So much in a short time

My life has been completely crazy and it seems as though the crazy train just ain't stoppin'. Last week was the birthday week. This past week has been the doctor week. Like almost everyone else I know, I hate changing doctors. I hate finding a new office that accepts the kids insurance. I hate explaining all the issues they've had up to this point. I hate the small talk. I hate the nervousness they have (mostly Maggie) leading up to the appointment. I myself haven't been to a doctor since Gabe was 1yr and that was 2 1/2 yrs ago. I haven't been to a regular dr for 8 yrs and the dentist for 11 yrs. I have some serious catching up to do. But I'm getting the kids squared away and I'll do mine eventually (maybe).

So Gabe went first. His was Monday and he was feeling pretty good. We went and I talked about his constant snotty nose (or as he'd say knotty). I talked about how he doesn't say S's ever at the beginning of words and how he seems to be getting worse about all consonants at the beginning and end of words and now just makes one gigantic mess of a word with his sentences. Its horrible. We also discussed his frequent ear infections as of late and his glands that are always swollen. (Let me tell you folks, there are days I feel like I have Munchhausen and they'll just drag my kids away as I scream in my straight jacket.) But the results are always there and the dr took me seriously. We are trying Benadryl for the runny nose. I will be starting one breathing treatment of albuterol to see if his cough at night is truly an asthmatic cough as the dr suspects. We will be going back in 3 mths so the dr can check the size of his glands again. He is not really happy about those. They are not quite big enough to immediately suspect cancer, but he is a bit concerned. He is looking into some information on Gabe's allergies/sensitivities to grapes and apples. The dr seems to think there is something else to that and just doesn't know yet.

But the biggest thing...the doc said that he'd better really check out his ears. But there was so much wax in them that he had to go get the scoop. Ugh, it brought back horrible memories from my childhood when the ent would grab long things and shove them down my ears. And I never really understood why he was doing it. Ick. So he scooped and scooped. And after about 5 times, he could see Gabe's eardrum. Which again, had fluid behind it. So doc decided to pull out this contraption that sent puffs of ears with a really irratating beep and then read how much his eardrums vibrated (I'm guessing very similarly to how bats use sonar). Well, Gabe's eardrums didn't vibrate AT ALL! So we're of to an audiologist. No wonder we're constantly screaming at the boy. And mom said that is exactly what I went through. The same thing. So we'll see what happens next.

Then it was Maggie's turn the next day. There wasn't much with her except for the issues with pooping. But the night before she hadn't slept well and complained of an earache. In the office she was a bit warm and really weepy. Actually she cried a couple of times and I'm pretty sure if she could have, she would have run to the van and never gotten out w/o the promise of never returning. But I don't break easily and made her stay. She had pretty good (or bad) infection in her ear, but the doc hoped she could tough it out a day or two and let it run its course. If not he prescribed some amoxicillin, but we didn't need it and never had it filled. Although I'm sure nerves got the best of her because by the time we got home, she was throwing up. She stayed home from school and just layed on the couch outside under the umbrella as I scraped and painted. And we have a course of action for her bathroom routine. There were some extremes mentioned like enemas and probing, but I thought that might be a bit traumatic for her AND myself. So we opted to try some prescription laxatives for a few weeks and some scheduled bathroom time. We hope to resolve this issue soon. Other then that, she's growing and gaining weight appropriately and he wasn't all that worried about her at all. Whew!

That same day, Arlington had baseball practice from 5:15-6:30 so dinner has to be early and I had to go to a meeting by 7 pm so bedtime was fast. I hate days like this, but luckily a lady from our church was willing to come to our house while the kids were in bed to sit FOR FREE. Thank goodness for good people.

I also got the side of the garage painted. Thanks to Darrell for doing some scraping. Although I would have done a more thorough job, it would have taken me another week just to scrape. So I suppose having it done enough for now is fine.

I have trim work to do now with the darker green and painting the window frames white so they look like our new windows on the house. But won't that be great? It almost looks like a nice garage. I also will be mulching along the side which should really improve the look.

Here are some pics of the kids playing outside.