Exhausted

Im tired. Like REALLY tired. Not as tired as Kaitie, who's been in beginning labor for 24 hours last I heard and instead of taking my advice and taking a nap yesterday decided to walk until the baby came out. Not that tired. But I'm still tired.

You see, last week was full of baby shower preparations, not to mention some major limit testing on Zeke's part. And the mixture of the two resulted in first numerous and embarrasing public-place tantrums, and then later a baby boy finally put back in his place (for now), and an exhausted mommy that warned her husband that she's doing the bare minimum this week. Dishes, sweeping, easy dinners, dishes, and laundry enough to get by. That's it. I dont care that the microwave and fridge both needs cleaning, that there are thankyou notes that need to get mailed, or about the other 4 million extra little things that need being done. I was taking a week off. Or at least as much of a week off as a wife and morther can ever take.

But then Monday happened. Zeke was really needy and cranky. We went to play at our friend Kim and Preston's house and he was awful. Home, 3 hour nap, woke up still awful. Just very needy and clingy and exhausting.

Then Tuesday happened. Zeke was in a better mood and the morning went well. I took a shower, we made it to the grocery store without the embarassing public tantrum that would have been par for the course last week, he even helped me unload the car. He carried one small item at a time at a time from the garage into the kitchen and then placed them each nicely on the table. I was so proud. No insisting on carrying the biggest bags, no losing interest halfway to the house and wandering into the neighbors yard, no banging my groceries on the table with all the force in his little arm.

But then I layed him down for his nap. And while I was singing him his song I suddenly heard a kitten crying.

After Zeke was asleep I started to investigate but I could. not. find. the. cat. I could hear it inside the house louder than in the backyard. But how would a kitten get into the house without me knowing?

But then I looked out the front window and saw Sox pacing our driveway. I thought that was strange so I went outside and saw all 4 of the cats out there.

A word in my defense: Not all 4 of those cats are mine. Sox and Cream are technically the neighbor's cats. They just spend a lot of their day in our yard because Zeke is apparently a cat whisperer or something because the kid attracts cats like mad. They all love him. Even Tom, who is the local tomcat that all the neighbors hate. He's aggressive with the other cats, he scratches anyone that tries to touch him, he even fights with the dog that lives on the other side of us from time to time. But Tom loves Zeke, he rubs against him and purrs and sits in his lap in the grass. Its bizarrre and touching and why I feed him. Which might make him my cat, I guess, but he's not allowed inside (or atleast that's my defense to Josh).

So anyways Sox is pacing the driveway like mad. Cream is sitting in a planter stoic-like and staring intendedly at the space between our chimney and garage. Ziggy is running and playing and climbing trees but always coming back to see what's going on, and finally Tom (Mean old Tom of all cats) is trying to climb into this teeny little door at the back of our chimney and mewing. Josh says Tom was probably trying to eat the kitten but I seriously believe he was upset and trying to save the thing. Tom has a secret heart of gold.

But either way that's what got me to go back into the house, open the fireplace door, and discover that a kitten had climbed into that teeny tiny little door and was now trapped in our chimney.

The first thing I did was shoo the cats away, thinking that maybe if they left then the kitten would come out. No luck. I tried tempting it with cat food, I tried tempting it with milk. No luck. Our chimeny is so close to the garage that I couldnt reach it to just grab the kitty, not even if I wasnt pregnant can I fit in there.

The cat (and I) were both getting increasingly upset so next I tried going back inside and seeing if I could reach it from there. I couldnt. We have a fireplace insert and I didnt see any little door.

Next I panicked and called Josh. I think his choices were come home and save the kitty or I was calling the fire department and no I would not wait 5 hours until he came home from work, the kitty had been trapped over an hour at this point and worse of all it wasnt crying any more. I was near in tears myself, convinced that it was dying or at the least developing the black lung and would therefor die later.

Josh got a ride from our friend and cat lover Becca and was home within 20 minutes. I think he didnt even want to KNOW what the fire department would do to our house, let alone what they'd charge us to do it.

Josh's first plan was to cut a hole in the garage wall so that we could reach the little door and pull the cat out. But then he thought before doing that he would try to pull the insert out of the fireplace and see if we could reach it from that side. It was heavy. He almost wasnt able to do it. But he finally did and after some maneuvering I was able to get my body in there and reach my arm (josh's wouldnt fit) into the ash trap that is the other side of the tiny door and pull the kitty free.

She was SCARED. And dirty. And there was a chase which woke up Zeke and spread ashes everywhere but by the time I got him back down to sleep the kitty was wrapped up in a towel in Becca's arms.

Her name is Mony (after the David Bowie reference that is Ziggy Stardust, we thought a nod to Billy Idol was only appropriate so Mony Mony it is). She cant be more than 4 or 5 weeks old, we think, and has definately spent her whole life outside because she is jumpy to the max, and seriously malnourished. She's the skinnniest little kitty I may have ever seen and has big patches of fur missing.

Josh didnt even try to fight it. He just said, as he was leaving to go back to work, "I guess you have two kitties now". I love that man. He also said later that night, as we cuddled her in her "safe room", that foreshadowing in real life is kind of creepy. Ziggy has a baby sister now after all.

So, between the kitty rescue, and the setting up of said "safe room", Tuesday was also exhausting. As will be the next few weeks, probably, as I nurse Mony back to health and then introduce her into the rest of the house.

Zeke was great with her. He said "nice, nice, baby" and pet her with two little fingers so gentle and gave her a little kiss on her nose. I really think he understood. Ziggy, on the other hand, just wanted to play. Which FREAKED Mony out. So safe room it is. She's set up in the spare bedroom with her own food and water and litter box and a basket with a blanket that I set up for her, plus a few hiding spots Josh and I built so she feels safe.

Step 1. Josh and I (and Zeke) will go up for a whle to visit everyday until she gets her health back and adjusts to us and I'll bring her towels with Ziggy scent so she can get used to his smell (and vise versa for Ziggy).

Step 2. Ziggy goes into the safe room while Mony has trips to the rest of the house.

Step 3. The cats get to have time together while I watch and make sure Ziggy isnt scaring her.

Step 4. She is released into the family with hopefully minimal trauma.

Wish me luck.

Oh, I almost forgot. Then TODAY happened. Zeke has horrible horrible gas and diareah, which has become his first diaper rash and let me tell you, he was saving it up because its a BAD one. He is miserable. He's screaming hysterically every time he poops, which is every 20 or so minutes, and is currently vegging on the couch watching Blues Clues on the labtop and feeling very sorry for himself.
Maybe tomorrow I can do the minimum and relax?