TMI: The Head Lice Saga

It's been TOO long-- one would think that nothing exciting or humorous or crazy has happened in our lives-- nothing bloggable-- but it's quite the opposite.  As Max is entering into toddler-hood and Gabe and Chad are as entertaining as ever, believe me, there is still plenty of entertainment in the Bowman house-- but I must blame it all on this unborn child-- it has zapped my energy and my ability to be efficient.  When I lay down at night, I begin writing my next blog post in my head, but I never make it past the opening paragraph before sleep overtakes me.... but when I wake up, all I can think about it making it to the bathroom on time, and there goes my next post... so where should I pick up?

Let's start with our infestation of head lice.  Yup.  Exactly-- EWWWW, GROSS.  That's exactly what I thought when I got the call that Gabe had lice.  Chad and I immediately recounted times in our childhood, when our elementary school teachers would put on rubber gloves, and sharpen two pencil and begin sifting through everyone's hair.  Apparently that doesn't happen much anymore in the school BUT head lice is rampant.  I began googling right away-- and found out WAY too much information- you'd think I would've learned my lesson with that, by now.  I did breathe a sigh of relief when I found something that says that lice happens to everyone-- not dirty people-- thank you insecurities!

Gabe's mom found the Atlanta Lice Ladies on the internet-- they come to your house and treat your head and check everyone in the family with all natural stuff-- which considering the bean in my belly and our little man-- not to mention, no one should really be having chemical placed on their heads!- - it was a great find.  The lady gave us TONS of information, including the fact that head lice is the second most contagious/ rampant thing-- second only to the common cold-- and that this time of year, between all the travel, Santa's beard, and hats, it's everywhere!!  She gave us a special comb to use every 10 days for the rest of ever on his head-- apparently, as long as kiddies are in school, they need checked constantly.  AND get this, it doesn't start itching until it's been on your head for WEEKS... because at that point the eggs have hatched and grown large enough to bite you- yup, exactly: EWWW, Gross!

She gave Gabe rules:  no telling secrets because of head to head contact, only give air hugs to his friends, don't play the telephone game, don't share hats, and he needs to wear mousse, everyday, all over his head-- this provide a barrier and doesn't let the nits (lice eggs) stick to your head.

After Gabe's treatment and all of our checks, we loaded up to head home but I was STARVING-- so I took our PJ-clad baby, Gabe, and myself by Five Guys for a quick burger-- remember that our heads had been treated and combed and brushed through with a foam and a gel-- we looked crazy-- like grease monkey, with crunchy bad hair dos.  And I was so hungry that I scarfed down food will Max sucked ketchup off his fries and Gabe filled up his cherry coke like 16 times-- the people there probably thought that we didn't have a home and that we were eating for the first time in months.  Check them out:





And no, I didn't capture any pictures of myself.  We also learned that they (the eggs) can't live off the body for more than 48 hours-- so since Gabe hasn't been at our house in 48 hours when this happened and none of us had it, our house didn't have any-- PTL!!!  We got new combs just in case, washed his sheets and hats, just in case, and moved on with our lives....

But always nagging in the back of my mind was the fact that those bugs had been in our house for several weeks.... UNINVITED.  The Lice Ladies always do a follow up too, and although the Atlanta Ice of 2010 caused us to have to reschedule, we found out yesterday that the Gabester is 100% lice-free!!!  And now you can bet your bottom dollar that he has mousse on his head EVERY day!! (Which is great news for me, because it makes his curls curl-up even tighter, and they're just adorable!)