Well, it appears that our kittens have moved on...

We were getting all ready to try and find the mama cat's owners. We made up posters in photoshop

While this may be a catchy title for one who wishes to write about how crazy life can be in the city-that is not at all what I am here to say. No, I am here to tell you all about some wild life that we have in the city. In fact, this particular wild life seems to have taken up residence in our backyard.

We don't have a very big backyard. We live in a duplex! But we have enough room for a two car carport, and 3 small decks at different levels. On the back of the middle deck, we have a storage shed. The other day I walked to our back door and peered out into our small backyard, only to see a cat laying by our shed. Then I looked closer- this cat was either very fat with multicolored fur on its belly that moved independently from the rest of its body, or there were several kittens wrestling over each other to get an afternoon meal.

Apparently, within the last few weeks this mama cat (who has a collar) decided to have a litter of 6 kittens underneath our shed. And as near as I can tell, our backyard is the only place these little kitties know so far. The mama, and who we presume to be the dad come and go through holes in our fence. But the six kittens seem content to romp, play, climb trees and make their home in our yard. They are quite afraid of us. If they hear the slightest noise they retreat to the safety of the shed.

So then, I am wondering what we ought to do with these cute balls of fur. Timothy and I are not interested in all of a sudden having six cats of our very own. I might be interested in keeping one as an outside cat, but I am guessing that wont fly too well with Timothy. (See, the cat would be my responsibility, but we want a big family, and I can't change litter when I am pregnant. I can't do that to Timothy, who doesn't like cats very much (he had a bad experience.)


Any ideas? I thought about trying to catch them and put them in a box with a sign saying "Free Kittens", but catching them is the tricky part considering they aren't too friendly yet. I hate to call animal control, but perhaps we will have to eventually. Anyway, I am open to your advice!

Hello to All!

It has been nearly three weeks since Israel's birth, and I finally finished my personal journal entry of the event. Now, I might be able to find the time to finish this blog entry for those who have asked, and for all who have been curious.

I think that most of you know, but just in case you didn't, Timothy and I decided to have Israel at home rather than in a hospital. This came after much research, talking to others who had done home birth, and meeting the most wonderful midwife you could ever imagine. I am so glad that we went this way. Home birth was a wonderful experience, and I will be doing it again with more children as they come.

I woke up around 4:30am on January 17th (Israel's due date) to little contractions. I began timing them, and they were fairly consistent. So I woke Timothy up and told him that we ought to start really paying attention. Around 5:30, the contractions continued to be steady, so we went over to the room my parents were staying in and let them know the news. At this point, I took a nice warm bath while Timothy got the bedroom all ready. Around 6 we called Donna (our midwife) to let her know the update.

By 8:00am (when the midwives arrived) I had already dilated to 5 cm. It was SO encouraging that I had not had a hard time yet at all, and I was half way through! It was also encouraging to confirm that all that had happened up to this point was real labor and not a false alarm :). From this point until 5:30 pm it was rather uneventful. Labor simply progressed. The contractions got harder, and I had to work more to keep relaxed, but overall time just passed. I remember looking up at one point and all 3 midwives were sitting reading books, while Timothy and I labored. Donna said that she had never (in 3000 deliveries) seen a first time mom so relaxed during contractions. She said I looked like I was asleep, and it was hard to tell when I was even having a contraction.

Which reminds me- Timothy was AMAZING. He was such a great coach, and I leaned so heavily on his support- (heh) quite literally at times! There were points during labor that a contraction would come while I was standing up. In oder to manage pain, I was supposed to COMPLETELY relax. So, I would put my arms around Timothy's neck and just go dead weight on him (ALL 177 lbs of my 9 months pregnant self). Anyway, my husband is incredible, and he worked so hard that day! He interpreted every whisper, tap and direction perfectly. He is the reason that I labored so well.

So then, around 5:45 or so it was time to push. I hated this part, but thank goodness it only lasted 45 min. The last couple of pushes I would let out bursts of prayers. "Oh Jesus, please let this be the last one!" Finally, he came, and there was such relief! When they told me that it was over, I leaned back and exclaimed, "Praise the Jesus."
Now, when people heard that we were doing a home birth, out came lots of stories that went, "It's a good thing we were in the hospital because _______ happened." Well, our birth didn't completely go without a hitch. Yet, we were still so thankful that we were at home. On the second to last push, the midwifes couldn't find Israel's heartbeat. (It has been strong all the way to this point.) Our midwife calmly told Timothy "you need to pray for the safety of your son." When he first came out he had the cord wrapped around his neck (which is really a rather normal occurrence). Once they were able to unwrap it, his core was pink but his arms and legs were blue. He had no reflexes and a weak cry. They massaged him, and prayed, and told the grandparents (who were huddling outside the door) to pray. Within minutes he was doing 100% better, and let out a cry with gusto that let us know he was not happy about what he had just been through!

We are only 4 weeks away from little Israel's due date, and only 1 week away from him being considered full term. We are getting so excited. We are pretty sure that we have everything that we need to start off this new adventure. The onsies, diapers, blankets, sheets, wipes, rattles, birthing supplies, sheets, car seat, stroller, etc, etc, etc... are all crowding the guest bedroom bed until I get a few storage things to organize it all.

I am getting rather ready for this baby to come. My pregnancy has been soooooo easy- but the larger he gets, the larger I get, and the harder it is to do normal things around the house: like picking up anything off the floor, or getting out of bed,or riding in the car (my seat is tilted way back)! Yes, I am getting ready to have a small tummy again. But even more so, I am really getting ready to be able to see this sweet boy's little face, and fingers, and toes.

It's Christmas time again, and what a year to reflect on. God has brought us through a lot this year, and has taught us even more. How thankful I am to be settled into our home, and living in a place that we would like to be for a while. We are in God's hands though, and whatever He says, goes. But right now, we are here, and doing very well.

Marriage is still absolutely amazing, and gets better every day. I suppose that is odd to hear from someone who has been married over 1 1/2 years. It doesn't seem like a long time, but with the knowledge that many marriages dissolve by now (or at least bad habits have been formed after the first year of bliss wears off into everyday life), it is wonderful to me that we are still newlyweds- or at least we feel like it. Everyday life has crept in, but good habits have been established, good patterns are abundant, and we are still so in love (by choice and feeling). I would say that our 8% theory from early in our dating relationship still is quite accurate (yes, still with only 2% hard stuff- and for those of you who know what this year has been like for us that is saying something!). (If anyone has no clue what I just said, and would like to know about our 8% theory just let me know :)) Le sigh... I have such a wonderful husband. And you can tell him I said so!

Originally, I wasn't going to write anything meaningful at all in this post. I was just going to post some more "funny kitties" pictures. But I guess I had some things to get out to the world! So, now you get a special bonus! Here are some more of my favorite pictures from icanhascheezburger.com... Merry Christmas!