Give A Brother Some Warning

Yesterday our day was spent at Children's Hospital checking our youngest daughter's progress and scheduling her palate repair surgery.  We received lots of positive information regarding her surgery and recovery, and it sounds as though it may actually go smoother than we'd originally planned.  This was obviously excellent to hear.  

We had several appointments in the morning, which took us to about 10am.  Afterwards we had nothing until 2:45.  Driving in Dallas traffic is sort of like the fun you would have if you shoved a spoon directly into your eye, so I decided to remain for the 2:45 appointment rather than return home and then back again for the appointment.  So we had some time to kill. 

And, really, time to kill is what you want when you have a 5 year old and 7 month old for companions.

Children's is a great place.  They put so much effort into making their hospital a place that is welcoming, and even fun, for their patients.  The ceilings are covered with various themes, some rooms have butterflies hanging down, another has lights that look like stars- complete with shooting stars- all across the room.  They have trains that run through rooms, popcorn being popped in various nooks and crannies, art rooms, and the big winner for us- a children's library.  We spent hours in there.

Unfortunately, one thing they can not do is help who comes through their doors.   One of my favorite sites all day was a pasty white gangly looking thug-esque beauty of a man.  He was walking like a fool with his pants on the ground wearing this shirt:

Isn't that brilliant?  You may be thinking that I'm being cruel, that some teenager suffering a sickness should not be picked on.  Let me put your fears to rest, this man was a grown adult who has procreated and had a child with him.  Feel better?  

I thought about yelling out, "COPS!  COPS!"  right by him just to see what the brother would do with some warning.  

The day was a little rough.  My oldest hung in there as best she could, but her sassy pants took over every now and then.  My baby slept for a total of 30 minutes all day.  

My daughter took to trying to be funny, and she's gotten into a bad habit of repeating things she's heard and trying them out.  These things are usually inappropriate and make me want to crawl in a hole and die.  

Yesterdays little nugget occurred when I dropped a toy on the way into an exam room .  A nurse helped me pick it up and Nora yelled out, "My mom's a loser!".  The nurse looked at me like I was obviously a solid parent.  I've never heard Nora say that so I obviously scolded her and assured she would never say it again.  

She looked at me teary and said, "You and Aunt Julia said it to each other." 

Mother of the year!  Holla!

After much waiting, it was finally time for our 2:45 appointment, which was a hearing test.  When I checked in the nurse chirped happily, "Oh, I was wondering when you'd get here!  I saw that you were here this morning for appointments, they should have sent you right up.  Often times we try to squeeze families with appointments that far apart in!  Otherwise it makes for a long day!  They must have forgotten to mention that".  This is when I jumped over the desk and pulled her hair.  

Afterwards, we had one more appointment to see the ENT.  It was at 3pm.  So at 4:30 were were called in and we saw a DR for a total of 6 minutes.  He told me the things I already know and quickly left the room.  Totally worth the wait!

This got us into the car in time to join the Dallas after work traffic.  I was so relieved to have my children strapped into the car that I did not care.   

And that was my day.  But honestly, it was full of good news and we all made it.  So as far as a day goes in Children's Hospital, we were of the luckiest people there yesterday and I know it.  

I would like to end this with a love letter to my GPS though:

Dear Tom Tom,

You couldn't find your ass with both hands and a map.

Fondly,

Amanda