Girl

The old wive's tales and the poll were correct. Two ultrasounds have shown us our baby girl!

Boy or Girl?

I haven't posted anything about my pregnancy on here yet, but here is the first of hopefully many baby related posts! 

Am I a boy or a girl?



We will be finding out soon, but before we do I wanted to play around with some old wive's tales.

1. Chinese gender chart (adjusted for lunar age) = Girl
2. Wedding ring test = Girl
3. Heart rate = Girl
4. Baking soda test = Girl
5. Carrying low = Boy
6. Face breakouts = Girl
7. Less morning sickness = Boy

Dreams are tricky. I have had more dreams about a boy, but the old wive's tale says that you will dream the opposite sex.

A small poll I did came out with:
7 for girl
3 for boy

We'll see!

Kitten profiles

All of the kittens are growing up and developing their own looks and personalities. There are three orange/white and three brown/white. We had thought there were three girls and three boys, but have since discovered there are four boys and two girls.

Here is Blaze. Blaze is a boy and he loves to wrestle with his siblings:



Here is Mogget. Mogget is the name of a cat in a book series that I love. The book Mogget is all white with green eyes, but this little guy is close. He is the noisiest of the bunch:



Here is Freckle. She is one of the girls. She likes catnip!



Here is Ostara. She is the other girl and the smallest of the bunch. Even though she is small, she is the most adventurous. She is always the first one out to play.



Here is Hershey. He was the first one to get a name because his little nose looks just like a Hershey kiss. He is very sweet and likes to curl up by your feet.



Here is Sucrose. We thought he was a girl and named him Sugar. When it turned out he was a boy, David joked that his name was Sucrose...and it has stuck so far. This guy is so sweet. He is by far the biggest of the bunch and he is the happiest cat I have ever seen. He loves his siblings, especially Hershey.

Easter egg challenge

A few weeks ago, I thought of a fun Easter tradition that Joe and I could have. It's called the Easter egg challenge. We've never done baskets or gifts for each other, but I really like having a few husband/wife holiday traditions and I'm excited to start this one. Here are the rules:

Each year, each of us gives the other an Easter gift.

Whatever it is must fit into an egg (like the plastic ones they sell this time of year). It doesn't matter what size the egg is.

The egg can contain candy only if it is candy that wouldn't be purchased at the grocery store on any regular day.

The egg must be hidden to be found on Easter. It is up to the hider to decide how complicated the hunt will be. (Examples, hot/cold will work, one easy clue will work, a complicated series of clues will work).

It was fun, and kind of challenging to find something that Joe would like that would fit into a little plastic egg. I can't wait to find my egg tomorrow!

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.