When Kittens Have Kittens

     About 5 weeks ago, I woke up to Luis informing me that our 6 month old kitten, had kittens.  I thought he was joking...he most definitely was not.

     6 months old people.  That means she was only 4 months old when she became pregnant.  Life lesson learned.  Oh but are they cute.

     When I walked into the laundry room, I was irritated because I had put off getting her fixed (I thought I at least had another month or two) and how could this happen and such.

     Then I looked down and pregnancy hormones took over.  They were so tiny. and cute. and tiny.  They tininess is what brought on the water works.  They were smaller than the palm of my hand.

     The really interesting thing is that Ruby, who has always hated us and wanted nothing to do with any of us except Zuko. (the only one she liked around here was the dog.  Go figure)  Suddenly, I was the most amazing thing in the world to her.  She actually purred and allowed me to pet her.  Even more, was she would whine if I stopped petting her.  It was amazing.  And she stayed that way...until she went missing.

     Yup. about a week ago, I noticed that Ruby hadn't been around all day.  Usually she stuck pretty close to the house, coming in to sit with me watch the kittens play.  Then suddenly: Nothing.

     Leaving me 3 little kittens to raise.  The second day it was apparent she still never came back, we put out some cream for them.  It was too late to get any real food,(she had already worked on weaning them by bringing them...dead stuff.)

     When I did get them real stuff, they went crazy.  Like they swooped in and you couldn't even see the dish underneath.  One even went back for thirds.

     Afterward, it was bath and snuggle time.  They can for sure tell that I'm their new mommy.  They follow me everywhere.  Which wasn't so good when I went down the driveway, and one tried to dive off the ledge to get to me.  I just barely caught him.  I guess you could say I have...cat-like reflexes. *ba-dum tss*

     Seriously though.  It has been rough without Ruby around to teach them things this past week.  Like how to properly clean themselves and where to go to the bathroom.  Or, you know, where not to go. Like in the house, on the welcome mat, and, my poor boys, in the dog food.
     Then there is the worry about what happened to her.  Ideally, it would be nice if someone just found her wandering around(like outside cats do) and picked her up thinking she needed a home.
What we are worried for is that  She either ran off to get pregnant again(I don't think it is likely since she didn't run off the first time.)  Or...she is dead.  I'm still hoping for someone to have taken her home.
     For now though, I will have to play kitty mama while I prepare for my own little one.

Kite Weather

     It has been a tad windy over here the past couple days weeks.  Wind is really the only aspect of the weather I can complain about.  I love the sunshine, and the heat.  Even when it rains, I really don't complain. (with the drought and all, it's actually exciting that it has been raining) Even though I hate the cold, with a jacket, that can be remedied.  But the wind?  bleck. 

     One thing that does make the wind a little better, is Bryan's kite he got for his birthday. 

     I love that we live by a huge field that is perfect for kite flying.  Not too many worries of trees or fences.  Well, there wouldn't be, except Bryan learned how to fly a kite from Charlie Brown.  Which means he just ran and ran.  Didn't quite care what direction.  It took a lot of patience on my end to get him to just stand in the middle of the field and let the wind do the work.

     Eventually he got it down.  It sure made for a fun afternoon.  Even with the wind involved.

Fish the Fish

Meet Fish.

 For Bryan's birthday, one of the things that we went back and forth about, was getting him a fish tank.  We ultimately went for it because Bryan is loving fish right now.  We have a documentary about fish in the ocean and he just loves watching it.

     After talking to a fish guy at the store, and reading up on it, we picked out a tank, then let Bryan pick out a few decorations.  We decided on a 2 gallon filtered tank.  It costs more than a just getting a fish bowl, but it is more low maintenance.  Which is what I'm all about.

    This is also the same reason we decided on a Beta fish, instead of a gold fish.  When I told the fish guy I was going to get a gold fish, his response basically came down to "gold fish are disgusting."  He didn't say those words exactly, but apparently gold fish are one of the dirtiest fish you could get.  Really hard on the filter.  Which means more work for me.  Remember, I'm going for low maintenance. 

     We grabbed a few extra decorations that way Bryan could pick and choose what he wanted in there.  Of course the arch was all him.  He calls it the "Panda"  Because it reminds him of the movie "Kung Fu Panda"

     After washing the Decorations in warm water (gravel too) we were ready to put our tank together.

Grimlock wanted to help

The closeset he would get.

     When you put the gravel in, try to do it gently.  Or when there are no kids around.  The gravel hitting the bottom of the tank was so loud, Bryan wouldn't go anywhere near it the entire day.  If I brought the decorations to him, he would pick the ones he wanted, but he refused to put any in. 

     A small part of me (the OCD/controlling part) liked to be able to put things in the right place, were they would look the best.  Though most of me (the excited/fun mom part)  Was disappointed he didn't enjoy setting up his tank.

     

     After I had it all set up, we put some water and conditioner in the tank to get filtered through.  They suggest filtering it all for 5-7 days before adding a fish, so it was perfect to set everything up before we left on our trip.

     Of course, when we came back, Bryan decided he was no longer scared of the fish tank and that it needed more stuff in it.  So long perfectly placed seashells.

     I was happy he was finally interested, but I did have to fight myself to not "fix" it when he was done.  I also had to try to forget about the big mess Bryan was making.  Since the tank was already full of water, there was a huge puddle on the counter...and the floor...and in a trail leading to the bathroom.

     The good news is, he was finally having fun with it.  The entire bottom is coated with shells, even the not so nice looking ones, and the arch is a little crooked, but he did it And it looks beautiful.

Fish seems to like it.