Rides

One of Kaila's newest activities is to ask for rides ("rai") in the laundry basket or her stroller.  She also loves giving rides to her pets and her toys.  Here are a couple of pictures and videos that I have managed to get of her "rides".

Memories

Trip and I were talking the other day, and I pulled another classic "pregnant brain" move; I had the most random thought and decided to share it mid-conversation.  This thought was funny enough that he suggested I blog about it and I figured that was a good idea because who knows when I will remember it again :)


If you have been reading this blog much, then you are probably aware that I did not have the greatest first tri-mester.  Thankfully, the worst did not begin until after the 30 hour flight from the United States to Malaysia (seriously sooo grateful for that!).  Well, sweet Jack and Tigger were unaware of these changes that I was experiencing, so they didn't really understand why I was suddenly spending so much time at home and so much time cuddling with them in bed.  They certainly weren't complaining, but they just couldn't understand why I would freak out if they tried laying on or walking on my stomach.


It wasn't long after we got back to Malaysia before I got sick with them in the room.  Apparently, before pregnancy, Trip and I never got sick around them because their reactions were priceless.  I was running to the bathroom and didn't quite make it (poor Trip had to clean up my mess...I am so lucky he loves me!).  I threw up on the floor at the foot of the bed and Jack immediately put his tail between his legs and started getting real low to the ground like he was going to get punished for my mess, or like I was angry at him or something.  Tigger walked to the foot of the bed and just started crying.  Anyone who has heard her bellow before knows that we own the loudest cat in the world.  She just started freaking out and meowing as if to say "what's going on?!".  Somehow, I ended up comforting both of them even though I was the one feeling lousy.


Of course, less than a week later, my getting sick was old news to them.  Whenever I would throw up, Jack would come over to check out what I had eaten and Tigger would try to stick her face next to mine so she could watch.  What weirdos!

Furry Antics

Tigger has been getting bored with her surroundings lately, so to spice things up she has been getting more and more creative when it comes to where she lounges.  Trip was the first to discover her new "urban jungle" hiding place, and it's a pretty good one too!

Nothing to see here, just your ordinary curtains

Stealthy cat is almost invisible...

The last few days, we barely see her since she is busy staring out the window from the security of her hiding place.

You're ruining my solitude

What are you looking at?

She doesn't appreciate it when we ruin her hiding spot, but we couldn't resist taking some pictures anyway.  While Tigger likes to be "secretive" and play in private, Jack prefers to be the center of attention.  He will always greet us with a toy in his mouth the minute we come in the door, and he will often just stick a toy in our laps when he decides it is time to play.

I gave you my bear...now throw it

I got the bear, I got the bear!

Throw it again, throw it again!!

They are both so funny when they play.  I will have to post a video of them playing together too.  Those are my favorite moments :)

Claimed!

For some unknown reason, Jack gets really excited whenever we pull out new towels.  We recently discovered that when I am sitting on a towel to do stretches, he will get in the way because he just has to sniff every inch of it.  He really doesn't appreciate the fact that I get in his way while sitting on the towel.

Trip put a towel down to do sit ups on the other day, and Jack immediately claimed it as his.  It was too funny not to share.  Jack must have learned that if you don't sit on it immediately, you may lose to someone else!  Looks like Trip lost this time :)

Presents

I am such a lucky pet mom.  I have a cat who insists sleeping on me no matter how hot or cold it may be because she loves me.  And I have a dog who loves me so much that he even thought to get me a present for my birthday and our "eternal" anniversary.


For my birthday, Jack got up on the bed to cuddle when Trip and I woke.  He fell asleep and, like a toddler, proceeded to wet the bed.  How did he know that all I wanted for my birthday was to wash the sheets?!  What a sweetheart.


For our sealing anniversary, Jack waited until the end of the day to surprise us with his present.  Trip went downstairs to meet a friend who was spending the night with us and I took the trash out.  We were absent for literally less than 2 minutes, but that's all he needed to prepare his surprise.  It took me a little while, but eventually I went into our room to grab my water bottle and noticed that it smelled funny.  I started checking the floor and didn't see anything, then turned and saw it...Jack had pooped and peed right in the middle of our bed!  I should mention that we had taken him out no more than 15 minutes before he left this little "present" and he, in his generous and loving nature, had decided to wait and surprise us instead.  It went all the way through to the mattress, and yes, it was 10pm and too late to wash everything and be able to sleep in our own bed that night.  I was so happy about this that I didn't even think to take a picture until too late.  Oh well, that's what memories are for.

Happy birthday mom!!

Bad Parenting

Waiting to see the vet and not too sure how she feels about it

Quick Update:  Tigger's x-rays showed no foreign objects in her intestine, so the worst case scenario did not happen, thank goodness!  Looks like it was a false alarm and she is doing just fine.


To some people, pets are just pets.  Similar to other household items, they are just one more thing to take care of and should it become inconvenient to keep a pet, they find some way to get rid of them.  To other people, pets are family.  They stick with you and you plan around their needs just like any other family member.  These people would do anything to save their pets.  Of course, these are 2 extremes and most people fall somewhere in between.


Trip and I both treat our pets like family.  I believe that even though they are not "people", they are still living and breathing creatures with distinct personalities and they deserve to be treated as such.  I recognize that pets are not the same thing as children, but part of the reason we brought Jack and Tigger to Malaysia (and we will take them back to the US with us) is because we took on a responsibility when we adopted them and we take that seriously.  Unfortunately, just like caring for children, caring for pets is not always easy.  We started out by being very conscientious caregivers; the kind who would never let a regular vet visit slip by and who would notice the second something seemed amiss.  However, living in Malaysia has made the regular vet visit difficult (they don't do preventative medicine here), and lately I feel like I keep missing things that I shouldn't be missing.  


Poor Jack had an allergic reaction to the flea spray that the vet used when we put him up for boarding one weekend, and it took his hair falling out for us to notice (how did we miss his itchiness?!).  Sweet Tigger hasn't gone to the bathroom in a couple of days and it took that long for me to even notice!  As soon as I did, I took her to the vet, but I'm afraid that my negligence means that the situation is not going to be good and she will suffer for this.  I hate knowing that it all could have been prevented too.


I brought some balloons home after my baby shower (post about this to come soon), which was mistake number one.  I should have remembered that our vet had told us not to have anything with strings around because Tigger would eat the strings and that could cause some major problems.  Mistake number two was when I caught Tigger eating said balloon strings and still didn't remember what the vet said.  We did get rid of the balloons, but the damage had already been done.  On Saturday, Tigger threw up 3 times, but then started acting relatively normal.  We watched her on Sunday, but she seemed to be doing fine, so we promptly forgot about it.  That was mistake number three.  Yesterday, I noticed that she hadn't used her litter box, and we decided that if she still hadn't by the time we got up this morning, we would have to take her to the vet, which is where I just got back from.


The vet was very nice and I know that Tigger is in good hands, but I could tell that he was worried about her condition.  She is running a temperature and might have an infection, but the worst part is that he thinks her intestines are blocked.  If this is the case, then we will have to do surgery to fix it, otherwise they will go necrotic and she will die.  I had to leave her at the Animal Hospital so that they can do x-rays and watch her overnight and it is killing me!  This is all my fault and if I had not been so caught up in what was going on with myself, I would have noticed this sooner and things wouldn't be so bad.  How could I have become such a neglectful pet parent so quickly?  Am I going to be like this with my own children?  I feel like such a bad mom right now.

Welcome home

Captain Jack and Tigger were certainly glad to have us back from our little adventures for awhile.  Both of them welcomed us home in their own sweet way.

"Dad cuddles, my favorite"

I'm so happy, I look high...

I'm just gonna lay on your pillow and not move for a long, long time

Tigger was rubbing against Trip's leg for at least 5 minutes straight.  Of course, she stopped when we started videoing. 

Jack and food

We had lasagna again not too long ago and it was awesome.  It's not something that we have out here very often because meat is rather expensive, so it is a real treat for us.  Trip and I were enjoying some left-overs and Jack decided he should let us know how delicious he thought it looked too.  I had to post these pictures because it is such a classic Jack face!

Trying not to be obvious about begging

The temptation

Giving Trip the "can I please have some lasagna" face

He really knows how to work a crowd.  Here is another classic picture from Thanksgiving a couple of years ago.

I love how Trip caught this on camera!  Jack is such a character and we love having him around :)

Kitty

It is funny the difference between Jack and Tigger's personalities.  To Jack, every visitor is his new best friend and must be given the attention they deserve, no matter the length of the visit.  On the other hand, Tigger feels that visitors should only get attention if they are planning to make themselves comfortable and stay awhile.  Even then, she does not just hand out her attention.  Oh no, she has to make sure visitors really want it first.  Once this has been established, then she has no problem sticking her nose in an ear, or curling up on a lap.  

Tigger also loves to be a part of things.  She doesn't want to be the center of attention, but she wants to be included.  She will sit at the counter and watch while we prepare food.  She will sit on a chair and watch while we play games at the table.  She gets upset if she can't get in the room that we are in to see what's going on.  Jack, however, finds us to be boring unless he is in the spotlight.  

Perhaps the most interesting thing about Tigger is that she has allergies.  Who ever heard of a cat with allergies?!  It seems that this cat is allergic to certain types of litter...all the good ones, of course.  Most of the time she is fine, but every once in awhile she will look at you with red, puffy, watery eyes and it looks like she got a shiner.  The vet gave us eye drops for her when she was a kitten, but she hates them so much we don't use them very often.  She recovers too quickly to make it worth the battle.  

Anyone who thinks that pets are not good practice for children is sorely mistaken!

"Can I help you with that?"

Since I have been feeling so much better lately, Trip and I have been getting some last minute traveling in.  Jack and Tigger have not been as fond of these trips as we have since they don't get to come along.  While we are packing and unpacking, they like to stay close to remind us that they are still here  :)  Tigger decided to help me unpack this suitcase, while Jack decided that it was better to let me know how "uninterested" he was in the whole process.

I just can't get over how cute these two are!

Some like it hot

85 degrees Fahrenheit, 60% humidity, and still sleeping in a sun spot...

He may not survive the return to Utah.

Puppy love

Kitty Kisses

I love having both a cat and dog for a lot of reasons.  My favorite is when they play together and get all cozy.  It is so cute to see them interact and it never gets old.  Here are a few more sweet moments caught on camera.

Cuddles

Since I got pregnant, Tigger has gotten more cuddly.  She especially likes getting cuddles from Trip.  Here are some sweet loves that I got on camera.

Captain Jack's new haircut

From Captain Jack Sparrow in all his scruffy glory to a suave looking Handsome Jack...

Before...

and After!

Weekend fun

Since I have started to feel better, I have been taking advantage of going out and being social.  I overdid it a bit this last weekend, but I still had fun!  We hung out with the Clark family and the Sanders on Friday night and ended up playing domino's, as usual.  I finally got some pictures to document the game that has become a favorite of ours.

We love hanging out with the Sanders and we have recently started hanging out with the Clarks.  We love spending time with them...so much so that Tim and Trip have started matching when they go to work.  Bree and I find this pretty amusing and had to document it as well.

We spent Saturday at the Renner's house with the Clarks again.  We had a great time eating food and enjoying each others company.  Trip, of course, enjoys both the adult and the kid time and missed out playing with the kids this time around.  Next time, I told him he should go play with them when he wants to...it's good practice for the near future  :)

I really like the look of concentration on Bree's face

I look fantastic, I know.  You can kind of see the baby bump in this pic though

Jack trying to charm his way into the house...one paw at a time.

Liesel drew this picture for Trip.  The kids just can't get enough of him!

It was a fun weekend and we look forward to spending more time with everyone, especially Tim and Bree's family.  We haven't known each other long, but we feel like we are bosom buddies already.