Neurologist

Yesterday was a big day for all of us, we departed home at 11:00 am so that we'd have time to stop by Daddy's optometrist and order new frames for him. After the eye doctor we stopped for lunch and since none of us wanted the same thing, we stopped at three different places before heading on to the neurologist's office.

The neurologist has an amazing facility to put the kids at ease and feel more relaxed. Walking in the main doors you are greeted by beautiful butterflies hanging from the ceiling, soft muted colors on the walls and small private waiting rooms for each section. Each waiting room had a beautiful child friendly mural or brightly colored pictures. Our waiting room had a fish tank with all of the Finding Nemo characters, as did another waiting room that we scoped out.

When we first arrived Mr N was napping, which we felt was a good thing. It gave us the opportunity to talk with the doctor a bit without having to keep Mr N quiet. We arrived well ahead of the appointment and since the doctor was ahead of schedule we only had 10 minute wait before being seen. We discussed his history, family medical history, and concerns we had. Then we talked about what tests would be run, what kinds of things needed to be checked for and hopefully ruled out.

Mr N woke up in an extremely unhappy mood, I had rather hoped that he wasn't still deathly afraid of doctor's offices, but I was very wrong. He woke up screaming and just wanted out of the room, she tried to look in his eyes but he was squirmy and screamy. Finally Daddy took Mr N out of the office so that I could talk to the doctor about the next steps, that lasted almost thirty seconds before they were back because Mr N wanted Mommy.

We walked around the waiting rooms, looked at pictures, fish tanks, butterflies, etc but Mr N was still quite upset and not settling down. We went outside a few times but that wasn't helping either. After several rounds weaving through waiting rooms, going outside and then back again; Mr N decided he was ready to get down to walk. He ventured outside and found a nice quiet area next to an emergency only exit where we stayed until Daddy came out from talking to the doctor.

Daddy did not come bearing happy news, Mr N needed blood drawn and we could either do it then and there or at our "local" lab (which is an hour and twenty minutes from home). We decided since Mr N was already cranky and having a bad day we should just make it worse and be done. Surprisingly, Mr N headed back in without any issues, patiently waited in the waiting room at the lab and even walked into the lab on his own. He willingly climbed up into my lap, unaware of his fate. Mommy's job was to hold Mr N and his left arm still while the lab guy held his right arm and drew blood. Mr N did amazingly well, he screamed and wiggled and was quite angry, but it was still about 10 times better than I expected. I was surprised at how quickly his vein was found and poked. They drew eight vials of blood, to which E said "wow, why did baby have so much blood in him?"

I was pleasantly surprised that Mr N still wanted me after being the bad guy holding him down, but he was a Mommy's boy all day yesterday. I didn't mind, my poor achy heart was much less forgiving than his. Mommy could barely hold it together as Daddy was explaining what the doctor had told him while the kids and I were outside. They want to do a 24 hour EEG, which we will schedule after the results from the blood panel come back, and they sent home urine sample cups. We received a call this morning that he has severe anemia, the other results that are in are normal so far, and there are still some tests pending.

We departed the neurologist's office and headed for Ikea, it was our first time there. I am now confident that everyone who loves Disneyland has never been to Ikea. It was incredibly awesome. Our purpose in going was to purchase a swing for Mr N that he can use in the house. I aired up the cushion this morning and got it prepped to hang from the ceiling, we just need Daddy to install it. I let Mr N climb inside while I held it to see how he liked it, he seemed to really enjoy it, so I'm hoping he'll get a lot of use out of it. I had told E on Monday that if she was good all day on Tuesday that we would get her a toy, knowing it would be a long day I wanted her to have some motivation for behaving while being drug all over creation. She chose a circus tent.  I tried desperately to find something smaller but to no avail. Somehow she had Daddy in her corner so I was outnumbered.

I love IKEA, I just want to make sure that isn't overlooked. We picked out a table for the kitchen, picked up a shower curtain rod for the downstairs bathroom, got some construction paper for the kiddos and some kitchen timers, because what little kid doesn't love a kitchen timer? I love IKEA, we need one. I want to live there.

Moving on....since we were already in Sacramento we decided to hit up a sporting goods store to make Daddy's day. We headed across town to Big 5 sporting goods, but they didn't have what he wanted to look at so we headed for home while watching for somewhere to eat for dinner. After much discussion E decided she would like Taco Bell and that we should go inside to eat because she does not have a table in the car. She made a pretty good argument so we watched for a Taco Bell. In the meantime, Daddy was very sad that he didn't enjoy his time at Big 5, so I asked him if he'd like to go to Bass Pro Shop even though it was a bit out of the way. We changed our course and headed for BPS and finally found a Taco Bell en route.

Mr N absolutely loved Bass Pro, the bears were a big hit as were the elevators. I left E with Daddy while Mr N and I wandered around looking at animals, climbing up and down the stairs, and riding the elevator. I'm pretty sure Mr N wants a 4 wheeler, and I see no reason why an almost 3 year old shouldn't have one. After trying out 3 different 4-wheelers he settled on the smallest since he could reach the handles and there was still room on the back for Mommy (he insisted that I try them all out with him). I attempted several times to steer him towards the footwear section so I could look for some hiking shoes, but that was not on his agenda and successfully avoided the area. When Daddy was done looking at his toys he took both kids while I finally tried on shoes. Much to my surprise I found some that didn't make me want to cut off my feet. I will be wearing them around the house all week to ensure they don't hurt.

We finally got home around 11:00 pm and headed for bed, but not before setting up E's circus tent. She thought she might want to sleep in it, but in the end opted for the bed. Mr N, on the other hand, crawled into bed fully clothed and went to sleep.

We were all a bit tuckered this morning so I let the kids sleep in while I cleaned up and prepared for Katy to arrive. E woke up about 10 minutes before she arrived and Mr N woke up about 20 minutes after she got here. E immediately crawled into her circus tent and has played in it most of the morning.

Mr N just peed in his urine sample cup, this is going to be easier than I expected. He keeps opening the freezer to look at it, he's pretty proud of himself.

Yesterday was such an emotionally taxing day, it is so difficult to prepare myself for what is to come. It is so hard to watch my baby get poked and prodded, it's heart breaking to imagine how stressful it all is for him. He is so brave to endure it all, I'm so proud of him. This morning  E even said "baby was so brave yesterday", we are all proud of him. He has a little bruise from where they drew his blood, but it doesn't seem to be bothering him. He did see it and seemed upset, but it might just be the reminder of what happened. He just touched the bruise and used his cranky tone to express his unhappiness.