And the cat fell in

Sam is not your ordinary cat. He is quite extraordinary.

We did not choose him. He chose us. The cat room at the animal shelter was full of cats - every age and color you could possibly want. We'd narrowed it down to a couple of young kittens when I noticed this black paw madly gesturing (yes, gesturing!) at me.

I stopped and looked. There was a black kitten turning somersaults and shoving his paws out in an attempt to get my attention.

It worked. Eight and a half months pregnant, broken ankle, and five small children in tow, I went back the next day and adopted him.

Ever since then, he's been unique. He LOVES to sit on the edge of the bathtub while someone takes a bath. And we've always joked that we'll just push him in one of these days.

But for a year, he's done nothing more than get the tip of his tail wet. And he only does that so he can flick water in my face.

Tonight, however, Samson fell in.

And I damn near died laughing.

I was in the tub with S. Sam decided sitting on the outside edge licking the faucet wasn't good enough (of COURSE not, how COULD it possibly be??), so he hopped over to the far corner. He was doing fine until he tried to turn around.

And it happened.

Sam fell in.

I put one hand out in an attempt to catch him, mostly because I figured he might freak out and claw the baby and me half to death. It was no good though as he hit the water anyways. It was like something out of a RoadRunner cartoon when Wile E Coyote runs off the edge of the cliff. Samson's legs were all going a million miles an hour. Water splashed everywhere. R and I were literally falling over with laughter (great pet parents that we are). Even baby S laughed with us, although I think he was laughing at Mum and Dad more than the stupid cat.

The cat escaped unharmed and retreated to the bedroom to dry himself off and regain his dignity.

It only took about 15 minutes before he was back, cruising along the side of the tub and licking the faucet.

Stupid cat. :)

There are no words

Every now and again, I click at just the right moment......

There are no words to describe this, I don't think, short of saying he was fine and didn't cry at all. And no, I wasn't a horrible mother who left him on his face while I took a picture - I just captured the precise moment his face met the ground prior to toppling over.

Life is rough when you're 10 months old and can't walk.

The things kids say....

I have an in-home daycare. Parents often send their children sick but try to blame it on teething. Apparently everything from bruises to green snot is caused by teething. So it's kind of become a running joke in our household - every sniffle, ache, pain, or pull is due to teething.

Anyways, this morning, A was sick with a touch of a tummy bug. She kinda took it easy all morning, but was acting normally before long.

Early this afternoon I knew she was back to herself. She came through and said,

"Mom, I'm sick. I need medicine. I must be teething".

It's pretty bad when even my 3yo is cracking jokes about teething.

You know you're a mom when....

You find yourself going to the fridge for a 3rd strawberry to make sure the guinea pigs each have the same number of strawberry pieces and you won't have to break up a fight..... or listen to guinea pig squeaks of "But Mom, she has more!".

I seriously did this. I had two berries and cut each into four, then realized eight did not divide evenly by 3. So NATURALLY I had to get one more. Wouldn't want anyone shortchanged, ya know.

I did manage to NOT sit there and make sure they were shared equally, however...

**sigh**

The power of 3

Have you ever heard that bad things happen in 3's? I wonder what that says about me!! Perhaps good things come in 3's as well, and people just don't realize that.

We started out with one dog. About 6 months after that, we added another. Due to an unfortunate situation, we had to find her a new home. And in losing Lacey, we decided upon Emma. The same night we picked up a puppy Em, stray Susie decided we were her new family.

And then there were three.

When Susie disappeared some 11 months later (just after being spayed, I might add), I swore we'd be a 2-dog family. But the power of 3 overruled, and in my search of the local shelters, I discovered Molly. Who is, quite possibly, the very best dog ever. Enough said.

Then there are the cats. When I moved to the US, I brought with me two cats, Harry & Sally. Walking into WalMart one day, I was greeted by a little girl who held up a tiny kitten and said "Want a kitten?". Naturally, I said ABSOLUTELY and took him home. After an unfortunate accident some months later, we were back to 2 cats. I swore I wouldn't replace Leo. Two was enough. But watching the news one day, they showed the Pet of the Week. An orange kitten. I figured any cat who went on TV and looked like he enjoyed it deserved to have a great home, and Micah came home that evening.

Back to the power of 3.

Last July - almost exactly 1 year ago - my beloved Sally died. It appeared to be a peaceful death. I was 8 months pregnant with a broken ankle and swore NO KITTEN, at least not until the baby was here.

Again, the power of 3 overruled, and Samson came home 5 days later.

So, I have 3 cats, 3 dogs, and 3 children, whom most people already knew about.

Which takes us to last weekend.

H desperately wanted a guinea pig. She's been begging for one for God knows how long. After much research and 1 guinea pig book, R and I agreed to buy her a guinea pig. One. With a small cage.

How foolish am I.

On a whim, I checked PetFinder. Nothing local. So I decided to take a gander at Craigslist. And what do I find there but an ad from May 24th lookng for a new home for "2 lovely guinea pigs". So I went ahead an emailed her on the offchance she still had them.

She did.

Only.....

it wasn't two guinea pigs.

Again, the power of 3 ruled all and we brought home 3 delightful little cavies. Peanut Butter, Blackberry, and Zoe are now the most darling new members of our zoo.

Dh commented that a fourth child is obviously not in the works for us.

Me, I'm not so sure. I'm thinking perhaps a 4th IS in the works... as well as a 5th, and a 6th.

Three girls.

Three boys.

It all has to balance out, right?

Power of 3, after all........

"I hope you don't do that again"

Oh the funny things kids say.

Saturday afternoon, we had some friends and their 5yo daughter over for dinner. After the children were finished and the adults were still eating, H excused herself to use the restroom.

Shortly after, she hollers, "DADDY! I pooped!". She wants him to come and help her wipe. I don't really know why, as she is perfectly capable of wiping her own bottom, but I guess maybe it's just a 5yo thing. So off he goes.

As he's in there helping her, all hell breaks loose and she begins screaming, "I WANTED TO DO IT!!!".

When R returned to the table, I asked what was going on. H was still screaming. He explained he'd flushed the toilet, and apparently she wanted to.

Now the thing about H is that about 95% of the time, she refuses to flush. I don't know why. But if you accidentally flush for her the other 5%, she flies off the handle. And this is, unfortunately, what happened.

Being the mother, I'd had enough of the screaming, so I walked through to the bathroom and threatened her with no guinea pigs. She immediately stopped the screaming. I told her to wash her hands, hang up her towel, and then apologize to Daddy for screaming at him.

Shortly after I sat back down, she came out and told me she'd washed her hands and hung up her towel. She then turned to her father and said,

"Daddy, I'm sorry I screamed at you. I hope you don't do that again".

Which naturally had us adults cracking up in her subtlety. Of course, we'd all had wine and beer, so perhaps it wasn't quite as funny as it seemed, but I dunno, we were all rolling.

What did we laugh at before children?

"What the hell was that?"

That is what came out of my 5yo's mouth yesterday as she stepped on something in the kitchen.

After biting my lip so as not to laugh out loud, I reminded her that we do not use words like that.

She looked me straight in the eye and said "But YOU do, Mom..."

Busted.... by a 5yo. :)

(for the record, just so you all don't think I'm a horrible person who lets their child have a potty mouth all the time, I DID tell her there are some things that are okay for mommies and daddies to say, but not children. And I also made a mental note to myself to wash my potty mouth out. :) )