The Plagues

It started with a really strange fever. 

One evening Catherine came down with a mid-level fever. Nothing else--no cough, no aches--just a fever. It lasted about a week before turning into a horrible wet cough, runny nose and body aches.  And, of course, Jon was out of town. 

Just about the time I was ready to celebrate the fact that the rest of us miraculously avoided catching her bug, Seth, Aaron & I all got hit (well, Seth never got the fever, but he got the rest). This time Jon was in town but was super busy at work and couldn't take any time off.

It was awful. Really awful. And it just wouldn't go away. We missed co-op, I cancelled piano lessons for two full weeks, I even ditched out on singing time one Sunday (which I never, ever do because it's nearly impossible to find a sub). 

Finally, we made it through. I put all the tissue boxes away in joyful celebration.

Of course, it was just a few days later that Catherine woke up with a strange rash at the base of her neck. After some Googling, I cringingly began searching through her hair.

Yep. Lice.

So instead of spending our Memorial Day Weekend swimming in our neighborhood pool, we spent the day making runs to Walgreens for lice shampoo, washing and drying everything in the house and combing meticulously through hair. 

Good news? The boys were all lice-free. Bad news? She was kind enough to share with me. 

Honestly, I don't really understand the huge deal with lice. Yes it was a pain, but so is the stomach virus. In fact, I may prefer lice to a stomach virus. I can handle little bugs who can't survive more than 48 hours off a host better than puddles of vomit. 

Thankfully we're all lice-free now, although my scalp still itches anytime I think about it (and I keep combing through my hair just to be extra-super-sure they're gone). I've also started to hate the smell of tea tree oil (allegedly lice hate it so I've been spraying it all over). 

We've been plague-free for over a week now, so we're possibly safe to be around. Just don't be surprised if we end up with boils or something awful next week.