Friday, July 17, 2009

Bye Bye Kitties

I took the kitties to the Human Society today. I'm very sad to see them go. I really, really liked them, but we had more reasons (and each one carrying a lot of weight individually) why it wasn't a good idea than otherwise. Cost, was one. They needed a full check-up, to be fixed, and so forth. Expensive stuff for 1, and this was 2. Even if I donated-then bought from-the Human Society it would be out of our price range to get both, and I think they should stay together. We'd also need to come up with a few hundred for a deposit at the complex, get a Dr.'s note ('cause you can't have pets here unless a Dr. says you "need" one, like for psychological reasons), and keep them inside (meaning, litter-box duty like nobody's business--I learned that immediately upon taking these kitties in).

All this I was toying with the idea of working around because I liked them so much, but the clincher was that I think Asher's allergic. I had to use the nebulizer on him every day that they were here. It's hard to tell though, because he was just getting over the ER visit food allergic reaction, plus the weather this week has gotten everybody's seasonal allergies all worked up. Still, it was a definate possibility, and it was added to the previously mentioned list of cons. So, away they went.

Both home from the Church, and to the Human Society, I never had a cat carrier, so they were loose in the car. It was pretty cool. They didn't mind a bit, but they were curious, especially the male. He loved climbing onto my lap, no matter how many times I placed him back on the bench. I had Brennan and Asher with me, and they were happy to pet the kitties, but apparently the male is a wanna-be driver.

Anyway, *sniff* *sniff*, I miss my little friends, but I guess we should figure out what all Asher's alleries are first.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Brian with his Buddies



After writing the blog entry last night, I went downstairs to find Brian had attracted both of them. He spent a good long time doing his homework around them. But like I said before, I think he liked it. He says these kittens are giving him a new opinion of cats. Lucy was too aggressively playful (or just plain mean), and she sort of ruined the idea of cats to Brian. He told me, "These ones are so nice, I don't know what to think anymore!"

I'm not sure how "neglected" these cats are. They're definitely litter-box trained, as we've had no problems with that. They also are quite comfortable being manhandled. When church got out all the primary kids swarmed them and took turns holding them. The little things didn't give a single quip to being so roughly held and handled, and it didn't overwhelm them either. I don't know... I placed a call with the Humane Society today and left a message 'cause they're closed. I'll get signs out later. I'm a little nervous that I'm a pet-thief, so I want to make sure I give a whole-hearted search before I call them mine.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

It's been our most interesting weekend of our entire marriage!

Still no pictures of Asher, but he looks WAY better today. His body hives are basically gone, and his face is more of a flush with less puffiness. I'm so glad to see him looking more like himself... and I can see his eyes again, which we couldn't last night. Yay!

Just for the sake of painting the scene for how interesting yesterday was, I think it's worth mentioning that during Asher's nap, Brian and I were busy make a bold upstairs rearrangement. While Asher napped in our room, we switched the boy's room with the office, which is a really incredibly tiny room. After much consideration though, I decided that the boys only enough room for their beds and dressers. Who needs floor space when there's no toys in there, right? I mean, with Asher having naps and going to be early and all, it's truly only used for sleeping time. So, the boys are now in the tiny room (with the walk-in-closet though, which will fit both dressers, plus some toys and such) and loving it, and our office, now with a little more space, has some big plans of its own to come. Anyway, the switch included a LOT of furniture take down and reassemble and trying to coordinate moving without having anywhere to place things in limbo locations. It was a pretty big deal, until Asher's strange situation upon waking up stole the move's thunder.

So, that was yesterday, but today was rather interesting as well. Just Brennan and I attended church, and while walking through the foyer to the chapel we saw some kittens just outside the glass doors (the front doors facing Harrison Blvd). These kittens attracted a lot of attention to say the least, as they spent the church day watching us through the glass. I went out and sat with them before and after Sunday School, and by the end of Relief Society I had decided to "be the one" to take them under my wing while I looked around for owners. The kittens have no collar, despite being at least a few months old. They are very, VERY friendly and relished in the attention of all the children once church got out. As the kids and I speculated on whether or not they were being fed, one of the boys mentioned that "they'd" (whoever that means) fed them some cheese on Thursday. I was like, "Wait! So they've been here since at least Thursday?" The boy confirmed it. That was the clincher for me. I was going to worry about them if I didn't bring them home.

Just to ease any minds, I had called Brian earlier to explain and ask his approval in my desire to take them in indefinitely. He had brought up the point that we didn't even have a litter box, so I had immediately called my Mom who donated some litter, a box, and some food.

Anyway, they're "home" now, or at our home at least. Tomorrow I'll call the Human Society and as soon as possible hang up FOUND fliers around the church area. In the mean time, we're all enjoying the little Kitties immensely.

This one is the girl (according to a professor at the Veterinary school at OSU, who joined me for minute as I was sitting with the cats during Sunday School). She is such a sweety. She preferred resting or being pet to exploration. It's a little odd, actually...


This fluffy guy is the assumed brother, and he is also quite loving, although had a much greater sense of exploration. He's got longer fur, so he's really soft. He also had a greater appetite, and is the only one of the two to climb on the table... so far at least.

Should I find it disconcerting that these cats, in my entire day of knowing them, having not offered one single meow? I mean, neither one of them. And this includes Asher pulling their tails several times, which both of them ignored completely. If I wasn't watching, I wouldn't know it was happening. Brennan has been super-hyper to have them around and wouldn't stop bugging them as they tried to sleep. Honestly, not a single meow, no sound at all between them. They also don't seem concerned at all to be in a new location. They were picture perfect in the car, the girl sitting next to Brennan and enjoying being pet, the boy wandering around and periodically landing on my lap to be pet. Arriving home they met Asher and casually wandered a little before settling in for this nap that's lasted the rest of the time. I finally realized what's striking me as odd... they haven't even played. For as comfortable as they appear, they didn't try to bat at anything or chew on any of the numerous toys laying around. And they sat about 2 feet away from us during dinner time, and continued sleeping even though we were eating chicken. They never offered a single beg or meow, or even a glance. They slept though it completely. Is this all strange to anyone else?

I had to include this one. Brian's found a new homework buddy! I think he kinda likes it. He's not a cat person in general, per se, but he took to these ones immediately, with the hesitation that comes with not knowing if we will or even can keep them. Brian actually is afraind to get attached, but I love that he knows he will!
I've had several reasons for being away so long. First of all, school school school. Final semester, last two classes. Trying not to fail out of these two really difficult subject matters. Enough said. Secondly, each time I want to write, I remember I have to go to extra effort to find pictures. They're either still on the camera, or they're on the desktop, which I don't use as much anymore. Brian's laptop was no longer filling his needs (since he does his IT work and school work on it afterall), so I got his not as nice, but functional old one. Anyway...

And perhaps the biggest reason I took to long to write is because... it's my 100th post. I wanted to do something memorable on this momentous occasion, but because of the previously mentioned reasons, it just wasn't happening. So, 6 weeks later, I'm giving up on the whole 100th-post-being-special thing, and just writing this so I can get on with my blog life already.

On a very sad note, I'm anxiously waiting at home at the moment as Brian has taken Asher to the Emergency Room. I figured it was Brian's turn, as I took Asher to the Urgent Care already today. We had a fine morning, and I put Asher down for his nap as usual, but when I got him up, his right eye was totally swollen shut! I kinda freaked for a second because to me it didn't look swollen so much as that his eye had sunk into his face. As I decided to take him to urgent care, I noticed that his breathing was raspy, which was pretty bad by the time I was with the nurse and Dr. (I must add, thankfully I live only 2 blocks from Urgent Care, and they weren't busy, so we were seen within 10 minutes of arriving.) The Dr. said that the eye is infected and we got a prescription for an enhanced ammox.

Oh, Brian's home I think! BRB.

Alright... to finish the last paragraph. Eye infection, and the breathing problems related to allergies. I am to use the nebulizer again for this 2nd bout of bronchiolitis.

So, I gave Asher his ammox. which was thrown up within a half hour. I also gave him benedryl and used the nebulizer before bed. In the mean time since I'd been home, I could see a rash/hives beginning to form. Getting worried, I had Brian give Asher a blessing before I put him down for bed.

The Dr. told me to give Asher his second dose of ammox. before I went to bed, so when I heard Asher crying just a bit ago, I decided to go ahead and do that. As I struggled to get him to take the med, I could feel his cheeck was super puffy. When I eventually finished giving him his ammox, I brought him out into better light and I couldn't believe my eyes. Asher was like a human tomato! He was so red and puffy he looked like a totally different child. I showed him to Brian and upon further examination his entire body was as bad as his face.

So, the news now that Brian's home... Asher's eye is not infected and he seems to actually be allergic to the ammox. (He apparently threw up the 2nd dose all over Brian at the hospital.) His initial eye reaction and milder hives were possibly caused by some nuts he was eating just before I put him down for his nap. Although Asher eats peanuts (like peanut butter) quite frequently, I think there were some new-to-him nuts in the mix he was snacking on. Either way, unless we know for sure that he can handle nuts, we're supposed to keep him off all nuts. Sounds a little tricky.

Although we're starting to wonder... are his frequent eczema rashes actually caused by milk, or is it a mild reaction to peanuts? Because I watch the milk for rash correlation, I haven't been watching the nuts to see if the reactions correlate to that consumption. Ahhh. This is all so complicated. Not for the first time, I wish my children could just handle their foods. I hope I get my baby back by tomorrow. The fair-skinned baby I know and love, and not this red, sort of deformed-looking baby I love but don't recognize. Asher, be well!