Their eyes are opening!

The kittens have just started opening their eyes. They are a fierce little group that will hiss at you if you try to look at them for too long. Their little hisses are tiny and funny. Some of them are starting to get some color. 3 have pink ears and 3 have black ears and one of them is getting some brown on his/her back. Mama kitty (who has been renamed Molly) is a good mom. Sometimes she will move them around, but we read that this is pretty normal. All the kittens are fat and happy.

Kittens!

The number one top item on my non-essential bucket list was always to be involved in the birthing of kittens. I never thought it would happen because with the kitten overpopulation issue, it is much more responsible to get your cats fixed before they can kitten it up. So, when I heard about Sweetie and her kittens, I got really excited. This cat was going to have kittens and I was going to see them.

On March 21st at about 10:30 pm, I got a phone call. Sometime that evening, Sweetie had crawled into her box and given birth to 5 kittens. I was sad that I wasn't going to see them on their birthday, so we decided to go over to see them even though it was so late. Right as we got there, Sweetie had one more kitten (6 in total. Twice what we had expected). We watched her cut the umbilical cord. All of the babies were tiny and white and soggy and hungry. I got a few pictures, but they are all pretty dark because I didn't want to use flash.


Kittens at a few hours/minutes old.

We went back the next day to help my mom change out the bedding in the box. The idea was that Joe would hold 3 and I would hold 3 while my mom changed the blanket. Well, momma kitty didn't like this idea. As soon as I picked up the first kitten, it started to cry. Sweetie came right over to me, picked up the kitten by its scruff, and took it back into the box. It was so cute. After that, Joe had to pick them up quickly and held 1 while I had the other 5 in my lap, and the box got cleaned. Sweetie is such a good mom. The babies are all healthy and white and fluffy. They will need mom for several weeks.

Meet Sweetie

Several months ago this kitty showed up near my dad's work. We think she was dropped off because she is calm and tame. My dad started feeding her, but as she got fatter it became apparent that she was pregnant. She went to the vet where an ultrasound showed about 3 kittens growing. We spent a few days cleaning out my old bedroom at my parent's house and moved Sweetie in so she could have her kittens somewhere safe. My mom set up a box and food and Sweetie settled right in. She really is one of the sweetest cats I have ever known.


Kittens! If you put your hand on her tummy, you could feel kitten kicks.

St. Patrick's Day

We had a really fun St. Patrick's Day. Joe had to get up early to take the mpre, but I slept in and then found some terrible leprechaun horror movies on syfy to watch. Joe got back from his test and we had lunch and then started cooking. I started making Irish soda bread which is something I've never made before. Once the bread was done, we started our "Irish Stew." It was beef, potatoes, carrots, onions, green beans, and rosemary. I put Irish music on Pandora and Joe and I danced around the kitchen while we cooked. When dinner was almost ready, Joe made me a sour apple martini. I wanted something festive for the holiday, but I hate beer so I decided a green martini was the way to go (Joe had a Guinness.) Everything was fantastic. The stew was yummy and the bread was awesome. That recipe is definitely a keeper.


Green shirt, green drink


Big pot of hot stew


Joe helping Bo dance an Irish jig

Progress

Total P90X workouts: 3/6. We did A LOT of work on our house though and also went swimming.

Total weight lost: 2 pounds (8 to go!)

P90X

I want to try to do these every Monday as weekly progress updates. Joe and I are doing P90X to try to look awesome for our cruise. We are in our third week. Joe has been awesome! I've been doing o.k. I can't finish some of the routines. You are supposed to do intense workouts for an hour a day, 6 days a week, which is just a little too much for me. Right now, I am disappointed in the program, but I'm going to give it a few more weeks.

Starting weight: Secret!

Workouts last week: 4/6. (For me).

Total weight lost: 1 pound :(