My plate runneth over...

...and so does my nose.

A few things catch us by surprise each spring here at Team Lusignan headquarters: schedule explosion and allergies. You'd figure we'd learn, but I think the winter dulls our senses adequately enough that, in the spring, we are like little baby birds cracking out of our shells, all bug-eyed and discombobulated. Even when our wings are dry and we're chirping and flapping, ready to go, we still feel the shock of that shove out of the nest, and for us, that shove comes as a schedule that suddenly won't quit and noses that won't stop running. The fact that they come together is the real bummer, since one makes the other so much less fun.

I don't know what it is about spring in Chicago, but EVERYTHING seems to be happening now. We have more birthday parties to attend than you could imagine---a few every weekend, with some even overlapping---so much so that the folks at our local toy store have started chuckling when we come in the door, asking, "Did you forget someone else the last time you were here, weren't you shopping for 3 parties already?" or "Who is it, this time?" The rise in parties may have more to say about the late summer and fall, when all these munchkins are being created in the first place, but whatever the case, EJ is in heaven, because her spring dance card is full, full, full, and that is how she likes it.

We also have the end of preschool around the corner, and it is yet another ending that makes me (not surprisingly) have to take a big gulp and sigh. I just got over last year, and here we go again. To cap off her preschool career, EJ's Nana is coming down to be the final "mystery reader" of the year for her class, and then a few days later, she and Dad will be back for EJ's graduation. Cuteness will abound. On the other side of that, kindergarten prep is starting, as we already have a kindergarten picnic to attend, doctor's appointments to schedule, etc.

Then there is the condo association-wide vertical pipe replacement project, which began in April, but arrived at our tier at 8:37 this morning. Can you hear the drilling as you read this? I can as I type! This project could last 2 weeks, or it could last 8 weeks, we just don't know, but if the experience of my neighbors speaks to ours, we have at least 6 weeks to go. The project involves packing up everything we need from the kitchen/bathrooms/laundry room and placing them in accessible (remote) spots, then removing and finding a home for everything else that is in the way, too. This means emptying all the cabinets, shelving, etc., and finding a place for everything, as the walls are cut open and the gigantic original cast iron pipes are removed and replaced. By the time we are done, we will have played host to teams of plumbers, patchers, and painters, leaving us the gift of new pipes and mountains of dust (great for allergies, right?). I will be very grateful for the water supply, though, as well as a replaced bathoom sink. Excuse me as I hum to myself as a mantra, "You have to accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative..."

In addition to celebration, graduation, and renovation, I have secured some amazing consulting work, for which I need to conduct interviews via phone during the day while the pipework is being done. I'm also hoping to take some time to further investigate conferences at which I could present my master's research, with the hope of getting it published. Sound busy enough? No! I'm also wrapping up a fun year as TA for a class that I took my first year of grad school. Drilling and dust aren't the best work companions, but I'm grateful for friends who have offered quiet places for me to work.

Then there are the little things, like negotiating more medical bill nightmares, finding a state vehicle form that has gone missing, ordering our Chicago vehicle sticker, setting up additional babysitting around the new camp schedule, finding fun family August activities and signing up ahead of time when necessary, and of course, finding clothes for my brother's wedding...

...did I mention that my brother's wedding will be here before we know it? EJ will have some dress fittings coming up (a flower girl's work is never done!), and I'm going to have to find out what my brother and future sister-in-law want sung at church sometime before the big day, otherwise I will make for a pretty crummy (and quiet) wedding singer. We don't mind a bit of the prep-work, though, as we are so excited for the happy couple, and know that the wedding is going to be tons of fun. From what I can currently predict, their wedding will occur right around the time the pipe work is finally complete. By then, I'm sure that I'll be grateful to see family and dance my cares away!!

Days after the wedding, EJ will turn five, and we will help cap off the super birthday season that began a few weeks ago. Five. Wow. No time to think about that now, but we've got to get a save-the-date out soon. Wow.

As for the allergies, well, who knows when they will subside? That's if the sniffles we have are allergies, of course---I am alone in my allergy opinion in this house. My sweet husband---you know, the guy studying neuroscience, the really, really smart guy---is feeling crummy. He's absolutely convinced that he has a cold, a cold that he caught from our daughter. I don't think it is a cold, because year after year, at right around this time, he gets the same symptoms. He's the man who cries, "Cold!" It always takes at least 3 weeks to convince him to take some allergy medicine, and when he finally does, he can't believe how much better he feels.

I would say my diagnosis of "allergies" is based on the longitudinal data I have compiled over several years. Now who's the scientist?

Of course, you can never eliminate all outlying factors, and what Mike has certainly could be a cold. We get more than our fair share, and the shifting spring temperatures would certainly make it easy to catch a bug. To be fair, my hubby is right---EJ has been "sick" lately. I believe, though, that this year we are seeing our kiddo develop the same kind of allergies that the two of us get. Poor thing. I don't know how she could have dodged that bullet---I think that I had allergy shots for 10 years as a kid, and still routinely broke out in hives and had to bring boxes of kleenex with me when I played in the woods with friends---but I'm sad for her, nonetheless. She has a cough that isn't going away and a runny nose, but no fever, no malaise, no discomfort---I'm voting allergies, all the way.

So with everything to keep track of, "coldergy" (I'll compromise and meet him halfway) medicine running through me, and loud metal drilling in my ear, is it so surprising that I made it two-thirds of the way to preschool and right past the secret service checkpoint before I realized that I had my shirt on inside-out?

May the Lord grant me patience and a sense of humor this June.