Kitty Crisis

We had an interesting weekend to say the least.

Maybe interesting isn't the right word to use...but nothing else comes to mind at the moment in my sleep-deprived state. Let's see, where do I start???

Saturday morning...made the mistake of letting the cats out for a bit to burn off some energy. Cirrus apparently ate a ton of grass and who knows what else and was acting weird and gagging a lot when he came home. He seemed to get worse all day and couldn't eat or drink without gagging it back up. By the end of the day he looked really bad and hadn't eaten or drank anything all day. This is when Derrick decided to help. His theory was that whatever was stuck in the cat's throat could be blasted out with water...sooo, using a turkey baster, again and again we squirted water into poor Cirrus's mouth...but to no avail. The next morning Derrick looked on Yahoo for what to do when your cat has grass stuck in his throat. One person said to give them olive oil to coat the throat and help it go down. So now we tried shooting olive oil into his throat. The first attempt resulted in olive oil squirted all over my kitchen floor and wall. Lovely! But we eventually got a bit down his trap. Still nothing. Still gagging. After we got home from church yesterday, he was still looking bad so we took him to the pet ER. Dropped $250 and spent 3 hours of our afternoon with him there. We got some nifty pet xrays to show for it and two kinds of medicine to give him. I think he looks better today, but who knows. All I do know is that he will not be going outside again any time soon!

Clapping

Carter clapped his hands several times for the first time yesterday!!

Excerpt...

I finished reading a book, "Water for Elephants" last night and really liked the way the book ended. There was this paragraph at the end that I loved:

"Those were the salad days, the halcyon years! The sleepless nights, the wailing babies; the days the interior of the house looked like it had been hit by a hurricane, the times I had 5 kids, a chimpanzee, and a wife in bed with fever. Even when the fourth glass of milk got spilled in a single night, or the shrill screeching threatened to split my skull, or when I was bailing out some son or other at the police station, they were good years, grand years. But it all zipped by. One minute Marlena and I were in it up to our eyeballs, and next thing we knew the kids were borrowing the car and fleeing the coop for college. And now here I am. In my nineties and alone."

It is good to keep in perspective how quickly these days pass by and not take a minute for granted...

To kill a mockingbird

We have a new resident in our backyard that has been growing rather annoying lately. He starts squawking around 6 am and doesn't stop until dark. My brothers can certainly attest to the extreme annoyance that is a mockingbird. We had one every summer growing up and that thing sat right outside our windows squawking up a storm starting at 5:30 am. I remember trying to chase him, sick the cats on him, shooting at him with a hose, a super soaker...whatever we could get our hands on, but all to no avail. Derrick's ingenius idea is to get a bebe (sp?) gun to shoot the troublemaker. Now isn't that just a nice way to make friends with your neighbors. They might be sitting out on their decks at night, enjoying the summer breeze and BAM! a bird falls dead in the yard next door. I can only imagine the repercussions. So now I have to listen to Derrick's daily request to get this gun to take care of our unwelcome guest. I told him last night he sounds like Ralphie on "The Christmas Story" movie.

A Challenge to Pray

I was really challenged a lot this weekend. Saturday I attended a 7 hour meeting for my MOPS Steering Team as I'm going to help lead it next year. It was the longest I've ever been away from Carter, so that made it a long day, but he and I did ok. :) A woman came at the beginning of the meeting to talk to us about prayer and the importance of prayer in everyday life. Nothing earth-shattering, but it hit home to me the importance of incorporating more prayer in my life than I have been and especially the importance of modeling this for Carter. I want him to know and understand what prayer truly is at a young age and to call on God for his needs.

Yesterday at church a woman was dropping off a little foster child in the nursery while we were there dropping off Carter. This baby was sooo tiny and just 3 weeks old. She was telling another mom to pray for him, as originally neither parent had wanted him but now there was a chance the dad would try to get him back "for all the wrong reasons." As I stood there staring at this tiny, fragile creature, it absolutely broke my heart to think that he could be brought into the world, unwanted. He is 100% helpless and 100% in need of love and care. It burdened my heart to think that he might go back with his father who may not be a good caretaker for him or might neglect him. I remember how extremely protective I was with Carter when he was a newborn, and still am even now...but again I heard the word prayer and it reminded me once more that we should be casting our anxieties on Him because He cares for us...and hears every one of our prayers.

To start off this new week I hope I can do a better job with prayer, a better job with staying connected with the Lord during the everyday ups and downs.

Random thoughts...

I was watching a story on the news this morning about a group of teenagers (15 yr olds) at Gloucester H.S. in MA who made a "Pregnancy Pact". They all agreed to get pregnant and have and raise their babies together. The news anchor hypothesized at the end of the story that the reason they were doing this was because they wanted to have unconditional love. This really just blew my mind away...I mean I can't even fathom having a child when I was 15, let alone doing it for that reason. The story said that they had no intentions of having any permanent relationship with the fathers, one of the girls had even conceived with a 28-year-old homeless man. It is amazing how the human soul craves love and what measures people will go to to fill this void in their lives. My pastor often describes it as a God-shaped hole that only God can fill. Like one of those little wooden toys you give a child to play with, with the different shaped blocks to pound into the appropriately sized holes, there is a hole in your life and mine that only God's love can adequately and completely fill. I hope those girls can find that peace and love in their lives someday.

On a lighter note, I took Carter to the Aviary yesterday morning. He liked all the different birds and there were several rooms where the birds were loose and swirling all around, which he really loved.
The one picture is with Bald Eagles, and the other one was some kind of African Pigeon, I kid you not.

Finally, I was reading a really interesting article in Parents magazine a couple days ago about the effects of television/media on young children. They emphasized that children under 2 should really never watch television as it has no positive effects and could even cause problems like ADHD. The article gave lots of information and was very informative, just goes to show that there is nothing better than good old fashioned imagination to entertain kids.

Baby Talk

So a lot of baby books and magazines say you should talk to your baby all day long to help develop language skills. I can't remember the exact number but you're supposed to say something like 40,000 words a day in front of your baby in order to help them stay on track with learning the English language. They recommend narrating everything you are doing for your baby, even mundane household chores. Do you ever wonder if babies understand more than we think? Do you wonder how a scene like this must play out for a baby? For example:

Me: Mommy is going to vacuum the floor now, Carter. Mommy is opening the closet door. There is the vacuum!
Carter: No duh, I hate that thing, it's so loud...
Me: Here is the plug to plug in the vacuum. Now we will turn it on.
Carter: Yawn, here we go again.
Me: Look how clean the floor is now, isn't that great. No more fur on the floor.
Carter: Well thank goodness.
Me: Now we'll put the vacuum away in the closet again.
Carter: Yup, that is the closet. When can I eat again?

Man-Eating Baby

We went out to run some errands last night and I made the mistake of not feeding Carter RIGHT before we left. He's still on the "I like to eat every 2 to 3 hours" schedule for some reason (isn't that supposed to change once you start solids??) So partway into our second of 4 errands he began to get the munchies. Derrick insisted on carrying him for all the errands rather than letting him ride in the cart or using our carrier. He began to get more and more wiggly and squirmy as he got hungrier and hungrier. By the time we were on our 3rd errand, the grocery store, he was really giving Derrick a run for his money. Carter kept trying to chew on his shoulders, arms, whatever he could get his mouth on and Derrick's shirt had baby slob all over it. Oh yea, it was lovely. But Derrick was a real trooper and insisted that we press on. It must have worn the kiddo out too because he went to bed around 9:45 last night and is still sleeping.

Carter's other new trick is squealing. Not that he didn't do this before but it's like he suddenly discovered that he has the ability to make people hold their ears in pain. Yes, it is the most ear-piercing squeal you could imagine and there is this ringing that is still going in your ears even after he stops. And somehow, I swear, he knows...he always smiles when he's doing it like, hahaha, look what I can do now. Is squealing a disciplinable offense??

The Medicated Child

So I have a side-note to add to my earlier post. I watched a PBS documentary this weekend called "The Medicated Child" all about the increasing number of childhood mental/psychological illnessess being diagnosed these days and the numerous medications being prescribed to treat them. It was extremely disturbing to see how doctors were prescribing these meds which they knew very little about as far as the effects on very young children and some on the kids were on as many as 8 medications simultaneously. Just makes me 100% more resolved not to do any kind of medical interventions unless absolutely necessary. Definitely recommend watching this show...we found it on Netflix.

Zzzzzzzzz....

Carter has been sleeping a lot better since we got back from our trip. I do not attribute this to any great parenting skills on my part but on pure luck. I'm sure it could change very quickly. The last couple days he has really been restless in his crib. Sleeping great but moving all over the place. This morning he was all the way up at the end of his crib, rolled over onto his tummy. I guess he is enjoying the ability to move into whatever position is most comfortable for him rather than always lying on his back. I did try to explain that the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends back-to-sleep until 1 year old, but he really didn't seem all that interested. Hahaha The picture is from a nap yesterday, you can see again his side-lying position. So cute!

The Weekend in Pictures

Traveling baby

We made it to NJ after a couple hours of screaming in the car...so fun. But Carter recovered quickly once his bottom got a break from the carseat. Today he went to his first pool party and took a swim in a real pool for the first time. He did pretty well, cried a little, but got into it more as he realized he could kick and splash with more gusto than in his 2 inches of water in the baby pool. Don't get used to it kiddo, Daddy will never agree to get a pool!

Finding the *perfect* gift

You ever notice how stinkin hard it is to buy gifts for guys? Fathers, brothers, HUSBANDS...they are all so difficult. So as Father's Day approaches, I'm getting barraged left and right with hourly emails about buying this for Dad or that for Dad. Working on a tight budget this year, I planned out my gifts well in advance and thought I'd found the perfect thing for the hubs. He's obsessed, and I do mean obsessed with Slushies, so I found this snow cone syrup at Target the other day for like $2 a bottle and got him a couple. Totally random and weird I know but we go with what makes him happy. Then in a freakish but true coincidence last week, we were strolling through Walmart and what catches his eye but a whole display of different flavored snow cone syrups. What the heck!?

He immediately began to hyperventilate with excitement and I think I might have even seen a little drool forming at the corners of his mouth...so I had to act fast. My initial attempts at quietly distracting him failed however, so I had to resort to yelling, "I already bought you that for Father's Day." Fortunately for me, I do have a couple other gifts for him, and if he's reading this, no I'm not saying what they are, and if all of you are wondering what other amazing gifts I have purchased, yes they are better than just snow cone syrup I promise!

In other news, Carter had an *almost* successful trip to the mall yesterday. I still ended up carrying him for part of the time and he had a meltdown in Houlihans where I was having lunch with another mom. Oh well, maybe next time.

Carter's 7th Month

Yesterday Carter turned 7 months old. I can't even believe he's more than halfway to a year old already. Time is absolutely FLYING by. Each day brings new "tricks" and fun with him now. His teeth are really coming in, he's rolling like crazy, inching along on his back on the ground, giggling and laughing. It's really a fun time.

Stinkin' Hot

So we seem to be having some sorta heat wave here in Pittsburgh this past week or so. It's been incredibly hot for this area and for this time of year, especially after spending much of May struggling to get out of the 50s. Carter and I ventured out with the jogging stroller around 8:30 AM today, hoping to beat the heat. But alas, as soon as I stepped from the garage out into the great outdoors, I was assaulted by the sticky 80 something temps, even at that early hour. I still made it for my jog around the neighborhood and the breeze definitely helped to keep it cooler.

Carter made his first trip to the library this afternoon. It must have worn him out since he's still sound asleep in his carseat, hence my opportunity to BLOG! He appeared to like just about every book that I pulled off the shelf, as evidenced by his immediate reaction which was to grab it and try to shove it into his mouth. Yuck! Thank goodness teething is over in the first few years of life, can you imagine if adults walked around with their tongues lolling out of their mouths and drool perpetually leaving a wet ring around the neck of their shirts. And the obsessive compulsive desire to put EVERYTHING in their mouths. Uh, yea, that's a pleasant picture.

The Mom Brigade

So I spent a couple hours yesterday morning at the park with a good fried of mine. She has a 2 year old and a 3 month old. We walked for about an hour with the kiddos and then stopped by a shaded playground where her toddler could run around for a little bit. I was amazed by how crowded the parking lot was at this playground and by how many moms with 2 and 3 small children were there. They obviously met there often as they were all chatting with one-another, swapping baby stories and ideas and had enough gear to outfit a Babies R Us store. They gave us "outsiders" a few disinterested glances at times and kept in their designated corner of the playground. I almost felt like I was invading on their territory. Hahaha. Afterwards, I walked back to my car, which stuck out like a sore thumb amonst the many shiny minivans in the lot. My friend adeptly loaded her TWO children into her van and was pulling out of the lot before I'd even gotten Carter into his carseat! And I thought I was getting better at this!? Apparently with multiple kids your ability to do things kid-related grows exponentially faster.


This is apparently the kind of stuff Hubby does with the kiddo when I'm not around....so charming.

Shaved!!

So during another one of my "Fur Rants" the other day, in passing I mentioned to Derrick that some of my problems might be lessened if we shaved Radar (our black lab). Fully expecting this suggestion to be met with a flat out NO, I was rather shocked when Derrick thoughtfully considered the idea. A few days later, he brought it up and said we could shave the dog. HALLELUJAH God has heard my fervent prayers at last.

Last night was the night of the Great Shave. Radar wasn't too pleased at first but then she calmed down and Derrick went to town...and kept going and going and going. An hour and a half later, well, you can only imagine what the result is. Before and after pictures:



Note the rat-like skinny tail in the AFTER picture. Derrick shaved one section too short and just kept going and going to make the rest "match"....so cute isn't it....yea right! Can't wait to see the kind of stares we get next time we go for a walk around the neighborhood.

Some much needed affirmation

So I was at Target this morning. It's a gross weather day here and I needed to get some random stuff anyway. These days, a trip to the store means carrying the kiddo in his front carrier as I push the cart down the aisles....leaving him in the carseat just doesn't cut it anymore. As I was loading up my purchases into the car, the rain coming down harder and harder, this woman passed by and said, "Awesome Mommy! Good Job!" I was like, Thank you, thanks so much. It was so nice to be recognized by a total stranger for staying at home with my son and taking care of him!

On my drive home, as I pondered this stranger's kindness, I again began to think about the challenges of being a parent and why it's such a tough job. Just making a simple trip to the store for example, isn't so simple anymore. Preparation begins up to an hour before I even leave the house, making sure Carter and I are presentable, clean, dry, fed, etc. I have to get his diaper bag, carseat and carrier together, and a couple toys for distraction. I load him in the car and drive to my destination, sometimes forced to sing a few verses of "Old MacDonald" if he's fussing in the backseat. Once I arrive, I climb into the backseat of the car next to him, which is rather cramped in my Civic with his monstrous carseat in the middle of the seat. I close the door, further wedging my body between the door and carseat. I lock the door, (thank you Husband for watching that freaky Mall Abductions special on Dateline last week that now has me freaked out some wacko is going to try to carjack me while getting in or out of my car in the parking lot). I unbuckle kiddo who is squirming all over the place by now, delicately maneuver him around into the carrier which I've slipped over my head, buckle him into that and we are golden.

So yes, to have someone applaud my often flawed efforts at being a parent felt darn good.

Sleep, or lack thereof

Does my son have a sensor in his brain that tells him when I want him to sleep in and when I want him to get up early? You decide for yourself. Almost every Sunday for the past two months it seems like we have had to wake Carter up to go to church. But on Saturdays when we can finally sleep in, he's up at the crack of dawn. This morning I made plans to walk with a neighbor at 9...and had to get Carter out of bed to go, he was still sound asleep. Is it some cruel joke that he does this to me? Maybe there is some perfect child out there somewhere who sleeps on a perfect schedule and wakes at a predictable time every day, but this is not my child. No, like last night for example...awake till 10:30, awake at 2:30, again at 6:30, then I had to wake him up at 9. Grrrr

In order to get the kid to sleep it seems like he needs to consume an obscene amount of milk/food too. Like a container of peaches, nursing on both sides, and a 4 oz. bottle to wash it all down. Am I then surprised when he wakes up soaking wet down to the mattress pad this morning?? I thought in my childbirth class they told us that a baby's stomach was like the size of aa large marble...so where the heck is it all going!?

Chore time, baby style

Doing menial tasks with a baby in tow is no simple thing these days. Like watering the flowers for example. I thought this would be a "fun" chore to do together so I dragged Carter's exersaucer out onto the front step which was nice and shaded and then unraveled the entire hose and hooked up the miracle grow. By the time the hose was untangled and ready to go, Carter was screaming his lungs out on my front step, which was probably audible to half the neighborhood. I was able to temporarily silence him by showing him the cool waterfall that comes out of the hose when it's turned on and off. This only lasted through about 4 plants though and then the screaming resumed. After dragging the exersaucer back inside, I finished watering while holding Carter in one arm, during which time he was completely content. Spoiled much!?

Doing laundry is another fun task to do with a squirmy squealing infant with a 30 second attention span. I sometimes load the washer and dryer while holding Carter who tries to grab any clothing within reach and stuff it in his slobbery mouth. I usually take him upstairs when I'm putting the clothes away and lay him on a blanket on the floor in whatever room I'm working in. I have some toys I keep upstairs only, his "upstairs toys" that I let him play with. This trick does seem to work for several minutes because he doesn't see these toys as often.

After such a productive morning of chores, I think Carter and I will spend a relaxing afternoon lounging by our new pool...haha

3 Musketeers

I think this picture just about speaks for itself. You can see Dada had fun with the new camera today.