Hours of My Life

I had to take Jacob to the doctor today for a follow-up appointment to make sure everything had healed nicely from his tonsillectomy, etc. I figured it would take 2 minutes to be seen by the doctor, throw in a half-hour wait we should be back in plenty of time for Maddie to take a nap. Wrong, very wrong. We were there for almost 2 HOURS! And only saw the doctor for 45 seconds! I WAS SO MAD!!!!! It probably wouldn't have been that big of a deal if I hadn't had all three kids that I was trying to keep occupied and out of trouble, and if I wasn't 8 months pregnant, and if there was any apparent reason why it took so long, and if I hadn't spent so many hours of the last few months sitting in doctor's offices doing the exact same thing. Hours that I can never, ever get back. I think today pushed me over the edge. So I have come up with a new Patient's Bill of Rights. I know they give them to you when you go to the hospital, but this one is especially for doctor's offices. For all those future doctors out there listen up, because I have already changed doctors twice since moving here trying to find one that actually cares whether or not their patients are happy being their patients.

Stacey's Patient's Bill of Rights
1. When I call to tell you my kid is sick and needs to be seen today, it is my right to be seen the day that I call, that's what a doctor is for. I will not go to a urgent care clinic to someone I do not know just because it is inconvenient for you to see me. Urgent Care is for weekends and late nights, not the middle of the day when you are in your office. If you can't squeeze in last minute patients that are actually sick, then your workload is too heavy and you need to cut back.
2. It is my right to be seen in a timely manner. If my appointment is at 1:45 p.m. you have a 15 minutes window of time to have me in the exam room, at which time you get another 15-20 minutes maximum to see me. There is no reason, except perhaps Acts of God that would make it necessary for me to wait until 2:30 p.m. to see the doctor when my appointment was at 1:45 p.m. I was on time, I expect you to be too.
3. It is my right when going to a pediatric office that there is something to entertain my children, especially if you are going to keep me waiting for 2 hours! But you won't do that because it will violate Right #2, but still have some crayons, a few books, a movie, something to keep them from breaking your $200,000 equipment that you locked me and three kids up with for 30 minutes.
4. It is my right to receive an apology, a sincere apology, preferably coupled with an actual attempt at making my next visit not so painful. and a refund of my co-pay if any of these above rights are violated. You charge me (or my insurance) an exhoribant amount of money to see me for 45 seconds, if you pay me penny for penny what you get paid for your time, then you owe me a LOT OF MONEY. For instance, if between my insurance and my co-pay I pay $100 for that 45 seconds, you now owe me $15,840 for waiting so long for you to see me, but I'll just take my co-pay back, now isn't that fair?
5. It is my right as your patient to be a little ticked off when I feel like you have neglected me or my children, and to leave your office never to return again, hoping that many will follow in my footsteps and perharps maybe, just maybe, you'll realize that we don't come to you because we have to, there are plenty of other doctors out there.

I feel much better. I think I will hand these over each time I go to a new doctor. They make me sign a bunch of forms, how about one for them to sign? Am I really asking too much? Thanks for letting me vent. Does anyone else have this problem?

The Great Trade-In

Greg and I were at Babies R Us the other night looking to replace our old infant carseat when we found out that they are having a trade-in sale. You bring in your old carseats, bassinets, cribs, high chairs, strollers, or play yards of any age, condition, or brand , they'll give you a 25% off coupon towards anything you want to buy in those categories. For instance, we can bring in our old umbrella stroller that is starting to get holes in it and they'll give us 25% a new car seat. Pretty awesome deal since I didn't pay a dime for that stroller. We kept waiting for a catch, there's only one. You have to bring your stuff in and use the coupon by February 20th. They'll take your old stuff away and destroy it. The idea is to give people an incentive to throw away stuff that's been recalled, not safe, or just shouldn't have ever had anything to do with a baby in the first place. So if you're in the market it's a great deal. I was wondering if you don't have a Babies R Us near you if Toys R Us is doing the same thing or not. Worth checking out though!

Need some Valentine's Ideas?

I found this blog through one of my hair blogs the other day and it is chock full of fun, romantic, and might I add, budget-friendly ideas for you to do for your sweetie pie. For all those who love Valentine's Day, or those who can't ever think of what to do it's great. Sorry, I still haven't figured out why I can't add a link, so just copy and paste the address and it'll take you there.

Happy Valentine's Day!


http://loveactually-blog.blogspot.com/

I Wish...

Tonight Jacob threw himself on the living room sofa while I was cleaning up and said in a despairing voice, "I wish I had wings Mom." I asked him why. He said so that he could fly. "Where would fly if you had wings Jacob?" He screwed up his face and thought for a moment, and announced, "Target." A child after my own heart. If I had wings I would probably fly to Target too. I was expecting him say something dinosaur related but that kid always surprises me. Where would fly to if you had wings?

Bag Balm - The Cure-All

So a couple of summers ago Jacob had to have surgery and the doctor recommended putting bag balm on his surgery site. So we bought a can of it. We put it on a couple of times and he healed nicely. Well, right before Thanksgiving Madalyn got a horrendous diaper rash. We had been putting Desitin on it, baby powder, straight cornstarch, Aquaphor, just about anything we could think of and then we tried our bag balm. Her diaper rash was significantly better in 6 hours. We were thinking of putting off not going to Greg's parents for Thanksgiving all because of a diaper rash. So I have been converted. I found this article today about the myriad of uses bag balm. It's great stuff and worth the $10 a can to have it on hand for whatever.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35170402/ns/business-small_business

Ta-Da!

So I have been scrapbooking for more than 10 years and just this year I departed from the traditonal scrapbooking to explore the world of digital scrapbooking. I am so far behind, with 3 kids and 4 scrapbooks to try and keep up I just kept falling more and more behind. So after being told that this was the way to go (Thanks Leslie and James), I delved in. I started with this year and plan to work my way back. I finished an entire year in less than 2 months and I only have to make each page once instead of up to 4 times. HOORAY! So here is my scrapbook of 2009. I hope you enjoy looking at it as much as we had living it. I am sorry it's so small, I don't know how to make it bigger. If you want to see a bigger video you can email me and I'll send you the pdf file. You'll get the idea anyway,

Heart Hair

I realize that Valentine's Day is a little while off, but I wanted to post a hair do and I found this one from last year. It is Lorelei's absolute favorite do. If I did it as often as she requested it she would have it at least once a week. Unfortunately for her I like a little more variety than that. I only have one picture, we must have been running late for church (as always). So this is actually quite easy. You make a nice neat half ponytail (a talent all in itself, I still haven't mastered that)and then split it in two sections. Either corkscrew braid (divide into two sections and twist both in the same direction and then twist together in the opposite direction) or regular braid each section and put in some clear ponytail holders (you can use color and take them out later, but I like a little added security). Stick your finger in the middle of the half ponytail above the ponytail holder and pull your sections up through. So it flips it and the sections should automatically curve a little. Bring the braided sections down and combine with the hair that has been left down. Make another ponytail and then kind of shape the heart and if you have a very wiggly child add a couple of bobby pins to help keep it's shape. Add a pretty bow on the bottom ponytail and you can take out the ponytail holders from the braids if you feel confident that they'll stay in, my bow would hide the holders you can see in the picture. Curl the ponytail and there you have it. This stays better if done on pretty wet hair, so either spray it down or do it right from the tub. If you do it on dry hair use a lot of pomade (wax) to keep the flyaways from driving you crazy later.