My to-do list is a mile long, but I can’t cross anything off it. Whenever Angie isn’t crying for my attention, she’s doing something else to make me regret turning my back, even for a second. Today she drew all over her arms and legs with dry-erase markers. Then she spilled a bottle of milk on the kitchen floor and sat down in the middle of the giant puddle. ARGH!!!

At least she didn’t spill the bottle on the nice new flooring in the living room that Kevin spent the past week installing. No more awful, allergy-inducing, 30+year-old carpet, finally! I’ll leave the details for Kevin to blog about.

Last week Kevin and I went to the final show of 311’s summer tour. I had a great time. Once in a while, when I’m inhaling second-hand pot smoke and surrounded by sweaty, half-dressed bodies, I wonder if I’m getting too old for this, but the thought is always promptly pushed out of my mind by the sight of fellow concert-goers who are my parents’ age, rocking out and having a great time. Life is much too short to worry about appearing dignified.

Last week I also finally underwent Lasik surgery. This is something I’ve been planning for years. I have nothing to complain about; it all went very smoothly. But for the morbidly curious, here are the few bumps along the way:

• I was given a Xanax to help calm me down during the surgery. I was also given numbing drops in my eyes. Neither worked as well as I would have liked. While the procedure did not hurt, I did feel the instruments touching my eyeballs. UGH!!!!! The only reason I didn’t panic was because over the past couple of decades I’ve developed some excellent coping skills for dealing with crazy anxiety-inducing situations just like this one, and they worked perfectly.
• Afterwards it felt as if there was something in my eyes that I couldn’t flush out. This continued for 24 hours. The various medicinal eyedrops I was prescribed helped eased the discomfort a little, but the only thing that really helped was sleep, which I got plenty of when the Xanax finally kicked in after the surgery was all over
• The surgery is really, really expensive. The place I chose charged me a month’s salary. Add to that the cost of all the different eyedrops, and I feel positively poor.

But was it all worth it? Oh heck yeah! I can see! I CAN SEE!!! XD

Another highly anticipated event in my little life was the new film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince that opened July 15. Last Friday, Kevin and I took Alex to see it in the theater. We had a great time!

If all goes well with the construction of the Harry Potter theme park in Florida, that’s where we’ll be going for our next family vacation. According to the latest news, it’s going to have some cool rides and at least one awesome eatery. I can’t wait!

While cleaning the kids’ room I found a little black rubber ball under one of their beds. Alex said it reminded him of what the Earth would look like if we continued to misuse our natural resources. I promptly promised to start composting the next day. So far I haven’t lived up to my promise, mainly because Angie keeps doing things like pouring entire bottles of milk on the kitchen floor.

Speaking of weird environmental things, did you hear the news about the big mysterious blob floating in the ocean off the coast of Alaska? Watch the video here!

Categories: allergies, angie, environment, harry potter, home improvement, music
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I can’t sneeze. The baby won’t let me. I can do the AH-, but instead of finishing with -CHOO, I just wince painfully. Even blowing my nose is difficult because of the abdominal muscles required. I’ve never experienced this before because both Alex and Ana were born in winter. Something to keep in mind for all of you future moms who suffer from spring-summer-fall allergies like I do.

Yesterday while teaching the kids how to baby proof the living room for their soon-to-be-born baby sister, I told Alex how he used to play with the TV set. He couldn’t stop laughing through the whole story.

Back when Alex was a baby, we watched two shows a week religiously: Charmed and Gilmore Girls. Eventually we had to stop watching Charmed once Alex got old enough to be scared of the monsters, but at first all he noticed was the bright light coming out of the box… and the row of buttons immediately underneath.

Alex learned quickly that pressing the On/Off button got Mommy and Daddy’s attention right away. When he graduated on to the channel buttons, we bought a plastic shield made for babyproofing the TV. It didn’t last a week. Alex figured out how to pull it away from the TV and reach behind it with his nimble little fingers. We ended up have to duct-tape over the buttons and use the remote control exclusively.

I have many other Alex babyproofing stories, but I can’t recall any for Ana. Aside from perching precariously on the arm of the sofa I don’t remember her doing anything else particularly dangerous or naughty. I wonder if it’s because she had an older sibling to occupy her attention. Or maybe they just have different personalities.

Daisy’s preoccupation with eating plants is bordering on the pathological. Kevin found several gigantic lumps of regurgitated grass in the backyard. But I think I’ve found a way to keep my plants out of her reach: container gardening. I’ve transplanted all the small plants into long, rectangular containers and set them on the patio tables and the corn into large pots set on top of the patio chairs. Thank goodness Daisy has short legs.

Categories: allergies, gardening, kids and parenting, pets, pregnancy
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The nursery currently looks like this. No flooring yet. At my doctor’s appointment yesterday, I was told it’s still going to be a little while. I guess the baby is waiting for Daddy to install the flooring in her room.

Meanwhile, here are some seeds that I’m sprouting in my kitchen window: bell peppers, jalapenos, tomatoes, cantaloupe, and corn. They’re all growing like crazy, especially the corn. It’s as if the seeds can feel spring just outside the window. I’ll need to transplant them outside very soon, just not sure where yet. There is no spot safe from Daisy in the backyard. She likes to eat plants, vomit, then lick up the vomit. I wish I were joking.

I would consider planting them in the front yard, but our nosy neighbors (the ones that steal flowers off my rose bushes) have an unhealthy interest in everything we grow in our front yard, and if they see crops growing, I suspect they’ll either steal the fruits of my labor or report us to city hall.

Other than the delight of seeing my crops growing I have little reason to like spring. Right now I have a giant wad of tissues stopping up my nostrils because they won’t stop bleeding, and the reason they’re bleeding is because I’ve been taking Sudafed nonstop, and the reason I’ve been taking Sudafed is because I can’t take Claritin, and the reason I wish I could take Claritin is because my allergies are driving me INSANE.

By the way, here’s a picture of the belly. It’s not a video, but it’s more bare skin than I’ve shown in a while…

… and here’s a picture of Kevin getting some fun in before the baby comes. He didn’t get shot until several matches into his day, which is quite good considering this is his first time paintballing.

I’m officially out of the office as of the 24th whether or not the baby comes, and Kevin’s starting paternity leave as of the 25th. Yay! That’s only 9 more days for me and 10 more days for him!

Categories: allergies, games, gardening, pets, pregnancy
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Today I got a call from Alex’s school. He had an allergic reaction to freshly mowed grass and was waiting in the nurse’s office. When I picked him up, his eyes were still puffy, poor thing. I asked how I would go about keeping a bottle of Children’s Benadryl at school in case this happens again, and they gave me a form for his doctor to sign.

Alex inherited allergies from both of us. We react to similar things but to varying degrees. I’m much more allergic to grass than Kevin is, and he is much more allergic to cats than I am. The list goes on. This season has been particularly bad for me. I’ve been alternating between Sudafed and Benadryl, i.e. whenever the Sudafed starts making my nose bleed, I switch to Benadryl, and whenever the Benadryl makes me too sleepy, I switch back to Sudafed.

In related news, we’ve been trying to hire a gardener for a year now. The latest attempt occurred this past weekend. The fellow had left an ad on our doorstep, but when I called and asked him to come give us a quote, he didn’t show. I guess business has been too good.

Categories: allergies, gardening, kids and parenting
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