O is for Opinions

So I have a question. Have any of you ever had a doctor, either for yourself or a family member, that you liked 100%? That you had absolutely no qualms with?
Since I have become a parent, my little family has moved a lot, at least in my opinion. We have lived in 3 different states in the last 3 years. 2 on the west coast and one on the east coast. So needless to say I have gone through a few pediatricians. And I've had qualms with most of them. So I want to know if you think I am being to picky.
In Idaho, where my daughter was born, we were using Medicaid, and so we didn't have a lot of choice in what doctor we went to see. There was one clinic that I knew about, so that is where we went. My daughter had a really hard time putting on weight in her first month, and so we went to the doctors office a lot. One time that we were there the doctor told me that I needed to feed her every 2-3 hours even in the night time, because she obviously wasn't getting enough. The problems was, if I tried to feed her that often, she would get mad because she didn't want to eat yet, and she would just fight me, and scream. Well the doctor had the gall to tell me that because I was the parent, and she was the baby, I needed to make the decisions, babies can't make decisions. Oh she was making decisions all right. But I guess he has the right to have his own opinion too.
So I switched to a different doctor at the clinic. This doctor, I felt like, never listened to the questions I had about my child's health. He would ask me if I had questions, and after one or two answers, he would start the examination, and not listen to me any more through out the visit.
So we switched to doctor number three at that clinic, the last doctor there. This doctor, the only qualm I had with him, was simply not agreeing with some advice that he gave me. When my daughter at 6 months came down with some diarrhea, he told me to not nurse her for a whole day and just feed her pedialyte. I didn't think this would do her any good, so I didn't follow his advice, and she still got better.
Then we moved to Virginia, and we only lived there for a year, and it was my daughters second year of life, and so we didn't visit the doctors office a whole lot, and I really didn't have any qualms with him.
Then we moved to Washington State, where we now reside. We moved here with a new job about 20 days before my son was born. The insurance for this new job required that we have a PCP. So I called up a local doctors office and asked if they had any pediatricians accepting new PCP patients, and took the doctor that they had available. Now that my son is 3 months old, I have seen this doctor for a few well baby checkups, and my son also has an issue with congestion. He has been congested pretty much constantly since he turned 1 month old. Now due to the fact that he is so small, I have taken him in to the doctors office 3 different times, when the congestion has gotten worse, just to verify that it isn't extremely serious. So I think in the last 3 months I have probably been to the doctors office at least 7 times. Now I know that doctors see a lot of patients, and it has got to be hard to remember every one, but is it too much to ask that he at least review my son's chart before he comes in and sees him?
The doctor never asks how previous issues have been resolved. He doesn't remember that I have 2 kids unless I have both of them there with me. He asks me the same questions over and over. And then yesterday I took him in, after he has had a bad cough for the last 3 weeks. And the doctor didn't even refer to my son by name, until I used his name in talking to my daughter. He would just refer to him as "your son" or "your boy". This drives me crazy. But he seems to be a good doctor, so I am just letting it go.
But tell me, do you think I am being to picky?

B is for Bad day, and Blessings

I've just been reminded of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. It has been a while since I read that book, and I may be remembering wrong, but I remember it being about a boy that one day just feels like it is an awful day, and then at the end realizes that it wasn't as bad as it seemed.
Right now, I'm going through the bad day part, and I hope to be able to look back and find that it wasn't as bad as it may seem to me at the moment.
This morning we went out, when we got home I got my daughter lunch and down for a nap. And my son was sleeping in his baby swing. So I decided that I would make some finger Jello to go with dinner, eat my lunch, and then see if I could get a nap.
So I put the water on to boil, and then I forgot about it. Until about an hour or so later when I was having a really hard time getting to sleep, and then I realized that I had that pan on the stove. So as you can guess, the water had boiled dry, and the pan was ruined. Not only that, but a plastic lid was on the burner behind the pan, and it had melted to the stove as well.
So that was a tough experience. But as I have been sitting here writing this I have reached the realization that my day isn't as bad as I had thought. Yes those were hard experiences, but at least I realized that the pan was on the stove before it got so hot it melted to the stove. And at least I was able to clean all the melted plastic off the stove. So I don't have to replace a stove, just a pan and a lid. Also I realized the problem before a fire started. That would definitely been worse. So yes even though bad things happened I can see how I have been blessed to. So I guess it isn't really a "terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day".

D is for Definitely Different

So it may seem to someone who has never had any children or is only the parent of one, that it shouldn't be too hard to not compare your children. They are different individuals and that you should know that and expect that.
Now maybe some parents do. But I can tell you that for me at least it takes some work.
I knew my kids would be different, and not just that one is a boy and one is a girl. But I was still kind of shocked when my son was born, and he looked very different from what his sister looked like when she was born.
My first child was a definite pacifier baby, in fact she is still quite attached to it. My second child will suck on one if it is put in his mouth, but definitely prefers his fist. As my husband put it one time, something I have to get used to is that the pacifier isn't the solution to all the worlds problems with this kid.
My daughter, loved to cuddle and be held for her first 4-5 months of life. My son would rather lay on the floor where he has more freedom to move his limbs around.
My daughter had a hard time nursing, but that is what she wanted to do, she didn't like the bottle. My son, refuses to nurse, the bottle is all he will take.
So yes they are different and I am getting used to it. And you know what I love them all the more for their differences. I don't think I would want two children who are exactly alike.
And I'm sure as they grow I'll come to realize even more differences, and enjoy every minute of it.

P is for patience, potty-training, pacifiers, pressure, and perservierence

Have you ever noticed that there are a lot of things in life that you do or want to do, because you are afraid of what everyone else will think?
For me, I have two that are really getting to me right now. Potty-training, and pacifiers or as it is better known at my house "the plug". So my two-year-old is not potty-trained, and she still uses her plug when she takes a nap, goes to bed, or when she manages to find one I didn't put away. So social pressure tells me that those two things need to be fixed. However my daughter doesn't agree.
So I find myself being wishy-washy and trying at times to master these steps, and at other times not really caring if they get mastered or not. Now this is probably a big part of the problem, I'm not consistent.
So we live in the world of diapers coming off by a toddler who wants to "do own" and then we have messes all over the carpet, and bare bottoms running around, yet refusing to sit on the potty. And pacifiers being thrown out constantly, due to holes from chewing, with the vow that I will not buy any more , yet I still find myself picking up some when I go to the store.
So I have decided that I just need to decide that today will be the day, and stick with it until we have truly mastered the situation. But first am I doing it for them or for me?

T stands for two, terrible, and terrific.

Have you ever dealt with a two-year-old? A two year old is kind of like a diamond. They are both multifaceted. You can be dealing with the sweetest kid in the world one minute and then the next your dealing with a major meltdown. They can be so cute that you want to laugh, and then they do something that makes you want to scream. You can go through happy, sad, crazy, mad, calm, and then yelling all in 30 min. time. But you know what? I love it. I wouldn't trade my two-year-old for anything in the world. She is my pride and joy. She is the best anti-depressant that I have ever had. My heart melts when she looks at me and says "thanks, mama" or when in her best two-year-old way she starts singing all of the songs that she has learned at church or that I have sung to her. So yes a two-year-old brings challenges, like potty-training, and independence, and a very messy house at times. (OK a messy house most of the time) But T also stands for temporary, which is what the two-year-old phase is. So you just have to enjoy the good time, and grin and bear the bad times. For when it is done it is done.