God Provides...He Even Provides Doctors

I am a firm believer that the Lord puts people in your life for a reason and I received validation of this belief today.

Olivia Grace's doctor used to be Dr. Principe at Georgetown Pediatrics and Internal Medicine. I absolutely LOVED him. He was wonderful so you can imagine how devastated I was when he got a job at the hospital and left the practice.

I went through all the stages of grief. First was denial - he really isn't leaving. Second was anger - how dare he leave us. Then came bargaining - I would be willing to pay a little extra if he could just stay. Next was depression - I was soooo sad that he wouldn't be our doctor anymore and all I could think of was would we ever find anyone as good as him. The last stage was acceptance and boy did that take a while. When I got pregnant with Carter, I was very worried about who his doctor was going to be. I even went as far as listing another doctor in the practice as the pediatrician on my file for the hospital.

In August, Olivia Grace had her four year old appointment and shots for school. Dr. Ratz was the new doctor taking Dr. Principe's place but I didn't have high expectations. After the appointment, I was extremely impressed. He was young, had children the age of mine, and seemed very knowledgeable. I guess I really had made it to that last stage of grief - acceptance. I actually accepted Dr. Ratz as our new pediatrician. I was so impressed that I even changed the pediatrician on my file for Carter. After Carter was born, we were totally hooked. Dr. Ratz was great! He stole Craig's heart because they actually had something in common - the love of sports. Carter wore a Clemson hat after he was born. When Dr. Ratz got him to circumcise him, he put a piece of tape over the tiger paw with Penn State written on it because that is his alumni.

Dr. Ratz is a great pediatrician but today I realized that he isn't just a pediatrician that happened to take the place of Dr. Principe. The Lord put him in our lives for a reason. I had to take OG to the doctor today because she was running a very high fever last night. We found out the she had the flu, even though she had flu mist. Everyone in the family could be treated for the flu except for Carter because he is too young. Once he told me that, I was a bit upset. I replied by saying just our luck...if it is around, we are going to get it. Well...Dr. Ratz quickly put me in my place by saying, "Tanya, the flu is much better than something long term. We want to keep the cancers and such away so we will settle with things like the flu. It can be treated and we are done with it in a short amount of time." I knew right then that was the Lord! He was making sure I knew that He was taking care of my children, even though I was being ungrateful. As I was driving home, I found myself praying over and over. "Thank you, Lord, for taking care of my children. Thank you for covering them and only allowing them to get things that can be treated and have no long term effects. Thank you for putting Dr. Ratz in our lives to make me aware of how grateful I should actually be."

I thought I should share this story with all of my mommy friends because we get so caught up in how bad these viruses and colds can be on our little ones. Dr. Ratz (which is now the BEST doctor in the world) made sure I understood just how blessed we really are. Thank the Lord for people like Dr. Ratz!!

Boys vs. Girls

Carter is extremely mobile and has been for a few months. I haven't really compared my children much but I knew Olivia Grace didn't crawl until much later. I took out the baby books today and compared just a little. Much of what I learned in college about the development of children seems to be true. Girls develop faster, verbally, than boys and boys develop faster, physically, than girls. Olivia Grace didn't crawl until she was nine months and Carter has been crawling since he was six months. However, she was saying da-da (daddy) and boo-boo (bye bye) at eight months and he is just now starting to say different sounds. I am getting a little worried that he may walk sooner than she did as well. I remember wanting her to take those first steps sooo badly. I would sit for hours and call her so that she would try to walk to me. I know better now! Once they start walking, it is over!

Any privacy you may have had in the bathroom is gone!

Cooking or cleaning without "help" is over!

Keeping your cabinets and drawers straight and organized is over!

Relaxation in the tub is gone (even daddy can't contain the walker)!

Most importantly, and the one that makes me the most sad, is that the baby stage is over! No more sitting and rocking...you officially have a toddler that can and wants to get into everything!

Carter is trying to pull up on the side of the couch. He is very unsteady but the fact that he is trying worries me. I found him in a new position yesterday and finally got a picture of it today. I must admit, it is absolutely precious to see him sit in this position and try to play with toys at the same time. I guess this may be another way of strengthening his legs in preparation for standing or it may just be something crazy that he likes to do for no apparent reason. Either way, I had to share!!