Never Again...

Never again will I attempt to handle both of my children AND my rowdy golden retriever at the veterinarian's office. Yesterday, I told you all about Jack's thyroid issue. Today, we needed to bring him to the vet so they could take a blood sample and determine if the medication we're giving him is the right dosage. Not a problem, right? I knew it would be a quick trip, so I made an appointment for 11:30am, and planned to bring both kids to the vet with me. First problem of the day: I over-slept. Jack's appointment time was based on me giving him his medicine at 7:30 am. Here it was, 8:45am---I was over an hour late. Darn! I called the vet and they switched the appointment to 2pm for the same day. No problem again, right? This is where the second issue came into play: Hannah is almost always sleeping at 2pm. Was I going to wake her up early from her nap and risk a crabby toddler by dinnertime OR keep her awake until after the vet appointment and risk a crabby toddler at the vet's office. I decided for the latter, since she, too, slept-in in the morning.

So, off we went to the vet. The comedy routine began as I got out of the car and had an unusually clingy Caleb grabbing at my legs as I tried to get Hannah of her car seat. At the same time, Jack jumped out of the car but luckily, I had him by the leash. Unluckily, I didn't have a good hold on the leash, or on Hannah whom I had just unbuckled. Jack went wandering over to a patch of grass, with Caleb following (he had some how grabbed the leash as it wiggled by his feet) and Hannah was sliding down the captain's chair in the car, about to fall onto the floor. Ugh. I got a hold of everyone, and entered the vet's office, where two older receptionists had obviously been watching the chaos outside. We weighed Jack (73 pounds---much better than the 87 pounds he was at the last visit) and they put us in an exam room. The veterinarian's assistant came in to take Jack's blood and I was trying to comfort Jack while making sure the kids stayed across the room. I've previously had an assistant there who did not know what she was doing and almost poked ME with the needle as she was trying to poke Jack. I could just see a tragedy ensue if the kids got too close and Jack freaked out, but luckily, Jack was a champ and the kids came only close enough to pat Jack's cheek.

The main portion of our visit is over and done with. The assistant said that she would enter the information into the computer and then we could leave. She left the room, closing the door behind her, which made me think that we needed to wait in the room until she told us to leave. So, a good 10 minutes go by and might I add, they are 10 of the most stressful minutes of my life. Not only was Jack roaming around the room anxiously (needing to use that patch of grass he saw earlier, no doubt) but Caleb and Hannah turned into "monster children" all of a sudden. Hannah's lack of sleep kicked in and she decided to touch and get into everything she could. Venetian blinds, cabinets containing cleaning solutions, threatening to touch electrical outlets (which she never does at home). She even stuck her hand in a VCR (yep, there was a TV and VCR in the exam room) and I was sure she would get it stuck. Caleb, like his sister, turned off his "listening ears". Everything I would tell his sister NOT to do, he would do! It was like some horrible game and I was the one losing. I kept peeking at the clock, thinking "Where is that lady?! Doesn't she realize how excruciating it is to be couped up in this room with two small children and a dog that obviously has to go outside???" I ended up sticking my head out the door and asking one of the receptionists if we were still supposed to wait for the assistant. "Nope. You've been done for awhile," she says. Grrrrreat. So, I was just hanging out in that room for my HEALTH. Nice! We emerge, with Hannah giving an ear-piercing shriek when she entered the lobby. I got to pay over $100 (whoo-hoo) while my kids decided to destroy the organization of a small collection of toys in the waiting area. No only did Caleb take all of the pieces of a puzzle and rudely throw them on the floor, but Hannah somehow folded in the legs of a table, which in turn, knocked a huge bucket of Legos and animal figurines onto the floor. To make matters worse, while I was on my knees trying to pick everything up (while the receptionists were watching me, unhelpfully, and commenting on how spunky my children are), a woman with a cat entered the lobby, sending Jack racing over to her and her holding her little cat-carrier over her head while I am pulling Jack's leash back over to me with all of my might. Finally, I decided that I needed to GET THE HECK OUT OF THERE. I gathered up my family and literally shoved them all into the car. I'm sure the receptionists were commenting about me after I left, but all I could think about was getting everyone home and in bed for naps. Why is it that my kids and dog will be perfect most places but when they decide to "act up", they ALL do it at the SAME TIME? It's a mystery.