Going where you are led.....(AKA - the great pediatrician hunt of 2011)

So - here is how today went.....

6 year old wakes up with an ear ache - sort of a mysterious one that has been coming and going for days. No fever - we have been watching it for days and we have a big weekend planned. She has a tendency to get sick on big weekends so we wanted a clean bill of health going into said big weekend so the decision was made to try out a Massachusetts pediatrician.

Now - two weeks ago I went and dropped off paperwork at a pediatricians office right up the street. They seemed nice enough and the office was so quiet when I went in there so it seemed like a decent fit.

I called them today and asked for an appointment.

They said - "we can see you tomorrow at 11"

I said - "that is totally unacceptable"

and thus - the great pediatrician hunt of 2011 began.

First off I called up to the little bitty and I mean little bitty, make a double wide look spacious, kind of office of a local family medicine doctor that I had seen a couple of weeks ago for my long overdue physical and confess my wrong doings to Echo. Now I am a fan of that Echo as she is the chief, cook, and bottle washer of the whole operation. She answers the phone, takes your blood pressure, takes out the trash - the whole 9. Anyway - I tell Echo I need an appointment, she says sure and by the way - call and check your insurance and make sure that you don't need to declare a primary caregiver.

I call our Insurance and guess what they say?

Nope you can't guess....

oh wait you did?

Yep - they say - "um sorry - we are no longer your insurance - your company dropped you on April 28th.

It is possible that I said something along the lines of

"SWEET SARAH JESSICA PARKER"

on the phone - not sure - might have happened.

Anyway - turns out that husband's company switched us when we switched states and we somehow missed that memo.

We were now covered but by a totally different group. I start calling pediatricians and then

I started to freak out.

As if I wasn't freaking out enough already

Because - guess what - I didn't like any of those ladies on the phone

And any Mom knows - those ladies on the phone hold all the power in their hands and it is pretty important that they find you charming and funny and not strange and irritating. It is an important relationship.

So - I finally call a practice and I basically in two long run on sentences I spill out my problem to the powerful lady on the phone

"soitotallyblewitandihavethesethreelittlekidsandireallyneedapediatricanthatcan

seeusonthedaywegetsickplusitwouldalsobereallyniceifwelikedtheofficeandifyou

wouldtakeourinsuranceandmy6yearoldhasanearacheandiamkindofstartingtopanicbecause

iamnothavingalotofluck...."

She says, "oh honey - we need to look into those little ears right away! Can you be here at 3:45?"

So - off we go to this place where we have been led

led by a set of circumstances that led us to the place that is actually an incredibly important part of the move - the kids doctor is - well - super important

As we walked in the front door I said "oh please let me like you"

And guess what - I did.

They were awesome.

We walked into the office 45 minutes early. (I tend to run really early and even more so when I am feeling worried about something. I was worried about getting lost so we got there in Holly time)

They called us back before I could even sit down

The guy taking us back was wearing a mask (you know like a germ mask) and handed a little mask to my 6 year old. (Sounds creepy but I tend to be a little germaphobic so I almost hugged the guy - didn't though - on account of the germs). My 6 year old literally held the mask dangling by one finger away from her body like it was on fire or something. The guy just smiled and took us back and said we would work on the germ mask routine.

Anyway

The office was big and clean and sweet people smiled at all three of my kids

There was a small wrestling episode that was broken up by a resident with stickers.

The office has 4 attending's and 4 residents - basically doctors coming out of their ears.

They got on the phone with the doctors office that wouldn't get us in and figured out how to get records transfered that were on their way from Texas to the busy pediatrician and not the new good pediatrician.

The resident we saw was darling, funny, and totally got a huge kick out of my very quirky 6 year old. Big bonus points there. She even complimented her bow.

The nice lady in the office with the phone and the schedule and all of the power laughed at my jokes

twice

I am so glad for the round about day

I am so grateful that they switched our insurance

I am relieved that I just followed where I was led

and glad to check another thing off of my "moving to a different state" list.

A recipe, the gift that keeps on giving, and finding my center

Well first - a recipe - I sent this to some friends this morning and it seemed like decent blogging material so I decided to share it with the world (read - my 139 followers plus Facebook friends)

Below is the email that I sent:

Subject Line: Slow Cooker Spaghetti Sauce

(taken from the Fix It and Forget It Cookbook)

Let me preface this with - try it once - don't give up on it before it has cooked. I put it in my crock pot and thought - yuk - no way my children are ever going to eat this. Then the slow cooking magic began and oh my - by the end of the day the children were throwing themselves against the countertop like dogs it smelled so good - seriously.

I have been looking for a solution because I like to make my own sauce but it is just so easy and cheap to buy good organic sauce out there and it is such a beating to make your own sauce from scratch. Well I think I have found my solution. This was easy easy easy and so good!



Slow Cooker Spaghetti Sauce

1 lb ground beef
1 medium onion chopped
2 cans diced tomatoes with juice
1 can tomato paste
1 can tomato sauce
1 bay leaf (I did not have - don't worry about)
4 garlic cloves minced
2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp salt
2 tsp dried basil
1 TBSP brown sugar (I actually completely forgot to put this in!)
1/2 tsp dried thyme (also omitted because I didn't have it)

Brown meat and onion in saucepan. Drain well and put in slow cooker with all other ingredients.

Anyway - enjoy!!!!!

Now on to the gift that keeps on giving. On Mothers Day we went out and got me my new super duper awesome, love a whole lot, can finally vacuum pet hair off of many different kinds of floors, light weight, no I am not being paid to advertise for Dyson, vacuum.

It turns out - it is the gift that keeps on giving because you know who has taken a real interest in it? Yep - that's right - 4 year old boy. At first I resisted - but then I decided "hey - if the little man wants to vacuum - let him vacuum".

He spent 20 MINUTES today working on the stairs - yep 20 minutes of totally concentrated little boy energy focused into a physical task that involved a gadget PLUS - he did the stairs.

Like I said - the gift that keeps on giving.

And finally - because I am feeling chatty,

I have been going to yoga twice a week and I am working hard to find my center. I know it is in there somewhere (underneath the v-neck T-shirt, zip up hoodie, mom jeans, and last 10 pounds) and I am really getting into all of this yoga stuff. Today she had us tighten up our muscles and clench and then throw all the stress and tension away and tighten and throw it away and so on and so forth. I managed to avoid the yoga giggles which I am somewhat prone to (if you are not familiar, they are a bad case of church giggles only in loose fitting clothing) and I really enjoyed myself!

Well - that's all for now

Happy Tuesday!

Holly

Happy Mothers Day

I couldn't help myself - it's Mothers Day - had to go for the shameless plug ;)

Hope your day was as good as mine!

Holly

Something wicked this way has come......

Something came home from school today

Something that personifies childhood

Something that my 9 year old was very excited about.

Let me just tell you - it has been in my house for 4 hours and the novelty has worn off for the rest of us.

Can't guess?

Let me tell you.

Horror of all horrors

Yep - a recorder.

My initial thought (when I willingly forked over the 5 bucks for it) was - oh cute. I remember that!!!!!!

My second thought (5 minutes later) was - man - I gotta call my Mom.

My four year old said on more than one occasion this afternoon.....

"Mommy, please make it stop. Please."

Wikipedia tells us

"The sound of the recorder is remarkably clear and sweet, partly because of the lack of upper harmonics and predominance of odd harmonics in the sound."

Now forgive me for being indelicate here dear readers but my final word on this subject is

"remarkably clear and sweet"

My Rear End!

I am sorry but....

How stinking cute and awesome is this?

To top it off - you know what they were doing?

Playing - "Bubble gum, bubble gum in a dish. How many pieces do you wish?"

Remember that one?

And to add to that - we were waiting for the bus to pick the girls up. On our front porch. Can you tell I had a moment?


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone on the fly!!!! ;)