A (Fur) Baby in Salem

Not much is new with our human baby, though s/he should be nearly two pounds now. That's a very exciting fact. We don't think that we'll have a premature baby (who ever expects that they will?), and most first babes are born at 41 weeks, but ever week or milestone that we pass gets a small sigh of relief. We were psyched to hit viability at six months, especially because my mom was born at six months. We're very pleased to be days away from seven months. Then only three more to go! As for me, I'm still feeling great. My belly keeps getting bigger. We don't have any new belly shots, but we will when we get home from Brandy and Yuri's wedding. My belly growth and the associated ligament stretching did finally make us lower our bed this weekend. It was originally ~3 feet off the ground and we've lowered it to 2-2.5 feet, which has made a great difference in my ability to get in and out of it.

Lots has been going on with our fur babies though. (For those who haven't figured it out, the full title of our blog is: A Baby in Salem and His/Her Cat-Obsessed Parents.) A few weeks ago Mabel had an oral surgery (a kitty multi-root canal) scheduled that she really needed. We had to cancel it during her pre-op appointment because the doctor heard a cardiac arrhythmia that she's never had in the past, and she can't go under general anesthesia until it is diagnosed. So, she has an echocardiogram scheduled for tomorrow morning. Yep, they do those. Nope, they aren't cheap. Yep, they can be covered by pet insurance. Nope, we can't get hers covered; it's a pre-existing condition. And, yep, we really love our pussy cat. We're hoping the arrhythmia was just a fluke and that she doesn't have a heart condition. However, since canceling her surgery, one of the teeth she needed to have work done on became loose, keeping her from eating solid food. So, Mabel was on a homemade puree diet this week. David really loved the cost of making our own cat food, and I liked the health benefits it provided (God did not intend for cats to survive on carb-filled meat-flavored cereal.), so we'll most likely keep it up. I've also been on a puree kick with our CSA. Stuff that we have been getting a lot of has been pureed and then put into other dishes (pumpkin/yellow squash/carrot muffins, or spaghetti pie with kale puree) Anyway, back to Mabel, her tooth did eventually fall out this weekend and she can eat solids. And yep, the tooth fairy did come.

This last week we did get a lot done though.

• I lost my cell phone, so we ordered a new one.
  
• We sent in our absentee voter forms, in case the baby is born during election week.


• Maxwell took my vacation scrapbook off the to-do list by going to the bathroom on all of my photos, mementos, and supplies because David closed the cat closet and forgot to open it for 18 hours. Ugh. Yep, I was pissed (forgive the pun).


• We're finishing up our Christmas and fall/winter birthday shopping, and yesterday I started wrapping. We're not traveling for the holidays, but we would prefer all holiday prep to be done before November.
• I dyed some more white baby stuff we had to a nice chocolate brown.


• I also made a ring sling this week, which took about $15 and 30 minutes. Below is David forcing the cats to be cradle-hold models; it was a lot easier to get McIntire the Bear into a kangaroo hold.

On a completely non-baby (human or fur) related topic, but something just for a laugh: David was apparently over-dressed for his haircut today, as the woman (~55) in the chair next to him was getting her hair cut in her bathing suit. I had to leave because I couldn't stop giggling. We do live by the beach, but we live in Massachusetts, not Florida.