Ugh!

You just never know what the day will bring when you're a stay-at-home mom. Here was the scene this morning:

Ashlee: "Mom, what happened in our bathroom?"
Me: (half awake still lying in bed) "I don't know, what do you mean?"
Ashlee: "There's throw-up on the counter."

I walked in the bathroom still blurry-eyed to discover that yes, there was vomit on the counter... and remnants of it in the sink.

Turns out it was Jacob. When asked why he didn't wake me up, he responded, "Because you told us (Jacob and Noah) not to come in your bed last night, and I thought I was dreaming."

Jacob and Noah have both been coming in bed with me at night for the past couple of weeks, very uncharacteristic of them, which makes for less-than-restful sleep for me. So yes, last night I did make it a point to tell them to stay in their own beds. Needless to say, I felt guilty in this case, as I would consider throwing up an exception! It wasn't the stomach flu (thank goodness) but rather a rich dinner that did him in.

Scene 2: Jacob and I are sitting on the couch this morning reading history (Mom forgot it was spring break, but that's another story,) when Jacob reaches up to scratch his head and states with a quizzical look, "There's like this bump on my head."

Me: "You mean like you hit it on something, or like a mosquito bite?"
Jacob, still scratching: "Hold on, what is that?"
Me, pulling his hand away: "Let me feel."

I felt something round and hard. What was that? A mole? I parted his hair, looked closely, and saw... a bug. Holy crap. The only thing that can be is a tick. Freaking out on the inside but staying calm on the outside, I walked him over to the sink. I have absolutely no experience with ticks, but what I do remember from what I've read is that they can be coaxed out with rubbing alcohol or the flame of a match, but pulling on them poses the risk of separating the head from the body and causing infection. Acting quickly, I put Jacob face down over the kitchen sink and covered the area with alcohol. The tick did not budge, and now I had ruled out my option of using a match (not that I would put one near his hair anyway, but especially not now that I had doused it in rubbing alcohol.)

Ashlee brought me the tweezers, the whole time Jacob asking, "What is it? Just tell me what it is!" I gave a couple of gentle yanks, trying to coax him out to no avail. In the back of my mind I remembered my friend Kristin blogging about ticks in her house recently (only on her cat, not her kids.) What did she do, what was it that she did? You have to understand I was seriously freaking out about a bug being burrowed into my kid, and it wasn't budging. I finally decided that getting it out was worth any consequence of a lodged-in head, which could be removed later, and gave it a big yank with the tweezers. It came out instantly. I set it on the counter next to Jacob and said, "There, it was a tick."

Jacob seemed to stay calmer than I had, and was only upset that I had pulled a couple of his hairs out. As for me, I am now afraid to go to bed at night. If I wake up with one of those nasty things in my skin the whole neighborhood will know. Guess it's back to Costco for some of that over-priced flea and tick medication.

So there you have it, a moment in my glamorous life as a stay-at-home mom- all before lunch time.