I think the ukus are winning

Seriously, I'm so close to waving the white flag and just letting them have our heads.

For those of you that are not local, an uku (pronounced oo-koo) is a louse, as in head lice. We've been battling them pretty steady for the last couple of weeks and I'm beginning to feel defeated. See the heat and humidity here in Hawaii are just the perfect climate for these little parasites. And quite frankly I wonder how we made it for 3 years without a single infestation - but this one makes up for it all, believe me.

It all started back in May - I went to the Big Island with my fourth grade class for 4 days. I came back and the next morning was kindergarten "graduation". As I was getting everyone ready for school I say down to do Abi's hair and before I even put the brush in it I knew - she had ukus. A LOT of ukus. The infestation was all the way up to the crown of her head. Live lice as well as so many nits I don't even think I can put a number on it. After a quick check of everyone else's hair I promptly put Abi's hair in a tight pony and put a hat on her head and called her in sick. But she did come to Danielle's "graduation" with us. Then I had to head off to school myself, but Cameron washed Abi's hair with the lice shampoo I happened to have on hand - seriously, it was bound to happen and I found some on clearance on shopping trip that didn't expire for a long time, so I picked it up.

So I got home Friday and picked.....and picked....and picked some more. Oh and on Saturday, too. Oh, and Sunday. On Sunday I picked until about 10:30 at night and called her uku and nit free and sent her off to school on Monday.

So that was the end of it, right? Right??? We did wash everything and I check her hair every day. I did pull out a few more nits here and there, but they were pretty far up the hair shaft, making them old and I wasn't seeing any new live lice.

Until my birthday. Which started out great - I slept in. We were finally all moved over to our new place as of Saturday night. I had nothing on the docket for the day and I was planning on just being good and lazy. That was until I was lazily laying with my 2 yr old as she was waking up from her nap and I was running my fingers through her soft and gorgeous baby hair (which is finally getting thicker, if not longer) and here they were - NITS. A lot of them. I didn't find any ukus on her head though. But there they were on Abi's head, and Danielle's, and Isaac's. I was not a happy camper. And as my father so witty-ingly said "it made for as lousy birthday". Get it "louse"-y. Funny right - I totally didn't get it the first time. Maybe it was my grumpy mood at the moment that made me miss it, because it was funny. Anyway, the rest of the day was spent picking and shampooing and washing and drying. Loads of funs - literally loads (you know, of laundry).

And every since then it's been a constant battle. Everyday I find just one or two little suckers hanging out on someones head. We've used every kind of shampoo we can find. And last night I finally got some coconut oil - hello! Hawaii, it's not hard to find, and it's what everyone uses, but somehow I got stuck on the shampoos. And then just today a friend reminded me that she used Listerine on her daughter a couple of months ago and it worked great.

So that what we're doing this week - Listerine treatments everyday and coconut oil on every night. For two weeks - I'm serious. I'm going to squash these little buggers if it's the last thing I do!!!

Actually, I think Juliana and Isaac are clean. So 2 down, 2 to go. Oh and I'm treating myself just to make sure. Cameron's avoided everything so far. But coconut oil is going in everyone each night, I'm not messing around. And tomorrow I'm seeking out some tea tree oil - I head it repels ukus. Anyone around here know where I can get some? I figure I'll at least have to drive into Kaneohe or Kailua, but I'm willing to drive all over if I have to.

Wish me luck!

**I thought about starting this post with a nice big picture picture of an uku, but I decided I'd spare you the grossness - and also the pity you might feel for me having to pick them off of my kid's heads.