Lesson #547 Do not bash the Locusts

So I shouldn't have mentioned the locusts.  We finish up at the ENT this am and I look over in the elevator and guess who has head lice crawling on her head????


Doodle!!

Yea!  Apparently the locusts and the lice are BFFs and got us back for making fun of the poor, defenseless locusts.

We got our second note home that there was lice in the school on Friday.  I *may* have been a bit hostile with the school nurse today.  Especially when she suggested that Doodle got the lice somewhere else.  See, we haven't GONE ANYWHERE ELSE but school since last week due to the barfy.  Not even Gymnastics. Or the Library.  Really.  A stationary store on Sunday, but I don't think that is where we got it.  Seriously, I think I may send them with shower caps to wear in school.

A Joke!

Doodle, "Mom, do you want to hear a joke?"

Me, "Sure, honey."

Doodle, "What is an animal you wear?"

Me, "Hmmmm.....I don't know."

Doodle, "A ze-BRA!  Get it?  Zeeee-BRAAA! Like a bra!"

Me, laughing, "That's actually pretty good, Doodle."

Doodle, "I made it up myself."

What's next, locusts?

It started with a cold shortly after New Year's day.  It decided to move into our house, make itself comfortable and invite its bacteria friends, who brought a keg and a stripper.  Well, it seemed that way, because the cold lingered and left a path of destruction in it's wake.

  After she hacked for a while ("Mom, when will I ever stop coughing! It's been 4 weeks!") we took Doodle into the ped (Tuesday) and she had a sinus infection.  On the way to the ped, the check engine light comes on in the van.  I was driving, Hoosier girl was frantically making sure the minivan didn't spontaneously combust.  After spilling milkshakes all over the minivan post-pediatrician, we arrived home and got the car fixed--thankfully just a bad oxygen sensor.  Thursday night Three started cough-barfing so Friday morning we took Three in-- she had an ear infection and pneumonia.  As you can see, she LOVED the breathing treatments.  I got bitten three times--once putting the mask on in the doctor's office and twice at home when I tried to give her the medicine.  She was so mad, she actually bit down on the syringe in her mouth and tried to crack it in two.  Thankfully, the treatments in the ped's office worked so we spared her an ER visit.

Apparently, the cold also decided to invite over it's stomach bug friends, who really know how to party.  This week, on Monday night, Doodle was up all night--she felt hot and barfed twice.  We weren't sure if it was her heartburn at first, but when Dan was up all night  Wednesday barfing-we knew.  I succumbed Thursday night and we're waiting for Moobear and Three to start. Let's hope for a germ free week!  I'd love just one week where everyone is healthy!

In other news, we're off to the ENT on Monday to see if the Doodle is going to need a tonsillectomy.  She has one giant tonsil on her left side.  It's so big it's crossing the midline of her throat and causing some serious snoring.  We've been waiting for her to "grow into it" but that just isn't happening.  It's so big I suggested we name it.   Doodle's not buying it, but I've been calling it Harvey.  Since she gets a bacterial infection almost every time she has a cold, we have to get the consult, which we've been putting off for a while. 

Not much else going on here.  Colds, and pneumonia and barfy, oh my!

 

MLK is OK

Dan:  "Happy MLK Day, Three!"


Three:""I'm ok Daddy!"

Dan:  "No, not OK, M-L-K!"

Three:  "It's ok Daddy." Patting his arm, "It's ok."


Dan:  "Never mind.  Yes, it is ok."

A tidbit

I'm overdue for a post, but thought this might amuse:

Three: "I need chocolate milk."

Me:  "Ok, but how do you ask nicely?"

Three:  "I need chocolate milk NOW!"

Me: "What is the magic word?"

Three:  "Awesome."

Me: "That is a great word, but I was really looking for the word please."

Three: "I need chocolate milk NOW please.  Awesome."

Me:  "Works for me.  Here you go."

The gift that noone wanted

So all of you know by now that my holiday season wasn't shaping up so well.  We had the strep and the family stress and the other nonsense.  The strep turned out to be the scarlet fever variant of strep, complete with a rash on Moo and strawberry tongues on two of the three girls (Doodle and Moo). And then, as we were going to bed on Christmas night, Moo tells me her head itches.  Oh, yes (I know all of you are now reflexively scratching your heads).  Dan took a quick look and said, "If it is the real  cooties, nothing we can do about it until the morning." He went to bed. But when Moo started to cry, I rooted around in the basement.  We still had the lice meds we took with us to Ethiopia.  As luck would have it, we only used the scabies meds we brought and not the head lice meds.  Wahoo!  So Moo and I spent the better part of the evening showering, shampooing, doing research on the internet, stripping beds and de-lousing.  Thankfully, I think we caught the lice early on.  And thankfully, none of the rest of us have it.  I still spent the remainder of the weekend prophylacticly treating heads, cleaning, vacuuming, washing clothes, and alternately heating and freezing things.  We've got one more round of treatment to go, but so far, Moo's head is still clear (as are the rest of us).  I can't stop randomly scratching my head, though when I think (or write about it).  It's going to make all the people at work today very nervous.

I felt so bad as I packed up all the Amer*can G*rl dolls and the Barb*es and the P*llow Pets and the most favored Christmas toys and sealed them in plastic bags.  Poor Moo was so tired and sad by the time the evening early morning was over.  I ended up convinced that we have far too many pillows and stuffed toys and blankets--and was inappropriately bitter about it at 2 am.

I'm sure our neighbors think we are really crazy and have piles of garbage on our porch, but it's just bags and bags of items we can't wash or dry clean that need to be frozen for a few days.   We added the car seats out there just this morning!  I just can't bring myself to tell the neighbors why our backyard suddenly resembles a junkyard.

And let me tell you, calling all of your Christmas guests to tell them that they had been exposed to lice was really fun. I keep calling our house the lice house and am half convinced we'll never have guests again. 

I suppose we were doomed.  We've gotten no fewer than 4 or 5 letters home about lice (and scabies) from the school.  It's been going around kindergarten and the first grade.  Some of Moo's friends already had it. But really, did it have to be on Christmas night?!

So I'm done.  I surrender, universe.  I've held it together for a while, but am losing it.  I cry "Uncle." I'm sure things will look better after a full night's sleep, but for now it's grim at our house.

The Spirit of Christmas

This has been a difficult week to 10 days for us.  A very close family member of ours has/had a serious medical condition and an extended hospital stay (I'm not going to say any more here.  It's her story to tell, not mine). We've had family members staying with us, and others popping in and out--some coming from afar.  All three kids have strep.  The garbage disposal has died.  Dan was out of commission for a few days with a minor thing.  We're planning on hosting Christmas Eve and Christmas and hoping that we won't be celebrating at the hospital.

But in all of this, amidst the fear and the tears and the stress, there are good things, too.   Seeing Three follow my aunt/godmother around and scream like she is a rock star every single time Three sees her.  Finally uploading Skype, so that after this is all over, the family can stay in better contact.  Being reminded that true families come together not by blood but by mutual love and respect and support.  Spending time with relatives in a quiet space.  Giving comfort.  Receiving comfort.  Living in the moment, as hard as that can be.  Having a reminder that life can be fragile and precious.  Having the opportunity to tell people and show them how much you love them. A reminder that the holidays are about love and family, not gifts and lavish meals. I could go on and on.

The blessing here is that we've experienced the true spirit of Christmas.   And for that I am thankful.