bye bye booey

We had to say our sad goodbyes to Booey today. He spent his final day at home resting on the porch, basking in the sunlight as he often liked to do. His urinary tract disease became more complicated to solve over the past week and as we were getting ready for a potentially corrective surgery we learned that he had sustained significant kidney damage . . . which would make both the surgery and post-surgery life more difficult and uncertain. It was a very very very hard decision to make. We are spending tonight remembering lots of good moments with Shiraz . . . some of his favorite activites including: watching hours of "bird movies" in the backyard from his window perch, nibbling on non-cat-food delights like cheese and butter and cream cheese frosting, being chased by an enthusiastic toddler around the house, believing himself to be a dog and playing fetch with crumpled paper balls, being fearless and greeting every newcomer to the house like his best friend, and the wonderful winter nests he would create in our comforters. He enriched our lives in so many ways and brought much warmth and love to our home. We miss you Booey.

rainy days

Papa's off in Florida for a conference and all that's happening here is rain rain rain. Abigail gives her umbrella a dry run inside...

Here's hoping the rain stops soon so we can go "outside outside outside" again.

Until then, umbrellas in the living room and jogging around the house will have to do....

playground

We had a great time playing with friends at the park this weekend....

Abigail and Anniek surveying the playground scene.

Hey, where's Anniek?

Anniek can put her jacket on by herself . . . here she is at the hood stage. Abigail was very impressed....
Yay!

What's next?

warm weather fun

Oh boy... Abby's learned how to ham it up for the camera. This is what happened when mommy asked her to smile for the camera.

Nice to have a warm fall weekend (in the 70s!) to play in A's backyard house . . .

"Abby's house. Mama stay outside."

This is Abby after a bug was removed from her hair. That was pretty exciting.

After dinner Abigail and papa were getting cleaned up and they made a waterfall in the sink with their hands. (Waterfall is one of A's new words.....she's coming up with new things to say every day it seems...)

So fun! Maybe when hands are clean it will be time to turn to A's face....

weekend

Happy weekend everyone....

Abigail is a goofy girl.

She's saying "Get well soon Shiraz!"

Shiraz (aka Mr Frisk, Booey, etc) had to make an emergency trip to the vet last night and needs to stay there all weekend recovering from FLUTD - feline lower urinary tract disease. Poor little man! Papa went to visit him today and the vet says he's on the mend. We miss him and can't wait for him to be feeling 100% again!

saving daylight

Some blog readers will remember how back in March we were so excited about daylight savings time . . . spring forward really worked well for us - everyone else moved to our early-bird schedule. Fall back on the other hand ... that's another story. At around 5:30 or 6 pm Abigail announces that it is "BATHTIME" and she means it - just try keeping her out of the tub. Then, around 5 or 5:30 am we hear little chirps from her room: "Mommeeeee. Papa. Abby. Wake up. Momeeeeee."

Despite the early wake-ups, Abigail is still cute. And she's found a new hiding spot - between the wall and the door to the porch.

Peek a boo!

Hard to believe that Abigail is approaching 20 months (!!) and we have not yet mentioned her 18 month check-up stats: she is 36 inches tall (aka 3 feet) (quite literally off the charts), and 26 pounds (75th percentile). She's our big girl!

running bee

One more Halloween scene. Watching this video clip gives Abby the giggles, so we figured it should be up on the blog for everyone's amusement.