Dear Universe, please take care of these things.

We are slowly ticking off the big things that needed to be taken care of before this baby could come. We have added a few, but those are slowly being taken care of as well. First, we had a wedding 4 hours away, and we got through that one. Sam had a trip, but she's back. Mom had a trip, but she's back. Chris was in a second wedding, but we made it through that. Then there are the two ongoing issues that I hope get resolved before this baby makes an appearance, so if they could be resolved today, that would be nice!

Right before Austin was born, Jackson occupied our time with vet visit after vet visit for what turned out to be a strange cyst in his paw. His poor paw was wrapped for weeks on end as he had multiple "exploratory surgeries" and weeks of healing and his final visit was for two days after Austin was born. By that time we had become so close with the staff at the vet that it was kind of exciting to bring Austin in to meet everybody as they had all been sure that my water would break during one of Jackson's visits.

Well, he's doing it again. Maybe he can sense when a new baby is going to come and therefore his body reacts by creating some mysterious condition. This time, it's his lip that is hanging out of his mouth. Vet visit #1 was today and they think it's just an insect bite gone bad. Here's to hoping...They say it can take a couple of weeks to heal, so at least we won't be running from the hospital to the vet this time around as I'm really REALLY hoping that this baby comes before a couple of weeks pass. He'll be on two different medications, which is nice, because now he can feel just as special as Dakota who gets her two medications with every meal. These pups of ours, who knew they would be such an investment?

On top of the vet, we are dealing with my car. Again. Last summer when Austin was 10 months old or so we had multiple exciting adventures of breaking down on the road. AAA became another expense of ours, but one that was needed as my car needed to be towed back and forth to Boulder Nissan. Luckily, that was when Jenni was living with us and was jobless so she had all the time in the world to rescue Austin and I from various places around town. Last Friday I was driving and called Chris to say, "You're not going to believe this, but my 'check engine' light is on. As I finished the sentence, my car shut down. No power steering, no power breaks, nothing. It was over 80 degrees out and I only had one battery bar left on my cell phone. And I'm 9 months pregnant. I would not have been surprised if my water bursted right then and there. Chris left work to come fetch us, but luckily after the car cooled off I was able to limp it back home.

We are now the proud renters of a luxurious Chrysler Aspen that seems to me something I could live in quite comfortably. It is huge. I have loved my Xterra from the time I was 18 and it had a whopping 80 miles on it, but it is time to get a new (used) car that I won't fear will leave us stranded. Trying to finance such a decision is an obstacle though. The mechanic is having problems diagnosing the problem, so for now my head is stuck in the sand ignoring the daily rental price of our chariot and I'm happy to know that I will be able to get to the hospital in style.

My wish for the universe is to let Jackson's mouth issue be a simple insect bite, for my car's problem to be a simple oil issue (which they said is a possibility), and for a new (used) SUV to drop in our laps at an affordable price. Thanks.