Oh my eyelid!

So the other night Puck decided at 2:30 that he needed to cuddle my head.  He walks along my body waking me up so that I would be nice and awake when he...gets his claw stuck IN MY EYELID!  I got up and went to the bathroom to wash the blood away and see what sort of care it would need.  There was a tiny scrape.  I couldn't believe it! A tiny scrape?! It had felt like I was lucky to come away with my eyeball intact and I was already imagining that I would have to start sleeping in some sort of helmet to keep me safe.  Tiny scrape or not, when he came up and tried to cuddle last night he was not a happy kitty.  

Our little True is doing well, as are his parents who are getting a decent amount of sleep.  This guy likes to sleep.  Of course he doesn't sleep straight through, but he likes to sleep from about 9pm to 10am in general.  It is usually digestive system stuff that wakes him, but if you take care of that, he is happy to go right back to sleep.  You can even lay him down in his crib awake and he will almost always be fine with it.  Good baby.  

 Last night at dinner, I had True sitting in a baby chair on the floor near the table.  I saw Perrin trying to peer around me and she says, "I wanna see my baby True."  So I scooched his chair over near her then she was able to go on with her dinner.  She is enjoying True about as much as a 2 year old can enjoy a tiny crying immovable thing.  I had them both on my lap yesterday to read a book and, with no prompt from me, she grabbed her brother's hand to hold.  He would jerk it away due to his erratic baby movements, but she would just get it and hold on again.  Or when he starts crying she will instruct me, "Mama, he wants the milk" or "Mama, pick him up!" with urgency.  I can't decide if it is bossy or sweet.  Probably sweet.

I have already been looking to Christmas and getting excited.  My mom is flying out to be with us for a few weeks, plus something about having more kids around, even when they aren't old enough to appreciate the holiday (or poop free pants) makes me yearn for the magic of Christmas.  

This Christmas we have been informed that Santa is sending our family an elf named Rupert  Jinglebottom to make sure all is well with our holiday spirit the month of Christmas.  Hopefully Rupert won't make too much mischief and mess. I have been reading this blog that got me excited about our elf, but she is a pretty funny writer in general.  Mostly I read it when I am nursing in the middle of the night and trying not to fall asleep. 

Anyway, I have heard that some of these Christmas elves are sweet and cheery, and that when their families wake up they find the elf has made cookies or decorated for the holiday.  I have this funny feeling that Rupert is going to be a bit of a trouble maker. 
    We can only hope for the best and be thankful that Santa didn't forget us.  Here's hoping he won't do anything too crazy like tp the Christmas tree or swap out the children's gifts with crummy gag gifts and hide the real presents.  We shall see when we meet Rupert in December.  

I just wanted to share a handful of pics that were taken of True when he was 2 weeks old.  They are too sweet to keep to ourselves, in my completely unbiased opinion. 

 

 

Picnics, Books, and Bad Attitudes

Yesterday was my birthday celebration picnic in the park, and it was so lovely--a significant improvement upon the gas station burrito on my actual birthday.  Jeff made chicken and veggie kabobs, Joseph and I made an amazing salad with strawberries, almonds, gorgonzola, and red onion with a balsamic & olive oil type dressing that makes eating salad more like eating, well--something way yummier.  (Yes, I am a bit prejudiced against "the salad" as a category.  It is one of my short comings as a grown woman.)  Tara made a beautiful trifle that I finished eating out of the beautiful trifle dish yesterday with a giant serving spoon.  That's pleasure.  

 
We waded in a little creek running through the park, played paddle ball, ate lots of food, drank some champagne to celebrate Tara and Jeff's recent engagement---What!  Yep!  Congratulations Tara and Jeff!  I am happy for you two and happy to see my sister in such a good place in her life.  Love is beautiful, isn't it?

~ 

Joseph just bought two boxes of books for school from a graduating med student.  He got a great deal on them which is terrific.  However, they are not even all of the books he will need.  Then he got many that aren't required, but will be very helpful.  So there they all sat, on our living room floor.  We are just looking at these books, both thinking the same thing.  So I said, "Go ahead, learn that stuff."  Seriously, we are just trying to fathom the amount of information he is going to have to absorb come August.  Open head.  Insert knowledge.  Perrin, being of stronger character than her parents, was not brought up short even for a moment.

We already had more books than bookshelf space, so to Home Depot we went.  As of today we have a brand new six foot long book shelf above our tv in the living room.  We now own riveting titles from, "The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics" to "Rapid Interpretation of EKGs."  Man, I can't wait to get into those.  This is me not being jealous of Joseph.

~

Last night Perrin woke at 11pm and wouldn't go back down without eating.  She has been having some random (but sadly increasingly regular) nighttime wake-ups for the last couple of weeks.  It is generally making me grumpy.  So when the cats started loudly begging for breakfast this morning at 5am, thus waking up Perrin, I was NOT NOT happy.  I hadn't even set my feet on the floor and I had already dropped the F bomb--"Those f!@#$%* cats...grumble, grumble, curse, curse..."  

I don't want to be that angry person.  Cursing at the cats before even getting out of bed for the day seems like a good--let's stop and take stock--moment for me.  Yes J and I have been varying degrees of sleep deprived for 10 months, but, PULL IT TOGETHER.  Anyone with advice on living with sleep deprivation and not turning into a complete A!@#$%^, let me know your best tips.  I really don't want to be that angry cranky person.

 

Leeks

We just got back from a big day celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary, going to the theater.  The musical was good, yea yea, let me tell you about the pizza we ate before the show. It was from Lucky Pie downtown, a sort of sexy cool little pizza place.  The pizza was called Freak A Leek.  It had leek, goat cheese, mozzarella, and bacon on a thin crust.  Wow, leeks.  Who knew.  And leeks with goat cheese was magic.  I took really small bites to make it last longer, while I looked at Joseph sitting across from me and considered knocking him out and hiding his slumped body under the table while I devoured his slices.  I am already plotting another trip there...maybe I can use my upcoming birthday to get close to that leek pie again.


I found a baby tunnel at the Goodwill last week.  Now that P can crawl we busted it out.  She hasn't crawled through it, but likes to sit at one end and peer through at you on the other.  Both cats also like the tunnel.

I love how in the above picture you can see Perrin in the background craned around in her highchair watching the cats.  She is thrilled just watching them lay curled up motionless on the couch, so Puck getting ready to attack Simon in the tunnel is riveting business. 


Merry sent us some great books for Perrin the other day.  The series is called...

We have Baby mix me a drink, Baby make me breakfast, Baby get me some lovin', and Baby do my banking.  I would also appreciate a Baby clean my house tutorial for Perrin, so if anyone sees that one..., as there is a funny smell emanating from somewhere in our kitchen. 

Speaking of funny smelling, I captured a great Perrin "I just smelled a fart" face...because we are classy ladies like that. 

 

Merry visit!!

My old friend from college, Merry, came to visit us for a few days and just went home this evening.  It was wonderful to have her meet Perrin and see my daughter with my old friend--just really heart warming for some reason.  We all went out to dinner at Watercourse Foods for Tara's birthday.  It is a vegetarian restaurant in downtown Denver with really amusing rabbit art on the walls.  They have seitan wings, that are made of mysterious non-meat meatiness, and are pretty tasty, but the best thing about them is that we decided to call them Satan wings, which gave us a chuckle every time.  We are a simple people.

 

Merry decided to make tutus for Perrin, so off to the fabric store we went to look through all colors of tulle.  She made the cutest little things--they look like a mix between magic, dessert, and an explosion. 

On Thursday we went to play disc golf on this amazing mountain course in Conifer.  At the first hole you throw straight up the mountain side...or off to the side into a bunch of snow...however you want to do it...  We carried Perrin in the backpack, and just took her off when ever we threw.  She enjoyed herself I think, chewing on a stick and watching us play.  She is a pretty good sport, where ever we drag her.  

Merry told us about internet sensation Grumpy Cat, so I just looked him up--damn, that cat is grumpy.  If you are looking for an easy laugh, check it out.  This cat looks how I imagine our Simon cat feels.  We love to give him really cranky internal dialog, as I'm pretty sure he wouldn't deign to speak even if he could.  Mr. Dignified Cat.  You can address him as Sir.

 Puck cat however...

We will end with a little sprinkle of Perrin tutu magical fluffy goodness. 

And...

Vet day

woohoo, I just got a call about a possible job in Littleton- I haven't scared them off yet so that is good. I am off work today and am stranded at home because I have taken my car in to get a new master cylinder. I also took Simon into the vet this morning for his annual shots. He did a pretty good job because we were the only people/animals in the office at the time. But still he made these noises when the vet was handling him like he was possessed and his head was getting ready to spin around- poor guy. I have never seen him scurry into his carrier as fast as he did after his shots. Any thing to get home away from the man with the hands.

And I did better this time too. Last time he got his shots in bloomington, he sounded so scared that I got tears in my eyes and had to turn away from the vet. Even though I know he is ok, I can't stand to hear the kitty terror in his little cat screams. I just love the darn feline. He is now over 6 years old. I've had him since my junior year of college. I remember when I first got him from the shelter and he was still a kitten. I had classes the next day and had to leave him in the apt. alone--or with Keith-my roommate's nutty video obsessed vegan mustached boyfriend. I walk/ran all the way home from class to check on the little kitten. I wish more people would get their pets from animal shelters. So many people have to give up pets or lose pets for one reason or another.

Here he is with me as I am trying to wrap up a book to mail off this morning. He has to be in the middle of everything.

This is the neighbors cat. We named her Ty. This is her greeting me from my front porch when I got home this evening. I don't know why she likes our porch so much, but she is there regularly and usually lets me give her a scratching. Not a bad thing to come home to.