Prepping for a three day car-camping trip this week. It boggles my mind how many 'things' we think we need to bring; the benefit of car-camping is that there's little cost to bringing too much stuff. We'll sleep with pillows, LOL - not really too rough.

Bill I found car camping to be quite enjoyable back in the day - showers, toilets, sleeping with an air mattress. I wasn't totally worn out when we returned the way I was with "canoeing everything in and sleeping in a tiny tent on a rock" camping.

I am totally enjoying little Natalie, having spent most of the weekend with her. Today is our "girls day" as DH is at work. I don't think DH and I realized just how depressed we were by having to watch our dear old cats die an inch at a time for close to 6 months. I am still getting used to the idea of playing with Natalie (I call her that when DH is not around as he has a co-worker with that name who is proud to call herself a b*tch and act like one) and having her "help" me with everything.

This morning we did yoga. Another lifetime ago I would have been annoyed at how much Natty was in my way (she's a power snuggler and doesn't take no for an answer) but this morning I accepted that I wouldn't get much of a stretching in. I did get a lot of affection and a good dose of joy at being alive - a very fair trade off IMO.

Dagmar

Dagmar, awwww Natalie sounds like quite a lover! so glad you got her!

Bill, I'm not much for camping but car camping sounds a little easier. Have a great time!

First day back to school for me. No students just awful preplanning, tons of worthless meetings. I got up at 4:30 to exercise. I did that all last school year and it's amazing how much better the year went. My classes are big this year, but I'll manage.

We're back from a week of "rustic" (pit toilet, no showers) camping in the western tip of the UP - Watersmeet, MI for those who are curious. Was very nice to get away for a while - our tally was lots of loons, 2 bald eagle sightings, 3 nights of wolf howls, 2 swims in a pretty lake, one trophy smallmouth bass, 2 trivial injuries, too many S'Mores, and almost 1000 miles of driving. No fighting, no biting, except for the mosquitoes, and only one day of rain.

Looks like I missed a big week - Dagmar's loss of Mudpie and a new furbaby (welcome, Natty!), Bargoo's birthday, and visits by Ward and Kitty!

This week will be consumed with catching up at work, getting all the camping stuff cleaned and put away, and retrieving bunnies from the sitter. And catching up on 3FC!

Good morning! I am back from my business trip. DH and DDs survived for three days on their own, we had a nice weekend together, and then last night both girls slept all night without a peep. I got a whole solid 8 hours of sleep. Amazing! Didn't eat wonderfully on the trip but didn't eat terribly either, and I kept up my workouts.

We took the girls to our neighborhood pool yesterday where they have a little kid area that's only 1 foot deep and has a fountain in the middle. They had fun playing in there after we got the lifeguard to remove the dead mouse. Apparently this has been a common problem in the pool this season. Anyway there was plenty of chlorine so no worries. They had fun splashing around.

We're hoping for a reliable first word from them this week. They're really close to talking and sometimes we think they're saying a word, but we can't get them to do it repeatably to verify. They definitely understand a lot of words now and can point to things in their picture book when I ask them to and follow simple directions. They are also walking very well! I have a feeling they will be running very soon.

Dagmar.... Natalie sounds like such a love.

My dd has been taking care of our pets for the two weeks we've been gone. She said Jozi couldn't go down the few steps to go out and they were both upset. I think it's been a hardship for her so I know we won't ask so much of her again. She's been juggling work, church, nannying and other commitments.

We head home tomorrow. Kinda ready for reality but it's been a great trip!

Jessica... Your girls sound adorable. I loved spending time with my niece and nephew. My niece is almost one. She wasn't walking yet but getting close.

Michele, I'll miss you being in this time zone!

Jessica, that's great about the girls starting to say some words. I don't know if you've ever heard of baby sign language (http://www.babysignlanguage.com/); we used it with all 3 of ours and it made the transition to real speech way less frustrating- I highly recommend it.

Also, if you don't mind my asking, how's Carter doing? Have you made any progress?

Andrea, Carter is a mixed bag as usual. We're keeping him behind a gate during all of their mealtimes and occasionally when they're playing. He's not interested in them if they don't have food, so this arrangement feels pretty safe, but he's also been extremely whiny, pushy, and annoying lately. When he's behind the gate even though we give him a special treat when we put him back there, he will just start barking and whining and pawing at the gate. Unless we feed him a steady stream of treats the entire time he's behind the gate, he whines and barks. Then when he's not behind the gate and it's close to baby mealtime, he will start whining and getting underfoot because he knows that when they eat he goes behind the gate and gets treats. He still has regular incidents of pooping in the house, and he still reacts aggressively sometimes when we try to get him to go out.

I don't really know what the best thing to do is. Our lives would be a lot easier if we euthanized him, but at this point he's more annoying than dangerous so we feel like it wouldn't be fair to him.

Jessica, I'm sure you missed the twins like crazy when you were gone. But there is something to be said for sleep!

Got my classroom ready yesterday which I didn't think would happen until Saturday. We have tons of meetings during preplanning with little time to actually prep, ugh.
We had a huge storm at our house last night and these frogs were croaking all night by our window. DH said he didn't hear them but they kept waking me up. However I realized that I'm having my pre-school worries and that's probably what was waking me up. Happens every year but once school starts all is fine.

DD comes home this weekend for about a week before she heads back to NYC for her last year of college. Unfortunately, I'll be working the whole time, the college class I teach starts up soon too. But I saw her for four weeks in CA so I can't complain.

Dagmar, I think you will especially appreciate this given your post about Nattie and yoga: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQYK5vT9TBI

Jessica, I know the dilemma all too well. I have no answer for you but I will say I was surprised that there was a dog rescue group in our community with people who took Loki and said they would keep him in a child-free home and not euthanize him. I also have to admit that I've felt nothing but relief since we gave him up.

Andrea Thanks! And re your feeling relief about Loki it's hard to live in a house where you feel constantly under threat. That feeling would have only fed Loki's anxiety and dominance and made things worse and worse. I saw a special last night on pit bulls that had been rehabilitated and rehomed. If those dogs can find someone to help them then any dog can.

Dagmar