Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite!

Growing up we chanted quite regularly the old adage, "Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite!" As a young child I never realized bed bugs were real. I always thought it was just something funny to say so we would all go to sleep and sleep well. Little did I know that these bugs could actually invade my home!

As an adult I would hear stories about bed bugs in hotels, but I never really thought about it. I've stayed in plenty of hotels, but never thought twice about picking up bed bugs in the hotel! I never really considered it a real threat. After all, I never heard about anyone close to me having an issue with these pesky bugs.

So, when I started seeing little black bugs on the beds, the thought that they were bed bugs didn't cross my mind. I was only seeing them occasionally, so I thought it was just another common household bug. So I dismissed the bugs and went on my merry way. Occasionally I would wake up with bug bites but chalked it up to spider bites because we have had a lot of spiders in our home. The thought of bed bugs still did not even cross my mind.

Then I had my fourth child. We had just gotten home from the hospital and by this time the bug population had grown exponentially. I was waking up with a lot of bites, which I thought was hives. At this point I still didn't realize we had bed bugs. I am so oblivious sometimes! I told John that I must be having a reaction to the medication. After a short while I dismissed that notion. Then I thought, well, it wasn't too long ago we changed the laundry detergent. Maybe I'm allergic to that. So I started putting my laundry through a second rinse cycle. That wasn't doing any good.

As I sat pondering this predicament and being frustrated with not knowing what was happening, the thought came to my mind that we probably had bed bugs. I almost laughed out loud because the thought was incredibly ridiculous! Bed bugs? Me? In my house? No way! So I ignored the thought. Then I had the thought again, louder this time, shouting at me! So I went to the trusty internet. :) I googled bed bugs and found multiple websites. I found one with a good description and even pictures of these bugs. To my horror, this is exactly what I was dealing with. Bed bugs!

So, how was I to get rid of these pesky bugs? The prospect looked grim. I thought I could just get some bug spray and get rid of them myself. Maybe there was a good home remedy that wouldn't cost and arm and a leg. But, in all my research, I learned self home remedies were not effective against this resilient bug. We would need the help of a professional exterminator. The search was on. We found a company that we thought would do the job well. During the initial consultation they guaranteed their work. They were confident the problem would be taken care of! They left leaving us hopeful we would be able to take care of the problem. They came, treated our home multiple times, and then the warranty period was over! The bugs should have been gone.

We hadn't seen any bugs for awhile and hadn't been getting bit. All of a sudden Timothy started getting bit big time. One day he had so many bug bites it looked like chicken pox. Emma and Amber were getting bit. Apparently these bugs were resilient to the pesticides used to exterminate them! At this point I didn't know what to do. We had tried the professional exterminator, could we really afford another one?

Then I found out one of my neighbors was dealing with these same bugs. She told me about the company they went to and I decided it was worth a shot. I called them, and they were able to come the very next day. They seemed better qualified than the first company to treat bed bugs! I was confident we could take care of the problem this time. I was so full of hope.

Throughout all of this I had to keep reminding myself that this isn't what I call a "dirty" bug. I didn't get bed bugs because my house is unclean. I do admit my house is a disaster most days, but it isn't because it is unclean. In the bedrooms it is clutter. But the clutter did not cause us to get bed bugs. It isn't like ants that invade when there's food left out.

The other thing to keep in mind was that these bugs do not cause diseases. They are just annoying. And they mainly come out at night when we are sleeping because it is dark and they have a lot of time to eat! They like to stay close to the food source so they will stay close to the beds. We only had bugs in the three bedrooms upstairs. We did not have them in the living room, the kitchen, the bathroom, or the basement. That was a relief!

Because the kids had these pesky bugs in their beds, I was ready to throw out the beds and buy new ones. This second exterminator assured us we would not need to replace the beds. He was 100% confident he could take care of the problem. As far as I can tell right now, these bugs are finally gone! They are no longer invading our home. We have our home back. Pesky pests no longer make their home in our beds!

It has been a long journey to get rid of these pesky bugs. Fortunately we caught the problem before it was too bad. The exterminator has regaled us with stories of worse cases than ours. I am grateful we figured out the problem and have been able to take care of it in the early stages!

Reflections on walking

Reflections on walking:

Walking allows the mind to clear and the soul to breathe. Walking awakens the senses allowing a person to enjoy the beauty of the day. Walking engages the senses that have been awakened allowing a person to appreciate the beauty of God's creations!


Reasons for these reflections:

Last week the other carpool mom was out of town, so that left me trying to get Amber to school in the mornings. I wasn't too worried, after all, how hard could it be to get everyone in the car and drive her there? So Monday morning rolls around, and I have about 15 minutes before time to go. I realize, wait, I need to get dressed! Then a couple of minutes later I made the last minute decision that I would let Amber walk to school with some of her friends. She begs me every morning to walk. So I made a phone call to make sure her friend was walking, and then we got everyone out the door. We made it on time! What a feat. I wasn't prepared to walk that morning, but we did it and Amber absolutely loved being able to walk. So I thought, maybe we'll walk all week long. That would be a nice treat for Amber.
Then I came home and was looking at my calendar, reminding myself of activities for the week. Ummmm . . . okay, so maybe walking was not going to work out. I realized I had an online seminar to attend for the next three days. I had to be signed in by 9 a.m. to get the credit for attending. Yikes, yikes, yikes. That's what I get for making rash decisions and getting Amber's hopes up! Never fear, the other moms who had been meeting us were willing to let Amber tag along. I really appreciated them letting Amber tag along. It made her happy to be able to walk. This was a little thing I could do for her so maybe she could have a better day, a better week. John was able to walk with her one of the days and she was so happy to have daddy go with her. What a special treat that was. She ended up being able to walk every day last week.
So Monday this week rolls around. I know there are very few nice days left to walk in the mornings. It is starting to get chilly and I won't be able to justify taking the other kids out. So, when I finished feeding the baby in enough time to let Amber walk, I once again made the last minute decision to walk. But I would have to send Amber on ahead and I would follow in a few minutes with everyone else. I called the carpool mom and told her Amber would be walking. I caught up to Amber about halfway to school. I had to almost run to catch up with her.
Yesterday was the PTA's Walk to School day. I had always planned on letting Amber walk, but I failed to leave as early as I had hoped because I got distracted. I didn't know when the other moms who walk were leaving. So I left and hoped to run into them. Apparently I was too late because I didn't run into any of them on the way. Oh well. It wasn't such a big deal. I'm a big girl and can walk with my children alone. It was actually an uneventful walk. My cousin did catch up with us and walked with the girls for a bit and then ran ahead to catch her friend. I think Amber was a little disappointed to not have her friends walk with her, but it happens. I stayed with her until her teacher took her inside. She was so excited that I stayed.
I was going to stay and let the other two play on the playground for awhile. But after a couple of minutes Emma was complaining about needing to go potty. I decided it would be best to head home rather than fighting to get her into the school restroom! It turned out she didn't need to pee as bad as she thought and we were able to take a nice leisurely walk home. We didn't have a reason to hurry, we didn't have to keep up with anyone else.

So with the few times I have walked with Amber, I have had time to think, to just be outside, and enjoy the fresh air. It has been a nice change from the regular routine. Now back to our routine, back to the carpool. I will miss walking, but I also enjoy the less hectic morning.