Okay…so with 8 people in the family I dread the doctors question, “When was the last time your daughter had strep throat?” (or any other illness, for that matter).

How the heck am I supposed to remember with 6 kids? THEY ALL GET IT! One starts it off and then the rest are sick for weeks. It’s a month before I can surface again and resume normal life. If it’s a stomach virus…don’t get me started.

We had to treat our entire family for scabies one time (contracted from our pet rat…who is no longer our pet…animal rights people, hate me). I took an entire household of linens and clothes to the Laundromat. $65 later and $300 worth of medicine for 3 weeks x 8 people, we were cured. I decided years ago that I needed a better system.

Here’s the log.

I won’t show the pages because you’d fall over dead to see how many times we go to the doctor in 1 year.

This was done very quickly and I’m still using it. It’s one of my not-so Pretty Organizers.

• I divide the notebook into sections.
• Every family member gets their own page.
• Every time my kids get a prescription or have a major event, I write the date and a short note of what it was for.
• I use the stickers that Walgreen’s or CVS gives you with your prescription and stick them to the entry so I know exactly what was prescribed and in what dose… this helps if the medication needs to be changed.
• After several years we have a pretty comprehensive medical history that I can proudly recite when a doctor asks me. I can even tell him what he prescribed!

Now when I go to the doctor,  I take my log (at the risk of looking like the world’s biggest dork).

When the doctor asks his questions,  I flip to the correct kid and watch him gasp. Then I wait for his eyes to pop back in his head and give him the full medical history of my child’s ailments. Without fail, I walk out of the doctor’s office a model maternal patient. It’s really too bad they don’t hand chocolate out to the moms for keeping good records.

And, do you think he wonders if I KNOW what I’m talking about? Ever? Nope. Can’t argue with a mama that has year’s worth of correct diagnoses and evidence in front of her.

Image Credit: Pretty Organizer’s Family