to type. In the end, Dr Jensen is holding Eleanor on a hip, the nurse is giving out stickers and books, and Emma fell asleep. I'm hot. I'm sweating and sticky from this humidity. Something smells like poop. And I'm going to bed. After I take a shower, do the dishes, wipe off the table, and make a trail to the bedroom. It's just a season?
Note:
We have stopped immunizing our kids for the moment. As in, let me get a better feeling about what I'm doing to my child before I take any further steps. I don't mean to cause waves in the medical field, I do believe the majority of our nations doctors are doing what they feel is best for everyone. That said- we did not poke anyone today.
I remember those days....taking all four for their checkups....now I just plain skipped the last ones...OOOPS!! Oh well....too much work, I agree! Glad everyone is doing well!
ReplyDeleteI can relate! Last Thursday I took my four littles to the doc as well, just me and them...our appointment went a little like yours. My four olders at home had stayed back for piano lessons and they were all mesmerized and thought I wouldn't be able to do it! LOL! Well, I still got it and we did it and survived. But at least when I got home, they had kept the house cleaned up and did not ransack it.
ReplyDeleteHugs to you.