The Claw

Alright, alright. I've been telling some of you that I've got a killer of a story. I'll get to it in a bit, but in this post.

Lisette has managed to get even chubbier. That girl is round and rolley polley. Last week we ran out of purified water, and decided, since she's also eating baby food regularly now, to test her tolerance for tap. NOT a good idea. I was going aboslutely INSANE. That girl has got lungs, and highly emotional. Sunday night we couldn't take it anymore. She had been going to bed around, even after, midnight. We went and got more gas meds and purified water. I'm happy to report that she has been better behaved. I suppose its not a bad thing if she has to have purified water all her life. There could be worse things.

She sure loves Franklin, and her daddy. She wants to grab on to Franklin, to play with him. They sometimes have random laughing fits between them. Not sure who starts laughing first, but it goes on for a little bit, taking turns on laughing. We love it. Sometimes we join in on the laughter.

Franklin is turning into a momma's boy, and I'm thilled!! He gives hugs often, and loves his sister. He doesn't like her grabbing him; hair, shirt, arm, hand, face, pants. He'll grab her hand and push her away, not rough, but he tells her to "Top" (stop). Earlier today he randomly went up to her, grabbed her hand, opened her palm, and gave her a high five. Yep, that's my boy!! He sure is a bean pole though. We're still trying to get him to eat more than cereal, bread, and crackers.

So, I have rules that I have set up for certain things. Rules meant for me. That rule is; when bathing the cats always wash Osgood first. They have been getting more and more stinky, and it helps my allergies a little after they are clean. During the process of bathing them, my allergies are the worst, but the reward is great enough for me to deal. My other rule is have extra hands around. Stephen was gone working, and I was sick and tired of putting it off. Franklin was bugging me to get in the shower. (I never had to have a rule about kids because I always had extra hands around)

So Franklin and I get in. And who do I grab to be first? Rizzo. Broken rule #1. Rizzo had always been pretty good though, so I figured nothing tragic would occur. Boy I was wrong. He gets wet, and freaks out big time. I'm trying to pin him down. Unfortunately his back claws streak down Franklin back. Rizzo is pinned, and Franklin is heartbroken and terrified. How could his favorite kitty hurt him like that? So instead of just letting Rizzo go, I got Franklin to calm down a little, and then take a rag, and rub it on Rizzo. I need him to be ok with Rizzo now, not later. He starts laughing, and smiling. Good. Should have ended it there, but no.

I decide to actually wash him now. I get his front half, the non-lethal half, rubbed, and rinsed of cat shampoo. So he starts to struggle. I'm nervous he's going to get Franklin again, so I try to position myself differently. That moment was all that Rizzo needed. I never even noticed that he got my leg pretty good. I was too scared for Franklin. He already had 3 long gashes down his back. Franklin is backed up to the opposite side, and I didn't notice that either since I was pre-occupied by a thick claw stuck in my arm, and pretty deep. Yep, he got me, and dang good. His front half of his body was held by one hand on his neck. His back half was attached to my arm. I had to drop his front half to grab his back foot, and pull it out of my arm.

Maybe more than 5 seconds his claw was stuck. I'm not sure, but the blood sure gushed out for 10; lots. Then it just stopped, just as fast as it started. The vein collapsed, that was all I could think happened. It's happened before, in that same part of my arm with a failed IV insertion. Franklin hadn't been making any noise. I was so afraid he had been hurt, that I started freaking out that he wasn't crying, or yelling. Obviously Rizzo was long gone out of the shower. I called Stephen from in the shower, and then started to have a short panic attack. As I was frantically checking out Franklin, he was hugging me, and gave me a kiss. He was perfectly fine, aside from the original scratches Rizzo gave him.

I hear too often how people get rid of a pet because they hurt someone, especially a child. Most of the time its the owners fault. Owners know their own pet (at least they should) and should know how they react to different, and highly stressful, situations. Rizzo is an amazing cat, and always been a great friend, and companion to all of us, including Franklin. I know he doesn't handle stress all that well, and is also easily spooked. I'm fortunate that my vein collapsed so the gushing of blood only lasted a few seconds. Rizzo is still a good cat. He was cautious around me for a day, knowing he was sorry for what he did. I, too, am sorry that I broke my own rules, and put him and Franklin in that situation. Franklin still beats, and plays with him, and he continues to take it like a pro.

We're all doing well. We're praying for snow, and cold weather. I suppose for most of you we already have too much snow, and its too cold. Not for us, and not for Stephen's job. Utah needs way more snow/rain. We also have new callings in our ward. We hope Franklin doesn't care that we are no longer in Nursery, and Lisette will get better attention; not that she isnt' getting enough already.

We do have more videos. I will let you know when we have more posted!

Spiders for a midnight snack

I'll post this weekend all the pictures and videos we've taken this week. For now I'll just fill you in on whats been going on. Last week was refreshing and relaxing. There was a dramatic decline of noises due to an out-of-town trip that lasted 6 days, and 5 nights. I was able to regain my sanity, composure and reduce stress. Unfortunately Franklin and myself caught colds.

Stephen was great in being able to watch Franklin, who didn't seem to need the extra sleep from being sick, while I got in a nap or two. With Stephens help, especially over the weekend, I was able to more quickly get over this cold. There is still a little left over with Franklin, and some irritations of the throat with me, but overall, we are back to healthy. Friday I took Franklin in for his 18 month appointment, as well as had the doctor check on his cold. Franklin is 26 1/2 lbs. (54% for his age) and 34 inches (91% for his age). He did lose a little weight due to running around and not as interested in eating solids (due to teething and his cold) but I'm so excited to know he's definitely going to be taller than us!! He'll be able to keep up with Greta's and Heidi's kids!!

Franklin hasn't seemed to affected by his illness except for when naptime approaches he must be in bed. He has had high energy, and Stephen and I have been trying to come up with activities for him when it wasn't good for 2 sick people to be outside. Over the weekend Stephen was itching for a project since I made him stay home. So he got some scrap wood together and made a temporary eisle for Franklin. We taped some card stock to it, and let him go to town with his markers. He'd get so excited, he wanted to move on. Our only rule is that the markers stay with the eisle. He doesn't like that rule.

One evening we set up a fortress in the living room. The cats had a lot of fun with that too. Franklin was a little more sick that night, so when he got really worked up, he started coughing a lot. We had to call it quits before he wanted to. But he definitely had fun while it lasted.

The next night we did finger painting. He wasn't too sure about it, and in a way, still isn't. He wanted daddy to do more painting, and just copy him, rather than do it himself. Stephen painted his whole hand to do a hand print, and that upset him for a short while. I guess it was too much at the moment. We'll try finger painting again when we get some water colors. We did it with acrylic, and of course he had to taste it. Obviously he didn't like the taste, and sure made a funny face.

Stephen blew up an air mattress but not all the way full. We were able to bounce, and toss Franklin on it. He had the most fun with this activity. We even tried to bounce Rizzo, but he was just too light. However he did stay on it while we bounced Franklin. I tell you, that cat is most definitely one of a kind! He had to be in on every activity we do, and every room we are in. Since the air mattress was such a success, but Stephen didn't want to get it out again, I convinced him to bring in the twim mattress from the nursery. Franklin expected it to have the same effect, but even though he didn't bounce as high, he still had fun. And Rizzo was right there too.

Yes, I was going to get to the title of my blog. We have relished in the fact that we don't have many insects up here; no scorpions, and you never see a cockroach, and the mosquitos, though the locals complain how many there are, its nothing like the population in AZ. The one thing we have plenty of is spiders. There is one kind that we have down here all the time. In the first few months the cats liked to chase, capture, and kill, till they both were bit back. Now they pounce, and play, but not always eat them.

Monday morning I woke up with a slightly puffy lip, and 2 unusual red spots; one next to my nose, and the other next to my mouth. Originally thought it was acne, except for what was on my lip, till the next day. My lip was more puffy that you could actually notice it, and it started to sting. The red spot next to my mouth was bigger, and also started to hurt. Just blamed it on messing with it at first. Then the 3rd day I noticed that each red spot had two little marks and began researching the web about insect bites. I realized I had been bitten in 3 different spots; the trail leading to my mouth. In my sleep I must have sought my revenge because the last bite is on the inside of my lip. Yes, gross!! Now I seek revenge on every spider I see before it has the chance to get fresh with me. (no, my revenge doesn't involve eating them, it was just the one, and I was asleep)

Our Christmas

Please click on the title to be able to visit our photo album. There were just too many pictures for us to post them on our blog. Plus I know my sisters want the link to get some of these pictures for themselves. And don't forget to watch the 4 new videos below.

We had so much fun, and did so many things with family. We loved having Heidi, Sam and Reyn up here to share Christmas with. Christmas Eve we had dinner with the Lewis' (Heidi's in-laws, and Stephen's boss). The food was great, and it was so nice to be with a large group of people, and have a lot of laughter. Franklin went to bed very late that night; I hope this isn't the beginning of him waiting for Santa. We had to make the cats sleep in our room that night so they wouldn't terrorize the gifts. Obviously we woke up earlier than we wanted due to their pleadings. Rightly so we shut them in with us because immediately Rizzo went for his stocking.

Franklin slept in till 8:30 but went down again for a nap at 10:00. Heidi and I had planned on seeing a movie, so this meant at 12:20 waking up Franklin quickly, and opened his presents. We saw "The Tale of Despereux" and Franklin chatted through the whole movie. Luckily there weren't very many people there, and he made Heidi laugh the whole time. Reyn slept through the whole movie. We all went to our place after the movie and we gave each other the gifts we had for one another; we had each other this year.

Christmas dinner was at the Whites' with Greta and her family. Reyn wanted to push around the toy strollers Greta's girls got for Christmas, and Paisey joined in as they went 'round and 'round the house. Franklin got to hang out with his favorite uncle; Adam. Every time we go to Greta's Franklin has to hang out, and sit with Adam. Its been an instant bond that we don't know when, and how it began. When Heidi was at our place Franklin wanted to hang out and sit with Sam. I guess he just really likes to hang out with the guys! Dinner was wonderful, and we all forgot to leave room for pie.

We headed home late, and Franklin instantly went to bed. We had dinner that next night at Greta's again with Heidi and family. On Saturday Stephen and I headed out to do a little shopping, and met up with Heidi and Reyn at the mall, while Sam was out skiing, hoping that we could let the boys play. Bad idea. They both wanted to play with the slide, but from the opposite end, and there were probably a good 35 - 50 other kids. We finally had to leave the play area because there was no hope in getting them to play and be safe.

Sunday was quiet, and relaxing; sort of. Franklin took a very long nap in the middle of the day, but for some reason I don't remember that day except for going to church. Hopefully that means I got a nap too.

Monday Heidi and Reyn came over in the morning and we had breakfast together. We got to hang out that day before I took them to the airport. Greta and her girls had caught the flu over night so we had to skip out on visiting them that day. I was excited that we got to see so much of the Lewis' while they were here, and we had a lot of fun with them.

Enjoy the pictures, and videos. The first video is from Greta's when Paisey and Reyn raced around the house with the toy stroller. The second video is Franklin drawing on his magnidoodle. He loves that thing so much it goes every where with us. He's fallen asleep in his car seat holding on to it. The third video is of Franklin and Rizzo. Rizzo makes a very funny meow when he sees birds outside. The Franklin started being silly. The last new video is Rizzo trying to get his stocking. He wouldn't quit!

Quinn Winter Wonderland

About a year ago I posted a picture of these two, and Rizzo was greatly dwarfed by Osgood. Now its not so. Rizzo and Osgood are the best of pals, and Rizzo and Franklin are really great pals too. Lucky for us that Osgood tolerates Franklin for the most part.

I started having more allergy problems with our cats so we finally gave them baths. Rizzo was extremely upset, and didn't cooperate very well. He sure looks cool when he's wet though because you can see that his fur is actually white underneath. We've realized that if we ever shaved Rizzo he really would be an all white cat when it grew back. Some fur fell off his toes when he was declawed and it grew back completely white. Weird, huh?!












Osgood is a good sport when it comes to baths. Early on he's learned that if he just lets us wash him, its over with sooner. Because they are officially indoor cats they don't get baths very often. I'm just glad he's remembered to cooperate.


I have been so bad at getting pictures lately. It didn't help that I lost the charger for the camera, and its not powered by regular batteries. Thanks to Franklin it ended up behind the couch, and I just had this feeling to look there. We went out on Sunday to get some pictures. If you go back to older posts you'll see some pictures taken from this same area; I think its from May, and June.



I've also realized that I'm usually the one holding the camera so it was nice to have a turn on the others side of the shot.

Franklin is awed by the snow. He has picked it up, and we've been prepared for him to get upset by the cold, but he has yet to cry, or get mad.

Even as I write this we are getting a fresh blanket of snow. I know most of you who read this are used to the desert, and may even love the desert. I just have to say there is something so beautiful, peaceful, and pure about snow. It really makes it feel even more like Christmas to us. We truly love it here, and having the snow really seals the deal. We would love to have any/all of you come to visit us, and get to be a part of what we live in everyday.

That's Franklin's World, not Elmo's

While Franklin is sleeping, there are a great number of things I can accomplish. Now that he takes just one nap a day it isn't possible for me to complete them all. I was beginning my yoga when Stephen surprised me with a quick stop, and so I decided to have lunch with him (which means I have to wait a little while after I eat to do my workout). I began reading up on some blogs when I realized that I could clean instead, or write my blog for the week since I'm already late in doing so. I always feel guilty when I write my blog when Franklin is awake.

Franklin LOVES Sesame Street, and Play with me Sesame. I can accomplish a few things while he watches this show. I'm glad that its clean, educational, and full of short clips to keep his attention. He won't do anything else when his show is on. I'm trying to make him sit on his couch when he watches it so that he won't get so close to the TV.

So last week Stephen was on call. What a week!! It got colder very quickly, and on Saturday night, and Sunday morning we had a little snow. It didn't stick on the ground here in Springville. Stephen worked till 7 or 8:30 every night last week. On Saturday they had another technician working as well, and Stephen still worked a 13 hour day. On Sunday he worked a 10 hour day. Now that he's not the on-call tech for this week, it still isn't much different. He predicts he'll work this weekend again. But hey, it's good money, right?

Franklin is teething again. I feel like it'll never end (I know it won't for a long time, but he's just cutting a sixth tooth). He's also taken steps completely on his own a few times, his own choice, we didn't have to trick him. I'll be glad when he's actually walking across the room on his own. He continues to talk about everything, we just haven't learned his language yet.

He loves stairs, so every time we go out I open the door and let him crawl up. When we return I put him at the top of the steps and let him go down himself. He loves it! It helps me too, especially when there are things to bring inside. Last Saturday I let him crawl down the steps so I could get the groceries. I passed him twice on one of my trips down, and back up. On my second trip down he cried, only for a moment, and I saw a little bit of blood on his nose. He scratched his face on our door mat. Most of the scratches didn't show up for a few more minutes. He's a tough kid, he didn't cry much at all.

Last night I proclaimed Rizzo as the "Nocturnal Freak of Nature". We got a reminder why we don't allow the cats to sleep with us at night. Rizzo's 'on' switch malfunctions at night, and he becomes insane! Lately he's been over zealous with Osgood, so there's been a lot of hissing. Franklin thinks it's funny. I'm just relieved that they don't have their front claws. If I never had to be afraid of them getting outside sometime in the future (for some reason I picture Franklin, or other siblings letting them out) then I would remove their back claws too.

Franklin gets into everything. He is very smart, and figures things out more quickly. Notice my shoe. Imagine him walking with it just the way he's wearing it. When he was done playing with it he put it in his booster chair for him to come back and play with again a few minutes later.

I've also noticed that Franklin looks blonde in his pictures. His hair is deceiving because it still doesn't have a color. Its not blond, not brown, and most definitely isn't red. He's just too bald to tell. I feel sorry for any of his sisters if they remain as bald as he. I was bald, but at least my fuzz was orange.


(by the way, that's me. Franklin definitely looks like me, doesn't he!)

Rizzo

A few days after our move Osgood became very down and out. He moped everywhere. Luckily for us, but not for him, our front door doesn't lead directly outside so his transition to an indoor cat has been easy. He hated it at first, but he never tried to run out because he didn't know where to run out from.

We began looking for a companion for him. Our preferences a younger (not neccisarily a kitten, just younger than him) female cat. His Top Cat possition was challenged when we lived at my parents by a younger male cat (whose aspirations were to be like our first cat, General) Max. Another preference was a non-black cat. We've had two, and loved them both dearly, and we never want to replace them.

One day I did see a very beautiful white kitten, that was female. The very next day we went back to get her, and of course she had already been adopted. I couldn't believe how hard it was to find a female cat at this point, and one that's under 2 years old. Anywhere, and everywhere we saw a pet store we went and checked. We constantly checked in the Petsmart in Orem because those are always rotated around because they are from the local petshelter.

Finally, we saw a very different looking, and slightly exotic cat. She seemed perfect! We adopted her immediately (always kept the cat carrier in the car just in case). We named her Daphne, it seemed to be a perfect match for the name Osgood. Boy we didn't realize just how perfect that name was. A month after we brought HER home, we discovered she was a HE. I couldn't believe it!!!! I've NEVER been wrong, and I've had many cats since I was born. We changed his name to Rizzo, named after Rizzo the Rat from the Muppets. The name Daphne was from Some Like It Hot; the name of Jack Lemons character pretending to be a woman (to escape the mob).