Lousy Weekend

Yep, pun intended.

Before I start, to bring you up-to-date: Lynn & Hannah left on Saturday, got power on Sunday. Go, girls! Despite the circumstances, we really enjoyed our visit--Kayci would be happiest if Hannah would just move on in, and I have to say, having my best friend here made me pretty happy, too! Mom & Dad, poor things, still don't have power. They're handling it like champs, but I think a 2 week break from reality is enough...they're ready to get home, for her to get back to work and him to get back to treatments. Not sure what the break is going to do to Dad's treatment...if he'll still just have one week or what. Will keep you posted! Grandpa gave us a wonderful gift--he had our deck pressure washed and sealed and had the spa cover painted, then the guy liked Grandpa so much (must have been the sandwiches!) that he painted our back door trim and left the paint so we could paint the window trim out back. Between that and the yard work we did this weekend, we have a whole new backyard!! Thanks, Grandpa--that is one gift we will enjoy for a long, long time to come!

So, that's mostly what's been going on: Hurricane Ike, following the aftermath, watching and waiting every day to see when things will go back to "normal." GPISD is closed through this week, so I hope to go back to work there next week. Region 4 came back online this past weekend, so now I'm trying to get caught up and get back on track there (I've been a Coordinator all summer...kind of hard to step back into my Instructor shoes!). The good news is, the June cycle I'm coordinating ends this weekend, then I have 2 weeks to instruct before I get a break from that to start coordinating the October cycle. Sounds crazy, but it keeps me sane. :) James has been very busy with freelance lately...won't go into details as I probably don't understand the details, but I know he's busy, busy.

The kids are fine...which brings me to my ACTUAL post...

Last Thursday we were talking to some people we love dearly but haven't seen in a while. They mentioned that they'd found lice. We said the right things--after some teasing of course--everyone gets lice at some point, yada yada. Well, neither James nor I ever had lice as kids, so we were really just being nice. Later that night, I got to thinking: for a couple of days, I'd been telling Kayci "don't scratch your head at the table!" I thought it was just some weird thing she was doing. You know where I'm going...Thursday night and Friday morning I checked, nothing. Friday I went and had lunch at school with her and checked her out early so we could enjoy a last afternoon with Hannah. At lunch, there was what looked like a gnat near her ear. I thought it was weird, but having never seen lice (I thought I had, heaven knows my students had it enough!), I didn't know what it was. When it was time to leave, I told the teacher that some friends of ours we hadn't seen in a while had lice, she reassured me that there's no way Kayci could have had lice for that long but if it would make me feel better, go ahead and go by the nurse. So, we did...and yep, Kayci had LICE! You guys know I'm a clean freak, and this really threw me for a loop. For me, this was kind of worst case scenario, lice with guests...and every blanket and quilt we own out on the floor for people to sleep on. Yes, I was stressed. We went ahead and treated Hannah just in case, and Lynn and Grandma were very helpful...we managed to knock everything out Friday night. Kayci went to school on Monday with the all clear...but I'm still paranoid that they're coming back. So, keep your fingers crossed.

What we learned from this: anyone can get lice. We also learned that there's no way she could have gotten lice from our friends, and LUCKILY their lice experience made us think to check her, or we may have had a serious infestation. As it is, we're so lucky that nobody else got it--namely, me...we're always sharing pillows, etc. The nurse said that we really got lucky and caught it quick...the only thing we can figure out is that maybe she picked it up from a fair ride last week. We'll never know, and that's okay. I have to say, it was embarrassing to tell Paula and other people that we'd come in contact with that Kayci had lice, to check the kids...but you know, that's one of the reasons I wanted to put this on my blog. All those things we were telling our friends are true...anyone can get lice, and everyone who goes to public school probably WILL get lice. We got lucky this time, and Kayci was the only kid in her class to have it. It didn't spread to the Headleys (thank God!) or anyone else, so we're glad for that.

Maybe if we, as parents, talk about it more, it won't be such a negative thing. We think of lice and automatically think of dirty, and yes, poor people. Well, I know 6 kids who can disprove that theory...and I suspect, if we were being really honest, many more of our friends have had it but just have kept quiet because it's embarrassing. Let's not be embarrassed, and let our kids know that it happens. Maybe then there'll be a few less tears when it happens to YOU. And us, but next time, we'll know what to look for, heaven help us!