Yeah, so, this weather! What?!

Yeah, so, this weather! What?!

I'm stuck in the house on these "Air Quality Alert" days because I have asthma and the heat and humidity is so bad, it feels like I'm going to have an asthma attack. And then there's the pollen count. I look up the weather on my phone app, and the pollen levels are so bad here in Chicago! I went onto the balcony around 5 am the other morning, thinking the fresh air would help me get back to sleep. Yeah, I ended up with itchy eyes and a sore throat. It made me so angried-up. How can I be productive in my life with itchy, watery eyes, or allergy medicine not covered by my insurance, or allergy meds that make me sleepy?

And then there's my babies. Mia and Laila were born at 34 weeks. Obviously, most twins are born early, but they ended up being in the Neo-natal intensive care unit (NICU) for a week, and Mia needed oxygen for 3-4 of those days. They're lungs were underdeveloped. So everytime there's a change in the weather, where it goes from extremely hot to cold or the other way around, they get sick. When Laila was 6 months old, she ended up with a fever and a really bad respiratory problem. I remember holding her on my lap one morning and realizing that her breathing was labored. I called Bry at work and he came home. By the time he got home, I was panicked because she was wheezing. He drove her to the hospital quickly, and I stayed home with Ani and Mia (all this time later, I still regret not being the one who went with her), and they decided to transfer her to Loyola in Maywood where they had more advanced equipment and doctors for a kid that young.

She was in the hospital for 3 days, with a high fever and trouble breathing. They told us then that this happens with some premature babies whose lungs weren't fully developed. The following year, we were back and forth to the doctor's office because of both babies having breathing issues.

The point of all of this is, I'm scared to be in Chicago when it starts to get cold again! I am completely paranoid and terrified about one of my babies ending up in the hospital again. Ani ended up in the hospital with chest congestion once too. It was the ER and they didn't keep her overnight, except a long stay in the ER. But either way, I'm terrified.

We don't get as sick in the summer, but with that being said, the pollen is a real bother because if we leave the windows open at night, we end up with itchy eyes, sneezing, stuff like that. We're all going to end up on allergy meds, I'm sure.

And now, on top of all of that, the summer is now unbearable. After the blizzard in February, right before my birthday, no less, I promised I would never have to go through that again! We were stuck in the house for a week because of the piled-up snow. It was a literal ghost town. No one could drive up and down the streets (I have video of that I'll put on Youtube at some point). And now the summer is like, everyday, 90 degrees plus, heat advisories, air quality alert days...all this bullshizzary that's making me stay in the house with a 4 year old and two 2 year olds and I'm running out of stuff to do with them! I'm like "what DVD do you wanna watch?" or "You wanna listen to Lady Gaga again?" or "Who wants to play with Play-doh?". I'm bored!

For months I was all "Ugh! I hate you Chicago! Chicago, you've betrayed me once more!" and "How dare you Chicago!" all because of the weather conditions, and thinking of how I want to be a California girl and how I never want to step into snow again...

Then I remembered the feeling of feeling all warm and cozy in your bed on a winter morning and looking outside to the snow. Sitting in the living room with a fuzzy sweater on and drinking hot cocoa. Going out in a hat, scarf, gloves, boots and trudging across the parking lot to your car (which I always start with the remote from the window) and warming up. I kinda like those days of cold and bundling up and feeling cold, then feeling all warm and cozy and safe. The chill in the air right before Christmas and getting into the Christmas spirit with the kids while you put up the tree and realizing it's starting to snow outside. Okay, maybe I'll miss that stuff.

But one thing you have to remember...that first day or two of snow flakes falling, is like "oh, it's not sticking to the ground yet, that's cool" and then the next time it snows "Hey, it's actually accumulating on the ground, it's so pretty" then that next time is all "It's snowing again?! Ugh, I gotta clean off the van in the morning before I drive it!". That time is fucking annoying.

SNOW IS ONLY FUN THE FIRST WEEK.

Every day after that first week of snow, is fucking annoying. Maybe after we move to Cali, I'll come back to Chicago just for a week, for Christmas.

I'm out!