Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Lorelei likes nests


IMG_4580, originally uploaded by Bakiomau.

Ok I'll admit I'm just having fun now that I figured out I can blog directly from my Flickr photostream. This will much simplify my other blog (365 days in pictures) that I have been slacking on.

Where'd that come from?


IMG_4582
Originally uploaded by Bakiomau
I was just going through some photos and realized that in this picture, it really looks like Lorelei is looking up in the tree to see where the nest on the blanket came from. Hah. The nest was actually a part of a set of things I was using as photo props on Easter.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Busy busy busy


Busy doing what, you may ask? Keeping up with this....


One of these days I'll catch my breath and be back....

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Mission Cat Tree, Accomplished

We've been working on some remodeling-- ripping out a wall and just leaving two columns and a knee wall, removing carpet, redoing the flooring, trying to remove the texture from the wall... and took the opportunity of leftover carpet, padding and wood to make a cat tree from the remnants. I think it turned out pretty cool... and I hate to say it but I was hesitant to do it before because of the sick kitty peeing on everything. Now, the random pee incidents are in our past, and hopefully will stay that way.

There's still a tiny bit more to be done-- I'm planning on wrapping the posts with sisal, and doing some sort of finish on the bottom board to make clean up easier when some cat inevitably decides to hairball on it, but they are happy with it how it is, and I will get to "finishing" it eventually.



And the kitten loves it.
The others like it too, but they don't show off for the camera as much

Monday, April 6, 2009

oh dear...

Dear Kitten,

Please stop bringing your cat toys to the baby. I understand you want to help take care of her, but I don't think furry mice are really something she should be licking. Plus, she gets the toys all mushy wet, which is gross.

Thank you,
The mama

Saturday, April 4, 2009

RIP Pookah

My sweet little kidney failure kitty finally passed away today.
She had been looking almost skeletal, having a lot of trouble getting to the litter box, smelled... like she was dying. But she was still enjoying laps and purring when she was petted. She loved getting up on the window still and enjoying the breeze.



Today it was different. She was hunched up and not very responsive but still acted excited when I gave her wet food, but just sat next to it and wouldn't eat. I gave her a heating pad to lay on since she wouldn't lay on the bed, put wet food and water right next to her , and regularly checked on her and cuddled her.

We went to the park to let the baby play on the baby swings, and when we got home she was gone, still laying on the comfy pad I had left there for her.

I knew it was coming and am feeling both relieved and sad at the same time. An odd feeling this is.

Friday, April 3, 2009

Oh Baby

Why would you ever LOSE weight between six and nine months?

We breastfeed on demand and feed you as much as you want.

So that's the news. She lost around four ounces between her six month and nine month checkup.
I was told to start supplementing with formula, which I said no to. I was told to start pumping 3x a day, which I said yes to. Then I thought about it and decided not to. My course of action instead is to be more proactive with the breastfeeding... offering it more often including BEFORE not after each meal. I can already tell that a few more nursings each day have gotten my supply up, and with pumping I am worried that it would have shot me into oversupply mode which is bad for both me and the baby. I also started offering her higher calorie foods-- french toast sticks (basically just egg, milk and cinnamon with bread, nothing fancy), some full fat cheese, offering yogurt more often, browned ground beef when we are having spaghetti... But with the increased nursing she isn't very interested in real food.

In about a week and a half we will see what's up, with one of the dreaded "come back in two weeks" weigh ins.

But the more I think about it, the more annoyed I am that the doctor freaked me out so bad. She's happy, healthy, getting to milestones before the charts say she needs to be there and she got that nine month weigh in about a week after she really started gettign active crawling on everything. I've mentioned it to a lot of people (what can I say, it made me feel insecure) and at least half the people I've talked to mentioned minimal to no weight gain between six and nine months. Plus it was a different scale this last time, plus she hadn't had breakfast. Four ounces is two shot's worth of weight. It's the difference between having a full belly and not really. I'm not saying she doesn't need to gain weight, but I AM saying I shouldn't be freaking out about it. Right?

Any feedback on this one?