Weight. Wait, don't tell me.

With all the various doctor appointments I've had recently, there have been lots of scales to step on. Thankfully, the numbers keep moving down (thank you breastfeeding). But oh the numbers! Currently, I'm about 10 lb under my pre-pregnancy weight, which is about 20 lb less than what I weighed on E's birth day, but 20 lb heavier than what I think of as my "normal" weight, which is about 20 lb heavier than my goal weight, which is about 20 lb heavier than the BMI chart says I should be. But my jeans fit, so, you know... there's that.

Also, thankfully, I'm done with doctors for a little while. All pending appointments are for The Squnchler.

I read a book! A whole book! In The Woods by Tana French. It was good and suspenseful, but left one of the two mysteries that made me want to read the story completely unanswered. We all know how I feel about unsatisfying endings. Still, I managed to read a book while Eleanor was sleeping or eating.

We've made the switch to cloth diapers. It's going pretty well. There is a learning curve at the moment--figuring out all the different kinds of diapers that I bought and their various inserts to avoid leaking. Also, I really need a clothes line to dry these suckers on. One, Dallas is basically a giant hot air tumbler in summer anyway, so I'd love to take advantage of that, for my pocket book. Two, I need the sunshine to do its work, bleaching away stains and whatnot. The problem is there isn't any spot on our property that isn't shaded. Which, again, is great for my pocket book in terms of keeping the house cool, although we do have to turn a lot of lights on during the day in our cave-like living room. Still, I need to find a spot for my clothes line.

 My parents adopted another kitten, a friend for their beautiful tortie, Moki. This is Bandit, snuggling down to take a nap in E's car seat. She is friendly and sweet. I'd forgotten how much fun kittens could be. Watching her go tearing around the house, with her tail straight in the air! Moki is getting used to the new addition pretty well. There is hissing and chasing and arched backs, but not much. I don't think it will last for long. And yes, my parents now have cats named Moki & the Bandit. As you can see (example: the title), the penchant for puns comes completely naturally to me.

Oh, and Eleanor is smiling a lot more these days. She's smiling in response to us, to me, which pretty much just makes my day. She has also learned to frown, which I have yet to catch on camera, but believe me, it is equally exciting!

Spare Pets

So, my house is saturated with animals. We have three cats and a dog. That being said, I still have quite a few spare pets.

The concept of a "spare pet" is one that my brother put words to for me, but has been a part of my life ever since I moved out on my own. See, that's when my cats became my spare cats. I didn't live with them any more, and only visited once a year or so (since they were hundreds of miles away). I still thought of them as my cats, but they really weren't anymore.

This feeling of "my cat, but not my cat" has since extended to the beasties of my friends. I have 3 spare dogs, and 14 spare cats. I thought of including pictures, because I have pictures, but that might be a little excessive.

So I got to thinking--what makes a "spare" pet?