Super Mom

When I told one friend that I was home schooling her comment to me was that I was a Super Mom.  I laughed at this because well I'm far from that. Except though I felt like Super Mom after our last doctor's visit.

I took Lili into her 10 month appointment and since life is busy I decided to take the boys with us and get flu shots at the same time. Here's how it went down.

Since we are new patients, I had to fill out a lot of paperwork with two boys running around and a wiggly baby. Then there is the waiting. The waiting before being brought back to see the nurse, the waiting to see the doctor, and the waiting for the nurse to come back in for the immunizations. Waiting in a small room with my two boys is never enjoyable. I had the boys grab a couple of super hero toys to play with and some books. The super heroes eventually needed to fly around the room. There are also lots of drawers and cabinets to open which were very interesting to a certain 3 year old. The doctor had a lot of questions for me concerning my kids' history since this was our first time seeing her. The doctor finally got the hint that asking these questions while examining Lili and letting the boys "help" her was going to go a lot better than just sitting there talking to me while the boys became the super heroes flying around the room. 

Lili just needed her flu shot and that brought a nice break to the caos because the boys love watching their sister get a shot. They were sympathetic and kept saying, "It's ok Lili," but deep down they were thrilled to watch someone else get a shot. I had forgotten that the 9 month appointment is where they prick the heal to check for anemia. This doctor though just sent us over to the lab which was in the same building to have Lili's blood drawn through an IV. I wasn't quite expecting that. During the wait to get called back for the IV, Gavin decided to steal Dallin's sticker so of course Dallin stole Gavin's and ripped it. To get each other's stickers included some chasing and then the inevitable tears. I stayed calm throughout all this, gathered up the boys, and told Dallin to fix the problem. He knocked on the nurse's door to get a new sticker for Gavin and convinced her he needed a new one too. The kids were starting to get hungry now (we were at the doctor's a lot longer than I planned) so I pulled out the cheerios that I brought for Lili. Those of course were spilt on the floor by accident. By then the recpetionists were all starting to eye each other with that annoyed look on their face. I didn't let their looks bother me and calmly announced though that the boys were to help me pick up every cheerio. They picked up/slashed ate the cheerios off the floor. Luckily, Lili wasn't hungry for cheerios.

Getting blood from a baby is just a horrible thing to do. When Dallin was 2 months old and in the hospital, I sat in the corner crying while Zane held him down as they pricked and poke him multiple times trying to get the right vein. This time I had to hold Lili while making sure my three year old wasn't causing mischief and answering a very inquisitive 5 year old boy's questions about what the nurses were doing. The nurses were wonderful by helping. I'm glad Dallin asked so many questions because it kept me from crying. I'm really not good with needles and really have a hard time when my baby is being hurt.

After Lili's IV, it was time for the rest of us to get flu shots. Luckily we were able to get the flu mist and didn't have to see anymore needles. After some waiting, more questions by the inquisitive 5 year old, we were free to leave.

I'm a super mom because I survived. I didn't only survive, but I stayed calm throughout the visit and the real test was when we got into the car, I didn't yell at the boys bringing up all their misbehavior's. I did treat myself to some chocolate and would have given some to Lili too if she ate chocolate because she definitely earned it!

So here is to the Super Mom's who are just trying to get through each day calmly and patiently (or working towards calm and patience) doing the best they can!