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The Spawn of Satan, Phase One

Humility.  

Sanctification. 

Both words I thought I had somewhat of a grasp on before the past month. They now have new meaning. You see, I have come face to face with the spawn of Satan and survived.....I think.....barely. 

Phase One: Welcome to America, Have Some Lice

I was really excited when I found out my mom was going to come visit and was bringing some friends who were staying with her from Thailand (whom Kyle and I had met when we were in Thailand in 2006). The week before they got here was a little stressful only because we had all been sick. But, I prioritized my cleaning and got everything done except my bedroom (which had baskets of clean laundry piled up). 

Mom, Gift and Dift arrived on Thursday and we were so excited they were here! On Friday morning, mom and Gift accompanied Laura Kate and I to dance class, talk about one excited little 3 year-old! In the middle of class I see Laura Kate scratch her head. I told my mom she had been scratching all morning and my mom mouthed the evil word "lice" to me. I thought "nah" to myself and even maybe something along the lines of  "even if she does, we just have to get special shampoo, right?" 

Oh, Carrie.....Carrie, Carrie, Carrie.....If only I could go back in time and hand you a very strong mock-tail. 

Before we left dance class, I took LK potty and as she was washing her hands I just peered into her scalp, a teeny tiny innocent little glance. And Y'ALL, I SAW A BUG CRAWLING ALONG HER PART-LINE!! Not just a little white speck that needs to be inspected to see if it is a lice egg, but a real, live, crawling-in-her-hair BUG!

I rushed her out of the potty and into the car with our awaiting guests. I told my mom what I found and that we needed to go by the drug store. On the way, I called Kyle, told him to take a deep breath and prepare himself that his baby had lice and we probably all did too. Then I started praying about how to explain to Laura Kate, my child who is too scared to even hold a rolly-polly in her hand, that she had bugs in her hair. So I said, "Baby, mommy has to tell you something not fun. [Jesus help me.] We are going to have to go to the store and get you some new [please Lord] "special" shampoo.....because, well.....[Jesus, Jesus], we need a different shampoo to help with thee.....[JESUS]..." "With the itchies, mommy?" "YES!! [thank you Jesus], this new special shampoo will help with the itchies." 

We went by Walgreens and thank the Lord my mom was with me and knew to get metal combs, and shampoo and everything. Keep in mind that this whole time I am on the verge of tears thinking about how embarrassing this is to not only have guests, but very special, very important guests staying with me who aren't even from America!!

After we get home, and after checking everyone's hair and scalp (everyone else was clean but everyone ended up shampooing/combing within the day anyway), I take LK into my bathroom and she and I both shampoo. And comb. And y'all, my kid is a rockstar. She hates, HATES having her hair brushed and while I know she didn't love it, and I did bribe her with a special treat for when we went to the mall later, and she did get to play Grammy's iphone while we combed, she patiently sat through us combing through her hair and getting all of the "itchies" out. 

When we were done, we came out of the bathroom to find my mother and Thai friends vacuuming and washing every square inch of my house. Every fabric that could be washed was lined up waiting for the washer/dryer, every mattress was being vacuumed, flipped, and vacuumed some more, ever couch cushion, every pillow....everything. I step outside to find Gift, my sweet Thai friend, beating my living room rug with a stick, telling me I'm going to have to buy a new one. I come back inside to my bedroom to find my mom cleaning and folding all the laundry in my bedroom. 

Needless to say, my pride, hormones, energy and I lost it.... just had a complete break-down. 

After I collected myself, we ended up getting out of the house, getting LK her prize and coming back home. When we got back home and she was eating dinner, I peered in her hair again...... and y'all, I saw MORE bugs (multiple) crawling in her hair. So we did it all again: Shampoo, bribing, combing, combing.

And then, when she was playing outside before bedtime, Gift looked in her hair and saw more...for real. MORE! So we did it all AGAIN (after promising the biggest, pinkest princess cupcake money could buy): Shampoo and combing.... I even coated her hair in coconut oil that night in hopes of suffocating any that were left. 

And I thought this was the worst imaginable scenario. I thought it was pretty darn bad.

We all went to bed tired, but itchy-free.....so we thought......

Stay tuned for PHASE TWO.....

(**As much as I love and appreciate sharing advice and am constantly looking for new ideas and normally I love this blog being a place for that, this is one subject where I want to kindly ask you not to. As you will continue to read, we tried a lot of things, have done a lot of reading and found so much conflicting information and advice we finally just had to make decisions based on what we felt like was best for our family. I think most people who have dealt with lice come to a point of being so frustrated that even the most well-meaning advice is discouraging and not helpful. The reason I chose to write about this at all is because I believe this blog is a place for me to write and share our real life: the good the bad and the ugly. This is the ugly. That being said, even though I think we are on the other side of this, my heart is still a *tad* tender to this subject. I ask that you limit your comments to encouragement only and reserve your advice for your own personal blogs or forums. Thanks for understanding. **)

2 comments

  1. Oh Carrie, I am laughing at your writing and sad for you all together.

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  2. Thanks Lis....I can now look back on the past month without bursting into tears or screaming profanities...barely.

    ReplyDelete