A little bone to pick...and a bite to itch!

oooo, I love these clothes! After 8 months of being pregnant at work, Im looking forward to comfy clothes! Trying to find something to wear that I still look presentable in, has been a challenge. I cant bring myself to buy more maternity clothes when I know this will all be over in a month...but I could really handle some of these clothes! I love the organic cotton, the softness, and the designs...ACH! How I want to live in layers and layers of soft cotton died purple!

Well, enough of that lust for attire, I now am doing my best to enjoy summer. While this baby is still calmly and quietly in my belly.

BUT! I have a bone to pick with summer. It is mosquitoes. They are completely distroying my very short two months of heat, out door food and soccer playing. My kid is completely swarmed everytime we go outside. We cant have dinner on our lovely deck, because they are totally unreasonable. I am the kind of person that attracts bites, and I get big fat welts that itch for weeks - and so does my son! Now there are a couple discoveries I have made to lessen the impact, but they have yet to allow me to fully get out and enjoy summer - but I'll list them for those of you out there who refuse to do the DEET thing, for what its worth...



Citronella... (we all know about this, I find it sometimes works, sometimes doesnt, and you cant put in on babies...I dont know why...)I need to get more of it.



Apisgel - a homeopathic remedy, meant to repell the bugs, and also good to put on bites. I find it reduces the itch right away, and it reduces the duration of a red swollen bite from 4-5 days, to 2-3 days. We go through a lot of it, and I'm running out.




Lemon grass: well Im not sure how this is going to help us. I actually ordered seeds for lemon grass from indonesia this winter in preperation for mosquito season. It is supposed to repel them. You can take a piece and just rub the grass on your skin, or just have lots of plants around your deck so the bugs dont like it. The problem is it doesnt grow well on our back porch, and I think it needs to be much more robust to really create the right de-tracting smell. So far it hasnt really helped...




Citronella torches. We actually don't use candles but oil torches. The candles do nothing I find. Maybe beacuse its too windy around our house. The torches are filled with oil, and when lit make a black smoke, that actually is fairly effective in detracting the bugs...but, its BLACK SMOKE! I am not sure what we are breathing in when we light them, and its kind of scary! But so far this is the only thing we can use to sit outside on the deck. Woe betide anyone who chooses to leave the deck though - and my little man cant just resist running in the damp areas around our house- eeek!

I want to blame someone for this. It seems that mother nature is getting back for something...could it be the miles and miles of lawn that is perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes? Or the lack of nesting and feeding places for the insects and birds that eat them? Could it be the global warming that has meant there is much more rain in the prairies, and standing water to breed the creatures? What ever it is, I am so sad and feel utterly powerless in the face of these tiny guys. And I just wish we could enjoy some time outside!!!! HELP!