Doctor Day

Friday was doctor day for the LaQuaglia boys. I took the day off from school and thought I would kill two birds with one stone by taking Kent for his 4 year checkup and Cohen for his 6 month checkup at the same time. It sounded like a good idea in theory, but in actuality-let's just say I don't think it will be happening again.

Kent started coughing non stop about 2 hours before the appointment, so he had to have a breathing treatment. Anyone with asthma knows that the medicine you have to take makes you jittery and your heart beats faster. Little boys who can be a little hyper on their own turn into little energy machines who can't sit still or be quiet...at all. But, it helps Kent breathe and stop coughing so it is entirely necessary.

Mom went to the pediatrician with me to help wrangle the boys and remember all the questions I needed to ask the doctor (thanks Mom!). It all started calmly enough with both boys in their skivvies getting weighed and measued. Here are the stats:

Kent at 4 years:
height- 41 1/4 inches
weight- 38 1/2 lbs

Cohen at 6 months:
height- 27 1/2 inches
weight- 17 lbs 3 oz

Kent at 6 months (for comparision):
height-28 inches
weight- 19 lbs 1 oz

Both boys grew by leaps and bounds. They had to measure Kent three times to make sure they had it was right; he grew three whole inches over the past year! I tried to tell them that it had to be true based on how I had to buy new pants for him every other week last fall. Kent didn't mind- he just ran back and forth from the room to the scale with me chasing him explaining why we don't run at the doctor's office and telling everyone we passed that he had taken his asthma medicine and didn't normally act like this.

Kent is ezcema free now with his food allergies well controlled. He did have to get three shots, which I kind of avoided telling him because he is so traumatized from the flu shot/allergy testing ordeal every November (14 total shots over a three hour timespan). I fooled myself into thinking that Kent would show Cohen how shots are done and hardly cry- NOPE! He threw a fit, had to be held down and wailed for the next twenty minutes about flu shots (he thinks all shots are flu shots, but he calls them "blue shots".)

Cohen was so squirmy the doctor and nurses could hardly hold him. You should have seen my dive action save when the nurse laid Cohen on the bed thing and then walked back to the counter! The doctor seemed really shocked about how active he is and said that he will walk early- can I just ever have a calm, laid back baby?!? It is really helping me lose all the baby weight and then some- can't complain I guess. Cohen's ezcema is better on his body, but not his head, which is why he wakes up so much at night. He now is on Benadryl daily and it has helped for sure! Cohen has now gone the last four nights without eating and hardly waking up!!!! It was pretty difficuly asking the doctor all the questions I had with Kent's hyperactive sideshow of singing and dancing going on.

Cohen did pretty well with his shots; (he had one oral vaccination and 4 regular shots) he only cried for a few minutes. Kent did stop crying from his shots long enough to come over and see what the nurse was doing to his brother. He was very concerned- such a protective big brother! I was trying to keep Cohen from flipping on his stomach and Mom held Kent back so he wouldn't try to jump in to save Cohen from the nurse. Cohen calmly went back into his infant seat and Kent had to be carried out of the office while he screamed about hating blue shots... 20 minutes later we were at McDonald's and all was well! Kent played and played and Cohen ate half of Kent's applesauce.

I had good intentions of taking pictures while at the doctor's office, but I forgot somehow!