Kitten Saga

Around 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday morning, Jackson ran upstairs screaming that Zelda scratched him. He was actually crying, then added, "and she pooped on the couch". Jackson can play rough with Zelda so I wasn't shocked about the scratch, but she has never pooped on the couch. I immediately went downstairs to discover the poop was actually a kitten about half the size of my fist!

To back track a bit, Zelda was born last May. She joined our family last July. Jesse and I went back and forth on getting her declawed. The plan was to get her spayed and declawed at the same time. We ended up deciding not to declaw her, which caused us to also postpone getting her spayed. Zelda spends a few hours outside every day climbing trees and jumping over fences. Even though we knew she wasn't spayed and she was outside daily, we didn't realize she was pregnant. She was slightly larger, but she was such a tiny cat and not even a year old, so we just assumed she was becoming a full grown cat. 

Now, back to the surprise kitten delivery! Zelda ran upstairs, leaving this bloody kitten and placenta on our couch. Jackson was hysterical once he understood that it was a kitten and there was blood. I called Jesse and he suggested I set up towels outside for them. I made a bed of towels on the back deck but Zelda was uninterested. She ran upstairs and nestled into the far corner of the linen closet. A few google searches revealed that the cat and kitten should be inside in a warm, quiet spot. The kitten wasn't making any sounds anymore so I carried her on the towel upstairs.

Zelda still wanted nothing to do with her. Aspen was more concerned than Zelda. I sprayed Lysol and used Clorox wipes all over the couch, then scurried around to make breakfast and get the kids ready.

When I went to check on Zelda and the kitten a half hour later, Zelda was eating the placenta. I had no idea cats even did that, so it was just another shocking part of my morning. Jackson had calmed by that point down and was already deciding on a name for the kitten.

We carried on with our regular schedule. The trio and I returned home around lunch time. I was curious if there would be another kitten, but there was not. Zelda had licked her baby clean and was finally nursing the kitten.

By late afternoon, Zelda still had not delivered any other kittens. However, she would get up and pace the hallway, then make deep meowing calls.  It seemed obvious that she was in labor. I called the vet to ask their advice. They said that is was not uncommon for kittens to be born twelve or more hours apart. If Zelda hadn't delivered another cat by Wednesday, mid-afternoon, we should take her in to get examined. 

After dinner Jesse and I could visually see Zelda's abdomen contracting and what appeared to be waves of a kitten moving. It was incredible to witness!

We went to bed, hoping to wake up to another kitten on Wednesday morning. (It's not that we wanted lots of kittens; we just didn't want to have to take her to the vet.) At some point during the night she delivered another kitten.

The real excitement for Jackson and I was around 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday morning. We were sitting on the floor, outside the linen closet, watching the two kittens. All of a sudden, and with seemingly zero effort, Zelda delivered the third kitten. I was actually able to video the end of it because I was taking pictures of the other two kittens at the time. Here's a photo of the last kitten, just a minute old.

I had the unusual displeasure of watching Zelda eat that placenta as well. My stomach was churning a bit, yet I could not look away. Twenty four hours later, Zelda was nursing three kittens.

Wednesday afternoon I replaced the towels and bedding with clean ones and gently put the kittens back on the towel. Zelda kept close watch on my every move, but she let me pick her babies up with a washcloth.

It only took a minute for the three kittens to curl up together in a ball of claws and black fur.

The kids have been excited observers. They know they aren't allowed to touch them, but they blow kisses, talk, and get close to them.

Once we were confident that Zelda was finished delivering kittens, Jesse set up a large box with a blanket for Zelda and her babies in the office. Jackson was allowed to help transfer the kittens to the box. You can see his infatuation already.

At only three days old, the kittens spend the majority of their day eating and sleeping. I've kept a washcloth inside their bed where Zelda sleeps. I read that it's important not to pick newborn kittens up with your bare hands, and that you shouldn't confuse the kittens with your scent. I use the washcloth to pick up the kittens occasionally, for no other reason than I want to cuddle them.

I could stare at this face all day!

In the birthing video I was able to capture, Jackson compared the three kittens to the triplets. It's surprising to me how similar they actually are! I remember when the triplets were newborns, they would always snuggle together. If I put the three of them on different sides of the pack-n-play, they would gravitate towards one another and become a mass of babies. The kittens are the same way.

It's amazing to me how strong the maternal instinct is for Zelda. She wasn't even a year old yet she knew how to do everything. Another odd thing I've learned through extensive google searches is that kittens don't use the bathroom on their own. The mama cat stimulates them by licking them, then licks up any waste. So there's no odor or cleaning involved right now. Apparently kittens should become litter trained within 4-6 weeks. I hope that's another automatic thing that happens, though I haven't researched that yet. Jesse brought home another litter box and wet food for Zelda.

The kittens aren't very active right now. It takes 7-10 days for kittens to open their eyes, so they aren't too curious yet. One will occasionally try to climb out of the box, but Zelda grabs it by the scruff and puts it back in the box. It will be interesting when all three are moving around everywhere.

We will most likely keep one kitten and find new homes for the other two. We plan to let them nurse for eight weeks before we try to get rid of them. As soon as Zelda has weaned, she will be spayed. As exciting as these unexpected kittens have been, we don't want any more surprises!

Mornings With the Trio

It should be assumed that the trio and I go somewhere every morning. We typically go to the museum and library once a week, and different parks the other three days. Here are some random photos of our adventures from the past two weeks:

The temperature was fairly warm on this particular morning, but the wind caused Maddie and Amelia to add layers. Looking at the three of them standing there was another reminder of how different they are from one another. 

The past few outings at Discovery Place (Kids and uptown) have been significantly less crowded than other times.  The photos below are from both museums on different occasions.

While Maddie consistently takes the most pleasure from library story time, Amelia has been an active participant lately. The girls happily complete the hand motions and songs.

Maddie immediately recognized the mouse from If You Give a Mouse a Cookie series. She began feeding the mouse pretend cookies.

James looks less interested, but he is listening the whole time. During story time, he's hiding behind furniture or attached to my lap. After we leave the library James will start singing some of the songs or talking about a story. 

James and Amelia have been climbing greater heights and shown so much more physical strength over the past two weeks. Amelia climbed to the top of this slide and slid down by herself multiple times.

Maddie wasn't feeling as brave, but she was eager to slide in the comfort of my lap.

Other than slides and swings, the preferred park activity is to pretend to feed one another. The trio have full conversations about serving ice cream and pizza, asking for money, etc.

Amelia has always been naturally athletic, though James' physical strength is surpassing hers. James has been shimmying up ladders of surprising heights. Their agility makes me nervous and excited at the same time.  

In addition to parks, museums, and libraries, we've also visited the nature center. We all enjoy watching the active snakes and turtles.

Of course, we also take advantage of duck food with any opportunities to get closer to water foul.

Another favorite play area is the mall, though I only go on rainy days. The outlet mall right by our house has a Bass Pro Shop and Lego store, so we visit the aquarium, build, and play in the play area.

We stay busy, but we're always home by noon so we can have an hour for lunch and down time before we pick up Jackson. Most mornings I'm on autopilot, but there are moments every day where I stop and think about how lucky I am to have these mornings with the trio.

Frank Liske Wildlife Preserve

With warmer afternoon temperatures, the trio and I have spent most mornings at various parks. Frank Liske is a very large park a few minutes from Jackson's preschool. The park is so large that I normally park at one of the multiple playgrounds and we play in that designated area. While playing at a playground, an elderly couple came up to us and told us there were several goslings on the other side of the lake. The kids and I ended up walking around the entire lake (with the wagon).

Since I keep a bag of wild bird feed in the wagon, we occasionally stopped to feed the geese.

Our morning walk included a few hikes off the trail so we could get a closer look at the creek and wildlife. The park includes a wildlife preserve. We walked so slowly we were able to get within a few feet of a blue heron and a collection of turtles.

Maddie and James were posing and requesting photos. James is harder to capture, but he is so very handsome.

Maddie is always easy to photograph.

Amelia's beauty doesn't always transfer to photos. Case in point...

We had nearly completed the lap around the lake when we spotted the goslings. The kids chased the family from the grass into the water. It was a great time to rest in the shade while observing the tiny water foul.

Spending time with the kids outside has taught me to be be more observant. They point out things on their level that I wouldn't otherwise notice. And I am on the look out for things that might interest them so I can show them. We stop to admire butterflies, chase lizards, and watch ducks make ripples in the water. I love letting them run semi-freely in the great outdoors.

When Did My Life Become a To-Do List?

I couldn't give you a specific time frame, but at some point over the last year life has become a never ending to-do list. I don't even have to balance family and career right now, yet I'm already struggling to keep up with everything. At any given moment I can tell you at least three things I need to do. My daily thoughts have become bombarded with mental to-do lists.

I can't figure out if this is a symptom of adulthood, anxiety, or simply having so many young children at once. Perhaps my time management skills need improvement. It's not that I'm particularly stressed or upset. (Though this whole finding a job thing is certainly adding to my stress levels!) In general, I enjoy my days and appreciate spending time with the kids. Our good moments far outweigh our bad moments.

The problem is that it takes so much energy just to maintain things. I can't remember the last time I felt caught up. When I was teaching (aka before triplets), I would get a little flustered every quarter with conferences, grading, and report cards. Then I would feel so relieved when those things had passed and I was all caught up. I haven't had that sense of relief or feeling like I don't have to do anything in years. There is a constant stream of laundry, dishes, trash, recycling, diaper changes, cleaning the van, photo editing, blogging, job applications, Zumba, church meetings, birthday parties, etc. Our calendar stays full. Staying home makes things worse because the kids get bored, fight, and make an even bigger mess. I could stop attending church meetings or the gym, but those things give me purpose and community outside of motherhood. I won't stop blogging because the kids change so quickly and I want to preserve as many memories as possible while they're young and I have the time.

Back when Jesse and I were dating, in moments of silence I would often ask Jesse, "What are you thinking about?" He would always say, "nothing", which would drive me crazy. I've always been detail oriented and over analyze everything. I'm constantly thinking of a dozen different things at a time. In fact, my internet browser currently has 14 tabs open. There's just so much mental clutter.

My goal is to get caught up on blogging by the weekend. Blogging has felt like another chore on my to-do list lately, but it's something I value and want to continue.

Here are the posts I currently have in draft mode:

1. Crazy Toddler Moments: Picture This
2. Frank Liske Photo Fun
3. Mornings with the Trio
4. Kitten Saga
5. Productive Wednesday
6. Jackson's 5 Year Well Check
7. Earth Day Festival
8. Girls' First Haircuts
9. April Birthdays
10. Jackson's Playdates
11. Aviation Museum
12. Triplets Take Over McDowell

It might not be much, but I always feel better when I'm up to date on blogging. Prepare yourself for several days worth of double posts.

Strawberry Picking

A friend texted me Thursday night to see if we wanted to join their family to go strawberry picking Friday afternoon. It was on our spring to-do list, so I happily agreed to go. Though we live in the city, we actually have several farms to choose from within a 45 minute radius. We decided to drive to Hall Farm.

I had never been to this particular farm. I was really impressed with the set-up and variety of play areas for the kids. There was a small, enclosed area for toddlers.

Jackson really enjoyed pumping water to make the ducks swim across open pipes. 

The most exciting "toy" was a real firetruck with kid-size fireman suits. Jackson and his friend dressed up and pretended to be chiefs who were spraying water out the window.

James climbed to the furthest corner and disconnected some kind of head lamp. Sigh...

The most frightening play area was this tunnel slide. Both the ramp and slide were unusually steep, causing young children to ricochet off the landing. There were no mats and the wood was unfinished, leaving kids vulnerable to splinters. (As you well know, Lucy!) Amelia nearly got whiplash going down the slide. James and Maddie walked to the top, then changed their mind and had to crawl backwards down the ramp.

Jackson and his friend enjoyed sliding multiple times.

After an hour of playing, we finally rounded the kids up for strawberry picking.

It was the perfect day to go with a field full of red strawberries and beautiful blue skies. It was a bit cooler than expected, but pleasant.

At the farm we went to last year, you had to buy the specific size (pint, quart, or gallon) container before you were allowed on the fields. The procedure at Hall Farm is to pick freely, then weigh your containers at the end. This method worked much better because each kid could hold their own container.

I more or less let the kids loose. Jackson ran ahead with his friend while my mom friend and I stayed back with the toddlers. I noticed right away that they needed more guidance in their strawberry selections.

After repeatedly chanting, "find all the red ones", they got a little better.

James frequently double checked with me and said, "This one?"

Once Amelia saw another person eating a strawberry, she spent the rest of the time taking a bite out of every strawberry she plucked.

Jackson did a great job picking bright red strawberries.

After four hours at school and two hours at the farm, Jackson was exhausted.

I combined our baskets and payed for our selections. We ended up with 4 lbs of fresh, locally grown strawberries for only $10.

The trio's chins and hands were stained red by the time we got home. The strawberries are so sweet and juicy. We will have no problem consuming the berries before they go bad. In fact, I have a strawberry cobbler in the oven as I type this. We may even check out another farm next week.