Yet another boy in the family...

Several weeks ago Tony told me his friend's cat had had kittens and the boys really wanted one. I said that we could get one, even before our cat Bob disappeared. This week he was ready to come home and "Blue" joined the family. I love kittens and am a softy for them. It has been five years since we got our last kittens and similar to babies, I've forgotten how much work they can be. So far Blue has adjusted well to life in our crazy house. He was named Blue because he looks similar to a Blue Russian cat breed. He has soft grey fir and big yellow eyes. They boys have a great time playing with him and laughing at his antics. He sleeps in our room and howls if he doesn't have company. Our other cat, Wendel, is curious about him, but Blue wants nothing to do with other cats. Poor Wendel wants to be friends but has been ousted from his soft bed by a kitten a fraction the size of him. I'm hoping once Blue relaxes a bit more at night we can put him in the garage and let Wendel in for some alone time.

Blue loves to play and chase things. Right now he's avidly watching my fingers on the keyboard and pounces on them when they get close to him. My hands are covered with scratches; those baby claws and teeth are so sharp! He sure likes to snuggle too. I've woken up several times the last few nights with Blue wrapped around my neck. He purrs really loud when you snuggle with him too.

Today was Blue's first day outside at our house. We have to be careful with so many places for a kitten his size to hide or get stuck, and lots of dangerous critters at night who would eat him. Here's a few pictures I managed to snap before he attacked me.

I woke him up from his nap in this one. You can tell he wasn't happy about it.

He really likes batting at my flowers.

Gone, but not forgotten

This last week has been a sad one in our family. This morning Tony's grandmother and last living grandparent passed away. She was in a lot of pain and now isn't hurting any more. I'm grateful we were able to celebrate Mother's day last weekend with her. I remember Grandma was in a good mood, talking with the boys and smiling at Cooper, and running over toes with her motorized chair. I'm happy my boys had a last time to visit her and remember her. Grandma's health decline fast after the family get together and fortunately Tony was able to visit with her several more times before she passed. I have fond memories of time spent with Tony's grandparents; camping, talking "Survivor", and watching NASCAR. I'm so happy we lived close enough to Grandma that my boys could get to know their Great-Grandma. We've got pictures of Grandma holding all my boys so she will never be forgotten. She will always be remembered.
This last week our cat Bob also disappeared. Living in the woods is dangerous for a cat. We have cougars, bobcats, coyotes, even the occasional black bear, all of which love a cat lunch. Bob has always stuck around the house pretty close and especially liked being inside. With the warmer weather all the critters have been out and so the cats were wanting out more at night. Last Monday night Bob asked to go out, and didn't come back. Our other cat has been gone for long periods of time, but not Bob. We're assuming that he was lunch for a critter and won't be coming back. His brother, Wendel, is missing him. We're also getting a kitten (not to replace Bob) in a few weeks so that might help give Wendel some company. My boys keep asking about when Bob is coming home. It's hard to explain that he isn't coming home. They miss him so much.

3/4 of a year (really 9 months)

Playing "airplane" with Mommy is one of your favorite things to do!

You are busy chewing on things and the handle of the toy shopping cart is just the right height to gnaw on and work at cutting those top teeth!

Dear Cooper,

You are so busy and big now. New things going on this month: Teeth! You've now got two chompers on the bottom and you like to use them on everything! You have also started eating table foods, with the freeze-dried yogurt drops being your favorite thing to eat. You are now eating at least three meals of solids a day and still nursing several times a night. You've got it down to only one nursing a night, and this Mommy really likes that.

Your babysitter doesn't like that you only will go to sleep if you are rocked or nursed to sleep. Your sitter has been trying to get you to sleep on your own, and you are having nothing to do with it! You have sat in the crib and screamed for a long time, only to fall asleep within minutes of when I am to pick you up!

That's another thing you've developed this last month; your temper. You've never been a patient baby, and have always been very determined to get what you want, but you now throw full-out temper tantrums! If someone moves you away from the toys you are playing with, you will throw yourself back on the floor, arch your back, and scream at the top of your lungs. You would think someone was pinching you as loud as you scream! This makes things interesting when your brothers move you away from their toys, or take their toys from you.

You are wanting to move fast like your brothers that you are now very close to standing all on your own, and will even walk or "cruise" holding on to things. I love it when you let go to reach something when you are standing and then you almost get scared and grab on again.

You still have a very sporadic nap schedule. Sometimes you nap for hours, other days only minutes. It makes getting things done with you around a challenge. At least with the nicer weather (finally) I can sometimes convince you to sit in the stroller and watch me do yard work. Sometimes it works, sometimes you scream until I get you out. You like crawling in the grass, but it hasn't been warm enough to dry the grass so you can go after your brothers.

My little Coop, I so enjoy watching you move and change and grow. Keep growing, but don't change too much, too fast. Let your mom enjoy your babyhood for just a little bit longer.

a second chance

I know I haven't posted much lately about how things are going with my marriage. Tony and I have decided to try and give our relationship a second chance. We discussed getting back together when I returned from spring break and Tony has been spending more and more days and nights at the house with the boys and I. We're planning to move his furniture and stuff from his house back to my house next weekend.
It might seem that this is all of a sudden, but Tony and I never had a typical separation. We had separate houses, but we still stayed friendly with each other and were able to get along most of the time. Though we haven't worked out all our issues, the biggest ones have been mostly worked out. Only a few more things to discuss and work out, but for the most part we are doing better.
That old phrase about absence making the heart grow fonder, I never really believed it, but being separated for two months proved me wrong. Being a single parent is so much more difficult and I found I miss Tony as a partner dearly. It was much easier to forget our problems when we weren't living together. My kids dearly missed having their dad and our family together, but I missed Tony as a partner an we both realized we love each other very much.
This has been a stressful, exhausting, and expensive experience, but I'm not angry that Tony made the decision that let to this. Our marriage had problems and needed help. We're trying to move on from that it was, and instead rebuild our marriage into one that we can both be happy with and keep it going for another ten years. There's enough things to stress out about in our family right now that having my marriage back together just helps us support each other more. I'm happy, my kids are happier, and my marriage is getting better.

Spring Break 2011

Our spring break started at the train station in Centrailia, on the Amtrak to Albany, a few nights with my Grandma Montgomery, then a few nights at my grandparents in McMinnville, then home for Colten's 8th birthday party. Good busy fun for all

Colten's 8th Birthday

Dear Colten,
How did it happen that I am a mother of an 8 year old boy?! It seems like just yesterday I was sending you off to preschool. You are no longer my little boy, but a big boy with definite boy interests.
You really like your Nintendo DS video games, riding your bike, and bugging your little brothers. You are so independent and do so many things on your own. Your favorite thing to do around the house is to go outside and play in the treehouse or the woods, looking at bugs and flowers. You've grown so big you no longer really fit on my lap to snuggle at all. It seems you are all arms and legs now. It also shows in your appetite too. I'm having to offer you seconds at dinner to make sure you get enough to eat. You'll eat just about anything too. Your attitude has also grown, but not in a good way. More and more often I am having to ask you to improve the attitude and be nicer to your brothers. It isn't easy to get you to do something you really don't want to do. You do chores, though you don't like them, but what you detest the most is the homework. I have the most difficult time getting you to complete homework.
This year for your birthday you wanted to celebrate at Chuck E. Cheese's. We invited friends and family and had your party at the end of spring break. You'd been telling your grandma you wanted a monster truck birthday cake, so that's was she made for you. You had the time of your life at your party.

8 months old!

Dear Cooper,

You are 8 months old, that is 2/3 of a year old!

This last month has been a big one for you developmentally. You started crawling and while you were slow at first, you are fast now. You now have free reign of most of the upstairs rooms and love to follow your brothers around and get into what they are playing with. Colten has become your buddy and will move you gently to a new place or help you get distracted if you’re playing with things you aren’t supposed to. He is also great at working the baby gate at the stairs so you don’t fall down them. You are immediately drawn to all the dangerous things you aren’t supposed to play with. It’s not just your brothers’ small toys, but you love cords and plugs. Even worse is that you now pull yourself up on things and stand (you love doing this) and so you now pull all the things on the tables and couch down on you. There are few safe places to put things out of reach of you.

Cooper you are loving eating! You’re up to three meals a day of baby food and as much nursing as you can get. Almost everything I feed you, you scream for more. I think the only thing you didn’t care for was some carrots and potatoes from pot roast one day I ran through the food mill. Even then I think they were just too thick and you couldn’t swallow them easy. You’ve also started eating finger foods too. Some baby puffs and crackers have made it into your slobbery mouth. Your mouth has been especially drooly this last month because you cut your first tooth! I didn’t even realize you’d cut it until your daddy told me he thought he’d felt one in there. You didn’t even need pain meds to cut it! You sure do like to use that tooth too! You like to sink that little tooth into spoons, chewy toys, and of course me. You’ve never really bit down hard on me until today, but it was enough that it hurt!

Your personality continues to show more and more of your true self. You are not a patient person at all. If you want something you’ve started to scream in frustration because of the delay. Your temper tantrums are coming earlier than either of your brothers! You get mad if a toy (or dangerous thing) is taken away from you or you are moved from it. You get mad if I eat before you, if you want to be held and are set down, if I’m in the room and walk out, even just real quick, you scream.

One thing that you’ve shown you do enjoy this last month is bath time. You’ve always liked baths, but now that I sit you up and don’t lay you down on the sponge you enjoy them even more. You get the biggest entertainment out of splashing water all over yourself and mommy. If you sit up your hands are always splashing, if lying down, your feet are kicking like crazy. Water, water, everywhere!

You still enjoy nursing lots, but are becoming distracted by more things and more often. You are also able to tell me better when you want to nurse. You pull at my shirt and make it well known that I’m not moving fast enough for you. Your favorite thing to do when you nurse is touch and stroke your lovey dog with the satin fabric. You still fall asleep often when you’re nursing, but that’s fine with me.

So many changes and you’re growing still so fast. I miss my little baby sometimes, but am enjoying watching you discover the world around you.