Kitten Pictures (To Tempt You!)

They are growing so fast and they are so stinkin' cute! They are now "toddling" all over the house. Two are hopefully already spoken for, but that leaves two more that need new homes . . .

Another NIH Trip

Every year we take a trip to the National Institutes of Health so Dave can receive numerous tests and figure out how his disease is progressing (or hopefully not!). We leave this coming Sunday. Short trip this year, only four days instead of our usual seven.

We have to leave Sylvia behind. A national research hospital is just not a place for a little person. She will be staying with my folks and she will be deeply missed every moment. I know she is in good hands, but this will be difficult for Mama and Daddy as they have never been without their Little Pumpkin for so long!

We are kind of excited for this trip because we are meeting up with numerous people. I get to catch up with three old college friends on Monday night and just today I received a phone call from my cousin, Jonathan (who was here this past August with his wife, Heather), and he and his wife are going to take a trip into Bethesda to visit with us for a day!

But please be thinking of us in this coming week: Safety for traveling, that Sylvia will do all right without us, and that Dave will get a healthy report.

"Jonny Jump Up"

Sylvia got the best present from her grandma yesterday: The Jonny Jump Up (or at least that's what they were called in the 80's). She is in love with her newest toy!

And this is Alley. She is both the smallest and the loudest kitten of the litter. She can literally keep me up at night with her almost violent sounding "mehs." She also has the most spunk and seems the most agile of all of them. She has wormed her way into my heart. (But she still needs a new home!)

Big Event

Last night we went out for dinner with the three of us! We have been hesitant to go anywhere with Sylvia because she is not the best "behaved" in public. She is much better now than she ever has been in the past but there is just no telling when she will "explode" and we will have a messy, noisy little person on our hands. The night started out well:

But it didn't take long and we were taking turns bouncing her and coddling her and talking to her and playing with her and doing anything in our power to keep her somewhat happy while we ate:

We considered the outing very successful. She made it all the way until the very end of our dinner at which point Dave had to go running outside with her and I stayed to pay the bill. It was just such a beautiful day and we wanted to celebrate as a family somehow. (And in case you are wondering we went for a VERY early dinner; we were at the restaurant by 4:30 so that almost no one would be there.)

And this picture is of the Lil Pumpkin in her yoga pants! Yes, yoga pants. I found them at a store and thought they were too cute and too appropriate as her mama has taken an interest in yoga lately. (And, yes, I am starting to really feel the muscles tone up, and I am sure she is as well!)

More Milestones

Sylvia now gets solid, "real" food sometimes. Here she is eating sweet potatoes:

And yesterday I bought her a Bumbo: A flexible, plastic seat that helps keep her upright when she sits. She LOVES it! I think she likes the added feeling of independence and freedom it provides her. It also comes in handy for feeding time.

And the kittens are growing and are so stinkin' cute:

What We've Been Up To

It has been a while since I have been able to post a real message, so I am going to try and sum up the last several days in this one blog.

The weekend really began on Thursday when Sylvia and I went down to visit Aunt Gin and Arlie at West Coast Coffee in downtown Grand Rapids. I just love this picture of Gin and Sylvia:
Friday was not such a great day, so we won't talk about that. The only thing worth knowing is that one of the kittens died.

Saturday we decided to go to the St. Patty's Day parade downtown. So, we got all decked out and Sylvia was included in the festive clothing:

And here she is all ready to go to the parade. Not sure how much she enjoyed the hat:

I think Sylvia enjoyed this parade quite a bit more than the Santa parade in November. It is amazing the difference between six weeks and five months! Wow! Anyway, here we all are at the parade (well, in the coffee shop, but still "at" the parade):

After the parade we went to visit Dave's folks. Had a lovely time and took this great picture:

Then that evening Dave and I had a Murder Mystery Dinner to attend. (Dave ended up being the killer!) It required that we arrive in costume:

But don't worry; we weren't the only goofy looking ones:

Yesterday we returned to Dave's family's house and they watched Sylvia for a while so that Dave and I could go out on a REAL date. We had lunch and then did a little shopping afterward. Thanks to our tax return we finally have a working television again! And compared to our old screen, our new 32" is HUGE.

Today was so beautiful and it was the perfect day to head for downtown Grand Rapids to celebrate Sylvia's five month "birthday." We walked around town and then headed back to West Coast Coffee where we visited with Gin and Arlie. Sylvia had a great time and even took a little nap, giving me enough time to enjoy a cup of coffee and read my book! It was a little piece of heaven.

Dave came home shortly after we did and we enjoyed a family walk outside:

Well, that about sums it up!

Five Months!

Well, I have spent a great portion of the evening trying to upload pictures to share of the Pumpkin's five month birthday and the exciting weekend that we had (again!), but our internet isn't letting me. Sorry!

Still today was GORGEOUS and the Pumpkin did indeed turn five months today. We celebrated by heading to downtown Grand Rapids to go to our favorite coffee shop, West Coast Coffee. We hung out with Gin and Arlie and Sylvia had a great time. She even feel asleep for a little while and Mom got to enjoy a cup of coffee while reading a book! It was a little piece of heaven.

I will try again tomorrow to upload those pictures!

Last Weekend's Excitement

First, this little girl had her first professional photo shoot on Saturday. And Daddy took her ALL BY HIMSELF. He did a good job but he neglected to add the cardigan she is wearing in this shot to her outfit, despite Mama having gone over ALL the details the night before. So, admire this cute cardigan that was purchased specifically for the photos that it won't make an appearance in.

"And what are these?" you may be wondering. Well, one of our outdoor cats, Orange, suddenly decided to become an indoor cat and was VERY pregnant. Well, Friday evening I went into the bedroom to change my clothes and I hear "meh, meh" coming from under our bed. The only thing I can think is "Oh, drat! Not under the bed!!!" (Better than ON the bed, I suppose.) Anyway, there was Orange under Dave's headboard side of the bed with two kittens. We were actually able to move her to her nesting box where she birthed three more babes. Four are orange like her and one is dark with orange splotches. Too cute.

So . . . In all sincerity, unless you have a serious cat allergy please consider accepting one of these cuties into your home. We can't keep them (obviously!), but we don't want to send them to the humane society where they will most likely be killed. (That is if the humane society will even accept them. Often they won't.) We are also always looking to move our other cats into permanent homes. This selection comes in a wide range of cat personalities and looks and all of them come spayed/neutered and up-to-date with shots. Please please, please look into your hearts and see if you don't have room for one furry addition to your household.

Reaching and Grabbing

Our baby girl is reaching and successfully grabbing. It is amazing to watch her perform this feat. For us it is such a general and basic maneuver that we never even think about it, but when I watch this little person struggle to reach and grab for something I am reminded of just how incredible this movement really is.

Some of her favorite toys include her crinkle tag blanket, her "Baaa" (a blanket buddy), her Baby Einstein floor mat and play station, and she also greatly enjoys Winnie the Pooh and Baby Einstein videos. And, yes, we let her watch t.v. I figure the movement and color is probably very stimulating and good for her, so I am not opposed to twenty minute videos once a day.

She is very social and if you come to visit you will probably get a big smile, a giggle and a stern talking to by our Little Pumpkin. She is also very determined and will fight, fight, fight to finally accomplish whatever she has set out to do-- or will fall asleep of exhaustion from trying (such as her thus far futile attempts at rolling over). Dave says she reminds him of me in this regard. Isn't that sweet?

She is such an incredible little human being!