R.I.P. Squeaky Downes

I'm sad to report that our beloved cat, Squeaky (the brown one on top), was put to sleep on Thursday. With the craziness of a new baby and getting used to 3 kids, I neglected to notice the rapid weight loss and change in disposition of the poor thing. I'm pretty sure she lost about 1/3 to 1/2 of her body weight in about 4 weeks from my best calculations. She was morbidly obese weighing in at about 15-16 pounds for the last few years in contrast to her sister who has held steady at about 9 1/2 pounds. She usually sits with us every night watching TV and squeaks and snuggles. I noticed that the food wasn't disappearing and the litter wasn't as full as usual and then the other day I swear you could see her spine and all the bones and she was so lethargic.

I brought her in to the vet and they also spotted her bright yellow ears (jaundice), lesions on her front legs, and the lack of any visible veins. Nice. They suspected liver cancer and basically said she was at the end of her rope. I bawled my eyes out, hugged her and held her while they gave her the shot. They said it could be as fast as 10-15 seconds, but she was so dehydrated that it happened in 2 seconds. Her eyes opened wide like Puss-in-Boots in Shrek 2 and that was that. I had a few minutes alone to apologize for not noticing and hoping she wasn't in much pain. Poor Lickey, her sister, came right up to me when I came home and I swear she knew...she's been all over us ever since.

We told the kids she was old and sick and went up to heaven. Shelagh had the lip quiver and lump in the throat, but held it together. She wasn't so crazy about the cats and avoids them, but still seemed upset about it. Rory was very sad. He plays with them all the time and keeps telling me that Lickey is looking for her best friend who is in Heaven. He would like the vet to go to Heaven and bring her back to Lickey, but seems to be realizing that that isn't going to happen. They are basically okay, thankfully.

Squeaky would have been 12 in May and is shown in the pic above in a typical snuggle with Lickey. R.I.P., dear cat. I'm sorry I wished you ill when I thought you were peeing all over the house and SO glad I didn't do anything about it when I was furiously trying to scrub the carpet (thank you Joe for making me cancel the appointment).

Slacker

That's me. Everyday I have ideas for blog entries and everday I don't write them. I used to at least start them in draft to remind myself of the thoughts I'm having, but I haven't even managed to do that. It's not that I mind listening to the children scream or cry, nor does it phase me to burn dinner. Being late is no problem and watching TV or reading magazines is perfectly acceptable. It's that I'm on maternity leave and I've completely checked out mentally. My biggest goal each day is to accomplish something on my long list of small accomplishments around the house or related to the family along the lines of 1) cleaning out a single (amongst many) junk drawer; 2) spring cleaning; 3) changing out pictures in frames; 4) organizing for spring clothes; etc...I've actually accomplished lots of little things, but for being half-way through my leave, there's lots more I hope to finish such as

• clean out the garage
• clean out our top floor extra room (donate books, file paperwork, organize packed away clothes, etc), although I thought I heard squeaks up there the other day so b/c there is a chance that maybe I could have possibly might have heard the beginnings of mice could negate this item
• clean out our inside furnace room/junk accumulator/gift bag heap/"sports" room/tool pile
• wedding album (yes, almost 7 years later despite the fact that I have the album and the photos I have not finished this - this is the third maternity leave appearance for this particular item)
• clean out closets for me and Joe and make a huge Salvation Army drop off. I'd like to minimize and really get aggressive on this one (I say that every time)
• start to plan out Disney vacation itinerary
• re-do budget
• find a beach house for august maybe? i always wait until the last minute on this one...we'll end up in some skanky clam shack 3 miles from the beach i'm sure. yes, i will bring my own sheets.
• start a compost that doesn't cost a million dollars

Some things I have accomplished

• our taxes and mother in laws taxes
• scheduled all dr appts (skin, ob, chix pox vaccine, dentist for kids, urologist for kelly (nothing serious just proactively testing for urinary reflux which shelagh had)
• trip to the outlets to get spring/summer clothes in order (sales weren't good enough so rinse and repeat on this one)
• started going back to the gym (yeah!)
• announcements out
• thank yous up-to-date
• garden cleaned out in preparation for spring planting

Hmmm...I thought this list would be longer.

A Big Smile

I just couldn't resist posting this picture from this morning. I can't believe I caught her smiling!

Organic Tobacco?

While reading Entertainment Weekly yesterday, I happened upon an ad for 100% Organic Tobacco. Does this make any sense? Yes, I will smoke and kill myself, but it's important to me that the implement of my death be clean and well farmed. This is an interesting marketing approach and made me stop and say "Hmmmmm". Just thought I'd share.

Bad Form with New Baby

I found myself today in between errands and picking up the kids and needing to change and nurse Kelly. I stopped at a Starbucks for an iced green tea and to do my baby mommy duties, no pun intended. There was no changing table in the womens bathroom. Seriously, Starbucks? Aren't non-working moms your prime customer base? I see little mommy playdates in there all the time. You'd think it would be automatic. It was a big room that was handicapped accessible. I did not venture into the mens room to see if the table was in there...ewww. So, out came the disposable table cover and down on the floor we went. I know...disgusting, but what was I to do? I could tell it was a blowout and I was about to feed her more. Then, I nursed while sipping my tea while chatting on the phone with my brother. I love maternity leave. Here's Kelly at 5 weeks now... and the kids too each snuggling her in their beds...

Kelly is 1 Month Old...

Miss Kelly is 1 Month old...Time flies! Things are good...Nursing has gotten much easier, thankfully; Kelly has been doing 3-4 hour stretches at night (yeah!); the kids are adjusting so well and LOVING the baby; and I'm feeling so much better from being so preggo and delivering and being sick. I have to say that going from 2 to 3 was SO much easier than going from 1 to 2. Granted Rory and Shelagh are only 19 mos apart and life was a bit more hectic. But, Kelly is still sleeping a lot and other than a few occasions where 2 or all 3 kids are screaming at once (it's loud), I feel like I have things under control.


Little Miss was exhausted after a busy morning of eating and a bath. Little does she know she has a dr appointment and will be getting a shot. Her day is going to get a bit more hectic...

What Not to Do When Baking/Roasting in a Glass Dish...

Do not pour a liquid into the bottom of a hot, dry glass dish when roasting to "deglaze" the pan. Duh...