Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Kuna School Closed due to Headlice Outbreak

Did you read it in the news?  Onto our story.

A couple Saturdays ago Dejah had a double header softball game in Boise.  We were getting ready to go when the house phone rang.  Alex picked it up.  The next thing I know is that we are carpooling one of the girls.  I guess a Mom called and said she did not have the gas to get there.  (Well there went my plan for taking the family to lunch after the games were over)  (Ps.... I was kinda grouchy that morning so I wasn't in a compassionate mood.)  We all get ready to go and when the Mom shows up, two girls jump out of her car.  I look at my husband with ?????  The mom leaves and I had to pull Alex in the house to discuss this predicament.  First off, we only have room for ONE EXTRA when our whole family is in the van.  This meant we were going to have to take two cars, or some of us would be staying behind.  Well Alex decided to stay behind with the babies.  I was pretty upset, but off we went.  When the games were over the girls got back in the car and we headed home.  Now fast forward to Thursday.

Alex gets a call from one of the coaches informing us that two of the girls got sent home from school due to head lice.  They just wanted everyone to be aware because the girls share helmets.  My stomach just sank.  I just knew it was those girls.  Forgive me for being judgmental, but they were filthy.  I don't really blame the girls.  But it seems that Hygiene was not on the Moms list of priorities.  I just assumed that headlice had to do with cleanliness.  These girls had been in my car and one of them left her hat in my car which pretty much sat there until the next game.  In the mean time, that car is where my kids are on a daily basis.  I checked Dejah's hair and didn't see anything, but I still wanted to make sure she got checked at school.  So Friday morning I took her into the office and explained the situation.  After running a few errands in Kuna I stopped back at her school on the way home.  Just as I was leaving the office to go to her classroom a nurse walked in with Dejah.  The look on her face said it all.  NOOOOOO.  Really?  She showed me some nits in Dejah's hair and handed me some paperwork explaining what to do.  Thus began the NIGHTMARE weekend.  I treated everyone's heads in my family (even though Dejah was the only one with Nits) and we literally cleaned ALL Day Friday, Saturday, Sunday and finished up some on Monday.  We did take a few breaks which were extremely needed.  From the sound of it... we did way more than a lot of the parents, but there is no way I want that coming back.  Monday Dejah returned to school and we find out that school was being closed the next day due to the headlice.  Around 60 students and 9 staff were sent home!!!  Crazy!  They felt they needed to get the school cleaned and give the teachers some time to clean at home.  Her school is only K-3 so it was a big hit to the school.  Anyway that is our weekend in a nutshell.  Ps.  I was wrong about the lice being on people with bad Hygiene.  Apparently the lice don't care and ANYONE can get them.


Mommy Needs a Break

A few weeks ago my youngest single brother moved to Hawaii to work for the summer, maybe longer.  Oh the days of being single.  Sometimes I look back a wonder why I didn't just do stuff like that while I could.  I had a moment where I started looking a plane tickets and tempting myself with a visit to my brother.  I just imagined myself sitting on the beach in the hot sun.  Then reality hit.  I was thinking about my current situation.  Alex has been so busy.  It seems like I haven't had a break from these kids for months.  Sure I think I've gotten a couple hours here and there for an occasional date or grocery trip, but then I am right back home doing what I always do, which is fine...I love my kids, but they have reached a whole new level of difficulty.  Lexi has become a little toddler.  She is entering those terrible twos which take about 10 years of my life away.  On top of that she is clingy and very fussy.  She wants me to hold her or watch Buzz Lightyear.  Can you tell which one I cave to most of the time?  What have I done to my little girl?  She LOVES Buzz!!  Did I mention Logan is still in his terrible twos?  He will be entering his terrible threes next week.  Lucky for me he is starting to learn to talk, however he still knows the art of screaming.  Not only will his terrible twos and threes take ten years from my life but he will be adding early hearing loss.  I want to feel the joy in Motherhood.  When they are being cute and funny and when they are getting along I feel that joy, but when they turn into their needy little selves all I want to do is hide (or go to Hawaii and sip some pineapple).  One day my friends somehow convinced me to join them and their kids for lunch at a Mexican restaurant.  What a nightmare.  They were horrible, I had to just leave.  That is how I feel with my kids most of the time.  If I meet up with Moms for Play time...mine just want my attention the whole time.  They whine and fuss and I feel embarrassed and want to leave.  At softball Lexi just crawls all over me and Logan and Mycah take turns coming back to me about something.  I get it.  I'm the Mom.  This is just the way it is.  I don't get the luxury of RELAX until my kids sleep.  I'm just saying, its hard and I think I need a break.

A Screeching Halt

It was a good effort I believe.  Working out and eating right.  I ate NO sugar for a week.  For me that is a huge accomplishment.  I'm sure I could have gone longer, but when something really stressful came up I had to cave.  I wouldn't say that I am the type to eat junkfood and soda all day, but when I get stressed it is the way I cope.  Anyway, I am still trying to eat better.  I actually really love healthy food I just hate to cook.  I still love my green smoothies.
Now to the working out thing. I was doing REALLY good.  I was feeling good. I had been going on about a month and had a routine going.  I was doing as much of P90X as I could handle.  On the days I wasn't feeling like P90X I would speed walk the treadmill for a 1/2 hour.  Then follow up with 8 minute abs and 8 minute buns.  It all felt really good.  I didn't mind being sore unless it prevented me from daily mobility.  One Saturday morning about 2 1/2 weeks ago I had just finished up a really hard walk/run on the treadmill.  After I got off I decided to do some leg lifts on the pull up bar.  After those I wanted to try a pull up.  I grabbed a hold of the bar and with all my might tried to pull myself up. Instantly I felt and heard a pop in my neck quickly followed by pain. I let go and stood there saying "no, no, no...."  "no, no, I didn't just throw out my neck".  (Everything inside me just wanted to lay down, but I knew that would not be good).  I was thinking..."ok, just breathe, now do the stretches you were taught by the chiropractor", "ok, ice and ibuprophin".....I was DETERMINED to stop whatever I had started on that pull-up bar.  I sat down with my ice and quickly realized that this was not just a little thing.  I was so upset.  Just a month prior to starting my work outs I had spent a ton of time getting my neck back in working order.  It was a long and expensive ordeal that I did not want to repeat.  I knew that I would not get to work out again for a while.  And I didn't want to see the Chiropractor again...mainly because I didn't want to spend the $$.  So here I am.  That day all my efforts to exercise came to a screeching halt.  Two and a half weeks later my neck is doing better, but not back to normal.  I still feel the aching during the days.  Nights are the most difficult and it makes it really hard to sleep.  I'm not sure when I will start to exercise again.  But it won't happen until I feel like my neck can handle it.