When we last left our heroine, her baby was tiny. Now he is not.

I cannot believe Daniel will be four months old in a few days. He's grown so fast. He's easily 17lbs and more than 26 inches long. Yesterday, he rolled from his back to him tummy all by himself! He was so excited, and I was excited for him =)

He's become so social. He chats, laughs, grabs EVERYTHING. Being able to shove things in his mouth brings him endless amusement. He's not saying Mama or Dada yet, but he enjoys yelling, "Woo woo! Woooooo!" at the top of his lungs. He loves talking =)

We've begun teething. He chews on his hands, our hands, stuffed animals, blankets...you name it, he'll nom it. All of his baby hair is falling out (No!) Who told him he was allowed to get big boy hair??

He's so beautiful. I'm so proud to be his mama.

June 22, 2008

This is Eli. He's 11 weeks old, and the newest tenant of Chez Watrous. The little 9oz ball of fun decided at 4am that he'd had enough of this sleeping thing and could we please take him out of the bathroom mew, mew, mew. Thinking perhaps he was lonely and missing his brother, we brought him into bed with us to see if he would go back to sleep. Nope. He was just looking for a party and spent the next 45 minutes on my head, down my shirt and sitting on Mike's face. So here I am. There will be napping later.

Ms. Chloe is not happy in the least bit. Despite the fact that she has 10lbs on him, she still thinks that he could hurt her if he touched her. Or at least mess up her aura and ruin her chi. She has taken to bed and refuses to leave. The world just isn't safe for one so delicate as she.

We adopted Eli yesterday from a local animal rescue. He and his brother were born to apartment dwellers, and they were the last of the litter to not find homes. The landlord told the original owners to get rid of them pronto, so the rescue stepped in and helped. He's an incredibly sweet little thing and has a slightly unhealthy love of my boobs. In case you're wondering, he did not escape the long winded naming trend of all Watrous cats, I assure you. His full name is Eli Gideon Rainier Watrous.

So here we are. Two exhausted parents, one hissy sister and a little man ready to party.
 

(Taking clear pictures of him is like trying to dig a hole on the beach without it filling with water.)

Last night at 6pm, Chloe and I arrived at our new home which is absolutely beautiful! Mike did a fantastic job =) I promise pictures later, but right now it looks like our house threw up. The packing part was easy because tiny men who spoke little english came to our house and started tossing stuff in boxes before I was even fully concious, but now we have to deal with the after math of their packing. "Honey? Why are there three shoes, a book about popculture and the toaster in this box?"

It's kind of like trying to put together a jigsaw puzzle. Made completely out of jello.

1. Wires by Athete
2. Augustana by Boston
3. Best Days by Matt White
4. Everything by Michael Buble 
5. Everything You Want by Vertical Horizon
6. Shadow of The Day by Linkin Park
7. A Stranger by A Perfect Circle

Tag! I don't know who's it.

I forgot to post this on LJ and didn't remember until I read Aj's post about Mark =)

My baby is gone. I still can't believe it.

On Tuesday night, Mike and I were playing with the cats when we noticed that the pupil in Piper's right eye was bigger than her left, so the next morning I took her into see the vet. They poked and prodded her. Looked at her eye for a long time and told me to come back next week for a recheck because they were pretty sure it was glaucoma.

She seemed to be fine except for being a little tired until Friday morning when we noticed she was breathing hard. I chalked it up to her eye hurting, but by that afternoon she was breathing so hard we took her back to vet. They listened to her chest and heart for a while before asking us if they could take an x-ray. When the x-ray came back, it was bad news. Her entire chest cavity was filled with fluid, her heart was enlarged, and she had a mass in her chest. The diagnosis was Lymphoma, and the prognosis was she would be dead by Monday. I completely lost all composure and started sobbing hysterically and dry heaving in front of everyone.

We were then posed with two choices: Let her die of slow suffocation over the weekend, or put her to sleep now.

It was so hard. Piper was awake and alert. Making noise, giving kisses, purring, trying to wiggle free and explore. She seemed so full of life. I always thought we'd have more time together. I imagined her getting to experience snow for the first time, being there when we brought our first child home, getting to meet mom's dog...She would have loved Maggie. So many things that I thought she would be there for.

We took a long time with her. Trying to soak up as much love as we could. And then the vet scooped her up and took her away. She looked back at me as they were leaving, and my heart breaks every time I picture it in my mind. I hope that she knows we didn't want to make this choice, but we couldn't have bared to see her die in agony. I hope she knows that we loved her so much and that we would have done anything to make her well again. And I hope she knows that she will always be in our hearts. She made such a difference in our lives. She helped us through some of the hardest things we have ever gone through, and she was a blessing to everyone who met her.

I just can't believe she's gone. She was fine on Monday! She was so full of life. I feel like I want to scream. She was my baby! It was my job to protect her and keep her safe, and I couldn't. Not only could I not protect her, but I had to make the decision to end her life. This morning I pulled out to dishes to give them food and started calling for her to come eat. I've almost called out, "Pippa! Where are you bunny?" about a million times. I miss her so much sometimes I can scarcely breathe.

Mike and Casp are taking it really hard. She was Mike's kitty. She adored him. She greeted him everyday after work, brought him her toys, cuddled with him and slept wrapped around his feet. I don't think Caspian actually remembers life before living with us, so he's taking it especially hard. He misses her some thing fierce and has been searching the house endlessly.

I apologize for this post being poorly constructed. I just don't have it in me right now to be creative. I need some more time. There will be a memorial post for Piper though. I just have so much to say right now, but all words seem inadequate to express how I feel.

I decided to take a page from Aj and photo chronicle my birthday! Sadly, I didn't get all of it. I completely forgot the camera when we went out for dinner (which was probably a good thing because one Cosmopolitan later I was...gushy.) But here is most of my day anyway =)

I've never been a big fan of Thursday. It's not quite Friday, so there's not much to look forward to in the evening, and it spoils all the fun of Wednesday being halfway to the weekend. Thursday seem to be my gloomy day (everyone has one). I think I'm going to change it up next week though. Make Tuesday my gloomy day perhaps. Next Thursday will be my 21st birthday, and I don't plan on feeling gloomy!

I keep marveling over this number. Twenty-one. Wow. An adult in every sense of the word, yet I don't feel like an adult. I own two cars, pay my bills, have a wonderful husband, cook, clean and work, but yet I still feel like a teen. When do you finally start feeling like a grown up?