Hi
all,
We
had the worst first week of school in the history of parenting. OK so no one died so I guess technically it
could be worse but this is one that goes down in history- the tale that gets
told and retold by friends and family for a lifetime. Let me just share the email I sent to my little
brother who was excited about my upcoming visit to meet my new niece Freya:
So
guys, let me tell you about the last five days of my life. Sorry it's so
long but we've been busy. And not in a good way...
On
Thursday, on the way to pick up Rin from school, Bek started puking all over
the back of my car. After getting him back home, cleaning him up,
cleaning up all subsequent barf, and getting him to bed a few hours later, I
asked Rinat how he felt. "Well, um, my head really itches."
Fuuuuuuuuck. Yup, he had lice. And so did everyone in the
family. We have been shampooing and combing over and over and over for
HOURS twice a day since Thursday with this enzyme shampoo foam crap. And
I took every pillow, sheet, towel, stuffed animal, hat, dress-up clothes in the
house and either washed them every day on sanitary (that’s 11 loads a day and
each load takes about 1&½ hour to wash and an hour to dry- do the math),
bagged them, or took them to the dry cleaners. Then- even though I
haven't found any actual bugs (just nits) on anyone since Saturday- I was still
going insane thinking I still had them and scratching nonstop so I decided on
Sunday morning to just suck it up and pay a million dollars to have a service
treat us all and I make an appointment for Monday morning- agreeing to holiday
rates ($120/hour X about 7). But no, Sunday night Bek had diarrhea all
over the place (yes, the floor, his hands, and the wall too!) and I once again
got him taken care of and down to sleep and think that perhaps all will be well
in the morning and we can still make our appointment. But no because at
11pm Peter starts barfing. Awesomeness. I get maybe 3 hours of
sleep, cancel our appointment and search online for what else to do. I
get up, get the kids breakfast, and all is well. I am just about to walk
out and head to CVS to get Nix and food and jello when Rin says "I think I
might barf." So yup, now it's his turn. He at least is able to
make it to the toilet in time but now I'm stuck at home for at least several
more hours taking care of the barf and poo crew. But then the angels sang
from above when Mer called to check on me and I told her what was going on and
she came over with 3 bags of Nix, lice combs, candy, and magazines from CVS, 5
bags of groceries appropriate for the throwup bug, and 2 bags of toys from her
house for the kids because, of course, they have not been able to leave the
house for 4 days now and are going insane as am I. But finally today
(Tuesday) I think we might be good. I have sent both kids to school (yes,
I know technically I am supposed to wait 24 hours before sending Rin back after
barfing but I just couldn't and he said he felt fine) and I am crossing my
fingers they are both fine today. Anyway, what this boils down to is that
I am going to keep checking our heads for lice and if I find any I am going to
have to cancel my trip out to Seattle :( And, of course, if you are
uncomfortable with me being there even if I don't find anything between now and
then I totally understand and I am happy to come another time. Just say
the word. I know Liz won't be on leave soon but maybe we could find a
time when she has a couple of days off. Anyway, you guys talk and let me
know what you think. Oh, and I have jury duty tomorrow too so if I get
picked (not likely) I might have to cancel too. Or if I start barfing.
I'm
so frigging tired right now.
Bye,
-m
And hours after sending that email- was there ever
any doubt?- I started barfing. I threw
up for 18 hours straight and it took me a week to get over it. Talk about a horrible start to the school
year. But hopefully that means that
we’re all done with the bad luck for the year. *sound of me knocking on wood*
Some notes on Rin this month:
“It's not that we don't HAVE the money,
it's that we don't want to spend it on this particular thing.” He is
listening to what I say after all!
Being Rin’s mom has made me so much more
self aware. After researching his need
to constant stimulation, I realized some things about myself. I realized that
noise stresses me out, that I need time by myself, that I like calm and
quiet. And I realized that as far as
that goes, he is my opposite. But that’s not a negative. Peter’s my opposite too and that’s worked out
pretty well so far I think. I’m pretty
sure he thinks so too J
So this morning at breakfast, Rinat told me
"I snuggled with Bek this morning." Huh? He said he was
up and went to the bathroom and stuck his head in and Bek requested he snuggle,
so he climbed in bed and snuggled with him for a while and they talked.
All I can say to that is AWWWWW. That is the sweetest thing that I
have ever heard. That is one good kid.
Love those boys.
PS- those are salamanders from our backyard above. Cool, huh?
Some notes on Bek this month:
Aibek starting lacrosse is the funniest
thing ever. He is such a hambone and is really more interested in entertaining
the teachers than actually doing it right but he does sometimes give it a good
try. On the first day they were working on scooping the ball up with the stick and
he tried and had trouble so one of the coaches came and gave him some tips and
then told him to give it a try on his own and went off to help someone else.
Well sure enough he tried and tried until he finally scooped it up and he was
so excited that he ran up and interrupts the coach helping someone and told her
"I did it!" And she told him that he did a good job but he wouldn't
let her turn back around to help the other kid until he had gotten a high five
from her. Everyone chuckled at that. But I'm not completely sure he has that
fighter instinct that is essential to competitive sports. He's just so good
natured that if he and another kid go for the ball at the same time, he literally
stops and lets them get it. He is that kid in the outfield who is too busy
chasing butterflies to catch that fly ball that comes his way. I love it.
Because to be honest, I don't really care if he's good at sports, I just care
that he has fun. Now school is another story and I have a feeling that we will
face some hurdles there but we'll see.
But for now I’m loving that I have a Ferdinand the Bull in the house.
And I did actually get a chance to redo my
trip to Seattle and it was great. I had
5 whole days where it was just me and Ted’s fam and it was both wonderful and
weird (because- you know- I had no kids saying Mommy nonstop). We mostly hung
out and just enjoyed each other's company but we also did some wandering around
and some eating yummy food and some stomping around parks. It was good. And I
spent some time snuggling baby Freya and making towers with Oscar. And I also
harassed my travel partners to start thinking about traveling somewhere again (we have been to India, Turkey, Thailand and Cambodia together as well as Ted and I wandering around Europe for a couple of months back in 1999).
Rent a house for a month in Tahiti? Let's do it. Head to somewhere the kids can
run free and be kids? I'm in. They are not there quite yet but I have high hopes. So maybe one day we will. Or maybe when that sad
empty nest comes then we will once again find the time and energy to explore
like we did before. But really I just wish we all lived closer together so we
could see each other more often. But, um, check out that gorgeous sunrise from their living room. *Swoon*
But I guess I’ll just have to soak up the
time we do have when we’re together and look forward to our next trip when we’re
apart.
Love to all, -m
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