Wordless Wednesday: Everyone Loves Lisa

I do have to point out that Drew knows his way around women. He brought Lisa this book, which we don't read all that often, where you have to find the cat on each page. Lisa is a veterinarian and LOVES cats. He plopped it in her lap and started turning pages, pointing, and saying "cat!" (well, "tat") over and over again. What a flirt! (Lisa also happens to love books).

Not a boy and his dog

We always think little dudes and pooches are supposed to be the best of buds.  One comic strip I've enjoyed for a while is about just that...

Dog Eat Doug

But what about boys and their cats? Drew absolutely adores our cat, Rico. He meowed long before he even thought of trying to say "mama" (and long before he said "arf arf"). If he sees Rico anywhere within arm's reach, he eagerly crawls to him to pet and maul him. He imitates Rico to the point that I wonder if he's learning more from us or from the cat.

Drew enjoys our dog Lucy, too, but she's still quite nervous around him and tends to run away when he comes near. As you'll see in this collection of videos, Rico does not. He either enjoys the attention that much, or he's just too stupid. Either way, it works.  Check out some of my videos (some shared previously) of Drew and his cat, Rico.

The first is one of my favorites. It's from today and shows just how much Rico puts up with (and I also love how Drew pulls the chair towards himself at the end). Drew also does his little "meow" sound in this video.



Proof that Drew seems to be learning lots from Rico... here he rubs on and "claws" a scratching post (an older video, as are the rest of these)



Then there's also this one where Drew tosses and chases toys the way Rico does...



Then, of course, there are theses videos of them just playing together (and proof that Rico really doesn't care what Drew does to him)





And while I'm at it, why don't I share one of my favorite Rico videos. From long before Drew's time...



P.S. Yes, we do have 2 cats. Our other cat, Jibs, is much like Lucy and pretty much steers clear of Drew's grubby little hands.

Add one more animal to our zoo

Perhaps Drew needs a sibling sometime soon.... it looks like he has been spending just a little too much time with the pets!



I truly believe he picked up this little game from watching Rico toss things in the air then chase after them.

And this? Well, I would say it was learned from Lucy, our dog, playing "tug-of-war"... but she doesn't play like normal dogs, so I really don't know what this is about.

I guess what else should we expect with 3 animals in the house? At least Drew gets out once a week to Gymboree where he gets to interact with other babies or we may seriously soon have a toddler that eats and drinks from bowls on the floor and uses a litter box instead of a diaper!


*This post is in no way stating that there is a sibling on the way, or even that there are thoughts of producing a sibling any time in the near future!!! This is simply to say that brothers and sisters are probably better play mates, as far as learning human interaction, than pets.*

Jealousy

Before Drew, Rico was the baby of our family. Even though he was our first pet, he is actually the youngest of all three (or so I believe, we don't really know the exact ages of Lucy or Jibs). Rico was just a kitten when we first found him, though he's grown into a VERY large kitty.... an 18 pound kitty in fact! (That's still more than Drew weighs!)

Rico and Drew get along very well, perhaps because Rico's the only one that tolerates Drew pulling his fur.

But it seems Rico's getting a bit jealous of all the attention we lavish on Drew..

First, there was the time he decided he wanted to "model" for monthiversary photos...

Then he took over the car seat

And now the stroller?

And he didn't just sit in it, he rode in it! (Well, until Jason started running full speed that is!)

Maybe we should take him for walks?

*EDIT* I just remembered we have this video of Rico playing under Drew's play mat!



We also have pictures of Rico in one of Drew's bouncy seats, but we can't find them!

There was also the time when I was pregnant and he decided to jump off a table down into the play pen. He couldn't get back out without clawing the mesh sides to shreds, so there I was, very largely pregnant, having to bend down and lift this 18 lb. cat out.

I guess Rico will always be my baby.

Snow Day!

Believe it or not, Atlanta is getting more snow! Our area reportedly got 9 inches last night! Looked more like 6 to me, but 6 is a lot more than I've seen *here in a while. We of course had to take Drew out in it. He's seen more snow this winter than I ever expected!

At this point there was actually a hard ice layer on top of the snow

Drew was rather indifferent to the snow, but our animals were not fans...





I was off work today and will be again tomorrow, with the possibility of being off once again on Wednesday as temperatures aren't supposed to warm up enough for anything to melt. And I know you Canadians will probably scoff at the ridiculousness of school being closed 2 or more days just for a few inches of snow, but remember that Atlanta just isn't equipped with proper snow plows and salting trucks in order to make the roads safe. The sun is our best and most reliable way of de-icing the streets (and it looks like we won't be seeing much of that until this weekend! Temps continue to remain below freezing all week!).

I am cherishing every little bit of extra time I get to spend with Drew. I made it through my first week back to work better than I thought I would, but I'm still more than ecstatic that I get to have a few more days at home with him. The job is going well. The staff has been very friendly and welcoming. The job is fun and rewarding. And I'm fairly easily able to take the breaks I need to in order to pump. I'm really enjoying meeting all these children from other countries and getting to spend a few moments getting to know them. The staff I work with is just as international as the kids, which is fun. I have to admit that I find it strange that the fact that I've lived in Canada, Singapore, and Costa Rica is simply met with "oh, that's nice, anywhere else?" ;) The only thing I don't like about the new job (besides the fact that I have to be there :P) is the hours- I work 8 to 4. I'd rather have earlier hours so I could have more evening time with Drew, and it would also help to avoid the horrid I-85 traffic. But, as that's just about my only complaint, I've been sending up a lot of thankful prayers because I think I'm in just about the best place I could be right now.

Stay warm everyone!

A boy and his cat

Okay, still no "upload photo" button so I think I'm going to have to start looking into this.

At the very least I do have a video for you since I CAN copy/paste YouTube links in here. (I put music over the soundtrack because Jason and I were having stupid conversation in the background... the music isn't a whole lot better though, sorry!)



Drew is really starting to notice the animals. He generally pets them so gently, though every once in a while he'll grab a fistful of fur and yank it towards his mouth. Neither Rico nor Lucy particularly like this, though they do keep coming back for more. (Jibs, apparently being the only smart one, has yet to come near enough to allow Drew to touch him...). I actually have a hard time feeding Drew these days if any of the animals are around- he'll immediately turn his head to watch them then start reaching out to try and pet them. I think he'll grow up to love animals as much as his Mommy and Daddy!

Movin' Baby

While Drew is in no way crawling or walking yet, he is finding his own ways to be mobile. Case in point:

Drew was in the center of his play mat (yeah, way over there in the left of the top photo), but managed to not only scoot all the way to the corner (to gnaw on the post??), but also managed to knock over my glass of water!

And yes, I have begun putting a larger blanket beneath the play mat because of this new ability of his. While we actually vacuum quite frequently in our house (a necessity with 2 cats, a dog, and an very allergy-prone husband) I still don't trust that our carpets are all that clean. And that's even after having them professionally cleaned during my "nesting" phase. But again, there are 2 cats and a dog in this house... I think that's enough said. (What am I going to do when he IS crawling?)

Wordless Wednesday: Cuter than the dog

CatDog

Does anyone remember this crazy cartoon that used to air on Nickelodeon?  My sister and I used to watch it all the time!

Well, my dog seems to be going through an "identity crisis" or something right now.  I've told you before how she acts more like a cat than a dog.  Well, in these videos you'll see her attempting to actually be dog-like...







What I love is that, even though Lucy is actually playing with a ball, she's not playing fetch (even though she does actually manage to toss the ball back to Jason once)... she's "pouncing" on the ball more than anything.

Sigh... I have such a fun house!

Burp cloths

When Drew first arrived the only thing that was "appropriate" to clean up any kind of milk or spit mess was a burp cloth because, goodness knows, you can't dirty the baby's clothes or yourself (oh to be a "new" mom again)!  But since Drew's new favorite thing to do is this....


(In fact, he was doing this alone in his crib this morning while Jason and I listened on the monitor).

And we already know he's a "drew"ly baby....

Pretty much anything around the house is now in danger of becoming a burp cloth.

• A blanket
• A kleenex
• A paper towel
• A sheet
• A pillow case
• Any piece of clothing lying around (except maybe socks)
• Any piece of clothing on my body
• The sleeve of Drew's outfit
• My hand (and then, of course, my clothing)

What's next? My hair? The cats' tails? Maybe the animals should begin hiding...

By the way, my living room is still full of baby bags... I'm just being lazy! Besides, honestly, what else is new?

Drew's other best friend

Drew will probably end up having more fun with our cat Rico as he grows than our dog Lucy. Why?  Because Lucy is really more like a cat, and Rico more like a dog!

Proof?  Well, first there's the fact that Lucy won't play fetch but will chase a laser pointer.  She's also a scaredy-cat.  Just yesterday she jumped up on the couch (where she's not allowed to be) when my husband hammered a nail down in our bathroom.  Then of course there's this...

Yeah, that's Lucy squeezed into the cat bed.

Rico, on the other hand, will shove his head under your hand so you will pet him. He will eat food (his or ours!) as long as it's sitting out.  And, of course, there's this evidence...

He ate my shoe!  How do I know it was Rico and not Lucy? Because Lucy had been gone that whole week!

So maybe Drew will be able to teach Rico to play fetch and get Lucy to chase some string...

And, just for fun, Rico wants to show you how he can model too! I wish I had put out blocks that said "fat cat"!!

Modeling is tiring!

Really I had been lazy and hadn't put everything away from Drew's 2 month photos and of course Rico thought it looked like the perfect place for him to take a nap.  I guess he is a cat!

Drew's best friend

 Other than my boobs of course!

Lucy spending some floor time with Drew

Until this fist came down on her nose

I am hoping that one day these two will be the  best of friends, the way a boy and his childhood dog should be.  I am sure there will lots more "abuse" before then, but thankfully Lucy is an extremely patient girl.

My backyard haven

I'm really loving my backyard this Spring!  Why?

1. My beautiful roses are in FULL bloom this year!

2. I am looking forward to fresh tomatoes, green peppers, basil and parsley!

3.  I can enjoy nice evenings outside with my husband, dog, AND my kitties thanks to the nifty "cat fence" my husband and his dad installed! (A netting that juts out horizontally from the top of the fence)

On the prowl

4.  A family of bluebirds moved in!

Can you see mama bird feeding her babies?

5.  A lot of other birds also show off in my backyard...

I know it's blurry, but can you see the male and female cardinals?

The only problem with my backyard? It's not big enough for one of these...

In fact, it's hardly big enough to do this...

Or this...

Though it does seem to be big enough for this!

I think he'll make a great Daddy!

 P.S.  I'm still trying to reach my *new* Great Strides goal!  Please help!  Check out the box in the right-hand column!

Enjoying Spring (break!)

Flipping through the photos of my spring break I had to laugh at how... girly?... I look.

From photos of my (almost) pink daffodils that were sadly found strewn across my lawn...

Apparently whatever child or animal cut down my

daffodils didn't realize how much it would hurt a

pregnant woman.... I cried over these! :P

To photos of Easter egg dyeing...

To the various craft projects I've been doing to keep myself busy (and get things ready for Floodling!)

Finished products:

Artwork for the nursery wall... these need to be framed still!

 Changing pad covers!  One in use and one waiting! 

I plan on making one more but need more fabric.

And for good measure, a photo of Rico eyeing the measuring tape, which was apparently very offensive to him!

I've had a good break so far though now it's time to really start cleaning.  I always plan to get that done on my breaks but I generally put it off as long as I can.  I did vacuum, sweep, dust, wash windows, etc. the other day, but the house itself is a mess (as can be imagined after the above craft projects).

Oh, did I mention that amid all of the above craftiness, this arrived?? Thank you to my Grandma Paulen and Jason's mom!

I'm so excited about our stroller.  I still want the car seat stroller frame (so we can plop the infant car seat on top and go) but this one does accomodate infants too.

So, happy Easter and happy crafting!!