The HORROR!!!!!!!!!

Today's post is not for the squeamish or those of you who do not have BOYS. What is it about boys anyway? They really are filthy little buggers sometimes but, honestly!! Yesterday the school nurse from Clay's school called to tell me that he had come down to her office with a nosebleed. She said that upon inspection, it looked like a scab had come off of a sore he has just inside his nostril and that was the source of the bleeding. She then asked me how long the sore had been there. "Well, Monday morning when he left for school it looked like red chapped skin from him blowing and wiping his nose all weekend. Then when he came home it looked like a scab/sore." Then she said, "And what about the little ones by his mouth."
Me-"The what, now??"
Her-"Okay, so they are new today since he left for school."
Me-"Well, I guess so since I don't remember them being there."
Her-"Okay. You may want to keep an eye on them because it kind of looks like impetigo."
Me (pretending to know what that is)-"Really? Okay."
Her-"Yeah, you might want to have it checked out by his doctor and they can give him a prescription for some antibacterial ointment to put on there."
Me-"Okay, I can do that tomorrow. I need to take his sister in anyway. She has been running a fever. Thanks so much. Bye"
Then I ran to the computer and typed in impetigo (truthfully I typed in empetigo but the right spelling came up) and began my self education...and itching, lots of itching. What is it about childhood ailments? Why are they always so.....ICKY!?!? Impetigo is a fairly common ailment in young children. It's a skin infection that pops up usually under the exact circumstances we have going on here; runny nose wiping. Then I read this line: "It is most common in children, particularly those in unhealthy living conditions." ACK!!!!!!!!! The school nurse thinks we're bad parents! Dirty, filthy, white trash bad parents!!
I had a total meltdown when Jayme got home from work. You see, we are supposed to go down on a whirlwind family visit this coming weekend to have Christmas with all our Houston relatives. Almost everyone on our gift list is getting homemade baked treats that I have not gotten the chance to bake yet because of Pattie being sick (she was diagnosed with an ear infection today) and I can't imagine being able to get them all done in time. But if we postpone the trip everyone will be disappointed and upset and hate me (not really of course, this was just my super-emotional breakdown train of thought). Fueling these thoughts were the facts that
a)I haven't had a decent night's sleep in I can't remember how long
b)I am PMSing
c)I go nuts when the kids are little and get sick because they can't tell me what is going on
d)I am...more or less...insane
Fast forward to today and I am a little calmer. I pick Clay up at school and we go to the doctor's office to see the PA and she says, "Pattie's left ear is infected so I am going to prescribe her some amoxicillin and go ahead and get some OTC Delsym for that cough of hers and Clay's. As for Clay, let's see this rash. Yep, impetigo. Not a big deal. Ointment twice a day for a week. Are they just here on his face?" Clay says, "Well, there's something back here by my ear." I lean in to look at the same time as the PA and am horrified to see....an embedded tick! The PA thinks we're bad parents! Dirty, filthy, white trash bad parents!! We usually pick up a tick or two when we go to the land and it's totally NOT a big deal. When we get home Jayme or I check the boys over really well as they get in the shower and that's that. Except this time, neither of us checked. So there it sat...for 3 days. Can you say mortified?
So today is a VERY BAD MOMMY day...and I can't stop itching. I feel like I let my sweet little boy get so cruddy and filthy that he caught some nasty infection and my little girl's ears are cruddy again and I'm going to ruin everyone's weekend by changing plans so late in the game. I can only hope that in the spirit of the holidays they will all forgive me and if we can manage to be healthy for five minutes, maybe I can bake these treats and we can make our trip down to Houston at New Year's.