However, it turns out that yesterday was the very first day my doctor's office was using a brand new all-electronic charting system and it was really dragging things down. They didn't call me out of the waiting room until it was an hour past my scheduled appointment time, and then of course I wound up sitting in the exam room for a good while before the doctor came in.
Thank goodness for my iPhone with its Solitaire and PvZ games!
On the plus side, my doctor was really very excited about my weight loss. He actually, literally bounced when he entered, "Morbid obesity: resolved" on his tablet computer for me.
On the down side, my reduced weight enabled him to poke at (excuse me, "palpate") my thyroid glands and feel things much better than ever before, and he says he can feel some sort of bumps ("nodules or cysts"), so he wants me to schedule an ultrasound so they can make sure it's nothing to worry about. Whee. I haven't called to schedule that, yet, though. I think I've pretty well used up all my medical patience for this week. I'd really been looking forward to getting back to the gym yesterday, after taking the better part of two weeks off.
Our trip to Atlanta was pretty good. Alex was bored by the airport and the plane, but thanks to the tubes in his ears, at least the pressure changes didn't bother him unduly. He was pretty patient with all the wandering through the airport we had to do, at least, and we'd carefully packed everything carryon so we didn't have to wait on luggage.
I don't usually get rental car insurance, but this time, on a whim, I went ahead and got it. And it turned out to be a good thing, too -- I missed the very last turn to get to my uncle's house, and when I tried to do a u-turn to get back to it, a college kid on his way to work slammed into us. No one was hurt, thank goodness, and we were close enough to our destination that I got my aunt and uncle to walk down the block and get Matt and the kids to take them back to the house so Alex could get the nap that he was long overdue for, by that point.
I'd been hoping to visit my grandmother that afternoon, but it got lost in waiting for the police and then driving back down to the airport to turn the car in, fill out their paperwork, and get a new car. Aside from the hassle of having to drive back to the airport, though, that went very smoothly. I think I'll be investing in the rental insurance from now on.
I did, however, spend the rest of the day with one line from Soul Coughing's "Circles" stuck in my head: "When the gas runs out just wreck it / you've insured the thing"
The rest of the trip was great, though. Wednesday morning, Matt and I took the kids to the Georgia Aquarium. Between Alex getting tired and Penny's blood sugars bounding all over and the huge crowds of people, it wasn't an ideal visit, but Alex really seemed to enjoy looking at the fish and sticking his arms into the touch tanks. And the beluga whales were back, so Penny enjoyed watching them for a while.
That afternoon, while Alex was napping, Penny and Aunt Sharon made cookies. It was a "secret dessert" the two of them had decided on, and they had fun trying to keep the rest of us from peeking. Eventually, only my Uncle Bill "didn't know" and Matt and I were sworn to keep him from finding out.
Later, Bill took Penny outside to help him fill up their fountain. I think Penny went mostly because I pointed out that it would be a good way to "distract" him from trying to figure out what the dessert was. I took my camera to the window to take some pictures of them -- which is how I happened to be watching when she suddenly turned on him.
Thursday, Bill and Sharon came with us to take the kids to Imagine It! which is a children's museum. It was fantastic. Everything was kid-sized, and there were no rules, no long lines to worry about, no one trying to tell the kids how they had to play with things. It was just play, with some sneaky education scattered here and there, like the play-food area, which demonstrated food originating on a farm, then being shipped to the store, then being taken home to be eaten.
There was no moratorium on messes, either: they had sand tables and a huge water-play area (complete with raincoats you could borrow!) and a long wall that kids could paint directly on.
There was a gigantic mechanical contraption that carried plastic balls up and around and over and through (kids could manipulate the contraption to move the balls or make them get stuck in various places) and eventually dumped them from a 2-story height into a huge bin. There was a separate, walled-off area for kids under 2. There were family eating areas and a whole quiet room for nursing mothers. There were tunnels and playhouses and science experiments and dress-up stations and more things that I didn't even get to see. If Alex hadn't been in desperate need of a nap, we quite probably would have had our lunch there and spent the whole day.
Some day, when the kids are a little more comfortable with Bill and Sharon, or we can time a trip to be there at the same time as my parents or John and Sam, I want to send the kids to Imagine It! with someone else and go to the aquarium with just Matt, so we can go slowly and look at everything we want to see.
That night, we had a big family dinner. We picked Grandmom up from her nursing facility, and two of my three cousins were in town. I got to meet David's fiancee, Alexis, and we all toasted Meghan's engagement to Nic (even though Nic hadn't been able to come to dinner). The kids were great, and it was wonderful to be with family.
Friday was the trip home -- nothing to talk about there, except to be happy that the kids were once again well-behaved.
Saturday afternoon, my parents came over to babysit the kids so Matt and I could go out for our anniversary dinner. (A bit early, but it was the only weekend my parents had free in the whole month, so that's when we did it.) We went to Fat Canary, which was decadent and wonderful, and then wandered the bookstore for a few minutes before heading home.
Sunday we took the kids to see How to Train Your Dragon. Somewhat to my surprise, Alex stayed in the theater for the whole movie, though he got a bit squirmy near the end and kept switching back and forth between Matt's lap and mine. But we all liked the movie, and Penny is looking forward to talking dragons with Jess next weekend.
Getting back to work and school yesterday was a bit of a letdown... but also kind of a relief!
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