A Nit-Pickin New Year

I mentioned in an earlier blog post that we were so blessed (a bit of sarcasm) with a lice outbreak during our Christmas break.

The Wednesday before Christmas we discovered Ava's little critters.

I mentioned before that I barely maintained sanity. However Shep and I got on the ball. We washed with the lice-killing shampoo. We washed and dried sheets, clothes, jackets, and anything else that could have been touched.

We vacuumed everything. The floors, the beds, the furniture...nothing was off limits here. I became a lice killing machine.

Ava was the only one who had them and we wanted to keep it that way.

Shep checked my head. I checked his. We kept a close watch on Zeke and Caroline.

All the while we continued to do daily checks on Ava.

Then the unthinkable happened.

Almost a week to the day later.....(silly me thinking we were done with this dreadful pest) I found evidence of more.

This time....on my head.

Even typing it now sends a mixture of nausea and itchiness through my entire being.

See at this point I had become a pro at detecting a nit in the hair. A nit is the little egg that attaches close to the hairline. It is oblong in shape and it sticks like glue. It wasn't long at all before I saw these same little nits in Caroline and Zeke's hair as well. (For those of you who are new to all things lice...a nit is the egg laid by the lice. The eggs can hatch 5-8 days later so it is imperative that you remove all of them!! And do a repeat lice killing wash every 7 days. This covers all of your bases.)

The second wave of anger, frustration, and overwhelmed paranoia swept over me.

The truth was I wasn't as grossed out this time. It had already had a week to sink in. But...I was mad. Mad that we had to deal with it all over again. The washing, the vacuuming, the drying, the picking, the worrying.

We are now almost another whole week out and I think we are finally on the way to complete pest elimination.

Our heads have never been cleaner. I have learned a lot about a subject I would rather know nothing about but at least a bit of new knowledge is worth something.

I began this new year ready to forget the past few days of the last one.

But I must say I get a little bit giddy over the newness of it all.

I love new in the way of new starts.

A new year....new possibilities. New chances. New places. New people. New lessons. New reasons to smile. New victories. New defeats. New memories. New problems. New encounters. New blessings. Maybe even a new miracle....we'll see.

Happy New Year to You! I pause in thanksgiving to my Savior and Lord for bringing us safely through 2011. I look with great hope and anticipation for what He has planned in 2012.

God help us if it requires more nit-pickin....