Oy vey, what a day

Today has been a very, very busy day. I took the day off, because we had accidentally scheduled Colin for two doctors appointments today — he was supposed to have his hearing test at the audiology department at Illinois Masonic and then he and Veronica had their 15 month appointment (hey, they don’t turn 16 months until tomorrow) at the pediatrician this afternoon. 

So, you may have noticed I said “was supposed to have” his hearing test this morning. Yes, that’s true. We were all set for the appointment, even to the point of putting Colin down for a very early nap, since the appointment was at 10:00, smack in the middle of nap time. Unfortunately, John got to the hospital, waited in line to register, and realized he had not stuck the referral in his wallet like the thought.

They won’t see you without the referral, so John tried calling me to see if I could fax it over to the hospital. And that was no easy task. Neither John nor I have much luck getting cell phone reception at Illinois Masonic, and the one public phone they showed John wouldn’t put the call through. They finally let John use the desk phone, but as luck would have it, his call came at the same time I was upstairs with a crying Veronica, so I didn’t even hear the phone ring.

So a frustrated John and wiped out Colin came home at 10:15. Veronica and I had been planning to head out in search of mittens (because her little hands were like ice cubes this morning when we took Ethan to school), so we decided it was a fine time for a quick family trip to Target. An hour and a half (and $250) later, we were home in time to have a very quick lunch, then off to the pediatrician’s office. 

Colin’s lungs sound rather gurgly, which I could tell even without the stethoscope. So now we’ll be giving Colin at least one treatment a day of the Atrovent to help him breathe easier. Colin has dropped back down lower on the growth charts, despite our somewhat half hearted (or maybe I should say half focused) efforts to ply him with extra calories. He’s still below the chart on both weight and height, but has fallen back further on height.

So we're also now going to be seeing a nutritionist for him. (I want to see a nutritionist for me, but no one has prescribed a visit yet, so I guess I’m out of luck. Darn!) One more thing to squeeze in to our already full calendar. But with luck, it will make a difference.

Veronica is doing great, health-wise (and really in pretty much everything, except her sleeping). She’s gotten even taller (31.5 inches, if they measured correctly) and is in the 75th percentile for height. Her 21 pounds 11 ounces puts her in the 30th percentile for weight.

Both babies were getting pretty tired by now, and this appointment involved a blood draw as well as two shots. They weren’t happy campers by the time we went home. Fortunately, they tend to bounce back pretty quickly (and we’ll give them a dose of Tylenol before bed, just in case), so I am hopeful that tomorrow will be a better day. 

And just for kicks, here are a couple of pictures of them in their Halloween costumes from yesterday.

They each thought the other was cute in their costumes, my little skele-babies.

Colin is loving (to eat) the ghost duck our friend Joy brought him.

Veronica is getting tired of all the photos here. 

What a difference a year makes, huh? This time last year, Colin had only been home from the hospital for a few days, Roni was still hooked up to the apnea monitor, and the two of them together weighed less than Ethan did at birth.