the F word
No, not that one. And not F for front, although I have managed to almost finish the front of the flower pullover sweater. And it's looking cute.
No, in this case, the F word is Fleas. As in, vermin. In our house.
My last post was on Saturday. Sunday morning I was getting dd ready to go to a birthday party, when I noticed about a dozen or so red bumps on her back. At about the same time I recalled that I had pinched a small bug off her sleeve the night before without giving it much thought. So dh takes dd to the party and I go into research mode: Fleas. It doesn't make much sense since this isn't really the season for it, but in Northern California it doesn't really get cold enough to kill them off in the winter, so it's kind of always an issue. We have two cats, and I had let their flea meds lapse over the summer because I didn't want it getting on the baby. But I had started up again in the fall. Anyway...
After spending a couple hours surfing the web I came up with a plan - empty out the room, vacuum everything, change all the bedding, and use flea powder on the rugs. DH did this to her room and the living room while I helped and kept track of the kids. In the middle of all this I baked cookies and went to my holiday party at work. We put all the stuffed animals from the bed in bags, washed laundry all day, and hoped we caught it in time (over-reacting? probably, but we freaked out). We collapsed at 2:00 am.
Monday afternoon we went on an adventure and came home with this:
This is our first year since the before the kids were born to stay home for the holidays, and it's our first time getting a tree with the kids. So we did it up: we went into the hills to a place where we could cut our own. We tied it to the top of the car, drove it home, set it up and decorated. It was lovely, and we all had a great time.
Until I found a flea on the baby when I was getting him ready for bed. Time to freak out again. more vacuuming, cleaning, and late to bed. And of course, Tuesday happened to be the first time in at least a year that dh, who usually sets his own schedule, had to be in San Francisco for an 8:00 meeting.
So I took the kids to school/day care mid-morning, and went to the hardware store to buy flea bombs. I came home and spent about 2.5 hours on the phone with Riad, Hot-Shot, Poison Control, the vet, SC Johnson medical safety line, etc. After much research and pondering, we decided that we just weren't comfortable with the toxic nature of the flea bombs. (They tell you once the residue is dry it is safe. Well hello - what about my 8 month old who puts everything into his wet, drooly mouth? It's not dry then!) I finally called a company that makes a non-toxic flea control product that you spread on the floor and then vacuum up, and that is what we did Tuesday afternoon & night, and will be doing more of tonight, and tomorrow night, etc. until it's done. It's been great in terms of cleaning - it's probably been since the last time we did any painting that the house has been this clean! But it's been bad for getting ready for the holidays - no time for baking, packing, shipping, and only a little time for knitting. I had this fantasy that I was going to bake up batches of yummies and pack them up very prettily and ship them to friends and family on the East Coast - what was I thinking?
I'm still hoping I can get the flower pullover done before Christmas. I hope to have photos of the progress on the front tomorrow.
Oh, and the baby is still throwing up. Apparently he has a very sensitive gag reflex - I gave him some cheerios after he ate tonight and he gagged enough to then throw up two jars worth of baby food. Fun.
No, in this case, the F word is Fleas. As in, vermin. In our house.
My last post was on Saturday. Sunday morning I was getting dd ready to go to a birthday party, when I noticed about a dozen or so red bumps on her back. At about the same time I recalled that I had pinched a small bug off her sleeve the night before without giving it much thought. So dh takes dd to the party and I go into research mode: Fleas. It doesn't make much sense since this isn't really the season for it, but in Northern California it doesn't really get cold enough to kill them off in the winter, so it's kind of always an issue. We have two cats, and I had let their flea meds lapse over the summer because I didn't want it getting on the baby. But I had started up again in the fall. Anyway...
After spending a couple hours surfing the web I came up with a plan - empty out the room, vacuum everything, change all the bedding, and use flea powder on the rugs. DH did this to her room and the living room while I helped and kept track of the kids. In the middle of all this I baked cookies and went to my holiday party at work. We put all the stuffed animals from the bed in bags, washed laundry all day, and hoped we caught it in time (over-reacting? probably, but we freaked out). We collapsed at 2:00 am.
Monday afternoon we went on an adventure and came home with this:
This is our first year since the before the kids were born to stay home for the holidays, and it's our first time getting a tree with the kids. So we did it up: we went into the hills to a place where we could cut our own. We tied it to the top of the car, drove it home, set it up and decorated. It was lovely, and we all had a great time.
Until I found a flea on the baby when I was getting him ready for bed. Time to freak out again. more vacuuming, cleaning, and late to bed. And of course, Tuesday happened to be the first time in at least a year that dh, who usually sets his own schedule, had to be in San Francisco for an 8:00 meeting.
So I took the kids to school/day care mid-morning, and went to the hardware store to buy flea bombs. I came home and spent about 2.5 hours on the phone with Riad, Hot-Shot, Poison Control, the vet, SC Johnson medical safety line, etc. After much research and pondering, we decided that we just weren't comfortable with the toxic nature of the flea bombs. (They tell you once the residue is dry it is safe. Well hello - what about my 8 month old who puts everything into his wet, drooly mouth? It's not dry then!) I finally called a company that makes a non-toxic flea control product that you spread on the floor and then vacuum up, and that is what we did Tuesday afternoon & night, and will be doing more of tonight, and tomorrow night, etc. until it's done. It's been great in terms of cleaning - it's probably been since the last time we did any painting that the house has been this clean! But it's been bad for getting ready for the holidays - no time for baking, packing, shipping, and only a little time for knitting. I had this fantasy that I was going to bake up batches of yummies and pack them up very prettily and ship them to friends and family on the East Coast - what was I thinking?
I'm still hoping I can get the flower pullover done before Christmas. I hope to have photos of the progress on the front tomorrow.
Oh, and the baby is still throwing up. Apparently he has a very sensitive gag reflex - I gave him some cheerios after he ate tonight and he gagged enough to then throw up two jars worth of baby food. Fun.
2 Comments:
Oh, sweetie - no fun. No fun at all. Except for the tree. Hope that was big fun!
Your tree is beautiful! Hope the vermin are on their way out. I didn't know that vacuuming would get rid of them?!
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