Goodbye Little One

My darling little Poppy passed away on Wednesday, March 25th. She seemed fine on Sunday afternoon when I cleaned their cage, and she ate some baby food and peas Sunday night, but on Monday morning she had collapsed and she never recovered. I will miss her sweet little face and her adorable antics. She was a bar-chewer, so it has been quite quiet here in the evenings without her grinding away on the metal bars. I only wish that in the time she was here she had learned to trust me enough to be able to let me hold her and especially to console her in her final hours.

Thank you for giving me the chance to get to know you, Poppy. I sure miss you, my little sweetheart. I will take good care of your sister, Lulu, until you are together once again.

A Heck of a Two Weeks!

As some of you know, my mom passed away early the morning of February 24th. We were able to take care of her at home until the end, which was what we all hoped to do. That is mostly thanks to my sister, Melissa, who quit her job to stay home and make Mom her priority. The last week was very rough. The hospice nurse thinks she had some mini strokes and she started to become combative and refused to take her medicine. She also started fighting to get out of her hospital bed because she was convinced that she could walk even though she's been bound to a wheelchair for years. The last few days she was in a coma and she passed quietly in her sleep.

This was taken on Christmas. She was so happy that day.

Mom is looking at Melissa, then Cherry is behind her, Cindy is top right,

and I'm lower right.

We are trying to learn how to go through life without her, but each day is still a struggle. Some days are worse than others.

Then, that Friday, my little grand nephew, Kai, ended up in the hospital with pneumonia that went from bad to worse. Over this past weekend they found out that his lung had collapsed and when they did a CT scan they found that he had 30 to 40 pockets of thick infection that would have to be scraped out. On Tuesday they did surgery. He lost a lot of blood and had to have a transfusion, and they ended up having to remove part of his lung because the infection had killed some of the tissue where the lobes meet. They said to expect him to run a fever for a few days, and they intended to keep him sedated because of all the chest tubes, catheter, and oxygen tube. He woke up and ate a little on Thursday and was well enough to go home on Sunday, March 15th.

This is the 19th and he is doing well. He saw the doctor on Tuesday and he said that Kai's pneumonia is resolving and that his lung sounds good. Poor little sweetheart went through so much and we were afraid we were going to lose him for awhile there.

Kai in the hospital before he took a turn for the worse. Such gorgeous eyes.

The Many Faces of Sherman

I hope you aren't tired of seeing my silly boy, Sherman. He is such a clown. He just makes me smile whenever I look at his darling face.

My brother-in-law was visiting and Sherman was right in his glory sitting on his lap

Laying on my lap and acting silly. Making noises and nipping playfully at my hand.

Looking so sad...

The innocent look. I just reprimanded Sherman and Raeka for wrestling on the futon because he is recovering from a back injury. "Who us?"

Forget the laptop, I need some lap time!

My darling Sherman, who is very unhappy that I am playing a game on my new laptop rather than put it away so he can have some lap time. He will climb right on top of my computer if given the chance.

A few silly pics of my furkids

Sherman was sleeping and his normally floppy ear was standing straight up like a French Bulldog! The camera woke him up.
He recently injured his back and after a few days of medication, I was happy to find him sleeping in his favorite position again. He seems to have a strange bed partner, doesn't he?

Darling little Lulu has decided that the huge amount of money I've spent on store-bought hammocks was completely wasted. She finally decided that she liked my little makeshift fleece hammock that is crudely cut and simply tied to the bars.

Raeka, pretending that she doesn't see the evil camera that may reach out and grab her or something. She just hates the camera!

Meet Moriah Ann

My new grand niece. She is my nephew Brian's baby girl. Brian and Crystal are very proud of their little sweetheart. She's a beautiful baby, as you can see :)

Christmas day, all bundled up

She loves her daddy!

My nephew Brian introducing my mom to her new great grandbaby

The proud great grandma

Crystal, Brian and Moriah

Sweet little face

Moriah with Aunt Melissa (or Mimi as all the other kids call her)

Moriah with Aunt Cindy

And with me....

Little Rat Hands

I am fascinated by Lulu and Poppy's little hands. They are just amazing. Those little fingers and the teeny tiny little fingernails are just so cute. I love to watch Lulu especially. She is the little housekeeper. She is always pushing dirty newspaper or litter out of the cage. She sometimes has problems trying to fit the strips of newspaper out through the bars, but she meticulously piles them up at the front of the cage and pats them with her dainty little hands trying to get them through the bars. What darling little creatures they are...