My Thursday...

At 7:30am, I went to wake Harlie for her dentist appointment and her eyes are glued shut.  I know what that means - pink eye.  No problem.  That's easy.  Drops and that doesn't lead to respiratory stuff.  We're good!!!

Clean her eyes with a warm washcloth a few times and get her up.  I called Brandy to tell her we shouldn't do something together today because she probably doesn't want her daughter to get pink eye.  While talking to her, Harlie brings me baby powder.  Sometimes she wants me to put it on her, um, area, if you know what I mean.  Since I was on the phone, she didn't exactly have my 100% attention.  I take the bottle, squirt a little on and go back to doing whatever I was doing.  Next thing I know, Harlie comes to me upset, points to her area and signs "hurt."  I look at the powder more closely and realize it's medicated powder with cooling stuff.  Oh no.  I put her on the potty and pour water over her and ask her if it's better.  No, it wasn't.  I do that a few times, but that's not working.  So I had to put her in the bath tub.  That did the trick.  But, this whole thing has cost us valuable time.

I asked her if she wanted to go to the dentist and she said yes.  You  might remember what happened the last time we went to the dentist.  So I told her we had to hurry.  Which, for her, she did.  By the time I got her in the car it was 8:30am and that is when my appointment was.  So, I called the dentist to let them know I was running 15 to 20 minutes late.

Big mistake.  Or so I thought at the time.

The receptionist told me that they were going to have to reschedule her.  What?!  I was in shock.  I explained that we didn't have time to reschedule because she was having jaw distraction surgery next week and we are leaving on Sunday.  She actually said, "Okay!"  And fully expected that to be that, end of conversation.

Now, I get it.  It was MY mistake.  Our life is crazy, and I rarely get anywhere on time.  If you only knew how hard I try!  But, still!  Can't they work with me?  So, I ask her to please just check with the dentist, to be sure.  She returns to the phone and says, "Dr. Bortell said she would be happy to accommodate you if someone cancels."  Seriously?  She might have thought that was polite, but I certainly didn't hear it that way. I then tell her that probably isn't going to work because she has an appointment with her cardiologist in the afternoon.  She does NOT care.  I hang up.

After a few minutes I remember that I waited in Dr. Bortell's waiting room for OVER AN HOUR just a few weeks ago.  So, how is it that I can't be 15 to 20 minutes late?  That doesn't seem right to me.  And then I thought of how much time I have spent waiting for doctors in waiting rooms in the last seven years of my life.  Then I started to get a little sad.  Sometimes, I just can't believe this is our life.

So, I turn the car around and go back home.  I get Harlie in the house and I can feel like I'm going to cry.  So I go upstairs and call her pediatrician to see if they can see her for her pink eye.  After that my friend Jennifer happened to call.  And as soon as she asked me what was going on, I started to cry.  I don't cry often.  Thank goodness.   I mean, who likes to do that?  But, in this case, I just couldn't help it.  I just don't understand why everything has to be so hard.

Jennifer said she didn't know.  But, it's true.  Everything is really hard for us.  Then she said that if it meant anything, we've been doing a great job and that if she were me, she would have been in the loony bin a long time ago.  At least my friends get my sense of humor.  And I can laugh.  Even when I cry.

So, I hang up with her and I put Harlie right back in the car and go to see her ped.  When we pulled in the parking lot, she said, "Mama! and then pointed to her teeth.  I took a deep breath and told her that the dentist couldn't see her today.  She seemed okay and didn't "say" anything else about it.  I would give anything to have a conversation with her.

Anyway, her doc and I chat.  I mention the dentist thing.  And he reminded me that she needs a prophylactic (preventive antibiotics) before any dental work because of her heart defects.  He said that he thought I should steer clear from any dental work before major oral surgery.  He said that would be asking for trouble.  Thank you Dr. Derco!!  He totally turned my day around!

I left there and went to CVS to get her pink eye prescription filled.  Then we went home.

In my ever quest to do something fun with the kids this week, Terri and I loaded them all in the car and went to the bank.  We have been meaning to take Murphy's piggy bank money to the bank to get cash for him to be able to deposit and/or spend.  Murphy had fun putting the coins in the machine.  While doing that we found a bag of gift cards that he had not used yet.  Awesome!

After that, we went to Toys R Us so he could use his gift cards and some of his own money to buy something he wanted.  I told the kids they could each pick out one thing.  Murphy and Cooper left with one thing each and Harlie left with three.  Ugh.  I promise I don't mean it.  But, I think the boys know how I feel sometimes.  They didn't say ONE word about it.  They were all happy and that's all that matters.

We spent some time walking around in there.  Murphy had no trouble making his selection.  He knew exactly what he wanted - a Stars Wars Lego set.  Cooper choose a Lego Chima Hero Factory guy.  Harlie picked a Boo doll (the girl from Monsters, Inc.) and a Lalaloopsy set that was a girl "patient" and her pet, complete with a stethoscope and medicine and a cast for their legs.  It's actually really cute.  And another little Monsters University thing that came with the purchase of the Boo doll.  She has only played with the Lalaloopsy set, so I'm going to take the Boo doll back.  She's still in her box.

It was 12:15 when we left Toys R Us.  So, we went to Chick-fil-A to get lunch.  The place was so busy you couldn't get in the drive through without blocking traffic.  So I parked and left Terri in the car with the kids.  When the guy brought out my food, it was pretty obvious I couldn't carry it all.  He immediately offered to walk it to my car for me.  Can you believe that?  I told him I was pretty far away, but he said that was fine.  He was super nice.

So, I get in my car and start driving home.  And Terri looks at the clock - it is now 12:36 - and says, "You have a doctor's appointment in less than an hour!"  ACK!!!  I already completely forgot about the cardiology appointment!  I am such a space cadet sometimes.  The appointment was originally for 1pm, but the office called back later to say they had to move it to 1:30.  Whew!  Good thing!

We rush home and try to eat quickly.  And I spend 30 minutes trying to open Harlie's Lalaloopsy package.  Grrrrr!  And Jennifer calls again to ask me what I'm doing around 3:45.  Can you believe that she called her kid's dentist and got Harlie an appoinment for 3:45?  Sometimes I'm overwhelmed by how good my friends are to me.  She said that she felt so bad for me earlier and she had to do something to help.  But I told her that we couldn't do it after all.  BUT, I am totally switching to her dentist.  I cannot go back to ours again.  

By the time we turn around and get back in the car, it is freaking 1:30!!!!  I've done it AGAIN!  So, I take a risk, and call the office to let them know.  Despite my earlier "lesson" with the dentist, I think it's still right to call and let them know.  I got the same person I made the appointment with the day before.  She said, "You are good!  Your appointment is for 1:45.  Didn't you get my message?"  I could have sworn she said 1:30 (so did Terri) but I will take that stroke of good luck for sure!  So, now I was ON TIME!!!  Woohoo!!!

Everything was fine there.  It was a funny appointment.  I love her cardiologist.  He offers me great advice in many areas of Harlie's issues.

But, I have to stop there.  We are now in Boston and we are going for a walk.  I will try to blog again tonight, if I'm not too tired.  It's been another long day, of course.

Thank you for reading!
~Christy xo