Well...It Hasn't Been an ENTIRE Month...

Yeah, I've been oh so neglectful of the blogging world. Not only am I three days shy of a whole month between my last post and this one, but I also have no idea what anyone else has been posting about. Sorry for being so lame. I'll try to get caught up with all of you soon and, being the nice person I am, I will get you all caught up with recent events in my life:

--Fall Semester ended well. Yay!

--I got an iPad 2. Yes, yes it is a truly fabulous machine. I got it for a number of reasons: School, Entertainment, and...for my own sanity, AKA: Entertainment for my kids.

--Ty's Aunt J came into town and stayed for three weeks. We enjoyed every minute that we got to spend with her, and hope to get her back here again soon. The only sad thing is that she goes home tomorrow. We would have loved to keep her for a few more weeks...or months. Yeah, she's that awesome.

--Enjoyed Christmas with family on both sides. Both of Ty's brothers came into town and we got to hang out with them as well as Aunt J. Oh, and I got to talk to MY little brother, KT, who's on his mission in New Zealand. (He's got an accent! It's so freaking adorable!)

--Poor AJ got sick the day after Christmas and had a pretty miserable week last week. She's much better now, to the great relief of her mother.

--Started (And finished) reading a new book. It was awesome. I'm kind of sad it's over. I want the next one in the series to come out so I can feed my sad but oh so wonderful addiction.

--Remodelling our master bath. The tile is going up this week. Woot!

--Today was the first day of the new semester. And it was kind of the day from Hell itself.

Yes, you read that right.

Oh, no worries. I shall elaborate...

This morning, I woke up and got CT started with his breakfast, as today was also his first day back at school. We all got ready, and after dropping CT off at school, I came home and got all of my school stuff ready. Then Ty and I dropped AJ off at my mom's, then we both headed to campus for class. (We're taking a class together this semester.)

Class was fine. The professor is not exactly what anyone could ever call "charismatic", but he's interested in the subject he teaches, and the topic itself is quite interesting, so I think the semester will go just fine. After class, Ty and I made our way back to our minivan. We climbed inside, Ty put the key into the ignition, and...Nothing happened.

To be honest, the van has been having trouble starting for a matter of weeks now, but it's always fired up after a few tries. And once it gets started, there's not a problem. And it hasn't even happened every time. So we figured it was something we could keep an eye on and see what happened. Well, apparently, getting stranded on campus, a half hour away from home, with our daughter's nap time approaching and Ty having to get ready for and be at work in a matter of hours, is what would happen.

After several minutes, and MANY tries to get that thing to turn over and start, I called AAA. As I was dialing the number, Ty said: "You know that as soon as you finish talking to them, this thing is going to start." I nodded, laughing at the idea, and then I proceeded to tell the AAA lady where we were and what the problem was. She got all of our information, and then she said: "Okay Candice, please hold while I get an approximate arrival time for you." I was sitting there, listening to the bland hold music on the other end of the line when Ty made one last try and then...the engine fired up and we started driving away. Apparently my husband is a soothsayer of some kind. (Geez, if only I'd known that sooner! I could have USED a soothsayer a few times over the past 11 years!)

When the lady came back on the line, I told her that we had gotten the engine to start at last, and that I would call back if anything else happened. During the drive home, Ty called our mechanic, told him what the problem was and set up a time to drop the van off at the shop.

He took me home, so I could get our other car and pick up AJ at my mom's and then go get Ty from the mechanic's. I picked up AJ, and just as I went around the corner, the car stopped accelerating. The engine stalled. I RAN OUT OF GAS!!! Ty had said that the car was low on gas, but I didn't know it was THAT low. *Sigh* I know, perfect timing, right?

Luckily, I was actually able to stop the car at a stop sign, turn on my hazard lights, and call my mom. She came to the rescue, with a can of gasoline out of their garage. I hugged her, thanking her for her help, and drove to the gas station before going to pick up Ty.

As I was exiting the freeway into our little hometown, Ty said: "We have to go back." He said this in an empty, tired voice. I wasn't sure he was serious. "What?" I said. He responded: "I left my backpack in the van at the mechanic's. We have to go back." I sighed, groaning a little. Then Ty seemed to change his mind: "You know what, never mind. Let's just get you some lunch and take you and AJ back to your mom's house. I'll go home and get dressed for work, and then I'll go back and get my backpack and head to work from there." This sounded like a good plan, so I pulled into the local Arby's.

Ordering was difficult, as our little car doesn't have a functioning window on the driver's side. I had to open my door and shout my order towards the microphone, 4 times, because the guy couldn't hear me. I stood up and walked to the window, because I couldn't get the car into a good position to pay the guy from my seat. I got my food, and drove us all back to Mom's house.

Why were we going back to Mom's house, and not back home? The tile guys were at our house, using an electric tile saw in our front yard. Do you have any idea how loud those things are? They're pretty freaking loud. I would never get our daughter to sleep with that racket going on, so I asked my mom if we could use her nice, quiet house to give the baby a nap. She agreed, so Tyler dropped us off, and went home to change for work. I ate my lunch, and then took AJ upstairs for a nap. She refused to go to sleep, so I gave up and took her back downstairs.

I was ready for the day to be over, but I had to go and get my son from school. I had to take my brother's car, as I didn't have access to one of my own. He's a pizza delivery guy, so his car smells like stale pizza. It was kind of gross. Not to mention the empty soda cans, crumpled papers, and who knows what else that covered the seats and floors of his car...Anyway, I picked up CT and took him back to Mom's. She drove us all home and I heaved a sigh of relief, hoping that things would calm down after that.

CT went out to play with some friends while AJ and I just relaxed for a while. He came home on time, and asked if he could watch TV in his room for a while. I said he could watch one show. He came down about twenty minutes later: "Mom, my eyes are really itchy." I told him to rinse his eyes with water, and he said: "I did, but they're still really bad." I was reading something on my iPad at the time, so I just glanced at him and, not seeing anything weird, said: "I'm sure it will be OK." Another fifteen minutes went by, and finally CT stood up, blinking furiously and still rubbing his eyes: "Mom, is my eye dripping?" (He probably meant: "drooping", but I gave him a break, since he's six years old.) I looked up at him, and then I did a double take and my heart stopped in my chest.

My son's eyes were red, and swollen almost completely shut, surrounded by hives. He was having an allergic reaction.

I jumped up and took him into the kitchen, pelting him with questions: "Where did you go?" "What did you touch?" "Did you eat anything weird?" "How does your throat feel?"...I looked inside of his mouth: No swelling or redness. He was breathing and speaking normally. I gave him the maximum dose of Benadryl for a 6 year old, and then ordered him to take a shower immediately. After he took of his shirt, I checked the rest of his body for hives. I found some on his chin, and by his right ear. I told him to scrub himself, paying special attention to his face and hands.

There was about a half-hour during which I very seriously considered taking my son to the emergency room, but I weighed his symptoms, and decided to wait and see if the Benadryl would do the job, especially since his exposure to whatever allergic substance it was seemed to be superficial. Oh, and I DIDN'T HAVE A CAR!!!

After his shower, I checked him again.

The hives didn't seem to be spreading, and he was still speaking and breathing without any difficulty. His reaction was confined to his eyes and other areas of his face, and the swelling was already starting to go down dramatically.

I continued to question him, and he swore that he hadn't eaten anything, but he did confess that when he was out playing, his friend's brother was eating peanut butter and sitting right next to CT. CT said that he had run away fast, but I'm betting that he got some peanut butter on his hands, and then rubbed his eyes and face, causing the reaction.

However, until I was sure that everything was okay, I was in a state of near panic. That's unpleasant enough for me, but it was made even worse by the fact that CT is an extremely observant, perceptive child. He knew I was upset. "You're really worried about me, aren't you mom?" He asked as I checked him for new hives for the fifth time. I nodded, and said "Yes, of course I am." There was no point in lying to him. But then he got really scared, because of the way I was reacting to the situation.

Sometimes it's really hard being the grown up. My kids are constantly watching me, looking for my reactions to every situation, and then they take their cues from the atmosphere that I set. It's a lot of pressure, especially since I so very often fail in showing them the proper manner in which to react to a certain situation.

Anyway, because I was terrified, CT was terrified. He knows exactly what an allergic reaction to peanuts can do to him. He actually came to me and hugged me and started to cry. "I don't want to die, Mom." I was choking on my own tears as I swore to him that I would not let that happen. I comforted him, assuring him that he was already looking much better, and that the reaction was not spreading. Once I had put his mind at ease, I put every effort into calming myself.

However, I can only be glad to say that this hellish, horrific day did end relatively well. CT's hives cleared completely, his reaction never got any worse. The Benadryl made CT super sleepy, and he went to bed without a single argument or complaint. And, since AJ didn't get a nap today, she went to bed happily, almost with relief.

So, here I am. Surrounded by a mountain of clean laundry that needs folding, and another mountain of dirty laundry that needs to be washed.

And just because it's the perfect end to a day like this one, I found a freaking spider in my basement. Alive! I killed it violently with a garbage can. Don't even get me started on how pissed off I am that I found HIM in my house. Oh, and the icing on the cake: The brand new wireless keyboard that I got to take notes in class with my iPad, is somehow missing its ESC key and I can't get the stupid thing back on!

Ugh. Can today be over yet?