Happy Friggin' New Year

We decided to have a party at our house for New Year's Eve. Well, not really. We had planned to go to my brother's house. The quickest thing you learn as a parent, is things don't usually go as planned. So, like I was saying, we had a lice party at our house.

The new running joke is that Leah got lice for Christmas. Along with her cousin Tynli. The family that plays together, gets lice together. This is the gift that keeps on giving!

I am really cautious about a lot of infectious diseases, but for some reason I never had a paranoia for lice. I have received notices home from school saying we had been exposed, but we never caught it. No one close to me (that I know of) has ever had lice. To me, it seemed hard to contract.

Well, now that we contracted it, it seems hard to get rid of. The work that goes into cleaning everything properly and perform head inspections is exhausting. After five days of treating Leah and the house, we really thought we were in the clear. I know the box said to retreat in 7 days, but I thought this was a precautionary tale about what happens if you don't clean like a mad lady, like I had. I was planning on retreating on day 7 anyway.

New Year's Eve (day 6 in lice terms) I'm doing my normal head check on Leah and discover that the lice isn't all the way gone. I start to freak out because I have been swimming in her hair all week. I assumed after the initial shampooing it will disappear. Wrong. Immediately, I have Bobby check my head. He said he wasn't sure but he thinks he saw something?

I go upstairs and do what any mother would do. I started bawling my eyes out. After a week of careful cleaning and head inspections, we had to start all over. Not to mention, lice gives me the creeps. I mean, I am not an insect lover to begin with and the thought of bugs and eggs (vomit) in Leah's hair and my own is enough to send me off a cliff.

Bobby comes upstairs, fully aware of my mental state and reassures me it will be OK. I'm pretty sure that it won't be OK because I can't stop crying. Then Bobby does what he does best and makes everything better. He said this is such a short period of time of discomfort and at least we had Leah here in the first place to search her head for lice.

And with that, everything seemed lighter. We would bring in the New Year, just us four, which with a big family doesn't happen often. No one wanted to come visit with our current state and I didn't blame them. We would watch a movie on the couch and get take-out since I was in no mood for cooking. The kids would stay up for the countdown, even though Bobby and Bryce both took a little snoozer before hand. It really was a special holiday because even in this unfortunate circumstance, we are so fortunate to have each other to laugh and live with.

And if I really could change it, I wouldn't choose to be away from our families at Christmas. We get to spend time with so many people we love and that may expose us to many things, but I would give Tynli a big hug regardless.

I'm still not sure if I full on have lice, but decided to treat both of our heads. This process for long, thick hair takes at least two hours. Bobby, being the wonderful husband he is, went through my hair for a couple hours to make sure I was in the clear. Insert many jokes here. Have I ever mentioned how important it is to be able to laugh with your spouse? We had to laugh through this experience a lot. The next couple days will be full of tons more laundry and plastic bagging everything we own, but I'm pretty sure this will be the end of lice. And the beginning of a new paranoia for me.

Looking forward to more of the same (minus lice) in 2013, with less cussing, more working out and more writing!