kittens coming

some of you may remember my little white cat< duchess

well she is very pregnant and about to pop


she got pregnant of course after i made her appointment with the vet
she was literally climbing the walls and windows to get out
she escaped for two twenty four hour periods
i guess that was all it took

Friday Plans

Husband is sleeping in, and girls are watching Blue's Clues. It is a very rainy day. The kind that makes you not want to go anywhere. I was hoping to go to the Friday Friends group a friend of mine invited me to. She lives around the corner and down the street from me and we have known each other since our older girls were 8-12 mos old. Our younger children were born on the same day, about 4 hours apart. Anyway, she goes to the local First Baptist Church where this group meets. It is a small group and I have had a lot of fun going the couple of times I was able to go. The girls have a lot of fun playing with the children, too.

After that I was hoping to go to my mom and dad's house. I have to wash some clothes first, and make sure husband has a ride to and from his office and other work site. I can't leave him stranded. When all the loose ends are tied up, I guess we will be on the road. I have not checked the weather, and I hope the rain stops tomorrow so the girls can play outside some at Grandma's (motherkitty).

This is Friday, so it is garbage day. Yippee. Today I also totally cleaned out the cat litter pan (yuck) so I can start letting the cats back inside the house some. Little Duchess is about ready to pop with baby kittens, so I need to get a place cleaned out in my laundry room for her. I didn't get the carport swept off after hubby mowed, so I also had to sweep and re-sweep the floor because I kept tracking in wet grass and leaves from outside.

So I fed the kids, took out the garbage, had my cup of tea. I had better get off my bottom and get dressed and get going. Must get off the computer and get the kids ready to go. Maybe I will just check my email first.....

photo courtesy of Still Memory

The doctor said mom doesn't have to wear the leg brace all day anymore, just at night. She is doing her first week of physical therapy, five days a week. She is getting stronger every day, though when I have talked to her right after her PT, she is pretty wiped out and ready for a nap. Pretty understandable considering she has not been home from the hospital one week yet. She is using the ice pack machine on her leg, which helps with her swelling, I am sure. Today, mom and dad went out to eat lunch after physical therapy, and I think it was the first time they have eaten out since the surgery. I called while they were at the restaurant. Hopefully I will be able to go and visit within the next week. Tentatively, in my head I think this Friday afternoon and Saturday will work.

I just got my van back this morning, and the girls and I didn't waste any time. We got out of the house right away. We went to Story Hour at the library, through the Wendy's drive-through, and straight to Wal-Mart. By the time we got home the girls were pretty tired. Little One fell asleep right away. Dancer Girl and I read books, played Candy Land and Go Fish until Little One woke up. We also ate some Easter candy. Marshmallow bunnies, yum. Dancer Girl was so tired that she fell asleep on me around five o'clock. So, I decided to watch the news. Woo-hoo. I woke up the girls a little before 6 so Dancer Girl could go to her choir. After that we visited the Golden Arches, and came home for a late dinner/snack, and then to bed.

Husband called from the road after midnight to say he and his brother are on their way home from eastern Ky. My thoughts and prayers are with them on their 8 hour drive home. It is possible I will not sleep much tonite.

gotta go, hear, Mama, Mama ...off to Mommy Duty

6 Weird Things About Myself

1. One of my favorite ice cream combinations is chocolate and orange sherbet.
2. I didn't have a car until I got married
3. I didn't get my driver's license until I was 19. I just didn't care. I knew there would be no car, so why bother?
4. I am excited to go get the mail every day, no matter what is in the mailbox
5. I love to sing and always imagined myself singing to my children and rocking them as infants. The weird thing is that I never did it. Neither one of my girls really liked rocking or singing. Dancer Girl preferred me up dancing, big surprise. Singing was always optional and sometimes distracting, and wouldn't get her to go to sleep. I did not sing to Little One because she absolutely flipped out and started hysterically crying when I tried to sing Rock-a-Bye Baby or other songs to her. And she loves to sing now, usually all by herself. Go figure. Now, they both like me to sing them the 7th Heaven theme song (scroll down to click for song), and the opening and closing songs on Mr. Rogers.
6. I like to take my children everywhere with me, even the grocery store (ok ok, not always....but usually. I was having trouble thinking of #6 with Little One singing, "I'm hungee, I'm hungeeeeeee" in my ear)

tagged by Abandoned in Pasadena

Happy Easter

My irises are blooming, and so are my azaleas. I have a few lily of the valley flowering, and some other perennial with little white bell shaped flowers blooming right now. Sweet husband checked the lawn mower for maintenance for me and then decided to go ahead and mow the front yard. How sweet! My daffodils are all finished. The 4 purple tulips the girls planted in their planter are blooming. I have a climbing rose bush (I think that is what it is....I usually call it my wild rose bush since there is no trellis and it looks wild and bushy no matter how I have tried to shape it) that is getting ready to bloom with dark pink fragrant blooms. I got most of my leaves raked up and whatever is left will probably get mulched into the grass when it is mowed. I know people usually rake their leaves in the fall, but sometimes I get it done, and sometimes I don't. I just try to uncover all the little budding perennials after the frost so they have a chance to bloom. At this point it doesn't look like the blue irises I planted in the fall will bloom this year, but I will wait and see. Maybe they will bloom late. Husband mowed over the little sprouting green leaves of the black-eyed susans that bloom in July and August. I hope they will still bloom, but if not, they will bloom next year.

My husband's brother said he would pick us up so we could go to church for Easter. The mechanic gave me a tentative Monday finish date on the van, so we will wait and see.

Yesterday the girls and I spent a lot of time outside, and then spent the afternoon watching movies. Outside they were fascinated with following a fuzzy caterpillar wherever he went.
We watched the older versions of Freaky Friday, Pollyanna, and the Parent Trap on the Hallmark channel. I know children are only supposed to watch 2 hrs of television a day, but it nvere hrut me :) . I was the valedictorian of my class so I guess I survived it, and they will too. We talked to Grandma (motherkitty) on the phone, and she has Hallmark on her satellite, so she "watched" Pollyanna with us. Check out my dad's blog for more updates.

Yesterday, the girls were not interested in making easter eggs, so we didn't do it. I was a little surprised, but we had a fun day, though not much in the house got done. I haven't even got all the suitcases unpacked from when we got home last Wednesday. They are still piled up on the couch right inside my front door.

Despite all of this, my mind keeps going back in time, trying to imagine what it was like for Jesus and his friends. What it was like for them to have that last Passover meal together. What it was like for Jesus to pray, asking if there was any other way, knowing his friends were falling asleep on him. What it was like to be captured and treated poorly, knowing you have done no crime. I have tried to imagine the pain of the cross, and cannot. I try to imagine the feelings of those who thought Jesus thinking he was God was the most terrible blasphemy of all.

I know it must seem crazy to claim you are God's son, let yourself be killed for this cause. I must seem even crazier because I believe that it is true. I believe that Jesus, whose earthly parents were Mary and Joseph, was God's son from heaven, and that after he became alive again, he went back to heaven. He is getting ready for us, He is praying for us, and preparing places for us to live. God knew that Jesus was only one person, and could not physically be with every single person, so when he left the earth, God sent the Holy Spirit to us, to comfort us and remind us of Jesus and to teach us, and to be with us in ways that Jesus, all by himself, couldn't do. You may say I am crazy, but I am glad there was a cross and a resurrection from the dead. It gives me hope.

Relief

I only have a few minutes to post, I am sure...some little one will wake up and call for me. In the meantime, I wanted to express the relief and thankfulness I am feeling about my mom's knee surgery and her recovery. I am so happy she is at home. I am so glad that dad is there with her. I have no doubt whatsoever that there is no one better suited to help her recover and get strong than him. I am so thankful for all of Motherkitty's blogfriends. I know you have been some of her biggest supporters, and that means a lot to me. It is good to know someone is thinking of you and praying for you, even around the world.

I am temporarily stuck at home because the mechanic has had a lot of trouble replacing a broken turn signal switch on my van. I am spending the time unpacking, cleaning up, taking the girls outside, and thinking of mom and dad.

I am so happy the surgery went well. My mom is so strong, and I have no doubt she is happy and relieved to be home, too. Dad will help her each day to do what needs to be done, and as soon as I am mobile again, the girls and I will start making more regular trips to Grandma and Grandpa's house to help out. Hopefully we will not be in the way.

Seeing my brother and his wife was definitely a highlight of the year. It was so good to see my girls love them and cling to them. I know they have made many wonderful memories. Being with mom and dad before and after the surgery was something I wanted to do. It would not have been possible if it were not for my husband and his mom. They were so sweet to watch the girls. I am so thankful to them because I felt I really needed to be with mom. I don't know if it was just a selfish motive, or if it was for her, but I am glad everything worked out. I was glad that dad didn't have to wait alone during mom's surgery. We had some really good talks together.

So much has gone on that I had almost completely forgotten Passover and Easter. So I hope that everyone has had a good week and made some good memories with your families. I hope you have taken time to slow down and enjoy your parents and/or your children. I hope you have taken time to thank the One True God for the good life He has given us. I am thankful for all that He has done for my family.

The LORD bless you and keep you;
the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.

Numbers 6:24-26

Coming Home Friday

Just talked to mom, & the doc wants her to stay an extra day at the hospital. So hopefully, she will be coming home tomorrow. They want her to be able to flex her knee 90 degrees before they release her. On the CPM machine, her knee bends to 80 degrees, & on her own today she was doing between 60 & 70 degrees flexing her knee. When she gets home, there will be a hospital bed set up in my old bedroom. This is a great relief to me, because her bed is very high and this will make sleeping and getting in and out of bed a lot easier. I don't know if Home Health and the physical therapist will be coming to her house at first or not. I think she is going to try to get out to go to physical therapy and to her doctor visits for labs, etc. She also said she just walked about 200 feet down the hall with her walker, so she is doing very well with that. She also said dad helped her shower and wash her hair this morning, and I know she feels a lot better after that.

The mechanic said one part they ordered for my van should be in today, and that they will call me when it is ready. So I they might be home when I go to get my van. By that time of course I am sure Dad will have rigged up a way for her to post on her blog and play solitaire :).

Astilbes

While I was at my mom's house last week I weeded her flowerbeds a little bit & she showed me her little astilbe sprouts coming up. I have tried to plant astilbes in the fall on one shady part of my backyard fence for 2 years now. When I got home yesterday I saw that 2 plants are actually coming up. Hurray! Hopefully it will fill in & one day look like this...

ok, ok, probably not....just try to imagine few with various hostas, variegated & otherwise in front

Back Home/ Motherkitty update

The girls and I arrived home about 1 o'clock this afternoon. Sweet husband came and picked us up and brought us home.

It was really hard to leave while mom was still in the hospital. She is managing her pain fairly well, and she is doing some really good hard work. The physical therapists and nurses and the doctor are all setting challenging limits for her, but I know that she has her mind set to do what she needs to do to get back on her feet.

Today she said that she used her walker to get to the bathroom to get cleaned up this morning, with only dad's help. I was amazed. Yesterday and the day before (which was Monday, the day of the surgery), they wouldn't let her do anything without the physical therapist to assist her. I am so proud of her. She is not getting much sleep right now, and I am sure she can't wait to get home to her own bed. When I was there yesterday she walked from the bed to the hallway and back with her walker. Today she walked that far and then down the hall a little. She also practiced going up a step today too.

I think she said that one of the doctor's goals was to transition from the walker to a cane after about 3 weeks. Hopefully at 6 weeks, she will be released to go in a pool for water exercise. That would be the very end of May, and my birthday is in the beginning of June. I think she is already planning a pool party!

Here We Go

Well, it is 5:35 am on Dad's atomic clock. He is famous for keeping all the clocks and watches within his reach amazingly accurate, synchronized with NASA, even. I am at my mom's house, due to out-of-my-control broken turn signal on my big green van circumstances. Who would think that such a little thing as a turn signal would wreak such havoc? I was about to say that everyone was still asleep, but even as I think this, I hear a little voice, "Mama! Mama!" Little One wants to nurse and Dancer Girl has to go potty. Now they are both here on top of me, because they don't want to go back to bed without me (it is still very dark outside).

Today, Long Hair Daddy will come and pick up the girls and take them to Grammy's house for a sleepover, and Mom, Dad, and I will be headed to Nashville to settle in before the surgery tomorrow. The girls will stay overnight at Grammy's tonite, but will be back home with their Daddy tomorrow night.

Tuesday morning, Long Hair Daddy and the girls will drive to Nashville to pick me up and check on Grandma. This is going to be a long couple of days. I hope the girls will sleep ok at their Grammy's house. I will certainly miss them, but am glad that my husband and his family are sacrificing so much so that I can be with my Mom right now. I am glad things worked out so that I could ride with them on the trip.

Well, I must go settle the little ones back in bed. As my mom would say, "The natives are getting restless." Thanks to all who thinking and praying for my mom and our family right now. I will try to update Tuesday night or Wednesday morning.

On our way this evening to Motherkitty's house to spend a couple of days with my brother & his wife. The girls are very excited to see everyone. We will be sleeping over at Grandma's for a couple of days for a whirlwind adventure. My brother will stay til Friday. Mom will be too busy to be nervous about her knee surgery on Monday. We will be leaving on Sunday to get settled in before her surgery.

This will only be the 2nd time Little One has stayed all night away from Mommy, & I hope Long Haired Proud Daddy is well rested for Sunday night. The back-up arsenal is all lined up--- good ole uncle brent and grammy will both be available to help with Little One.

I may not come back up for air til Tues or Wed next week. Gotta wash clothes and pack today and try to straighten up some for Long Hair Daddy--he is not as familiar with which laundry basket has clean socks in it :)!