A catch up

Days are hectic with a busy 16 month old who never naps longer than an hour.  The only reason I am writing now is because Sesame Street is on.  I was totally wrong about TV parenting.  Sometimes it's necessary.  Sesame Street grants me a magical one hour window where Etta doesn't climb into precarious places or turn off important switches (like the one controlling the router).  It's the only time I can DO anything because I attempt to nap during her nap cos still getting my iron levels sorted.

With too many ideas and no smart way of articulating them all cohesively in a post, I've decided this can be a catch up as much has happened in the last few months.

First of all, we have lost a loved friend.  Wellesley, after struggling with weird rabbit tooth problems (teeth growing the wrong way and creating abscesses in his jaw that kept coming back) had to get put down as we couldn't afford more surgery and we weren't sure his body would cope with it anyway.  This was a horrible day.

We had known it was coming, and he was an indoors bunny until then so we could look after him the best we could and spend as much time with him as possible.  We noticed he'd gone really downhill on my birthday, and booked him in as soon as we could after that so he didn't have to suffer any more.  He was a super awesome bunny and we really, really miss him.  We buried him next to Huckle and there are beautiful flowers growing over both of them.

 Etta giving Wells a kiss

Secondly, we have gained a new friend.  This was not at all intended.  I was quite happy with our single cat family, after losing two beloved pets, but for the first time ever Murray decided he wanted a pet.  We often 'puppy shop' at the 'free zoo' for fun on the weekends.  This never involves buying pets.  I just like looking at cute animals.  Never have I ever come home with a pet.  Or really wanted to.  But after one bout of 'puppy shopping' we got home and Murray decided he really wanted the cute fluffy cat at Animates.

I told him to sleep on it.  We don't just add pets to our family on the fly.  That's just a slippery slope to crazy cat personville.

And in the morning he still wanted the cat.  I had work so I said he could go back and find more out about the cat, and if he still wanted her that was ok with me.

And he went back and the cat was gone.  I got a forlorn text at work, so headed straight to Trademe to console him with other options as knew once Murray decided he needed a cat that would be it.

But he found one all by himself - at the Animates at Westgate.  So straight after work we went so I could check her out too.  Amonet is two years old and had been at the store for a while post SPCA*.  She was fine with Etta, was supposedly ok with other animals and was very friendly and playful.  So I said yes and after some paperwork and Etta destroying the cat toy section of the store, we took her home.

She settled in super well - better than any pet we've ever had before, and although we have had some teething problems with Roux she's fitting into our family well.  Etta loves her cos she lets her pat her, and we love her too.

Meet Amonet - cat not ape

In other than pet news not much has changed.  Murray has settled into his new job at Turners well (in a team full of marketing ladies he he he), and I pick up a few extra shifts at the video shop pretty often so work wise things are good.  Etta is in a tricky, frustrated stage right now so I've learned what it's like to deal with screaming babies on public transport (it sucks).  Etta's attempting to stand up by herself, but I think we're still a ways off walking.  Not too worried about it as is pretty common with tall babies (which she is) and super flexible babies (which she also is) - she'll get there when she's ready.  We still have a National government (boo), but that's not really a big surprise although it truly sucks for NZ (I will expand on my reasonings for this at a later date - promise)

I totally flaked on my 100 Days Project which I feel pretty bad about.  The whole family has had intermittent bouts of colds and horrid gastro issues (I'll post about that later) and in its wake the project fell by the wayside.  The stuff I was getting done was pretty cool, so I will try and get motivated to do more soon.

Badly drawn feminist #11

Right now though I'm focused on the small things: getting dinner ready, getting the vacuuming done, not letting the new cat out of the house, and posting this before Sesame Street finishes!

* Animates have SPCA cats and dogs available which is cool.  You even get to spend some one on one time with them before deciding to take them home to see if you think they'll fit into your family ok.  I have never bought a pet from a pet shop before because it feels a bit wrong for some reason, but this system is great.