I'm the Reigning Queen

So here's the thing--

I say I will never do a lot of things.  And when I say I will never do those things, I mean it...with all my heart.  I will NEVER do it.  And then I do them.

I will never have a baby without an epidural.
I had 3 of my 4 without an epidural.

I will never have a baby at home.
I had my last two babies at home.

I will never have a minivan.
I have a minivan.

When I have kids, I'll never yelll.
hahahahaaahahahaaahaa!

I will never live in Manassas.
I live in Manassas.

I will never wear skinny jeans.
I wear skinny jeans.  I'm still in denial about it, though.

I will never buy kids music CDs for them to listen to in the car.
Our 6 disk changer in the car is almost fully loaded with kids music.

I will never join a gym.
I joined a gym.  Sadly, that was years ago, but if juC would let me, I would have already joined another one.

There's no need to continue the list.  Just know that there's a lot and I say it all to lead up to this one.

I will never move my family to Utah.  Never.  Never ever.  Never ever ever ever never ever never.
And here we are...right in the midst of getting our house ready to sell because juC has accepted a job in Utah.
And that is why I am THE Queen of Doing Everything I Say I Will Never Do.  Don't even try, the crown is mine!

A couple years ago, while visiting Utah, I took the above picture.  We were at a park.  It was a lovely park with slides and jungle gyms and water shooting up out of the ground (on purpose) and a big green hill for the kids to run up.  The sky was beautifully blue, the clouds in the distance were wonderfully fluffy, and the mountains were sitting there all majestically without even trying.  I sat there thinking, Utah sure is pretty!  And I couldn't help but snap picture after beautiful picturesque picture.

Over the last several weeks as this whole Utah thing has come to fruition, I keep thinking about that day at the park.

And living in Utah will come with other perks too aside from beautiful picturesque mountainous view parks.  We'll be close to family.  Lots and lots of family.  All over.  juC will have consistent hours at work that (hopefully) won't require phone calls on Saturdays and Sundays for leaky pipes at buildings, and having to go clean up messes at 10:00 at night.  The kids will be in schools that are NOT the school they are in now (huge bonus!)  And did I mention we'll be close to tons of family!?

So Utah.  I'm sorry I never wanted to move my family to you.  But I'm excited about the move after all.  So get ready for us.  And be good to us.  You've got approximately a month to prepare for our arrival.  Use your time well.

Meanwhile, I'll continue to say a lot of "I will nevers..." that I will end up doing, so that I can remain the queen.

P.S.  Virginia.  Oh dear, sweet, Virginia.  Please don't take offense to this.  I will forever and ever love you.  But I'll save that for a post just about you.

Stop!

Every day at 1:00 p.m. is quiet time in our house.  cC naps, luC has to play in her room, and bC and I nap in my bed (usually).  The last 2 days I have so been looking forward to quiet time, as my eyes have burned with tiredness all morning.  (Not due to bC keeping me up at night, but I think due to the medication I'm taking.)  Then quiet time comes, and I lie in bed by bC and I just can't sleep.  I close my eyes and soak in the relief of my burning eyes finally resting, then I can't help but open them again and stare at bC.

For a few years now I've had my mind set on 5 children.  Everything about that just felt...right.  Which was a huge leap from after jC was born and I was convinced there was no way I could have more.

But over the last couple of months, all of that rightness has become uneasiness.  I obviously just had a baby, so I obviously have time to figure it all out.  However, I feel like I need to savor every single second in case I don't get to experience it again.  And also feel like I need to figure it out so I can mentally prepare myself for whatever outcome there is, because no matter what, it's going to be hard.

These are the days when I hate, hate my DVT.  These are the days when I feel like it's ruined everything.  These are the days when I just wish more than anything that I could go back in time and know what it was, what exact moment it was that caused my DVT, and do something differently in that moment to stop it from happening.

I'm mad that that my DVT leg is larger than my other leg and probably always will be.  I'm mad that I'm vain enough to care about my leg being larger than my other leg.  I'm mad that my leg feels heavy and gets swollen if I'm on my feet.  I'm mad that I can't exercise the way I want to.  I'm mad that I can't go for my walks like I used to.  I'm mad that if I were to have a 5th, like I thought I would, that it would mean shots in my stomach daily for over 9 months.  I'm mad that if I have a 5th, I'd be worried the whole time that in spite of the medicine, I might get another clot.  I'm mad that for the rest of my life, when I travel for long distances, I'm going to worry about getting another clot.  I'm mad that I have to worry about eating something that's going to affect my medication.  I'm mad that most of the day and especially at the end of the day, my leg feels heavy and achy like I've been exercising.  I'm just mad.  And I'm mad that I'm mad.  I'm mad that my last post was about how grateful I was, and that this post is about how mad I am.

And I'm mad that baby bC won't stop growing!  It frustrates me that I'm not enjoying this time like I should.  I feel like it's going by way too quickly, and that my mind is too many other places.  What if this is my last baby? What if these are the last days of me getting to feed a newborn, and rock a newborn to sleep?  What if this is the last time that I'm getting to experience the first smile, the first laugh, the first time rolling over, and the first steps?  I feel a little bit cheated that this is how I'm experiencing it.  I wish more than anything everything with my kids would just freeze for a little bit.  I just want everything to stop!

I know it doesn't sound like it, but I truly am grateful for so much.  But right now, I'm also just mad. So I guess for now, I'll keep staring at my sleeping baby whenever I actually get the chance to, and hope that some day soon I will change my attitude so that I can be more happy and not so mad.

Spring is Springing!!

This winter has just felt miserable to me.  The cold, cold, cold temperatures.  The days, and days, and days of snow.  It's just more than this here southern girl cares to deal with.  Added to that the fact that I fell pregnant (I'm pretending to be British by saying that), and feeling horrible so much, it was just (for a lack of a better way to describe it) a bummer winter.

 Last week I got the kids the book "Oh, the Places You'll Go" by Dr. Suess.  I'd never read it before.  At least not that I can remember.  When I read this part, I felt it portrayed exactly how this winter has made me feel...
"All Alone!
Whether you like it or not,
Alone will be something
you'll be quite a lot.
And when you're alone there's a very good chance
you'll meet things that scare you right out of your pants.
There are some, down the road between hither and yon,
that can scare you so much you won't want to go on.
But on you will go
though the weather be foul.
On you will go
though the Hakken-Kraks howl.
Onward up many a frightening creek,
though your arms may get sore
and your sneakers may leak."

It is safe to say that I felt alone a lot...even though I was very, very rarely alone, thanks to 3 children.  And it's safe to say that when you feel alone, you have way too much time to think.  And when you think too much, you start to think things like "I'm going to have 4 kids!  FOUR!!!  I'm hanging on by a thread with 3, how will I do FOUR!?!"  And that scared my pants off, people!  Add to that the "I'm going to be massive and pregnant through the heat of summer." and "I won't get to go on any fun vacations." and I was all, "I don't want to go on."  Yet simultaneously thinking "WHEN WILL THIS WINTER END?!"

But, on I went.  And now I am starting to see beautiful glimpses of spring and it makes me oh so happy!

Yesterday was beautiful.  After jC got home from school and finished his homework (have I mentioned how much I hate kindergarten homework??)  we headed off to the park.  As we walked around the side of our house, we saw some of our spring flowers had begun to bloom.  jC said "Do you know what those are called?"  I assumed he meant what kind of flowers they were and I was trying to remember, when he said "Butts!  They're called butts!"  Then I realized he meant buds...of flowers just blooming.  And he started explaining that they were learning about flowers at school.  And I thought "This is going to be a great spring!"  (And I can't wait for more butts to bloom!!)

The kids played...

 and played....

 and played...

 and played...

in absolutely perfect weather.  And all was right in the world.  And I finally was feeling like the end of "Oh, the Places You'll Go", where it says,
"So...
be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray
or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O'Shea,
you're off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So...get on your way!"

I'm finally feeling like today (and the rest of the days) are my day!  And I'm thankful that my name isn't Buxbaum!  And I'm ready for some mountains!  I'm glad spring is finally here, and my fingers (and every other extremity I have) are crossed that it sticks around for a while.

Adventure Time!

Saturday was a beautiful, magnificent day...weather wise.  After having a snow storm on Monday (And the crazy cold temperatures all winter) the 70 degree weather was more than welcome!  So of course that meant I needed to come up with an adventure for us to take the kids on. And the key to getting juC to agree to an adventure is to find a place for us to eat...with hamburgers.

One of the things I always see people do when they visit NYC is go to Shake Shack.  So imagine my surprise when I found out that we have Shake Shack here in DC.  And not just 1 of them, but 3.  If everyone is always talking about it, I have to try it out for myself.  It was the perfect day to give it a try and enjoy being outside in DC.

So off we went after cC woke up from his nap.

As anyone who lives in this area knows, traffic on 66 going into DC is super predictable.  It's always a mess even when there is no construction or accidents.  When we started realizing a certain trend to the people that we were stuck in traffic with, juC begged the question "Is there an event tonight or something?  Is there a Caps game?"  Smart phone to the rescue!  There was indeed a C-A-P-S! Caps, Caps, Caps! game at 7 p.m.
So then I begged the question, "The Shake Shack isn't by the Verizon Center is it?"
juC's reply: No.  Phew!  Dodged that bullet!  I didn't want to deal with all these people planning to have the same dinner as us before they headed to the game.

As luck would have it, we were able to find a pretty decent parking spot on the street a few blocks before we were to arrive at the Shake Shack.  We unloaded, and began our walk.  As we arrived on a street  corner, we saw...wait...what is that kitty-corner to the Shake Shack?  Is that...the Verizon Center?  How about that!?  Good thing we didn't go to one of the other 2 locations.  I was secretly really wanting to dine with all of the C-A-P-S!  Caps, Caps, Caps fans!

We walked by all the outside tables, which were completely full.  Walked into the Shake Shack and got into the long line.  I took the kids to the bathroom at the back, walking past all of the full tables.  This was going to be a blast and a half!

juC ordered our food while I hi-jacked a table and waited with luC and jC.  jC waited by the counter with cC.  Waiting at that table with them for our food to come while in an overly crowded restaurant was akin to torture.

We waited.

  Then juC and cC joined us at the table.  And we waited some more.

 Then we waited some more.  If only that little thingy would buzz!!

 And finally!  Our food was ready!!  I won't deny, when I first saw what kind of fries they had, I wasn't thrilled.  But I dare say they are the best fries I've had in a long while.  The shake was delicious.  The burger was unfortunately quite salty.  But the bun was really good!

We survived our Shake Shack experience.  My biggest complaint:  The shake wasn't nearly large enough for this here pregnant woman!

After the Shack, we headed for the monuments.  The downside of waiting until cC's nap was over to go on our adventure was the later hour it put us there.  It cooled down a bit, but it was still super nice compared to normal.  First we walked through the Roosevelt Memorial.  It should be noted that a visit to the Roosevelt Memorial was part of a date that juC and I went on that he claims to be one of his favorite dates of all time.  So why, pray tell, did he not remember where it was that we sat gazing into each others eyes??  Just food for thought.

We then walked over to the Jefferson Memorial.  I have to say that the walk around the Tidal Basin from the Roosevelt to Jefferson Memorial is one of the best!  (Note how amazing my kids are at posing for pictures.)

 I also have to say that one of the highlights of the evening was seeing sign after sign on all of the stairs at the Jefferson Memorial saying to use caution because it was slippery, then seeing a teenage girl make a run for it to go to a friend and gracefully fall on her bum.  Don't judge me...she was fine!  And like I said, it was totally graceful.

AND, I ALSO have to say that I'm glad there are pictures of me.  For no other reason then the whole time I couldn't figure out why in the heck my coat was bunched up at the top on one side.  I knew it fit a little differently due to my enlarging stomach, but it was just annoying.  If it weren't for the pictures of me, I never would have realized the next day it was because I had it buttoned ALL WRONG!!  (note in the picture that the left side of my coat is higher than the right.)

 And the final highlight of the night--
Getting to remind juC that I'M NOT HIS MOM!!  He couldn't figure out why I didn't bring him a coat.  Clearly he forgets that even though I am *a mom*, I am not *his mom*.

Although it was a bit chaotic, and my kids listened and followed directions about 0.04% of the time, causing me a lot of frustration, it was fun.  I always forget how lucky we are to live in a place with so many awesome restaurants to try AND amazing monuments and memorials to visit.

Living Life With Purpose

You guys!  The other night, I was looking for a specific picture.  I could remember posting this picture on my other blog (the private one that only important people were invited to read).  I couldn't find it with all my pictures so I set off to find it on the other blog, and I ended up taking a lovely, emotional stroll down memory lane.  Back when my kids were wittle, and sweet, and cute, and frustrating.  Oh wait, they're still at that stage, huh?
As I read through these posts filled with pictures of my kids and silly stories, I couldn't help but fall even more in love with them.  And I couldn't help being reminded of the struggles I had during my first couple of years of parenting, and the struggles (STRUGGLES!!!!) I had adjusting to 2 kids.  It was hard!  (It's soooo easy now, though!)(By easy I mean, so completely hard for different reasons and I know that will keep happening as they keep growing.)
Also, as I read through these posts, I was so thankful for them because I have been horrible...HORRIBLE at keeping a journal since becoming a mother.  If it weren't for those posts, I'd have nothing to look back on but 3.5 million pictures, with no stories to fill in the gaps.  And I thought...I need to blog!  Truly, I NEED to.  Blogging is what got me through things.  It's what helped me add a twist of humor to the struggles I had.  I may not be good at much.  And what I'm good at may not be that good.  But I do feel like I'm relatively good at writing and it helps me focus.  It helps me express my thoughts, and come to conclusions, and focus on humor.

The last couple of days, I've been thinking about my kids, and their purpose in life.  I swear, there are some things that they do that I'm convinced someone sat down with them before they were born and said "Your purpose in life is to ______."  And they were given a specific list, and they are determined to do it, and take it very seriously!

jC's Purposes in Life
-His single most important purposes in life are to dance and to play tickle monster.  Everything else are things he just feels obligated to fulfill, but if given the chance, he'd do nothing but dance and play tickle monster all the day long!
-Second, though, is to ask for things to have or do that he knows we will say no to, just so he has a reason to whine.  I swear he does it on purpose.
-Oh wait, I just thought of another thing that should be among the most important in his purposes with dancing and tickle monster.  If he could do those two things, while simultaneously lying under a soft fuzzy blanket in nothing but his underwear, he'd be ALL about it!  He loves, LOVES him some soft blankets.  And the joy of a soft, fuzzy blanket with no clothes to stand between the two of them is pure joy.
-Less important on the list of his purposes is his need to stay up late, no matter how tired he may be.
-His purpose in life is to also be very sensitive to the feelings of others.  (well, he often takes exception to his siblings when he is choosing to be mean to them.)  But if someone is hurt, he hurts.  If someone is sad, he's sad.  He wants them to be better...ASAP.

luC's Purposes in Life
-For a while there I was convinced that luC's only purpose in life was to scream...about everything!  Not a baby screaming, but a toddler, who just likes to scream, if any possible reason is given (or no possible reason is given) to scream.  I have since learned that she does have other purposes.  It's just hard to see them some times, due to all the screaming.
-luC's purpose in life is to tell me she loves me, daily, multiple times.  When I'm saying multiple times, I don't mean 4 or 5 or even 6 or 10.  I mean 239 times.
-Her purpose in life is to do what others do.  If she sees jC doing something she's not doing, she has to do it.  If she sees cC doing something she's not doing, she has to do it.  If she says anyone in her radar doing something she's not doing, she has to do it.  Luckily (so very luckily) this does not include having meltdowns and freak outs.  Not that she doesn't do those things, but when others do it, she doesn't let it influence her.
-Her other purpose in life is to be the wiggliest human being on the face of the planet when she's sitting in your lap.  She fulfills this purpose to perfection.  And since she loves to sit in laps, she has many opportunities to fulfill and continue to perfection this purpose in life.
-And last, but not least is her hugging.  She hugs like there is no tomorrow and they just might be the best hugs I've ever experienced.  The hugging coupled with the almost constant declarations of love are probably the only things that get me through some days.

cC's Purposes in Life
-cC is just a little guy, but he has some very clear purposes in his life.  #1 on the list, the very top, very most important purpose in his life is to pull luC's hair.  And pull it.  And pull it.  And pull it some more.  Which totally helps luC fulfill her purpose of screaming.  So they were clearly meant to be siblings. Oh, the joy he finds in pulling her hair.  Oh, the determination.
-cC has done really well in his purpose of staying bald.  All of my babies came out baldies.  But cC...well he has gone the extra mile.  By this age, jC and luC had hair.  cC?  He's going for a record.
-cC also was apparently told to be the funniest kid around.  I don't know how kids his age can have such a sense of humor, but he's got one.
-There's this one purpose in life he has that's really throwing me off.  And that is having a pacifier in his mouth at all times.  Now, you may be thinking this is totally normal for a kid his age, but jC and luC were well before 1 when we removed theirs from their mouth never to return it again.  cC, though, he is addicted.  Addicted, I tell you!
-Last on his list, but certainly not least is fulfilling his experiment to see how much he can get by using no words at all, but simply grunting and yelling.  I fear he is being so successful in his purpose that he will never have the desire to get what he wants by any other means.

Now if only I could figure out my purpose in life, we'd be good to go.

Fall Rambling

I love Halloween and fall.

Perhaps it's because fall means pumpkin and I love pumpkin.  Pumpkin patches, pumpkins on the porch, pumpkin in every bit of food I eat.

Perhaps it's because fall means brightly colored leaves on trees and I want to take a picture of every tree I see.

Perhaps it was because it was a Halloween barn dance that juC and I shared our first dance together.

Perhaps it's because it was in the midst of Halloween and fall that Jud and I had our first date.

And having children has only intensified my love of fall and Halloween.  I love having photo shoots with my kids in their costumes. I have looked at the above picture about 1,293 times since Halloween because I feel like it's the perfect depiction of everything I love about Halloween.  My kids in their costumes.  Each holding their buckets for collecting candy.  Holding hands (even if it was only for 5 seconds) as they walked down the beautiful fall tree lined street.  It's another one of those images I wanted seared into my memory.

I have this terrible...habit. (Is it a habit?  A curse?  A blessing?  To be honest, I don't know what it is.  And I don't know if it's me, or something more powerful than me that causes it)  There are certain times that triggers something in my head where I have visions into the future.

I'll give you an example.

A few weeks ago luC went upstairs to get something while I stood at the bottom of the stairs and waited for her.  Because she is still so tiny, walking down the stairs takes her a great deal of effort.  Add the that the fact that she was carrying something down with her, she had to walk down slowly, carefully, and resting her hand on the wall as she walked down.  As she was walking down in that particular way, an image flashed in my head of her 15 years from now, walking down the stairs ever so carefully in a prom dress as I waited at the bottom of the stairs for her.

The picture above causes me to have the same kind of flash into the future of my children.  When I look at that picture I see jC and luC several years from now, walking together, talking each others ears off, and being great friends.  But I picture them being too cool to dress up for Halloween.  I picture them at a time in their lives when they no longer let me pick out their costumes and are too old to let me have photo shoots with them.  Ok, so a part of me pictures them being bratty teenagers who want nothing to do with me more often than not.

I don't know if those visions will come true, but  for that reason I love fall and Halloween even more right now.  I love taking them to the pumpkin patch and watching them pick out their pumpkins.  I love that they let me pick out their costumes and are excited to dress up.  I love seeing the excitement on their face when they realize how much candy they are getting from neighbors.  I love the joy they get each time they eat more of their treasured candy.  I love it, I love it, I love it.  And I will forever be grateful for this time of year and for these memories.  And I will hold on to these memories like my life depends on it.

Numbers, Numbers, Numbers

Little jC is a numbers man.  Some people say that all kids his age are interested in numbers, but homeboy is obsessed.  Numbers on calendars, a clock, addresses, ages, phone numbers, speed limits.  If there is a number involved, he wants to know about it.  And having numbers for street names in Utah instead of word names was the most amazing thing.  My favorite question of our trip out there was when we were on the interstate and he asked "What does "9,000 so" mean?"  (9000 South)

So yesterday when he was sitting at the table saying he was working, it wasn't too big of a shock to find out he was making his own calendar.

But there is a strong possibility that I had one of those proud mommy moments that you sometimes get.

He also likes words.  After he learned the alphabet he became obsessed with what sounds each letter made.  And he always wanted to know what letter words started with.  It was great but could be tricky to have a conversation when he kept stopping to say "What letter does table start with?"  But then again, it was fine, since most of our conversations consisted of questions like "What sound does 'n' make?"  I have to admit I'm glad he's well past that phase, and now it's fun to see him writing things.  When he was working yesterday he kept saying something about "jud dot com".  It wasn't until I was checking out his calendar that I found this.

Realizing that he thinks it's "duc com" makes me giggle.

My hope with his number and letter writing skills is that he will soon be able to work out a budget for us and help us stick to it.

Kitty Thursday--Christmas Edition

Typical cat...thinks she's a gift to all.

Kitty Thursday

The cat is not out of the bag. I repeat...the cat IS NOT out of the bag.

Ok, seriously...I have turned into a crazy cat lady!

One of my fav's!

I'm one of those people that when I find a recipe that I really like, I make it all.the.time. And I'm most especially fond of ones that are super simple and easy to throw together. Actually, I think those are the only ones I even try.

This is one of my most favorites EVER. When my friend asked for the ingredients for it the other day, I realized it had been far too long since I've made it. I don't know what it is about it (because it is so simple) but everyone loves it. juC and I can eat it by ourselves in a matter of days!

Summer Pasta Salad

Ingredients:

--1 box Farfalle pasta (bowtie), cooked per package instructions and run through cold water to cool off

--green grapes, cut into 4ths.

-- diced celery

--cashew halves & pieces

--Marzetti slaw dressing (I'm sure there are other slaw dressings, but this is usually the only one I find and the best I've tried)

--(optional) shredded chicken (When I do the chicken, I cook chicken tenders with some seasoning in the slow cooker for a few hours until it's super tender then shred it. Otherwise, we do grilled chicken on the side)

Mix all ingredients in the desired amounts, mixing in the slaw dressing last to get the desired consistency you want. Refrigerate for a couple of hours before serving.

See, amazingly simple, and just amazing. Hopefully I don't eat it all before juC gets home for dinner.

Kitty Thursday

Kitty Thursday--On a Tuesday Night

It's a sad, SAD day when you realize that all you ever post about is your cat. I swear, I'm not a crazy cat lady!!

I am quitting my "job" blogging for Milan Maternity at the end of the month. I think that will open things up again for me to blog on my personal blogs the way I used to. The only good thing about that is that I won't look like a crazy cat lady anymore to the 3 people that read this blog.

Now, on to my cat....

Not only is my belly a comfy space for the little babe inside, but apparently it's pretty comfy from the outside, too.

Kitty Thursday

Our bay-bay

I think almost everyone is aware now that baby #3 is a wee wittle boy. Poor little jC...he kept saying it was a girl, and was completely and totally convinced. I wanted to believe him. I wanted to believe that he was one with the baby, and knew it's gender. But, when I did the needle and thread test (holding it over my belly, circle motion means girl, back and forth means boy) it said it was a boy. And since it was right with luC, I couldn't help but believe the needle over little jC. And the needle was right!

Something not many people know, though, is that I'm planning to do a home birth (don't call me crazy!!!) with this little one. Which means that this was the first (and probably only) ultrasound I've gotten during pregnancy. So seeing him was so, so amazing! There is just something about seeing that there truly is a baby inside of you that just blows the mind.

And the good news is that little jC took the news of this new baby being a boy quite well. And I'm even more excited than I was before to have a sweet little newborn in our home come November(ish)

Kitty Thursday

Kitty Thursday

Thank you, izC's tail, for ruining a perfectly cute picture.

Poppin' up

We are still getting used to and organized in our new house. It's partly been fun. But since we still have a large box full of random things sitting in our bedroom, it's been quite the process that I can't seem to complete. I've felt overwhelmed by it all.

On the positive side, I love flowers and have loved seeing what random flowers pop up around our new house that the previous owners planted. The only thing is, there isn't really much rhyme or reason behind where these flowers have popped up. I wish I would have taken pictures as they have come, but haven't. However, the most recent flower motivated me to.

Right outside our back door is a MASSIVE rosemary bush. (Which is a little surprising in itself.) I noticed something growing in the midst of it, and was surprised yesterday when I saw it was a calla lily.

I thought this was quite entertaining. But perhaps I'm easily amused.

Kitty Thursday

izC wants to find out about her family history, too.

If I could freeze time...

I without a doubt would.

With another baby on the way, I'm trying so hard to savor luC's babyhood as much as I can. In 5ish months, she will no longer be the baby in the family, and there is a part of me that mourns that loss for her. I know this time will pass all too quickly.

I have been so easily frustrated with my children these last few weeks, but I know that this time won't last forever, and it's images and times like this that I want ingrained in my mind forever.

Kitty Thursday

izC loves the new couch, too.