no cat for me :(

i am sooo bummed! As I have mentioned before we are moving in August , and we specifically got a place where we could have a cat (or two). We have been very excited, especially the girls. And I looove cats! I have always lived with at least one growing up, and just assumed we would have one as soon as we had the right place. I love being around them, love their quirks and personalities, loved the way they cuddle up to you and comfort you when you are down.

Anyways, back to the suckage. We were at my mom's house last week and Annie was playing with her cat and I noticed that her nose was starting to run and she was getting a little blotchy redness on her face. It wasn't severe or anything, but it made me suspect that she might be allergic. So today I took her to the "cat room" at the local humane society to see if she would have a reaction (aren't I a great mom? this just sounds so terrible. But if I thought she would have a severe reaction i would not have taken her.). For the first 20 minutes of playing with the cats annie was totally fine, and i thought we were in the clear. Then her nose startedd to really run, and red blotches appeared on her face. So of course we left, and all the way home Annie was rubbing her eyes, and her face was all red.
So i can't deny the sad reality: my kid is allergic to cats. I did make a call to her doc the see if i could get a referral to an allergist just to be sure, but i am like 99.9% sure. I am so dissappointed. And now I have to break the news to the girls. Emma will be crushed! The cat was the main selling point to get her excited about moving away! Well, maybe we can get a smaller pet or something.
And now I am worried, because the apartment we are moving into has 2 cats living in it currently. I know the carpet will be cleaned and everything, but what if there is enough dander left behind that Annie has a reaction and we cant live there? But I don't know what to do, because we already payed a non-refundable deposit, plus Ames is a college town, and all the apartments are taken by now (we had to get our back in feb.)! Argh, stress! But that is another reason I wanted to take Annie to an allergist, to find out how bad her allergy is and if we can expect to be able to live in an apartment that formerly had cats.
In other news, my husband had a wonderful birthday and loved all his presents! We went to see "terminator salvation", which was ok but not as good as the other terminator movies (T2 is my favvorite; Linda Hamilton is such a badass in that movie! And I would love to have her ripped arms!). The BBQ wnt great but unfortunately I am not doing well with food at this time. I am going to try to do better, though! Today is a new day!