Checkup Day!

It's been about 3 weeks since my last post, but the silence has not been because of lack of things to report.  As you may assume, it has been just the opposite. It has been a little overwhelming at times but not nearly as much as I had anticipated.

I have been so lucky to have a good support system. My parents came up twice and stayed for several days both times. Neighbors and friends brought food. Bob took a little time off between school getting out and his summer job at the architecture firm in Chicago. It is always a blessing to have Bob's family in town for support too.

So, we are doing well. I'm getting more ambitious about taking the three kids out alone. Last week, we headed to our amazing library to play for the morning. The kids area is pretty contained and Cora and Reed are really familiar with the place so they can play separately, on their own, and know my expectations. It went well. It gave me confidence to schedule doctor's appointments for all three kids at once.

While I like our pediatrician's office, they are notoriously slow.  The waiting is quite annoying with any number of kids in tow. I said a small prayer and headed out the door this morning with enough treats and snacks to pacify about 20 kids. You can never be too safe.

In the waiting room, as they handed me what felt like stacks of paperwork to fill out for each child, Kate started crying, Cora found a hidden sucker in the diaper bag, and Reed protested that there wasn't another. Can we just go home, I pleaded to myself. After a deep breath, I found another piece of candy for Reed so both kids could be equally sugared and also calmed Kate down. The good thing about arriving early and having to wait is that I almost finished the whole pile of paperwork before they called us back.

My prayers were answered and the kids were very well-behaved in the exam room. Because they were all patients, the kids had activities to keep them busy...taking off clothes, getting weighed, watched the others getting measured inspected, etc.

For my records, I'm going to try to remember their stats. (It was hard to concentrate numbers while trying to keep them all happy and quiet)

•  Reed (4 years): Weight - 42 pounds, Height - 45.25 (off the chart...enough for the nurse to comment)
• Cora (2 years): Weight - 27.5 pounds (75 percentile), Height - 36.25 inches (95% percentile)
• Kate (1 month): Weight - 8 lbs, 8 oz, Height - 22 inches

 It turned out that Reed needed an update on one of his vaccinations. I had told him there weren't going to be any shots, but he actually took it REALLY well. No complaints at all. He sat on my lap and flinched when he got the shot, but he didn't cry or even want a band-aid. Tough guy!

I was really proud of all the kids and myself. I could have pictured about a hundred ways that this could have turned out badly, but the kids really stepped it up. Reed is becoming such a good leader and example, although he thinks he is the disciplinarian sometimes. He thinks he can hand out timeouts to Cora, or in the least, give her warnings.

So proud of my healthy happy kids!