The Dreaded Pig Flu Shots

Well, today was a very interesting day to say the least. Stop now if you don't want to read a very, very long story about my day. I, yes I said I, came up with the bright idea for my Mom & I to take some of our grandchildren to get the H1N1 vaccine. The shots were offered at the school where my uncle is principal from noon until 6pm and was offered to family of students and faculty. We thought that would help my children out since they would be working all day. We felt it was a good move for all of the family but most importantly that we wouldn't bring the swine flu into our family around Kendal, 3 mo old, and Chloe, almost 3 mo old. Well, it's 11:30am & my Mom (Mimi), Tony & I piled into my Mom's Enclave after trying to buckle and secure 4 car seats in the back and middle seats. This is no easy task. What is even a harder task, is trying to buckle the children into these 4 seats when you only have about an 18 inch area to fit into while completing the whole buckling in process. We first went to day care to pick up three of the grandchildren. Mimi & I went in and checked in at the front desk and showed my id and signed them out at 12:10pm. (I am on the list to pick them up thank goodness.) After being buzzed through to the classroom area, we are then trying to find 3 classrooms holding each of our grandkids only knowing the approximate location of each. First classroom, the teachers are trying to get eight to twelve 2 years olds asleep. Mimi & I ask......."Is Nolan in here?" In a quiet voice the answer was "No he is in the next room." Whew! Didn't wake any of the little ones up. Second classroom, the teachers are trying to get eight to twelve 15-18 month olds asleep. We hear one kid crying on his pallet with a teacher trying to console him. Mimi & I ask....."Is Nolan in here?" The consoling teacher looks up and we say "Oh, that's Nolan and we are here to pick him up." Now, I am lugging a 30lb 18 month old (whose nickname is Tank and his name fits him) down the hallway looking for his cousins. We approach another room at the far end of the hall. All of the children are eating lunch. Great! We are interrupting the children's lunch. We stick our heads in and ask......"Is Jade in here?" The teacher replies "No, she is next door." We say "Thank you" and then notice about that time that our grandson, Stone is sitting there looking at us eating his lunch. "Oh, we are here to pick up Stone too." Stone runs to us only to be asked by his teacher to sit back down. The teacher then says "What do you say, Stone?" Stone replies, "May I be excused?". Teacher says "Yes" and he grabs his papers and we are on to the next classroom. Mimi and I ask "Is Jade in here?" and we almost immediately see Jade sitting at a table by herself eating her lunch while all of the other students are dining together at a separate table. Hummmmm. From the door, we tell Jade to finish her lunch because there was quite a bit left on her plate. Sure enough we then hear from the teacher about Jade hitting a little girl with a piece of paper, then the teacher was getting on to Jade and Jade preceded to hit the teachers finger so the teacher made her eat by herself at another table. So here is Nana & Mimi just standing at the door watching our 3 1/2 year old granddaughter finish her lunch with a 30 pound Tank on my hip and a 5 year old grandson going through the other kids cubby holes and us asking him to stop. Finally Jade finishes and heads to us. But NOOOOOO, the teacher calls her back and says "What are you supposed to do with your milk carton and sheets?" So Jade puts them in their proper place and off we go. Tank on my hip, 5yo and 3yo yapping and Nana & Mimi asking them to shhhhhhh. Dang if we need to wake all these kids up while we're walking down the hall. We get outside and use every bit of those 18 inches of working space I spoke of earlier and finally got all three of them buckled in. (Thank goodness Crissy showed up and helped us with the buckling.) Now Mimi, Nana & Pop get buckled in and off we go to pick Kaylee up from LOE. I push the button as it says outside and they FINALLY buzz me in and I walk into the front office of Lone Oak Elementary and tell them I am here to pick up Kaylee Powers to take her to get a swine flu shot. I tell them she is in kindergarten and is in Mrs. Collin's class and her safety # is _ _ _ _. (secret #) This one lady looks and she looks and she looks and then she looks again at all of these lists of kids names. She asks me at least 4 times if I'm sure I have the correct # and I answer yes each and everytime she asks me. Finally she asks another lady to come help her that she believes I have the incorrect #. Other lady walks up asks the same information from me and I retell her the same info as I had shared with the first lady. Second lady goes to first sheet and points at Kaylee's name and #. Finally! After they call the room to ask Kaylee to come to the office, I bet it wasn't 60 seconds until Kaylee was standing at my side. Go to the vehicle and buckle her in. I then have to explain to Pop & Mimi why it took me so long. It is now 12:50pm and we are finally headed to my uncle's school. During the ride there and while we are walking across the parking lot after arriving, we listen to the two 5 year olds and the 3 year old tell us as they are whining and crying that they are NOT gonna get a shot. GREAT!!!!!!! Never thought about this happening. What was I thinking? This all was my idea! Of course I am explaining to them in a nice quiet grandmotherly voice that we all need these shots for the babies who can't get sick. It would not be good for them at all. Blah, ba blah, ba blah. Not working. Whining getting louder and we are nearing the front doors of the school and all of the needle sticking people are looking at us walking up. All of a sudden, Nana stops them and informs them in my low growling stern voice that they WILL get a shot and I better not hear another word. (I swear I am trying to make this a short story but you are going to hear the entire story.) We get inside and I am trying to talk with the needle women and fill out paperwork and trying to discuss with my Mom what order we will have the kids go in. Oldest to youngest or vice versa. We decide oldest first. Not a chance. She is squealing and squirming away from me and yelling NO Nana. Please Nana. I don't want to Nana. Etc, etc, etc. With my teeth clenched I tell her she better hush, you better be quiet, SHUT UP NOW! Well my uncle takes her down to the gym and we decide to start with the youngest then. Nolan, youngest at 18mo, sits in Pop's lap, cries for about 2.5 seconds and everythings fine. Jade, 3yo, next with a little wimper. Stone, 5yo, next and cries forever. Thank goodness Kaylee is down in the gym with Uncle Mike. Now it is Kaylee's, 5yo, turn. She asks for Alexis (her 11 yo cousin) to hold her. Hops up in her lap, tells us she wants to take her jacket off herself, gets her shot and we never hear a peep out of her. We all look at each other. Praises to Kaylee. I was proud of her. She said she had to do it for her little sister. I about melted. Mimi, Pop & Nana got their shots and we are out the door. Casey got her shot before we got there, Crissy showed up and got hers and Kinsey got there as we were leaving and got hers. Crissy took Alexis, Stone & Jade with her. Kinsey went home by herself to rest. She is sick. Allergies I think. I told her I would take Kaylee with me and go to SYMSONIA to pick up Kendal. Mimi, Pop, Nana, Kaylee & Nolan all get buckled in and we leave. We were told to give the kids some tylenol. Well all I have is cherry and Kaylee only likes grape. Mimi said she has grape at her house so we go there to get Kaylee some grape tylenol. Then Mimi takes us to our house. We unload the kids and 3 carseats and Mom leaves. I give Nolan some cherry tylenol when we get inside and I look at the clock. It's 2:05pm. Are you kidding me? 2 and 1/2 hours. I need drugs. Okay, Nolan is going to stay here with Pop while I go get Kendal and take them home. I'm gonna change his diaper. Dang it!!!! I left all of his diapers in the back of Mom's Enclave. I call Casey and she said she left 2 upstairs. Thank goodness. I get him changed and say my goodbyes to Tony. Kaylee gets in the car and here we go. It's 2:35pm. Oh no, I only have less than a quarter tank of gas! I go to super valu to fill up. Go to Mimi's to get the diapers out of her vehicle and finally on my way to SYMSONIA. Get Kendal and then head over hill and dale and around every curve in western kentucky and finally make it to Kinsey and Jeremy's house. It's 4:30pm. What? 2 hours! I go in. Talk and love on Kendal a bit. Get my goodbye kisses from her and Kaylee and head home. I finally sat down on my couch at 5:00pm. 5 and 1/2 hours!!! What a day!!!!! Whose idea was this??? Hey, I love em all! No pig flu in this house!! :-)