FrankenKitty

Last week was a little rough.  Alex was teething, which made him uncharacteristically cranky.  Then, we noticed that Doogie, who has had a lump on his back for a while, had a big sore on that lump.  I made a vet appointment for him and prayed like mad that my baby wouldn't scream through the whole thing. 

The vet examined Doogie and took a little sample of the lump, which she looked at under the microscope.  It was a tumor.  Because he was being so good (which really meant that he was simply frozen in terror), she opted to remove it right then with a local anesthetic.  He was whisked to the back, and Alex and I headed to the front.  Alex did start crying, but he blessedly waited until we were out in the lobby waiting for Doogie's surgery to be done.  I consider that an answered prayer, as I just didn't want him screaming while we were in the exam room.  Doogie was freaked out enough without the baby adding to his stress!

Doogie came back looking like this:

It was a pretty big tumor, so it's going to be a pretty big scar.  It's all stapled together instead of stitched because the vet said that cats don't tend to mess with staples like they do stitches.  Sure enough, Doogie has left it alone.  He doesn't seem bothered by it at all, which is wonderful!  I just wish we could say the same for Ninja...

The day after Doogie's procedure, I was sorting clothes to wash, and Steven's things were all wet.  Soaking wet.  And stinky.  I realized that someone had been going potty in Steven's hamper.  *sigh*  I am so over doing stinky, urine-soaked laundry!  I did more than enough when we had Calvin. 

It got worse.  I could smell poop in the living room.  After 30 minutes of playing hunt-the-poo, I found it in a box.  One of the moving boxes that was opened but not unpacked.  ARG!!! 

We weren't 100% sure of the culprit, but we were pretty certain it was Ninja.  That was confirmed when I caught him doing his business in the aforementioned box.  He was jumpy and skittish all day long, and he wouldn't come when called.  In fact, he'd run away if I tried to pet him.  Apparently, bringing Doogie home sliced and stapled was the final straw in Ninja's month of stress.  It pushed him over the edge, and he finally acted out. 

I guess we can consider ourselves lucky if it took all that (packing the old house, emptying the house, 6-hour car ride, living with strangers, living in an empty house, carpet replaced, appliances delivered, furniture moved in, brother having surgery) before anyone acted out.  We did throw a lot of scary new stuff at those poor cats in a short amount of time!  However, after a week of a cranky baby, a house full of unpacked boxes, a sick pet, and a pet making colossal messes, I cried quite a bit that day.  I'd hit my breaking point, too.

Thankfully, Ninja was back to normal and going potty in his box again the next day.  No problems since.  And in the meantime, we've been calling Doogie FrankenKitty and FrankenDoog.  He does look like a bit like Frankenstein, don't you think?  Poor baby.  He's such a trooper. 

Oh, and that tumor?  Benign!

Settling In

We finally moved into our house on May 4th.  Last night was the first time I'd even opened my computer since moving in.  We've been a tad busy. 

Mere days after moving in, just as the house was a complete minefield of boxes and mess, Alex started crawling.  Really crawling.  He'd taken a few tentative moves before, but he never got far.  Nope, he waited until he was in dangerous territory to start trucking it.  So, instead of getting things unpacked, I've mostly been keeping my baby safe. 

Steven kept pushing for a babysitter for a night out.  That sounded great, as I was starting to get punchy after nearly a month of me and baby 24/7.  I love him, but I need a break once in a while.  However, I said there was no way I was letting a teenager in to watch him while the house wasn't safe (again, those boxes everywhere).  So, Steven started moving some stuff out of the living room that we knew we wouldn't get to for a little while (like all the boxes of pictures for the walls).  Then, when friends came into town for the weekend, they pitched in to get the living room unpacked.  I deemed the room safe enough for me to feel comfortable leaving Alex with someone while we all went out. 

Turns out, Steven was pushing the babysitter idea so hard because that was his Mother's Day gift to me.  He figured I could use some baby-free time.  Oh, the irony!  The gift was perfect, especially as it also meant removing a towering source of stress, which was a living room filled with boxes that I just never seemed to have time to unpack.  Moving with a baby is hard stuff! 

The cats were beside themselves with joy that first night we spent in the house with them.  They were so excited that they kept flying around the bedroom and bouncing on the bed.  I finally kicked them out because we couldn't sleep.  That was pointless because they both cried outside the door, and Ninja kept sticking his paw under, grabbing the bottom of the door, and pulling.  *bam bam bam bam bam*  All... night... long. 

I think they missed us. 

We're just glad to finally have our family back together and to be in our own home with our own stuff.  It no longer feels like we're on a weird vacation.  I'm doing some real cooking again.  I'm doing laundry whenever I want again.  (VOM had very strict rules about the hours residents could do laundry.  Those rules made me nuts!)  And Alex is back in his nice, soft, cotton diapers again. 

Life is mostly back to normal. 

Baby Crafting

This is all pretty old, but I realized I'd never put it up on the blog.  I had some fun making some onesies for Alex and a special little girl named Mara, who was born to a friend I used to sing with at church. 

For the first two, I used transfer paper that goes through the printer, then you iron it on.  Pretty simple stuff. 

Our little future Stormtrooper

When someone posted on FB a picture of a shirt with this saying, Mara's mommy said she wanted one.  So, I made one for her baby shower.  I hand-stitched a simple little bow to make it look more girly.

For the next onesie, I used my Sizzix.  I ironed some fusible stuff (the name escapes me right now) to the back of the fabric, cut it out with my Sizzix, then ironed it onto the onesie.  Easy peasy.

So nice to get to make pink stuff!

And finally, a card to go with Mara's gift.  (She got some other stuff, too, including a wooden teether in the shape of a bird and some homemade burp cloths.) 

I used DeNami stamps on the card, as well as a Martha Stewart edge punch.  You know I love me some Martha!  And DeNami is my favorite stamp company.  It's a fairly basic card, but I've found that my papercrafting time is minimal with a baby in the house.   I think I made that at 11pm, if that tells you anything. 

A Little Piece of Home

The past few weeks have felt as if we're on a very bizarre vacation.  Our cats are here, but we still don't live with them.  We have a house, but it's empty.  We live in an apartment, but it's not our stuff.  Just... odd. 

It makes me want to go home.  Home, as in Texas.  Where I no longer have a house.  But it's all been so surreal, it feels as if I should still have a house back there that's just waiting for us to return.

Just when I was feeling especially lonely and homesick, my husband came home for lunch with the news that he'd run into a group of older folks who were in the VOM gift shop, and they said they knew me and my family.  One lady was telling him tales of my grandfather showing up for church in his pajamas! 

Turns out, a group of senior adults were visiting and volunteering at VOM, having come from the church I was born into.  My parents met and were married there.  We moved away when I was a baby, but we came back when I was 14, so I actually had memories of many of these folks. 

They invited us to a barbeque, and it was so wonderful to see my fellow Texans who know my family.  Like a little taste of home, just at the very moment that I needed it.  And my sweet Alex was thrilled to have all those grandmothers wanting to love all over him.  I think he's been feeling the loneliness of no longer having an entourage at church.  When we visit churches, no one knows him, and yes, he's noticed. 

This is Alex, me, and Mrs. Teer.  My parents met in the Sunday school class that Mr. and Mrs. Teer taught.

Alex is being held by Anita, who was my 10th grade Sunday school teacher.

The whole group from Plymouth Park Baptist Church

Again, God came through in a remarkable way, one in which I would never have expected.  Just when I was desperate for home, He brought it to me.  Such an incredible blessing!

Fixing Up the House

While we've closed on our house already, we haven't moved in.  It was filthy, the carpets are nasty, and appliances won't be delivered until next week.  (The guy who bought our old house wanted the appliances, and as the washer and dryer were 16 and the fridge was 13 and didn't match the new kitchen anyway, we were fine with letting him have them.)  So, Steven works during the day at VOM, and I go to the new house when I can and do some cleaning and love on the cats until Alex says he's had enough.  Steven goes over in the evenings to do some work of his own.

For example, while prepping Alex's room for painting, Steven discovered that there was painted-over wallpaper in there.  He started pulling it off and found messed up drywall.  It's turned into a full-blown project that has him frustrated. 

The nice thing is, he can mess up the carpet all he wants, as that's being replaced on May 2nd.  It's really gross, and the house smells funky, in large part due to the nasty carpet.  I genuinely don't understand how people can stain a carpet so badly.  But it was a rental before we bought it, and I'm learning that people just don't take care of stuff when they don't own it. 

My kitchen needed some TLC.  The cabinets are nice, but they're 32 years old and a bit banged up.  I cleaned them, then discovered that my furniture feeder actually made it with my cleaning supplies slated for apartment living.  I was so excited to find that!  I rubbed that in, and I'm hoping the cabinets will drink that up.  When my Howard's Restore-a-Finish comes out of storage, I'll go over everything to make it look prettier. 

Isn't that diamond checkerboard floor fabulous?!  I fell in love with it when we looked at the house.  It's even my shade of green! 

I'm planning to paint my kitchen and the breakfast room behind it, which will by my crafting space, a soft, pale, cheery shade of pink.  My husband is not happy about that decision, as he doesn't share my love of pink, but the kitchen is my space.  If I have to live in a house full of boys (even the cats are boys!), then I should get to have a little pink somewhere.  Besides, it'll look very nice with that green floor. 

I went on a cleaning warpath.  The house was given to us in filthy condition, which irritated me more and more as I worked.  I mean, I had a baby and a ton of packing to do, and I still managed to clean my house for the new owner!  This guy had his renters move out a month before we took possession, and he cleaned nothing.  *sigh*  I'm not one to use antibacterial cleaners (the surfactants in regular cleaners are typically enough to remove dirt and germs and don't contribute to the creation of Super Bugs), but I was finding myself a bit skeeved by the filth in this house.  (There was urine all over the toilet seat in the master bath, for crying out loud! Who does that?!)  I bought a big ol' bottle of Mr. Clean and went to town.  I'd say that you can eat off my floors now, but the cats danced in the fireplace after I'd mopped, and there's now soot scattered around. 

It's a slow process, but the house is coming together. 

The Cats Are Back!

I got a bit stressed and upset last week.  Lots of tears were involved.  In a nutshell, the cats were distressed by their circumstances, Doogie was dehydrated and had lost a pound in only 3-4 weeks (that's a lot of weight for a cat to lose), and Ninja wouldn't come see me when I went to visit.  Additionally, I was lonely and homesick.  All of that together had me a mess. 

An email went out to friends, as I was very worried about the cats and not sure what to do.  I asked for prayer for the situation, for Doogie's health, and for my peace of mind.  And the very next day, God answered in the most unexpected way: our realtor called and said we were closing on our new house a full week early.  As in, the very next day. 

The distressing visit with the cats was Wednesday, the realtor called Thursday, we had our house Friday, we had our cats back on Saturday morning.  Oh, yeah!  I love how our God cares about the littlest things, such as my sweet cats! 

They were pretty freaked out by the new house.  Who can blame them?  We'd thrown them into chaos, starting with the packing of our old house, and the changes just kept coming in new and dramatic ways.  They had deemed the bedroom of the girl who was officially caring for them during their time away from us as their safe room.  They found the locational equivalent in the new house right away, and there they stayed for 36 hours, refusing to come down and be with us. 

But it didn't take them too long to realize that they were safe, it was just us, and nothing was happening, other than some heavy-duty cleaning of the place. 

It also didn't take long for them to discover the fireplace.

See that black thingy in front of the fireplace?  We arrived at the house yesterday to find that flat on the floor.  A few minutes later, Steven brought the guilty party to me.  And no, it wasn't our Naughty Ninja!  It was Doogie, all covered in soot.  It shows well on his pretty white fur.  If you look at the picture below, you can see soot on his paw.

The undersides of all his white paws are now gray, and his neck is gray now, too.  And lest you think Ninja is totally innocent, we found sooty pawprints on the kitchen counter, directly underneath an open cabinet.  Only Ninja knows how to open stuff. 

My boys are back!

Displaced Texan

I'm now officially a displaced Texas.  We moved to Oklahoma last Wednesday.  Not everything went smoothly with the move, but we made it here just fine, and that's what matters.  We don't close on our house until later in the month, so for the time being, we're living in a 2-bedroom apartment on the campus of The Voice of the Martyrs.  We're very blessed to have this option of free housing, but I'll confess that I'm finding it frustrating at times. 

Doogie and Ninja are living with another family for the time being.  It's very hard being separated from them, but at least they're not having to stay in a kennel.  We visited them on Saturday night, and while they're very confused and still a bit frightened of the changes, they're adjusting and doing relatively well.  Doogie is unfortunately dehydrated, so I've made an appointment for him with a local vet for Wednesday afternoon for a subcutaneous IV. 

Can I just say how very hard it was to leave our amazing vet behind in Texas?  The whole office was at the front to say good-bye when I stopped in to pick up the cats' medical records.  The vet teared up, which I have to admit, made me feel good.  I like knowing that we were valued clients.  She truly cares about my furry boys, which is why she's been our vet all these years.  I asked her to move to Oklahoma, but alas, she's staying put in Texas. 

I've always lived in big cities, so Bartlesville is an adjustment, for sure.  I spent Monday searching for Graco Pack N Play sheets.  I've not been happy with generic sheets, and we need more, as Alex is using his Pack N Play for a crib right now.  There were none to be had in town, so I had to drive to Tulsa today to buy some.  That was an adventure, as I was born without a sense of direction.  Mapquest gave me directions to a Toys R Us in some scary part of town, even though I'd searched for Babies R Us.  I'd hoped to explore Tulsa a bit, but there was really nothing else in that area, and I had a screaming headache, so we drove straight home.  But hey, I found my way there and back, and I only got a little lost, so it was a huge success for me!