Goodbye and Hello

It was so hard to say goodbye to my sweet Monica, but I know it was the only option. All the money in the world couldn’t have saved her. The veterinarian who came to the house did an amazing job, as did the staff at the animal crematorium. They were so professional and caring, and gave me a little certificate proclaiming she was treated with dignity and respect. I cried daily for about a week - first the diagnosis, then the grim news there was nothing to be done, then her health fading literally overnight, then the vet coming, then the crematorium calling, then the trip to pick up her ashes, then putting together a memory book, then my first few mornings without her on my bedside table meowing for breakfast, then, then….lots of thens when you’ve had a loyal pet for almost 11 years.

I wrote a post about how awesome she was and all the things that made her unique, but decided to save it for myself. It wouldn’t make very interesting reading for anyone who didn’t know her. I don’t think I could even choose one favorite thing about her to say here – there were so many!

Felix comforting Monica.

I lasted a whole week before browsing available kittens and cats online. I was looking for a light-colored female for allergy reasons, figuring I’d just see what’s out there and wait a month or so before going to get one. None of the shelter cats were said to be good with kids or other pets (I guess that’s why they’re there…) so I checked Craigslist. Someone had just posted about a litter of kittens available and it sounded like they had an orange female, like Monica was. It’s unusual for orange cats to be female, so I decided to go see her.

Felix and I drove 30 minutes to get to the house, and I told myself the whole way there that if she was too furry (allergies), too young, or didn’t have the right personality, I wouldn’t take her home. We got there, and not only was the kitty way too furry, she had a serious eye infection (which could signal a viral issue). When I said she wasn’t going to be right for us, the family said, “Oh, we have other kittens!” So we went to a back bedroom where 3 mama cats were with their 3 litters, all born around the same time. Most of the kittens had darker Siamese markings, and while cute, weren’t going to work in terms of personality and coloring. Then I spotted a little white kitty with just a hint of orange on his ears and tail…and the rest is history. We named him Leo and he is Felix's new best buddy.

Leo on his first night home.

Leo and Luisa met in person after about a week. They're aren't quite cuddling with each other yet, but they get along great.

Sucker Punches

Last Friday, less than 3 weeks from closing on a super cute house, my mortgage broker called and told me she'd screwed up. She had mistakenly approved me to buy before selling my current house. Unless I get an offer on my townhouse this week, the deal will fall through. All the time and energy I've spent house hunting since January has been for naught, not to mention the more than $1,000 I've spent on inspections and earnest money payments.

On Tuesday, my sweet little cat Monica was diagnosed with cancer. Yesterday I got the grim news that there's no way to treat it. (She has pet insurance so I was willing to try almost anything.) She has gotten so sick so fast, it's hard to believe. Today will be her last day with us. If she doesn't pass on her own, I have arranged for a veterinarian to come to the house tonight. I wanted Monica's last hours to be spent at home and not taking a stressful car ride to the vet clinic where she'd sit in a metal cage till they got to her.

Last night I put her paw prints on a couple of picture frames and made clay paw print ornaments for each of the pets. I have decided to have her cremated and will bury her ashes under a new tree at the new house...whenever that happens.

Birthday Week!

Felix turned 2 on Wednesday and I took the morning off work. We had a leisurely breakfast and I let him open a gift before we took our traditional birthday trip to the zoo.

Figuring out his stackable IKEA characters.

Every May, the zoo has a dinosaur exhibit with life-sized animatronic dinosaurs throughout the park. They absolutely terrified Felix and almost ruined our morning! He was trembling and crying in fear within minutes of arriving, and it took him quite a while to calm down and enjoy the rest of the real animals. I didn't get many good pictures because he was so on edge.

This year he was tall enough to ride the boat "to Africa", so that was great fun. (He's very aware of the camera now and stifles his smile when feeling self-conscious.)

Trying hard not to smile on command - but the boat ride was so fun!

After the zoo, we had lunch on a lovely patio before heading to daycare/work for the afternoon. I also found out that my offer on a house was accepted. (Hoping the inspection works out this time.)

He ate his weight in tortellini, then napped for 3 hours.

Saturday was Felix's birthday party. Hauling everything to the park last year was SO much work, and it was hard keeping track of the kids near a busy playground and the river, so I decided to have it at home this year. We don't have a fully fenced back yard, so I borrowed some plastic safety fencing which happened to match the construction/truck theme. 

The kids got to personalize their own hard hats.

I do love our little yard.

Dinner was make-your-own-tacos followed by cake served in a dump truck. Felix oohed and ahhed at all the right times, and was appropriately excited by the "choo choo" I bought him and all the other gifts he received. He shyly looked away while we sang Happy Birthday, then huffed and puffed until he finally blew out both of his candles. (I'll update with more photos when I get them from my brother.) Uncle Brian and the kids wreaked havoc in the yard for about an hour after that.

After the party, Felix went home with my parents because I had tickets to a comedy show. When he woke up at home this morning it was like his birthday all over again. He immediately clutched his new trucks and said "My tuck. My tuck." When we got downstairs, he wanted to open his new soccer ball. Then he grabbed a party blower and the boats from his new water table and headed out into the back yard to play some more. His eyes were big as though he was thinking, "It WASN'T a dream!"

I have just been beside myself watching Felix enjoy his new toys today. He quickly learned how to connect the magnetic train cars (he flips one around if the magnets repel each other) and can take apart the track and put it back together. He calls "Choo choooo!" as it's coming around the track.

He knows to bounce the basketball and kick the soccer ball. He has a blast vrooming his boats around the water table and lifting/lowering the bridges. He is more talkative than ever, making sure I see everything by pointing and saying, "See Mommy, see?" I love how curious and patient he is, taking the time to figure out how things are done and then putting his theories to the test. I'm hopeful this means he will enjoy school and do well there, too.

And finally, something that has had me laughing all weekend. I hung up a banner that says "Happy Birthday Felix!" and Felix insists that it says "quack quack." Here's a short video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPyKGBgZIp4

The Countdown to 2

Felix will be 2 in just a week. He's getting more independent every day and his language skills and antics continue to entertain me.

He doesn't know colors or shapes yet and he's nowhere near ready to start potty training (those seem to be standard toddler benchmarks.) But in everything he does, I can see the gears turning. He loves to study the world around him and see how things work. He is really focused on jumping lately. When I pick him up at daycare, the first thing he does is run over and jump, as if to show how much he's practiced during the day. He still can't stick the landing unless he's holding my hands.

His favorite words lately are gone and see. He combines them with words he already knows to ask questions and talk about where we've been and where we're going. "See mommy, see? Puppy." or "Baby gone? Hou." (When we leave the house of a friend with a baby.) He asks where we're going when we get in the car with "Boppa hou?" (Are we going to grandpa's house?) And everything that isn't in the room with us is "gone". I noticed a while ago he would say every word like a question, possibly seeking my confirmation he'd chosen the right words and was understood. But in the past couple of weeks he's started saying them more confidently, so not everything is a question.

After learning to blow air out his nose in swimming lessons, I had to reteach him to blow with his mouth so he can blow out candles next week. Anytime he hears the word "birthday", he says "hot" and blows out an imaginary candle. 

Pretending to sleep... with a smirk.

Helping with dinner.

He learned to press the keys and move the accordion to make music - I never showed him!

He can take his shirt, shoes and socks off. No pants yet.

Back to the Drawing Board

The 70s house I liked went back on the market, they accepted my offer, and I paid for an inspection. Almost $4,000 worth of repairs were found to be needed, and the seller basically said nope, sorry. She’s not willing to have anything repaired and won’t budge on the price.

Her agent spent days trying to talk some sense into her, with no luck. Idaho is a full disclosure state so anyone who tries to buy that house will have access to the inspection report. It’s going to be very difficult for her to sell it without fixing stuff or coming down in price.

I’m frustrated I lost the inspection fee and wish I’d known up front the seller wasn’t going to consider making any repairs. I wouldn’t have gambled $350 on a house that old.

Determined to end the week on a positive note, I met up with a friend for dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. It's just what I needed. Good food, wine and conversation, and Felix was his usual well-behaved self. It's so nice to just switch gears and clear the mind on a Friday night. 

Emotions, Housing, More

The more we have to talk about, the less I post. It's hard to fire up a computer at the end of a long day when I can hardly drag myself off the couch! So I'll hammer out a quick update and it'll have to do.

Emotions
Felix went through a little emotional spurt where he practiced different faces at himself in the mirror. Grumpy, surprised, happy, etc. It was pretty hilarious noticing him do it the first time. He's also started folding his arms and looking down in protest, and other non-verbal behaviors to communicate how he's feeling. It's an interesting phase to witness.

House Hunting (Yes, still)
I've learned houses in my desired areas fall into one of 3 categories, pretty cleanly by decade.

70s - Moderate square footage, big yards, wood stoves and/or fireplaces, rarely completely updated
80s - Split level (so nothing is at ground level), 2,000+ square feet, kitchen/living upstairs and steep wooden stairs leading to backyard below.
90s - Small houses (1,200 sq ft), small yards, usually cookie cutter, near noisier roads, no mature trees

There's nothing newer in town unless it's overdone houses crammed on top of each other on a random infill lot.

Homes built in the 70s most closely match my needs. One story, two living areas, separate laundry area, nice sized yards. I looked at one on Thursday and made an offer, then found out the house wasn't supposed to be on the market yet! The agent was new and she screwed up. So they took it off the market, relisted at a slightly higher price (it would have been a STEAL otherwise), and we're in the offer/counter offer phase of the game now. I'll still come in under budget and be able to keep my townhouse if this works out. (Big wins.)

House Selling
I've had a whopping two showings in the 6 weeks my house has been on the market. But online traffic to my listing has grown like crazy every week, and my neighbors say that people drive by and stop to look all the time. My neighbors also raved about how great my place looks; naturally they checked out the listing online. Meh. I'm not desperate to sell at this point and sort of want the waiting game to be over.

Work Work Work
I'm loving my "new" job. My commute is so much more relaxed than my old one, and the sun shines into my office every morning. When you start each day that nicely it sets a good tone for the rest. We opened a new location today and so far business is great (people actually started showing up last week). As Director of Marketing, I don't hesitate to claim credit for this success. :) Wednesday is our ribbon cutting ceremony and cookout targeted at the business community, and so far everything is coming together nicely.

Extracurricular Work Work Work
I never considered myself a person who can't say no, but I find myself in the midst of organizing the invitations for my dad's retirement party, chairing an event for our local adoption group, starting up a community garden (seriously why), and completing an application for award I was nominated for. And planning Felix's birthday party. There's something about April/May that totally overloads me every year!

I'll leave you with a picture of Felix learning to use his balance bike tonight while wearing the dog's puffy coat.

Edited to add: I've had to stop worrying about the uninsured driver incident. She's giving me the runaround and making all kinds of excuses for not being able to reimburse me the $500 deductible. I will file in small claims court, she will still owe my insurer more than $3,000, and if I ever see my money again, I will pretend it fell out of the sky on my lucky day.

Sicky Poo

More than a week ago I got a sinus thing that turned into fever and chills, then came the coughing and laryngitis. My back and neck are sore from coughing all night. Exhausting. And on top of it, Felix had a little fever/virus that kept him out of daycare a couple of days. We filmed our new TV spots this week so I couldn't stay at home on the couch and had to work late, which I'm sure prolonged my recovery.

But we're both on the mend now and I'm taking today off to spend it with Felix. Our first fun thing was running outside in our jammies to watch the garbage truck dump the dumpster. Then we're going to visit the aquarium for the first time and see where the day takes us after that.

No news on the house front. My agent got one call about my place and internet traffic is almost double what it was last week, but no showings yet. I'm not sure if it's the weather or people waiting for their tax returns, but it feels like everyone's window shopping, waiting for something to happen before they really start moving.

One morning before we left the house he was just laying on his bedroom floor feeling bad, so I set him up in my bed.