When the Bed Bugs Bite

At the beginning of  May we discovered a bed bug problem in Sophie's room - NOOOOO!!!! We're not sure when it started or where it came from. Sophie is our girl who isn't afraid of creepy crawlies. She had apparently been finding bugs in her bed for awhile, but had just been moving them to the trash can whenever they showed up. One night she told Dave about it, who told me to wash her bedding in the morning, and as I stripped the sheets I saw we had a big problem. 

What an adult bed bug looks like. I hope I never see one again in my life!

It wasn't a major infestation visible bugs everywhere, but I did see a few on the mattress and box spring, and there were a few blood spots on her sheets. I called Dave to report the bad news and him schedule an inspection and then I immediately got to work treating the room as best I could. 

Bed bugs are luckily pretty fragile and high temperatures will kill them at any stage of their life cycle. I removed all clothing, bedding, stuffed animals, and her rug to run through the washer and dryer on the highest temperature. All books came out and went through a 200° bake in the oven because they supposedly like to hide in cracks and love paper/cardboard. I removed all the toys from under her bed and closet shelves and rotated them through pots of boiling water. I also had to be careful removing stuff from the room so I wouldn't spread our problem. Every thing was transported in a garbage bag that was then thrown out after one use. Vacuum canisters got emptied directly in the dumpster. I changed my socks every time I entered/exited the room. Then after decontamination was finally complete, everything got boxed or bagged and then put in the attic because it couldn't return to the room. It was an arduous process!!

When the exterminator from Orkin came, she confirmed the problem and checked the entire house. Sophie's room was the source, and we are incredibly lucky it stayed mostly contained. There were signs of eggs in Davey's room and later I did find a bug on his sheets, but the rest of the house was clear. Unfortunately, she quoted us a crazy expensive treatment plan that went as far as coating our attic in boric acid. We thought that sounded a little extreme given that the bugs were only in two rooms, so we found a different company (Truly Nolan) that would spot treat the problem areas for thousands less. We also had to wait 10 days to get treatment. Apparently it was a bad pest season and every company was booked out at least a week.  

Our treatment day happened while I was out of town in St. George, which worked out for the best. They spray all the furniture and baseboards in the affected rooms and it made me more comfortable to have our crawling baby out of the house during and after that time. The spray is actually a fungal barrier that infects the bed bugs when crossed, and then they die shortly after. To be effective, however, a person must be using the room. Bed bugs are attracted to CO2 (exhales) and if there is not a food source present, instead of moving around and crossing the barriers, they will go into hiding where they can stay dormant for up to ONE YEAR. Yikes! We didn't tell the kids how the poison worked, so they wouldn't be freaked out when they had to move right back into their rooms after treatment. 

Over the next several days I would check around the bed frames and mattress for bugs. Dead bugs were good, and live bugs were ok as long as they were tiny. Because mature bugs were present, there were eggs that still needed to hatch over the next month. When those tiny bugs would emerge and move towards food, they would cross barriers and then die. After about 40 days I was still finding the occasional bug so we called Nolan back to retreat and luckily since that second spray we have seen no activity. Hooray!!

Sophie handled the whole process amazingly well. From bugs in her room, to loosing all her clothes and toys for months, she never cried or got mad. I did find this drawing she made though, of bed bugs parachuting down onto her sleeping self from the jellyfish canopy (which had to be thrown away). Maybe this was a way of processing some lingering emotions about the ordeal.

All the cleaned bedding waiting to get bagged and taken up to the attic. I figured that even if something had survived the laundering process, that a full summer in the intense heat of a Texas attic would finish them off.

All the books that had completed their bed bug bake

Literally cooking the books and boiling groups of plastic animals and Legos

Sophie and Davey's rooms stripped of all belongings and ready for treament. All furniture had to be pulled away from the walls so they could have 360° access. We also encased their mattresses and box springs with special covers so any hiding bugs would not be able to escape and starve. We can supposedly take them off in a year, but I'm not sure I want to see what's inside.

Good Times at Lake Mackenzie

I pulled Sophie out of summer camp early one day so we could meet friends at Lake Makenzie. It takes an hour to get there on narrow farm roads where you often never pass another car, but the isolation makes it such a nice getaway. And now that I no longer worry about the van getting stuck on the crazy steep hill to get down, it's a much more enjoyable outing!

We arrived around lunch and stayed almost five hours. The water is warm and the kids always play so well here. Bringing the kayak was a game changer, so much that we bought one of our own afterward. The kids loved being able to explore further out from shore and made a trip over to a dead tree that's in the middle of the lake. Someone had tied a rope to a branch and they had fun using it to swing into the water. Next time I want to bring a bag for my phone so I can take pictures of them jumping from the tree. Griffin naturally made things a little challenging, but I was still able to spend time relaxing in the river tubes or chatting with friends.  

These two lake lovers jumped right in when we arrived

Charlie, on the other hand, stayed on shore while I got us all set up for a day of fun on an empty beach

Griffin was a new walker and the sand took him a bit to get used to

Me, with my friends Candice and Erika

Emery brought her kayak and the kids had fun paddling all over. They rode double, and sometimes even triple because everyone wanted a turn to go out for a cruise.

These two are the cutest friends. I would not be at all sad if they got married one day.

Not the normal way to sit in a chair, but he was pretty proud of himself for figuring out how to get in without any help

These boys never get tired of digging

Griffin loved lounging in the shade and watching everyone else play

Sophie made herself into a mud monster right before it was time to go home. So awesome awesome...

Lake days are fun, but exhausting. I hope the kids have some smidgeon of appreciation for the effort that goes into making them happen.

Back to Back Van Mishaps

One of the kids left a brown crayon in the passenger seat of the car and, in the heat of the summer sun, it melted all over. I cleaned up what I could with baby wipes while we were out, but there was still lots stuck to the seat. A friend suggested that I use a steamer to help melt the wax and it worked great! I spent a very hot night in the garage steaming and wiping the seat on repeat until I was able to get almost all of it off. There is still a few residual stains, but at least whoever sits there won't look like they have chocolate or something worse on their rear end!

It doesn't look like a huge mess, but more and more kept lifting off every time I steamed and wiped. I went through so many paper towels!

The very next morning we had another incident. I went to check on how the van seat looked after everything had dried during the night and Griffin climbed into play. I let him mess around while I cleared the breakfast dishes, but then when I went to get him out, I made the mistake of closing the passenger door before going around to the driver's side to get him out and found that he had locked the doors! Ahhh Griffin! Of course he is too young to understand "press the button" and our spare keys were no where to be found. 

Luckily it was early morning so he was not at risk of overheating, but he was still not happy to be trapped and I was powerless to help him. I found a locksmith that was able to come right over and the technician was able to force the door open in just a few minutes. He refused payment, but I tipped him anyway to show my gratitude. If we ever have another situation like this, I have since learned that the fire department will also respond to get a child out of a locked car, but I hope I don't have to test that out.

This was taken a week before the incident when he first learned to climb into the car

He stopped enjoying playing in the car once he realized he was trapped. Dave brought me some books to read through the window to him while we waited for the locksmith.

Griffin is Walking!

 After standing and cruising for several months, Griffin started taking real steps and walking meaningful distances on June 1st, the day after turning 14 months old. That makes him the slowest of all the kids, but he matched their speed in no time and hasn't slowed down since. This milestone is always so fun and the other kids loved cheering him on as he practiced. 

Video clips of Griffin learning to walk

The Howes as Pixar People

There was a trend on social media during June where people were using an app to make cartoon versions of themselves and their families. I tried it out for fun and these were the results. For some reason though, it gave all the kids and Dave blue eyes. I had seen other people get brown eyed photos, so I know it was possible, but no matter what photo I used they all came out blue. Maybe their eyes were just to dark for the app to read properly. Either way, I though we turned out pretty cute!

Ranch Rodeo Night, Yeehaw!

We love it when the rodeo comes to town! Like last time, it started with a chuck wagon dinner, which was very interesting this time around - a huge sausage in a tortilla with mustard as the only condiment. The kids were not into it and ate only chips and cookies for dinner, but both Dave and I ate our "cowboy hotdog." It wasn't bad, but we were a little disappointed when we found out that the next night they were going to be serving brisket. Maybe next year we'll go on Saturday instead. 

The rodeo portion started at 7, but we went over early to save some seats on the front row, and then walked around all the vendor booths and took a peek at all the animals in the holding pens. Every year the kids get a little more expensive to take places (not as many free tickets), but we can also go do fun things without it being a huge challenge or disaster. We were up for 3 hours past bedtime watching broncos, roping, and cutting and it was so much fun!

I have seen longhorns several times now since moving to Texas, but I will always be impressed by those massive horns

Charlie making a cool cowboy pose

The did not have a mechanical bull to ride this year, so the kids at to sit on this hay bale instead. It wasn't thrilling enough for Sophie, but it was perfect for Charlie.

The other kids handled the late night really well, but Griffin was a squirmy wild animal most of the time. Eventually we gave up trying to sit with him and took turns pushing him around the arena in the stroller.

Sophie watching a cow get roped right below our seats

Love these little dudes

School's Out Shaving Cream Party

This was our second time participating in the School's Out Shaving Cream war. Last year it was cancelled due to Covid, and this year it had to be postponed due to weather, but at least it still happened! We gathered with friends at the nearby splash pad and then let the kids go at each other. Sophie and Davey jumped right into the fray when the war started, but Charlie was just a baby last time we came, so I wasn't sure how he would do. He can be nervous about new things, but handled the mess and chaos like a champ. This is such a fun way to kick off summer!

Group photo, except I don't know where Charlie or Davey went when this was taken

Griffin did not participate, but he put on some protective goggles just in case :)

Sophie was such a good sister and kept pausing to help squirt more cream into Charlie's hand

Friends help friends get creamed to the max

Sophie is our cream queen!

Washing off in the splash pad afterward