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Meanwhile, my 2-year-old is climbing all over the examination table, ripping up the protective paper sheet and yelling at the top of her lungs to try to get our attention. The 8-year-old is feeding into this by tickling her and taking away her "nunny" (a little plush bunny blanket that she has with her always), which makes her squeal with discontent. At this point, I am sweating my ass off and wanting nothing more than to just get the hell out of Dodge before I lose my cool and pick them up by the backs of their necks and throw them in the car. But the best is yet to come. My 8-year-old has to have a (dramatic pause) SHOT.

Oh God, no. Please, no. One of his biggest fears is needles. He is not just scared of them, he is terrified. To the point where he is constantly asking when he has to have another one and he will actually cry just thinking about it. Turns out now there is a second chicken pox vaccine that I didn't know about, and the doctor wants him to have it. He is not having any of it.

First he runs out the door and down the hall. I run after him, leaving the 2-year-old in the exam room, praying that she stays put. I get him back in the room, only for him to hide under the exam table. I look at the nurse and she looks less than amused. "I can't do it if he is going to be this way," she says. I finally get him out and we sit and I try to hold his arms with him on my lap, but he wiggles free. The nurse decides that, no, we will not give him the shot today.

But now I am pissed, and I am not walking away without him getting the shot. If we do that then we just have to come back and go through this all over again and he knows that we already gave up once, so he will just keep fighting. I talk to him. I cajole, I am calm and patient and I explain all the things that hurt more than a shot and that he can handle it. Finally, good old bribery is resorted to and I tell him he will get a prize for being so brave. He agrees and I get the nurse. I hold him tightly while she gives him the shot. He cries. I feel like crap. But it is over.

We get our stickers, we say goodbye and I walk, weak-kneed, out to the car with my tear-faced little boy. These are the days that we are never fully prepared for, that you never imagine when you are fantasizing about having your beautiful babies come into this world. These are the days that motherhood is JUST NOT COOL. But you know what? There are a lot of days that motherhood is pretty cool. So I guess we take the good with the bad and work on not going slowly and completely insane.