2 Babies or 2 Cats?

Almost 2 months ago, when I was head deep in the toilet with morning sickness and not anywhere near capable to function as caretaker to anyone let alone myself, our cat got very sick. We came home from a 3 day weekend trip to find our almost 6 year old cat laying on the floor in a mess of blood and vomit. We thought he was dead or very near death.

This cat had been to the vet more than once already because he would spend forever in the kitty litter doing his business and then rub his butt on our carpets when he emerged. The vet decided there was nothing wrong with him and charged us $300 to drug him up and pop his anal glands. The cat seemed to lessen the but rubbing for a few months, or at least he did it when we weren't around, but we still would find vomit every so often and since we have 2 cats we were never sure if it was one cat or both.  

We called the animal hospitals, human society and finally got a hold of the same vet who had looked at him before who agreed to see him late on a holiday. The vet finally discovered the issue was a urinary tract infection, which apparently if not treated right away can be fatal to cats. My husband refused to pay the full amount for all the treatment needing to be done for the procedures, since we felt this should have been caught a year ago when we first brought him in. To save our cats life, I suppose, the vet gave us a discount and threw in a free bag of special food, which we were told he would need to have for the rest of his life and the antibiotics for 1 week. We were told the UTI is something some cats are prone to and this condition is one that may come back. It was then we decided we would be best off to find another home for our 6 year old and 5 year old cats. My husband would be away on business in two weeks and I was in no position to be cleaning litter or taking care of a sick cat. The plan was to have family members come over every afternoon to watch our little boy so I could focus on myself and just getting to and from work everyday, which at that time I sometimes was unable to accomplish. If I had been in my normal healthy state I would have been more upset about giving away our cats, but I knew I couldn't take care of them and having a sick cat around a pregnant woman and a baby was bad news.

First we asked family members and friends if they were interested in taking them in; no one was. They were willing to help out with our one year old, but not our cats. We called shelters, but this would be a last resort since most didn't take adult cats and the one that did was a drop off service that promised to keep them alive for 72 hours, but after that there was no guarantee if the shelter was too crowded. I knew our younger cat would never survive in a shelter because he is wild and scared of people. Knowing him he would get scared and scratch someone and that would be the end of it. Not thinking there was much hope we decided to try posting an add on Craigslist. If you go on craigslist under pets you'll find at least 25 new postings for cats and about 2 for dogs. We didn't expect much but figured why not try anyway. That night at about midnight I got a text. We expected it to be a prank, at that hour, but it actually was an interested family! They had a big mouse problem and we had put on the ad that our cats were great at keeping rodents and roaches away.

 I have to say there are some moments now where I miss our cats but ultimately this was the right decision. I am only now beginning to feel less sick and it is still difficult to chase around an energetic one year old in my weakened hormonal state. Now our only problem is the visiting roach family who got the memo that our cats are now gone.

Baby #2 is on the way!

Hot and Cold with Daycare

We started our son in a home daycare about 3 weeks ago.  The first few times he was a little fussy when we dropped him off but would be playing and fine when I picked him up.  The first few times I picked him up he was very occupied with the toys and didn't even seem interested in leaving.  We started him part time, only 3 days a week and the transition seemed to be going well.  Last week I dropped him off in the morning, which is usually my husband's job because of our shifts and he was very very upset.  He didn't want to walk in the door and kept holding onto me when I tried to put him down or give him to the daycare provider.  I was really upset by this, since I thought he was transitioning well.  I had to leave him crying, but I listened outside the door and he stopped crying right after I left.  When I called an hour later the daycare provider said he was fine after I left and was playing with the toys.  But, then when I went to pick him up he seemed upset again and ran up to me and started clinging to my legs.  If he had always acted like this I would think there was something wrong, but to start acting like this after 3 weeks seems very strange.  He was the same way when my husband dropped him off this morning.  I wonder if he is now realizing we are dropping him here every day or if it could be something else.  He's also teething again, since his fingers are always in his mouth and drool is everywhere.  Could he have more anxiety now because of the teething?  We've decided to give it another week or 2 and see if he adjusts.  It's hard because we both hate to see him this upset, although my husband says he was the same way no matter how good the place was.  He said he was just shy around strangers and would miss his parents and cry when they left him and cry when they picked him up, so I'm hoping it's just an attachment thing which and he'll just need some time to feel comfortable.

My one year old dislikes Sand and Grass?

Granted we are raising this kid in a concrete jungle, but I figured once we exposed him to the beach and grassy parks this summer he would dive right in.  Don't all kids like to build sandcastles and put their hands and feet in wet sand?  I guess not.  At the beach our son sticks right to the sheet we put down and doesn't attempt to play with his cousin with her pail and shovel.  He also had some fear of the ocean this time and when we would stand him in the wet sand he would cry or try to keep his feet up as we hold him, anything he could do to avoid contact. 
At a grassy park with some other kids his age or younger all the other kids are off and running around barefoot exploring the grass and everything in it, while our son prefers to sit on the blanket and play with some cups and a fake picnic basket.  When I try to put him on the grass he doesn't seem comfortable and just stands there for a moment and then quickly makes his way back to the blanket area.  He is fine walking on hardwood floors, linoleum, carpet, on concrete or rubber in the playgrounds, but apparently not sand or grass.  I'm guessing he wouldn't like dirt or mud either.  In some ways I don't try to force this because it will keep him clean but in other ways I wonder if this is normal or if he will have some weird OCD against the playing like other kids do in the natural outdoors.

Mamas please try to control your daughters!

Recently my son and I are walking back from his daycare and this little girl about his age on a leash (see previous post on leashes and how they should be used) walks right up to him and grabs his toy.  The mother is walking on the other side of her daughter but not close enough (it's a long leash) and does nothing to try to get her to give the toy back.  Instead she smiles and says "Besito, Besito," which with even my very poor Spanish I believe means "Kiss Kiss."  So this little girl (who we have never seen or met before) tries to grab my son and give him a big wet smooch.

Now I am not as much of a worrier about germs as I used to be when he was first born, but this was a bit ridiculous.  Not to seem extreme but the mother obviously is not only not reprimanding her daughter for grabbing other kids toys but is actually encouraging her to molest them.  I am not her parent and should not need to be taking his toys back from her or remove her from my son and his things. 

I then say something like "Ok now that was very nice but we need to go" and take the toy from her and try to have my son walk on the other side of me to avoid this little grabby kisser.
Then to my shock the mother is letting her daughter grab onto the stroller which I am trying to push while my son walks next to me and again says to her "Besito Sonya, Besito!"  So the little girl again tries to get to my son to kiss him.  Honestly this was really too much.  Any normal person would see that my little boy is not at all interested in being kissed, nor am I as his mother, and this girl should not be encouraged to walk up to strange boys and kiss them on the street.  I can only imagine what life that will lead her into in the future.  My son is not at all comfortable around strangers and I think this to be a good thing.  I would never encourage him to walk up to strangers (children or adults) and grab them or their things. 

I then had to say "Ok now that's enough  We have to go"  I unlatch the girl from my stroller and pick my son up (who is not at all happy with any of this) and put him in the stroller and make as fast an exit as we can.  As his mother I agree my little boy is very cute and hard to resist, but please try to control your daughters around him!