LICE...AGAIN

It's probably totally inappropriate to put this picture of poor D. on here. Maybe I'll come back and delete it later. I just wanted to show how exhausting treating lice can be. This girl had to put all her clothes to wash, and we had to strip down their beds, and wash EVERYTHING in the apartment. She was sooo tired when we were done going through her hair, that she went straight to bed and fell asleep like this, before we finished drying her bedding and clothes.

Here's the story: We had planned a trip to Eureka to visit my college roommate, Lorelei, Saturday, after the last day of school before the Thanksgiving break. On Monday I totally didn't notice a paper I mindlessly shoved in I.'s backpack, because it's always hard chasing and grappling P., and making sure that I have everything together when the bell rings. So you know how your mind can notice somthing that you didn't? That probably doesn't make sense. Well, all of a sudden after we got the kids ready for bed on THURSDAY night, I had this crazy bolt-of-lightening shot through my head, and I thought, "Wait a second. Did I notice a piece of paper in I.'s backpack today? A pink letter? Which only means bad things? Did it have the word 'lice' on it?" I read the letter: someone in I.'s class had had lice. Uh-oh. There's NO WAY that's going to happen to me again, I thought. I called out to Alex to go through I.'s hair quickly, so we can still get them to bed, and then I picked up the phone to chat with my friend Chastity. I think it was the moment she said, "Hello?' that I heard A. yell, "I.'s got lice! All over!"

Needless to say, I got off the phone, recovered from a 15 sec shock, and then started crying. I called some people who would have been in contact with I., and then I called Lorelei to cancel our trip. Boy was I mad. I was really angry that my trip got canceled, and I was REALLY upset that we had to go through through this all over again. I was so sad for the girls, because they were going to miss their celebrations the next day at school. I was then REALLY angry with myself, because I had been sick (ended up being sick for 3 weeks or more), so I thought I did myself a favor by having the kids sit on my bed that afternoon to watch a movie, because I was miserable.; the unfortunate part was that they were sitting on 4 loads of clean clothes that I hadn't put away yet.

Soooo, we ended up having to wash those loads of laundry all over again, and then wash the rest of our apartment. By 5:30am, we had done 12 loads of laundry or so, hadn't slept, and I was on the point of a breakdown. I emailed my dad, asking if there was any way they could help, and then A. said I should go to bed. He continued cleaning, and my parents later that morning came to pick up the kids so we could rest and get more done. I questioned their willingness to take someone with lice to their house, but I wasn't going to object. I was very grateful.

Things I'm grateful for:

--A. got everything out that first night. What a superstar! Only one louse nymph was found the next morning, having just hatched from a nit we missed.

--We were able to get out all of the nits within the first 3 days (only a couple we hadn't seen the first night).

--Dawn lent us 3 movies (she knows that when kids have lice, you have to keep them entertained somehow during the hours-long picking process. That first night took us 2 and a half movies, plus time afterward becasue we didn't want to get up and put another one in).

--Dawn gave us the rest of the lice shampoo they had, which was extrememly helpful for us.

--Dawn and her children were generous in providing our children part of their Thanksgiving party (that they got ready for their school classes). They brought Swedish Meatballs (they were so tasty, and homemade), adorable "turkey" cupcakes (what a Martha Stewart you are, Dawn!), paper bag vests, coloring pages, popcorn and cute little containers made to hold them. Our kids were SO excited to have a little feast in the morning, and that totally covered up any sadness of missing school, and it was really touching to me.

--My parents had the kids most of the day, and then we were able to have dinner made by my mom when we picked them up.

--Laura left us an adorable card made by Jackson, and gave us a Jamba Juice giftcard to make up for our canceled trip (even though she obviously had nothing to do with it). She has always been so generous to us and our children, and it was really thoughful of her to do something to cheer me up.

--Sympathy from friends and family. We appreciated people's concern and prayers for us.

--I. ended up being the only one who got it in our family!!! (although you still have to go through everyone's hair daily just the same, anyway)

--Having just cut and trimmed everyone's hair the previous Sunday made it easier to comb through.

--We were able to enjoy our Thanksgiving.

For some people lice might not have been a big deal to them, or some people might not think it sounds all that bad, but this has been a very difficult trial in our lives, and one of the lowest points in our year. We should be grateful that nothing of great seriousness happened to us, however.

We have continued to get notices of lice in the classroom, (it had spread through the whole school). I've also heard that about other schools. We are still checking at least weekly.

If you ever hear of a lice breakout, CHECK FOR NITS. Do NOT wait until the lice break out.

All stuffed animals are bagged up.

The feast.