Lice--probably the most obnoxious plague that has hit our family! Not something we thought we'd deal with back in the states, after not dealing with it in Africa where I went prepared with lice kits and all just in case. We never dealt with it in Utah either, so it was off my radar. But our foreign service friends that come back to Virginia every few years, say that their kids always get lice when they come back here from post. We will be approaching our return to Virginia differently next time. :)
It looks like Savannah got it first because of the quantity on her head. They were all cozy in that thick, long hair of hers. Rhea had it bad as well, but has thinner hair so less work to nit pick. The most frustrating part of it all though, was that because we were sharing brushes and winter hats, I got it as well and had to depend on the goodness of my friend Analee, to nit pick my head. After working all morning, I would come home, scarf down some lunch, and go to her house for a few hours before the kids got home from school. We did this for a week, and then "check-ups" for another week or so after that to make sure we got rid of them. Then I would do the laundry & cleaning, and then when the kids got home, I would nit pick them. Luckily just a few lice liked Thomas, and Briant's manly Bryll cream kept the little guys from ever being able to get a good grip and settle on him. So here I am in the pics below, nit picking Savvy's hair, the nightly 2-3 hour ritual for each kid. I forgot to get pics of the other kids (kind of distracted!), but I think these pics represent the repeated procedure very well that consumed our lives for the month of January (the process of shampooing and nit picking lasted a few weeks, but then we had to continue checking their hair to make sure I didn't miss an egg and have a whole family reunion on their heads again). The washing of the laundry and running pillows, stuffed animals, etc. through the dryer wasn't fun either. Honestly, it felt like that was our month of January in a nutshell because I can't remember anything else about it!
And then of course we noticed a month or so later that the lice had come back in full force on Savannah again. Don't know if I missed a few or if she got them again, but this time after nit-picking for 5 days, I hired Ana to come and help. She nit-picks for a side job so I had her do Savannah and then check the rest of us too to make sure we were clean. She's from the Philippines, and she told stories of playing around with lice there when they got it. They would do experiments and take lice from her sister's head, and put it on her own so they could watch and see how long it would take them to multiply. They weren't stressed about getting rid of them either. We were all shocked when listening to this!! We can't imagine why anyone would actively seek out to have lice!
She was so cute and easy to work with. I told her it was fun getting to know her but that we don't ever want to see her again...at least for nit-picking. ;)
I'm glad that period is over, but we're not in the clear of course. I have the girls wear their hair in braids or pony tails every day to try and control the chances of getting it again. And they know not to share brushes, hats, etc. with friends from school. And because of the prevalence of the lice here with girls at Oakwood, we don't go to friends' houses. The kids always play outside together! Sad, but with how the lice continues to get passed around, we have to try and eliminate any extra possible lice-getting scenarios! Just sitting here typing this, my head is itching. ;)
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