There's a time for everything, a time for lice...

and I certainly was hoping it wouldn't come true, but it did. I waited ALL school year long to see which one of my boys would catch lice from a schoolmate, now that all of them were attending public school. It never happened, much to my delight!

But 3 weeks into summer, TWO of my boys had lice!! My son came to me saying that he found this little bug in his comb. He showed it to me, and I promptly put it in a plastic bag, examined it, then compared it to 100-magnified photos of lice on the internet.

Sure enough, it was head lice, ugh!! As any good mom would do, I scanned EVERY internet article on getting rid of lice that I could find. I also posted to some of my favorite discussion boards asking for advice. I ignored the advice and bought medicated shampoo from the grocery store. Afterall, isn't that the prescribed form of action? The more formal articles on headlice seemed to say, there are "home remedies" that haven't been tested. Just follow the directions on the medicated shampoo bottle, and if the bugs persist, contact a Dr. who can give you a stronger medication.

So, I followed the directions to the T. I also promptly removed all bedding/stuffed animals and pillows from their room. The laundry marathon began! I laundered sheets every day for an entire week. I also kept the bedding in plastic bags for 2 weeks (yes, the kids did NOT have a pillow to rest their heads on). I did NOT want a reinfestation. Every day, I checked the boys' heads for lice. Every day, after the medicated shampoo treatment, I found live lice, UGH.

I decided that I'd try one of the home remedies. One of them is using Cetaphil. I put it on their dry hair, until it was all rubbed in and drenched. Then, I blow-dried it for 2 hours (maybe less, but it was a long time). They slept like that, and the next day, just showered as normal. Lo and behold, NO live lice!! What a relief. I had only treated one boy to test it out, but the next day, we treated the other boy, and he no longer had live lice! They still had a few nits (eggs) in their hair, which I continued to comb out. About a week later, I treated them again, JUST for good measure. The websites that talked about the cetaphil treatment suggested at least 2 treatments about a week apart, anyway, so I obeyed like a good mom.

Anyway, we went through all of this just because I know God wants me to relate with ALL women. I used to say, "oh, we never had lice. I don't have a clue what to do." Now, I can say, "oh, I totally understand what you're going through! BTDT!!" And boy, will I make that woman feel so much better. She won't feel like a leper... okay, you know, there really are worse things than lice! I think I'll be quiet, now.