Keeping kids busy during doctor visits

So one thing baby girl has become an expert at is going to the doctor with me.  She's always gone with me, but when you have complications from surgery, you tend to go more often than just the twice a year.

So this post is all about how to keep kids busy while you are at the doctors.

The first one is to find a child friendly doctor!  I know this is easier said that done sometimes, but I have found that just letting the first person you speak with to make an appointment know that your child will be coming with you, they will tell you if that is okay or not.  If it's not, I say cancel the appointment and find another doctor, if you can.

Second tip is have something they love doing, but aren't generally allowed to do, with you so they can enjoy their time.  For baby girl, that is coloring with pen in a notebook.  She loves it.  I hate when she does it, because she doesn't always keep to the paper at home.  But at the doctor, no problem at all.



Bring books!  Lots and lots of books!  I found that baby girl will sit and read 2 or 3 books over and over while I'm talking to the doctor.  I was amazed the first time it happened.

The tablet.  I know, screen time is controversial, but honestly it works.  Baby girl is learning how to work her own tablet, so she can watch a movie or play a game with little help from me.

Be prepared to ask questions again, and probably bring your own notebook in order to write down answers, just in case you get distracted and forget by the time you get home.

And finally, let the kiddo have a little fun.  We were the only ones in the waiting room this last time, and so I happily let baby girl crawl over chairs.  Sure, maybe not the most hygienic thing to do.  There are germs everywhere in doctor waiting rooms.  But she loved having a little freedom and sat better in the appointment when given that freedom.














I've found doctors here absolutely love when baby girl comes with me.  They love interacting with her and don't mind having to speak around a very talkative 2 year old.

learning tower

We have one.  Mostly because I have the most awesome in laws a man could ask for.  My FIL is a wizard with wood working and agreed to help complete the DIY Ikea hack learning tower (I'll link at the end of the post).

Here she is using it for the first time.  Helping daddy make breakfast while I was still in big recovery mode from surgery.  (Hence the not the best picture and the abundance of junk food on the counter!)

The hack was easy enough to make, and my FIL was even able to easily make a few modifications to make sure there were no sticky outty things for baby girl to hurt herself on.  (Can't you tell I'm just oh so informed on wood working, haha!)

A close up of what my FIL added.  The step stool was pre fab from Ikea, then he did the top work to give her a secure frame to stand in.  Which was really important as the few times we tried to just use the step stool she fell, each time.  The stool just went out from under her.  So that frame is very important!

And baby girl loooooves it!  She uses it every chance she gets!  She is so focused on her work when she's up there.  Or getting into mischief like opening all the drawers, which is still a fun task because it's so new.  But she is able to help in all sorts of ways.

Her banana work.  She's not the best cutter, but it gets the job done.  She was also enjoying the fruits of her labor and she munched on the banana as she cut it.  I'm not sure daddy actually got any of it, but such is life with a toddler!

I highly recommend everyone get some way for their child to help in the kitchen!  The tower was inexpensive because my FIL was able to help, but the instructions are easy enough I think even non wood working wizards would be able to complete the task!

This was the basic instructions he followed! I can't promise how closely they were followed, as he is a wizard so he adapted it when he felt it needed to be adapted.  http://www.lattesandlaughter.com/2014/09/ikea-learning-tower-hack.html

PRIDE BABY!

Of course one of the most exciting times about August is the local Pride celebration.

Now, we are gay... so of course Pride is huge for us.  Pride is a riot that has turned into a celebration that may be needing to turn back into a riot.  Who knows in our currently climate what Pride will hold.

But this year, it held us and our friends!  We had a big group and just had so much fun!  I'm just gonna basically do a photo dump of pictures from everything.

Enjoy!

Day one:

My shirt.  I am super proud of my shirt because it is the perfect description of me.  :-D

My baby is cooler than yours.  Traveling in style with her new pink glasses and multicolor beads. Her wagon was FULL of free goodies vendors were more than happy to throw at her during the entire event!

Traveling in style.  When baby gets tired in her wagon, she just laid down.  She got MORE stuff thrown at her for being so cute laying down!

This picture just melts my heart.  This is another of baby girl's friends, and they were soooo cute riding in this wagon together. They really are holding hands, on purpose.  How cute is that!!



Day 2, The Parade!:

These were our second day Pride shirts!  Oh yes, we were the group that made shirts!  And they were perfect.

The little boy in the tutu is also one of our group.  He's baby girl's bestie and holy fuck isn't he adorable with bat wings and a tutu?!

 The parade was a lot of fun and I think as the kiddos age they will have even more fun watching and participating.  The oldest kid member of our group enjoyed getting a lot of candy and yelling as loud as she could.  It was awesome.

So all in all I count Pride as a win win win!

sad recovery

Sometimes there are parts of recovery that are just sad.  The lack of being able to snuggle was the hardest for baby girl and myself.  

I've been her primary caregiver since birth and suddenly I wasn't.  She was relying on grandparents and her daddy (all very competent people in her life) but it just wasn't the same.  

Then complications set in and things got to the point where she couldn't even touch me because it just hurt too much. 

As we come out on the other end of this surgery experience, it is so hard to look back at some of these photos I have, but this one speaks to me. 

This is the sadness of recovery when you have a parent who is sick.  

While I was away at yet another doctor's appointment, baby girl curls up in my chair.  She couldn't be on my lap, but this was her way of being close to me.  It breaks my heart, but also warms my heart. 

Recovery has been hard but knowing that every day I get closer to being able to snuggle her again makes it worth it.  

Lunch time!

So I am trying something new with baby girl.  With having limited mobility due to surgery complications, I have been trying to make things as simple as possible since my husband has gone back to work.

Enter lunch boxes!

Simple lunch things I can have help making the night before that I can pull out and share with the baby throughout the afternoon.

I have only done two (and apparently only got a picture of one, whoops!) but it has worked pretty well.  It is nice to have something simple to pull out of the fridge and just set out for her.

It's also nice to have things already made for me so I don't have to use my energy to think.

So for this day it was a sandwich, grapes, and pineapples and cottage cheese for me.  For her it was a little homemade lunchable... chicken deli meat, cheese, crackers, grapes, and mini pepperonis.  She ate a bit of it, but she munched on it all day, which was great for not needing to get a bunch of snacks out all day.

I highly recommend this method!  And we may even continue when I have full mobility back again.

And the best part is we are usually home, so if we want something else, we just make something else and keep that lunch for the next day.

PRIDE survival guide with children

So I have been looking around for things to take to PRIDE.  Kind of like a pride survival list of things I need when attending pride with kids.

I know the basics and I know Pride isn't in some remote desert somewhere that I won't be able to buy anything, but I feel like the always be prepared motto really comes into play when you are in a large crowd with a small child.

So baby girl is 2.  So this is our PRIDE survival guide with children!

Almost everything!

1) Sunscreen.

Sunscreen and hand sanitizer!

The reality is you can never have too much sunscreen.  There is absolutely no reason to burn while out in the sun living it up.  So bring your sunscreen, whatever that may be.  And if you have a particularly pale child, lots of cover up clothing and a hat will probably be very useful.  I find shade at Prides to be lacking.

2) Water.

Yes, you can always buy water at the vendors.  But what we learned last year was that the lines were long.  And I mean Loooooooooong.  Long enough that waiting for just a bottle of water was a waste of time we could have been visiting other vendors.  So bring water.  And with a toddler, bring a cup they can drink out of if they can't drink from a bottle.  I often forget not every child has mastered the drink from an open cup thing like mine has.

3) Snacks.

Much like water, it's just good to always have some.  You never know when the toddler is going to decide she is dying of starvation and much eat now!  And she will just start screaming EAT EAT EAT! at the top of her little lungs.




4) A place to put it all.

We are converting our old diaper bag into a command center for Pride.  It will house all the things we need.  Obviously it's easy to carry and everyone already knows you need a diaper bag with toddlers anyways, so it's not out of place.

5) Extra clothes, diapers, wipes...

Yes, this is not at the top of the list because I debated even putting it in the list.  When you have child, you must always have extra everything they put on their body and ways to clean them.  I feel like this is a gimme, but I'm going to put it so someone doesn't comment about it not being there!  And make sure it's 3 times the amount you think you might need!

6) Bathing suit

No, not everyone will need this, but you never know when a fountain might present itself on a hot day and would you really want to deny your child the joys of getting soaking wet and wearing themselves out in the process?  I wouldn't.  But I also don't want to carry around a went child afterwards, so having clothes they can get wet in is a bonus to not having to carry a wet child.


7) Medicines.

You never know when teething may strike or an owie become an issue.  So always have some acetaminophen and ibuprofen close by.  We carry that and Benadryl at all times.  You just never know!  Add in some band aids, because kiddo is obsessed, and we have our own little first aid kit!

8) Some way to contain them in a crowd.

We have multiple ways we are taking this year... and hopefully one will work.  We plan to have a wagon to carry child and stuff.  Also a great place for her to nap if she becomes tired during the day!  But if she wants to get out and walk around we also plan to have out toddler backpack leash.  Yes, I know leashes for children are super controversial in some circles.  I don't run in those circles, so I couldn't care less what others think of me and my kid with her backpack leash.  We also have a carrier I'm debating throwing in the bag just in case, but that is still being debated at the time of this writing.  You can never have too many ways to contain your child.  One has to work, right?!  Right?!!!!!!!

9) A good attitude.

Look, I know everyone puts this on this list.  But let's be serious for a moment.  Things are gonna go wrong.  It's going to be hot.  The kid is gonna be cranky at some point when she's sleepy.  You cannot control everything, no matter how awesome your bag is packed.  So being able to go with the flow is a must.  This year we are going with a 2 year old (a task itself) but I am also still recovering from the complications from surgery, so we have an added layer of something to watch out for and worry about.  But the point of pride is to get out and meet with community.  To find kin and have a good time.  Making sure you walk out of the house with a good attitude helps that.  It helps everyone to remember what this is about.  This is a riot of community coming together to remind everyone we are still here, we still demand equal rights, and we aren't going anywhere.  So go with that good attitude and have a good time.

It is worth it.  It will always be worth it.

I have not forgotten you

Sometimes life throws side winders and smacks you in the nuts.

This is one of those times.

I had surgery and as a result have had massive complications.

Which means life as we know it has been put on hold while I take medicine after medicine.

And spent some quality time hooked up to a wound vac.

Which, BTW, was super cool as a medical tool, but not so much as an accessory.

But as I heal and things are starting to get back to normal (well, as normal as they can be when you still have large, draining holes in your body) this blog will start getting some attention again.

I appreciate your patience as I work to heal.  I am not promising any schedule or exciting post.  But regardless, I have plans and drafts again!

But until there here is a picture that is our reality of healing from surgery...

The baby on one side, the wound vac on the other.  

Here's to quick healing and more blog posts!