Shots and Shower Day

On Wednesday night we had already begun to prepare Joel and Kezia for the events of Thursday. The dreaded vaccination day. I was feeling a bit uptight about the whole thing, wondering how they would handle not one or two or even three shots, but FOUR. Two in each arm. I had visions of our kids being wrestled to the ground, sat on while hollering for their lives, as the nurse jabbed them with 5 foot needles....oh wait, maybe that's my nightmare.

That morning, we dropped Asha off at Judy's, loaded Joel and Kezia with Ibuprofen and headed to the travel clinic. We kept reminding them that the shots are to keep them healthy because our body doesn't know how to fight the strange Bolivia germs, and hey, if you are brave, we'll take you to McDonald's.

Kezia went first with me and seemed pretty calm. The nurse was the same pleasant one that Carl and I had the week before. She explained to Kezia it would sting a little bit, but it would go quick. I tried to get Kezia to look away and tell me a story, but she was determined to see exactly what was happening to her arm. So I held her, squinted my eyes, took deep breaths, and tried to think of something else.

The first needle,

"Hey, that hurt!"

The second needle,

"Ow, ow,"

The third needle,

"Are we almost done?"

Fourth needle

"I did it!!"

Whew, it was over. Kezia marched back into the family room where Joel and Carl were and announced that she was brave and that she would have chicken nuggets at McDonald's. Next was Joel and Carl went with him. I don't know exactly what happened in that room, but from what I could hear (and what Carl told me later), it went something like this.

First needle,

Lip quiver.

Second needless,

Eyes well up with tears.

Third needle

"OW!!!! THAT REALLY HURT" and sobs

Fourth needle

All out bauling.

Poor Joel has a much lower pain tolerance than his sister, but when he came out of that room, he smarted his eyes so that his sister wouldn't see him cry. The nurse gave him two stickers and Kezia asked him why she only got one. Before he could answer she said, "Oh, it's probably because you cried". And Joel just plopped himself on the couch and ignored her. Who cares, he probably thought, I have two stickers and you only have one.




After our McDonald's meal (which was made most exciting by a power failure in the restaurant), we all headed home. Asha went for a nap, the other kids watched some t.v. and Carl and I got ready for Lucas' baby shower. We were having a family shower for our newest nephew and I was excited about it.

I just love baby showers. Well, I just love babies, and they are great reasons to have a party. I think it's special to set aside time to celebrate a new life. And that's what we did. Joel and Kezia loved holding their new cousin. He really is a gorgeous baby.

We all met for the shower at Byron and Kristal's. The food; ice cream sundaes. What a great idea eh? I love ice cream and you should have been there to eat all the wonderful toppings. Anyways, it was a great time, Lucas got some pretty sweet gifts, but our kids were pretty tired by the end of the evening. What a full day!