Cats

This morning Mickey was fishing for Gooey Fish to feed the cat. On Handy Manny, Mr. Lopart gave an oration of how much he loved Fluffy. On our way to school, we found Smokey dead in the street.
On such a day seemingly dedicated to cats, we were heartbroken to find ours in rigor.
He was a really pretty cat. Everyone always thought so. Fittingly, he died...prettily. His eyes were open, his fur blowing in the wind....his tail still fluffy, all as if he were frozen in time.
My heart hurts for my husband. Smokey picked him at the pound. He was a gorgeous 10 month old grey and white cat with white "socks". He loved on Michael and it was all over. The next day, we rushed back to adopt our kitty. Michael was indeed his Owner. He would play-fight with him and nip at his hands. He'd always come when Michael called and his favorite spot every night was lying at Michael's feet. Ever so often, Michael would awake to find that Smokey had snuck up beside him and was stretched out as long as a cat could be along his side.
My heart also hurts for my daughter. "Meow" trumped anything...even Grandma. Any time Smokey walked through the room, my little cherub's eye's would light up and a resounding "meow, meow" would fill the room. I'm pretty sure it was her 2nd word. They would spend evenings playing chase. The cat would run and Addison would chase him. She LOVED this game. I don't think he minded much either because he would only run as far as to get out of reach and would wait until Addison came toddling back over to him. He'd even grin and bear it as she grabbed handfuls of fur and buried her face in his fluffy coat. He was a good good cat. And I am sad he's gone.

Roseola

Do you remember the huge box of Crayola crayons that you used to play with as a child? Roseola should be one of those crayons in the red/pink area. It sounds so much prettier than what is. What it is - a miserable 4 days of fever in the 103 range with a grand finale of full body, itchy rashes. Last week was not a fun time. To add to the chaos, my father had to have emergency surgery on his abdomen for a kinked intestine. He's still in the hospital and tomorrow will be day 8, but in the meantime, he celebrated both his birthday and Father's Day from the 2nd floor of Trinity Hospital. My sister has had a better time of it lately. She's recovering from her 3 consecutive back surgeries and is working 4 hours a day.
Even as I sit here, Addison has just fallen off of her mini recliner and now has a black puffy eye.

Oh Dear

I logged on tonight to post. Being a design geek, I was drawn to the glowing tab that blogger had depicting a new design feature. Before I knew it, I was clicking away, playing with all the new toys. Much to my dismay, the changes I had made stuck and my Gerber daisies were no more. So, welcome to the new blogger background. It's impromptu and has sucked out all the inspiration I had for the night. Oh well.

Precious and Priceless

I really want to install hidden cameras in my house.

Tonight they would have captured a 45 second session of face mimicking between Addison and I during our nightly teeth brushing routine. She likes it when I copy her silly faces and it's even more exciting when there's a mirror. She has to look from the mirror to me and back just to make sure that I'm the one making that face she sees in the reflection.

Other days those cameras would help me find all those hidden sippy cups. Addison is a master magician when it comes to a disappearing cup. It's the reappearing part that is never quite so pleasant with it's fermenting juice or clabbored milk.

I'd need night vision cameras in the nursery...with high quality audio.

That way you could hear my baby humming in a small, sleepy, squeaky voice as I sing along with her bedtime CD while we rock.

If there were hidden cameras, you could witness my tiny thief as she snatches a newly folded towel from the finished laundry and scampers to the other side of the bed with a huge grin on her face. She thinks it's very funny. And it is.

It's too bad that everyone can't see these moments. They are precious and priceless.