In 'n Out Day

Today was a special day for our family, but it was also a hard day.

Readers of my writing blog may know that last year, before Juliette arrived, our family had to say goodbye to our feline friend Acrodyl. Don't ask about the name, it's a long story. Sufficed to say, he was a great cat to our family and an unmitigated terror to the rest of humanity. So last year, on April 28th, we decided that rather than chance him attacking a baby he was afraid of, we'd have him put down. It was the right decision, we know, but that didn't make it any easier. I hated that day more than anything that happened last year.

So I knew that this year, April 28th would be tough. And it was; not a day has gone by that I don't miss his goodnight cuddles, his morning routine of relentlessly knocking stuff off my nightstand until I fed him, the way he kneaded my shoes when I'd get home, his loud bedtime purrs, the way he cared for his younger sister Amethyst. It was a cold winter, and we missed his warm body on the bed. So of course today was hard.

But, Juliette's early arrival had an amazing effect today, 38 weeks after the day she was born.

Kathy carried Jules to the 38th week mark exactly, meaning that today, 38 weeks later, is Juliette's "In 'n Out" Day!

No Elliot, that's NOT what we mean.

The In 'n Out Day celebrates the day when we've had Jules in our arms as long as she was in utero. After today, all we get are days numbered beyond those days of anticipation and worrisome fretting. And it's amazing that this milestone fell on today. It made this day much easier to bear.

I will admit to crying today. I was driving home and listening to the new Fleet Foxes album and remembering Acrodyl's little foibles (the cute ones stand out a lot more than the bad ones a year later, which is the way I wanted it) and I got choked up. I immediately, upon walking into the house, gathered the entire family (Amethyst included) into a big group cuddle.

Speaking of Amethyst, she's kind of the greatest cat ever. As much as I know she misses having another cat around, she's absolutely wonderful with Juliette and it makes me happy to know that every time they interact, I don't have to worry about Amethyst doing something terrible to Juliette. Not that we just let them play willy-nilly while Kathy and I down bottles of wine, I mean, we keep an eye on things, but so far, regardless of how much Jules might at times grab at tufts of fur or pull on Amethyst's tail, the cat just takes it or walks away.

What, you want proof, and also you want to see Juliette because you don't come to this blog to see five year old pictures of me stuffing my face with fast food?

Okay, here you go.

8 Months

Whoa, it's been a while. Looks like I need a little...Endust.

Sorry about that folks. We've had a very busy month, as usual. We took a trip to Columbia, MO to visit a friend from out of town. We stopped for lunch at Shakespeare's Pizza while there. Jules has teeth coming in. And we're getting some work done on the house soon; our basement leaks when it rains and so we're getting that fixed.

Also, Kathy and Jules will be heading up to visit Kathy's folks for a week starting next Sunday. I'll be meeting them the following Friday. This has the double purpose of Kathy helping her parents get ready for summer while getting Jules out of the house during loud construction projects.

And now, a flurry of pictures for your enjoyment.

The day of our Columbia Road Trip, it snowed.

This is called a 'blabla' doll and Jules loves it for lunch.

Amethyst goes outside maybe three times a year, always for a good brushing.

This girl has some attitude.

I want to eat this. Can I?

No, we did not throw those flowers over her just for the picture...

I love my weekends for moments like this.

Okay, so she was getting a bit cranky because it was nap time.

But we got her to a happy place.

She also tried to eat this one, too.

Post-nap happiness.

Sweet profile!

She loves her mama.

She and I were both fascinated by the gazing ball.

The sun was setting and it made the duck look like it was in a war film.

My daughter likes The Beatles. She once fell asleep in my warms while I sang "Let it Be."

Jules and Kathy bonding.

Chillin' on the tree ring, bein' all cute.

Wow

Tonight, as Kathy and I were heading into the dining room for dinner, Kathy was holding Juliette and I walked beside them. Jules started babbling, as she often does. "Ba brrr nng brrrrrrrr." And then she looked at me, giggled, rocked back and forth, and opened her mouth again.

"Da da da da da dadda dadda dadda dadda."

And my heart melted. But, you know, the good kind of melting, not the kind where you have to call the hospital.

It's a bit of a stretch to say that she's said her first word, I think. But maybe. Just maybe.

We tried to get video of it, but she won't do it when the camera is on. Seriously, we tried to take video of her and it wasn't until we turned the camera off that she started again. So we turned it back on, and she stopped until it was off again. But believe me. It happened. Ask Kathy.

Jules TV - Episode 8: Follow the Leader

So in the last two days, Jules has gotten really good at looking at what people around her are doing and then trying to do the same thing. So below, I give you two examples, one from Friday night (3/11) and one from this afternoon 3/12).

Friday Night:



This afternoon:



Also, today we went to a play date with a lot of other kiddos. Mom and Jules hung out with all the other moms and babies, while I joined the two other fathers who were there in the basement. We played first person shooter video games on X-Box 360 which are totally NOT my favorite types of games. I think that may have been the only type of games they had, though, so I toughed it out. Next time, maybe I'll play with the kids instead.

Jules getting ready to head out

After the play date, lunch and a nap, we went for a nice walk.

I'm the headless Argyle-Clad Person

Another good and busy day for Jules! Tomorrow, we of course have to adjust our schedules to accommodate the start of Daylight Savings Time. Boo hiss.

How cute is too cute?

New Installations

Jules is starting to roll around, which means it's only a matter of time before she starts crawling. Which, of course, means it's only a matter of time before she starts falling down our stairs when our backs are turned. Which is why we took the precaution of buying ourselves a baby gate from Ikea. Sure, we had to go all the way to Chicago just to go to Ikea, but we have friends up there so it wasn't a trip just to go to Ikea.

So I thought I had a good "before picture" of the top of our staircase, but it turns out, nope. But here's one with the baby gate.

Fancy

But we had a small problem with installing this baby gate:

Not cool, guys.

See, Amethyst's food and water are on the main floor, but her litter box is in the basement laundry room. So we had to come up with a plan; either we move the food and water, move the litter boxes, get rid of the cat, or develop a system whereby the cat alerts us to her need to use the restroom/eat and drink. Those were my ideas, anyway. Kathy is way more of a creative problem solver when it comes to home improvement projects. We discovered that if we put the stationary side's rubber pressure mounts on the smallest setting, that would leave enough room on the gate side for Amethyst to squeeze between the gate and the wall without being too big of a space for Jules to squeeze through. The only problem was that the pressure mounts on the gate side were not long enough for us to do that. So I once again started coming up with solutions involving the cat ringing a bell, once for up, twice for down, when Kathy (once again) was far more practical and smart.

Top

Not the Top

We had these blocks of wood which we attached to the wall and baseboard, which gave us enough space for Amethyst while still giving us a shorter reach for the pressure mounts.

She's not easy to get a picture of when she's moving that fast

So with a minimal amount of squeezing and dexterity, Amethyst can get through while Juliette stays safe.

Also, she's just going to lay there and guard it.

What's that? You want to see a picture of Juliette? What, you don't come here for pictures of the cat?

Ignore the fact that this was taken before the baby gate was installed.

A Nice Warm Day

We had the windows open today.

Kathy was clearly in Amethyst's spot.

News Flash

Today, Juliette rolled over.

Kathy will try to get video of her tomorrow, so you can all see.

For now, this picture of her in a Gateway Grizzlies Onesie she got as a present from my co-workers.

Oh yeah, I'm totally all about rolling over now.