What's one more?

We have a new addition to our family!

Another fur baby (side note, I am not sure how I became the sort of person who refers to my pets as my "fur babies" but I am. And I don't care. Judge me if you will but I love them so very much).

It is my great pleasure to introduce you to Pumpkin Belle aka "the Teeny-Tiny Kitten" (she really is tiny!) or "the Ginger Ninja" (she is really not a ninja, but she does try very hard).

First day at home, and the realisation that she is way too small for her new collar.

I am not giving Pumpkin a "blog name". I never use anything other than Pickles' real name (as those of you who follow us on Instagram will have noticed). If you want to check out the not-so-frequently-asked-questions about the fur babies and their names, I answered lots of them when we got Pickles. Things like "why do your pets have middle names"? And what is the kitten's surname? (Both Pickles and Pumpkin have the same surname).

The perfect place to cuddle is right between a human and a book.

Pumpkin's first name was easy to pick.

Last year, Buglet began her campaign to get a ginger kitten for her 17th birthday. Her arguments included:

• Tink has Pickles, the Pixie has Flip-Flop, I am the only one who doesn't have a pet; and
• You have always wanted a pet called 'Pumpkin'. If we had a ginger kitten that would be the perfect name.

I posted something about this on facebook and a friend sent me a private message saying that their cat had a litter of kittens on Halloween ... including a ginger female (and apparently ginger females are quite rare). How could I not say yes? 

Soft kitty, warm kitty, little ball of fur.

Pumpkin was officially a Christmas present, but she arrived mid-January when I got home from New Zealand.

After much debate, we decided her middle name was 'Belle'. Buglet wanted her to have a "real" middle name, and at Christmas my nephew named the unicorn handpuppet I was given from Pie and OJ (and family) "Bella" so it all seemed to fit quite nicely. 

"Bella" the unicorn puppet.

Pumpkin has settled in nicely.

Battle Cat.

Flip-Flop is besotted and was very impressed to get a new kitten-sister for her puppyversary - Pumpkin arrived the day after Flip-Flop's three year anniversary of joining our family. A week later and the level of excitement has calmed down to the point where I am not worried that Flip-Flop is not going to accidentally kill the kitten through love. Flip-Flop has a lot of love to give!

"You got me a KITTEN?!"

Pickles is not impressed about becoming the middle furchild. At first there was a lot of hissing. There has also been a lot of standoffish behaviour, but now their relationship has settled into mostly ignoring with a little bit of play fighting. The hissing has stopped (even when Pumpkin goes near Pickles' food) so I have hopes they will become happy soon.

"What do you mean 'it is staying'?"

The girls and I totally love her (even the Pixie). DB says that any more and I will a crazy cat lady. I am ignoring him because:

• I don't care what he thinks;
• I don't mind being a crazy cat lady; and
• based on his reasoning I can get 2 kittens before I become a crazy cat lady because Pickles and Pumpkins are the girls' cats.

Disclaimer:

• It is doubtful I am qualified to give parenting advice, there is still time for me to stuff up.
• I am not qualified to advice on pet raising. 
• I am totally a crazy cat lady and I am ok with this.
• I am not even allowed to give legal advice without supervision.

I would recommend finding more reliable sources for any advice of any nature.

It's a girl!!!

We got a new addition to our family this week.



What's in the box?

I spy with my little eye ...

I am here! Love me!

Meet Pickles Primrose .... to be known on the blog as 'Gherkin'. (Tink gave her both her real first name and her blog name).

FAQ

Why does a kitten need a blog name? When I started the blog DB insisted that I use aliases for the girls. The Pixie insisted that the puppy needed a blog name too. You may be relieved that the dog is not actually called 'Flip-Flop'!

Why does the kitten have a middle name? When we got Flip-Flop (real name 'Alice Sally') she had a middle name and a surname. We kept her full name and tacked our family surname (aka the girls' and DB's surname on the end). The kitten therefore needed a middle name too.

Who's surname does the kitten have? She has my surname and then the girls' surname. This gives her four names like the girls and Flip-Flop (and me when I use my married surname as well as my own which I do sometimes!)

Do you realise it is weird that your pets have four names? Yes. What about my life makes us seem normal?

Where did Gherkin come from? The girls' grandad (DB's dad) rescued a kitten who had kittens of her own. We adopted this one.

How is Flip-Flop coping? Flip-Flop is besotted with the kitten. She just wants to love her and lick her. The kitten is tolerating this quite nicely.

Meeting her sister.

Pixie is not coping too well with Flip-Flop's obsession with the kitten. I am sure she will get over it. I anticipate that the three of them will be inseparable in due course.

Pixie is home sick today and was a bit miserable that Flip-Flop wanted to lick the kitten rather than snuggling with her. I am hoping a day at home with all three of them (Pixie and the pets) will help solve any jealousy issues.

Totally besotted!
 

There is one question that I haven't answered. Did anyone notice that we brought her home in a rations box? If not, something to ponder on until my next post!

Happy Friday everyone!

Disclaimer:

• It is doubtful I am qualified to give parenting advice, there is still time for me to stuff up.
• I am not qualified to give pet advice.
• No kittens, puppies or children have been harmed in the making of this blog.
• I am not even allowed to give legal advice without supervision.

I would recommend finding more reliable sources for any advice of any nature.

When the cat is away ....

I ran away this weekend. I took a break from reality and ran away. No blogging when you are being a runaway.

I took Friday off work. I slept in, got my nails done, took Flip-Flop to the beach, had a spontaneous lunch date, and had a (very) long nap. (I also did a few loads of washing, and went to the doctor to get my iron checked, but that is heaps less exciting and not fun at all).

The reason for this extravagance was it is that my best friend from primary school is getting married and I am honoured to be one of her bridesmaids. We have been friends since we were five, and I am so, so excited to be a part of her day!

This weekend was the hens' weekend, so we had a catch-up sleepover Friday night, wine tour Saturday, and we drank and ate and laughed long into the night. Grown-up pyjama party at its finest! I met some lovely new people, and had a wonderful time (I think she did too!).

Also did you know you can get coke macarons?! They are amazing. This is fairly irrelevant to anything, but I thought you should know.

From a selfish point of view, I gave myself a very much needed break from real life, and I almost feel ready to face the final sprint of my study.

My running away meant the girls spent the weekend with DB. DB having the girls for the weekend meant that he spent a fair bit of time at my house while they were at dancing because of all the running backwards and forwards. DB being at my house meant that the rabbit's hutch has been turned into a new veranda for Flip-Flop's kennel. Apparently if the rabbit returns she is getting a new hutch that he's been planning anyway. I don't actually get consulted on these things. I should point out that DB had made the old hutch so it wasn't destroying something I had bought to make it. Although, he did use a set of shelves I had been planning on using for storage to make the hutch in the first place.

 

It also meant that my pond has finally been finished! I am very excited. The water feature has been sitting in the corner of my bedroom for 10 years. The pond has been sitting in my study for about 18 months. The pond and installation of the pond was my Christmas present from 2012 and my birthday present from 2013. I still need to put plants and pots and stuff in, but I am really pleased with how it is looking.

What I had not been expecting was the addition of new pets. They are a present. The fact the yabbies being a present means that I am not allowed to be annoyed that I wasn't consulted, apparently. Fortunately they are yabbies so fairly low maintenance. They were named by the time I got home. I have been informed that this was part of the present. So I may now be the proud owner of yabbies called Stephen, David, Abbey, Gabby, Bobalina, Sushi, Raisin, and Pixie Jnr. No prizes for guessing which of my children named them!

I am now reiterating to my children that you don't give pets as presents unless the recipient has okayed it, even if you do think it was a lovely gesture.

I have given up trying to teach DB this lesson. He has also promised Tink and the Pixie axolotls. Sigh.

You win some, you lose some

It is school holidays here at the moment. And I am one sad Mama. Not because it is school holidays, but because I am grumpy I am at work when the girls are at home.

My work has a purchased leave scheme, which is amazingly useful when you have school aged children. For a few years I was lucky enough to be able to take off all of the two-week school holidays and half of the Christmas school holidays and be home with the children. Work still has the scheme, but my role has changed to the point where my workload means it is too hard to take that much leave.

I am also super lucky that now the girls are bigger it isn't too hard to find the balance between leaving them at home, having people drop in and visit them for a few hours, and I have some wonderful people in my life who always ask if they can have them during school holidays for part of the time. I am truly blessed to have these people, and to have an amazing flexible work place that has let me develop my career around my family, so please don't for one minute think I am ungrateful. But I am still a sad Mama.

This week I have left for work leaving my babies all snuggled up in bed asleep (ok this might be more jealous then sad).

Sunday night
Buglet: What time are you leaving for work tomorrow?
Me: Between 6 and 6:30.
Buglet: Don't wake me up then.
Tink: Me either.
Pixie: Goodnight-goodmorning-Iloveyou-goodbye!

Then to make it worse, Monday night Buglet politely requested that I didn't text her until I had heard from them as I had woken her up. Humph.

Then when I get home I get to hear about all the fun things they have done, often with with my friends. I  happen to love spending school holidays at home with the girls. No work, no dancing/soccer/Guides and I get to catch up friends and catch up on housework. A change is definitely a good holiday.

There has also been a definite decline in the amount of housework I do now I don't get to spend two weeks out of twelve at home. I am not devastated about that so much, I don't miss the doing housework, but my house may be devastated about how neglected it is.

Admittedly, I am learning to delegate the housework. Yesterday I told the girls that if they cleaned the bathroom, the kitchen and their rooms we would go to Sizzlers for dinner. Definitely worth the bribe. Even the Pixie got right into it and her sisters were very good at making sure I knew exactly how hard she had worked so I could be properly appreciative. No idea why it worked so well this time. It is a bit hit and miss, I am wondering if it is because I told them by text message so they had it in writing? I may have to experiment more.

Tonight I abandoned Buglet and Tink at a church camp for four days. Pixie has gone to spend two nights with her Auntie and Uncle and their babies. She is a bit worried. The youngest is only a few weeks old and the big one is (almost) two. The concern is that they might cry at her and that babies don't like her. This might be something to do with her disdain for small babies because they take all the attention (and I quote, this is usually her big complaint about babies). Personally I think she is going to have a wonderful time. And I think it will be a great chance for her to play with Master 2 without Tink. Tink is beyond amazing with babies and children, I call her the 'Baby Whisper', but it does mean that Pixie hasn't had much experience with them.

I had to laugh though. I came home to this note after abandoning the infants ......

Tink didn't even trust me enough for that. The last thing she told me was that she'd put it in the lounge, on charge, and that she had the only game on it all ready for me. Today's confession: I discovered some-game-I-can't-remember-the-name-of (Farm something?) over the weekend and I am slightly addicted. I am feeling very loved (and I am ignoring the slight feeling of being patronised because I am used to that. Put it this way, they've all had folders on their home screen called "Mum's games" because that is about the only bit I can get to without being confused).

So why I have a quiet house, I am going to stop whinging, and be thankful for some guilt-free study time (as well as for all the things listed above). I only have one more assignment to go after this one so I am a little bit excited!

I hope you are all having a wonderful week, and that you are finding rainbows in all this rain.

Cath xx

PS if you were wondering about what happened with Spike, the vet found his owners and he is home safely.

Be careful what you wish for .....

On Saturday I took Flip-Flop for her own playdate at the beach with a friend and her two dogs (and her baby so I spent a lot of time babbling at the baby. Flip-Flop didn't care about the baby).

She had a wonderful time. I had been a bit worried because she hadn't met these dogs before, and I didn't know how she would go with them.

Sandy puppy. The Pixie insists that after-beach selfies are now a tradition.

I had always said if I got a dog, I would get two so they weren't lonely during the day. We got Flip-Flop as an "only dog" so the issue had never really come up again. Her beach adventures made me re-think.

I may have mentioned this to the girls. (Please note, I do realise that this may not have been my most sensible move). Buglet and Tink thought it was a great idea. Pixie thought it was a horrible idea. She can't imagine loving any dog as much as she loves Flip-Flop. I reassured her that lots of people worry about that when they have their second baby.

Me: Do you think I love Buglet and Tink any less because I had you?
Pixie: Yes!

Oops. Maybe not the best converation to have with my diva baby! On the upside, at least she isn't worried that I don't love her. I did find out later though that Pixie told Buglet that her real concern is that Flip-Flop will love the Pixie less if she has another dog to be her friend. This makes a lot more sense.

Fast forward to today .... I get a phone call in the office.

Buglet: So we have a big little friend visiting us.
Me: Huh. Who's there?
Buglet: We have a visiting dog.
Me: What do you mean?! Where did a dog come from?
Buglet: It came up and was barking at the rabbit and he doesn't have a collar.
Me: Where is this dog now?!
Voices around the office. A dog? Did she say they have a dog? What have they done?
Buglet: In the house.
Me: Where is Flip-Flop?
Buglet: Outside.
Me: Get the dog outside and put Flip-Flop inside. I will warn Apple there is a dog there when she comes to get you.
Buglet: Pixie wants to call it 'Mr Fluffykins'.
Me: No! I am sure he has an owner.

Get off the phone to fill my colleagues in on the other half of the conversation. I am so glad they find it amusing rather than getting annoyed by my phone calls with the girls.

Follow an exchange of text messages. Buglet wanting to walk to the dog. Finding out that Buglet was outside keeping the dog company (I should have got her to do some weeding while she was there). Buglet telling me that his name was Spike (Buglet and Tink outvoted the Pixie apparently).

Apple to the rescue! 'Spike' is now safely at the vet, with my name and number though in case they can't find his owners.

If I get a call I will let you know. Just to be perfectly clear, my conversation was not a message to the universe that I need another dog at this point, and tonight I will be discussing dog etiquette with the girls.

A tale of two "puppies"

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness" .... and it was eventually the right time for us to add a dog to our house family.

The girls (and DB) have wanted a dog for ages. When Buglet was about 8 they had obviously been talking about it because I came home one day to the following proposal: "We need to get a dog, Mummy. You won't need to do a thing. Daddy will walk it,  Tink will feed it, I will pick up it's poo, and  Pixie will love it very much".

In case you couldn't tell, my argument for not getting a dog had been that I didn't need a pet, I had DB and the girls, and I didn't need something else to look after. I let them practice on crazy crabs, and they were the best looked after crazy crabs in the world.

Later, the girls got a rabbit and the friend who  gave them the rabbit got the girls to sign a contract saying they would look after her, which they have done and Misty is a very loved bunny.

DB got a budgie which eventually ended moving in with the girls and me, and we were all devastated when he died.

Then, Flip-Flop came into our lives. A friend of mine put on facebook that she needed to re-home her dog, and I decided it was the right time for us to get a dog. I was a bit nervous about having something else to look after, but it was the best decision I have made for a long time.

Buglet was pretty right with her prediction. The deal with the girls was that if we got a dog, she was going to be their dog and it was their job to look after her, and they do a wonderful job. They feed her and love her and clean up her mess. I walk her (which I knew would happen she is too strong for the girls, but walking her is good for me too), and I feed her when the girls are at their dad's house, and I love her too.

Buglet also got one other thing right. We all love Flip-Flop, but Pixie and Flip-Flop are what we call "puppy-people twins". Since we got her they are inseparable. Tink described it as "it's like they are joined by a lead. Where one goes, the other follows, but I don't know who is holding the lead".




When you leave them alone for five minutes .....

There are some things they don't agree on however .....

• Eating meat: Pixie doesn't think you should eat meat, Flip-Flop disagrees.
• The trampoline: Pixie thinks it is for jumping, Flip-Flip thinks it is for sleeping.
• Shoes: Pixie thinks they are for wearing, Flip-Flop thinks they are for eating (luckily she's mostly grown out of this one).
• Who is the Boss: Pixie thinks she is the boss, Flip-Flop doesn't recognise Pixie as being any more senior in the pack.
• Being a sneaky ninja: Pixie thinks they are sneaky ninjas, Flip-Flop doesn't understand this concept at all (Pixie isn't actually very sneaky either but that is ok).
• Snapping: Flip-Flop doesn't snap, Pixie has started since we've had the dog.
• Licking people: Flip-Flop knows they are puppy kisses, Pixie licks the air at people (this is a good thing!)

Time for me to go! Flip-Flop and I have a Saturday date with the beach!