Quarantined...

I thought this week would turn out to be a most memorable one, after my candidate swept the election...well I wasn't wrong, but its not memorable for that reason alone. Kayla has been struggling with a persistent rash on her nether regions for months now, since the summer. We have been to the doctor for it half a dozen times. It has gone from a staph infection, to a yeast infection to an irritation, to strep, and now, the most definitive and terrifying defintion: MRSA. Now for anyone who doesn't know what that is, its a antibotic resistant staph infection. She also has impetigo, which she has had before, and will clear up, but is still gross and itchy. When the doctor said MRSA however, I became near hysterical. MRSA has KILLED people. My mother had MRSA during her illness, and I was warned, as I was pregnant at the time, that it could be transmitted to Kayla through contact with my mother. There wasn't any concrete proof of this, and we took precautions, but I was absolutely guilt ridden and sick with myself, thinking I had caused this to happen to Kayla. There's no way to prove I didn't, but Dr. Holtzman thinks it would be HIGHLY, HIGHLY unlikely. She also assured me MRSA as it exists in the pediatric community is much less severe and life threatening then it is in within the adult community. She gave Kayla some heavy duty antibotics, only one of two known to effectively treat MRSA, and we should be on the way to a complete recovery. Being the neurotic person I am, I have been surfing the web and have discovered that 77 kids died last year from a combo of the flu and MRSA and MRSA has been linked with respiratory problems. My mind immediately goes into overdrive...one, Kayla has a cough, which she developed this week, so is it a cold or MRSA reeking havoc on her system? Two, she hasn't gotten her flu shot yet...we're due to get it Friday...is she going to end up in a very serious situation?
My whole point with this is, will I ever get to the point when I believe what a doctor tells me? I have been assured she will be all right. I have to keep her on the antibotics and I am quarantining her just because I don't want to expose anyone else to it, but I can't lose the feeling like this situation could go another way, a very scary way at any moment. I need to stop, and breath, and realize it will all be all right. In the meantime, I am not sure if my sanity will stay intact between an itching child, endless cartoons, sterlizing everything in sight, and everything else! Wish us luck!

Halloween Hoopla...and A Day with Thomas

Sorry all these pics are at the top...it wouldn't let me move them! GRR!

My favorite pic of the day...me and the kids on the carousel.

Kayla on the train...SO EXCITED!

Kayla, Malik and I at A Day with Thomas

Kayla and I as Pebbles and Wilma...yeah I know, no red hair! Bugged me all night!

The Flintstone and Rubble clan...the MODERN Stone Age family...no men! HAHA!

So, Halloween has come and gone. All in all, a very good night. I didn't find a Wilma wig, or spray my hair with the hideous red hair spray Sara found, so I was a brown haired Wilma, sans honkin' pearls as well, and that detracted from the night, but everything still went very nicely and we all had fun. Kayla skinned her knee about 5 seconds into trick or treating, but she had a wonderful night, and made out like a bandit!

Today, we went to A Day Out with Thomas the Train, the popular character on PBS. Tickets were $18 a piece, so $32 for me and Kayla. Might not sound like a lot to some people, but for me, thats a pretty big deal. I can get a lot of groceries for $32, and a lot of clothes and shoes for her too! But I decided to go, and I don't regret it at all! Kayla had never been on a train before, and we go to ride in the car right in back of Thomas (the VIP section I told her!) and she LOVED it! She loved the bus ride from the parking lot too! She was just excited by everything. After we got off the train, where she got a cute Junior Engineer certificate and where we cheered on Thomas, we got our photo taken with Thomas, and tried to get one with the kids from our camera with Thomas, but of course they didn't cooperate, and we didn't get the pic. Why do kids never cooperate when we want them to? Oh well, I have the memory, just not the photo op.

Next we spotted the free kiddie rides set up. Free! I was so excited, usually anything you go to like that, its always extra. But this was included. We did three rides, including Kayla's favorite, the carousel. That girl is looney over carousels. She also loved the Lego version of Thomas that they had set up. We skipped the magic show also included, but we did get some Thomas temp tattoos.

We headed over to the Imagination Station, where tons of Thomas tracks were set up for kids to play with, along with a Thomas viewing station, and tables of stamping and coloring activities. Kayla got her face painted and missed getting a pic with Sir Topham Hatt, which I was disappointed about. I mean, she knew he was there, and didn't care, she just wanted her face painted, and she didn't get upset at all that she didn't get her picture taken, but for me as a parent, I wanted her to say she had the experience, and on a stingy level, I wanted to get my money's worth! I know, its a bit insane, but I can't help it. Ohhh and a cute boat worker at the Steam Train hit on me. I should have given him my number. When we go back for the ride with Santa, I'll have to be on the lookout for him! HAHA!

After we hit the Imagination Station, we left, as kids all around us were having meltdowns, and ours were beginning to show signs that the fun was soon about to end in tears and tantrums. We got a cute magnet picture frame as a gift for the kids and boarded the bus back to the parking lot. All in all, we got our money's worth and I would definiteley recommend it to anyone with kids in the 2-4 range. I thought our Thomas adventure was over, but lo and behold, on our way to get lunch, Thomas chugged across the road. I tried to get some snaps, but my camera was being chintzy. Kayla saw it though, and was very excited to see him from another perspective, one last time.

The pizza place we went to topped everything off perfectly. Nice skylight and gravel floor, picnic tables and a cool juke box! AWESOME DAY!