A word of advice...

Consult with your pregnant kitty before you choose a day to start potty training your toddler. Yesterday morning I had one of those wretched experiences that made me think, "This stinks but it'll make for good blog material!"

Yesterday morning I started potty training Tucker. Bless his little heart, he took to it right away. And once he discovered he got a jelly bean every time he relieved himself, he started camping out on the potty chair whether he needed to or not. He even figured out the #2 part and was giving himself hernias trying to produce, all for the sake of that purple jelly bean! So that part made me happy. What made it not so fun is the way a boy's plumbing works. Girls are so much easier to potty train! Every time he went there was a huge mess to clean up. So a good part of my morning was spent cleaning him and the potty chair and the floor, even giving him a bath once. And in the midst of all this excitement, Emily, our very pregnant kitty, was following me around, meowing and desperate for affection. I started to suspect she was in labor, and my suspicions were confirmed when I picked her up and some nasty fluid dripped from her onto the carpet. Since cats like dark, quiet places for delivering their babies, I set up a little nest in Chloe's closet, put her in there, and shut the door. She howled and scratched for a while, but when I let her out she went back out to hallway where she'd dripped and started to nest there. Um, no, not happening. Back to the closet. She spent several solitary hours there until she produced the adorable little gray baby you see here.

Jed and Chloe have had all sorts of fascinating names for the wee one. Chloe wanted Soy Boat and Jed wanted Pistol ("because it's the color of a pistol!"), so they compromised and called it Soy Pistol. Evan and I in no uncertain terms made it clear that name wasn't sticking. Tongue in cheek, I suggested Smoky, figuring that one would get shot down for lack of originality. (My older sister, the queen of original names, never let us give our cats run-of-the-mill names when I was growing up.) But Evan agreed and the kids loved it. So Smoky it is.

I finally succumbed! I got my hair highlighted last night! And I'm thrilled with it. Lots of blond streaks. I'm growing my hair out to my shoulders and it's taking forever, so to help keep up morale I thought I'd do something different. Had a great time visiting with the hairstylist, who's a good friend in the very same stage in life that I am.

I'm not free to give out any names here, but recently the Lord did a mighty work in the lives of some friends of ours and we are rejoicing. God is powerful and still able to work miracles, and His faithfulness and love know no bounds. Nothing is too difficult for Him!