grandpa

We were entertaining again this week.

The last time Grandpa Ohio visited, little Miss M was just a month old. Sure, she was cute and all, but, holy cow, was she tiny! And also a little boring. Her primary daytime activity was sleeping.

How quickly things change. 

For better or for worse, there was very little daytime sleeping this time around. In spite of a debilitating nap strike, M adapted very quickly to having three grownups to boss around. She and Grandpa had lots of together time, both inside and out--in spite of some cruddy Seattle weather. For some reason, though, every picture I have of the two of them seems to include our ratty red couch.

There was reading on the couch,

--with and without cats--

Skyping with Grandma,

and lot of just sitting around, being chummy.

We were all sad to say goodbye at the end of the week, except for M, who didn't realize until the next day that she was missing one of the grownups that she used to have wrapped around her little finger. Then she turned extra-clingy, trying to figure out what had happened to the sweet guy with the mustache.

Don't be too sad, though, everybody.
We're already gearing up for an exciting Ohio trip at Christmastime!

crazypants

It's been over a month. I am sorry. To say that we've been busy around here might suggest more achievement and productivity than we can really claim. Instead, I'll just say that it's been nutty at our house.

Exhibit A:

That's bossy Miss Eleanor on the left and extra-curious Miss Finch on the right. I know that it's wrong to pick favorites, so I won't tell you that one or the other is my favorite. I'll just mention that Miss Eleanor is A Very Bad Cat.

For those of you rolling your eyes right now, wondering what we were thinking, let me say that we were thinking we wanted kittens. A pair of them. It's been part of our plan for years, and we were waiting for the right time and the right cats. We had assumed we'd find our feline friends before Miss M arrived in our lives, but it didn't work out that way. So now, we're just making things up as we go along.

Introducing the small creatures to each other went well enough. Out of the fifty bazillion pictures I took to preserve the moment for posterity, though, I don't think there's a single one in which at least one of my three subjects isn't a blur of activity.

The cats were pretty quick to get comfortable around the baby.

Then they started getting a little too comfortable for this nervous mama, who is constantly waiting for a cuddle session to end in blood and tears.

It hasn't happened yet.

We'd like to think that M is learning to be gentle with the cats, but honestly, it's a little too early to expect much in that department.

Sometimes, M tries to eat the cats.

Usually, though, it's the cats snacking on her.

And just when you think everyone is going to sit quietly and keep their distance...

...something exciting happens!

So now we have some extra messes, some extra noise, more than a little extra laundry, and lots of extra chaos. Really, though, it's a small price to pay for M to have her own private circus. I briefly entertained the idea of making her a lion tamer's costume for Halloween. Not that she's, like, in control or anything.

But the cats are happy. And when we're not cleaning up kitten pee or wondering who ran off with the kitchen sponge again, we're pretty happy. We can't claim to know exactly how M feels about the new additions, but she looks pretty happy from here.