Well Child Visits and A Trip to the Botanic Gardens

Thomas and Elin had their 2 and 4 year old well child visits on Friday morning.  After a Tuesday-Thursday travel week for Mike he decided to take the day off and spend it with us, which we were so excited about. 

The kiddos both did great in their checkups, they were cooperative and there were not any tears.   I had a few questions that I wanted answered for each kiddo, we will start with Thomas.  I wanted to have his moles checked to see if they “looked ok” to the doctor. We also asked about his lymph nodes that continue to be swollen in his groin and the doctor was also not concerned with those.  Thomas was 39 inches and 34.8 lbs.  Everything else looked great and best news for Thomas was he didn’t need any shots, he was pretty concerned as we drove to the appointment.  He said “Mom, I know I am super brave when I get a shot and that I don’t cry but I still don’t like them and don’t want to get one.” 

For Miss Elin I had some questions about her cold/allergy tendencies and the fact that if she is around someone sick she always seems to catch their cold no matter what.  He recommended some extra supplements she could take to help boost her immune system and then said we could do allergy testing after we have lived in Texas for a year.  I don’t know that we will test for allergies, but we will probably treat her symptoms for them as all of us, mostly she and Mike, have been struggling this season.  I then asked about her belly button as it is an “outtie” and could possibly be a little hernia.  He said it felt ok, could be a small hernia but that at this point he would wait to see if it is painful to her, which she has shown no signs of at this point.  So all great news there, she too did not need any shots and her statistics were 33 inches and 23.4 lbs. 

Mike and I too were very impressed with the doctor and really liked him. Although I had Elin’s 18 month appointment with this same practice I had seen a nurse practitioner as this doctor is very popular in the area.  He books out well in advance and then saves several slots a day for sick patient visits, which we really appreciate.  All in all a great visit and nice to hear the kids look good and healthy and are developing on track. 

After the kiddos appointments we were off to the Botanic Gardens.  We started in the Children’s garden in the opposite direction as we had the last visit and were able to check out everything we had previously missed.  I am still so impressed with this facility and highly recommend it. 

The first exhibit was about growing foods and what foods come from different places in the world. Then it was off to the wetland exhibit, where the binoculars and coyote statutes were the hits.Again the tree house net climb didn’t phase Elin but Thomas was super cautious.  In fact he was not even going to walk on the same area Mike and I were on, because he didn’t think that it could hold us all.  Finally he and Elin went to a spot all on their own and then he came back and made it out to touch the tree.  Both Mike and I were so proud of him pushing his limits and his fears and overcoming them, in this particular instance.  Then we went to probably our favorite exhibit of the area.  It is the area for kids under 5 and it has the play house, sand box and a few water play features.  It was about noon by this point and already 80ish degrees.  We spent a good 45 minutes in this area and then we were all ready for a late lunch.  The kiddos too were starting to show how tired they were getting.  We headed over to the little café and Thomas ordered for he and Mike.  He politly told the waitress that he and his Dad would “both take the chicken salad sandwich.”  Mike and I were giggling, he loves being just like his Daddy.   Following lunch we checked out the rose garden which smelt absolutely heavenly.  I love the smell of roses and roses in general, Mike on the other hand isn’t a big fan.  Hopefully when we redo the front landscaping we can add a few rose bushes in for me!We then strolled through the “test gardens” to see what we could.  This is an area that is strictly for testing different plants from different nurseries to see how they grow stand up to the climate in North Texas. As we walked to the water fountain area their was a nice woman that saw me taking a picture of Mike and the kiddos and offered to take a family picture, yaay1  Love having a picture of all 4 (or well 5 of us) even if it shows how big this belly (and I) and getting.  Then it was time to enjoy the water feature and the kids burned their last ounces of energy.  When they were good and tired we dried them off, changed their clothes and headed to the car.  Elin was asleep before we got out of the parking lot, Thomas was soon behind.  Mike and I took the time to chill together and then he stopped at the grocery store.  I kept the kiddos in the car snoozing and all was well.  They both took a long car nap and then were ready for the night of fun we had planned.  More on that in the next post!