It's a good thing I'm so laid back. If you read my blog, you might think I'm being sarcastic when I say that, but I kid you not. It's true that I'm a bit tightly wound; I do prefer order and control over chaos; but I'm also a very patient person. As long as I don't have other pressing matters on my to-do list, I could wait for hours. I remember way back when I was pregnant and went to the OB for check ups. My doctor was notoriously behind schedule, or across the street at the hospital delivering a baby, who was in hurry to enter the world, instead of considerately waiting until after office hours. Needless to say, I did a lot of waiting; the nurses were always so happy and relieved that I didn't seem bothered. It's true, I was not bothered. If I had other children at home, or a job to get back to, I may not have been so pleasant. No, I'd still be pleasant. I tend to save my unpleasantries for the privacy of our own home.
That's where I turn into Bizzaro Alison.
Anyway, Caroline had an appointment this morning at 11 to see the pediatric pulmonologist. This was recommended since she had pneumonia twice in a nine month period. I assume this is just standard procedure, which I can appreciate. I originally made an appointment for Caroline down at Walter Reed Army Hospital. Walter Reed is a ssssscary place. It's old. It's rickety. It's in the ghetto. I just don't like going there. Knowing that a pediatric pulmonologist comes here to Ft. Belvoir once a week, on Monday I called and tried to finagle an appointment here instead. As luck would have it, an opening was available for today.
Since I know not to look a gift horse in the mouth, I took it. Except, (there's always one of those) after I took the appointment I realized that I had agreed to keep an eye on my neighbor's kids after they returned from VBS today. Their au pair was going to be tied up doing some paperwork and I was going to have them at my house until she got back.
Just a slight problem, no? Thankfully I remembered that Craig would be around, since he doesn't start work until 2pm. Problem solved.
Uh, nope. I forgot that Craig is officially on a "pass" from work for our mini trip, but he still had to go in from 1-5 for some sort of class. Oopsie.
Not to worry, we devised a plan. I was to take Caroline to the doctor and Craig would stay home and wait for Bailey and Seth to arrive. I figured the appointment wouldn't take long (ha! I'm funny) and we'd be back in time for Craig to leave for work by 12:30.
After circling the parking lot for an open space, navigating our way through a narrow one way street and parking far, far, FAR away, we arrived in time for the appointment. Breathless, but on time. I asked the lady at the front desk of the pediatric clinic if we were in the right spot to see the specialist.
"Yes" she told me.
So we sat down.
And waited, waited, waited. Occasionally the girl at the desk would check and report back that the doctor was still with a patient, they're short staffed, blah, blah, blah.
Thankfully there were many babies in the waiting room to occupy Caroline. She kept commenting that there were so many babies and I kept commenting back that duh, this is the pediatric clinic, what did she expect? Caroline is a baby and dog magnet; I'll often find her yapping with the owners of the dogs in our neighborhood. They must think I approve of her wandering the streets meeting up with strange dogs. It's not that I don't approve, Caroline is quite a friendly kid, but sometimes I think that they think I'm buried in a hole, blissfully unaware that my kid is traipsing through the neighborhood befriending every dog (and dog owner) she encounters. Did I ever mention that we used to call Caroline "The Wal Mart Greeter"? She'd be great at that job. When she's sixteen I may casually slip a Wal Mart job application under her bedroom door, just as my dad, on a whim, came home with a McDonald's application for me at the same age.
Anyway, we talked to the babies' moms, got all their vital info, shared our deepest, darkest family secrets (that Caroline is a blabber mouth) and had a grand old time. At 11:40 the lady at the desk took my ID card and went to check on the doctor. As it turns out, I should have been across the hall. Uh, thanks for telling me lady. She kept telling me that none of this was my fault; it must have been her fault. Poor girl. I think she was kind of new to the gig.
Knowing that I needed to leave by 12:15 to get home in time to relieve Craig of his kid watching duties, I asked how long the appointment would take. An hour, she told me.
An hour!
So, to make a long story short (or only slightly longish) we rescheduled for next Wednesday.
And here's the kicker: Bailey and Seth never came over. We waited for them, I even made a pot of macaroni and cheese for their lunch. Baffled by their failure to show, I had Caroline run over to their house at 1pm to check and see if they were there. Guess what, they were home the whole time.
Their au pair is new and probably didn't think to let me know she would be home to greet them.
Oh well.
We don't have anything exciting planned for next Wednesday anyway.
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