Yep, that’s right. We still haven’t broken up with Dr. McDreamy. Hallie just can’t seem to let him go. Thankfully we haven’t been in much need of a doctor for awhile so it’s worked out fine keeping our doc in OKC. Don’t ask me how long I’ll keep going to him….I guess my answer would be until the best doctor here in town decides to start taking new patients. Then, and only then, will I force Hallie to call it quits with her crush. We can always hope for Riley to recruit an outstanding pediatrician to the area. ;) It was time for Hallie to have her 12 month checkup. I was glad that it fell when it did because lil miss has been acting kinda funky lately and I wanted to get to the bottom of what is causing all of this funkiness.
First let me start with the car ride like I always do. I planned ahead of time to have a successful, meltdown-free 2 ½ hour trip. I just have to be honest and admit right out front that I dread/am terrified of/get nervous about the car ride to OKC with Hallie everytime. Is that sad? The fear of the unknown….will she scream the whole way or just half of the way? Will be have to make three roadside stops or six? DVD player to the rescue. Great grandma had helped put my mind at ease about the car ride this time. I installed her personal theatre the night before we left to make sure it worked and that she could see the screens fine.
I had high high hopes for our car ride. Back to that later though. We woke up bright and early and hopped on the bike for a beautiful morning ride. Then it was off to The Cake Lady to do what we do best….order some cakes of course! Hal had hugs for Beverly and ran behind the counter toward the kitchen….she’s got a way of acting like she’s in charge. Hmmm. After we settled on two lovely cakes, Hallie wanted to stop by daddy’s office on our way out of town so we walked on up to his office. She didn’t hide the fact that she was there and ran around the clinic area like she owned the place. Lots of smiles and hugs for the ladies working in all of the clinic offices….she was quite the attention grabber. Little miss even got to go grab some toys on her way out. It was a successful trip to visit hard-workin’ daddy…it’s rare that we can catch him in his office. Hallie helped him out a bit while we were there when she noticed how much work he had to get done…..
"This. Is. Awesome."
I had high high hopes for our car ride. Back to that later though. We woke up bright and early and hopped on the bike for a beautiful morning ride. Then it was off to The Cake Lady to do what we do best….order some cakes of course! Hal had hugs for Beverly and ran behind the counter toward the kitchen….she’s got a way of acting like she’s in charge. Hmmm. After we settled on two lovely cakes, Hallie wanted to stop by daddy’s office on our way out of town so we walked on up to his office. She didn’t hide the fact that she was there and ran around the clinic area like she owned the place. Lots of smiles and hugs for the ladies working in all of the clinic offices….she was quite the attention grabber. Little miss even got to go grab some toys on her way out. It was a successful trip to visit hard-workin’ daddy…it’s rare that we can catch him in his office. Hallie helped him out a bit while we were there when she noticed how much work he had to get done…..
"Please tell me you don't wear those to work dad..."
"Let's see here.... Woah! We are missing our 10:00 meeting!"
And so began our journey. I seemed to be stalling as I made two more quick stops on our way out of town to pick up breakfast and a Sonic drink to last me through the day. Finally we drove out of town with my fingers, toes, hairs, legs and eyes crossed that she would be fully entertained by her movies. It worked! For five minutes, that is. Oh my, this car ride (both ways) was like an event that felt like it would never come to an end. I kept looking at the clock and the miles move along thinking “can’t time and speed just hurry up and get me home before my head explodes.” Why was my head going to explode? Well ya see, I was having an adverse reaction to the non-stop whining. Hallie was having a whine-a-thon and I was her audience. However, I was not donating to her cause. The only thing she was getting to reinforce the whining was handfuls of goldfish crackers in case she was hungry. Now I probably sound like a mean momma but that it far from the truth. In fact, I stopped four, yes four, times on the trip to OKC to pick up her cup, fill her cup, change her diaper and feed her a snack. Nothing would stop the whining. So I just decided to tough it out, turn up the music and plug my ears. Yeah, that worked really well. ;) We finally made it after driving through what seemed like ten construction zones and you can bet your booty that I was going ten under the limit after my ordeal the other night coming home. It was well past lunch time for Hallie Grace so we plopped down at a table at Panera and waited for my friend Julia to arrive. Hallie’s whining had suddenly transformed into constant smiles and giggles as people walked by and talked to her. If we could just somehow make the car look like a busy restaurant with lots of people giving her attention then we would be set!
Once Julia walked through the door Hal began her “warming up” process. This is the ten to fifteen minutes it usually takes for her to get to know somehow. Although she’d been around Julia before it has been quite some time….as in last year during football season. After making a new friend for life, Hallie sat across the table from Julia and made silly faces and smiled as she banged her cup loudly on the table. I got up and walked to the pastry counter with Hal still in my line of sight and watched her begin to act a fool until she made eye contact with me and I shook my head at her. She straightened up right away….haha, yeah right! We had a great girl’s lunch together catching up. Hallie even pulled a brand new trick out of her bag to show off while I snapped a picture of my two lunch dates…..
Once Julia walked through the door Hal began her “warming up” process. This is the ten to fifteen minutes it usually takes for her to get to know somehow. Although she’d been around Julia before it has been quite some time….as in last year during football season. After making a new friend for life, Hallie sat across the table from Julia and made silly faces and smiled as she banged her cup loudly on the table. I got up and walked to the pastry counter with Hal still in my line of sight and watched her begin to act a fool until she made eye contact with me and I shook my head at her. She straightened up right away….haha, yeah right! We had a great girl’s lunch together catching up. Hallie even pulled a brand new trick out of her bag to show off while I snapped a picture of my two lunch dates…..
That's really pretty Hal
Over the river and through the woods we went (aka down the street) to get to Dr McDreamy. I had of course told her who we would be seeing today but I’d conveniently left out the part about getting shots. What she didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her, huh? Well, I guess that statement doesn’t count in this case. Back to that later though. L It was a little different this time as we waited in the waiting area. My girl was able to get down and actually explore the doctor’s office. She made sure to make contact with each fun toy and had to go sit on the cool rug in the middle of the floor.
As I watched her I couldn’t help but think back to the first time we brought her to the doctor at just three days old for her first checkup. Oh my! So much has changed! We didn’t have to wait long and we were stripping her down to just a diaper and heading out to the scales. The moment of truth….dun, dun, dun, duuuuunnnnn……
Getting in a lil extra snack to pad her stats
As I watched her I couldn’t help but think back to the first time we brought her to the doctor at just three days old for her first checkup. Oh my! So much has changed! We didn’t have to wait long and we were stripping her down to just a diaper and heading out to the scales. The moment of truth….dun, dun, dun, duuuuunnnnn……
Height: 28in (15th percentile)
Weight: 22lb 8oz (75th percentile)
Head circumference: (90th percentile)
"Just one more snack for good measure"
The doctor was in very shortly after measurements and confirmed my suspicions….our girl was squatty, chubby and had a big noggin. Those were close to his exact words. He took a quick looksy at her and said that she was growing perfectly along the growth curve and everything looked great. I was so happy to know that her ears are still doing ok. All of that worrying through the winter about maybe having to get tubes has been put to rest. Healthy ears to hear with my dear! We chatted about her pickiness when it comes to protein. He gave me some good suggestions that I hadn’t thought of and made sure to tell me that I seemed to be feeding her plenty….lol! All the while I was asking McDreamy the cliché “mom questions”, Hallie was busy as a beaver bringing me book after book. She was not a fan of being ignored as I turned the pages of each book without reading them as I continued to talk to the doctor. Poor girl just wanted some noise to go along with the pictures. Hallie was giving her crush the cold shoulder today. I am not sure what happened but it could have something to do with his comments about her being hefty and sticking out her booty while she waddles. Just a guess though. J She did however give him a few big smiles and giggles as he tickled her and made faces at her. They ended things on a good note and he left with Hallie still not knowing what was to come next….SHOTS. Four of the suckers. Eeeeek! Poor girl kicked two of them off the table while she was flailing her legs after the first needle poked her. The nurse seemed less than thrilled to go grab two new shots since they had fallen on the ground but she returned and poked my girl two more times. Two bandaids, lots of alligator tears and a great big bear hug later we were headed out to the car....only after talking Hallie down from the ledge....
As we had entered the city I happened to notice something shining like a beacon calling my name…”Ashley!!! Ashley!!!! Come spend money over here!!!” Ya see it turns out that COACH, Nike and Baby Gap saw me pulling into town and were trying to entice me. Well it worked like a charm so I immediately made plans in my head to stop by on our way out of town. I was kicking myself for not remembering the new outlet mall and was so excited to see what all the fuss was about. Only problem was…I forgot to pack the stroller. That was an easy fix, I thought to myself. We are giving Katie our stroller so we are needing a new smaller one now so we stopped by our second favorite store in the world after leaving the doctor. Hallie picked out a new sleak black mini stroller for outings and we loaded up…well after getting a few cute clothes of course. Jamba Juice was an absolute must as always so we stopped by to pick up a mega jumbo cup of goodness and heaven. As we pulled out onto the interstate I began dreaming of the outlet mall. But my dreams were almost immediately crushed when I realized that miss whiny pants had decided to finally take a nap. Like I always say, nap overrides any form of fun. Nap it was and we headed out of town in silence and peace. All I will say about the rest of the ride home is that I wish it would’ve ended a lot faster than it did. Time stood still as Hallie began a scream-a-thon. She must’ve had plenty of sponsors because it just kept going and going and going. All the goldfish, drink and Baby Einstein in the world couldn’t cure a sleepy baby who wasn’t feeling well after her shots. Poor girl!
To lighten things up a bit I should mention the silly sweet moments during our day. Hallie and I practiced our farm animal noises all day and I got her to give plenty of good “MOOOOOOOOOs.” I think we make a mean farm animal chorus. She melted my heart while we were cruising through BabiesRus she stood up in the cart and threw her arms around me and laid her head on my shoulder as I pushed. She cuddles on her own terms and I am ready to cuddle whenever she is ready. What a sweet moment with my girl. There ya have it, a little bit of sweetness to balance out the not so sweetness. At the end of the day I have to stop and feel blessed although there are times when I want to pull my hair out. For every screaming fit there is a precious hug that wipes away the frustration. And I’m not just being cliché…..seriously, her hugs are like candy….and I always want more!!!
We made another appointment for her 15 month checkup. Yes, that’s right, we still haven’t broken up with McDreamy. Will we ever? I don’t know. It’s complicated. ;)
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