A typical afternoon at the pediatrician's office (well for us anyway!)...

Most you were blessed enough to miss our winter saga of weekly at the very least, pediatrician's visits for either one or both of the twins that nearly sent me over the edge.  I actually found it to be one of my toughest feats thus far in my battle of balancing motherhood and my job, especially since both mine and Jim's jobs are nearly 40 miles in the opposite directions of home and daycare.  You are in the middle of your day of work, and the dreaded daycare phone number pops up on your cell phone and one of the children is sick and needs to be picked up.  As soon as we got one child better, the other was sick and funny enough not the same illness even!  I have been assured by the doctor, daycare director and many friends with children that this should be the worst winter as it was our first in daycare, so hopefully next year will be better.  We have happily reduced our doctor's visits to about a once a month frequency, from the once a week of Dec-Feb (and I am really not at all exaggerating). 
Cole started coughing/wheezing a bit on Sunday.  Monday he seemed to be doing better in the morning, but by Monday night and Tuesday morning it was getting worse.  No other symptoms, but was complaining that his back was bothering him.  Since he's had pneumonia twice so far this year, I called the doctor right away for him to be seen.  I often feel like I may be overreacting and have often referenced when Rachel was asked not to return the the pediatrician's office after she continually called the doctor during off hours on Friends.  However, I have found that  usually my panicy instincts have been correct and on the occasion that nothing is wrong... I feel better knowing that I have nothing to worry about. 
Since his appointment was at 4:30, I picked up both kids early from school and off to the doctor's we went since I didn't think I'd be back in time to get Summer before daycare closed.  This is something that I had stopped doing for awhile because of an incident where one of the doctor's (who I try now to avoid seeing at all costs) wouldn't give Summer at turn.  I really understand where she was coming from, as Summer did not have an appointment and all.  However, she is 2 years old and was finally grasping taking turns and asked nicely for the doctor to look in her ears too.  I told her that she wasn't getting a turn today, but every other doctor that we have seen there has at least pretended to look in her ears if not actually fully examined her.   As a result when it was time to leave, she was attemping to crawl back to the exam room on her hands and knees screaming at the top of her lungs, "MY TURN!". 
Today, I'm happy to say went much more smoothly.  We rode my fabulous new stroller up to the office and the kids played until it was our turn to go back.  We got to the scale and the nurse asked Cole to take off his shoes and step on it to be weighed.  Of course, Miss Summer had to take hers off too but since she had hers off before Cole did she just went ahead of him.  Then we were into the exam room to wait for the Physician's Assistant that we typically see... the kids just LOVE her!  They have the entire exam memorized now after our frequent visits.  They practically attack her when she enters the room.  They they tell her what she needs to do after I explain our most recent issues.  They stand like baby birds around her waiting for their turn as they ask her to listen to their hearts and check their ears (and Summer was given a turn even though it was not her day - another reason I love this PA).  Then comes their favorite time when they get to take turns playing with her stethoscope while she tells me what is going on with them.  I asked her if she has any other patients that are as eager to see her as mine are.  It makes me happy that they love seeing her so much, since I grew up deathly afraid of the doctor.  Today it turns out that Cole has the very beginnings of an ear infection and definitely wheezing in his chest as well.  We were sent home with our very own nebulizer to keep and an antibiotic, the last 2 times we needed it we just borrowed one from the office.  Since they were out of loaners and this is the 3rd time needing it, they did the paperwork for us to keep one.  The happy side of this for me is that we caught everything early and that Summer's tubes are still in place and not infected!  I also had a successful trip with both kids on my own with no major tantrums or meltdowns.  Oh and did I mention that Cole kept his underwear DRY in a public place!  Does anyone else's kids act like this at the doctor's??