Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Oh Yeah, the Cat

So, I don't think I ever made the introductions. Or maybe even mentioned it, because it happened in the long blog hiatus I unintentionally took. But we got a cat.

That's right. A cat.

As a kid, I always had cats, and when R and I were kinda-sorta dating I told him that I would have a cat (or more than one cat) in response to him telling me he was allergic to cats. I'm glad I made that declaration way back then. If I hadn't said it back then, it would be a lot harder to justify now. You know, now that we're married and whatnot.

All the long years in-between that declaration and last August were a no-cat possibility because we were in transition with school/moving/life. I had a ferret, then we got a puppy. And about the time a cat would have been a possibility, we adopted our other dog, Karma, eater of all things small. So, R and I were officially together for 14+ years before I announced we were getting a cat.

We didn't just run out and get a cat. We deliberated. Well, I deliberated. R just made semi-snide comments and followed along with what I said because he had never had a cat.* We made a list of what we wanted: a cat that is friendly, playful, and tolerant of toddlers. Basically, we were looking for a cat-shaped dog.

*His mom had "garage cats" when he was growing up. Apparently those are cats one keeps in the garage/outside, and goes to the garage to hang out with. I'm told that's not weird at all.

Also, out of deference to the allergy thing, I researched that too. It turns out that certain cat characteristics influence how much allergy-causing protein a particular cat produces. Males have more than females. Cats that have been "fixed" have less than intact cats. Light colored cats produce less of the protein than dark colored cats - officially putting the kibosh on my plan to adopt a pure black cat.

So we set out to find a cat at our local humane shelter. After 3 trips there, we widened our search and we found her. A super tiny, gray tabby we named Pixie.


Yes, this is a full grown cat. Furr-ocious, no?

She is remarkable with our toddler. In fact, she's almost too tolerant. We went through a period of him basically body slamming this tiny 6 lb. cat, picking her up by the neck, etc. and she was all, "that's cool." It made disciplining him really hard because as he's sitting in time out listening to why he can't pull the cat around by her tail, she would come curl up next to him.

She's the type of cat that people who hate cats all love. Seriously. Everyone loves this cat.

She is 100% startle proof (balloons have popped in her face and she's like whatevs). She loves people. We had football parties filled with people and kids and she just went from person to person eating up all the attention. She lets us walk her on a leash. And our son taught her to play fetch. Yep, mostly a cat-shaped dog.



Early on in my pregnancy, when I was super sick, she was my nap buddy.

Now, she still is a cat. She does annoying things to get attention if she's being ignored.* She spends at least 15 minutes a day freaking out and running spastically around the house; cat owners, you know what I'm talking about. R was hilariously shocked by this behavior. And she gets up on the kitchen counter...just writing that last bit causes my jaw to clench involuntarily. Pretty sure her previous owner fed her on the counter, which thanks a lot buddy! Do you care nothing for hygiene??!? 

*For examples, please see raggedy holes in the majority of my house plants. She only does remodels my plans when I am actually looking at her because cat.

So, that's Pixie. Our weird little cat-dog hybrid. The only thing to add is this little ironic twist: though she certainly loves everyone in the house, she is basically R's cat. Oh, and his body adapted (probably because of their special, super awesome relationship where he pets her in the evenings while she grooms herself on his lap); after a couple months his allergies seem to have disappeared.

Now, if my pregnant self could just stop looking at rescue dogs online...

Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Virtual nesting?

For those of you who have been here before, you'll notice things look a bit different. Apparently nesting has spilled out onto the internet.

It was time for a change.

I've got little else to report.

Pregnancy update: Am huge. Also being kicked internally ALL. THE. TIME. Less than 6 weeks to go.*

Nesting update: Bathroom is nearly complete. Back splash is painted. Baby clothes and diapers have been pulled out and coo'd at but still need washed.

*The Plan (version 1): If I go into labor naturally before the due date, and it progresses, I'll try for a VBAC. If not, we're going in after her on her due date (aka a c-section). I am not waiting nearly 3 extra weeks a second time. If you're interested, there is a TON of blog material on Mr. Man's refusal to enter the world, the birth plan that went completely off the rails, and how I ended up with a c-section after a zillion hours of labor.

**The Plan (version 2): The hospital and my OB might not be ready to do VBACs by the time this baby chooses to come...it's a long story and we'll leave it at that. So, we'll just hope she doesn't come early. I admit, this is not the best plan ever. I plan on planning more.


Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Tweet Chirp Squawk

What do the birds outside my window and I have in common? We are both nesting like crazy! Seriously, this nesting has taken on epic proportions.

I have been painting my kitchen back splash in my spare time. Though I've never liked the back splash, I've put up with it for 4 years. Most of the time, I don't even notice it. It's cream-colored tumbled limestone, set with cream-colored grout, and is just kind of there.

But getting our appliances replaced has triggered something in my pregnant brain and now the tiles are intolerable! The atrocity that is our back splash can not be allowed to remain in our kitchen.

So, I'm painting it. And not like you'd see if you were to Google, oh, I don't know, "paint porous stone tile." Those people had the good sense to use a roller and latex paint and do it all in one go. But, I, I hate taking the easy way out.

Instead, I am using a mini foam brush, some indoor/outdoor craft paint, and a watercolor brush, and I am painting each tile separately. Each tile is its own special unique snowflake of color (which, in all instances, will be some variation of the same brown paint with different amounts of water added to it). I am carefully avoiding the grout to allow for maximum contrast.

This means that I am having to stretch, squish and contort my pregnant self over the kitchen counters to get this done. I am doing it for short stretches at a time and it is taking me more than a week to finish, but so far I am happy with the results. The paint really allows you to see the pocks, cracks, and imperfections in the tile, which I think are beautiful. Also, it helps blend in the ornamental metal flower tile thingies that the previous owner put into the back splash. They now seem complimentary, rather than a stark juxtaposition with their cream surroundings.


This pic shows the painted tile on the bottom, the unpainted tile on the top (that's the paper towel holder hovering in front of it), and the ornamental metal flower tile thingy. 

Here's a pic of a section that I've completely finished. Most of our kitchen stuff, like containers etc., are white and completely disappeared into the back splash before. I'm really pleased with how they now stand out. Also, look at how the outlet cover now blends in!

I achieved the different colors by watering down the craft paint to varying degrees. Also, some tile just soak up the paint better than others. Check out this one.



Pretty cool, right? And it cost me about $8 for mini foam brushes and craft paint.

The new paint job mostly compliments the counters. Not perfectly, but I don't expect this to be a permanent fix. In the not-too-distant future we'll be painting the kitchen cabinets. The honey oak cabinets are another feature that I've never been fond of but am living with. When we paint those, we'll most likely replace the back splash. 

Anyway, operation update all the things is moving right along. We are buying a new toilet this week, the last bit we need to renovate our main bathroom, which is happening next week. Yay! Plumbing! Demo! Something sure to go horribly wrong! So exciting.


Friday, March 18, 2016

The terrible, awful, how is there still more?! bad day

Let's take a look at yesterday. We'll do this chronologically so you get the same build up I had the joy of experiencing.


  • Husband hits panic button on car at 5 am, waking me on the one day of the week I get to sleep in. Eventually fall asleep right before husband returns home from the gym. Sigh.
  • Wake up and shower. Realize that I still have a bit of a cold, but can almost breath through one side of my nose. Things are looking up.
  • Husband leaves for work.
  • Child wakes up as the car is pulling out of the driveway and immediately informs me that he's had an accident. His diaper leaked, so I navigate my pregnant bulk around to strip and remake his bed. I toss all the bedding in the wash hoping his special comforter will be ready to put back on the bed by naptime. I contemplate throwing the pee-sodden feather pillow away (I don't know how that happened either), and instead decide to try and salvage it.
  • Whatever. Move on, cause we're in a hurry.
  • Feed child while trying to get ready to leave the house.
  • Drive 20 minutes to a meet up with a mommy facebook group I recently joined. Try convincing an increasingly reluctant 2 year old that it is fun to meet new people while silently reiterating this point to myself.
  • Actually enjoy the meet up and leave with a happy 2 year old. Though he does not fall asleep in the car on the way home as expected/intended, because of course not.
  • Feed child. This takes a whole hour even though half of the meet up was eating. This gives me time to make sure the special comforter is dry. Things are going to be okay. Then the cat jumps up on the counter, knocks off the tv remote and breaks it. Awesome.
  • Child does not nap. Use "rest time" to make a bigger mess in the kitchen than is already there (hey, even a neat freak gets tired of doing dishes once in a while) by painting more of the back splash...yeah, I added that to my endless nesting to-do list. 
  • See that the neighbors did put their house up for sale. Google it and look at pictures of their house and eagerly await discussing it with my husband. (What, you'd do it too)
  • Reluctantly release tired child from confines of nursery. Child becomes increasingly whiny and truculent as the afternoon progresses.
  • Realize that I read a recipe wrong. I do not have time to make the dinner I planned, and that's almost all we have in the fridge. After contemplating the disaster I have made out of the kitchen, call husband and insist he pick up dinner on his way home.
  • Husband complains of not feeling great. He is uninterested in dinner. He agrees to hit a drive thru on the way home. Sigh. Whatever. Child is becoming increasingly louder and trying to earn a medal for Worst Listener in the History of Ever. Beg husband to just bring food.
  • Husband arrives home with room temperature fast food, changes, and rushes downstairs to quarantine himself from the family. He complains of an upset stomach. I swallow my disappointment that we don't even have time to gossip about the neighbor's house. Oh well.
  • The spectacular workers at the fast food restaurant messed up my order. I eat the now-cold food that I did not want while mumbling angrily to myself and thinking about how I have to do bedtime with Mr. Fussypants by myself. Grrr.
  • Clearly sick husband comes up. Mommy senses kick in and I insist he take some Imodium and check his temperature. No fever. 
  • Try to keep my temper while my over-tired toddler refuses to stay on the potty, though I know he needs to poop. Why does this have to be an issue??
  • Finish bedtime on a happy note. Yay! Good night! I'm going to relax get to cleaning the kitchen.
  • Child comes out of the room with no prepared excuse. I interrogate him about his need to use the toilet and am assured that it is not even a possibility. He's fine. He just wanted to tell me about bears. I scoot him back to bed.
  • Toddler comes to the door and tells me "something smells like poop." When asked if it's him, he resolutely denies pooping, but admits "It sounded like I pooped and now it smells like poop." I don my Sherlock cap and check his sleep diaper, and, of course, find the offending substance. And then realize that he's holding his hand out talking about the smell because he has reached down and touched said substance!! I try to maintain but instead lose all chill. Why did he not go to the potty? Why would he not stay on the potty in the first place?? And, most importantly, WHY DID HE TOUCH POOP!?! 
  • I scrub poop out from underneath my child's fingernails and then have to touch-inspect his jammies and bedding, risking poop fingers, because I still can't smell a damn thing. I then angrily disinfect all hard surfaces of the nursery, focusing my anger efforts around the nursery door.
  • I hear my husband calling me as I am sternly placing my son back in his bed.
  • When I run downstairs my husband is clearly not doing well. He is pale, shaking, and says he can't move his hands, which are distressingly distorted with muscle cramps. I haul ass upstairs and start to get us ready to go to the hospital.
  • Husband yells to call an ambulance. I run downstairs in time to see him fall off the toilet onto the bathroom floor.
  • I spend the next 15 minutes frantically talking to the 911 dispatcher while trying to find my husband's wallet, medication, etc. that he might need if they take him in an ambulance. I am simultaneously answering medical history questions with the dispatcher while chasing down the cat so she isn't loose when the paramedics arrive, keeping my curious toddler confined in his room, and checking on and reassuring my husband who is having a not-so-good-time convulsing on the floor with leg and arm cramps. Did I mention that everyone is on a different floor of the house and I'm 8 months pregnant? 
  • I'm flushed and sweating by the time the firefighters arrive. They seem to find this amusing. I've got the toddler "keeping the cat safe" in his room. I've helped my husband maintain a certain level of dignity before the paramedics arrive and I have most of his essentials gathered together.
  • It is determined that my husband has an especially virulent 24 hour bug that is going around. The muscle cramps are a result of extreme dehydration. We are given three options: 1) wait it out alone and force fluids on him and hope for the best, 2) I drive him to the ER where he will likely be given fluids intravenously, or 3) they take him in the ambulance and charge us a lot. 
  • We choose option 2 and the firefighters and paramedics hover around while I try to get my toddler ready to go, grab my husband's things, and keep our pissed off cat locked in the nursery. My toddler seems pretty ecstatic to have been rescued from bedtime. I am reminder half a dozen times how bad this virus is, how I should be very careful as I'm pregnant, and how bad it would be if my toddler got this. Basically, they suggested disinfecting my house at regular intervals for the next 48+ hours and wearing latex gloves and maybe a hazmat suit.
  • The emergency responders help my husband into our car and I drive to the ER. I spend half the time admonishing my toddler not to touch things and to keep his hands away from his mouth (having to explain about germs each time because, "Why can I not touch my mouth?" and "Where are the germs?"), and the other half trying to keep the toddler entertained/distracted because we are surrounded by bleeding, hurt, and obviously unhealthy people.
  • My husband and I agree I should take the toddler home around the time a guy is wheeled over next to us, blood running from a multitude of wounds, and no amount of gentle distraction will prevent my toddler from asking the man what happened, why he was making those sounds, and was he in fact bleeding. We text some neighbors to see if they would be able to sit at our house when I later return for my husband.
  • I get home, ready to put my son back to bed, and smell a really bad smell when I open the nursery door (and it's bad because even I can smell it). I take two turns around the room, scrutinizing everything, before finally deciding the cat was very flatulent. My son crawls into bed and lifts up his hand to show me how it is now covered in cat crap. The cat has shit all over his bed. The one that I just remade and laundered this morning. And yes, it's on the special comforter. And one of my son's special little blankets. And on a stuffed animal.
  • I now hate the cat and cry while telling her so.
  • I strip and remake the bed, explaining to my toddler why he is using a different comforter. And no, he can't have (insert everything that was crapped on). Toddler, fortunately, is now so tired he puts up little fuss. 
  • I do laundry.
  • I disinfect all the light switches, stair banisters, door knobs, drawer handles, facet knobs, and toilets in the house.
  • I make a bed for my husband downstairs.
  • I try to coordinate childcare without any idea when my husband will be ready to come home.
  • A plan is put in place - man, we have the best neighbors!- but it is around 1 am before I pick R up from the hospital. The doctors literally did nothing but give him a gateraid and tell him to stay hydrated...after having him sit for 4 very uncomfortable hours in the waiting room insisting he couldn't have anything to drink. Looking forward to the bill.
  • I do the laundry again because there is still cat crap on it.
  • The baby monitor, which was just working for the neighbor, can suddenly not locate the camera in my son's room. I fight with it for several minutes in the dark before having to ask my poor sick husband to help because I am too short to reach the actual camera to reset it. 
  • I settle my husband, glare at the cat, and finally get into bed near 3 am. I fall asleep reasonably sure that tomorrow/today will be better.



Tuesday, March 15, 2016

It's spring and I'm still nesting

So much has been done and so much still needs to do. Top of the to-do list is stop adding to the to-do list!!

On the bright side, my yard looks great* because I was out there pulling weeds and tiding up plant beds. I ran out of time and stamina and didn't get to planting the flower bulbs I had purchased and it turns out that I dodged a bullet on that one, since it has been a wintery mix ever since. The weather cycles between snow, rain, and hail, with the occasional burst of sunshine and a rainbow here or there. It's very much spring, but maybe not warm enough for flowers just yet.

*Great is a relative term reflecting my own standards of yard maintenance and not those of my neighbors.

And can I take a moment to bask in my own accomplishments? I have purchased flower bulbs. I feel like such an adult! Like, I can take care of plants well enough inside my house (most of them stay alive, so I'm counting that as a win) that I have expanded to include outdoor plant responsibilities.

I'm toying with what we'll be planting in our garden beds this year. Last year I had this fabulous scarlet runner tepee and we are definitely doing that again.


Glorious. glorious bean tepee!
Let's just hope that things warm up enough to plant before this baby arrives!


Wednesday, March 2, 2016

My new exercise routine is nesting

With my first pregnancy, we focused on getting everything we needed for the baby...okay, and a bunch of cutey stuff we probably  definitely did not need. This time around, we have all that stuff. Sure, there have been a few purchases (I obsessed over Etsy until I found the perfect baby quilt for tummy time), but really we don't have much we need.

You'd think that was a good thing, right?

Since all the baby stuff is pretty much taken care of, my husband, who gets into nesting almost as much as me, and I have turned our focus elsewhere. Basically, we are remodeling our house.

Alright, that's an exaggeration. We're only doing a makeover on the main bathroom. And painting our bedroom. R also created a new place for the cat litter and food downstairs that cannot be accessed by infants. And we started creating a series of cat shelves on a wall downstairs. I suddenly HAD to sew some curtains for my office - using burlap, the most difficult to work with fabric known to man. Oh, and we are in the midst of upcycling a used piece of furniture as a media console. Also we got all new kitchen appliances and a new car. So...yeah...maybe gone a bit crazy since we only have 10 weeks until this baby's arrival is eminent.

Good job taking it easy, selves. Wouldn't want to go and get yourselves overwhelmed or anything.

As a justification, many of these projects have been on the to-do list for a good long while or were hanging over our heads because "Have you heard that weird sound the fridge has been making?" We've also been saving up for a new car for quite some time because kids take up way more space than you can imagine. But still, entering into the third trimester apparently pushed us over the edge. Quick, for the love of all that is meaningful, we must do ALL the things! All the things must be done!! Right NOW!!!

You should see the length of the to-do list I have posted to the fridge. Legendary.

So here I am, swollen and hippo-sized, squatting down to apply painters' tape to the trim in my bedroom when I'm not waddling around home improvement stores looking at toilets and furniture hardware. Unfortunately, it has done nothing to reduce my bulk. I'm at that point in pregnancy where the baby is gaining a 1/2 a pound a week and I'm gaining something like 10.

Recently I saw a pic of me when I was overdue with my first and Ewww! No! I don't want that again. I don't want to be so big! HOW was I SO big!?!?*

*I went on like that for quite a while.

Now here's a pic of my 2 year old splashing in puddles to remind me why it's worth it:




Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Babies and toddlers and stuff

We all know I've been gone because pregnant. 'Nuff said.

Here's the recap:
I got to throw up through week 16. That's 3 1/2 months of erping.

THEN, during week 17, my pelvis began radiating fire. It turns out that as your joints loosen, they can do so asymmetrically. Basically, the right and left sides of my pelvis were playing twister with each other. Now, I'm not one to cry uncle very often, but WOW. That hurt. It tapered off some and I have found some stretches and exercises that help a little. But that was another 2 weeks on the couch.

Man, this had better be the cutest baby ever!

So, here I am, now 25 weeks pregnant. I'm trying to work myself slowly back into some semblance of physical fitness. Cat/Cow, kegal, kegal, kegal...all you pregnant ladies know what I'm talking about.

My tummy is filled with visible baby movement. My heartburn is actually minimal (thank you Gods of stomach acid and esophageal sphincters!). And I'm starting to think about how this swelling stomach actually contains a real person!

It's so much more real the second time. You have a better idea of what to expect. For instance, every time she starts kicking I think, "and this will be a time I'll be nursing." Soon I will put together a spreadsheet and start tracking her awake patterns to determine when/if I will get to sleep once she arrives.*

*What?! If you've read this blog at all, you know I'm riding the nerd train to the end of this pregnancy...or forever. Feels like the same thing.

Then there's the toddler. Our goofy, funny, super smart toddler who is perched on the edge of toilet training. He can stay dry all day if you remind him to sit on the potty. He used to even go there himself before, for no reason anyone can fathom, he decided not to. And I'm trying to hold it together and keep up with the praise and minimize the negative even though child, you will be potty trained long before the baby comes because there will be no regression!!!  Not that I'm worried or obsessed or anything.

Other things on the to-do-list before baby arrives:
1) finish first kid's baby book
2) sleep as much as humanly possible (HAHAHhahaha, just kidding. We already have one kid, so the days of sleeping are dead)
3) try to squeeze in some date nights (we already have a sitter so we can attend the presidential caucus, so that's pretty hot)
4) teach first kid to be completely self-sufficient in the next few months

Seems doable.