There has been something weighing very heavily on my heart, lately. I know that you all have been praying for my friend, Milenka and her sweet baby...and I know that all of the prayers and good thoughts mean so much to her...but sadly that just isn't enough.

They are in the same situation as many other American families. L works hard to support his family but there isn't much extra left over once the bills are paid. Wee Foxis in a hospital that is 90 minutes from their home...so they haven't been able to spend as much time at the hospital with him as they would like. Since most of my readers are Mommas themselves, I am sure you can well imagine the heartbreak she feels at being so far away from her precious boy. I also believe that the hospital is not being as warm or accommodating to them due to their absence. They are withholding information from them, which is just not acceptable. She needs to be able to have a voice in her son's care. She needs to be able to hold him and talk to him. She needs to be there for him.

With their twin girls, I & P at home, they can't just pick up and go whenever they please. Child care costs money. The extra gas costs money. Lost hours at work cost money...and this is simply money that they do not have. I have seen the Internets move mountains to help each other out in times of crisis...and friends...she needs a miracle. If you go to her blog, she has a DONATE button in the upper, right corner. Please consider helping this family out. They need a miracle.

If anyone has any fund raising ideas, please shoot me an e-mail and let me know your ideas. I can't do much by myself, but together we can make a difference. Let's help a sister out...

Tomorrow is the first day of school for my three oldest Minions! Rowan will start 7th grade, Abigail will start 4th grade and Ethan will start 2nd grade. Do you know what this means??? This means that I will get to spend the next four days with my Baby before he starts kindergarten. It also means that I won't have to listen to fighting and whining and bickering all day! It also means that I can clean my house and it will stay relatively so!

It also means that I only have one more week as a stay at home momma. I am not sure what my role will be, once Eli starts kindergarten. I will feel like a fraud, still calling myself a stay at home momma. Who am I staying home for?

Oh...and not that any of the rest of you are counting with me, but I am going to Poland in FOUR MORE DAYS!!!

We decided to take the Minions to Legoland in Gunzburg, DE for one, last, summertime HOORAH.

Seriously, if you live in Germany and are looking for a family friendly place to take the kids, this is it! Even the Littlest Minion was big enough to ride all but one ride (and truth be told, he was juuuuusssst tall enough, but I am an overprotective Momma so I convinced him that (another) tour of the Lego Factory would be just as fun). heh

<---Anyway, here's the whole Tribe at the entrance. I had just been sting by a bee. Awesome!

Here is Ethan on his first ride of the day:)

Eli says, "HI, MOM!"

Abby, getting yelled at for driving "like a woman".

That Guy I Married, kissing a foreign beaver.

TGIM and I skipped this ride...all you do is ride around in boats and spray water at each other!

Rowan took her Lil Bro on this ride...always one of their favorites!

Abby, getting sprayed by one of the spectators!

Ethan's first time getting to ride this one alone! Notice the look of concentration on his face???

Tchuss!

Who knew that writing a post about parasites was all it would take to boost my blog readership??? heh

Seriously, though; thanks for coming out of the woodwork to remind me that my kids having lice is not the end of the world and that by being diligent I will kick their creepy little butts. (And for the commenter who recommended the metal lice comb...I SOOO would have bought one if I could have found one, but being stationed overseas our choices are rather limited. If anyone would like to send me a metal lice comb, feel free to shoot me an e-mail. I will gladly give you my mailing address and PayPal you some money to cover the cost and postage;)

In other news, there are only 5 more days of summer vacation! My oldest three will start school on Monday and my Young One will start after Labor Day. This will seriously go down as the longest (and most boring, if you ask My Minions) summer vacation in the history of all mankind. We just didn't have the funds to get out and do things like we normally would. Sure, we participated in the summer reading program and read about a gazillion books, coloured, played with play doh, played outside, watched too many episodes of Spongebob Sqarepants (does anybody else hate that show as much as I do???) and we did go swimming a time or two. It just didn't seem like enough, you know?  Thankfully we FINALLY got our last check from the USArmy and to celebrate, we are taking the kids to Lego Land tomorrow! We went last fall and had a blast...so I am sure we will have a great day!

In other, other news...I AM GOING TO POLAND IN 8 DAYS!!! I have been waiting to be able to take a trip to Poland for years. As some of you already know, I have a rather unhealthy addiction to Polish Pottery. I have pieced together a decent collection over the years, but have been waiting to actually GO there to buy my place settings. Some people got a nice set of dishes as a wedding gift; all I got was bail money to get my new husband out of jail;) heh Isn't it nice how I bring up something that happened 12+ years ago to justify splurging on some dishes???

Aside from all of that, the only other new news is that I had to take my Batshit Crazy Mutt, Daisy Head Maisy to the vet today for her yearly check up and needle jabs. She was as nuts-o as ever during the car ride and subsequent (LONG) wait in the waiting room, but she was a real trooper once inside. She was declared healthy and left with a shiny, new rabies tag and a 6 month supply of Heart Guard.

Well, I guess I will stop boring you with the mundane details of my day and do something productive!

I am about to put myself way out on a limb; in part to try and break through a stigma and also to try and shake my massive case of the heebie jeebies.

Last Thursday as my eldest child was brushing through her hair before getting in the shower, she noticed a flurry of little bugs on the bathroom floor. She came to me in a total panic. I checked her head and confirmed my worst fear. She had lice. Not having any provisions on hand, I had her go ahead and shower, making sure she used Tea Tree shampoo and also making sure that she scrubbed the living hell out of her scalp.

While she showered I checked the other kids. They appeared to be free and clear. I stripped all the beds and washed all of our sheets and towels in VERY hot water (60 Celsius degrees). I vacuumed the floors and the beds and consulted Doctor Google. (Seriously??? There were about a dozen horror stories for every ONE success story. NOT very encouraging odds at ridding my house of the bugs.) I called That Guy I Married and asked him to stop at the pharmacy to pick up some Nix before he came home.

We spent that evening dousing my poor child with pesticides and combing through her long, thick hair with teeny, tiny combs. It literally took about three hours to comb through her hair. We felt mildly confident that we had a handle on things when we tucked our kids into their freshly laundered beds that night.

On Friday evening TGIM wanted to take us to Sam Kullman's Dinerfor dinner. As I was attempting to pretty up my 9 year old daughter's hair I noticed a louse on the back of her shirt. SHIT! SHIT!! SHITSHITSHIT!!! Upon closer inspection, I noticed a few nits attached to her hair. (Not nearly as catastrophic as the colony we found living on my older daughter's head, but traumatizing, nonetheless.)

Bright and early on Saturday morning, TGIM took our boys to the barber shop. We still didn't see any evidence that they were infested, but figured a fresh haircut couldn't hurt. Again, I striped the girls' beds and washed their bedding in super hot water. We decided to dye Girl the First's hair instead of going the pesticide route, again. As she processed, I applied a generous amount of Pronto to Girl the Second's head. We spent another several hours combing through their hair.

I don't feel good about using pesticides on my kids' heads...so now I am resorting to some of the home remedies I have read about. (Incidentally, I am not seeing any further evidence that anything is living on their heads, but I would much rather be safe than sorry.) As I type, my girls' heads are marinating in a minty fresh Listerine treatment. I will follow this with a white vinegar rinse and them a vigorous shampooing with  Tea Tree Shampoo. Then another combing session.

I think that after today, I might just leave them alone until Saturday when I plan to re-dye Girl 1's hair and use the smother technique (using either olive oil or a thick, white conditioner) on Girl 2 and re-wash their bedding. We will hopefully only have to treat once more, after that. Maybe I am being over the top, but I would rather be safe than sorry.

I have been fortunate enough to not get them. I dyed my hair on Saturday, just in case , and have been wearing a bandana with tea tree oil on it to repel the little buggers.

As for the stigma attached to head lice; I think it is predominately an American thing to think that only poor or dirty people get lice. Well, I am about to blow that theory out of the water. While we aren't wealthy, we are FAR from poor and due to my OCD tendencies, my kids are squeaky clean as is my house. In fact, lice prefer clean hair to dirty hair. I am totally guilty of sharing the "people with lice are icky" mentality. In fact, I think that my first emotion upon discovering that one of MY children had lice was shame. I was embarrassed as I browsed the (very small) selection of lice products at the BX and even more embarrassed as I placed them on the counter to pay for them. I felt the judgmental stares from my fellow shoppers and watched as the people behind me in line moved away from me.

My kids got lice because they came into direct contact with someone else who had lice. They didn't spontaneously appear on their heads and are not a product of our environment. It is safe for the neighbour kids to play with my kids. You can be a guest in my home without having to worry that you will get lice, too. They don't jump or fly. They can't live for weeks or even days off a human head. Your pets can't harbour them. They don't lay eggs on your bedding or carpets. They need the warmth of a human head to incubate.

I am not sure what purpose lice serve or why they were designed to solely live off of humans...all I can do is try to eradicate them from my own kids' heads and hope we never get them again.

...but I have a blog crush who would like to see the BlogHer '09 conference happen in her home town of Philadelphia, PA. Since I know that most of you don't much care WHERE BlogHer '09 happens to take place, would you mind clicking the little box beside "Philly" on Cecily's behalf???

Thanks:)

The Wee Fox has taken a turn for the worse. His white cell count is up, indicating an infection and he had to be intubated. This is the same little Super Baby who at birth (weighing less than 2 pounds) was breathing room air. His parents are scared. Please continue to pray for them...