Why is it that everything seems to take four times longer than it used to 2 years ago?
2 Years ago, I was working out 3 1/2 hours a day, lost 75 lbs, my business was on tap to break six figures in sales and I could fill most of the orders in 3-4 hours a day, I was in the Young Women's Presidency, carting Nathan and Elisha to all of their various activities, and a full-time mom. Now, 2 years (and 2 more children) later, there are days when I'm lucky to get changed out of my PJ's before KC comes home from work in the evening.
Today was one of those days - and I had KC home helping me out! It was shot day for Courtney and Jacob. Courtney came first. Because of Jacob's birth in October, we missed Courtney's 18 month visit (and shots) with the pediatrician. When things finally calmed down, it became very apparent that I couldn't put off immunizations forever and a date was set. When we pulled into the doctor's parking lot this afternoon, Courtney assumed it was another "Jacob visit". When I told her that this visit was just for her - today was "Courtney Day" she squealed with delight!!! I didn't have the heart to tell her she'd hate me by the end of the visit.
When we unstrapped her from her car seat, she quickly ran to the front of the office building where they have large buttons for persons with disabilities to push in order to have the front doors automatically open. Pushing the buttons and watching the doors open is one of Courtney's favorite things to do at the doctor's office. So, she immediately ran to the doors, pushed the button, ran through the first set of doors, pushed the second button and ran through the second set of doors. Then, she ran to the other end of the lobby where the other children were playing and cozied up to one of the kids like they had been friends for decades. It was the cutest thing! We let her play in blissful ignorance until the nurse called her name and Courtney proudly ran to the nurse to present herself to be whisked off to her room.
Once there, she new the procedure. We undressed her and took her to the scale to be weighed (nearly 30 lbs), she laid down to be measured (35 1/2 inches), and then we brought her back to her room to wait for the doctor. As we were waiting, I made the mistake of telling Courtney that Daddy and I had had our shots yesterday and I showed her the hard, red bump on my upper arm from the flu shot. One look at my arm and you could immediately tell from Courtney's face that she knew EXACTLY why she was there. Her face changed to shock and horror, she grabbed her thighs (where past needles have been inserted for other immunizations) and ran screaming to the other side of the room. It was all down hill from there and she didn't even attempt to be sweet for the rest of the visit.
She took the 4 shots to her thighs like a trooper and screamed for only a few seconds, which was quickly stopped by letting her know of the Allred family tradition: She who gets shots also gets ice cream!!!
She quickly got dressed after that revelation, we stopped off at another office for Jacob's first Synergis (RSV) shot - 1 shot in each thigh (ouch), once a month for up to 5 months - picked up Nathan from school, then stopped at the local Dairy Queen for Courtney's much anticipated ice cream - Chocolate extreme blizzard!!
Once she had some ice cream in her belly, those nasty ol' shots were a long lost memory and she was onto bigger and better things like, say, playing in the melting snow!!! :) By the time we'd made our 3 stops, it was already nearly 5PM and our day had slipped away. Hmmmm. I guess I'll try to be productive again tomorrow.
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I've been updating many of my blogs over the last several weeks, and it's given me an opportunity to walk down memory lane. Some of those memories were filled with laughter. Others with sadness and tears. But the strongest vein of thought I felt throughout the months and years with Jacob thus far has been gratitude that Jacob is in our lives. 
