to go to the movies and find yourself sympathizing with the parents in the film.
Kittymomma anniversary
October 18, 2009 at 11:08 pm (Cats, Uncategorized)
October 6 marked my seventh anniversary as a kittymomma. (As for the reason it has taken me two weeks to finish this post, well, that’s another story.) I can’t believe it has been seven years since I brought my little Siamese kitten home. I remember feeling terrified to hold her the first time. I had never held an animal of any kind. However, by the time she lay stretched out on my lap later that evening as I watched 7th Heaven with a cute little kitty smile on her face, my terror was long gone. I remember thinking, “This is going to be pretty cool.”
And it definitely has been. On this blog, she has been known as Cookies and Cream (or CC), but her real name is Belle. I named her after the heroine in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. I had been working on finding a name for her for two weeks and couldn’t come up with anything that seemed to fit her. However, I saw a commercial for the initial DVD release of the movie and it suddenly occurred to me that Belle might work. I looked at her, tried it out, and that was it. Unfortunately, since it had taken me so long to name her, she still thinks her name is “Baby.” Oh, well. They’re both “B” sounds, right?
Regardless of her name, she has been a good friend to me for seven years. She is the sweetest, best-behaved cat ever. She is responsible for awakening a love for animals that I never knew I possessed. She is also responsible for at least six other cats being adopted in to my family. (Two of which are my two boys.)
I was a 23-year-old grad student when I brought her home and now I’m a thirty-year-old wife and mom to three cats and a baby boy. Belle came to me during the most difficult period of my entire life and I give her a lot of credit for bringing me out of it and helping me to get where I am today. Thanks so much, little Belle-cat. I love you.
Sort of like a fuzzy navel …
October 12, 2009 at 8:43 pm (Babies, Etiquette, Family, Motherhood)
I was changing my son’s diaper today when I noticed he had some fuzz on his body. On the tip of his penis, to be exact. Now, this raises an interesting issue for me as a mother or maybe it’s for all of us as a society. I’m not sure. Maybe we have all gotten over-sensitive if a mother cannot handle (I wish I could think of a better word.) matters pertaining to her son’s penis without feeling awkward. He’s only two months old. It’s tiny. (No offense, kid.) However, it took about ten tries for me to get that fuzz off of his penis. I felt so awkward that I kept trying to remove the fuzz without actually touching his genitalia, which worked about as well as it sounds like it would. (The fuzz removal, not his genitals. I have no idea how well they function, except that he seems to have no trouble peeing, preferably with his diaper off. ) I even called my husband right before I managed to finally, successfully, remove it.
Max (That is my son’s name. I am in the process of rendering this blog un-anonymous, but haven’t had time to update my “About” page.) was seemingly oblivious to all of this. However, I veered between feelings of awkwardness over having to touch him when not changing his diaper or bathing him (even for fuzz removal purposes) and fears that I would accidentally hurt him. During one of my desperate, spastic attempts to remove the fuzz, I felt like I accidentally tugged too sharply on his poor little penis. I decided he would have let me know if I had, though. As for any awkwardness, I’ve discussed this with other parents and it seems to be something we all feel. Especially with a child of the opposite sex. Just comes with the territory. I wonder, though, if it ever stops being awkward? Or becomes less awkward?
When it rains, it pours
October 7, 2009 at 11:37 pm (Babies, Flu)
All of this coughing has not helped the post-baby incontinence problem. It really sucks to not be able to hold your pee. Since Max was born, I have not been able to laugh, cough, or sneeze without peeing myself (some of the time). As if having the flu wasn’t bad enough, they tell you to drink lots of fluids when you’ve just had a baby, can’t stop coughing, and can’t always go to the bathroom when you want or need to, thanks to the aforementioned baby. Not to mention that I can’t laugh without coughing right now, which just compounds the problem. Is there no end to the universe’s ability to f*** with new mothers??
We’ve been bit
October 4, 2009 at 11:36 pm (Babies, Family, Flu, Illness, Life, Motherhood)
by the flu bug. My son and I both have the flu. His is probably H1N1. However, that one is apparently not as dangerous as the regular flu, despite the hype. We were at Dell Children’s Hospital from midnight to 6 a.m. trying to find out what was wrong. Despite the horrible wait, the doctors and nurses were wonderful once we finally got some help. Their cheerful attitudes at 4 a.m., despite an ER packed with cranky patients, are an inspiration.
I hope some of that cheer rubs off on me, because I am feeling pretty pessimistic about the coming week right now. I am really not looking forward to being alone and sick with a sick baby. I know I will do what I have to do, but it will be hard. I already got a taste of it last week. Even though my husband works at home, he still has to actually work most of the time and lately that has included evenings and weekends. Please send good thoughts and prayers our way.
Kittymomma's Adventures 