Furry Lewis and
Tex are our cats.  Furry is named after a famous blues guitarist and
Tex, well, you can guess. We got them for our 1 year wedding anniversary from the animal shelter when they were tiny kittens.  Since then, they’ve grown into hulking (13+ lb) cats with lots of personality and are very affectionate (most of the time, anyway). 

With TinyD on the way, we’ve started trying to prepare the cats. Childbirth class and the pediatrics orientation both had lots of advice for how to introduce your dog to the baby so it won’t be tempted to eat it or consider it a chew toy.  Per the experts, the cats won’t care as much.  The recommendations included ‘don’t let the cat sleep on the baby’ and ‘don’t let the cat sleep in the baby’s bassinet or crib, as they walk through their own feces’.  Travis and I had pretty much figured these things out ourselves, and have enacted a plan to help the cats get ready for Genghis’s arrival.

The parts of the plan:

1. Keep the cats out of our bedroom at night

2. Keep the cats out of our bedroom during the day

3. Keep the cats out of the nursery (which is no change from baseline as they never get to go in there anyway)

This plan is designed to keep the rooms relatively cat hair and dirt free and keep dos gatos gordos from licking/sitting on/hissing at the baby.  The plan has already been put into action so that the cats don’t have such a shock when TinyD comes home (what, I suddenly can’t go in the bedroom AND no one pets me AND that small human is making a lot of noise!)

The cats do NOT like the plan.  Furry Lewis yowls outside the bedroom door at 3 am because she misses us, which results in Travis taking her to the basement to be barricaded in the room with her food and litter box. 
Tex makes cute mewing noises outside the door, but earlier in the evening.  Both race into the bedroom and immediately try to hide thinking we won’t notice they’re there (neither is particularly good at hiding – the bathroom is a pretty obvious place, as is jumping on the bed).  But we do sleep better without them purring and kneading us in the night.  And it seems like they should get used to the new arrangements now, instead of waiting until TinyD arrives.

So it hit Drew last night that we’re having a baby this year.  My sister bought us a bouncy seat off the registry and I set it up last night before he got home.  When he saw it, he realized someone would be occupying it in a few months.  Good for him!  It has not hit me at all yet!! 

I’m starting to feel a little movement at night if I lay on my side.  Other than that, I feel nothing at all. 

My belly has grown to the appopriate size that strangers are comfortable enough to ask me when I’m due without fear of insulting me for just being plain fat.  That is an unforgivebale mistake that I made last week.  I had to get a patient from the waiting room who had brought a friend with her, and I had no idea which one was the pregnant one.  I picked the wrong one, of course.