Eaten Alive

So May has turned out to be attack of all the bugs. It started with just a few mosquito bites. Then I got some fire ant bites. And then I just kept waking up with more and more bites until two days ago when my entire legs exploded with TONS and TONS of little red dots that quickly swelled and grew into intensely itchy torture spots. After checking our bed for bed bugs, getting an exterminator out to check for bed bugs and talking to my mom, my mother-in-law and all of my sisters-in-law, we have decided that these most recent bites are most likely the result of chiggers. TONS of happy, invisible little buggers who invaded my legs and torso while I played innocently on the back lawn with the kids. Thankfully the kids only ended up with a couple of bites each and Eric got a few on his legs but no one has it anywhere nearly as bad as I do. I seriously look like I have chicken pox all over my chest, back and legs. It's the worst and makes me feel like TX hates me and I should just go back to the West Coast. And I am paranoid that they somehow got into our house and are attacking me from my clothes, the bed, the carpet, the couch, anything! I've showered multiple times, scrubbing at my legs and torso, changed clothes and garments, I stripped our bed and washed all our bedding on hot and dried it on hot and vacuumed our whole house and haven't been on the lawn in several days and yet it seems like more bites keep popping up! It's frustrating and scary and I just want it to stop.

Progression of the bites. From just a few small (but still VERY itchy) bites on my ankles and wrist to...

The appearance of tons of red dots which over the course of a few hours...

Swelled up and became intensely itchy! 

Until today when the swelling has gone down but the number of bites still seems to be increasing and spreading on my legs and on my torso and the itching is still intense! 

To make matters worse, I consulted with a  teledoc who prescribed some cortisone cream and an oral steroid to take if needed but they sent it to the wrong pharmacy!! Not the CVS that I asked them to send it to which is right by my house but instead a lame pharmacy across town that closes at like 5 pm on weekdays and isn't open on the weekends! So I haven't even been able to pick up the meds I need! I've been trying all sorts of other things to help the itching but nothing else has been super effective. Apple cider vinegar, baking soda bath, ice, OTC hydrocortisone and oral Benadryl. The swelling has gone down (probably mostly thanks to the Benadryl) but nothing seems to make much a dent in the itching! I kind of feel like because I was starting to get too comfortable with the whole staying home and sheltering in place thing that God decided to make it tough on me again :(

Anyway...rant about the bug bites over. This month so far, (other than the bugs), has been fine. Eric and I have gotten a lot of things done for our house. We got the new faucets installed in our bathroom and I am halfway through putting in our new light fixtures (the brackets have been mounted and the holes in the wall that were uncovered when I removed the old lights have been patched but still need to be textured and painted). Also, our new couch and chair and accent pillow for the living room came! Yay!! And Eric and I finished designing and ordered some 18x24 new Restoration Proclamations for us and the families we minister too. I've already cut and sanded the wood for those as well so I just have to stain and seal them and they will be ready to go! I am so grateful for our house and that it keeps me busy doing things I like.

Work is going well, my caseload is growing and my patients are improving. And the kids are settled into their routine of going to Dawnelle's house and seem to enjoy it there. Emery is also progressing a lot with her speech and uses a lot of two word phrases now (although she can still be pretty hard to understand). My favorite new thing she does is that she says our names when she wants to get our attention to say something! For example, the other day at dinner, Eric and I were talking to each other or to Levi or something and then Emery said loudly, "Mama! Da! Buba!" And pointed enthusiastically out the window at our nightly dinner guests- the bunnies in our yard :). And she has started calling for Levi sometimes when she wakes up in the morning. I hear her over the monitor going "EEE-III! EEE-II!" Haha. It's so precious and yet I always hurry up there to shush her before she actually wakes her brother up because she always wakes up before him and he is a total grouch if he gets up as early as she does!

So anyway, that's what's going on. I can't believe my little girl will be 2 years old in just 10 days!! My mind is totally blown by that! We ordered her a set of twin baby dolls for her birthday because she is such a nurturer and loves to take care of people. I can't wait to see if she loves them! I'm going to do everything I can to make her birthday special for her even though we can't throw her a party. Hopefully some day we will be able to get together in person with other people again and then we will have to have a big birthday bash to make up for me and Levi and Emery's all lost birthdays.

Just a little girl taking her doll out for a walk.

A couple weekends ago I took Levi with me out to the ranch to return Papi's clamps to him and we got to meet all the new baby horses that have been born this spring! 

They were all soo cute and friendly and came right up to the fences and let us pet them! I just love horses and I felt super lucky we happened to be out at the ranch at a time to catch so many of them being kept up by the barn with their mamas!

While I was on the phone trying to schedule our piano tuning, which took 25 minutes (!) because the guy was such a chatter, the kids decided to dump their playroom into the kitchen. It was crazy! 

Typical evening occurrence these days, chilling outside together as a family after dinner. Which we will not be doing again until we treat our lawn for fire ants and chiggers!!! 

Piano finally 100% done and tuned! I am in love with it!! The piano tuner was quite the character and I'm sorry to say it but a bit of a misogynist. BUT he did tune the piano and so there's that. 

Emery's independence continues to develop. She wants to do everything herself! Put on her shoes, comb her hair, brush her teeth and get herself snacks out of the fridge she can't open! 

Levi's very first drawing of people that actually look like people! I am so proud of him and look how proud he is of himself! Heart melt. 

These two are my light and my joy today and every day. I love them more than words can say!