The last few weeks have simulataneously blown chunks and been wonderful.

The chunky moments have been many. Some involved shelling out piles of cash. The car went to the mechanic three times to fix the same problem. The last and hopefully final fix cost $558. One of our dogs had a lump that went whacky so we had to have it removed (and we had her teeth cleaned at the same time because, you know, canine dental hygiene is important). The bill came to $616. The Discover card is getting a workout!

Yesterday I spent 1.5 hours at the pediatric lab with my two kids waiting for the girl to get her blood taken. It ran into lunchtime and, not anticipating that kind of a wait, I had no food on hand for the boy (I always have food for the girl because, you know, she can only eat three things so it's not like I can just run into the 7-11 and pick her up some chips). I also discovered that I had no MONEY to buy some Cheetos from the snack machine. It actually turned out better than it sounds because, being a pediatric lab, there were several kids there and the boy kept himself busy. But my disinfectant wipes made many appearances because who knows what those other kids were in there for...

The girl who is allergic to everything had a "food trial" to see if she can handle apples. She can't. She had her usual post-allergen-ingestion night wake-ups (where she can't go back to sleep for an hour and screams and cries unless I take her out and sit with her on my lap in front of PBS Sprout. Whoever decided to run the "Goodnight Show" all night long is a genius!). But, also as usual, I wasn't positive that the wake-ups were allergy related. And since her diet is so restricted, I want to be sure that a food is the culprit before giving up on it. So with some encouragement from others and against my better judgement, I tried apple another time. Now she has hives and I have to WAKE HER UP every six hours to administer Atarax to attempt to prevent her from going into shock. She'll probably sleep right through through so I'll have to set the damn alarm and everything. GUH!

The dog that I spent 600 bucks on this week jumped up on the counter and stole one of the baby's $33 cans of hypoallergenic formula. The floor (that I had just mopped, natch) is still sticky. The dog is still in the dog house. She's going to be crated while I'm gone from now on. This isn't the first time I've come home to find pawprints on the counter (she actually jumps up - with all four feet - ONTO MY STOVE!!) It might be the last though!

My husband hates his job. It requires far too much work for what he gets out of it, and the people there treat him like crap. Today someone called him on his way home to swear at him and threaten him because he wasn't allowed a discount that would save him $2.40. That's right, the guy had to make my husband all stressed out and worried for less than three dollars. I have half a mind to find this guy and give him a piece of my mind. My husband might have to be nice to him, but I sure don't.

There's more crap but I'm getting depressed so let's move on to the happy moments. The dog's lump turned out to be just a cyst, not cancer. The surgery went smoothly with no side effects and the incision healed well, despite her jumping up and down off the counter. The staples were removed today without incident.

The girl's bloodwork came out normal, which means that she is most likely really just a very, very, very allergic child, and not a child with a horrid disease. Although I'm disappointed that she can't have apple juice, I'm happy that she seems to be healthy despite her limitations.

The girl isn't having any side effects from the Atarax, which is a strong antihistimine that seemed to make her miserable as an infant. I'm relieved to know that I no longer need to dread giving it to her when she gets hives in the future.

The boy has a new interest (comic book superheros and supervillans). My husband also enjoys these things, so the two of them have had a great time reading this massive Marvel character encyclopedia thingy and buying these little action figures. We've devised a behavior/task chart and the boy is earning stickers that will add up to the purchase of a new "bad guy". For the first time EVER, the boy (who is four) is dressing himself, including putting on his own shoes, without complaint every morning. Long live the sticker chart!

I'm still in love with my Flip video camera, which allows me to take videos on this deck-of-cards-sized camera and plug it directly into the computer for instant loading onto the internet. It's awesome!

Someone complimented a magazine issue that I had a lot of articles in on a very popular dog agility email list. The issue theme was my idea and I suggested that the magazine and the agility organization work together on this particular subject. I think it turned out well and so did someone else. Wohoo!

I've had the opportunity to spend a little more time with my always-working husband and some of our friends. It's still "shorts weather" here in Florida and we've been going to some parks and "hiking," looking at exotic birds like Roseatte spoonbills and such. We've also spent time watching our kids play on swingsets and playgrounds with their friends. Great stuff!

Tomorrow, barring an allergic emergency, I'm going to a movie with my friends in the afternoon at an old, artsy theater. I know nothing about the movie and I don't care. It should be lots of fun to see these ladies sans kids.

My writing career is going well. I have more work than I have time to work. That's not a complaint!

The girl (who is 14 months) is saying some new words: "Bye!" has been added to her list of "Hi," "Mama," "Dada," and an approximation of my son's name. She also tries to sing the "Up above the world so high" part of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. It sounds like "UP ABOU wah wah bah bah..." She sings it in the right place in the song though. She CONSTANTLY talks on the "phone," making phones out of every imaginable object. She likes to pretend that we are sharing a call, talking by herself first, then holding the phone to my ear, then returning it to her own after I say something like, "It's for you."

She's walking well now, though a little wide-stanced and pigeon-toed. She's getting faster. I fear a run is around the corner. She has a mind of her own, so running is going to be challenging. She's figured out how to avoid being put down when she'd like to be carried (she bends her knees and refuses to put her feet on the ground). She might walk next to you and hold your hand, or she might use her other hand to try to pry your hand loose. If she's free, she's NOT going to go in the direction you are. She thinks it's HILARIOUS when you have to hurry after her and scoop her up in the middle of the health food store.

So, this may be the longest blog entry I've ever made that wasn't some kind of instruction kind of thing (like "how to teach your dog to do something..."). It's thrown together, stream-of-conscious, off-the-cuff... It's probably exactly what a blog is supposed to be, but mine rarely is. Hope it was worth reading. I know it was worth writing - I feel a lot better about my life right now than I did when I started!