what a week!

So I will not be posting about all the ways I have been wronged this week..haha( I am being sarcastic) but I will tell you about the kids's 1 yr and 3 yr checkups yesterday.  I just want to start off by saying doctors visits are always so stressful for me especially when I am doing it alone. Brad has been very good about helping me when he can, but yesterday he was in Portland until noon and raced back to Oly to catch just the very end of the visit. Anyway , they started with Laila and weighed her and measured her. She is 33.6 lbs(up 5 lbs from 2 yr visit) I don't remember what they said her height was..dang it! I can measure her at home. However, the important thing was that she was  in the 75 percentile for height and weight so she is well balanced..yay! Next the nurse said she was going to test her eyes. This made me a little nervous because I was wondering how the heck they do that with a 3 year old..I was like is she supposed to know all her letters? Thank goodness the answer is no. They had flash cards with small black pictures of things like a bear, a tree, a cake, etc. They had her identify them close up at first to make sure she knew what they were to begin with. Next they had her step out in the hall and the nurse stood about 8 ft away while Laila held a big black spoon looking thing over each eye one at a time. My daughter is a champ. My main worry was that she would just ignore the nurse because Laila can be shy and not talk to people she doesn't see often. I was so proud of Laila. It excited me to see her interact so well with her nurse and her doctor. Landon was up next to be weighed and measured. He is now 22lbs 11 ounces(which is up almost 3 lbs from 2 months ago..I think its his love for whole milk) Again, I don't remember what she said his height was..but I do know his percentiles. He is in the 45th for weight and 75 for height. It's funny to me because I would have figured it to be the other way around. I thought he was short and a little pudgy. Anyway Landon did well with his checkup...until dum dum dum...shot time. I had Laila go first because I knew if she saw Landon cry first with his she would be even more difficult. Laila only needed one(the Hep A). Brad was not there yet so they called in the secretary to hold Laila on her lap so I could hold her other hand(mind you I was holding Landon..Brad was not there yet) We tried to do it with Laila sitting by herself but she wasn't willing to give up her arm..she just kept holding it with her other arm. No complaining..just resisting. She whimpered a little, but I was impressed.  Next Landon had his 4 shots. My poor baby. He wailed from the first poke until we left the office pretty much. I almost cried..ok I teared up a little. After I got Landon fully clothed again, the nurse sent me to the lab(luckily right outside the door pretty much) . It turns out he needed to have his finger pricked as well to test for anemia. Anyone else do this with their kids? I don't remember if Laila had it or not. It was a real struggle to get Landon to give up his hand after all those shots. I think we were both pretty well traumatized. I keep trying to tell myself well at least now he will be healthy..in case we decide to hop a plain to Africa or something:) Laila and Landon are doing fine today. Neither of them have ever had any adverse effects from shots. Although, most of the effects don't show up for weeks supposedly. I wanted to mention something kind of interesting my nurse told me when we discussed the shots before hand. Laila had her mmr shots at 1 yr and another at 2yrs. Landon had his first yesterday and won't have his second until 4 yrs. I asked her why that was and she said that there has been a shortage of the mmr vaccine lately. Isn't that kind of strange that with all the hype lately about mothers( or should I say parents) deciding not to give their kids the mmr that there would be a shortage? hmmm

Anyway, I am so glad it's friday. Brad and I and children of course are going to Portland tomorrow until Sunday. One of my mom's sisters and her kids live there and my aunt from Missoula Montana and one of her sons(and gf) will be meeting us in Portland to spend Saturday getting Pedicures(sorry Brad) and shopping. Sunday(the reason we are going) is the annual  Breast Cancer walk. They have a run too but since we are doing it with family, we are walking. My grandma, Helen Anderson passed away 2 years ago this coming January from a 10 year fight with breast cancer. She was so beloved by the family and we miss her dearly so we are doing this to remember her. I am planning on bringing the double jogger to push Laila and Landon along too. I am really looking forward to this, although I am sure it will be depressing at the same time to see families with t-shirts and signs in remembrance of loved ones lost. However, at the same time it will be inspirational to see woman wearing pink shirts representing that they are survivors. I will post pictures when we get back...I really should have made this 2 posts..sorry..