Safe Kids Fair and Another Instacare Trip

We ventured out of the house.  All of us -- to an actual public place!  It was awesome.  Um, until we were there for a half hour of nonstop Isaac-screaming, so I left to take him to Instacare.  Of course.  :-)

Let me start over though.  So, every February, we try and go to the "Safe Kids Fair" at the Expo Center.  We didn't make it last year, I think due to swine flu or something, so once it seemed like everyone was well enough, I was excited we'd be able to make it this year.  My Mom, Dad, my sister Talina, her husband David, and my sister Star, all met up with Greg, the kids and I on Saturday afternoon to explore the fair.  Actually, the kids and I had gone for a few hours on Friday as well -- it's free, so why not?  Greg met up with us after work, and with the 'snow storm', the place was fairly vacant and we were able to climb around in helicopters, do the bike rodeo and play in fire trucks without ever waiting in line.  But, because this has become such a fun tradition in my family, we all met up on Saturday again when everyone was off work.  There were a ton more people there, and the lines were kinda ridiculous at times, but Ellie got to talk to Belle and Elmo (there's a lot of people walking around in costume) and Annie got her face painted, so all in all, I'd call the outing successful.  Except for the whole pesky INSTACARE VISIT!  Grrrr.  Anyway, Isaac had been fussy that day.  He completely skipped his nap, and I knew we were in for it at the Fair.  I almost debated not going, but everyone was looking forward to it and after being cooped up for so long, I didn't want to miss out either!  We got there and I cuddled Isaac down into the sling and hoped he'd fall asleep soon.  Except, he didn't.  He started to cry.  Then scream.  Then scream bloody murder in a way that was frightening other small children and my sisters.  So, Greg moved his carseat into my sister's car, and Star and I headed off to Instacare with him.  I was convinced he'd have an ear infection.  'Cause in my house, that's usually the source of all unexplained screaming and nap-skipping.  Star and I got to the closest Instacare and I went to check in.  My heart kinda sunk at the sight of many, many people waiting to be seen.  Then I found out this Instacare didn't have a built in Kidscare (the difference being that Isaac would be seen by a pediatrician at Kidscare and it would cost me $20 vs. $50.)  So, Star and I loaded him back up into the car and headed to another Kidscare with Isaac.  (Along those same lines, I got nine -- NINE! -- insurance statements/'explanation of benefits' in the mail on Saturday.  Nine!  And that doesn't even cover one of our ER visits and a couple more doctors and Instacare visits).  Fortunately, there was NO wait at this Kidscare, and I saved $30, so I was happy about how things turned out.  Isaac weighed in at 17lbs 10oz. (this adds nothing to the story, I just like having these things recorded for posterity and all that), and he spent the rest of the time happily interacting with the nurse and doctor.  And starting at his fist that he was holding out in front of himself like he was stoned or something.  It was kinda funny.  I think it was just lack of sleep, and not that my seven month old was actually high.  After an initial scare of his oxygen looking like it was in the 80s again (I almost had some kinda PTSD episode when I saw that), but after reattaching the leads to his foot, the pulse ox showed a much more respectable 97, and I could breathe again.  The doctor listened to Isaac's chest and declared the RSV pretty much gone.  I could've kissed the man.  He asked how long I'd been told RSV would last, and I said 10-14 days, thus my growing concern after WEEKS of illness.  He shook his head and said he always tells parents to expect a month or better of recovery.  Well, that would've been nice to hear from the beginning!  Anyway, this wasn't the RSV anyway, so he checked the ears and they looked great.  Here's where I almost had another mini-panic attack.  See, I've been dragging Isaac into the doctor's the last couple week's 'cause he's been so fussy/grumpy/pissy/angry/sad/sick/etc.  And every time they've shrugged it off as 'nothing's wrong, he's still jut getting over RSV.'  Well, this time the doctor, looking into his throat, exclaimed that it was DEFINITELY really red and the poor kid had a sore throat.  Yay!  I mean, I felt bad for poor Isaac . . . but it was an ACTUAL diagnosis of what was wrong, and not a sympathetic 'sorry crazy-Mom, you're just bringing your kid in for nothing and wasting another $20' shrug.  So, I was told to dope him up on some Motrin, and expect a few more nights of suckiness (probably not the Doctor's exact words), and to 'feed him a lot, because it'll make his throat feel better,' which almost made me laugh out loud since I've been feeding the kid almost hourly at night lately.  So, he checked out as relatively OK, with yet another bug to fight off, but nothing nasty.  So, we headed off to meet back up with the family for pizza.  Thanks Star for dragging me and my sick baby all over in your nifty new car!

So, I missed most of our outing -- but fortunately, Greg did a FANTASTIC job of taking pictures.  So, because this is my first time going through them too, y'all get to see all the fun stuff my kids got to do yesterday, after nearly a month of quarantine.  (Well, technically, Annie got to go on her field trip, but there's been an unprecedented amount of time spent within the confines of our own home lately, so it was good for the kids to get to go do something fun and active!)

Ellie in her 'Silly Monkey' shirt, kinda looking like a silly monkey.  So I liked this one. :-)

Aw, such sweet sisters!

And they love each other!  (Usually)

On the 'Tumble Bus' -- this was a favorite of theirs -- a bus that was turned into a jungle gym/obstacle course inside.

Annie driving the fire truck.

Passengers on the fire truck.

Annie and Uncle David and some kinda gila monster or something . . .

Face painted Ellie -- she was SO happy about this!

Face painted Annie.  Annie happily waited in a very long line to get this done.  It was pretty much the only thing she was really interested in doing after they'd been there for awhile.

Ellie riding the police motorcycle -- and Aunt Talina with some strange third eye :-)

Angry biker chick Ellie.

Annie on the motorcycle.

Annie loved the obstacle course.

Going through the tubes to get to the 'fire'.

My two little firefighters dragging the hose to the scene.

Annie putting out the fire with the water-squirting fire extinguisher.

One quick story about Ellie and the face painting.  After Ellie had gotten her face done, Aunt Talina handed her a dollar to tip the woman, and whispered a reminder to Ellie to say "Thank you." Ellie looked down at the dollar, then up to Talina happily and said an enthusiastic, "Thank you!"

And shoved the dollar in her pocket and started to walk away.

Ha!

Talina had to re-explain the point of the tip.  :-)