Two Great Things That Happened Today

Thing One: I fixed the master bathroom toilet all by myself. I am awesome.

Thing Two: I bought a nursing tank top and a nursing bra from Target and they both fit, and neither are too uncomfortable. This brings my total number of not-uncomfortable, not-falling-apart nursing underclothing that fits to two. I am still awesome, though it's unrelated.

So now I am overjoyed that I can pee in my own attached-to-the-bedroom bathroom and that I won't have as much stress when I'm trying to find something suitable to wear underneath my shirt.

RIP Chuck and Morgan

Yep. The hamsters that Harper had for less than four weeks both passed away. Within hours of each other.

Last night Harper came out of her room crying and said that Chuck had died. I went in and picked up his limp and cold body and held him while she cried. All at once he started to make movements, sort of like he was gagging. We were afraid he was choking and the girls were upset and wanting me to be able to help him. I called the vet and Harper and I ended up rushing him there, but when we got there, we were told he was already gone and that the movements he was making were just spasms. Also, they told us he was a girl.

So we took her back home and were greeted at the door by Saren holding Morgan in her hands, wondering why she couldn't get her (because Morgan was a girl as well) to respond. She was lethargic, but still breathing. We wrapped her in a little towel and held her as she died, which took about another half an hour or so.

Of course, since they died within hours of each other I immediately thought it must have been something we did. How else to explain the coincidence? But I have racked my brain trying to figure out what it could have been and have come up with nothing. I guess we're never really going to know. They could have just been sick from the get-go. I have thought about the pet store we got them from and since then I have decided that they probably aren't the most scrupulous or terribly concerned with the health of the animals they carry.

I feel so awful for Harper, who had wanted hamsters for months, since last May at least. She finally got them and was so excited about them and loved them and then this. We had a little funeral for them this morning. Even though she was so interested in and excited by hamsters, she's not very enthusiastic about the idea of getting more. She is thinking that when she is ready for another pet, she might get mice instead.

Three Impossible Things

1. January is more than half over.

2. Silas is TWENTY months old, which apparently means he is four months away from being TWO.

3. Irina will turn SIX in two weeks, one day.

Also, I don't know how it got to be 6:45pm, but that's merely improbable, not impossible.

All About Saren

Saren's biggest interest right now is probably her rats, but she's interested a lot in animals in general. Domesticated animals in particular. Her new favorite show is Pitbulls and Parolees on Animal Planet, which is a show about a woman who runs a pit bull rescue and hires parolees to work for her. This woman is all about taking in those who nobody else wants and giving them a second chance. This, I think, is what's so appealing to Saren. Saren always roots for the underdog.

For a while she talked about becoming a veterinarian, but now she's been talking more about one day working for or having her own rescue/shelter sort of deal.

She also spends a lot of time lately playing World of Warcraft. She got two months worth of WoW time from Santa for Christmas. She stays up late into the night leveling up. She also learned how to make an omelet while the rest of us were sleeping, from Alton Brown.

She's been such an amazing big sister to Silas and Irina lately. Coloring with Irina in her coloring book, painting her nails, making Silas laugh, and showing the rats to both of them. While it's true that she is sometimes annoyed by them both, I do think that her relationship with them and with Harper as well, can be what it is in large part because of unschooling, and I am so grateful for that.

Dancing Queen

Irina: How does that dancing queen song go?

Me: Dancing queen, young and sweet, only seventeen...

Irina: No, it goes like this. Dancing queen, young and sweet, only five!

Today...

...went to the DMV for my daughter, who needs a photo id for the purpose of getting a hole in her face. The wait was surprisingly short.

...saw a license plate that said TEQUILA. I feel that a license place is an odd place to declare your love for certain alcoholic beverages.

...saw and had husband drag home a toy box destined for the landfill. I plan on painting it (because it says "Samantha and Thomas" on it, for one) and then using it to keep dress-up items in. Currently the dress-up items live in a big ol' cardboard box.

Right Here, Right Now.

Right now the computer desk is a mess, mostly filled with the detritus of Saren's late night life. She eats apples and doodles pictures as she sits here, typing, chatting, playing. The cat is sitting on the defunct printer staring longingly at the rat, who is in her cage, steadily ignoring her feline presence. Music from World of Warcraft, which Saren left running, is coming out of the earbuds she left plugged in, epic, yet tinny and small. Harper and Irina play cats in my bedroom, narrating as they jump and snarl.

My cat was fat.

We have three cats. Lickorish and Angel are siblings. We got them about four years ago. I think. Once we got their reproductive parts fixed (by which I mean broken), Lickorish gained a lot of weight and then she stayed that way. Angel was overweight too, but he's also just a big ol' tomcat anyway. Our other cat is Chester, who is not a boy, but a skinny little girl, and she's pretty much always been skinny.

I read recently on some cat website that even the cheapest wet food is better for cats than dry food, even the expensive, protein heavy ones. So I switched our cats over to only wet food and I started feeding them twice a day instead of always having food available as I did with the dry food. Over the past several months, Lickorish has lost weight dramatically. She also stopped shedding so much and doesn't have tons of dandruff on her back.

Here's a picture of her before the wet food.

Here's a picture of her now. I don't know, can you tell from these pictures?

Angel also lost weight, but like I said, he's just big anyway, so it's not as noticeable. So there you have it. Wet food is better for cats. Probably.

Silas Right Now

Silas loves video games. He knows how to turn on the Wii and how to change the tv to the correct channel to play. The only thing he doesn't really know how to do is actually play video games. But he gets very excited when other people play, especially when it's a Mario game. He also gets excited when Saren wears her MarioKart t-shirt and points and squeals at the pictures.

One of his latest things is to stand in front of me while I'm sitting on the couch with a humongous open-mouthed grin on his face, but otherwise perfectly still. This means he wants me to tickle him until he falls to the floor.

He doesn't talk much, but he communicates fine, with points and gestures and sounds. Today's new favorite word was "Yeah," and he used it with gusto, like when I finally figured out he wanted blackberries from the fridge and not the half-eaten banana. "Yeah!!!"

People used to always ask me when he was a newborn if having a boy was different and back then it wasn't, beyond the obvious differences during diaper changes. But now? Yep. Different. But nobody asks me that anymore.

Writing in the spaces

I am trying to find time to write during my day. Today I dragged my chair into the sun in the backyard and sat there with my notebook and pen while Silas and Irina dug in the dirt and played on the swingset. I got about one paragraph and then Silas wanted to go inside and do other things.

I have read advice for moms who want to write to use the in-between spaces during the day to write. To be willing to write a little bit and then set it down and be satisfied with writing in bits and pieces like this. (It is possible that I am making up this advice myself.)

I've also been (re)reading Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott, and she talks about giving yourself time and space to just sit and let your mind wander before you write anything, allowing your rational mind to get out of the way. So, that's all well and good, but I don't think I often have the time to do so.

I suppose I could be writing right now (actually, I am) since Pat is home, but I need to get downstairs to start dinner soon, and after that there are other things. When I think about writing, it's always too late to write. Maybe I can squeeze another paragraph in there at some point though.

SNOW HAPPENED

Big, fat, beautiful flakes that, sadly, did not deign to stick around once they hit the ground.

Stripedy Fashion Show

Why *wouldn't* you put on your swimsuit to jump on the bed?