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Animals in Revolt
Remember when Leela tried to up and die on me?
Well now Sam Cat decided that he needs his moment in the spotlight and started peeing blood. When I saw the litter box, I thought that couldn’t be good, but didn’t freak because surely UTI right?
So we took him to the vet where they ran us up another nice big bill (I could really use that buy three visits get one free card now).
Turns out is exceedingly rare for a male cat to get a UTI, because as my vet so visually described it to me, their pee hole is the size of the tip of a ballpoint pin. (I’m not joking, he really broke out the pen to show me just how small we’re talking about here).
Instead, he says, male cats tend to get blood in their urine when they’re stressed.
Now, I’ve seen stressed cats.
When we first moved into our new house, Angie Cat took up residence underneath the comforter at the foot of our bed and wouldn’t even leave to eat for nearly three months. She lost hair and dropped a ton of weight. That was a stressed cat.
Sam though? That cat struts around our house like he’s the king of the world and we are all his devoted minions. He has window ledges he spends the vast majority of his time in all day. He has two dedicated litter boxes and swipes at the dogs when they are stupid enough to challenge him (though mostly they just run from him). He does not, in any way, appear stressed.
The vet says a new baby could bring on that kind of stress. Ok, but Sarah isn’t really new, though she is new to walking. Maybe her screeching meows and full body runs at him are a bit stressful, though he doesn’t hesitate to retreat to his window ledge if she’s being unruly.
At any rate, our vet suggested we put him on Prozac. PROZAC. For those keeping count, that would mean Bonnie is on her bladder control meds, Leela is on her monthly steroid shot and Sam would be on Prozac.
I nixed that idea. Especially since the vet said that combined with a number of other things may reduce the chances of this happening again by 50%, maybe.
Of course all this could mean he needs more water and some antibiotics. So we went that route and bought a fancy cat water bowl to induce him to drink more.
I think I need a constantly running fountain for ME to drink from, in particular one that spouts wine would be lovely.
Of course, my vet said, this could happen to Sam again one day, clog up his pee hole and kill him in less than two days. So there’s always that bit of joy to consider.
Honestly, we’re going to give this water bowl and antibiotic business a try, make sure he goes out at least once a day and see what happens. If this continues, we may have to find him a less stressful environment to live in, because I love that cat and no way I’m going to let him die a painful death if I can help it. Let’s hope sparkly magical water bowl does the trick.
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Beach: The Finale
The remaining three days at the beach were a dream. The weather was perfect, the food was great and we met up with some old friends we hadn’t seen in 12 years. I really could live down there for a while. Gorgeous.
Here’s the rest of my favorite photos from out trip:
Relaxing in mama’s chair
Loving the waves
Loving on his mama
Digging
Cool dude
Kisses
Play time
The Fam
Bushwhackers with mom at Harry T’s
Old Friends
Can we please go back now?
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Beach Part 2: The Wedding
The main reason we ventured down to Ft. Walton Beach was for my sister’s best friend Kari’s wedding. Shannon was the Matron of Honor, my nephew was the ring barer and I was the photographer.
Despite the morning rain, the weather for the wedding was perfect.
Only one misstep happened when my nephew Jacob tried to swallow the wedding ring, leading the officiant to say, “Holy Mother of God, where’s the ring?!” while the groom frantically asked if he had swallowed it. Turned out the little guy had spit the ring right back out and it had landed in his front pocket. No harm done, just lots of laughs!
Here are a few photos I took from the wedding.
My nephew cutting up during the ceremony. Good thing my sister could handle him.
With this ring…
Bridesmaids with the bride and ring barer.
Love birds.
Sunset.
Dip and kiss.
Thumbprints = the most awesome guest book ever.
Matron of honor speech.
Sparkly.
This was one of the most beautiful weddings I’ve ever been to and I was so honored to photograph it.
Congrats Kari and Chris!
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Beach Part 1
Despite contracting a version of strep throat that took over my face, ears and whole body, I drugged myself up and seated myself inside the crowded Pathfinder with my mom, sister, daughter and nephew for the nearly 10 hour drive to Ft. Walton Beach, Florida. The drive was surprisingly not that bad, thanks in large part to the dvd players my sister’s friend loaned us (though I can now sing every lyric of every Veggie Tales Silly Song ever made). Our only real hiccup was the crazy storm that waylaid us in Mobile, complete with flash flooding and a near nervous breakdown on my part.
This was my view in the car.
But, we made it! And then I crashed, overcome by flash flooding anxiety, the infection taking over my body and “the drank” cough syrup. Thank goodness my sister volunteered to grocery shop and whip up some spaghetti.
I spent most of my full day there sleeping. I would have felt really guilty about making my mom miss the beach to watch Sarah, but it was raining. The rain broke that evening and we felt good enough to wander down to the beach. It was overcast and beautiful.
Turns out Sarah and Jacob had a healthy fear of sand, so I just plopped Sarah in my lap and enjoyed the beach. She didn’t mind one bit.
And I totally won the “hat must stay on your fair head” battle.
How beautiful is that sand and water…. and baby?
The beach did me so much good that I even managed to drag myself to a restaurant for Kari’s rehearsal dinner. I mean, it was at McGuire’s Irish Pub after all, totally worth it.
My sister and my nephew got all dressed up.
And so did we!
Jacob especially enjoyed the dinner and had no problem eating lemons and chugging water straight from the pitcher. I know his daddy would be proud.
And that was only the first two days! Get ready for a lot more photos… especially of babies on the beach.
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And Then I Almost Died
I had big plans this past weekend and I just knew it would provide great blog fodder. We were going to south Louisiana for an Italian wedding then having a New Orleans style brunch with some of my family that live down there. I was so looking forward to it and had been for months.
The night before we left was weird. I was up all night, first with the chills, then with night sweats and I honestly thought that weaning Sarah was leading to some insane hormonal crisis. This should have been a warning sign.
As we drove down the interstate I started feeling worse. My stomach was hurting and I just didn’t feel right. When we finally made it to the hotel, I crashed, which meant we were late getting ready for the wedding.
We arrived at the wedding and sat down and then I really started feeling bad. I got weak and shaky.
For whatever reason, the guy marrying them was on a proselytization kick and spent over an hour of the ceremony literally Bible beating, telling us about his adulterous affairs, his drug and porn habits and how Jesus saved him, which, fine dude, but so inappropriate for someone else’s wedding. He then launched into a spill on (to a room full of Italians and south Louisianians) how the catechism was useless and his Catholic Church never gave him scripture. I thought there was going to be a lynching.
On top of the tirade, Sarah was a busy body and she would periodically giggle. Every time she giggled, crazy preacher would stop talking and stare us down. She also kept trying to crawl into my lap. Normally that would be fine, but I was feeling bad.
An hour into the tirade Mark looked at me and asked if we needed to go. I told him we did. We made a not-so-stealthy exit and Mark drove me back to the hotel, where I discovered I had a 102.2 fever. Geez. To top it off, I felt sick to my stomach and my throat was starting to hurt.
I felt bad for missing out on the wedding and keeping Mark from it as well (though Sarah, who stayed with the rest of Mark’s family, was apparently had a blast).
I stayed in bed for as long as I could until we had to leave. My in laws were awesome and watched Sarah for me the rest of the weekend since I was completely incapable. By the time I got home, it felt like there were razor blades in my throat.
It’s quite fitting that the only picture I managed to take the whole weekend was of my father in law loving on Sarah.
I started to get anxious because, you see, I’m supposed to leave for the beach tomorrow and photograph a wedding there Friday. This morning, I called my family medicine doctor and dragged my sick butt in.
Are you ready for this?
I had strep throat, a sinus infection and an ear infection. No wonder I felt so terrible.
I’ve been loaded up with tons of medicine (including something with the street name “the drank,” which sort of makes me nervous). They gave me a shot too and for the first time in five days I’m up at my computer.
Do I still feel like crap? Well, honestly, yes. But, at least there are no longer razor blades in my throat and I can drink some of that sweet “drank” tonight and get a good night’s sleep.
Now, let us all pray that Sarah stays healthy for our trip and that I survive the long drive tomorrow.
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Backyard Babe and Borders
The weather has been gorgeous lately, so we’ve been spending some time in the backyard. I wish Spring weather lasted longer. Sarah and the girls are eating it up!
Birthday beach toys!
Bonnie Barrel likes to hide behind the wagon.
Say Cheese.
Our beautiful Leela girl is feeling back to her old, happy self.
She’s going for that windblown look.
Is the weather beautiful where you are?
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Koyasan
I’ve been caught up in this book for the past few weeks and I’m still not done with it. 1Q84 was on all the lists of the top 10 books of 2011 and it’s written by one of my favorite authors, Haruki Murakami, a master of magical realism and alternate realities.
The author is Japanese and the story takes place in Japan. As a result, I’ve been thinking about the country quite a lot.
As many of you know, I visited the country with one of my oldest and best friends Becki in the summer of 2008. Just the other day she posted this on my Facebook wall:
How strange that she should put that as I’ve been thinking a lot about our time there lately.
It’s funny how having the experience of a place can give you a better sense of a story that takes place there. It’s also interesting that things in the book make me go back and look at my time there in a new light.
Koyasan, the place Becki mentioned, was a once in a lifetime experience. Becki completely planned our trip there and even though, or maybe especially because, it was more complicated to reach Koyasan, it was the best part of the trip.
The train you take to get there isn’t on the JR rail pass, but with the help of a nice English speaking man, we managed to get tickets on the right train. The voyage there is stunning. The train actually goes up Mount Koya and the views are gorgeous.
Once you get off the train, you have to get on this really steep cable car for another 5 minutes up the mountain. From there you take a bus that winds up the mountain – which is scary. But, once up there the weather is about 20-30 degrees cooler (and considering how unbareable the heat in Osaka had been, I was in heaven.)
Mount Koya, as the name implies, sits at the top of a mountain in Japan. It is the center of Shingon Buddhism, which, up to that point in my life, I knew absolutely nothing about.
When we arrived I was amazed by the quiet and tranquility of the small city. It was full of beautiful traditional Buddhist temples and you see monks wandering the streets.
Thanks to Becki, we had lodging all lined up in a Buddhist temple. We slept in Japanese-style rooms on tatami mats and abandoned our shoes at the door. We were served vegetarian meals at floor tables and sat next to other tourists from across the globe.
At the temple, the only bathing option was, again, Japanese style. This meant a community room for women with individual washing stations and giant, steaming wooden baths. Before going to Japan, the communal bathing freaked me out the most. But once I experienced it, it really was nothing to worry over.
Part of staying at the temple was attending morning prayer services. We didn’t have to participate, but we sat and watched as the monk chanted and the worshipers stopped at different stations around the room and bowed.
During the day we wandered through the temples and walked through a huge, ancient graveyard down to a lantern temple. It was like something out of a gothic fairy tale. The graveyard was phenomenal, huge and beautiful covered in stones and Buddha statues.
The temples were all different. Some were elaborately decorated, others were simple. All were quiet.
I was amazed by the beauty and stillness of it all. We were only in Koyasan for a short time, but if I ever make it back to Japan I will definitely return to that sacred city on the mountain.
p.s. Nothing reminds me more of a Murakami story than this photo I took of the cat lounging by an entrance to an ancient temple.
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Happy Birthday Mark
April is such a great month. The weather is beautiful and I get to celebrate four very important birthdays: Sarah, Jacob, Susan and Mark.
Today is Mark’s birthday.
What can I say about the man I’ve loved for nearly nine years?
I can say that, even though he doesn’t think so, he deserves something nice for his birthday. (This year I surprised him with a Kindle Fire and a cookie cake).
I can say that sometimes in the mornings when I’m out and around the house getting things ready and I hear him singing the Cat in the Hat theme song to Sarah, my heart melts and my face splits into a giant grin.
I can say that when Sarah was sick and I was in the middle of deadline week he willingly volunteered to watch her at home by himself all week and did a fantastic job.
I can say that he tells me he loves me every day.
I can say that there is no other man so perfect for me or so well deserving of a good birthday.
Happy Birthday Mark!
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The Birthday Party
Man was it a crazy weekend! Saturday we celebrated Sarah’s birthday out at Mark’s family farm… which is literally out in the middle of nowhere. We marked the path with balloons for our guests who ventured out that way. My grandfather thought it was a joke and that we were leading him on some wild goose chase. Lucky for him, he made it to the country party on one of the most beautiful days of the year.
Because Sarah loves to dance to the “Hot Diggity Dog” song on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, I decided to use that as our theme.
I made banners:
(You know you’re in the Southern country when deer antlers accompany your decorations).
And I made a wreath for the door. (That’s the party invitation at the bottom of the wreath).
And because I’ve become obsessed with baking, I made two different kinds of cupcakes, both from scratch (and also learned that I would totally fail with the time constraints and creativity needed to do Cupcake Wars).
These were the favorite: Oreo cupcakes from Annie’s Eats.
But I also made yellow cake with chocolate icing per my husband’s request.
And the birthday girl? She approved of the cupcakes!
And the presents.
And baby Evelyn made sure the grown-up food was yummy too.
So many friends and family helped us celebrate!
And Leela had a great time too.
What a fun party!
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Happy Birthday Jacob!
Shortly after learning I was pregnant, my sister learned that she was also pregnant.
Sarah was born April 11, and four days later my sister gave birth to my nephew, Jacob, on April 15.
These two have grown up side by side, but are completely different children. Where Sarah can be shy and demure, Jacob can’t be held down and doesn’t meet a stranger. Where Sarah loves books, Jacob loves diving into the pool head first. Sarah is fair-skinned and blue-eyed and Jacob has olive skin and is brown-eyed.
Both are amazing kids though and love each other.
Sorry this is a day late, but Happy Birthday sweet Jacob and congrats to your mom for making it a whole year!
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