Combat Crawl

It's been a bit rough for us these past few weeks. We all got colds, we lost Ochi, we've been crazy busy. In a way, it's been good. It's nice to know we're liked enough to get invited places, but I could use a break. Of course, the last time I said that I ended up bringing a cold home. Nevermind, I'll take the craziness.

What's been new? Kieran is getting curious about his body and starting to talk about things that are "girl things" versus "boy things". Like colors. He used to say that pink and purple were his favorite colors. He wanted to decorate his room in sparkly pink and purple anything. We resisted this because we knew what was coming. We diverted him to let him put sparkly things on Amelia's walls that were pink and purple (I just didn't want to make more work for us having to take down anything we put up). Sure enough, he's declared these colors "girl colors". I asked him if he still liked the colors. He said yes, but reiterated the 'girl colors' comment. Kids.

For his body questions, we got him a book from the library that talks about the body and how it's changing. That certain parts are private and what they do. He's also very into building muscles. Ken once explained that he rips his muscles to build them up. Now every night Kieran tells me he's ripping up his muscles to grow big and strong.

Amelia has begun eating solid food (and by solid, I refer to the pureed baby food). So far she's liked everything, fruit is, of course, preferred. She has also begun the 'combat crawl'. She moves along the floor using her arms and legs but instead of picking her belly up, she leaves it down. Slithering more like a snake. It's very funny. It also means we have to vacuum more often. And sweep. And clean. Which we haven't.*sigh*

She's still not sleeping through the night. She gets up about once and goes right back down, so I'm not complaining. Next week we'll do a weight check update and Kieran will have his yearly exam. At that appointment I'll find out if we can move Kieran to a booster seat (I think the answer will be yes). That'll be pretty cool.

This weekend we are holding our first 'big boy birthday' party. Most of Kieran's previous parties have been at daycare, at a relative's house or a bowling alley with family. We're going to Chuck E Cheese on Sunday and have 11 kids and 15 adults. I'm prepping my ears for the noise.

Finally, Ken opened the door and now we have to go through it. The day that Ochi passed away, a friend of ours was reaching out trying to find a new home for her cat. It seems her newborn has allergies and the current home the cats were not getting along. Ken told Kieran we'd get a new cat. Well, now the cats are getting along and we have to go searching for another cat. Because Kieran is very set on having two. Hopefully Reggie will forgive us.


OK, better get back to it. Love to all, blog again soon.

Farewell Ochi

For those that don't know, Ken had a plan after we got together (all those eons ago). First, we would get some plants. If we could keep the plants alive, we would get a cat. I have a black thumb and was never able to keep a plant alive for more than a few months. But, I'm a big cat person, so I didn't think it would be horrible to get a cat even though we flunked the plant test.

If we could keep the cat alive, we would get a dog. Well, we started out with just one cat, Milo. Milo ate a penny and somehow after paying for his surgery and hospital stay, we were crazy enough to adopt a second cat, Neci. The two were friends until we got a third cat, Tucker. Tucker thought he was a dog, and was very disappointed in his two housemates.

After we had kept the cats several years and bought a house, we got the dog. The plan was if we could keep the dog alive, we would talk kids.

Ochi joined us in September of 2000. He was a great dog and Tucker (the doglike cat) was very excited to have him around. Until he got bigger, then Tucker was no longer a fan. Ochi made me believe that not all dogs are slobbering, barky, annoying animals. He was always there to snuggle (especially if there were fireworks or a big thunderstorm), provide extra warmth on your feet (even if you didn't really want him to), and adapted very well to not only moving into the city but being a family dog (at age 6).

He doted on Kieran as a baby - did the whole protective dog thing. LOVED it when Kieran started to eat solid food (I don't know how I'm going to keep a floor clean without a dog around), and was doing it all over again with Amelia.

It's sad to know that Amelia will not remember Ochi. That Kieran's memories of him may fade. That we will no longer have his gentle warmth each night.

He could be a pain in the butt, but he was OUR pain in the butt. And we loved him.

The Attack of the Cold

So, I've sucked a lot at keeping up the blog since Amelia has been born. Sorry about that, but hey, I've got a baby at home! I took a trip in mid-December and came home with a cold. Which I promptly gave to Mia. Who gave it to Ken. Who, thankfully, waited until I got better before he succumbed.

Christmas and New Years passed in a blur of being sick and taking care of sickies. Kieran got Skylanders and that has become (along with legos) his new obsession. Mia got some new toys but she's still learning how to grab, so she'll play with them later.

Not much else to tell, since we're just slogging to the surface of feeling better. Unfortunately, Ochi is now sick. Very sick. We're not sure what will happen and it's really upsetting. He's been a great dog and we've not given him the attention he's deserved. I'm hoping he'll pull past this but the vet told Ken to prep for the worst. Not a good sign.

Anyway, just wanted to blog and say we're still here and I promise to get a bit better about posting more frequently in the coming year.