One of THOSE days...or weeks...

***read at own risk....complaining to start in 5,4,3,2,....

Two weeks ago Mark got sick. Lost his voice, cramped muscles, hot flashes (yes there was teasing involved on this one). Well, he is STILL sick. I am used to handling the house while he is away at school, work, errands, play...but honestly, it is hard to run a household when your spouse is sick :( He has been a good sport and helping when he feels less sick so life has been moving slowly day by day. THEN....

On Thursday night at bath time I found lice on Kels head. Not just one or two, but dozens and dozens. I couldn't believe that I didn't catch it before it got SO bad. I didn't even see it when I did her hair that morning. Of course, I've never seen it before, so even if I did see it, I wouldn't have known what it was ><. So Mark pulled himself up and went to Walmart to get meds while I got online (with ALL the girls sanctioned in the tub) and tried to figure out what to do. I thought lice was pretty common, but seriously, there is little helpful info out there. Or maybe I am the first to wonder how long can the eggs (not just Lice) can stay alive after off the host? or can they be transfered by plastic items or is it just fiberous things they can cling to? or why are some white and some brown, are they both the same type of lice? or will the medicated shampoo keep working after its rinsed off or do we have to use the shampoo every day?...If you know the answers, feel free to let me know.

So when Mark got home (at 7pm), we re-washed the girls and applied the medicated shampoo, tried to get them to sit for 10min for it to set, sent an email out to everyone we could think of to warn them about the lice, then stuck on Star Wars and one by one, combed out thier hair. Hoping we were taking out what we thought were the bugs and the eggs. It was almost midnight before we were done with just combing out thier hair. We then got the sleeping bags out and they camped in the living room (after I completely vacuumed the carpet, couch, and cat tree and wiped down all hard sufaces with Lysol wipes). While they slept, Mark and I striped all the beds and put EVERYTHING in trash bags to be washed. I never realized how many blankets and pillows we all have. There was about 15 trash bags full of things to be washed. Then we had to collect all the stuffed animals and bag them too. Luckily, I could just through those into the garage and wait for the little buggers to die. Again, I didn't realize how many animals these kids own. I guess I SHOULD let Mark take some to the shooting range like he's been wanting to do :).

So we took care of the beds and animals...we're done right? HAHA NOOO. Then we collected all the dress up things, towels, wash clothes, hair bands, brushes and combes, baby doll clothes and blankets, soft cat toys, and play rugs in each of thier rooms and bagged those. We might as well just have boxed everything to get ready to move...thats basically what we were doing anyway. Mark was very tempted to get a hotel for a few nights and deal with it there (lice only live up to 3 days when not on a person) but we didn't. I guess the house could have used a good cleaning anyway. (This is when we read my last post to remind us that we should be happy).

THEN...the next morning, I was going to medicate myself (luck Mark just shaved his head) and noticed that we had no hot water. Turns out our water heater broke and it wasn't until 4pm when I could shower and actually start cleaning everything we bagged. So basically all Friday we sat around, played Wii, watched movies we've seen too many times, and re checked the girls hair ever hour picking out bugs we missed before. Thankfully Mark went to KFC for dinner so I didn't have to think about that. When bed time rolled around, the girls hair was basically clean. I think Brooke is the only one who needs a re-wash. Hopefully it will stay that way. I mean, how do you keep the kids away from each other in a small apt.?

THEN...at 11:30pm Mark came back from checking on the church building to find vomit all down the hall, covering Brooke and Kels room and all over Brooke and her sleeping bag. And she was sound asleep. So we had another night of late night baths and cleaning. At 3am, Shayna (who found her way into my bed), woke me up to tell me she threw up all over my bed. Mark was up with Brooke already so together we got her cleaned and re-situated. Mark (graciously) volunteered to stay up with them. So at about 7am, he came to wake me up for my "shift".

That brings us to today. Typically, the 2 sick kids are the first to wake up and want to eat ><. I spent the day checking and re-checking the kids heads, being an insane vacuumer (is that a word?) and trying to keep Brooke and Shay away from the others. Its not even 3pm and I'm ready to start our bed time routine and get them in bed lol. This has seriously been the most exhausting thing I've had to deal with in a long time. I don't wish lice on anyone. I have about 4 bags left to wash (along with our normal laundry) and I still need to really scrub the carpet to get the vomit smell out (sorry, I'm sure you didn't need to know that).

On the bright side, we have a new water heater, the kids hair is now squeaky clean, our beds are beautiful, our counter tops and floors are spotless, there are no toys out of place, the tubs are sparkling, Brooke moved from 11th place to 5th place in Mario Kart Wii, Kelsie got a 195 in Wii bowling putting her in 2nd place after Marks score of 203, Shayna has mastered golf (yes its a video game, but still), Becca is pacifier free!, I haven't had to tell them they can't go swimming because of the smokey air, and we have just about memorized the script to Harry Potter 1. So even though it has been an insane couple of days, there are some good things to focus on :)

A good reminder...

Julie B. Beck, Relief Society general president: “Women have distinct assignments given to them from before the foundation of the world. … We know that in the great premortal conflict we sided with our Savior, Jesus Christ, to preserve our potential to belong to eternal families. We know we are daughters of God, and we know what we are to do. … We believe in the formation of eternal families. … We know that the commandment to multiply and replenish the earth remains in force. … We have faith that with the Lord’s help we can be successful in rearing and teaching children. These are vital responsibilities in the plan of happiness, and when women embrace those roles with all their hearts, they are happy!” (“What Latter-day Saint Women Do Best: Stand Strong and Immovable,” Liahona and Ensign, Nov. 2007, 110).

Horse Crazy Kids

The girls were invited to see the ponies and horses at the UCDavis Breeding Center today with some friends of ours. They had a great time petting and feeding all the horses and the 2 baby kittens they have there. :) The Center is having an auction this Sat from 3-6 pm (so Mom and Dad...there are some supper cute ponies there if you're ready ;) j/k). This actually couldn't have come at a more perfect time. I have been trying to think of free activities to do with the girls that I don't have to do much. We are already planning on doing "swimming lesson" with a friend here at our pool (basically I'm going to attempt to get the girls not afraid to swim w/o floaties but swimming lessons sounds better) We are also doing "tennis camp" at my friends house and sewing at yet another friends house. So in my need to find different activities, I posted an ad on Craigs List asking if there was anyone in Davis/Woodland that has a horse they wouldn't mind us feeding carrots to or just go and look at. Apparently this was the wrong thing to ask. I got a TON of postings that basically accused me of being sue happy and irresponsible wanting my young kids around horses. I was shocked by the responses...I know horses can be unpredictable, but come on. Thankfully there were some ppl who emailed me directly and inviting us out to their ranches so the kids come walk the horses. So on Sat we are going to spend the day in Rio Linda with the Sac County 4-H Equestrian (sp?) Project Leader and her 15 mini horses. So for you horse ppl that want to move up to No Cal...I suggest moving to Rio Linda, Lincoln or Auburn. I got about 12 invites from really nice ppl and those are the 3 places they all came from. Most of the negative responses were from here in Davis...go figure.
(I coundn't get the pics to go where I wanted them so intergrated in these pics are pics of Brooke who actually allowed me to do her hair!! Apparently get your hair done is less painful than taking a bath lol)

Fathers Day Gifts

We had a nice, quite, Fathers Day :) In the spirit of saving $$, the girls thought of things they could do to show Dad they loved him other than traditional gifts. Kel, Shay, and Becca all wanted to look pretty for Fathers Day to show Dad he is special. To most ppl, this doesn't seem like a hard thing for girls to want...these ppl don't know my girls ;) Kelsie will tolerate getting her hair brushed as long as it doesn't take more than 30 sec. Shayna will get her hair done IF I convince her bugs will get in it otherwise (not the best way, but it works), and Becca will get her hair done ONLY if she can brush her teeth while I'm doing it (which also means brush the sink, counter, wall, and anything else she can reach). So for them to decide to sit and let me do their hair was HUGE (of course the thought of putting icky, sticky hair spray into their hair was a bonus). Now Brooke wasn't convinced that she should get her hair done so instead she choose to try and learn to ride her bike w/o training wheels. She did FANTASTIC. We went to the church gym and she rode around great. Now we have to get her to do it outside...baby steps :)

2 by 2 by 2

We just love all our animals and the funny things they do. Like most babies, Shar has taken to sleeping most the day and ready to play when the kids are asleep. This might be more because the kids insist on teaching her how to do cartwheels so she hides from them....hmmm...anyway, we decided to get Shar a friend to play with while we slept. On saturday we went to the local SPCA and found Case. (It was Kees, a dutch name, but ppl pronouced it wrong so we changed the spelling to look like what it sounds like...did that make sence? oh well) He is a Cream Flame Point/ Siamese mix and about a week younger than Shar. They both are fairly mellow kittens but LOVE to stalk each other which is hilarious to watch. They both seem to be enjoying each other.

And how do the kids feel? Well of course they are having a blast! But leave it to Brooke to over think things and come to some out-of-the-ballpark realization. The conversation went something like this:

Brooke~ We have 2 frogs, 2 lizards and now 2 cats. So when we get a dog, we will have to get a mom and dad dog to be together like our other animals. That would be fair.

Kelsie~ Yeah, like we have a mom and dad.

Brooke~ And you and me are 2 and Shayna and Becca are 2. (imagine light bulb over head and wide eyes and smile). That means we will have 2 brothers so Austin will be 2 too. MOM, WHEN IS THE 2ND BROTHER COMING?

Kelsie~ Moms having twins??

Brooke~ Yeah cuz it wouldn't be fair if Austin was alone. So she has to have twins.

So the conversation went on, but I don't think I was ever so exhausted trying (yet again) to explain how pregnancy works. :) But it was entertaining and thank goodness I over heard thier conversation or I would have be totally lost lol.

Baby Austin Countdown

I recently added a countdown thing for when the baby is due and had to laugh when I saw what it said today. "This week the baby runs out of room!" LOL, well I beg to differ. He ran outta room ages ago ;)

Cat Tree

On Memorial day we went to Nana and Papas ranch for the day (my mom and dad). We had a great time hanging out with them and the animals. While the girls were upstairs playing games, the men went down to the workshop to build Shar (we changed her name from Char, it just didn't fit) a new cat tree. Kelsie did help with sweeping up after they cut the wood and Becca provided entertainment by dancing :) When we got home, Brooke and Kel helped Mark carpet the post and steps. They had a great time working with Daddy and the tools. After all was done, we have this great cat tree and notice the last pic of Shar's new favorite place to hang out. lol aw well...