Heidi Chronicles

This is an edited-to-protect-the-innocent version of the email that two other moms and I sent to Miss’s kindergarten class parents, her teacher, and the principal about lice and the school’s rules. It’s kind of awesome, if I do say so myself.

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Subject: Lice Public Service Announcement from the Lice Moms

Hi Parents of Kindergarteners, Teacher, and Principal-

I know that I talked to a lot of you about this in the car line, but I wanted to take a minute to talk to you about it again because there is another case of lice.

Those of us who’ve had lice and treated for it have been frustrated about the lack of information coming from the school to warn other parents, so I talked to Principal and Head of Nurses at the district office yesterday to figure out why we aren’t hearing from them. (And I know that Principal has since sent an email so that everyone knows there was a current case.)

Basically, the school district is not allowed to share that there’s another case of lice with anyone to maintain the privacy of the child unless there are two confirmed cases in a class. And by confirmed, they mean that the nurse actually sees lice or nits on the affected children’s heads.

Based on this rule, me stopping in to tell Nurse after treating Mr and Miss (Infected Child 2) over Spring Break doesn’t count. And in Parent 1′s case, discovered in February (but suspected prior to that), Nurse didn’t catch them on Infected Child 1, so that didn’t count toward the requirement either. She did confirm them on Infected Child 3, who is the most recent case, but they can’t send out any communication based on my word about Infected Child 2 and Infected Child 3′s confirmed case, even though they are in the same class and likely had them at the same time before Spring Break. (However, as Principal’s email this morning confirmed, if there is another case confirmed by Nurse within a few days, they would have two confirmed cases and there would be communication from district.)

I expressed my concern about the lack of communication yesterday to both Principal and Head of Nurses and shared that I wanted to send out an email myself. Head of Nurses said that parent-to-parent contact is going to be the best way to let everyone know since the school simply can’t do it unless the requirements are met.

So Parent 1, Parent 3, and I, the parents of kids who we know have had lice this year, agreed that even if the school can not tell you this to maintain our privacy, we would like you to know so that you can check your kids carefully at least once a week and hopefully we can stop the spread of it from within the classroom. We feel that our privacy in this situation is a non issue. Getting lice is just like getting the flu – it’s contagious and anyone can get it – so why does it have to be private? We also realize that they could certainly get it elsewhere, but since there have been three cases in one classroom, it seems logical that we all be aware of it. Additionally, Parent 1 and I keep thinking of the poor Kindergarten Roundup kids who are coming in a few weeks and won’t be aware of the situation. Man, that would make me mad!

The first thing you need to do is check your kids properly – and keep checking them at least once a week – with a GOOD lice comb. Or you can ask Nurse to check them. And if you do check them yourself, make sure she sees them BEFORE you treat so they can count it as a confirmed case.

Yeah, I’ll admit that even after that first email went out a few months ago about there being head lice in Kindergarten, I wasn’t checking properly – because I didn’t know how. I also know that if I had been checking properly, I would have caught Miss’s earlier, before she started itching and had wee little lice running around on her head in addition to the big ones. I also could have taken preventative measures before she ever got it if I’d known what a pain it was going to be. But I didn’t know what I was doing, and so she was itching before I found it. She was sensitive to the biting and there weren’t loads on her, but many people don’t itch until they’ve had the infestation for 6 weeks or longer because they aren’t sensitive to the biting until then. And I’m really lucky she itched because with her hair color, they were hard to see. And when I checked Mr. the right way, he had it too – but no itching.

Here’s how the CDC suggests checking, but before you go looking at your child’s head, make sure you know what you’re looking for by looking at some of the links below. (And just so you know, our kids are currently being checked almost daily.)

http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/lice/head/diagnosis.html

I also recommend having a look at the post below, and googling lice images to be sure you know what you’re looking for. This one has good pics on both dark and light hair and also lists a natural eradication method.
http://supermisc.blogspot.com/2008/06/completely-different-subject-head-lice.html

This is an interesting view of their life cycle and why it’s important to keep combing and checking:
http://www.nitcrew.co.nz/images/head-lice-nits-life-cycle.jpg

This is very similar to the lice comb we use.  It was recommended by schools in England as one that worked really well.  And I’ve been pleased with it.  It even pulled out the teeniest of lice and nits.

http://www.nitfreecomb.com/

Then, if they have it, TREAT IT and follow all of the instructions, including the combing and additional treatment a week later, and do the cleaning so you don’t reinfest yourself. Remember that life cycle.

 Notify your pediatrician for children under two. They generally do not recommend treating with insecticide.

Insecticidal treatments for adults and children over 2 are available over the counter in the first aid sections of most stores. There are also natural remedies that can be used. They generally require patience and time. But they can work if you are diligent. Do your research now so you know what works best for you and your family if the time comes.

Then take preventative measures.

The biggest way to prevent is to do a thorough check weekly with a good comb. This can get the live lice and nits out before they hatch. There are also other precautionary measures that can be taken. You should research what you choose to do as some of what we are doing may not be recommended. There are natural shampoos and sprays that can be purchased at Walmart/Target and drug stores. Currently Parent 1 is using NIX preventatively every two weeks. I am using Lice Ice http://www.liceice.com/index.html each day at Nurse’s recommendation. It comes with a spray bottle to dilute for daily use. I get it at Walgreens. Parent 3 is taking her kids back to Fairy Lice Sisters for checks as recommended. We are all checking diligently and we are CLEAN!

Additionally, I think the school would want you to know their policies.

I was told by district that if you contact Teacher, she will direct you to the information provided by the school (listed below). She can’t do anything else unless the district hands down an order to Principal and then she passes it on to Teacher which is what happened earlier in the year when we got the email and they were bagging kids’ stuff.

So, Teacher can’t do anything about it.

And Principal has liability to the district, so she is required to follow their rules as well. Until there are two cases in one class confirmed by Nurse, there won’t be any communication from the district.

Nurse is also bound by district rules, and she can only check kids if a teacher suspects, a parent requests, or perhaps if there’s been known close contact with a confirmed case (like a playdate or sleepover).

So really it’s up to us to make sure that our cases get caught, treated, and that Nurse sees them so that they are reportable.

That said, here’s what Head of Nurses passed along to me as the information they recommend reviewing.

This is Kansas regulation.
http://www.kdheks.gov/c-f/head_lice.htm

Here’s the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) information. Great info about types of treatments, etc. They even list info about the natural agents and how schools should respond.
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/110/3/638.full

This is the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) information. Very thorough. They have a lot of good information about treatment and prevention and what is recommended and not recommended. And they have pics as well.
http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/lice/head/index.html

Here’s the National Pediculosis Association (NPA) info. They show pictures of what lice and nits look like vs other stuff, if you dig through the FAQs, and also show the best kind of lice comb to get. They also recommend checking consistently – at least weekly – using a lice comb.
http://www.headlice.org/faq/index.htm

Here’s the Blue Valley brochure on treating lice, which is based on Kansas regulations, the AAP, the CDC, and the NPA information. It lists the school requirements for kids coming back to school. This is where the school will direct you if you ask questions about lice.

http://www.bluevalleyk12.org/education//page/download.php?fileinfo=SGVhZF9MaWNlLnBkZjo6Oi93d3cvc2Nob29scy9zYy9yZW1vdGUvaW1hZ2VzL2RvY21nci9BTExmaWxlMTM0NzQzLnBkZg==

Additionally, Principal shared with me that the rooms are being carefully wiped down and vacuumed every night.

Also, Principal mentioned this morning that there is a fund for families who may not be able to afford to treat. If that is the situation, please let the school know. They will help and maintain confidentiality.

And, just for good measure one more time: remember that they can’t do anything about communication or bagging up bags/coats, etc. unless the school nurse confirms two cases with her own eyes. That’s the rule.

And here’s what Parent 1, Parent 3, and I want you to know.

Just to give you an idea of how important it is to check and get every last nit out of those kids’ hair, The Lice Moms thought we would share what all we did to make sure they were eradicated from the house. It takes hours and can be even more costly if you are reinfested. You really only ever want to have to do this once. And even then you don’t want to, you just do it because you never ever want to see those things again. Here are the things that we did:

• Treated every infected person with insecticide at the same time (and Parent 1 and I treated everyone regardless, which isn’t recommended, but we were freaked out).
• Combed everyone’s hair for hours to get out every single louse and the nits (eggs). Every. Single. One. Or paid Fairy Lice Sisters to do it. http://www.fairylicesisters.com/
• Called everyone we’d been around and told them to check, including classmates.
• Told the school nurse. (She checks them and declares them “viable” nit free before they can go back to school. That means no nits 1/4 inch or closer to the scalp.)
• Told the teachers. It’s my understanding that schools (at least in our district) aren’t technically supposed to do that either, so we should let them know.
• Combed every night to make sure none of the hatchlings from possibly missed nits can start laying eggs and reinfest.
• Completely retreated 7-10 days later.
• Kept combing wet hair just to be safe – at least once a week. I’m doing it every day – on myself too.
• I washed 18 loads of laundry – in bedding alone – to get everyone to the point that things were clean. Washed in 130 degree water and dried for at least 20 mins on high heat the entire time. Parent 1 has four kids. Parent 3 has three. They washed WAY more than I did.
• Kept towels separate and washed every few days in the hottest water and in the hottest heat I could get.
• Washed clothes more often than normal – about every two days – and didn’t let ANYONE pull ANYTHING out of the dirty laundry for any reason, ever.
• Washed coats every day after school in hot, hot water, and dried on high heat. (I’m still doing this when they wear them to school. Luckily it’s been nice out.) Parent 1 washed backpacks too. I just made my kids stop carrying theirs! A plastic bag works just fine.
• Soaked all hair items in 130+ degree water for 10 minutes. I’m keeping our kids’ combs in zip lock bags with their names on them now and still soaking hair accessories after they are worn.
• Changed and washed bedding on both kids’ beds for a week in between first and second treatments. (Had them sleep on a mattress pad with a blanket and one pillow to make it easier.) Freezing also works if that’s easier than washing. I didn’t do that, so you’d have to check on how long.
• Cordoned off and vacuumed furniture they’d been on. It’s been off limits for two weeks. Parent 1 sprayed with a RID product.
• Loaded up all the stuffed animals and other non-washable toys and bagged them up for two weeks.
• Vacuumed carpets and threw away the bag. Parent 1 also did RID spray.
• Vacuumed car and car seats and threw away the bag.
• Sprayed bike helmets and made them off limits for a week.
• Obsessed about head itching because one doesn’t realize how much one innocently scratches one’s head – especially after I watched the entire baseball team share a batting helmet last week. Ugh.

Keep in mind…

None of us had any idea that our kids had lice. We all thought we were checking properly and our kids were clean. Infected Child 1 even got checked a couple of times by Nurse and she missed it. Nobody is perfect, and even if we know what we’re looking for, it can be hard to see and we may not catch it the first time. The key is we need to keep checking, and checking, and checking.

Some other things to keep in mind.

These are things that I’ve read over the last few weeks. I have to put in a disclaimer that they may not all be 100% correct if I’ve not cited them, but they stick in my mind, so they are just interesting bits of info. And I’m sure that if they are cited one place, they are on all of the websites I listed above.

• Lice can affect ANYONE. They do not discriminate and there’s no reason for this to be embarrassing. (AAP)
• Lice do not spread diseases. (CDC)  They are just a total pain to deal with.
• You can get lice from any place that your kids come into head-to-head contact with other kids, or where kids play. Bounce houses, restaurant playgrounds, gyms, car seats, airplane seats, movie seats, sleepovers, playdates, dress up clothes, shared hair accessories, and combs, hats, pillows, bedding, rugs, etc. It’s not just school, so keep checking! (Multiple sources CDC, AAP, NPA)
• Allegedly they prefer clean hair because it’s easier to grab onto. Hairspray and hair products may help.
• They can live completely submerged in water under 130 degrees for several hours (CDC), so just showering or swimming at the pool won’t kill them. Additionally, chlorine levels in pools will not kill them (CDC).  Note though, that it is not likely to contract them at a public pool – from the water, anyway. (CDC)
• They can not live for more than 48 hours without feeding (CDC says 1-2 days), but that’s long enough for them to survive overnight at school, etc.
• Nits that fall off of the head won’t hatch unless conditions simulate the warmth and humidity of the space no more than 1 cm away from the head. (And more like 1/4 inch.) And if they do hatch, they die shortly after if there’s no food source. (Mutliple sources CDC, AAP, NPA)
• Only adult lice are likely to move from head to head. The littler ones usually stay put.
• They are pretty fast. They can crawl between 6 and 30 cm in a minute! (AAP)
• It is not unusual to find all different sizes of lice when treating. Check out their life cycle above.
• A health care professional friend of mine tells me she swears she’s seen one jump, but they generally say that they can only crawl – no flying or jumping. (CDC)
• Adult lice lay (on average) 6-8 eggs (CDC says 6) a day for 15+ days. That’s 90-120 new lice over two and a half weeks.

If you have any questions, feel free to email or call us. We’re happy to share information. And if your kid has lice, make sure Nurse SEES it. Without her visual inspection and confirmation there will be no action from the district.

So the final word is:

Check your kids diligently and send this email to anyone else you want. We want the information out there for totally selfish reasons.

Thanks,

Parent 1
Parent 2
Me

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The lesson I got out of this was to know what your school’s policy on lice is, TELL PEOPLE if you have it, and to check, check, and check again. It’s going to be in schools. There’s not a lot we can do about that. But we can be aware of the policies and check our own kids.

And after two days of research and email writing, I’m spent!

Well, are you itching yet?

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Yeah, I know. I’ve not been writing. It’s because I’m too damn busy doing 18,000 other things and even though I want to be writing, I’m not writing as a result. But this can’t wait. This is a moment that needs to be captured now. If I wait, it will just get buried in with a bunch of other stuff and I just can’t do that. I mean, it involves a stapled scalp.

Ok, I’m stopping right there and I’m not going on until I warn you that if “stapled scalp” about did you in, you should stop right here. Because I have pictures and I’m going to show them. And I’m not going to be responsible for passing out, vomit, or anything else that might happen to you. I repeat, proceed at your own risk.

So, on Monday I’m at school for a meeting, the secretary has seen me come in and knows I’m there. The phone rings in the teacher’s classroom and it’s the school nurse saying that Mister bumped his head in PE. Teacher and I continue conversation – me thinking that they’ve simply called down because they knew I was there, and both of us thinking it was just a bump. We talk for about 10 minutes because we really haven’t gotten to have our meeting, and the phone rings again. They would like me to please come down right now.

So, I leave my stuff and head down there to see what’s going on. I walk in and Mr has an ice pack on his head, and the principal and the office staff are in there. I give him a hug and ask how he’s doing and he says he ran into the cage covering the fire alarm while he was running in PE.  He is calm and collected.

The nurse gets up to show me and when she removes the ice pack, there’s a gash – NOT a bump – in his scalp. It’s about 1/2 inch long in the shape of a C from what I can tell. Then I notice that his eyebrows have that telltale brown dried blood color on them.

As my expectations were a little off, I had to turn away for a second. But I quickly went into Boy Mom mode and turned back. Nurse (who was a sub, poor thing) did a little talking. Principal did a little talking. Teacher did a little talking. And we all decided it would be best to go to the pediatrician and get it cleaned up. I called Gma (who is sick, but I’m desperate) to pick up Miss if need be, and she and the Pediatrician and both were available so we headed out. As I was walking out the door, I hear Principal calling to get some padding placed around the cage. Smart Principal.

The accident happend at about 10.35, we were at the doctor’s office (it’s close) by around 10.55, they got us in and got him all cleaned up, at which point he asked to see it, so I took a pic and showed him.

His response? “Ooooh.”

Doc came back in, took a look and declared, “staples.” He said he had to run across the street to the Staples store to get the stapler. If you know my Mister, you know this did not impress. He’s all about reality. And when I say that I mean the kind that doesn’t involve pretending anything as serious as the stapler for his head is coming from the office supply store. I’m sure the poor kid was envisioning some contraption similar to the Swingline I keep in my drawer. No wonder he was freaked out.

Now I will say, the word “staples” was not at all what I expected. I was not prepared for that at all. He left and Mister and I discussed it (and the fact that the stapler wasn’t coming from Staples because I’m a nice mom) and worked out that it must be “because my head is sweaty.” I personally figured it’s less work than stitches and maybe glue wouldn’t work. But anyway, he eventually did come back with the stapler, which looks like this

and brave Mister took staples in stride with only two utterances of “ouch.”

He’s totally tough.

And of course he wanted to see it.

So, by 11.35 we were out the door and I knew there’d be time to pick up Miss. I called sick Gma and told her not to go, and drove to school, arriving at 11.43. On the way, I tell Mister that I’m going to take him home, get him cleaned up, give him some medicine if he had a headache, and if he wanted, he could go back to school. When we arrive at school to pick up Miss, he says, in his groaning, you’re-such-a-pain-in-my-ass voice, “Mo-om, why can’t I just go back to school now? I don’t want to miss lunch.”

Still in Boy Mom mode, I told him we’d have to make sure school was ok with it, but if that’s what he wanted to do, that was fine. And so we picked up Miss, walked him in, got him cleaned up, and sent him back to class with a quick discussion that if anything happened, Teacher could call me.

Miss and I walked out and came home with her telling me all the things she was going to do for him since his head had to get stapled. I got Miss her lunch and that’s when all of my awesome Boy Mom-ness ended and I crumpled on to the sofa, a worthless lump. I was exhausted.

I was a zombie the rest of the day, which is totally awesome when you’re trying to plan things and rearrange things for the class playdate for the non stapled child for Tuesday and you can’t get the dates right or even think of an alternative. Oh well, at least people are understanding.

So anyway, that’s the story of How Mister Got Staples In His Head. And I have been exhausted for two days! I’m such a wuss about these things. Well, I guess I can’t blame him for all of it. I managed to get pinkeye all by my lonesome yesterday and that whole process wore me out too.

But, I know he’s fine because he was mad about his bicycle helmet not working properly and rubbing the staples, mad at me because I wouldn’t let him ride without a helmet, and when that didn’t work, I found him up in the neighbor’s tree. I swear he is trying to kill me.

Oh whatever. I’m a Boy Mom. I’ll survive.

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So, The Miss was exhausted today after swimming. I would be too if I held my breath for that long without coming up for air, but that is for another update.

Anyway, she’s exhausted and she’s on the chair, covered up with her blanket, pining for me to come and sit with her. But I’m cleaning up from dinner, so I send A over there to sit with her because he loves to cuddle with her. But she doesn’t want him. She wants me. So he sits in the chair next to her.

In her defense, I think she’s not feeling 100%, but the running joke between A and me about The Miss is her outright honesty about who she loves “just a liiiiiiittle more.” So I say to her, “well, you know, Daddy loves you almost as much as…” and I let it trail off and we laugh.

She knows exactly what we’re talking about and she perks up and lifts her hands high in the air, bent at the wrists so all her fingers point forward, and says, “Daddy, this is how much I love you.” And we both wait, because based on history whatever comes next is a) going to be funny, and b) probably not going to be nice.

She thinks for a minute looking at her hands trying to figure out which one is going to be higher and which is lower and instead of doing her normal response, she tilts one hand down, like a ramp, and says, “This is how much I love Mom.” A maintins a serious face. How, I don’t know. Surprise at not being slammed yet again, perhaps? She continues, “I love Mom a little bit tilted in the way that pumpkins roll down hills.”

I had to turn around so she wouldn’t see me doing the silent, shaking laugh. And I get up to get a piece of paper to write down these gems. Aaron, who can clearly hold his laughter better than I can, can see that this sort of talk comes directly from the Mom half of the equation and thinks it is hilarious. He chimes in with “I love you in the way fingernails grow…incrementally.”

Then she lifts her hands straight up again, and says, “See Dad, I love you in the way pumpkins….no, um, blueberries. I love you in the way blueberries stay flat.”

A: “And I love you in the way air pressure in the tires decreases when it’s cold out, and increases when it’s hot out.”

She stares at him. He doesn’t know that we put air in the van tires today, but Miss’s wheels are turning. She moves on, hands down, getting cozy in her chair again. “I love Mister in the way pictures are painted.”

A: “I love Mister in the way squirrels jump.”

She doesn’t like that one at all. “No Dad, it has to be something around the house.”

A: “Ok, I love Macey like scabs heal.”

Miss: “I love Macey how blocks are builded.”

A: “I love Aria like rice is sticky.”

Miss: “I love Aria like Riley’s ears…because…sometimes when you pet Riley and he likes it, his ears go down.” (Riley is A’s parents’ dog.)

It got silent for a few minutes. I waited with my pen and paper. When I realized that she was done, I went back to the dishes. With that, she realized that I was still around.

“Hey Mom, WHEN are you coming over here?”

Me (thinking): “Um never if you’re going to keep talking like a maniac – because it’s AWESOME. And why in the hell do you want me when you have the man who loves you like fingernails grow?”

Me (actual speaking): “I’ll be there in a minute, baby girl.”

And then I went and gave her a hug because she’s a hilarious maniac who loves me like pumpkins roll down hills. I’m pretty damn sure that this is a one-of-a-kind, special sort of (perhaps mushy as the pumpkins fall apart rolling down hils?) love that, quite probably, no one else in the world has ever experienced. I mean really, name one other person who has someone who loves them like pumpkins roll down hills?

See? Can’t do it, can you? I am seriously special here.

Now, I have to make sure it’s not just a seasonal love like that pumpkin spice latte thing that Starbucks has that only comes around once a year.

Hmmm, I might have been better off with flat blueberries.

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Wow, this is one long-ass post.  I felt like I disappeared off the face of the Earth for a while there. It feels so wrong that I don’t even know when I last blogged. I just went and looked and it was over a month and a half ago. Well, a lot has happened since then, obviously. Or maybe not obviously, but if not much had been going on, I’d probably have been here writing pointless drivel. But I wasn’t.

So, let’s start with updates from my most recent post.

Crazy Kids

Miss has been singing herself to sleep. She wrote a funny little song about corners: “Everywhere is a corner. Hundreds of corners. On everything. But not on circles. But on every other shape. A shape with three corners is a triangle.” She also told someone at the gym hi in the locker room. Then she said, “I said hi because I know you won’t steal me.”

She is also all about reading. I can’t believe the stuff she can figure out.

Mister told me the other day, in all seriousness and a bit incredulously, “Hey Mom? You know those fiction books? They. Are. PRETEND.”

They are also loving play dates. Mister has had a few with some classmates and he loves to play with G and AG as well. Miss enjoys AG and playing with S and we’re getting some classmate playdates set up for her as well. And Mister got a chance to Skype with his teacher from last year. It was pretty cute.

Mister has also been playing soccer. You’ll have to pop over here to see the pictures of him, but this made me laugh. You can’t see it very well, but the sign points toward Wembly Stadium and says 4356 miles.

They also had their first Fake Sleepover. AG came for pizza and stayed for a movie and popcorn in jammies and sleeping bags. It went pretty well. I might get brave and allow an all-nighter – with one extra kid only.

And swimming lessons. After weeks of having them on different days with different teachers and taking the wrong kid at least once and getting the time of day wrong at least once, I put them in semi private lessons together and they are both doing great – as am I. With only two kid things (swim lessons and soccer practice) going on during the week after school, I am much more sane. Plus, the teacher is hardcore. She qualified for the Olympics at one point in her life and she is just what Mister needs. She does not take any of his shit.

They are loving playing in the backyard on the play set. They have both been a little bummed that the new grass is keeping them out of the yard at the moment.

We also started a new discipline tactic at our house. It’s based on the clip-up system, if you know what that is. We’re currently using magnets and with all of the annoyances surrounding the dogs with the kids, I can often be heard sternly saying, “You go move your magnet down.” And, I’m paying for chores. Quarters. My children will do a lot for a quarter. It’s just all sorts of awesome. Then they can spend their money on whatever they want – like determining whether it’s worth it to feed the goats at Deanna Rose or if they want to save it and buy stuff from the Scholastic Book Order. By the way, I take no credit for this. All credit goes to JL because that’s what she was doing with her kids. I just stole it. I steal lots of my best ideas. I learned that in advertising.

We have been reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Both kids have really enjoyed it.

And we did a massive overhaul on the closets and the clothes. Both kids needed new stuff and I spent a lot of time planning and purchasing. For those of you who don’t know me, I really don’t like to shop. But, I will say, with a solid list, a plan in place, and a shopping supervisor (my mother) it went pretty well! Now I just need to do my own closet!

Miss also had us doing fire drills early one morning for her homework and Mister had me teaching him how to open his window in his room for fire safety week. He also reminded me about Stop, drop, and roll. I totally remember doing the same things when I was a kid. It’s weird having them in school where some things haven’t changed!

We went to the Arboretum and they made all sorts of things out of “nature stuff.” We did avoid the hay ride as the line was too long. I did double up on claritin that day knowing that it was a possibility and I seem to have survived the hay bales unscathed. I still had my voice and did not have the itchy throat and the sneezing that usually accompanies my acquaintance with hay. All that nature prompted a later walk around the neighborhood one afternoon to gather leaves. The art project from that is forthcoming.

Mister shut the garage door on the van. I was not pleased. Neither was he. Poor kid. He no longer has garage door privileges, which is annoying because it’s actually helpful to have him do it.

School

Speaking of school, both kids are still enjoying walking to school in the mornings most days. I am too. It is nice that we can still do that here.

Went to back to school night for both kids. Wow, there’s a lot of stuff to do. Over the last month and a half we’ve kind of started to maybe get into a groove with homework and school stuff. It was a little rocky because Mister’s teacher’s father got sick and died and she was out for about two weeks. He is settling in, but it took longer than normal. And, I have to say, they did a good job with placement. Man, she has him nailed.

Miss is also settling in. There was one day that her teacher stuck her head in the van window at pick-up and said, “could you please talk to Miss about respect? She seems to think that she’s the teacher and she’s telling the kids other ways to do things, and – while her way is also right – it is confusing the other kids.” This did not come as any surprise to me. Miss turned 12 at some point a few weeks ago and suddenly my sweet little girl has attitude. My friends all tell me it’s a phase and this too shall pass – but that it is a taste of what the teen years will be like. I hope that I don’t maim her before it passes.

I’m one of the room parents for Miss’s class. I signed up to help the person who was already signed up. Turns out she got signed up by her husband and he thought he was signing her up to read in the classroom. So, between the two of us, neither of us really wanted to do it. But, it’s going to be ok. I’m putting in effort where I want to and that will just have to be good enough. I’m pretty good at getting things organized, but you don’t want me in charge of anything. So, I’m all over the party planning and making sure everyone knows what’s going on with that since people were already signed up and the other mom is going to manage the stuff that I don’t want to do. It’s going to be ok, I think. But who knows…ask me at the end of the year.

Aaron

The dude has been working like mad. He works hard for the money. We did do a social event with some of the people from his office and that was fun. And we spent some time in Omaha with some other attorneys that he went to law school with one weekend for their 10 year reunion. You can read about that here.

We did finally finish Six Feet Under and he’s now trying to get me to watch Breaking Bad. That show stresses me out. I’m going to try to go read all about the episodes so that I can watch it and know what’s going to happen rather than feeling the intense anticipation. It’s a great show…I just can’t handle the suspense.

And, he’s currently back in London for a business trip. I’d be jealous, but the thought of making that trip right now just feels way too soon. Maybe I’ll go in the spring or later summer – certainly not in the winter. That would just be self punishment.

Damn Dogs (Ok, not really.)

Macey finally got rid of her scratched eye. It was a good four weeks of going to the vet and having it checked. I think she was re-scratching it. I have no doubt that playing with Aria and sneaking under the fence into the brush was not helping. But she’s healed now. I end up forgetting she’s out in the backyard because she messes around back there and then when she gets bored, she squeezes through the fence. Man, she does love running through the wooded green space, and I’m sure peeing and pooping in our neighbor’s lawn. Unimpressed. So, now I need to decide between chicken wire or radio fence. At least I do remember to put her collar on every time before she goes out and occasionally our fabulous neighbors down the street bring her home. Little turkey. And, we figured out that Benadryl for her totally zonks her out. Last time we had a thunderstorm, I gave her some and she barely looked at me. I just have to get it in her before the storms kick in. Maybe I’ll give it to her every day come April. The vet promises me it’s about the safest thing one can give a dog.

Aria’s coughing was evidently pneumonia and she’s finally, FINALLY on the mend. We’ve had her for about 6 weeks now now and about two weeks ago was the first night without coughing. When I took her in for like the third time for the coughing, the vet asked me if I wanted to try some new medication over the weekend since the 2.5 weeks of the other meds hadn’t worked, or if I wanted to do an x-ray to be sure there wasn’t anything wrong, I asked the price of the x-ray and decided that if $33.33 per night for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday made sure that there wasn’t anything wrong and meant that if there was there’d be the right meds so that I could sleep, it would be worth it. Glad we did it. She wasn’t looking so hot. But she’s well now.

However, because she was sick, we had to cancel her appointment to be spayed. This would have been ok if she hadn’t gone into heat the week that she finally started feeling better. I was not impressed. I did not sign up for this. But, three tries at diapers later, we have a size six child’s diaper that stays on most of the time, and when it falls off, she goes into her crate with her nasty rug that will be thrown away once being in heat is over. Evidently it can last up to a month.

It definitely made an impression on the kids. Miss made sure that everyone knew that Aria had “blood dripping out of her fa-china” so I’m sure everyone at school knows, along with the playdate we had that day who went home and told his mom what she had said. *cringe* That’s what I get for teaching proper anatomy.

But really, I’m about ready for all this stuff to just go back to normal. No bleeding. No coughing. No eye scratches. No freaking out about storms. No more weird stuff.

Overall though, we’re pretty happy with the addition to our family. She’s a cuddler.

And then there’s this one. “Don’t touch me or I’ll bring you a toy.”

What you can’t see in this picture is the toy that’s in front of her. She’s totally giving me the stare down.

But really, Aria is totally settling in.

And Macey can’t help but like her…she plays!

Friends

I can’t emphasize enough how fun it is to have friends so close again. I’ve been able to spend a little bit of time with a lot of people who get me and who make me laugh until I pee my pants. I love having J&A so close and I see them every weekday, which is awesome. We are back to seeing N&A on random nights and on planned ones, like when we went to the Sporting KC vs. LA Galaxy match. N has some pretty amazing seats, so we were right at eye level.

I didn’t really watch too much of the match, but I did have fun chatting with A. And I did manage to yell at the appropriate times.

My main goal was to see David Beckham, and I did – both clothed,

and shirtless. He really needs to do something about that hair if you ask me. Unfortunately I did not see him bend it.

I also saw Landon Donovan. Of course, I had no idea who that was until the night of the match. Unfortunately, A did not get the video that I would liked for him to have gotten of Landon rolling around in the grass warming up, but we did have a nice view of him along the sidelines.

And, I had a great time having AL in town for the Law School Reunion. JL had us and over for the usual wine and cheese event after they’d been shopping at Better Cheddar. It was yummy! And it was wonderful to see RM and her kids too. Pics of the kids over here.

I’ve also had the chance to see two friends, one from high school and one from college, whom I haven’t seen in at least four years. It was so wonderful to catch up with them. Interestingly, they both have little ones these days. What a different life it is from my youngest being five.

I have a new Thursday friend, BS, who joined me last week at La Bodega, and we’re planning another outing to Blue Koi. We’re going to do up JoCo hardcore. And I still have my phone friends – they are just different friends now!

I can’t deny that I miss my England friends – or the ones I associate with England, anyway.  That part is still hard.

But, ending on a good note, I am happy to say that Miss S had her surgery and is recovering well. You just don’t realize how much you can love someone else’s kids until something like this happens. I’ll try to detail it in another post.

Family

My parents came for a visit one weekend to watch Mister play soccer. I didn’t realize that my dad hadn’t been here since we’d been back. I love having them closer and being able to talk to them and my sister on the phone in the same time zone. I really, really missed them while we were gone. Mom and Dad took the kids to the hotel they were staying at to swim and play and I think everyone had a great time. Both kids were so sad when they left. They also really enjoyed the shopping trip. Well, up until Mister was done and he was swinging two shirts on hangers, one on each hand, around and around and around. “I am so ready to go HOME, Mom!” They both did great.

It is also nice having A’s family to keep the kids when I need help, when we’re gone for a weekend, or when they want to keep them overnight just because. They all love it. And they love playing with their cousins.

House

There’s still a lot to do, but the list is getting pared down a bit. I’m just taking it a thing at a time as best I can. It can get totally overwhelming if I do anything but that. I found my list from when we first got back and I’d written out all there was to be done immediately. I am impressed at how many things are marked off that list, but it just keeps getting longer with other stuff that now needs to be done immediately. I just have to laugh. And I can’t believe how much keeping up a house and moving costs. I mean, I knew about the keeping up the house, but I had no idea we’d be spending so much money on random stuff. Lesson learned: Don’t get rid of anything next time if I move overseas. It’s not worth re-buying it upon return.

So, needless to say, I’ve been doing some sale shopping. It is exhausting for me to have to go look at different places, but it is worth it when I save the money. I got a good deal on a clearance patio table and put that together.

I was going to get rid of this one, but it’s actually kind of nice to have for the kids to use when we have people over. When it does go, it’ll go Freecycle. One of the arms is a little broken.

And, I’m still in the painting process. I painted the basement trim – or most of it anyway, and I painted the bar area. I had to do something to keep the kids and the dogs away from it. I am nothing if not resourceful.

It does look nice now, if I do say so myself.

I also had people out to give me estimates for the cabinets and the other trim. Then I decided that I’m cheap. I still haven’t decided what I can do myself and what I can’t. I did, however, decide that it’s a winter job and I don’t have to worry about it right now. Those painters will be looking for work this winter. And, I’ll probably have more time this winter as well. So we’ll see.

Incidentally, our roof isn’t going to be put on until mid-November now. So, we’re going to wait until Spring to paint the house.

And, I finally found a tile person, went and looked at the places he recommended, decided that Home Depot is better for what we’re doing with the big tiles, though I did find some interesting accent tile at the other place, and will be getting in touch with the tile guy so that we hopefully have tile in place by the end of November. Now I just have to figure out what shower head and shower doors. This is so not my thing.

I got a freezer! That made me very happy. Now I’m going to find a meat supplier and fill that thing up with cow. It’s going to be awesome. The freezer came with cosmetic damage and I got a $50 gift card out of the deal. I thought I was hot shit for talking them up from what they wanted to give me…until I realized that I have nothing else that I need to buy from Sears. Awesome, Heidi.

I went and looked at phones and phone plans. I can not wait until I have a phone that doesn’t require T9 for texting. I am going to be a texting fool. I will use capitalization and punctuation and I will be FAST! That phone is my holy grail, I swear.

I had to buy a new printer because while I can plug my UK printer in here in the US, it is nearly impossible to get ink for it. I would have had to buy ink and have it shipped from the UK. Who knew?

And I’ve done the basics of getting some shelves put up. Granted, the pictures that are up there now aren’t facing the right direction, but at least I can see what sizes of pictures I’ll need to find for them. That’s going to be a task all by itself. So many pictures, so many frames that need filling.

Me

Aside from my job as mother, wife, bloody dog diaper changer, cleaner, cooker, bill payer, house keeper upper, service people organizer, personal shopper, taxi driver, and room mother, I’m still going to the gym a couple of times a week to do strength training and I’m walking and doing core work almost every other day that I don’t go to the gym. I’m definitely getting stronger. I had to increase my weights this week and misread one of the things I was supposed to be doing and overdid it. But, I’m getting the hang of it. I have actually gained some weight, but my goal was never to lose weight, so whatever. I really just want to be healthy, fit, and strong.

Speaking of keeping healthy, I am now doing some physical therapy and I went and had a mammogram. Wow is all I have to say about those two things.

I’ve been enjoying my mornings to a degree. I can get quite a bit done. But I also kept Miss S one morning and it was so fun to have a 20-month old in the house for a while. I guess that’s what grandparents feel like. We played and did some shopping and she was fantastic.

And, I’m doing lots of Al-Anon work. It takes up time, but it is helping me deal with some hard stuff.

Also, I got to do one of my most fave things…I got my new planner pages for next year. Yeah, I know, I’m ancient with the paper, but I lurve it!

Finally, I got my hair done by a woman who claimed to be a cross between a wizard and a ninja when it comes to hair. I know she thinks it is pretty crazy. I like the cut and I know I can get her to go wild with the color. In the meantime, it looks pretty good dark for a change!

And with that, I’m up to October 13th. I’m calling it good.

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